Jack led Hally into the Torchwood Hub, he welcomed her in via the 'scenic route', as he'd called it. She'd flinched slightly when the slab of concrete had begun to descend into the floor. Jack chuckled, sending her a knowing look. They floated down into the Hub, his team's base. I looked a bit like a sewer. She looked around. In fact, it definitely was a sewer. Dark tunnels opened out into the cavern, various machines and stations were dotted about. It seemed to be empty.
The lift stopped and Jack hopped off it. "The team must be out… they'll turn up eventually." He looked back at her over his shoulder, scanning her up and down. "We're going to need to get you some clothes…"
Hally looked down at herself, she was dressed simply in black jeans and a black jumper, The Master's long black coat still draped over her shoulders. "What's wrong with my clothes?"
Jack chuckled to himself, shaking his head. "Nothing, I just mean you're going to need more."
"Oh… yeah, fine."
His eyes paused on the coat and he let out an unenthused sigh. "Are you keeping that?"
She pulled it further around her. "Yeah."
He nodded, grimly. "Well, maybe 'Bond villain' looks good on you."
Hally cocked an eyebrow. "Perhaps I am the villain in this story."
He raised an eyebrow back in warning. Then shook his head, as if shaking away the thought and turned. "Come on then. I'll give you the tour."
Hally traipsed after him while he showed her around. It wasn't that she was uninterested, in fact, quite a few of the alien artefacts Torchwood had in their possession were frankly, fascinating. She just wasn't really in the mood. Hally was tired. She was cold. Her shoulder hurt and her husband was dead. The last thing she wanted to do was meet a new group of humans and play happy teams. Jack led her into a mess area, a comfortable-looking sofa sat across from two well-worn armchairs. "I'll order us some food, I don't know about you but I'm starving."
She thought about it, she supposed she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. That was a while ago. She nodded. "Yeah. Food would be good."
He motioned towards the sofa. "Sit. Pizza ok?"
Hally perched herself awkwardly on the edge of the sofa. "Mmhmm." Jack watched her, eyes narrowing slightly. He walked away, she could hear him on the phone ordering them food. Hally sat back on the sofa, trying to get comfortable. It was difficult with the burning pain that was spreading across her chest and shoulder.
Jack returned and plonked himself down opposite her, he'd removed his long coat. He leant back, kicking his feet up on the table. His arms crossed over his chest and he watched her.
She looked away from him, his gaze a little too intense. "Where am I going to sleep?"
"For now you can stay here. In the Hub." He shot back, his tone was sharp. Not unkind, but leaving no room for discussion.
"In a sewer?" She raised her eyebrow, sending him a look.
"Well, I live here." His eyes flashed in a silent challenge.
"You live in a sewer?"
"Hey." He chastised. "We'll find you somewhere. There are a few on-call rooms we use occasionally. We'll set you up in one of those for now."
Hally clenched her jaw. "Ok."
Jack sighed softly. "Talk to me." It was an invitation. One she didn't want to take. How could she possibly talk to him, her body was still numb. She could still hear the sound of her own screams ringing in her ears. Could still see blood fanning out across The Master's body. Why would she want to talk to Jack about any of it?
"I can't." She muttered, barely loud enough for him to hear.
Jack shifted. "If you're going to be here, with my team, you're going to be honest with me." He clipped at her, voice stern. Hally met his unyielding gaze. The way he was looking at her made her feel like a teenager being scolded for coming home late.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not part of your team."
"No." He agreed quickly, eyes flashing.
Hally scowled at him, hot embarrassment coursing through her. But he didn't relent.
"Hal…" His tone changed, he was trying to appeal to her. He wanted her to offer it up on her own.
"What?" She bit back.
"I am sorry."
Hally scoffed, irritation igniting deep inside her belly. "Stop saying that."
"But-"
"You're not sorry, Jack." She snapped at him.
"Hey…" He levelled with her, eyebrows arching. She wasn't being fair.
"I could have saved him." She glared, anger burning behind her eyes.
"No… you couldn't." He countered gently.
"Yes, I could!" Cold hatred flashed at him. He leant back further into the sofa, the picture of cold nonchalance. She didn't like this version of her friend.
"He could have regenerated?" Jack shrugged back at her.
She sneered at him. He was being cruel. "Fuck off."
"That man killed millions."
She rolled her eyes as if somehow that didn't matter. "No, he didn't. Everyone is fucking fine!" She yelled at him.
Jack shook his head, exhaling with frustration. His phone beeped and he left her to collect the delivery. He threw the pizza box down between them. They ate in angry silence.
"I'm not judging you." He eventually looked back up at her.
"It kind of sounds like you are." She kept her eyes down towards the pizza box, shoving a slice into her mouth.
"Help me understand."
She flicked a look up at him, sceptical.
"Tell me. Because I know you. Help this make sense to me."
Hally hated how rational he was being. She wanted him to scream at her. That way she could scream back. But he wasn't. He was just sitting there, a picture of calm coldness.
She shook her head. "Why didn't you let me go to him? I could have healed him."
"You were bleeding out. I chose to save you, and let him die." Jack replied, firm resignation in his voice.
"I was fine."
"You weren't."
"I was basically fine."
He let out a heavy sigh, he was growing tired of her talking him round in circles. He watched her eat for a few silent moments.
"Where did you meet?"
Hally rolled her eyes, she wasn't in the mood.
"Where. Did. You. Meet?" Jack's eyes were piercing. He had an agenda and he wasn't going to let her ignore him.
"Gallifrey." She bit back unhelpfully.
"You know, I've got plenty of cells in the basement if you fancy sleeping in one of those?"
Hally scoffed, calling his bluff. His eyes narrowed, the cold behind them telling her that he wasn't playing. There was anger flickering behind the bright blue.
"I need to be sure you're not a threat. If you're going to exist here on Earth, I need to know I can trust you."
Her eyebrows twitched, pulling together in an expression of hurt.
"I just need to be sure." He reassured her.
"Time Lord Academy." She clenched her jaw. "It's like school… but for like, 500 years. It's shit." Hally answered shortly.
"You were students?"
She laughed, the sound was cold. "No. I was. He was… I don't really know what he was doing there. Staging some kind of coo?"
Jack cocked an eyebrow, a signal for her to continue.
"Initially we did not get on."
"Mmhmm."
Hally shook her head, her eyes meeting his. Begging him to relent. She didn't want to do this now. But Jack just stared back at her. She supposed his gaze wasn't judgemental. He was interested. He wanted to know. Wanted to hear her side. To understand. He didn't hate her, like she thought he might. He wasn't ignoring it, like The Doctor. Or looking at her like she was a monster like Francine Jones. Or even looking at her with sadness like Martha. He was just looking at her. Open. Ready to try and understand. She sighed loudly.
"It was complicated." Her face scrunched up into a scowl.
"I would imagine so." A wry smile pulled at his mouth.
So, she told him. She told him how it had started. How The Master had pursued her because of her power. He'd wanted to use her.
"But then he helped me. Sure, initially it was totally for his own gain. I don't really know when it changed. He was the first person… in my entire life to actually see me. To even bother looking." Her forehead crinkled into a thoughtful frown.
Jack listened, his head tilted to one side. "How old were you?"
She shrugged. "I've never really kept track properly, early 300s?"
"The Doctor…?" She could hear the hint of disbelief in his voice. Disbelief that The Doctor would have ignored her for 300 years.
The side of her mouth curved with a sad smile. "That version of The Doctor went out of his way to avoid me. I guess now I can half understand why… if a future version of yourself drops by with an illegal Time Lord/Human hybrid and tells you that you've got no choice but to raise it you're probably going to keep your distance." She exhaled a bitter laugh. "Of course, I didn't know that at the time. I knew something was different about me but I had no idea…" Her voice trailed off. "The Master didn't look at me like I was an outcast." She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong… he was mostly a jerk…" She couldn't help the fond smile that spread across her face. "But he was mine."
Hally told Jack about Rassilon, about King Abstrax turning up to demand The Doctor's release. "…everything sort of went to hell after that." A tired sigh fell from her lips.
Jack listened patiently. "So, you married him to avoid marrying someone worse?"
Hally snorted a laugh. "I suppose. Initially. But don't get me wrong by that time I definitely… liked him." A warm blush crept up her cheeks as she thought back. The corner of Jack's mouth twitched upwards. "Time Lords… when they marry they can also choose to bond with that person. You don't have to, sometimes it doesn't work. You can get married without bonding but a marriage could technically be undone, if we bonded then there would be nothing Rassilon could do." Her eyes glossed over, as she lost herself in the memory of merging with him. "After that, it was different. Neither of us could hide anymore. Pretend. It's like… you become… it sounds so cheesy." She rolled her eyes. "You become less like two individual beings… more like… two bodies sharing the same being…" Hally chewed on her bottom lip. "We could see… we'd both accidentally fallen in love." A smug smirk pulled at her mouth. "He hated it." A chuckle vibrated in her chest. "He hated feeling so vulnerable, hated that I'd done that to him."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Did he hurt you back then?"
A dark look crossed over her face. "No…" She bit down on the inside of her mouth. "Don't get me wrong, it's never been a peaceful marriage. We disagree. A lot."
Jack snorted. "You think?"
She smiled wryly. Shaking her head at him.
"But you stayed for the fantastic make-up sex, huh?" He quirked an eyebrow at her, eyes glittering.
Her face softened. "I stayed because I understood. I know him. He does things that I don't agree with. Things that I hate. But he's in pain." She took in a deep breath. "I know that's not an excuse… I stay because there's nowhere else in the universe I'd rather be."
She looked at him, his eyes had softened.
"But also…yeah, the sex is something else." Her eyes twinkled mischievously, Jack barked a laugh.
There was a moment of silence between them as Jack processed all of it. He was still uneasy, she could see the tension in his jaw. He was struggling to comprehend her devotion to the man who had tortured him, tortured her…
"I'm not a good person Jack. I know you think I am…" Her voice was barely a whisper.
Jack's eyes snapped to hers.
"I would happily undo the last 24 hours if I could have him back." She admitted.
He frowned. "That's just grief."
Hally frowned and shook her head. "No… it's not." She meant it. She would let Earth go back to shit if it meant she could have him back.
"But you didn't." Jack countered confidently. "You chose to destroy the paradox. And I believe you'd do it again."
Pain shot through her and she squeezed her eyes shut. "I thought I could have both…"
"I'm sorry." Jack repeated.
"Yeah."
His phone beeped again, Jack got to his feet. "Wait here."
She raised an eyebrow, shooting an unimpressed look at him. "Really?"
He chuckled, returning the look back to her. "Yeah, really. I'm going to go grab my team. I'll introduce you. They'll love you."
"I don't need them to like me." Her face scrunched up and she sank herself further into the sofa.
He rolled his eyes in despair at her continued bad attitude. He turned to leave before remembering something, he reached into his pocket and lightly threw a black, shiny rectangle at her. She let out a yelp of surprise, trying and failing to catch it. Hally shot Jack a scowl as she leaned down to pick up the item from the floor. It was a phone.
He gave her a grin. "Phone. For you. It's already pre-programmed with Torchwood numbers just in case."
Hally flipped it open and looked at the screen. "Thanks…?"
Jack huffed dramatically. "Stay here."
"Where else would I go?" She muttered, irritably.
The smirk was audible in his voice. "Well, exactly."
Then he turned and left her.
Alone.
The silence seemed to want to suffocate her. It was heavy. Dark and painful. She stood up, wanting to distract herself. Hally wandered aimlessly around Jack's Hub. She was tired. Her chest was hurting and now that she'd eaten there was a clawing nausea threatening to bring up the pizza she'd definitely eaten too quickly. Hally plonked herself down in front of one of the computer stations. She tried a few obvious password choices, but as she'd expected the system remained locked. Hally huffed loudly and dropped her head back, staring up at the dark ceiling. Pipes snaked up the walls to the roof.
Heaviness sat, immovable on her chest.
The unmistakable feeling of wanting to go home.
But home wasn't a physical place.
Had Jack locked her in?
Probably.
Something started vibrating against her ribs. She paused, confused. Hally stuck her hand into her pocket and pulled out The Master's phone. Nothing. Her eyebrows raised as she remembered the brand new phone Jack had thrown at her. She wriggled around awkwardly, finally reaching it and checking the screen. It was ringing. An anonymous number. Perhaps Jack was calling her?
She answered, bringing the phone to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Good evening, am I speaking to Hally? Daughter of the Time Lord known as The Doctor?" The voice on the other end of the phone wasn't one she recognised. It was male, mature, perhaps 40s or 50s.
"Umm… yes. How did you get this number?" Her voice was laced with suspicion.
The man on the other end cleared his throat. "This is Colonel Mace, of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce."
Her eyebrows twitched upwards. What were UNIT doing calling her? "Right?" She clipped.
Colonel Mace cleared his throat again. Perhaps a nervous tick. "We would like to invite you down to UNIT headquarters in London. There's an urgent matter we need to discuss."
Hally ground her jaw. Humans. At this precise moment, she really couldn't care less if they needed her for something urgent. "I'm sure you can handle it without me." She bit back, ready to hang up and go back to sulking.
"No… Ma'am." Mace cut in, desperation creeping into his voice. "If you'll just come down. There's something we need to discuss."
Hally huffed rather loudly and childishly considering UNIT was on the phone. "Well if it's that urgent just tell me?"
"It'd be best to talk through this in person." Mace tried to reason with her. Unfortunately, for him, Hally was well and truly out of reason today.
"Well, I'm not coming all the way to London for nothing. So you'd better explain it quickly because I'm giving you… 2 minutes." Hally pouted.
The man stuttered, taken aback by her lack of decorum. "Ah…"
"1 minute, 59." She snapped down the phone.
He coughed, she'd clearly flustered him.
"1 minute, 57."
"Well, right, yes. You see…"
"1 minute, 55."
"It's a bit complicated…"
"1 minute, 50…" She sang.
"Well, the previous minister of defence… Harold Saxon…"
Hally stopped counting and paused, her eyes narrowed. "What about him?"
"Well, he… as you know he became the Prime Minister." Mace was drip-feeding her information, information he must have been well aware she was already privy to.
"Please get to the point."
"Harold Saxon was the sole benefactor of UNIT." The words tumbled out of him swiftly.
Her eyebrows arched upwards and for a moment the line was silent. "I thought UNIT was a faction of the Government, Government funded?"
Mace hummed. "Well, yes, it was. But it was privately taken over by Mr Saxon. You see Government funding is notoriously tricky to manoeuvre. If we relied on solely that, we would never stand a chance against any form of extraterrestrial threat."
"Well, you weren't all that useful last year either." She muttered under her breath.
"Pardon?"
Hally exhaled heavily. "Never mind… ok, so Harold Saxon owned UNIT, he's dead so why are you calling me?"
Mace took a moment to respond. "Well… you see… his death is the reason I'm calling. Umm..."
A dreadful thought was worming its way into her mind. She was getting a headache. Hally pressed her fingers over the bridge of her nose. "Hmmm… don't tell me this is going where I think it's going."
"Quite." Mace exhaled heavily, apology dripping into his tone. "Well. Harold Saxon. Upon his death. All his affects. Money. Assets. Were left to you."
Irritation prickled across her skin. "But Harold Saxon wasn't real…" She spat. "Surely your Government isn't stupid enough to acknowledge the 'will' of an alien handing over control of Earth's defences to another alien?" Her voice had lowered to a dangerous growl.
He coughed, his voice cracking. "Quite… however, it's more a matter of… funding."
A short laugh of disbelief escaped her. "Oh, wow."
"Quite." Mace agreed.
"So you're saying… that UNIT is choosing to acknowledge Harold Saxon's will… because it financially benefits them?"
"Yes, Ma'am. Well, quite simply. Without the Saxon financial support… UNIT would cease to exist."
The groan that came from her mouth was long and undignified.
"I know this might come as a bit of a shock…" Mace was trying his best to keep the conversation on track.
"No, this is exactly the kind of bullshit stunt he'd pull." Hally bit back.
"It's merely administrative. You would technically be the sole proprietor of UNIT… but day to day, everything else would run as it is. As normal. We would have to run everything past you. Get sign-off, that kind of thing, but it would require minimal effort from yourself." He was really trying his best to keep her on his side.
She snorted, rubbing her fingers across her forehead. "Sounds like a lot of paperwork."
"Perhaps initially…"
Hally exhaled. This was ridiculous.
But underneath the blanket of irritation, her brain had started to catch up. Having UNIT on her side would be invaluable. Not only on her side but practically under her control. It would certainly make bringing her annoying idiot of a husband back from the dead a lot easier. She would be a moron to pass that up.
"Fine." She grumbled.
"Oh, excellent…" Mace took in a deep breath of relief. "Well, there are a few things for you to sign. UNIT can of course fast track everything as a matter of Government interest. The funding, your assets."
"I don't really care about the money. Just take what you need. But… I want you to send me everything…" Hally's eyes narrowed in thought.
"Everything?" Mace repeated slowly.
"Yes. All things UNIT. Files. Documents. Projects. All of it. If I'm doing this I want to know everything. Understood?"
"Oh… yes… that might take some time." She heard him swallow.
"That's fine." She replied, her response short, impatient.
"How should we get it to you?"
"I don't know… how do you usually send stuff?"
"Do you have an email?"
"Umm… no… maybe you can get me one of those too."
"Right." Mace was writing something down.
"Oh… and no one can know about this. I mean, I'm assuming that's in both our interests." Hally added quickly. It would definitely make her life harder if Jack were to find out about this. Anyone. She'd need to keep it a secret.
"Yes." Mace agreed, his voice lowering.
"This information stays strictly at the highest security level."
"Agreed. Anything else?"
Hally hummed. "Martha Jones." She said slowly, assuming the Colonel would know who she was talking about.
"Yes?"
"Hmm… just… look after her..." She trailed off, her hearts twinged.
"Alright. I'll be in touch. Paperwork to release Harold Saxon's assets to you and paperwork to sign you over as the new head of UNIT. Congratulations." Mace's voice was far too cheery.
Her face scrunched up. "Yeah… whatever. Bye." She snapped the phone shut, cutting off the call.
The silence returned.
Hally groaned, leaning back into the chair with a huff. "Koschei, I fucking hate you." She breathed.
She was so tired.
Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment.
But instantly she could see him again. On the floor. The blood. She took in a sharp breath and forced her eyes back open. A siren sounded and the door to the Hub rolled open. Jack jogged in first, followed swiftly by four others. They were talking between them. One was wheeling in a gurney, the body of a red creature on top.
"Owen, get our friend prepped for an autopsy." A female voice ordered. Hally's eyes flicked back to the team, her hearts fluttered nervously, there were suddenly too many people near her.
Jack's eyes fell on her and he turned to address his team. "Oh, before we get all caught up… everyone, team, meet Hally." He shifted to one side, motioning towards her.
Four sets of eyes stared at her. She silently stared back. Two females, two males. All dark-haired. None looked overly friendly…
"She'll be staying with us for a while." Jack grinned, the coldness he'd addressed her with earlier had apparently gone. Hally quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at him, awkwardly waving her good arm.
"Hi…"
"Oh, they get younger every day…" The taller of the men muttered, his eyes flashed with light irritation. Jealousy?
Hally chuckled lowly and placed a smirk on her face. "What can I say? He evidently has a type?" She cocked a knowing eyebrow at the man, going out on a limb.
It seemed to work, one of the women sniggered and the shorter man barked a laugh, eyes twinkling. The team relaxed a little. Jack pouted, but a smile was pulling at the corner of his mouth nonetheless. "Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones." Jack motioned towards each member of the team, before pointing back at her. "Hally."
Owen piped up. "What, no last name?"
Jack turned to give her a questioning look. "Well, no… I mean do you?"
Hally shrugged with the shoulder she could move. "Nope."
"So just Hally… like Rihanna or Madonna?" Owen's mouth curved into an amused smirk.
"I have no idea who those people are… but sure." Hally flashed her eyes at him.
"Wait… are you human?" Gwen looked between Jack and Hally.
Hally faked a wide grin. "Nope."
Gwen gave Jack a stern look, Jack raised his hands in mock surrender. "She's a friend." He gave Ianto a pointed look. "Just a friend."
"So we're picking up strays now?" Owen quipped, crossing his arms across his chest.
Hally rolled her eyes. "I'm not a stray. I'm a 395-year-old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey and I've come to stay with my old friend Captain Jack Harkness because we just had a really difficult year and I can't really stay with my Dad right now, who's also a Time Lord, in his time machine and then some bitch shot me and now, here we are. Any questions?"
There was a long pause
"Just a few…" Ianto mumbled, but there was a smile twinkling behind his eyes.
She gave him a sympathetic smile.
The shorter brunette looked at Jack, Toshiko. "You were away for a year?
Jack brushed her off. "It's complicated."
"So what, is she a part of the team now?" Gwen asked him, her eyebrow raised dangerously.
Hally pushed down the sting of rejection and gave Gwen her best charming smile "No. I don't think I work well in teams. But I can help."
Jack turned to her. "Well not so fast, you're still almost dead on your feet."
Gwen's face darkened and she fixed Jack with a serious stare. "Where did you go, Jack?"
Hally watched as Jack's demeanour shifted. "I found my Doctor."
"Did he fix you?" Owen raised an eyebrow.
Jack chuckled, the spark didn't quite meet his eyes. "What's to fix? You don't mess with this level of perfection."
"Are you going back to him?"
"I came back for you. All of you." Jack looked each of his team in the eye. It was obvious that he cared about them. His team. His Torchwood. Hally wondered if they would have been dead in the paradox timeline.
Probably.
Something started beeping and Toshiko looked down at the device in her hands. "Rift activity."
Hally had managed to persuade Jack to let her tag along. He'd resisted, but she'd given him big sad eyes and eventually, he'd caved. She was thankful. She didn't want to be stuck in the sewer on her own again. The moments of quiet were getting heavier and heavier. The pain returned. The reminder of how alone she was. The Master was dead. The Doctor was gone.
So instead, she followed the humans to their little crime scene. They were investigating a dead body they'd found at the bottom of a multi-storey car park. The body had shown up shortly after the rift energy alert.
Toshiko was scanning the deceased with her handheld device. It seemed to be able to triangulate the energy signature of the rift. "Fragments of Rift energy around the neck, arm and shoulders." She noted, frowning deeply.
Hally looked up, the building was tall. A fall from that height would definitely kill a human. "So something came through the rift and pushed him?"
Jack looked at her as if she'd just stolen the words from his mouth. Toshiko raised her eyebrows, vaguely impressed.
Jack clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Mmhmm. Pretty much."
"Explains the residual energy cluster…" Toshiko confirmed, nodding.
Hally sent Jack a smirk. "You know, the wrong end of a rift fissure seems like a terrible place to build a capital city."
Jack chuckled, humming knowingly. Hally looked back down at the dead body. Male, 30s. Well, this guy wasn't doing so well out of this new timeline, she mused. A small snigger fell out before she could stop it.
The team paused, giving her weird looks.
"Sorry…" Hally tried and failed to hide her smirk. "It's not funny."
Owen narrowed his eyes, turning to the rest of the team. "Soooo, we've got a potential killer on the loose. Bipedal, maybe humanoid."
"Any other alien tech involved, Tosh?"
"No readings to suggest that."
Jack stood up straight. "Okay, let's get back and see what we can piece together."
Gwen shot him a smirk. "Taking charge again, you?"
Jack's laugh was light, mirth twinkling behind his eyes. "I was hoping for a little power struggle, resolved by some naked wrestling."
Jack led them back to the SUV, Hally trailed slowly behind the team. She really needed to find some painkillers. Jack had said Owen was a doctor, she would drop some hints once they got back to the Hub. Whatever she'd been given on the Valiant had well and truly worn off.
Owen was waiting for her by the car, grumbling. "You know this would move much faster if we didn't have the work experience kid with us."
Hally chuckled darkly. "Work experience. I like that. That's funny."
Jack shot him a silencing glare. "She's got over 300 years more experience with extraterrestrials than you. Give her a break."
Owen cocked an eyebrow, opening his mouth to retort when three short beeps came from Jack's wrist strap.
Ianto stared at it. "Whoa, that never beeps."
Jack pulled back his coat, revealing the vortex manipulator. "That's what I was thinking…" He pressed a button and a hologram appeared in front of him. It was a man, short dark hair and high cheekbones.
"I can't believe I got the answering machine." The hologram drawled. "What can you be doing that's more important than me? Anyway, you've probably traced the energy shift, found the body. All me. Sorry about the mess. Bill me for the clean-up. Now. Drinks. Retrolock the transmission coordinates, that's where I am. And hurry up. Work to do. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
The hologram blinked out of existence. Jack and the team stared motionless at the space where the man had been.
Hally hummed softly. "You know… I understood that reference…" She mumbled unhelpfully into the stunned silence of the humans. It seemed to jerk Jack back into action.
"Stay here. Don't come after me." He turned on his heel, opening the car door.
"Who was that?" Gwen demanded. But Jack wasn't listening. He threw a "Stay here." Over his shoulder.
"Seriously?!" Hally yelled over at him.
Jack ignored all their protests and got behind the wheel, driving away quickly.
"You see that? He swans back in and then he shuts us right out." Owen grumbled.
Gwen shook her head. "I'm not having this."
Toshiko held up one of her devices. "I can track him."
Ianto had already hailed down a taxi. They all bundled in quickly, Hally squished in between Owen and Gwen.
"Reports coming in of a bar disturbance. Same coordinates as the SUV." Toshiko told them.
"Okay, so who the hell was the bloke in the hologram?" Owen aired, hoping one of them might know.
Ianto's face downturned into a frown. "Jack recognised him." Then his eyes slid to her, a flash of accusation.
Hally gave him a one-shouldered shrug. "I've never seen that man before in my life. Not a clue, sorry."
The team grumbled irritably in the back of the cab. It became glaringly obvious to Hally that the humans knew very little about their leader and it was bothering them. Toshiko fixed Hally with a look of hard interest. "How do you know him?"
Suddenly all the taxi passengers were looking at her, eyes hungry for information. Hally coughed awkwardly. She didn't think she should give away everything, after all, Jack hadn't told them, was it really her place to do so? However, she wanted to give them something. Start to build their trust in her. "Ummm… well he travelled with us for a bit. My dad… The Doctor. Time traveller. Then we thought he'd died, but evidently… not. Then we reunited and spent a year imprisoned in a wiped timeline." She offered, smiling as if most of what she'd just said wouldn't cause infinitely more questions.
Ianto exhaled heavily. "I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe any of that…"
Hally chuckled softly. "Well, it seems like your boss isn't going to volunteer any information. So beggars can't be choosers." She winked at him playfully.
"Why did he think this Doctor could fix him?" Owen tried a different tactic.
Hally cocked her head to one side. "Well, because he became immortal with us… because of… umm, someone. It's complicated. But the thing that made him immortal doesn't exist anymore." Her hand went absentmindedly to her neck, fingers running across the stubborn gold back. "Or I guess it does… but I don't think it can be reversed."
The taxi pulled up outside the bar and the team scrambled out. Owen paused and returned to the side of the car to offer his arm, helping her from the taxi. "You good?" His eyes flicked to her shoulder, no doubt noticing her pained grimace.
"Yeah, thanks. Life tip, don't get shot." She winced.
Owen hummed. "Mmm, I'll try my best."
Gwen took charge, Toshiko and Ianto took the back, the rest would take the front. As all four of them took out their guns, Hally suddenly felt very vulnerable. They had no idea what they were walking into and being unarmed seemed like a terrible idea. Perhaps she should have listened to Jack and stayed at the hub. Gwen gave Hally a look, a silent instruction to stay behind her. Hally returned a nod. They approached the bar, hovering just behind the doors. Voices floated through, one of them Jack's the other, the man from the hologram.
"It's good to see you. It was never the same without you." The stranger drawled.
"You need to go. I don't want you on my territory." Jack's voice was low, a challenge.
The other man didn't seem to take it as much of a threat, he laughed. "What? Time was you couldn't get enough of me on your territory."
The glass of the door they were hiding behind exploded, Gwen shoved Hally further behind her.
"All right, everybody out." The man clipped.
"Everything all right, Jack?" Gwen called over, edging them out from behind the door. Guns all trained on the man. Hally stayed close behind her, not fancying getting shot for the second time that day. The man looked between them all, a small patronising smile tugging at his lips. He was a little shorter than Jack, short cropped hair, high cheekbones. He was handsome, eyes sparkling dangerously. He was wearing some sort of military uniform, the red jacket in stark contrast to Jack's blue WWII coat.
"You've got a team. How sweet. Oh, pretty little friends. No blonde, though. You need a blonde." The man pouted, eyeing them all up slowly. "Oh, oh, do you have a team name? I love team names. Go on."
"Torchwood." Jack glared at him.
"Oh. Not Excalibur? Blizzard? Bikini Cops? No? Torchwood. Oh, dear." He pouted in disappointment.
Jack introduced his team, impatience heavy in his tone. "Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Hally… meet-"
"Captain John Hart." Hart smirked, giving Gwen a confident wink.
Jack bristled. "We go back."
John's face twisted into mock offence. "Excuse me. We more than go back. We were partners."
Ianto piped up. "In what way?"
John smirked, shooting Ianto a dark look. "In every way. And then some."
Jack exhaled. Trying to minimise damage. "It was two weeks."
"Except that two weeks was trapped in a time loop, so we were together for five years. It was like having a wife." John purred, eyes flashing possessively.
Hally's eyebrow cocked and as the two men quipped back and forth she fixed Jack with a meaningful stare. "Oh, so you've got a murderous psycho too?"
Jack's head whipped to her, his jaw clenching. "Shut it."
The corner of her mouth twitched in victory. However, her interjection won her the attention of the newcomer, who trailed his eyes over her unapologetically, it made her skin crawl. His gaze hovered for a second too long at her neck. "Oh, and what are you, gorgeous?
"Out of your league, darling." She snapped back quickly.
Jack smirked, before turning back to John. "What are you doing here?"
John narrowed his eyes but dragged his gaze back to Jack. "I was wondering when we'd get to that." He pulled back his sleeve, revealing his own wrist strap, similar to Jack's. As the pair grumbled about the sizes of their manipulators, John pulled up a holographic image. A columnar canister rotated in front of them. "I'm working with this woman. Beautiful, clever, sexy, yadda yadda yadda, and we both get shot. And as she's dying, she begs me. She tells me about these radiation cluster bombs she'd been working on."
Owen groaned. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Three canisters, contents beyond toxic, swallowed up in a rift storm."
Hally narrowed her eyes, she gave Jack a look of suspicion, if he picked up on it, he didn't react.
"...And ended up here." Toshiko finished for him.
John nodded. "Bingo. That's the downside of your city being built on a rift in space and time. Now, left to their own devices, the radiation will break down the canisters and then infect your people and planet. They need to be neutralised."
Jack straightened. "What do you get out of this?"
John shrugged. "Dying woman's wish. Now, there's only one problem. I don't know where they are. Hoping local knowledge might help."
Reluctantly, Jack agreed. The ride back to the Hub was tense, Jack drove them, definitely breaking many speed limits. Hart sat quietly next to him. Once or twice she felt his dark gaze turn back to her, eyes lingering on her neck.
Hart muttered something under his breath to Jack, it seemed to have an effect because Jack stiffened and growled something to his old friend.
Jack took John in through the scenic route, which meant Hally was allowed in the front door. Owen nodded her over towards his medical station as they entered, she followed.
"I'm going to assume you're in quite a bit of pain." He shot her a wry smile and Hally exhaled a tired laugh.
"Just a bit."
He grinned cheekily. "Well, take a seat. I'll work my magic."
Hally chuckled softly, shrugging off the coat. Owen grabbed a small silver device, it hummed with a neon blue light as it scanned her. His face tense with concentration.
"Hmm… metabolism is higher, heart rate… heart rates? Elevated. I'll give you a slightly stronger dose, not too much, we'll see how long it lasts and can adjust for next time." She let him ramble to himself, he didn't seem to expect her to answer him. He moved away and came back with a syringe. "Now for the fun bit." His eyes twinkled and Hally shook her head, unable to help the smile that curved her mouth. They worked together to pull back her top, moving the bandage just far enough out of the way so Owen could inject the contents of the syringe just above the wound. Hally grit her teeth together, the sting wasn't too bad.
He gave her a smile and pulled back. "Thank you." The sting subsided and a pleasant numbness crept across her chest and shoulder.
He hummed, a smirk on his lips. "Well, can't have you hobbling around after us. Cramps my style."
"God forbid." A weak laugh vibrated in her chest.
"Seven hours ago, we logged a minor surge in Rift energy across three locations." Toshiko explained. The whole team, plus Hally and John sat in the conference room of the Hub, making a plan to retrieve the canisters.
John shrugged. "Six of us, three locations, that's simple. Two people per canister."
Jack bristled. "Excuse me, I give the orders."
"Well, give some, big boy." Hart leant back into his chair, a challenge sparking behind his eyes.
Gwen cut in. "John's right. Sorry. Er, do you prefer John or Captain?"
"With eyes like yours, you can call me Vera, I won't complain." He purred.
Gwen smirked, ignoring the scandalous look he was giving her. "Tosh and Owen, take the north. Ianto and Jack go west. Me and Vera'll take the docks."
Jack's exhale was full of frustration. "Excuse me. Not to repeat myself."
"You got a problem with this, Jack?" Gwen rounded on him, glaring at him fiercely.
Jack's jaw flexed. "Not at all."
Hally frowned, looking between the team. She raised her arm in the air, demonstrating that she had something to say. Jack cocked an eyebrow. "You don't need to do that…" He muttered, indicating to her raised hand.
She lowered it, her gaze flicking from John, to Gwen and finally to Jack. "Right. Well. Just a thought. If we're 100% sure this man is a murderer, shouldn't we send two people with him?"
A deep growl rumbled in Hart's chest. "Are you volunteering?"
Her mouth curled into a snarl and she was about to shoot something back at him when Jack cut across her. "No, you're staying here."
She frowned, looking at him in surprise. "Why? Am I under house arrest?"
"No. You were shot 12 hours ago and you're mortal." Jack stressed, his eyes flashing with warning.
Hally was quickly running out of patience with him 'pulling rank' on her. "So are they…"
He clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth, shaking his head. "You're staying here. End of."
A heated silence hovered in the room as the pair glared at one another.
John cleared his throat, playing into the awkwardness. "Kinky…Now, given the canisters are radioactive, don't open them, eh?" He shot the team a lopsided grin.
Jack's attention snapped to Gwen as he ordered her to stay back while the rest of the team made to leave.
"Oh, can I watch this bit? He's gonna give you all the dos and don'ts. I love it." John crossed his legs, setting back to watch. Hally got to her feet but made no move to leave.
Jack shot John an impatient glare. "She'll be with you in a second."
John pouted and swaggered away to wait in the corridor.
Jack rounded on Gwen. "What the hell are you doing?"
"If I can get him talking, flirt a bit, he might drop his guard. I can find out what he's really up to."
Hally cocked an eyebrow, she had her own opinions on how stupid her plan was but decided now was not the time to raise them.
Jack exhaled but eventually gave in, he trusted her.
"Has he got on to the no kissing rule yet? He only invented that because he wants me all to himself." John drawled from out in the corridor. Jack and Gwen shared a look of understanding before Gwen strode from the room, taking John with her.
Hally looked up at Jack. "Seriously? This whole thing reeks of a trap."
Jack shook his head. "The faster we do this, the faster he leaves. I want him gone."
"Jack, I can help." Hally insisted.
Jack's face softened, he dropped the authority and moved round the table to stand in front of her. "I know you can…" A gentle exhale fell from his lips. "...but seriously, are you telling me you're not in agony?"
Her forehead scrunched and irritation flickered across her face. He wasn't wrong.
He hummed. "Sleep. Let yourself start to heal." He squeezed her good shoulder gently. "Let yourself stop…"
Hally inhaled sharply, empathy was swimming in his eyes. She rolled her jaw, looking away. "I'm fine."
Jack sighed knowingly. "You don't have to be so brave."
She huffed.
He squeezed her shoulder once more. "Rest. We won't be long." His hand lingered as he moved past her. Then he was gone.
And she was alone again.
With her face screwed into a permanent scowl, Hally traipsed her way back to the mess area, picking up Koschei's coat from Owen's medical station. She heavily dropped onto the sofa, pulling the coat up to her face. She inhaled. His scent. It wasn't fair. How his scent could linger even after he was gone. It just made it hurt more. Something, his was so close and yet she couldn't get to him. Hally tried to sleep, but every position she lay in was uncomfortable, every time she closed her eyes she was taken straight back to the bridge. The sound of the gunshot was ingrained in her mind. She shivered. After a while, she stopped trying. She picked at the last few slices of Jack's pizza.
She took The Master's phone and the Laser Screwdriver from his pocket. Nothing new had come in. She would need to go through everything soon enough. With the contents of his phone and UNIT's project files, she'd be able to find something. But not today. Today she was done. She turned the screwdriver over in her hand, the device hummed. The Doctor had said isomorphic controls, he'd been under the impression it would only work for The Master. However, Hally had a sneaking suspicion that Koschei had included her imprint into the mechanism. The memory flashed before her eyes.
Him.
The library.
Watching him concentrate as he'd tinkered.
It hurt.
She missed him.
His stupid smile.
Her chest heaved as she swallowed the emotion. She couldn't dwell on it. If she stopped to think about it she would break. And she couldn't fight to bring him back if she was broken.
No.
She shook away the feeling of hopelessness that was crawling up her back and focused. She could do this.
She was alone.
But she could do it.
She had to.
Hally fiddled with the screwdriver as she sat and waited for the team to return. It had so many settings. There were two round dials along the body, turning them seemed to alter the settings, the modes. When she held her finger over the activation button, the device hummed. She would need to find somewhere secure to test it. Jack wouldn't be happy if she blew a hole in the wall of his sewer, testing out the device that definitely wasn't supposed to work for her.
The siren wailed and Hally heard the door roll open. She got to her feet, perhaps one of the pairs had returned. She dropped the screwdriver and phone back into the coat pocket, throwing the item over the back of the sofa as she went to greet whoever it was. Secretly, she hoped it was Owen, she needed more of his painkillers.
Her body came to an abrupt stop, eyes focusing on the red jacket.
He was alone.
A dangerous smile curved his mouth when he saw her.
"Ah, yes. You…" His eyes glittered.