Chapter 30
"Time Lords! Can you believe our luck?" the agent next to the driver is cheering.
"You can say that, ", the man sitting behind him laughs. "no one is going to believe you were the one who spotted two Time Lords on our grounds", he mocks him.
"Enough!", protests. "You can make fun of me, Mossey, but I was hired by the Captain himself, you know?". Squeezed at the back of the SUV between the Doctor and one of the other two agents, I can't really see his face, but by his soft voice, I assume he's young and the victim of bullies. Like Mossey here.
"Don't believe you're so special", the guard next to me replies. "the Captain hired us all".
"Uh-uh. Not Ray" the driver corrects. "Ray was hired by Ritter himself".
"Lucky bastard. His family must have recommended him", Mossey laughs again.
"Hey!" the girl of the group blurts. "He wasn't recommended. They met randomly and Ritter asked him to join the Agency. I've heard the story at least a thousand times".
"Calm down, Carol", the driver insists. "No need to defend your boyfriend. As far as I know, the only other person to have received a personal invitation from Ritter to join the Agency was the Captain, so I guess he really did see something in him when they met".
"Whatever. I'm still waiting to see if he's worth it. Even the Captain picked him as his sidekick... can't really figure out what everyone sees in him", Mossey adds, giving Carol a nasty glance.
"Ehy! Stop it", she replies, annoyed. "We're all agents, so no need to pick on Ray, or Justin. We all got hired by someone, so what?".
"Yeah, we all got hired by someone, Carol. And some of us need girls to defend them", the driver says, chuckling. I make a mental note to kick his ass if I ever have the chance.
"Look, can we just forget about it and just be proud that we've captured two suspicious Time Lords without hints or outside help?", Justin the kid says, while the SUV finally stops.
I glance at the Doctor as the agents, still bickering, guide us from the parking lot directly to a corridor with cells. As usual, he looks more curious about the conversation than worried that we're being arrested for some crime nobody bothered to mention.
"Are handcuffs really necessary?", I ask to Mossey, wondering if I should instead just try to run. I have the feeling the Doctor is curious about the situation, since he's oddly silent.
Agent Mossey looks at the rest of his team, shrugging. "Yes, Lady", he chuckles, followed by the one who was driving. "Don't worry, I'm sure authorities will find your presence here rather... amusing and they'll deal with you soon". Was that a racist comment?
"Yeah", the driver adds. "Not sure if they'll move you to somewhere more... confortable, though", he laughs.
"Wait! You didn't even tell us what it is you're locking us up for!", the Doctor protests. "I'm sure we have the right to know!".
"Oh didn't you hear? Time Lords are no longer the bosses of anyone around here", he smirks, before something hits my head. All I register before losing consciousness is the Doctor's muffled cringe and something swirling in his direction too.
I wake up sometime later, with a bad headache and itchy wrists. I look down and I see the handcuffs. Curiously, they locked our hands on the front. Pretty sure it's safer to lock someone's arms at their back, but whatever. They didn't exactly look like top of the class, those agents.
"Were we really that loud?", I ask the Doctor, trying to rub the skin on my wrist under the metal handcuff.
"Oh, there's no shutting you down", he giggles bitterly from the other side of the cell. And I say cell, but it reminds more literally of an experimental cage. Also, the metal bench, too short for both our legs so that we're basically kicking each other, the concrete walls, the glass floor to ceiling window on the corridor are much too similar to the Torchwood cages to remind me of anything else. I guess Jack took his inspiration in interior design from here.
"We never got back for him", I say, looking at the tip of my toes, apologetically.
The Doctor's knee nudges my leg. I look up to an inquisitive face. I tilt my head, frowning: he doesn't have to pretend he doesn't understand, I know he knows what I'm talking about.
He looks at the ceiling. "Jack? You didn't exactly insist to go and visit him either".
"I know", I admit. "It's just... Would you have ever gone back for Martha if she wouldn't have called you?".
"Martha? What has Martha to do with..." He looks at me, dropping the question in mid-air. It's like he's slicing my brain, the way he looks at me, tormented to know what I'm thinking. One thing about telepathy? You don't really have to think of coherent sentences, thought is enough. Yet this room must be psychically shielded, because we have to speak to talk to each other. Which unfortunately means I have to actually choose, like, actual words.
"Look, I don't know how well you two and Jack know each other, and I have my share of guilt about what happened to him on the Valiant, but...", I finally sigh, "he kept your... severed hand... in a special jar for ages, just waiting for you to show up. Just hoping it would signal as soon as you came. Fast forward, the hand in the jar is in the Tardis console room, we almost break that blessed thing every single time we land, and it never occured to any of us to think about Jack. What kind of friends are we? Do all Time Lords just... leave people behind?".
He sighs. "Jack is different".
"Exactly. So don't give me a speech about how human life is short and you don't want to see people grow old, wither and die because that's not the case with him".
"When did I ever say that?", he replies too quickly. "Jack is different because he's... rogue".
"Rogue?", I repeat. "You still find him too wrong to be in his presence?".
"Rogue, I mean he's... mysterious, and unpredictable. I don't really know that much about him. And sometimes it's...", he pauses, his mouth still open as if looking for words. "And I insist, you didn't exactly rush to see him too. And I mean, you visited Chloe", he looks at me gravely.
"What does Chloe have to do with this?" I protest, frustrated. I suddenly miss telepathy, because I strongly feel all this would be easier to explain without words. Also, I want to wipe the smug satisfaction off the Doctor's face. I guess I just hate it when he thinks he's won an argument.
He's, of course, right. Did I ever think about Jack? Why didn't I go and see him?
"I tried to save him", the Doctor suddenly says. "I'm not sure if Jack can forgive me for that".
I blink. Vividly. "Jack wouldn't...". Ugh. I swear, sometimes I just hate it.
"Because that could have been your reason too. Not to plan any trip to Cardiff, I mean".
"Jack knows you'd try to save anyone, anytime. I'm sure he couldn't have been surprised when you tried-".
"He killed him every. single. day. Sometimes more than once a day. For a year. It's quite a... unique situation. Sure quite stressful for your levels of forgiveness".
I groan, running my hands over my face.
"Zoe?", the Doctor nudges my knee, again. "If it makes you feel any better, we can go straight to him as soon as we're out of here".
"Well", an agent suddenly says from the other side of the glass, typing with a frantic pace on the control keyboard. "I don't know where you're planning to go, but you'll have to come with us first". He glances sideways a couple of times, as if scared.
We both turn our heads. He's not one of the team who arrested us, but he's also wearing the field operation uniform. His darting eyes are black as darkness, and his hair looks creepily broomed, as if his life depended on any stray locks. He's young, but his behaviour doesn't seem entirely caused by inexperience: something else is going on here.
"Quick, come on!", he instructs, stepping through the gap left by the panel, as if he doesn't want the glass to slide entirely open. "Come on, let's go!", he insists, gesturing.
Puzzled, the Doctor shrugs and quickly jumps up, pulling my hand so I follow him.
The agent stops before a turn in the corridor and checks if anyone is coming our way before proceeding to an elevator door. He gestures for us to follow as soon as we're inside the cabin.
"So, I'm agent Ray", he says, rummaging through his pockets, finally pulling out two screwdrivers. One sonic, one laser. "I believe these are yours", he adds, giving them to us. Best rescue ever?
The Doctor sonicks the handcuffs off and holds my hand, gently caressing my sore wrist. We exchange a quick glance, puzzled, but almost sure we know what's going to happen when the elevator doors open. In fact, as we both predicted, Jack is waiting for us.
"Quick, we don't have much time", he says, ushering us to follow him. I take a step in his direction, while the Doctor halts, still holding my hand.
I follow his gaze on the opposite side of the empty corridor, empty if not for two people running away.
Two people as in a man with spiky hair in a long camel coat, and a woman who is surely not dressed at me but I'm pretty sure she's me anyway.
Two people who suddenly stop, turn around and stare at us.
"Who... what?" I hear the other me say, confused.
"Don't mind them. It's us in the future", the other Doctor says, winking at us.
I exchange another glance with the Doctor, who squeezes my hand, and we both nod gently at our other selves.
They nod back, although the other me is quite awkward about it, and they disappear around the corner.
"I'll fill you in on the plan as soon as we're out of here, I swear", Jack says, nudging us. "Come on".
I nod - can't I speak anymore?- and I follow him and Ray through an emergency door leading in an elevated parking lot.
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" I ask the Doctor, while a very bad feeling at the back of my mind starts rising up.
"Ooh, yes", he frowns, a little worried.
"That wasn't us", I add, my voice shaking.
"Well I was me, for sure, but you, ooh, no", he nods.
Guess who.
Wasn't I done with the headaches and the fainting? Because now, it really feels like I'm about to pass out for once more...
Hey pals. short chapter just to prove I'm still here and I should really stop whining about not getting any updates on the super lovely fics I'm following. Brace yourself for some timey wimey messed up plot. Hope you liked it!