TW 2507: Not-So-Silent Hell

[Deleted]

Well – something wasn't right here. John had expected this area to be a happening hub, hookers lining the streets and barterers opening out their dirty palms with black market objects for a quick sale. Instead, John found himself to be wandering down a road. It seemed to be quite unusual for his Vortex Manipulator to pull him from his intended destination, and upon pausing for a moment to get a reading of where he actually was – he discovered he was on Earth, in the year 2507.

Ah well, could be worse.

The rift energy faded around him once he had fully become immersed in his surroundings. Then, he looked around.

Yes... could be worse.

There was a police station up ahead with a familiar looking car parked out the front of it. He walked forward a few more steps with a mindset to examine the car and leave the police station alone for now, when suddenly gunfire changed that mindset. Bolting across the road and up the rickety stairs to the police station, John heard the clattering of bullet casings hitting the timber floors and the bullets themselves destroying what appeared to be furniture. He drew out his own pistol, cocking it, and pressed himself against a wall as he turned his head slightly with an anticipation to drive a bullet into the back of the gunslinger.

Lowering his gun slowly, John's eyes noticed the rear stripes upon the shoulders of a very familiar looking jacket, and the tall broad shouldered figure firing his gun at furniture as John had earlier suspected. Shaking his head, he holstered his weapon and grabbed Jack by the scruff of his coat, turning him around to face him.

He kissed Jack fiercely and passionately, his warm lips sending pulses through John's body. God, no one could kiss like that man. Breaking apart from the kiss, John then sent a fist to Jack's nose, allowing the taller man to fall backward into the chair he had been sitting in.

“Get a hold of yourself!” John growled, grabbing Jack by the lapels of his jacket and punching him again. “What the hell were you doing, wasting bullets on a chair?”

But, looking into his former lover's dark eyes, he clearly saw that something had spooked him.

And that, was an unusual sight for Captain John Hart to see in the eyes of Captain Jack Harkness.

(( Bugs gave me permission to control Jack. ))

[Captain Jack Harkness]

Step by step, the spectral child advanced.

Jack did his best to back away, his heart pounding painfully in his chest as he fired his gun over and over. But the white mist closed in like walls around him, blinding him and slowing his retreat until he barely seemed to be moving. The mocking laughter burned like acid in his ears and the small white hands reached for him...wanting him, needing him, determined to take him and drag him down...

Without warning, something seized him violently by the back of his coat. A flash of red movement exploded bewilderingly in his eyes, highlighted in startling vibrancy against the swirling cloud of white. Then a hard mouth covered his in hot, arrogant, very familiar sexual demand. Before he could react, a fist connected powerfully with his jaw, sending him sprawling backwards into a nearby chair. Stars whirled madly in front of his eyes.

Someone was standing in front of him. Not a ghost, not a phantom. Someone real and very substantial. Fighting to clear his vision, he saw a man with closely-cropped light brown hair, a hard, arrogant face and amused eyes. The kind of eyes that stayed amused even when their owner was beating someone up with a baseball bat or throwing them off a twenty-storey building. He was wearing a short, bright red Hussar's jacket with a black collar and cuffs, decorated with elaborate, horizontal gold braid and polished buttons. The jacket hung open, revealing a tan-coloured T-shirt, stretched tight over a muscular chest. A leather gun-belt was looped twice around his narrow waist, in the same style as those worn by gun-fighters in the American Old West on Earth, with a holster swinging low from each hip, supporting two lethal 51st century blaster pistols. A gleaming Samurai sword from feudal Japan hung at his back within easy reach. Some worn, well-fitting, dark denim jeans and a pair of high, Italian leather boots completed the look.

“Hart!” Jack rasped disbelievingly. “What-?”

“Get a hold of yourself!” John growled, grabbing Jack by the lapels of his jacket and punching him again. “What the hell were you doing, wasting bullets on a chair?”

Furiously, driven by his own unaccustomed fear, Jack catapulted to his feet, instinctively pile-driving his own fist into his ex-partner's smirking face. “Can't you see her, you stupid asshole? She's right there!”

But even as he struck out at John, he suddenly realised that the eerie mist had completely disappeared, and the room was now crystal clear, all the desks and tables neatly in place where they had been before. Of the advancing phantasm, there was no sign at all, as if the creepy child had never been there in the first place.

Turning on the spot, his coat flaring out around his ankles, Jack raked his surroundings with an incredulous gaze.

Normal...everything utterly normal...

“What the hell....?”

[Moira Blake]

"Hey," Moira called, carefully releasing her grip on the pistol. "You must be Diane." Same voice, muttered a part of her mind. "I'm Moira. Nice to meet a fellow agent."

"Yes, I'm Diane," the brunette replied, managing a weak smile. "It's very nice to meet you, Moira."

"Likewise," she grinned back. "A pity it couldn't be under better circumstances. What brings ye here, though? I'd believed I was the only survivor of the Canary..."

Gunfire. Muffled and disttorted by the fog but still clearly gunfire. Moira wheeled, pistol half raised, looking around.

"I think that may have been my boss..." Diane grimly mentioned while her eyes scanned the outlaying area. "Captain Jack Harkness," she clarified. "We got separated back at the police station... I hope he's alright..."

"Harkness?" Moira laughed, startled. "Undying Jack himself?" More laughter. "I should've known he'd not have died. But it's a wonder, still, to know he's about."

The heavy fog seethed about like leperous wolves, held at bay by the burning metal of the BP sign. She stared, eyes flickering and dancing like green coals, as she carefully lowered her noetic defenses and...

...and...

...and, with a cry, threw them back. Shuddering, she tried to throw off the sensation of worms crawling on her scalp. "Uhm..." she managed, "I've... I've got no idea which direction he is. Would ye happen to have his number?"

[Diane Holmes (Retired)]

"Harkness?" Moira laughed, startled. "Undying Jack himself?" More laughter. "I should've known he'd not have died. But it's a wonder, still, to know he's about."

Of course, Diane knew about Jack's seeming inability to die and stay dead. She'd first met him five hundred years ago - though, it'd only been less than a year for the aviatrix.

She hadn't a clue, however, what Moira had been marveling at: that Canary-thing she'd started to mention, before the gunshots rang out and interrupted them.

She couldn't have known about the Battle of Canary Wharf, though, as that disastrous day came a few months before the Rift brought the Sky Gypsy and her passengers from 1953, to the very end of 2007.

Lucky her. Seriously.

Diane gave the other Torchwood agent a confused smile and sort of tilted her head.

"I gather you two go back a ways?" she inquired, relieved that the other woman seemed to view Jack as a friend, rather than a rival - or worse, an enemy.

Still within the oppressive fog, Diane caught a strange glint - more like a searing glow - within Moira's bright green eyes.

And then, that verdant smoulder was gone. Diane thought she must have imagined it and wrote it off as a trick of the light reflecting oddly off of the water vapor within the fog.

"Uhm..." she managed, "I've... I've got no idea which direction he is. Would ye happen to have his number?"

"Oh!" Diane exclaimed, feeling a bit silly. Why hadn't she thought of that? The radio comm device was, essentially, useless in this fog, but perhaps she might be able to get a mobile signal...

"Yes! I'll just ring him on his mobile," she said, reaching into her pocket and fishing out a sleek little device a bit more advanced than the cell phones of the 21st century.

Good thing Diane was a quick learner... Cell phones hadn't existed where she'd come from - the very idea of a telephone that one could carry around with them and use anywhere would have been surely laughed at in 1953.

She hit the speed dial for Jack and held the device to her ear. It was ringing, but the call didn't seem to have made a very good connection. The other end of the line sounded so very far away... kind of like it was underwater, or something... and the static was atrocious.

[Deleted]

“The only thing I saw was you shooting up that chair.” John growled, clearly concerned for his lover's well being. He dodged a rogue punch that reminded him of a drunken lover's quarrel, and did his best to steady his friend. “Calm the hell down, Jack. What have you been smoking? You should know it's bad for you.” John joked. “Rehab is just an excuse for a holiday anyway.” Trust him to change the topic at hand.

Finally, Jack appeared to be seeing the room in a new light. “Okay. Now that you have returned to reality, can you please explain to me what the hell is going on, and who is this she you were talking about? Are you cheating on me?”

In all honesty, John could have ended up in worse places – but, right now, he was just as confused as his lover. What had caused Jack to get so frightened?

As silence fell between the pair, Jack's mobile phone started to ring.

[Captain Jack Harkness]

“The only thing I saw was you shooting up that chair.” John growled. “Calm the hell down, Jack. What have you been smoking? You should know it's bad for you...Rehab is just an excuse for a holiday anyway.”

Blinking incredulously, Jack rubbed at his eyes and glared around him. Had it all been a hallucination then? The mist? The child? If Hart hadn't seen anything, it was the only possible explanation. But every sense he possessed screamed in denial at the idea. It had seemed so damn real!

“Okay. Now that you have returned to reality, can you please explain to me what the hell is going on, and who is this she you were talking about? Are you cheating on me?”

Ignoring Hart's suggestive tone, Jack raised a trembling hand and pointed, his mind still trying to adjust to the empty space. “There was a child there...right there...with long, dark hair...dressed in a white nightdress. The room was full of mist. She kept saying we should leave, because the darkness is coming...”

Suddenly remembering, he broke off abruptly, whirling in a frantic circle with the gun still held defensively in his hand. “Where's Diane?” he snarled at Hart urgently, feeling an inexplicable surge of anger, as if his ex-partner was the one to blame for all of this. “What happened to her?”

At that moment, his mobile phone started to ring, the sound shrill in the tension-laden air. Snatching it out of his pocket, Jack stared at the caller-ID, relieved beyond measure to see that it was his Torchwood colleague.

Flipping it open, he snapped into the handset, “Diane! Where are you? What in God's name is going on?” In response, a wave of static assaulted his eardrum, crackling like a living thing over the phone line. “Diane! DIANE!”

[Moira Blake]

"Harkness?" Moira laughed, startled. "Undying Jack himself?" More laughter. "I should've known he'd not have died. But it's a wonder, still, to know he's about."

"I gather you two go back a ways?" Moira asked, giving her a slight smile.

"Nae. But nae by choice, ye ken. It's quite a ways back I'd be willin' tae go wit' Evergreen Jack." She grinned and winked at that. "But we've both been with Torchwood fehr about the same time, an' I know him by reputation."

The heavy fog seethed about like leprous wolves, held at bay by the burning metal of the BP sign. She stared, eyes flickering and dancing like green coals, as she carefully lowered her noetic defenses and...

...and...

...and, with a cry, threw them back. Shuddering, she tried to throw off the sensation of worms crawling on her scalp. "Uhm..." she managed, "I've... I've got no idea which direction he is. Would ye happen to have his number?"

"Oh!" The other agent checked her pockets, clearly looking for her phone. She looked a little guilty about not having thought of that herself.

Moira shrugged. With the fog and the malevolence it contained seething and stalking around, she wasn't going to ride someone else for being spooked.

"Yes! I'll just ring him on his mobile," she said, reaching into her pocket and fishing out a sleek little device a bit more advanced than the cell phones of the 21st century.

"Sounds like a plan," Moira agreed, cheerfully. Well, as cheerfully as she could manage. Then, while listening to Diane's phone ring, she drew her pistol and settled in to wait.

[Diane Holmes (Retired)]

“Diane! Where are you? What in God's name is going on?” In response, a wave of static assaulted his eardrum, crackling like a living thing over the phone line. “Diane! DIANE!”

"Jack! ...Jack?!" Diane called into her mobile, as if being loud would compensate for all the static interference.

It didn't, though.

"Jack! Where are you?" she questioned, hoping that somehow, at least some of what she was saying was getting through to him.

"We heard a gunshot..."

Diane looked to Moira and shrugged her shoulders.

"The connection's rubbish," she commented, letting the other woman know that she wasn't having much luck. "But, he's out there... Somewhere..."

Yet, Diane persevered and continued to hold the little phone up to her hear, straining to hear her boss' voice above the static.

[Deleted]

Had Jack been taking some sort of hallucinogenic drug? John looked in the direction of the chair Jack had previously shot at while he went on explaining about a little girl warning about the darkness. Jack's hand was trembling, and in all the years John had known him this was an entirely worrying situation to witness. He started to speak, but was quickly cut off as Jack snarled at him.

“Diane.. Diane...” He'd had the 'pleasure' of meeting several Diane's over recent weeks, but none in the last hour. “Haven't done a thing to her. Not yet, anyway. Why? Is she any good?”

Another interruption. Jack answered his mobile phone and started to shout the same name into the device, John suddenly slapped the back of his neck as he felt a breath of cold wind against it, followed by a giggle disappearing into the distance. “What the hell!” He spun in a tight circle and nearly lost balance, reaching down to one of his throwing knives from his boot and tossing it into the direction of the voice. The knife smashed a computer screen and sparks flew as the Time Agent breathed quickly and heavily. ”Something was standing behind me. I normally appreciate it when someone is behind me, but... it was... cold.”

Drawing one of his pistols from his right holster, John cocked the weapon and slowly walked to where his knife had destroyed the computer screen. He yanked it from the shattered plastic and returned it to his boot. Ignoring his partner screaming down the end to try and get in touch with this 'Diane', John rounded a corner.

Before him stood a figure he hadn't seen since his youth.

“Mother?” He squeaked, lowering the pistol.

[Captain Jack Harkness]

Jack couldn't hear a word over the phone through the intense static. He couldn't even tell if Diane was actually on the other end, or if this was just another trick of the mind.

When he looked up, Hart had gone too. Jack blinked, disoriented and unsure what was real. Had his ex-partner really been here? Or was that too a hallucination? But the ache in his jaw where John had punched him was very real, as was the graze on his own knuckles where he had hit the other man back. No, as improbable as it seemed, Hart was somewhere in the building.

Another soft giggle sounded from behind him, and then a sound like several children whispering together, the words muted and indistinct. The hair on the back of Jack's neck stood on end. Pocketing his useless mobile phone, he tightened his grip on his gun, his eyes narrowed in anger. Hart suddenly turning up here could hardly be a coincidence. Whatever the malevolent force was that was controlling this town, it obviously wanted to play games.

But the first rule Jack had learned as a Time Agent was that if you don't like the rules of the game – you simply changed them.

Hart was more than capable of looking after himself. Jack's loyalty was to his team, which meant his top priority had to be to find Diane. And standing around here wasn't going to achieve that. Making up his mind, he strode across to the outer door and wrenched it open, before heading out into the mist-shrouded darkness of the town.

[Amelia Pond]

((OOC: As we will be without John until August (unless John is picked up by someone else before then), I am locking this thread until such a time as we may continue it. However, we could sort out how to write him out, if we'd prefer to continue without him -- if that's the case, please drop me a PM, and I'll unlock this, ok?))