Ficlet: Monsters

[bk_forever]

I’m way behind in posting my fan_flashworks challenge fics to my journals, so here’s the first, which also happens to be the only Torchwood one.

Title: Monsters

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Jack, mentions Torchwood

Rating: G

Word Count: 364

Spoilers: Mostly small ones for Day One, Small Worlds, Something Borrowed and bigger ones for Meat.

Summary: Which monsters are the most monstrous? Jack can’t decide.

Written For: Challenge 85 – Monsters at fan_flashworks

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.

The Rift brought them monsters of all shapes and sizes; Weevils, Hoix, Nostrovites, gaseous aliens that fed on orgasmic energy of all things. There was never a shortage. Some were intelligent, others were simply displaced creatures, hunting and killing by instinct. It didn’t make them any less monstrous or the carnage they left behind any less horrific, but their behaviour was at least comprehensible.

Then there were the creatures with whom humanity shared the planet. Exactly who the earth belonged to had at times been violently contested, especially between mankind and the Silurians, but there existed far worse monsters than even them, lurking outside of time. The Fae, the Mara; whatever label humanity gave them it did nothing to lessen the fear they could inspire. They were so far beyond human understanding that there could never be any reasoning with them. Quick to anger and lethal in the retaliation they meted out for crimes against themselves or their chosen ones, they were truly the stuff of nightmares.

And yet, Jack reflected, they were not the worst monsters Torchwood had ever faced. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Surely the true monsters were not the aliens with their often-unfathomable ways, but the humans who could look on something as miraculous and wonderful as this gentle, noble creature and see only a cash cow, something they could butcher for profit. They carved out and sold its flesh while it lived, not giving a thought for the suffering they were inflicting on an intelligent being that had never harmed a living soul, and they did it simply for the money.

There had been plenty of occasions when Jack had considered himself a monster, times when others had accused him of being soulless, heartless, the worst monster of them all and he’d agreed, ashamed of his own actions. Now he was faced with a choice: to slaughter these human monsters, as they deserved, or to let them continue to live out their lives with no memory of the last few months.

Once again he was faced with a choice he didn’t want to make. He just didn’t know which course of action would be the least monstrous.

The End

Comments

[milady-dragon.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was just great. Jack really is selfless in that he makes all those choices so others don't have to. He's not a monster, despite what Ianto once called him: he's actually the most human person in Torchwood, if you really think about it.

Jack didn't need Gwen to show him his humanity; he was already on intimate terms with it and didn't even realize it.

[bk_forever]

The problem is, because of the way other people react to the things Jack is forced to do, he sees HIMSELF as a monster. People tell you you're a monster often enough, you're gonna start believing they must be right.

I was reading Cry of the Space Whale when I wrote this, so that's where my inspiration came from. Thank you!

[too-beauty.livejournal.com]

I really love the way you describe Jack's insight about the subject, he really had a hard choice to make!

[bk_forever]

He really did. He knew people would think him a monster no matter what he did. Poor Jack.

Thank you!

[bluelilacs.livejournal.com]

Jack was always the one who had to make the difficult decisions, because he had to, because the others couldn't and wouldn't. He was the one who faced the others' wrath for the "choices" he had to make. Sometimes being in charge had to truly suck.

[bk_forever]

Being in charge means all the worst decisions fall into his lap, he can't shove them off on someone higher up the chain of command because there really isn't anyone. People say he's a monster and he can't disagree because he thinks they're right. A lot of the choices he has to make are monstrous, but NOT making them would have even worse results.

Thank you!

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

It's so easy to blame the person who makes the hard choices. But Jack's no monster, he's just the one that has to make those choices. I hate Gwen's "you've forgotten how to be human" crap. You show how it is to be Jack.

[bk_forever]

Thank you!

Gwen coasts along, having it easy because no one expects her to make the kinds of choices Jack can't avoid making. It's got to the point where Jack has become convinced that he IS a monster. People have told him he is for years, surely they can't all be wrong? He certainly FEELS like a monster.

We know that he's not, he's just doing what HAS to be done - if he didn't, the consequences would be so much worse. Gwen just thinks everything will work out fine because she's too naive to understand that they can't always save everyone, sometimes there are no good choices, all Jack can do is decide which choice would result in the fewest deaths.

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately humans are the really bad monsters and thats sad.

great story.

[bk_forever]

We have more to fear from each other than we do from aliens.

Thank you!

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

Ah, poor Jack! Everyone before me has said it all!

(Personally, I hope any intelligent species out there knows well enough to leave us alone, because I don't trust humanity to make good decisions when it comes to worlds other than our own!)

[bk_forever]

I agree. We're not ready to meet the other races, we're too young and selfish, too ready to fight. One day, if we don't destroy ourselvers first, we'll have grown up enough to be a part of the wider universe, but not yet.

Thank you!

[asia27.livejournal.com]

Another decision that takes a piece of Jack but humans tend to out-monster anything out there at the moment...

[bk_forever]

Jack hates to make these decisions, but he knows that no one else will so it's left to him.

Humans are the most monstrous creatures there are, but we can also be the most caring and compassionate, which gives me some hope.

Thank you!

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

Humans can be the worst monsters.
But Jack is not one of them.

[bk_forever]

He's not, but he's been told otherwise so often that he's started to believe he really is.

Thank you!

[awieatti.livejournal.com]

Humans are the most scary monsters, seriously. And probably the most dangerous ones, too!

[bk_forever]

More than likely. We have more to fear from each other than from aliens. It's sad that we are such a violent race.

Thank you.

[jedi-harkness.livejournal.com]

Great coda with Jack's POV. That 'So you do have a heart' line from Gwen always annoyed the crap out of me. Hello? How long have you been working with the guy? Wasn't the first time he tried to save an alien. He traveled with the Doctor, for fuck's sake! Okay, rant over. ;)

[bk_forever]

Gwen has no idea, because she thinks everyone should be like her, oozing false compassion to all the 'unfortunates', trying to make herself look good.

Jack's compassion is genmuine because it's born of empathy.

Thank you!

[black59.livejournal.com]

well described.
Unfortunately, humans can be monsters and they do not have the excuse of having no brains!

[bk_forever]

Sad but so true.

Thank you!