Fic: Back In The Game

[bk_forever]

Title: Back In The Game

Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Jack, mentions Ninth Doctor & Rose

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Doctor Who: Parting of the Ways.

Summary: Jack’s alone, deserted by the Doctor and Rose; he needs to survive long enough to find them again.

Word Count: 839

Written For: juliet316’s prompt ‘Torchwood, Jack Harkness, Back in the game,’ at fic_promptly.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.

He could hear the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising, but even though he ran as fast and as hard as he could, Jack knew he was going to be too late. After everything he’d done in order to buy the Doctor enough time to carry out his plan, the one person he trusted and respected more than anyone in all of time and space was leaving him behind.

There was only one possible explanation; the Doctor and Rose believed him to be dead, exterminated, reduced to dust, not even a body left to cart away for burial. By all rights, he should have been; the Dalek had fired at him from practically point-blank range. The pain had been like nothing he’d ever experienced, he’d been certain that he was dying, and yet here he was, alive. Had the Dalek misfired somehow? Had he only been caught by the edge of its extermination ray? There had to be a logical explanation for the fact that he was still alive; obviously he couldn’t have been killed because people don’t die and come back to life, that wasn’t possible.

Confused, bewildered, panting harshly from his mad dash, he stumbled into the room on floor 500 where he’d left the Doctor working on his plan to destroy the Daleks with a Delta Wave, just in time to watch the TARDIS fade out of sight. He stopped dead, staring, the last tiny shred of hope he’d been clinging onto disintegrating to ashes, just as the Daleks apparently had. He was alone.

Jack searched the Game Station from top to bottom and back again, every single floor, every room, every closet, but all he found were piles of Dalek dust and the bodies of the deceased. He mourned the dead as he collected them, taking them to the lowest level; the brave souls who had stood beside him as the Doctor’s last line of defence, and all the innocents who had blindly refused to believe they were in any danger.

None of them had deserved to die, so why did he deserve to live? What made him so special that he’d survived while the lives of every other person aboard had been ripped from them? Their futures, their hopes, their dreams, their ambitions, all snatched away in an agonising instant, victims of the Daleks’ ruthless need to destroy all forms of life except their own. It wasn’t fair; not to them, and not to him, left alone to face an uncertain future.

With nobody left to monitor and maintain the systems that kept the station running, it wouldn’t be long before it started to shut down. Lighting, heat, ventilation, water filtration and recycling, food production; everything needed to support life would gradually stop working, and then he’d really be in trouble. He could manage for a while by diverting as much as possible to just one floor, sealing it off and shutting everything else down, it would buy him some time but it would only be delaying the inevitable. If he couldn’t get off the station he’d become just one more body in a vast mausoleum, adrift in space. It wasn’t a pleasant thought.

Nevertheless, he did what was necessary in order to conserve power, and salvaged as much food and drink as possible. He needed to sustain himself while he tried to figure out a way to escape the station. The transmat was of no use; it had been badly damaged during the Dalek invasion, and even if he could restore it to working order, he couldn’t be sure where it might send him. He either had to wait and pray for rescue, which seemed unlikely, or try to fix his vortex manipulator in the hope that it would have enough reserves of power to teleport him down to the planet below. One way or another, he was going to find a way to escape this bleak, empty place that still seemed to echo with the screams of the dying.

The plan worked, after a fashion, but his VM burnt out, leaving him stranded again. At least now he was on earth, where air, food, and water weren’t in such short supply. Somehow he’d survived his uncontrolled crash to the planet’s surface; he hadn’t really expected to but he’d take whatever luck he could get, especially considering that being alive was the only thing he had going for him at that moment.

He was on the right planet, but he was stuck way back in the mid-nineteenth century. Jack Harkness was a stubborn man though, and he wasn’t about to give up so easily. The one thing he knew for sure was that at some point the TARDIS, would need refuelling, and there was a Rift in time and space conveniently situated in Cardiff, where she could get all the vortex energy she needed. All he had to do was settle in there and wait as patiently as he could for his Doctor to find him, and then he’d get back in the game.

The End

Comments

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

Poor Jack; he deserved better than to be left behind like that. And the immortality must've been such a shock at first. I'd love to be immortal, but not the way he has it.

[bk_forever]

Yeah, poor Jack just didn't understand any of it. They abandoned him and he had no idea why. He didn't even know what had happened to him.

I don't think I'd want to be immortal, certainly not the way I am. If I could have perfect health, then I wouldn't mind living a hundred years or so without ageing, but losing loved ones would be so hard.

Thank you.

[thepeachymonkey.livejournal.com]

Great story! My heart broke for Jack when he got left behind, and I often wondered what was going through his mind after. Thanks for providing this perspective.:)

[bk_forever]

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!

It must have been a really confusing and scary time for him, not knowing what had happened to him or why he'd been left, just realising he was the only person left alive and having to find a way to escape the game station.

[thepeachymonkey.livejournal.com]

Indeed. And I noticed a definite darkness to him from his time on Doctor who to Torchwood (which works, since TW was a darker show), and that experience obviously played a big part in it.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

Poor Jack. Shame on the Doctor. Giving Jack a hard time for being immortal when it was Rose's fault.

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

And even when he found his doctor again he didnt really want to help, poor Jack.

Great fic.

[bk_forever]

I think that must have been a conscious decision on the part of the writers and one of the things they got right. All of Jack's experiences since joining Torchwood would have contributed to his darker persona, because he went through a lot and was just a plaything at first, then an employee, then he had to take charge after the millennium... He didn't have it easy. Plus, he had to adjust to dying and coming back to life. The Doctor never gave a thought to how hard it was all going to be for Jack.

[thepeachymonkey.livejournal.com]

I agree. It makes sense.And it's nice to see that, at least with that, they followed through with some good development in the character narrative.

[bk_forever]

I know! That was the most heartless and callous act the Doctor ever committed, and against a man who practically idolised him.

Thank you.

[bk_forever]

It was just most of the other characters who got left on the backburner with little to do and not a lot of development. And Gwen, who got an awful lot to do with no development whatsoever.

[bk_forever]

I know! I could not understand how the Doctor could be so cruel when Jack's condition was at least partly his fault. Jack deserved better.

Thank you.

[thepeachymonkey.livejournal.com]

That's true. Ianto, Tosh and Owen certainly had fascinating stories that could have been told, but they were passed over in favor of giving Gwen screen time. I'll never understand why the show spent so much time on such an unlikable character.

[bk_forever]

Neither did I, especially considering how boring her life away from Torchwood was when they could have been concentrating on the interesting stuff. There were so many stories tyhat could be told.

[thepeachymonkey.livejournal.com]

Yep. Definitely a lot of waste potential with this show.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

The Doctor has the habit of leaving people behind. Wheather he wants to or not.

[bk_forever]

That's very true, but at least he usually leaves them somewhere civilised among other living people. Jack was all alone.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I don't like when the Doctor does it willingly because its so harsh. That's why it's hard to feel sorry for him when his all sad about leaving someone behind. Rose is one example.

[bk_forever]

Yeah, he's fine when he's the one doing the leaving, but when he has no choice he kicks up a fuss.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

I have a love-hate relationship with the Doctor. Specifically with Ten. Not so much with Eleven or Twelve.

[bk_forever]

Yeah, me too. I mean Ten is fun, but he can drive me crazy too by being so mean and thoughtless. He's supposed to be super evolved, but...

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

...theres a darkness in him that is behind the hyper/friendly persona?

He needed someone, like Donna to knock some sense into him.

[bk_forever]

There is, and its there in every regeneration, it's a part of him, but in Ten it seemed closer to the surface. He was a bit more unstable than usual.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

Makes me wonder how stable the Duplicate Doctor is. He is part "Donna" though.

[bk_forever]

Probably a lot more stable and level-headed thanks to the influence of the Donna part!

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

Ten: That's me when we first met.

The Duplicate Doctor was suppose to be like Nine because he was willing to use a gun. Except his "pretty" now. I can imagine Rose getting annoyed with him for using Donna's catchphrases like "Oi"! and "Wizard".

[bk_forever]

I thin Ten already used 'Oi!' didn't he?

I think the duplicate would be a character in his own right because of the mix. I might even like him better than Ten because he's got the best bits of Ten and Donna.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Donna said it with more empathis. Although when the Duplicate Doctor kept saying it, Donna told him to "stop it".

Thats a common term Ten used so maybe they were more alike then they realised.

My lasting memory is of Rose running towards the TARDIS after she kissed the Duplicate.

The Duplicate was not long ago saying how disgusting it was to have only one heart.

They would have to get over a few issues first.

I didn't like the resolution to Rose's storyarch because I don't believe she deserves a Doctor of her own.

I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record.:(

[bk_forever]

Well, Rose is going to have to accept that the duplicate really isn't the Doctor in anything except looks and a few mannerisms. I suspect he's a lot more human than Time Lord, and probably a better partner for a human than a Time Lord would be. Nevertheless, Rose is too immature for a proper relationship with anyone. Maybe if she just grew up a bit it would be different, but I can't see that happening.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

The Doctor knew Rose wasn't going to quit domesticating him and after she use the dimension canon which was dangerous.

At least they can't write this story line ever again.

[bk_forever]

Which is a relief!

The Doctor does not want or need domesticating!