Captain Jack Harkness

"If it's all the same," said Dale, giving Joe's wise, if colorfully delivered, words a nod, "I think it would be prudent to stick together, all things considered."

Whether it was all the same or not, in fact, Dale intended for none of them to stray far from the flock.

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"Yeah, you should know what you're signing on for," Jack agreed. "So...what is it, John? Theft? Certain death? I know it's not just a shopping trip. I mean, how do you even know it's there for sure?"

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"...I might have left it there when I couldn't get it myself," John admitted, taking a sip from his beer. "See, I was running this innocent little scam, just for a bit of fun, when I got this signal- It was like something was trying to contact me. I ran a quick scan for tech and it led me to a Cayvalgh Code Stone. That's like a translator," he explained to Jack's companions, his whole attitude changing as he seemed to become more open and friendly. Too focused on his story to be a real threat.

"Except, as Jack here already knows, it's not just any old translator. Anyone within 500 feet of it will suddenly find themselves fluent in over ten thousand languages. In the future they're completely common, fantastic at airports and hotels- but if you introduce something like that to Earth too soon..."

He trailed off and let out a sigh. "I couldn't tell you how it got there, and I couldn't retrieve it on my own. It's turned into a huge tourist attraction. I need someone to help me get it out of there, and set it up so it all looks like a hoax. ...Oh, and, uh, there's one tiny complication. ...Two, actually. The first is that I might have murdered three of the guards the first time I tried to get it, and am now a wanted man. And the second is- well, there are actually two stones. I just can't work out where the other is exactly. I've got a signal, but it leads nowhere."

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"You did what?" Logan asked, staring at the stranger and then looking at Jack, silently begging him to say no.

This was a bad idea, he could feel it.

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"Fuck off," Joe said finally, done with playing around, done with snide remarks and stupid comments. "Just fuck off. Are you fucking serious? This is bullshit and we're not going anywhere with you."

Looking at Jack, meeting his gaze for maybe the first time since he'd punched him in the face, Joe said, "We're not going with him if he's killed three people. That's fucking stupid."

More than that, he wasn't about to let Logan or Dale end up in danger like that. He didn't give a shit about himself, but there were certain people he had to look after.

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"I'm certainly not going anywhere unarmed," said Dale. It could be said - and had be said, by him - that he was never truly unarmed when anything was within arm's reach, and Dale was good at using what was at hand, but he felt it was clear what he meant.

His eyes stayed on John, and never strayed.

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"Okay, okay, wait," Jack said, holding up his hand. So maybe John had gotten better at the temptation spiel. There were some gaping holes in the story, which just made Jack shake his head.

"You fucking lunatic," he drawled. "You're really trying to run a Butterfly Effect con on me? On me? You've got to be joking. And with a story like that, you can't possibly think I'd bring them along on that sort of a mission. If even half of it is true, you're screwed. I'm assuming they know you're face, since you're...you. You do subtle like a bomb, you always have. No. The answer is no."

With that, Jack pushed his chair back and stood up, gesturing to the door.

"We're leaving. Find another mark, captain," he sneered, then looked at Joe. "We can get food anywhere, Joe. Let's go."

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John stayed where he was, watching as they filed out of the pub and turned the corner.

He wondered, briefly, if Jack was simply pushing him back so he'd drag him along. Too much of a coward to argue with his companions, but aware that enough shoving would only end with him doing what John wanted. That was just how it went..

He waited just long enough for them to hit the ally before following, his footsteps silent as he drew his gun and aimed.

The bullet hit Jack in the back of the head, and before the body had even dropped, he was behind the boy, his gun against his scalp as he held him tight, appearing oblivious to the boy's struggles and the gore he'd left behind.

"You really should have just agreed to come," he told Joe, pressing the button on his strap and waving goodbye with his gun, before vanishing with Logan in tow.

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The sound came out of nowhere, and all Logan saw was blood before the stranger grabbed him and pulled him tight against his chest.

He could feel the cold metal of the gun, but all he could see was Jack laying face down on the ground. Dead. Lifeless.

He shouted and struggled, not to get free, but to get closer to his fallen husband, and he heard nothing John said as he tried to free himself, shouting Jack's name as his world slowly fell apart.

...He hardly even seemed to be aware of his own peril.

And then he was gone. Just... gone.

Edited Date: 2009-09-10 02:33 am (UTC)

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Joe wasn't a huge fan of guns. Between his own and the one Logan had had on the island, he'd pretty much had enough of them and when Jack pulled one, the first thing he tried to do was grab Logan. He missed, though, and as he pushed back against Dale, trying to get them both out of the way, Logan was dragged away from them, then just fucking disappeared.

"What the fuck?" he burst out, looking from Jack to where Logan had disappeared, wondering if there was anything he could do about any of it. Jack looked dead, but Logan was with that fucking psycho.

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Dale was nothing if not good in a crisis. Everything happened too fast for either him or Joe to do anything about it, but nothing was over yet. He just hoped that this was really Jack's actual world, and not just a facsimile like the island, where the rules of Jack's existence wouldn't hold.

"Check to see if they left anything behind," said Dale, and hoped that even if Joe wasn't good at taking orders, Dale's instruction would give him something constructive to do. "Then help me move Jack out of sight."

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There was nothing. He'd been walking with the three men and then he'd heard a pop- a far too familiar sound- and then there was just nothing. No pain, no fear, no sensation of his life draining away. It was just over.

Over for a few minutes, at least. A few very long minutes.

There was a sensation that he'd been stretched, overstretched, and a moment later he was rocketing back to consciousness like a rubber band or a spring. He gasped loudly and lifted up from where he lay, looking at Joe and Dale with wide eyes and and open mouth. He could feel blood on his face still wet from where the wound had been, but that was gone and he was...

He was fine.

"What happened?" he asked, as stunned at the fact that he was alive as he'd been on the satellite when Rose had brought him back. It took a second to register that it was just the three of them, and that was a more pressing issue than what had or hadn't happened. Knowing John, he had a fair idea of why he was on the ground with blood on his face. That didn't matter- he wasn't dead. He wasn't dead, and Logan was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Logan? What happened?"

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For a second, Joe thought he was going to be sick. There was nothing on the ground left behind and then Jack was moving. Not only moving, but talking and people who'd been shot in the head didn't fucking move or talk.

Unless they shot themselves in the head and ended up on an island, but that wasn't the fucking point.

"He's gone," he said, because what the fuck else was he going to say?

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When Jack began talking and moving under his own power, Dale reached for his next priority: Joe.

"John shot you and then took Logan with him, wherever he went with his device," he said to sum up, at least giving the outward appearance of calm and collected. "If he was telling us the truth earlier, that may give us a place to begin in our search, so to speak. What do you think, Jack?"

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Leave it to Dale to be clear and to the point. He couldn't fault Joe for the two word response...he could see on the man's face how he felt. Jack felt just about the same way.

"Yeah," he agreed as he got to his feet and flipped open his wrist strap. A few quick taps of the buttons told him nearly nothing.

"He covered his tracks," he said with a shake of his head. "All we've got to go on is 1867. I...I guess it can't hurt to go see. If the stone is there, the signal will be clear upon arrival."

He didn't hold much hope that John had simply gone on ahead like some fucked up game of tag...with kidnapping.

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Trying for words, the only thing Joe managed was a frustrated, exasperated sort of sigh and he threw up his hands before looking at Dale. This entire situation had gone from slightly fucked up to being far too fucked up for his liking, but there wasn't a hell of a lot they could do. They had to get Logan back, that much was obvious.

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Dale just kept Joe close by, trusting no one else to watch out for him but himself.

"Jack," he said, "I will back you up to the best of my ability, but I think we need to put this one in your hands. This is your playing field, and you're the one who knows the rules here. We'll follow your lead."

He felt that 'keep the civilian safe' needn't be said. Especially when said civilian was Joe.

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"Okay. Okay...jut let me think for a minute," he replied. His adrenaline was pumping and his thoughts were jumbled. If they went to the stone, it would mean Joe and Dale would have to blend. Americans in Victoria's London wouldn't exactly be inconspicuous. Joe was the poster child of what an Agent was supposed to avoid. Dale...Dale would pass, given the right clothing.

Maybe they could just get Joe a hat.

But if John had been lying, it would be a wasted trip. If there was no stone, or if there was simply something else he had wanted...

And then there was the fact that he had Logan and a Vortex Manipulator. They could be anywhere and anywhen.

"Shit," he hissed under his breath. "What I need is a computer. What I need is..."

Torchwood.

"Torchwood One is here in London somewhere, I think. With my Manipulator, once we find him we can arrive on his metaphorical heels. It'd be better if we were in Cardiff, although that would be a hard one to explain- And there's the whole taboo of crossing your own timeline and the risk of touching and all that would just be a mess..." He was rattling on and when he realized it, he stopped abruptly.

"Right. Torchwood One. Pinpoint the artron trail. Go get Logan. Sounds like a plan. You in?"

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Joe just shot Jack a withering glare, because that was the stupidest fucking question he could have asked. You in? Of course he was fucking in, because Logan was the one they had to go after and Logan was the one who mattered.

"Yeah," he said flatly, looking to Dale again. "Yeah, of course we're fucking in, right?"

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"You say that as if there were any other rational options, Jack," said Dale. "Of course we're in. But I'm afraid I'm not as much help as I might've been under different circumstances. We'll do what needs to be done, but you're goint to have to continue to lead the way."

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Jack...did not relish the idea of being a leader. He'd seen enough of the reels to know that once he went down that path, he was that much closer to becoming the man he'd seen and wasn't all that fond of. However, in this case it seemed it was pretty much unavoidable.

"Okay then. Let's go."

It wasn't long before Jack found a car- 'just to borrow' he promised- and he'd found the building that had once been Torchwood. It was one of few times he was grateful for the detailed shots of the city in the reels. He made idle conversation outlining what little plan he had, hoping the others would be up to this. One of the first things he intended to do was get them armed.

What had once been an entire corporate machine was now limited to just a few floors. Jack was recognized instantly and his psychic paper did the rest. Mr. Cooper and Mr. Dick were introduced around, but Jack wasn't interested in hellos and how's your familys. He just wanted the tech.

"I'm getting you weapons," he said quietly when they entered a room that was clearly the armory. "Pick what you think you can handle. I know this is less than legal, but right now all I care about is Logan."

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The weapon Joe had most often used back home had been his fists, but he still managed to arm himself with weapons that he knew he would be able to use. Looking back at Dale, as it for some kind of approval. He wanted to hear that he'd made the right choices.

"Okay," he said, patting down his shirt again, pulling it into place. "Got it."

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Dale had a realistic understanding of what he could or could not handle, but he still armed himself a little more heavily than he might have under other circumstances. In this case, he had no idea what he would be faced with and wanted to be as prepared as possible for every eventuality. Less than legal was an acceptable option when it was morally the right choice.

"Is there anything I should know about this situation that you haven't told us yet, Jack?" he said quietly. "Is there anything about this man I should know that can help us here?"

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"He's psychotic," Jack replied simply. "He's been in rehab for alcohol, drugs, sex, murder, name it. None of it took. He's probably the most unpredictable, violent man you'll ever meet, and he's not to be trusted. Don't ever let him out of your sight, and no matter what you do...don't let him kiss you."

He looked from Dale to Joe and back, knowing that neither of them would willingly kiss the man, but that wouldn't stop John.

"Paralyzing lip gloss. It's a Time Agent thing. It'll kill you if you don't get the antidote," he continued, arming himself with more weapons than a man could possibly need in an ordinary situation. "The things I used to do...let's just say I wasn't the kind of person you'd want to meet in a dark alley. I've changed...John hasn't. He's still an Agent through and through."

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