quitehomoerotic | for brigadiertardis Ghost in the machine

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for brigadiertardis Ghost in the machine

Torchwood didn't keep hours. Torchwood couldn't keep hours. Not with the sort of work they did. Alien invaders didn't really respect when people might like to have a nice night in in front of the telly, or sleep in late in the morning. They didn't care if you wanted to start at nine and finish at five.

But sometimes, Jack just had to accept that even his staff needed lives of their own. Admittedly, of course, that would often be when Gwen picked up her bag and declared she was going home, without giving Jack option either way. But accept it he did. He knew people needed time to themselves, and times away from the underground confines of the Hub. And so some nights he'd end up there alone, an old record player on echoing out a cracked recording of Gracie Fields and a self made (infinitely worse than Ianto's) cup of coffee in hand.

This was one of those nights.

He sat in his office, listening to the sound of the music as he jotted down notes on paperwork he'd left waiting for weeks. To his side a computer ran a regular nightly scan for any activity in the area. Nothing, just the way he liked it. Cardiff safe.

Nothing strange (which was almost strange in and of itself), nothing out of the ordinary or abnormal. Nothing that was until a little alarm started sounding.

He ought to have known things would never run smoothly.

Pushing aside his papers he leant forward and prodded keys on the keyboard. Strange, he thought, the reading wasn't something he recognised. Some sort of transmission. It seemed to be harnessing the rift, but how? He keyed a little more and then the screen flickered, putting him on edge.

Something wasn't right.

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"Yeah? Well excuse me for having a little caution!" Jack said back, defiant. He knew he was right to be cautious, even if she didn't.

"Like I said," he went on, "weak spot."

He didn't feel as though he needed to elaborate on that.

"Sorry if it's not 5 star quarters. But it's the best I can do." His vortex manipulator was a space hopper, and the TARDIS was a sports car. Though he'd never admit it.

"Bit of a minefield," he admitted, "not sure where to head first. We can head down to the basement. Take a look. One of the central computers is there. Main servers are all off site though."

He started walking from his office and down to the door that lead away and downstairs. "So," he thought he'd attempt to make conversation. "Find anything interesting in my files?"

The TARDIS made an indelicate noise, relaying a feedback loop through his wrist band to show her displeasure. Maybe if he had a better system, he wouldn't need to be so cautious. If he had a better system, nothing short of her Matrix would be able to infiltrate it.

She refused to discuss his weak spot any further, if only to avoid her own discomfort with the idea.

"I have been through worse," she replied a little absently, running scans and diagnostics, trying to pinpoint the source of whatever was crippling his system and keeping her here. "And the central computer will have to do. I can attempt a patch network to the main servers, but it may cause power outages throughout the city."

She was in the process of figuring out a method to do just that when he asked her about his files and she paused. Had she found anything interesting? A good deal, really, but she didn't want to admit that. "You have been busy," she offered eventually. "I would almost think you attract the aliens here."

"Yeah I know," Jack said gently. Oh he knew. He'd seen her go through worse. Seen her cannibalised into a paradox machine. She'd suffered that year, just as much as any of them.

He continued on down through dank corridors and thin staircases, and he frowned slightly. "Power outages? Yeah well we could do without those. The city would go crazy."

He laughed again, though there was really no amusement in it. "Yeah. Wouldn't be surprised. Seem to attract trouble. Maybe I'm cursed."

Breathing out a heavy breath, he shook his head and seemingly nowhere, he asked, "You don't like me much, do you?"

"I do not really care how the residents of Cardiff would react," she replied brusquely. "If it would free me, I would shut down this country. I do not like being trapped."

She'd been trapped one too many times in her long life to harbour any positive feelings toward it, that was certain.

He chuckled about curses and trouble and she didn't reply immediately, weighing his final question. He at least deserved an honest answer.

"I do not like what you have become," she said finally. "I do not like that you have taken away one who belonged to me."

"Yeah well funny enough, I do care. I have to look after this city. So lets try and do this without causing damage, okay?"

He headed down to the level below and kept quiet as she spoke. He kept quiet after too. The words cut. They hurt, but he didn't really want that to show.

"Yeah, well," he said in the end, because he felt he had to say something, "between you and me, not sure I like it much either."

She made an indelicate noise. "You should not be trapped here. You deserve more than a wasted city on a blighted planet."

Whether she noticed his hurt or not, the TARDIS didn't say. She let him speak, considering his words. This wasn't something she was used to, and she wasn't exactly the most sympathetic being in the universe, even after the Time War. Or maybe it was because of the War that Jack's change hurt so much. She'd loved him once and now it was painful to even be around him. To have something taken away so completely after losing so much...

"I would fix you if I could," she offered quietly. "But even I cannot change what you have become. Rose Tyler used me and I cannot fix what she destroyed."

Jack let out a half laugh. "Careful," he said, "that's very nearly sentimental. But it's not all so bad. This planet, this city. Someone has to look after them, and the Doctor isn't always around to do it. And you don't think I should be trapped here? Might want to tell him that, considering he's so intent on breaking this damn thing and keeping me stuck here."

Ahead of them was a box secured with a key, and he pulled a bunch out from his pocket to unlatch it. Inside was an access panel to the central matrix of the computer system.

"Would you?" he asked with his own voice quiet, concealing emotion as best he could. "Wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for you, I suppose. You and Rose. I'd have stayed dead on Satellite Five. Funny, you know I don't think I'd ever thought about it like that."

"You need not be trapped here," she repeated quietly, tinkering with his vortex manipulator one last time. It should at least work now, which was more than the Doctor had ever given the Fact. "The Doctor is not the only one capable of saving others."

She went silent, observing their location for a long while, surprised somewhat by how extensive it all was. She hadn't been expecting it.

"What she did was wrong. It would have been better to die than to become what you are. She is a child and she ruined you." Her voice faded and she added: "But if I could change it, yes, I would. I would like to have you back."

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