THE HIVE
Chapter Eight Jack smiled at the stranger who continued to stare at him silently. An uneasy silence fell over the room when neither man moved or spoke. Jack sighed. "You know, I know that we're not exactly popular among you guys, but the very least you could is introduce himself." He said to him. He shook his head when the Doctor remained silent. "Fine, if you want to be a rude asshole, go right ahead." He said. He leaned out the door and called his team in. They followed him as he started to walk around the Doctor. "Don't mind this guy; he apparently doesn't want to say who he is." Jack said glancing back at the others. "What are you doing here?" Jack paused and looked at him when he heard him speak. "Oho, so you can talk, good." He said walking up to him. "Well, like I told you a minute ago, I'm Captain Jack Harkness and this is Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, and Owen Harper. We're Torchwood and we're here to take Miss Simpson away for treatment and---" Jack paused when he noticed the Doctor glaring at him. "What, you don't like that?" Jack asked. He sighed and looked back at the others when he saw the Doctor narrow his eyes. "Look, buddy, I know you hate us, but we were summoned here by the police to handle this assignment. We are not a bunch of ambulance chasers looking to steal your thunder. So would you show us some respect? We show you guys respect." "I'm not with the London police." Jack looked at him. He looked down at his clothes. "You're not a detective inspector?" "No." Jack thought for a moment. "Scotland Yard?" he said. "No." "Um…MI6?" "No." Jack sighed. "Family…friend…random man who walked in the wrong room, what?" he said to him. "I'm getting a little tired of this stupid guessing game. Why don't you just tell us who you are before I go tell someone you are in here without authorization." He glared when the Doctor snorted at that. He looked at his team. "Come on, let's get to work." He said to them. "Just ignore the mystery man." They walked around the other side of the bed and leaned over to look at Monica. "Miss Simpson, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. We're with Torchwood. We're here to help you." he said gently. "The man beside me is Owen Harper. He's going to take a look at you." He stepped aside and let Owen examine Monica. He kept his eyes on Monica, ignoring the Doctor who was staring at him intently. "The change is beginning. It's in the first stages though." Owen said looking at him. "Change, what change? What's happening to me?" Monica said staring up at him fearfully. "It's alright, just calm down." Owen soothed. "We're going to help you. We have a facility in Cardiff that we're going to take you to and we can get you better treatment, okay?" Monica nodded. "Cardiff? You work in Cardiff?" Jack stared at the Doctor. "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" he said. "No, I just figured it's a step back from your old profession." The others looked over as Jack eyed the Doctor. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" he said. He paused a moment. "You do seem awfully familiar. Who are you?" He sighed when the Doctor remained silent. "Look, you might think this is cute, but I'm getting really sick and tired of this bullshit. Either tell us who you are or go find someone else to irritate. I---" At that moment, Rose ran into the room. "I finally managed to find a nurse. She's on her way. " She panted." Someone was going into cardiac arrest and they were all in his room helping---" "ROSE?" Rose jerked her head over. Her mouth dropped open. "Jack? What are you doing here?" "I might ask you the same thing. Where's the Doc…" He suddenly had a thought and looked at the man standing across from him. "Doctor?" he said. "Hello, Jack." He said. Tosh, Gwen, and Owen looked at each other as Jack slowly walked around the bed towards the Doctor. "Why didn't you say so in the first place, then?" he demanded. "What the hell was the deal with the silent treatment? You could have just said hello and told me who you were!" "Maybe I didn't want to tell you." The Doctor replied. Jack was taken aback by that. Rose and the team stared at the two men as they stood and stared at one another. "What do you mean by that? Does it have something to do with leaving me on the Gamestation? Did I do something to offend you and that's why you ditched me?" "Doctor, what's he talking about?" Rose said. "I thought you said Jack was busy rebuilding the Earth when I asked if we could go back and get him. Did you really ditch him?" Jack folded his arms over his chest and gave him a pointed look. Just then, a plump elderly woman rushed into the room, gasping for breath. "I'm so sorry, we were all busy." She said to the group. "This young lady said Miss Simpson needs a sedative." "Yes, although she's calmed down a bit, but I think it wouldn't hurt her to have one." The Doctor said. "Wait a minute; we're in charge here, not you." Jack said angrily. "And I was here before you. This woman was in agony and I sent Rose to find a nurse to give her a sedative. You don't like me usurping your so-called authority, tough. I want to make this woman comfortable and take away her pain. That's my highest priority." He gave Jack a challenging look. Jack sighed and looked at the nurse. "Yeah, get Miss Simpson a sedative." He said. The Doctor smirked at that. Tosh, Gwen and Owen looked at each other in amazement as the nurse went out to her med cart. "You didn't have to do that to me in front of my team." Jack muttered to him. "First off, I don't give a damn about you and your team. I care about this woman lying here who is in extreme pain and needed something to lessen it. I made a judgment call and I stand by it and I don't care what anyone thinks of that and secondly…when did you start having a team anyway? What exactly is this Torchwood?" Jack sighed. They all moved out of the way, as the woman came back in with the sedative. Jack pulled the Doctor and Rose into the corner of the room. "Torchwood is a covert organization that investigates aliens and supernatural occurrences. There are several branches of it, but I started this branch and I based it in Cardiff because I was waiting for you to show up there. And the reason I was waiting for you is I want some explanations from you which gets me back to my earlier question of why did you ditch me?" The Doctor sighed and looked back at the others who were watching the three of them in confusion. "Can we go somewhere and talk about this in private?" the Doctor asked him. "Sure," Jack said shrugging. "Do you want me to stay here?" Rose asked. "No, I want you to hear it too." The Doctor replied. "I just don't know this team of yours and I'd rather not tell you some things in front of them." "That's fine; we need to get Monica ready to be moved anyway." Jack replied. The Doctor frowned. "And I take it you also moved Jeremy Spencer?" he asked. "Yes, although, he is no longer Jeremy Spencer. His mutation is complete and we're trying to get Monica back to the Hub and find a cure before she ends up the same way." "Then, I want you to share what you know with Rose and I since we have the same goal in mind." "Sure, I'll be happy to now that I know who you are," he said. "And that's another thing I want to know. Why you wouldn't tell me it was you until Rose came in." "Let's...just get out of here and then talk." The Doctor said glancing back at the others. "Fine, there's a cafeteria downstairs I think. We can get something to eat." The Doctor nodded. "After you then…" Jack looked over at his team. "Guys, I need to talk to these two. In fact…" He looked at the Doctor and leaned in. "Is the TARDIS near here?" he whispered. "It's over by the Powell Estate." The Doctor whispered back. "Can you give me a lift so I can have my team get Monica back to Cardiff then?" The Doctor hesitated and for a moment, Jack thought he was going to refuse, then he nodded. Jack looked at his team. "Guys, these are old friends and they have a way to get me back to Cardiff. Just go ahead, get Monica out of here, and head back. I need to talk to them and I'm sure it's gonna take awhile." Tosh, Gwen, and Owen glanced at each other and then nodded. "Great, I'll see you guys back at the Hub then. If anything comes up, call me on my mobile." He said. He looked at the Doctor and Rose. "Follow me." Jack said. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next