THE HUNT FOR TORCHWOOD: ANTARCTICA
Chapter Nineteen Jenkins sighed angrily. The guard had just reported back to him and still no sign of the Doctor and Rose. “You can’t have escaped. There’s nowhere to run.” He muttered to himself. “You have to be somewhere out there. And if you and Rose have died, I swear those guards will suffer.” He leaned forward preparing to concentrate on more paperwork. As he read through a memo, he suddenly became aware of a wheezing sound coming from his left side. He looked over and his mouth dropped open when the TARDIS suddenly materialized in the corner of the room. “It can’t be.” He murmured to himself. The TARDIS stopped wheezing and the door opened. Jenkins got to his feet when he saw the Doctor standing there with a smug grin on his face. “Hello, I suppose you were wondering what became of Rose and me. Well, it’s the strangest thing. My friends from Antarctica showed up and they brought my TARDIS back to me. So, here I am, letting you know I’m alright so you don’t have to worry.” His eyes narrowed. “Or…maybe you do need to worry. Because you see, Rose nearly ended up dying because you decided to play hide and seek with the door and if there’s one thing that gets me pissed off, it’s watching Rose suffer.” “It’s your fault, Doctor, you were the one who decided to go wandering off into the desert.” Jenkins gasped when the Doctor lunged forward and grabbed him by the neck. “You were the one who decided we needed our minds emptied.” He snarled at him. “Like I said before giving the lesser of two evils, I decided to take a chance and escape because I really don’t want my memories or Rose’s memories falling into evil hands. Despite that, Rose and I were ready to come back inside after we saw there was nowhere to run, but you decided to be cute and hide the door which forced us to go out into the desert in search of help. So, yes, it is your fault. Thankfully, Rose didn’t die which is a good thing for you since I would have snapped your neck in retaliation.” “Then, why don’t you, Doctor? You have me by the throat. Why not kill me now?” Jenkins said. “Because despite what you and your lot think, I am not a brutal, murdering, alien monster. I am capable of mercy. I came down here to give you and your staff an ultimatum. Abandon this facility before we blast it to bits and give up working for Torchwood or stay here and die when the explosion comes and the walls collapse.” “Your TARDIS doesn’t have the firepower to destroy this facility.” Jenkins said. “No, it doesn’t, but the Xa’noc scout ship Jack Harkness is currently piloting has enough firepower to level this place and then some. So, if I were you, I’d start packing up the camels and making your way towards civilization.” “You aren’t going to imprison me?” “Do you want me to?” the Doctor countered. Jenkins hesitated. “Because you know, if you want me to take a prison planet, I know a nice one. Volag Nok. Icy little planet. It’s so cold the prison is underground because not many people would be able to survive for long in the intense cold. You wanna go there, I’m more than happy to oblige ya.” The Doctor folded his arms across his chest. “Well, what’s it gonna be?” he said. “You’re insane. You really think you and your ragtag band is gonna defeat all of Torchwood?” “Well, gee, we just put the Torchwood in Antarctica out of commission and we’re about to shut this one down so that’s two so far for me and my ragtag band. My guess is yes, we are gonna defeat you lot.” “You are endangering the human race by doing this!” Jenkins snarled. “No, I’m saving the human race from the likes of you!” the Doctor retorted. “What if you do manage to shut down all of Torchwood? What if alien invades come and there’s no one to protect the Earth from them?” “As I told you before, most aliens are not interested in the Earth. Human beings have messed up the planet and terrorized their own without any outside help. As for the ones that do want to invade, they are few and far between. If they do come, I’m sure I’ll be around to help stop them. I have an uncanny knack for showing up just when the Earth needs me most. If I’m not here, I’m confident that humanity will be able to put up a fight and defeat them. You lot did not get where you are today by staying in the trees and hooting at predators. The minute you got down from the branches and started walking upright was the moment you showed the planet you had what it takes to survive. Humans are remarkably resilient despite all your efforts to pollute yourselves and your environment. You will be here long after other alien species have become extinct, trust me. As for these high tech defense systems you are so proud of, all they are doing is inviting trouble. Christmas day is a great example of that. I defeated the Sycorax and commanded them to leave and never come back and they were doing just that when you lot decided to blast them out of the sky. If you had left them alone, they would have gone back to all the warlike aliens and gave them my warning about messing with the Earth. But, because Harriet Jones and Torchwood decided they had to teach the alien scum a so-called lesson, the message was never delivered to the ones who needed to hear it. Not only that but I’m sure the rest of the Sycorax were none to pleased to hear that a backwater planet blew up one of their mother ships and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they and their allies rallied together in the near future and came right back here to exact revenge. And if they do it will be all your fault, not mine!” “So, if you get rid of all of us, what will happen to your friends? Will they have to disband too?” “No, they will be the only Torchwood allowed to exist.” “So, you’re playing favorites. You want to get rid of all the Torchwoods that don’t employ your best friends!” Jenkins said angrily. “Yes, I’m allowing Jack’s Torchwood to exist precisely because they are my friends. Because, I know them and I trust them. They won’t go mucking up the planet like the rest of ya. So there, if aliens invade we have a Torchwood around who will protect the Earth. You can stop worrying now.” “You won’t stop us. The other Torchwoods are on alert now and they’ll be keeping an eye out for you and your friends.” “I expect they will. But, see, I have ways of avoiding detection. I’m extremely sneaky when I want to be. So, those other Torchwoods better make damn sure they are on their toes because the Oncoming Storm strikes when people least expect it.” He put his hands on Jenkins’ desk, leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. “I’m warning you now, I would think long and hard before I went and joined up with another branch because I will get to you eventually and when I do find ya, I will send you to Volag Nok without a second thought. That goes for your flunkies as well. Leave Torchwood and go find some nice office job where you won’t cause any trouble. Because trust me, you don’t want to go to Volag Nok.” He leaned back up. “This is your one and only warning. You have a half hour to get you and your staff out of here before we start bombing the place. So I would move quickly.” He gave him a warning glance as he turned and walked back into the TARDIS. He closed the door behind him and Jenkins watched as the TARDIS dematerialized. Sighing angrily, he turned and picked up his phone. He punched in a two-digit number and waited. “This is Carl Jenkins.” He said when he heard someone pick up. “I’m ordering an evacuation. Start getting everyone as far away from here as they possibly can.” Jack looked and Ianto looked over as they heard the TARDIS materializing behind them. They walked over as the Doctor stepped outside and closed the door behind them. “Well?” Jack asked. “I gave him thirty minutes. And that’s what they’ll get. Whether or not they are out we start firing precisely in…” He checked his watch. “Twenty Eight minutes.” He said. Jack checked his watch. “Gotcha, twenty eight minutes and we start turning the place into a crater.” He replied. He smiled at the Doctor. “I am happy to report that while you were down threatening the enemy, Rose recovered a bit. She opened her eyes and asked for you. Tosh and Gwen are in there talking to her now, but I’m sure she’ll want to see you.” The Doctor beamed. “Thanks. I’ll see her now. Remember, whether or not they are ready, you will start firing on the compound in…” He checked his watch. “Twenty six minutes.” “Yes, sir. “ Jack said saluting. They watched as the Doctor turned and headed towards the med bay before going back and sitting down at the control panel. The Doctor entered the med bay and beamed when he saw Rose sitting up on the exam table taking small sips of water from a cup as Tosh and Gwen chatted with her. “Doctor.” She said softly when she spied him. The Doctor came forward and embraced her. “How are you feeling?” he asked. “Much better.” She said to him. Gwen glanced at Tosh. “We’ll leave you two alone.” Gwen said to the Doctor. They quietly exited the room as the Doctor broke the embrace and smiled at her. “I thought I’d lost ya there for a moment.” He said. “Ah, you can’t get rid of me, you shoulda figured that out by now.” Rose replied, punching his arm playfully. The Doctor chuckled and kissed her cheek. “So, what’s going on with the Torchwood?” Rose asked. “Ah, well they are about to get blown to bits in about…” The Doctor checked his watch. “Eighteen minutes. Feel up to watching?” “Yeah, I think I’m strong enough.” “You sure?” “Yeah, I’m sure.” The Doctor wrapped his arm underneath her arm and helped her to stand up. He gave her a concerned look when she wobbled a moment but she quickly recovered and smiled at him. “See, I’m a lot tougher than you think.” She said. The Doctor smiled at her proudly. “Yes, you are.” He said. “And now if you’ll follow me, I’ll lead you to a nice comfy chair where you can watch the fireworks.” The Doctor sat in the seat by the control panel snuggling with Rose as she sat in his lap. On the other side, Jack was busy firing missiles and laser bolts into the Torchwood facility. Behind him the rest of the Torchwood team watched silently. “So, I guess Jenkins did take my advice and left?” the Doctor asked him as he continued to fire. “Well, Ianto and I saw a whole bunch of them leaving the lab about fifteen minutes ago. Whether Jenkins was one of them, I can’t say, we’ve never seen him before.” “Oh, I’m sure the coward was the first out the door.” The Doctor replied. “Probably stepped on a few of his lackeys on the way.” He looked at Jack. “So, two Torchwoods are out of commission now.” He said. “Yup, so where are we headed to next?” Jack asked glancing at him. “Well, the other location I know about is in the Amazon Jungle. How do you guys feel about trekking through the rainforest?” “After Antarctica, I’ll take anything warm.” Jack replied. “Even here?” the Doctor said gesturing out the window. “Um…no, not quite this warm.” He said. He finished the bombardment. The Doctor and Rose stood up and looked down at the enormous crater that the missiles left. “Excellent. I believe our work here is done.” The Doctor said slapping his hands together. “Time to move on to the Amazon.” Jack glanced at the others. “You guys want off now?” he asked them. Gwen frowned. “Want off?” “Yeah, I’m going with the Doctor, but that doesn’t mean you have to. I’m giving you a chance to bail out and go back to Cardiff. So anyone who doesn’t want to go on to the Amazon, raise your hands now.” The team looked at each other and all of them put their hands behind their back and gave Jack a pointed look. Jack smiled at the Doctor. “Who says good help is hard to find?” he said. “Well, I’m glad they’re so eager to help because from here on out it’s gonna get harder. We have to be prepared and ready for anything so now that we’re finished here, let’s retire to the TARDIS and plot our next course of action. Then, after a well deserved break, It’s on to the Amazon.” He put his arm around Rose and led her towards the TARDIS as Jack and the others followed right behind them. THE END (To be continued eventually in The Hunt For Torchwood: Amazon.)
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