for quitehomoerotic: Welcome to the 27th century

[rude_not_ginger]

Follows this.

It was one thing, watching your companion be ripped apart.

One very terrible thing, mind you, but one thing. The Doctor stayed prone on the ground, the sound of Jack's death screams ringing in his ears as that thing, whatever it was, tore him into several unpleasant pieces. It reminded him of the Year That Wasn't, of Jack's screams while the Master tortured him and the Doctor's frail body keeping him from helping. That was torture, far more brutal than anything the Master's tools could produce.

Once the loud stomps of the creature faded away, the Doctor struggled to get to his feet and limped to the place where Jack had been.

It was another thing, having to find his body for it to regrow.

It took some time to find his upper torso, limp and lifeless. It didn't take too terribly long to drag said upper torso to a safe, empty cave not far from the forest's edge (after all, what Jack no longer had in height, he also lost in weight. It didn't take long for time to start snapping around him and his body to start to regrow.

That was something else all together. Muscle and bone formed out of nothing, and while Jack wasn't coherent, he was still alive, screaming and thrashing as he reformed. The Doctor pressed his fingertips to Jack's temple and tried to take away the pain, but when that failed, he pressed his mind into a quiet, comatose state.

While Jack repaired, the Doctor covered him with his coat and sat, waiting. For all that they'd fought, for all that the Doctor swore he'd never want Jack back on the TARDIS again, he did care about him. He wanted him happy, even if he wasn't certain he could handle having him so close. Jack was willing to die for the Doctor, and this was just another example of how he could.

But the Doctor wouldn't leave. Not this time.

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Now, the Doctor was positively livid. Frustration was gone, replaced by pure rage.

"Stop being an idiot! Of course I care! I've always cared about you, but you're just like Rose! You lot always expect me to say it and make commitments and be with with you! It doesn't work like that for me, Jack! Maybe if you stopped to think about the things I do, then maybe you'd realize it!"

He was gone, now. He threw another punch towards Jack's face, and another. He knew he should feel shame for how he was reacting and how he was hurting Jack, but there was nothing but anger.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack cowered from the Doctor's punches, finding himself genuinely frightened of them; scared as they made contact with his skin, causing new bruises and cuts. One landed hard across his face and smacked into his teeth, and in his mouth he tasted blood.

He flipped.

He wasn't upset or scared any more, he was just as angry, and he lashed out himself, grabbing one of the Doctor's punches and twisting his hand.

"I'm the idiot?! You're ridiculous! I've never expected you to say anything in my life, and I've certainly never expected any commitment. What is it? Too much knowledge in that thick Time Lord scull of yours to fit a simple concept like love in there?" He pushed at him, knocking him back.

He reached a hand up to wipe at his bloody nose and fumed at the Doctor, "And you know what Doctor I don't fucking care that I asked for more from you. I don't think it was a lot, certainly not what Rose wanted, so don't you dare compare us like that. And you're the one that sabotaged a fucking ship just so we could have sex, not me!"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

His knuckles hurt. He never threw fisted punches, not even when he was at the height of using his Venusian akido to get what he wanted. He certainly never threw punches at the people he cared about.

Anger was gone, replaced entirely by anguish. He was out of control. He was out of control and he would hurt someone. He might not be able to kill Jack, but if he got on that anger bent again, he could do far worse than those government agents did.

He fell backwards with the push, his shoulder smacking hard into the wall. He thought he felt a crack, but the bone didn't feel broken. Bruised at the worst, but he deserved to be hurt. He deserved it and---

No. No, no. He was falling into this. He was letting it take him over. He was letting it take him over and he had to stop.

"Jack--" he tried to speak, but his voice came out hollow and aching.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack stared at the Doctor and he was so angry. So very very angry and annoyed. Annoyed at doing all he possibly could and that still not being enough. Upset that however hard he tried, he'd never manage to be the person he wanted to.

Upset. It weighed down on him and he was so tired. So tired and worn and he'd had enough. He could so easily be dragged under by that emotion, it dominated him so often as it was.

But no. No because he heard the Doctor speak, and he heard the tone, and more than anything Jack wanted to protect him. So whatever emotion was forcing itself to the foreground, it managed to be pushed aside by Jack's overwhelming desire to see the Doctor all right.

He stepped over to him and took both of the Doctor's hands in his own. "Doctor," he whispered gently, soft and so caring. "Doctor it's okay, I'm here, you're okay, we're both okay. We'll get past this, right? We've got past much worse."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor gripped Jack's hands and struggled to make the muscles in his arms and his aching legs move. Jack would protect him and the Doctor could not give up.

He felt so completely weighed down by everything he'd done. He'd pushed Jack away, he'd gotten them into this situation, he'd abandoned Jack before, it all swirled around his head and kept pushing, pushing, pushing. He needed to focus.

"Whatever they've given us, it's made us single out individual emotions," the Doctor theorized. "Focusing on one feeling only and letting that take us over. Then they get to watch. Like we're elaborate lab rats."

He felt a flash of anger, but there was too much anguish for it to take over. He put a hand to his shoulder. Not broken. So what was that crack?

He looked back. Where the Doctor had hit the wall, a panel and been broken open. A panel with a large number of shiny buttons.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack ran his thumbs over the Doctor's hands, comforting and close. He'd do anything at the best of times to make sure the Doctor was safe, and now, now he felt a tugging inside him that screamed that he had to, that if he didn't, he'd have failed altogether.

He couldn't let that happen.

"Keep us going until one flips and kills the other, I guess," Jack said, his tone still soft and cautious. "Trouble there is they didn't expect us, right Doctor?" he smiled gently, squeezed on his hands, "Didn't account for who we are. We just need to focus, that's all. Stick to one."

His eyes glanced sideways over the Doctor's shoulder, and he looked at the panel with little lights flashing and buttons a-plenty. Slowly, he smiled, and tried to ignore the wave of glee that was trying to make itself prominent. No. Look after the Doctor, that was a strong emotion, and it was safe. That one could win.

"And right now," he said slowly and quietly. "I think it might just be time for you to be brilliant."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He tried to grip onto the very brief burst of euphoria he felt, but it was overwhelmed by the anguish. What was the point? He'd fail, he always failed the ones he cared about. Donna, Martha, Rose. They all were hurt because of him. He watched them stop becoming the brilliant people they were becoming and watched them turn into...what they became. It didn't matter what happened to the Doctor. They could do whatever they wanted to him and maybe the universe would be better.

But Jack...

No. No, he couldn't let them do this to Jack. Jack had suffered enough, and mostly because of the Doctor's gross negligence. He wouldn't let them hurt him again. This new emotion pumped through the Doctor's veins and he turned to the buttons.

"They have that symbol on them," he said, his voice now confident. "I don't think it's a language, I think it's a code. If our theories are right about this place, it's violating so many of the codes of the Shadow Proclamation that just a breath of what goes on would send every person here into permanent solitary confinement on Rabio Major."

He couldn't figure out the symbols, he'd need time and more samples of the code. He shook his head. "Logically, this would be the lights, heating, water, air, medical. This would be the doors."

He pressed the button. The lights went out.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Do you think it's a code? Maybe if we crack it they let us out?" Jack shook his head, "Oh but who am I kidding, since when do we ever wait to be let out?"

He stood behind the Doctor as he turned to the panel, and kept a hand pressed gently to his shoulder. He needed to flick himself to be a bit more proactive, he thought. Force an emotion that would achieve that, and not just the passive careful one he was feeling now.

There was no need to wait long for a trigger though, as the Doctor didn't let him down. The room was plunged into darkness and Jack grinned wide. He felt a rush and he smacked a hand gently against the Doctor's back.

"Right!" he said with a beaming smile. "They want to observe us? Let them observe this."

Jack spun around the room, trying to take in every detail and anything that might be used to help. On hooks in the corner their clothes were sitting, cleaned and ready. He ran over to them and checked the pockets of their coats. His adrenaline ran rampant and he laughed as in the Doctor's pocket his hand came into contact with something long and thin. The sonic screwdriver. He pulled it out and tossed it over.

"Guess they're not as bright as they think they are. I'm betting they don't know what it is. Either that or they've tried to disable it."

His own coat pocket had his vortex manipulator. He could see it had been tampered with, but he'd fix it later, and for now he just fixed it back on his wrist where it belonged.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that's how you do it!" the Doctor grinned and caught the sonic as it was tossed towards him.

The Doctor grabbed his suit but only bothered taking the time to throw on his coat. There should've been a rush of adrenaline, now, he knew. He should've been excited to be running again, excited that they were going to be getting free. But the only emotion was a quiet determination. It slowed him down, he needed the mix of emotions to make himself an efficient adventurer and escapist.

He aimed the sonic at the walls, slowly checking every panel before he heard the telltale click of a lock being recognized and opened. A panel on the far wall slid open, letting in a shaft of florescent light.

"Brilliant," he said. He started towards it and stopped. He grabbed a block of food and shoved it into his pocket. Just in case this didn't wear off of Jack like he expected it might, he wanted to know what they were doing.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack shrugged into his coat (it was all that was left of his clothing) and dashed back over to the Doctor at the panel. His heart palpitated like mad, he wondered if he were anyone else if it might cause problems, if it might overload his system. But Jack was no normal human, and his body could take a lot more than that of most.

"Okay!" he beamed, practically bouncing on the spot. He headed into the new corridor and started to run ahead, having to force himself to stop to wait for the Doctor.

The Doctor. Primary goal, look after the Doctor and stop getting so very excited. "You with me, Doctor?" he called back, making sure he was there.

He flicked open his wrist strap but the central battery had been removed, so maybe they weren't so stupid. Maybe this was all part of it, mayb-- no. No he couldn't start to worry, it'd take over him. He needed to focus.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor gave Jack a firm nod. "Always."

There was part of the Doctor that thought this was far, far too easy. They shouldn't have been able to get out so fast. They shouldn't have been able to find their clothes or that panel. He could feel paranoia start to overwhelm his determination and he focused, pushing it back as quickly as he could.

The worst part was, there was part of him that thought the code looked familiar. Very, very familiar, though he couldn't figure out for the life of him how.

The hallway split down two corridors, the ceiling still that high, vaulted mirror-glass, probably with some sort of viewers on the opposite side, enjoying watching them run.

"When in doubt, I've learned we should turn left," he said, leading the way.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack smiled back so brightly at the Doctor that it would almost light up a room in the darkness. Utterly gleeful. Always! He said always! That's just great!

He stopped at the crossroads, continuing to jump up and down to channel his excitement. "Left it is!" he agreed and made down the corridor behind the Doctor at haste.

"So what is this?" he called ahead, "Some sort of Gladiator type entertainment you think plug us full of drugs and see what it does I mean it's hilarious really they've got no idea what they've got themselves into you know I was a Gladiator once for a few days when I took a trip to Rome fun holiday that turned out to be."

His words ran out as one stream of consciousness, almost an overload. "You know I feel a bit like a hamster in one of those balls."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Jack's overt excitement only fueled the Doctor's cold determination. This wasn't the Jack he knew, and that meant they were hurting him further. They were going to pay for this.

It was a cold hatred he knew he didn't normally feel. This wasn't like him. The last time he hated the way he was hating now, it was to that creature, the one who had crippled the TARDIS and, as the believed at the time, killed Jack. This wasn't like him. He needed to get control.

He was so focused on his own thoughts that he almost walked right into the trap ahead of them. He caught Jack by the shoulder.

"Stop! Wait!" He gestured to the floor. It went from the sterile white floors from before to brightly red-and-white checkered tiles. It struck the Doctor as frighteningly familiar.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack was so busy rushing ahead, sparking off his own excitement, that he was forgetting to be aware of his surroundings. He was forgetting his own codes that he'd developed over so many years. In many ways, it's a good job the excitement had taken hold, else that fact could make him quite annoyed, annoyed at himself and angry. That'd do none of them any good.

He stopped sharp as the Doctor called out, and swung around to him. "What is it?" the excitement was fading and for a moment he worried what it'd be replaced with. He worried what was ahead of them, and what might be behind.

He was worried. Damn. He tried to control his breathing, but it was hard, and the corridor suddenly seemed smaller and much more terrifying.

He looked down at the floor and at the colours in the tiles. He'd not seen anything like it before, but he was sure whatever it was it was terrible. "What does it mean?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor dug into his pocket and produced the yo-yo. He tossed it out into the board, and the whole thing electrified.

"Oh, now that's clever," the Doctor enthused. "A checkerboard puzzle. The question is, which ones do we step onto?"

He was very, very good at puzzles and, before he could really think about it, he found he was really glad he was the one working on this. He was, naturally, brilliant, and there wasn't a riddle in the known universe he couldn't work out in time.

The overconfidence fueling him, he grasped Jack by the arm. "I bet we could just jump it."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

At any other time, Jack might be more than enthusiastic at the idea of doing something a little bit dangerous. He did a lot of things that were dangerous, and many of them, he took undue pleasure in.

But now, right now, he was aprehensive and nervous. He looked at the squares on the floor with an uncertain gaze, and then back up to the Doctor.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice all twinged with trepidation. "I mean, it's pretty far isn't it, and what if something happened, what if something went wrong, what would we do? What if you got hurt?"

He heard himself, and that bit of his mind that still had its sense wanted to smack himself firmly around the face and tell himself to snap out of it.

So that need, that little voice triggered him back out of it and back into confidence. He looked at the floor again and, well it didn't seem that far.

"Right!" he nodded, "jump it, course we can, you and me, right?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No time to waste!"

Without thinking or second guessing himself, the Doctor took the floor in a leap---and missed. It was significantly farther than he'd thought and he landed gracelessly onto one red square with one foot, while the other ended up suspended right next to him. This was, apparently, one of the only unelectrified squares, because the others buzzed and crackled as his coat brushed them.

Panic overtook him. He'd been an idiot. A complete, overconfident idiot. Another voice in the back of his mind told him that his emotions were starting to flow more normally, now. The drug must've been wearing off.

"Right. Bad idea. Jack, stay back!" He looked for somewhere to put his foot down. There didn't seem to be a pattern between the electrified and unelectrified sections of the board. This was bad.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Doctor!" Jack called out to stop him but he advanced before he could reach out and take his shoulder. "What happened to together?" he asked exasperated, before trying to settle himself back to neutral.

"Okay," he said, "okay just... stay there. There's got to be a logical system to this. If people are doing this to see what we do then there's got to be a riddle right? Or at least some way of getting around it."

He looked up at the walls and at the mirrored ceiling above. "Think, Jack, think." Wiping a hand over his face he frowned and tried to clear his mind to work it out.

"Wait!" he said suddenly, "You're on the eighth block and the four around you are electrified, right? Try the one diagonal, four to your left. Trust me on this Doctor, if I'm right, and I'm pretty sure I am, it'll be clear."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"And if you're not?" the Doctor called back, the panic evident in his voice. He needed to get a grip on himself. He trusted Jack, didn't he? Well, yes, in terms of being loyal and being honest and brave and generally knowing anything about flirting ever, but with a puzzle like this?

The Doctor took a breath and leapt to the square Jack indicated. Nothing.

"How'd you know that?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"I am, just trust me, I am!"

He gripped his hands together and closed his eyes as the Doctor jumped. Oh he hoped he was right, he had to be right, he really, really had to be right.

And he was.

He let out a long sigh of relief and grinned. The adrenaline rushed again, but he was learning how to force it back.

"It's called the Vortova Sequence. We were taught it as kids. We used to have these little electronic games. All to do with lights and numbers and working them out together. Ancient game, it was, most kids thought it was too geeky and old fashioned but I loved it."

He jumped forward to the first square the Doctor had landed on, and stared down at the squares concentrating hard, mumbling numbers under his breath.

"..so the four with the two over there... Okay! Straight ahead, four squares, that's your next one."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I've never even heard of that," the Doctor said, incredulous. "And I was taught recreational mathematics since I was young!"

He was also a little ego-bruised that Jack had figured out the puzzle before he had. All the same, he hopped four squares and landed one foot on the dark red square, his other foot hovering over the electrified squares around him.

"Make sure you start following me," he called back again. "Don't want them switching this up once I've got across."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh don't you worry, I'm right behind you," Jack said as he jumped ahead to another block.

"And how could you have never heard of it? It's 26th century. Apparently it was all the rage then. My Dad used to have an old Vortova game set. Me and my brother used to go play with it in the dunes. Two across to your right and then one forward."

He jumped ahead again and looked behind him. All the squares in their wake were going black. Wherever they were headed (and there was no guarantee that was anywhere good, there'd be no going back).

"Suppose you can't know everything, can you, Doctor." Jack smirked, far too pleased with himself.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, now I do know about this."

There was most definitely a pout in the Doctor's voice as he hopped another few squares, and then made the final leap across.

"Maybe that's how they heard about it here. Only a century before and very popular. The question is, where are we that they'd know about that, and whatever drug they poisoned us with?" He waited at the edge of the board for Jack to catch up.

"And who are we performing for?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's smirk only grew at the put out sound in the Doctor's voice. "Well if you're good I'll teach you all about it later," he teased.

He followed over, jumping the last section just in time for all the squares behind to go dark. He gave them a less than pleased look before looking back to the Doctor.

"Well the sequence came from an Earth colony originally. You ever hear about the freighter ship that got marooned for eight years? Well Professor Vortova was the scientist on board. The story goes that he came up with the sequence to give the crew something to do, but inadvertently by using it he found a way to set them free. I don't know, probably Chinese whispers, but that's what I was always told."

With a glance up at the mirrored ceiling he frowned, hands on his hips, "I wish I knew. But whoever they are I doubt they're going to just let us out. And this place is like some elaborate labyrinth -David Bowie again- I wonder if there any goblins."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"It's all some sort of a game, though the question is why. Money? Entertainment? Some sort of ritual sacrifice based on intellect, maybe? I don't know---"

He led the way down the corridor, keeping an eye on the floor and walls for any possible traps. This was a game, and the Doctor was not about to lose. He wasn't about to give the people watching him that satisfaction.

"Feeling any better?" he asked, turning back to Jack. "I think the drug is working its way out of my system."