Captain Jack and Captain Jack [for slayers_desire]

[fractured_agent]

It's been a few months since the team got their first lessons in psychic shielding, and once again, the Hub is open to April's expertise. Though he knows they're having guests, Jack doesn't push anyone to clean up the clutter so it looks better. The Hub is still a work space, and a chaotically changing one at that. They're all used to it by now, and Jack knows April won't mind.

Ianto is manning the tourist information office upstairs, as usual, and he knows that April is coming.

Comments

[slayers_desire]

Creepy vibes major down here. But I don't sense any magical traps, or any other thing that would alert our presence. It is safe...

[fractured_agent]

Right. On our way. Jack leads the way, following the way he saw her go, and finds the office easily. He gives the room a quick once-over out of habit as Tosh sets her laptop down on the desk.

She opens the lid and makes a frustrated sound at what she sees. "The battery's very low. Jack, can you read this to me?" she asks as she grabs a sheet of paper and a fountain pen from Manger's desk.

Jack obliges, reading off the equations as fast as Tosh can write it. She struggles with the unfamiliar pen, pressing too hard to compensate, and making the numbers smudge and blot.

[slayers_desire]

Her voices do whisper to April, but only enough to let her know that somethings can't be changed. And she automatically thinks of the real Captain Jack.

"Sort of wish Clark was here." He would have read the information in seconds, and remembered it easily.

[fractured_agent]

That would make things way easier, Jack agrees, not sparing the time to say it out loud.

The laptop screen shuts off as the computer powers down, too low on power to stay on anymore. "You get everything you need?" he asks Tosh.

Tosh looks over the hastily-scribbled equations. "I just need the coordinates of the hall so I can integrate them into the equation."

Jack looks over at April. "Don't suppose you can get that sort of impression, probably."

[slayers_desire]

April concentrates for a moment, remember the appearance of the hall upstairs, every dimension, every corner, until it is in her mind. Then she projects a smaller scale of it in front of her...

"I'm not that good at calculations, but would this help?"

[fractured_agent]

Jack and Tosh both study it, but Tosh reluctantly shakes her head. "It's a great model though."

"We might have to talk to some of the boys upstairs," Jack says. "If any of them is a navigator, he can hook us up. But that also means that we'll probably run into... the Captain." He hesitates before using the man's rank, unsure what to call him. He's used the name Jack Harkness for himself for so long that he almost forgot it belonged to another man, someone with a real claim on it.

[slayers_desire]

April releases her psychic shield. "I could handle the Captain, if you two want to talk to the others."

[fractured_agent]

"Handle how?" Jack wants to know.

[slayers_desire]

"I am just going to talk to him." April hopes it won't go as far as needing to use her abilities, or flirting to distract him.

"I won't say anything about his future. And I will have an easier time talking with him than you or Tosh would."

[fractured_agent]

Jack has the feeling that before the night is over, he's going to have to talk to Captain Harkness again. He's both dreading and longing for it, and the latter feeling is far stronger. But he nods a little. "I don't need to remind you what not to talk about." He knows she's done some time travel before herself, and he figures her voices will give her fair warning if she's about to say something too sensitive.

[slayers_desire]

April knows that she can't keep him from facing his own personal demons forever. And in the end, Jack will do what he feels is necessary.

But right now, there is a mission in mind.

"I will head up first."

((bed))

[fractured_agent]

April will only get a few moment's warning at an approaching darkness before the elderly man walks into his office. He doesn't look surprised to find them in there. He actually seems to be expecting it. "What are you doing in here?" he asks. "Who are you?"

Tosh quickly slips her laptop back into its bag, hiding it from view. Jack steps forward to help hide his view. "Captain William Pratt. This is Toshiko Sato, my friend and mathematician," he adds, knowing the sheet of equations might look suspicious. "And April Kent."

[slayers_desire]

He wasn't surprised to find us in here. He was expecting it April projects to both Tosh and Jack.

[fractured_agent]

Jack isn't sure what is up with this guy, but it's definitely pinging his radar in a weird way. Why would he be expecting us?

"I'm Bilis, the manager. You're not in full uniform, Captain."

Jack continues to play his part automatically, slipping into it like it's second nature. "On leave... 48 hours." Even as he says it, he can see that Bilis isn't buying it, but he's pretending too.

[slayers_desire]

It is like he knows more than he is letting on...

[fractured_agent]

You're definitely right about that. Anything else you can get off him? Jack asks.

The darkness in Bilis isn't just a shadow over his presence, but it also seems to be protecting him somehow, putting his thoughts under a smoky haze. Still, there's a distinct sense of him not belonging here... or anywhere.

[slayers_desire]

The darkness is protecting him and his thoughts. But he doesn't belong here... or anywhere...

I don't want to push further into that darkness...

[fractured_agent]

Jack can't argue with that. Then don't. If she feels it's dangerous, he definitely won't press her to do it anyway. They're all walking on thin ice here.

The clock on the wall chimes, and Bilis looks over at it, as if hearing something other than the chime. Then he looks over at them again. Specifically, at April. "I should go back, dear. They're coming for us now."

[slayers_desire]

She frowns, quickly figuring out that he does hear something else other than the chime. And it is unnerving for him to look at her, as if he knows about her abilities.

"They?"

[fractured_agent]

Bilis looks at her as if considering her, but does not clarify his statement.

Tosh is more than a little creeped out by this. "We should go," she says to Jack, tugging on his arm.

[slayers_desire]

April is not sure if Bilis is a threat, or still an unknown factor in this little adventure. She lets Tosh and Jack go ahead of her, out of the office, but keeps her voices open. And her senses alert.

[fractured_agent]

An echo of a shout reaches April, unheard by anyone else. Gwen's voice, sounding like it's miles away, but coming from right next to her. "Jack! Tosh! April!"

"Something is up with that guy," Jack says once they're far enough away from the office. Though he doesn't know it, Bilis is no longer there either, simply having disappeared from the timeline for a few moments.

[slayers_desire]

"Jack... I hear Gwen calling for us..." She can sense that Bilis is no longer there, which is a little disturbing.

"Could your team be the 'they' he was referring to?"

[fractured_agent]

Jack frowns a little. "It's possible, but... why would he tell us that?"

[slayers_desire]

"I think he is there... in the right timeline now. He is not in the office anymore."