m_findlow

Title: Locked away
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,475 words
Content notes: Written for Challenge 42 - Prison at beattheblackdog
Summary: Jack's first real mission isn't at all how he imagined it

The door slammed shut behind him with a thunderous clang and the tiny shards of light were subsumed by darkness. He stood there for a moment, waiting for his eyes to readjust to the lack of light, but they didn't. Down here there was nothing but black and the sound of his own breathing to keep him company. For now anyway. The longer he stayed down here, the more the silence would begin to play tricks on him, and he'd begin to hear things lurking in the dark that weren't really there.

He slowly stepped forward, reaching out, looking for the boundaries of his prison cell, and hoping that he was right in his beliefs that there was no one else down here. The last thing he wanted was to stumble over the remains of the previous occupant. His hands brushed the rough stone and he traced it around, measuring out a space that was about eight foot square, cold, dank, but empty except for him. Satisfied, he sank down into the corner, pulling his knees up tight and feeling something he hadn't felt for a long time, scared.

This wasn't meant to be how it went. He'd signed up for the Time Agency and they'd selected him of all the dozens of applicants to join their ranks and train with them. Him, the first ever boy from the Boeshane Peninsula to be selected for the honour, and the youngest recruit as well. He'd been so thrilled that he'd been packed for weeks before they promised to come and pick him up for sending to the academy. There he'd learnt all of the histories of the Agency and its role in replacing the vacuum left by the Time Lords to protect the universe and time itself. He'd trained hard and worked hard, always aiming to impress, and often putting the older recruits to shame which didn't always endear him to them, but he'd made enough friends along the way. They all wanted the same thing he did, he just wanted it more.

That was how he'd ended up here in the first place. Most missions required only two or three agents for the task, and sometimes only one, though they usually worked in pairs for safety. This mission had he been far more complicated and over two dozen agents were being sent to get involved in what was certain to become a devastating war that would tear across entire galaxies unless they could infiltrate the highest levels of command and put an end to it. It wasn't a mission for any agent in training, though he could partake in other missions under the guidance of a more senior agent. This time however, he worked the system. He could go if he could find an agent who would look after him, or tail and collar him, as the official terminology went, and he knew exactly who could help him.

Louis had become his best friend since he'd joined as a recruit just over a year and a half ago. They bunked together, trained together, and naturally, got into trouble together, though Jack was always the one who landed them both in hot water. For all his dedication and determination, he wanted to get ahead fast, and sometimes that meant pushing the boundaries of what he could get away with. Louis was the more studious, and slightly older, though not by much. Like Jack he'd been recruited young, and had swept up the ranks on account of his supreme intelligence. Where Jack was the braun, Louis was the brains.

'This is a bad idea, Jack,' he said, frowning when Jack told him his plan.

'Nonsense. You're a probationary agent now. That means you can sign up.'

'And you're still a recruit in training,' he replied.

'A few months and I won't be anymore. Having to wait until you're eighteen is a stupid rule.'

'So wait a few months. Then you won't need me to tail and collar you.'

'Why wait when we can go now? We'll never get another shot at a mission like this. It'll be fun.'

Fun. That's what he'd promised Louis when he'd finally said yes. Someone no doubt grumbled when they saw the paperwork, but with a limited number of agents available, they rubber stamped it, and Jack and Louis were on their way to adventure.

As agents they didn't exist, not officially anyway. They were signed on as aerial force pilots, deemed too young and inexperienced for covert military command postings, but they could provide valuable intelligence on key military positions. When they were supposed to be flying reconnaissance for the one side, they'd be gathering information on both sides of the conflict and passing it back to their fellow agents. What they weren't supposed to be doing was engaging the other side in battle, nor deviating from their flight plan. It was Jack's stubbornness that got them caught up contravening both, when he spotted something odd a few miles east of their current position, edging close to enemy airspace.

'Jack, turn around. We're not supposed to be flying anywhere near here.'

'And if it turns out that they're secreting a secondary base of operations this close to the lines?' he argued. 'There could be a cache of chemical weapons down there.'

He wheeled the ship to the right and downwards, aiming to get a closer look. If they found what he thought it was, they'd be heroes and quickly promoted. He was busy taking in as much visual information to report back, whilst Louis was making notes, and neither of them saw the vessel that uncloaked just moments before taking fire at their engines. There was no opportunity for evasive maneuvering tactics nor to return fire. Their ship banked wildly and there was no controlling the spinning dive as it plummeted down into the thick forest below.

The dense branches of the trees must have slowed their descent, because the crash should have killed them both, and yet, they were still alive when finally the chaos came to a stop. It didn't last though as a swathe of ground troops met them as they were running through the trees, trying as best they could to evade capture. They had to make it back to the lines, but they were now twenty miles at least from the closest front, and with very little chance of outrunning their forces, which had mobilised immediately. They had no weapons, no idea which direction they were heading in, and no way out.

They were cuffed and marched back to the compound. No one had asked them any questions yet, but it was clear from their uniforms that they were the enemy. Instead they'd been parted and dragged away to their respective cells. Interrogation would come later, and when it did, it would be brutal.

Sitting here now, he realised he wasn't nearly as brave or as smart as he'd thought. He wasn't even a Time Agent, which also meant that no resources would be spent on trying to recover him. They weren't supposed to be here. The Time Agency didn't exist, nor did their mission. He was just a helpless boy. He'd be eighteen in two months, and a man grown according to his age, yet he was still just a foolish boy who'd thought that this would be an adventure. Louis was only nineteen and hardly more than a boy himself, and now he'd condemned them both.

As he sat there in the darkness, waiting for what came next, he thought about his best friend and all the promises he'd made. Louis had been charged with looking after him, and he'd been the one who should have been looking out for both of them. For all his smarts, he wasn't nearly as strong as Jack was when it came to the physical side of fighting and withstanding pain.

It'll be fun, he remembered saying. What he'd remember instead from now and for the rest of his days would be the screams as they made him watch his best friend being tortured for information, before finally killing him. Jack would sing like a canary afterwards, forgetting all his training, and they'd let him go, wandering for weeks without supplies to find the lines, before being shipped back to the Agency for weeks in hospital recovering from malnutrition, injury and infection. He'd be spared further recriminations from the Agency for his actions, having been deemed to have suffered enough. It would be a lesson learnt and a harsh one at that, though the Agency would tell him he'd be a better agent for it, and promoted him on the spot to a full Time Agent.

The darkness of his prison cell now would be nothing compared to the darkness he'd carry inside himself for his own selfish pride.