Anythingdrabble Challenge 14 - Reversal of fortune

[m_findlow]

Title: Reversal of fortune
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 14 - Reversal at anythingdrabble
Summary: Jack's fortunes take a turn for the worse.

As the weeks wore on, the more angry Jack grew. He tried everything he could think of: hypnosis, illicit drugs, a form of deep mind control that was strictly banned by the Shadow Proclamation, but nothing and no one could extract the vital information from his neural pathways that had been suppressed. Suppressed or removed completely, he wondered. Could the Agency have that kind of power?

Just a few weeks ago, life had been good. He'd been the star child of the Time Agency - its youngest, brightest recruit in years - now an experienced and capable agent with several years of exemplary service under his belt. He was going places, getting the pick of the crop when it came to assignments. Things were on the up and up. He had no reason to think that wouldn't continue.

Then two months ago everything had changed. He'd woken up in a cell in what he immediately recognized as Star System Nine, the unofficial headquarters for the Agency. He'd put plenty of people in those cells, but now found himself in one. Just outside was the Agency Director, looking down at him with a look of abject disappointment. He'd never seen that look on the Director's face, not in relation to his efforts. He was a strict taskmaster, but he'd always been glowing in his reports of Jack's missions. This was all new territory.

He tried to remember what he'd done that might have caused the Director's displeasure, but he found his memory suddenly blank. Not just blank, but gone. He tried to recall the last thing he'd done before waking up here but everything was a blur.

'What happened?' he asked. When the Director frowned at him there was something strange in his countenance. He seemed older and more careworn by the job than the last time Jack had seen him.

'Decontamination,' the Director replied. That was Agency speak for rehabilitation, which covered a plethora of situations where agents were drugged and locked up for their misdemeanors.

'Decontamination for what?'

'You know I can't tell you that, Agent 287. Be grateful. For anyone else, termination would have been demanded.' Termination. Death, in other words. Sweet goddesses, what the hell had he done?

Try as he might, he couldn't uncover the truth. It ate away at him more each day. Two years of memories just gone forever. They had no right, whatever he'd done.

The day he'd been finally cleared to return to active duty, they'd handed back his vortex manipulator and handed him his new mission. It was nothing more than a babysitting job, well below his usual remit. He got the message loud and clear. He was tainted goods now, and it felt like a kick in the guts. It only made the decision easier. He took his wrist strap and his orders, along with what little possessions he owned. This would be one mission he intended not returning from. Let them come after him if they chose. They'd never find him.

Comments

[bk_forever]

Poor Jack, left with a big gap in his life that never was explained. =(