Torchwood: Fanfic - Tied up by red tape

[m_findlow]

Title: Tied up by red tape
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 738 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for juliet316’s prompt "any, any, an unexpected fate" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack has another run in with a government official in which he comes off second best

'I am not at all happy with how Torchwood has dealt with this situation,' came the terse voice from behind the polished mahogany desk.

Jack cringed inwardly but didn't let it show on his face. She hadn't even warmed up yet, but Jack knew he was in for a colossal bollocking, and perhaps, though it was shameful to admit it, it wasn't necessarily all undeserved.

'Do you have any idea how much damage was caused to the city?'

The question was rhetorical. For anyone else he might have been tempted to say, 'a lot more than if we hadn't done what we had', but there was something that forced him to keep his mouth tightly clamped. There were very few people that made him sit up and keep quiet, but the latest installation in the mayor's office was one of them. It almost made Jack long for her incumbent, and she'd been a Slitheen bent on destruction of the whole city!

'I've been fielding calls all week from every major insurance company wanting to know if the council is going to indemnify their costs, not the least of which was the two hour call with Mr Tan's legal team, demanding we foot the bill for rebuilding the entire Ninian stand at Cardiff City Stadium. Do you know how much money that man has injected into our local economy? Do you?'

Jack kept his eyes firmly locked on hers, trying not to notice the large vein that bulged from the side of her temple as she ranted, and the way it ran all the way into her shortly cropped blonde hair. She moved from her position perched over the desk with hands clasped in front of her, like some ruthless school principal, to lean back in her chair, arms now folded across her solid, business-suited frame.

'Luckily you managed to save the castle from any damage. The National Trust would have had a field day! Oh, and out of curiosity, did you perchance go out of your way to spare city hall, or was that just happy coincidence?'

Jack remained silent.

'I can't even tell you how this is going to go down at Whitehall. If I have to go hat in hand to the First Minister one more time for additional emergency funding, the PM himself is going to devolve Wales from the UK! On top of that, all the hospitals are full to overflowing, NHS are overworked, and I'm getting reports that they're transferring patients as far as Kent just to free up beds. Plus I've had to call in favours with Bristol City mayor for additional police support to prevent civil unrest. You have no idea how insufferable that man is, and how much joy he's deriving from my having to supplicate at his feet!'

She leaned forward once more, opening the file on her desk and brandishing the pen in her hand like a deadly weapon, paused over its pages as if she could scratch out his existence with it.

'Did you have anything you wanted to add Mr Harkness?' emphasising the title Mr. The only captain aboard this office was her,

'No ma'am,' came the meek reply.

'Good. I should hate to have to further append my reports to UNIT and the Home Office. You should expect phone calls from them very shortly requesting your view on events, and I should think they would have more time to entertain your excuses and explanations than I do.'

She looked down her sharply pointed nose at him.

'Thousands of lives could have been lost, thanks to you.'

Jack's expression darkened. Now she'd gone a step too far. He wanted to rail against her harsh words. Thousands of lives could have been lost, but they weren't. His own team had put their lives on the line to save the city. A few thousand retconned citizens who couldn't remember the "earthquake" was better than the alternative.

'That said,' she interrupted his enraged thoughts, 'we're still going to have to award Mr Jones the George Cross. Her Majesty's was quite insistent upon it, and I happen to agree, along with the several dozen parents of children he saved. Please tell him to be here at eight pm next Tuesday, assuming you can keep Cardiff in one piece until then.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Ianto certainly deserves a medal!

Ms Mayor is overstepping herself though. Torchwood answers to the crown, not to local government, Jack doesn't have to explain anything to her. Or to UNIT or the Home Office come to that. Jack can fume at her high-handedness, but really there's nothing the Mayor can do to Jack or Torchwood, except to be annoying.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

It's true, she's just one of those scary people that make you forget they don't have as much power as they think.

That said, he'd prefer to avoid unecessary beauracracy. Too many negative reports to UNIT and the Home Office could still make life hard for them.