m_findlow

Title: Wrongful arrest
Fandom: Torchwood
Prompt: Arrest at hc_bingo
Wordcount: 24,947 words
Rating: M
Warnings: N/A
Summary: UNIT are on the warpath, and they've got Jack in their sights.

It felt weird to be walking straight into UNIT HQ with Jack tied up and cuffed in front of him. Twenty four hours ago that had been exactly what he'd been planning on doing. Trading one Jack for another. Guilty for the innocent. Now though, he was trading one, but intending on taking them both back. They had to hope they'd covered their contingencies, or else Ianto would indeed only be leaving with one Jack, and not necessarily the right one.

Martha was there to greet him and to take custody of their prisoner. She still had just enough authority to bypass regular procedures and have Jack taken away before anyone else could find out. It paid not to give too much away until Ianto was good and ready to break the news to Oduya. He'd called ahead, but given him only just long enough to know that he'd be expecting an audience just as soon as he arrived.

Once everything with Martha was in place, Ianto was lead to the Colonel's office.

'Mr Jones,' Colonel Oduya greeted him somewhat icily. 'I was beginning to think that you had given up on submitting your report regarding this incident. Now I see I was mistaken. Coming in person was hardly necessary.'

'So you don't want the real criminal, then? He's currently being held under arrest right here.'

Oduya frowned before he stood up and Ianto lead him back out of his plush office and down the corridor to another room. A UNIT guard was now stationed outside it's door, along with Martha Jones, where he'd left Jack under lock and key.

Ianto opened the door and let the colonel see Jack sat on the floor.

'How did he get out? I gave strict instructions that he was not to be moved under any circumstances!'

'He hasn't been moved, sir,' Martha clarified.

'This is your thief, Colonel,' Ianto explained. Jack fixed him with a deathly glare. 'He came here from an alternate universe and decided to cause some havoc before leaving. UNIT just happened to be in possession of something he was looking to sell on the black market. It's quite a story actually, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I have his full confession taped on record.' He held up a small flash drive and waved it temptingly.

'It's a lie! He coerced me!' Jack ranted. 'I don't know any of you or anything about what happened. I'm innocent.'

Jack was playing his part to a tea. Mind you, Ianto thought, it probably wasn't a stretch to say it's how he would have reacted had Ianto been fully intending on handing him over in place of the other Jack.

'I imagine you'll also be wanting this,' Ianto said, reaching across to the small table, holding up the stolen device and watching the reaction on Oduya's face, which confirmed that this was indeed their stolen artefact.

'How do we know that this is the real Jack Harkness? Who's to say you haven't created some sort of clone to take his place? God only knows what kind of technology you might have hidden at Torchwood. And the fact that Captain Harkness had sufficient time to hand the device to you on his return to Cardiff before we arrested him.'

Ianto kept his tone placid and calm. Let Oduya be the one on the back foot. It would only make it easier to convince him that things were exactly as Ianto intended them to seem.

'It's not a clone, I can assure you. Run whatever kind of DNA tests you like. It's his blood you found at your crime scene. He's just as real as the Jack you've got locked up downstairs. Plus, I have copies of the CCTV footage from both Cardiff Central Train station and backtracked the footage to London where he first embarked, time stamped to prove that this version of Jack was in London at the time of the break in and travelled back to Cardiff where he was apprehended by me. So ask yourself, if you had Jack in custody here, how could he also be on a train headed for Cardiff at the same time?'

The colonel fixed him with an uncertain stare, before glancing at the imposter Jack, and then at Martha Jones.

'I can begin running a DNA comparison if you want, sir. We should also run a full body scan of both of them to confirm.' That was Martha's part of the plan. Somehow she had to get them both in the one room at the same time and make the faked switch. It would only be believable if the imposter Jack went into the room and looked to be leaving it as their new prisoner, when in actual fact, the real Jack Harkness was being reimprisoned.

'Very well,' the colonel relented. 'Start the profiling whilst Mr Jones and I review his other evidence.'

'Yes, sir.'

'I should note then, Colonel,' Ianto interjected, 'that in my interview with the imposter, he revealed that he is not immortal, unlike this universe's Jack Harkness. I say that so you might be gentler in your medical testing.' Ianto couldn't help but let a little bit of resentment seep into the comment, letting him know full well that he was aware of what kind of experminatations they had been conducting on Jack so far.

'Duly noted.' The colonel gave no admission of guilt in his reply, nor any apology.

It was one thing for Martha to meet the duplicate Jack in person. It was another thing entirely to have them both in the same room at the same time. Had it not been for the fact that one was wearing a light blue shirt and the other a dark blue shirt, she'd have been unable to tell them apart at all.

'Blimey, he really is you, Jack.' She remarked, looking from one to the other.

'Hey, I'm not him,' New Jack complained. 'If anything, he's me.'

'Right, uh, what should I call you?' she asked, referring to New Jack.

'Anything you like, sweetheart.'

'Hey!' Jack barked. 'She's off limits.'

'Alright! Can we just focus, yeah?' The last thing Martha needed was the pair of them having a real altercation.

'I'm going to have to take some DNA samples,' she said, addressing New Jack.

'Can you uncuff him please?' she asked the guard. He returned her request with a raised eyebrow.

'I need him to be able to take his shirt off.'

'Seriously?'

'I have to insist on it. You do your job and I'll do mine.'

'Yes, ma'am.' The guard reluctantly uncuffed New Jack, just long enough for him to disrobe the garment. Martha took care to fold the shirt and placed it in a plastic bag on a side bench. She did the same with Jack, taking the light blue shirt and putting it in a separate bag. The two were sat cuffed on opposite sides of the room and with the guard still there, it made it impossible to switch them, identical as they were.

She made a point of taking her time running her procedures slowly, knowing that eventually the guard would grow bored. That's when her moment came.

'Excuse me, ma'am. Do you mind if I use the bathroom? I can get someone to relieve my post.'

'That's okay,' she replied. 'They're both cuffed and shackled. Not like they're going anywhere. I can handle them.'

'Very good, ma'am. Thank you.'

As soon as the guard left, Martha leapt into action.

'Swap places.'

'I know I said I'd trust you,' said Jack, 'but doesn't this mean I go back in the slammer? I thought you were supposed to be breaking me out?'

'We need them to think they've got the right Jack now,' Martha explained.

'Who came up with this plan? Tell me it wasn't you,' Jack said, narrowing his eyes at New Jack.

'Why can't you just be grateful?'

'Are you serious? You're the reason I'm here in the first place.'

'And right now I could be back in Cardiff shagging your boyfriend. Instead I'm here trying to save your arse.'

Jack made a lunging movement across the room towards New Jack. The only thing that stopped him was the restrictive shackles around his ankles and Martha interceding between them, placing a firm hand against his chest.

'Oi!' she shouted. 'You can fight it out later. Do either of you want to spend the rest of your life locked up here?'

'No,' they both responded in unison. Jack glared at New Jack. He didn't like even sharing the same reply, let alone the same room.

Martha placed a conciliatory hand on his chest.

'Jack, please just trust us.'

Jack huffed but fell into step. He wasn't used to taking a back seat, he was the Captain. New Jack seemed to take pleasure in it.

By the time the guard returned to the room, it appeared as if nothing had changed, both Jacks were still sat on opposite sides of the room.

'Right, that's everything done,' she declared. 'You can get dressed again.'

She carefully made sure to swap the shirts over so that New Jack was now wearing Jack's pale blue shirt, and Jack now had the dark blue shirt. The guard never noticed the changeover, and if he had, Martha would use the excuse that she'd had to get them to trade places to complete her tests.

'I've got to go and report my findings to Colonel Oduya. Can you stay here and guard them?'

'Yes, ma'am,' came the reply.

The confession video made for interesting viewing. Jack and Ianto had compiled it before they left the hub, splicing together parts of the original interview Ianto had conducted, with carefully acted out parts to fill in the gaps. Had the situation not been so dire, they might have even admitted to enjoying the play acting. They both certainly thought the finished product was very convincing. Oduya seemed convinced for the most part. It probably helped that whilst they were watching the video, Jack's DNA test had come back a match.

When Martha knocked on the colonel's door, it was Ianto who opened it. Oduya was sat behind his polished desk, looking suitably contrite and a little bit resigned to the fact that Martha was about to deliver the news he'd been dreading.

'Doctor Jones?'

'It's confirmed, sir. Identical DNA profiles. The man you have in custody is innocent.'

'It would appear so,' he agreed. 'Mr Jones has put forward some very compelling evidence that seems to prove that there are indeed two versions of the Captain.'

'I trust you'll be releasing Jack now?' Ianto asked.

'I'm not an unreasonable man. What's their status Dr Jones?'

'Both under guard in my lab, sir.'

'Then let's go and resolve this ridiculous saga.'

He marched efficiently out of his office, allowing Ianto and Martha to follow in tow. Ianto managed to lock eyes with Martha and she gave him the briefest of nods. So far, so good.

Chapter twelve...