Log; Ongoing

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

When; Monday April 20th
Rating; PG-13 to R
Characters; The Major warconductor, Captain Jack Harkness handsomejack
Summary; Another day, another experiment. Another death. They will overturn all failures, again and again and again.

And for Jack, there's the possibility that this experience is all TOO familiar.
Log;


Few could describe the interior of the Deus ex Machina II as anything but hellish. And although the man who wrestled secrets from the devil himself was no longer there, the stench of Damnation still remained.

Trapped, undead souls moaned behind well held walls, and in other cells, failed experiments cried and moaned in pain. Trapped in this City, trapped in this ship.

The Major smiled and sipped at a mug. His prisoner strapped to a lab table behind glass. He leaned forward and pressed the intercom.

"Guten Morgen, Herr Captain.

Comments

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

Jack was really beginning to hate coming back from the dead.

Not that it was ever a picnic, rather it felt like being yanked backwards over broken glass, each and every time. Just occasionally, when the deaths were particularly horrific, the ride over the glass seemed to take longer.

And lime juice and salt were added to the wounds.

Still, he gasped all the way to wakefulness in time to hear the Major's polite salutations and after a cough -how the hell had they killed him last time?!?- he gave a rough chuckle, head lolling on the table.

"And a good morning to you, Herr Major. Did you bring me some coffee this morning?"

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"My apologies, Herr Captain, but there are no coffee drinkers on this ship. We tend not to keep it in stock."

He stirred his coca. "Our readings indicate you are still not dead as the city portrays it. Very interesting. But I'm afraid I do not, strictly speaking, believe in immortality as a concept."

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

"That's less than hospitable of you, Major." Jack said, catching his breath a moment. The table, nor his position on it, was particularly comfortable. "I expected more from my host."

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on breathing for a couple beats of his heart and then quirked up one corner of his mouth.

"This after ... you know, I've lost count, Major. How many times have I expired? Ah, forgive me, gauche question. Believe it or not, I'm still here."

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"My apologies. I shall have a man retrieve some for you when he next makes a supply run. Do you have a preference?"

He unhooked a chart from the wall and flipped through it. "I have the count, but I rather suspect the full count would depress you, and morale is important in any soldier, as we both know."

His glasses caught the light perfectly, holding them as twin glowing moons. "But somehow I get the feeling you've done this before."

_{[[OOC: Refresh my memory, is Jack's closeness with the Doctor well known? Because Major knew the Master while he was here and I thought he might toss in a few "drumming" references to be a jerk]]}

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

"A nice blend would be appreciated, nothing too over roasted," Jack replied as if he were truly a guest expecting to have his coffee served on a silver platter.

Chuckling, low in his chest he gave the bindings holding his arms a test. Anyone in their right mind would have given up at this point but Jack never stopped fighting, even if it was little shows such as testing his bonds.

"You think?"

[ooc: Probably it stands to reason that the Major has seen Jack's posts marked for the Doctor or specifically requesting the Doctor over the past year, yep.]

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

Of course not. Silver would burn the vampires.

"Although I somehow doubt it was done by me. Was it by the Master? Or Davros?" He hooked the chart up.

"No, I am prying. That is between the two of you. Tell me, we are old soldiers, Captain. How would you describe your time during the great war?"

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

Gold would work also.

Jack's face froze and he flinched lightly as the Major casually brought up the Master's name. It was as much the memories of the Doctor, weakened and caged that distressed Jack as anything he himself had suffered at the Master's hands.

It was tempting to be a smart ass and ask which 'great war' did the Major mean, there had been a few he'd lived through but the week was starting to wear on him and he couldn't afford to waste energy on capricious temper.

"Which time," he asked instead. "I lived through parts of it, twice. Technically three times I suppose but that gets into crossed time lines."

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"Then you have a perspective like none other, Herr Captain." He refilled the cup from a nearby pot.

"Myself, I think of it as... music. A great orchestra, with differing parts coming together to form a whole. Strings. Horns. Woodwinds."

He took a sip of his coca.

"And, of course, the drums."

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

The drums again.

Jack recognized the Major's tactic and only by allowing the cold, clinical part of his brain, the part which had made him the 'go to guy', take over was he able to keep from yelling.

"Do you know, Major that there was a time when I was so good at torture they would use me as the final resort for the really tough nuts?"

Sure, it had nothing to do with the Major's question but Jack was too a point in his own suffering where he had to exert what little control he could over conversations. At least, he had to attempt it or risk going mad.

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"I'm not at all surprised," the Major said. "But I do wonder why you say 'there was a time'?"

He smiled benignly. "I'm more than certain you are still just as good at the art, if you were to put your mind to it. Did you have a favorite technique?"

He picked a pastry from a nearby plate. "Was there anything in particular you did to get those nice little Luftwafe boys crying for their mothers back in Berlin, the blood streaming over their previously pristine uniforms?"

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

Chuckling roughly, Jack closed his eyes and took a moment to blot out the hellishness of his immediate surroundings.

"What makes you think I practiced my art on the Luftwafe?" He responded to a question with a question.

"Besides, this is a conversation better held over a nice tea, don't you think?"

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"Did you not? I'm disappointed. I would have hoped bold pilots would not have cracked so easily."

He stirred a cube of sugar into his coca.

"But I imagine your skills are best used on less... fragile targets than mere humans."

He tapped his spoon against the cup in a curt, four beat rhythm to shake off the coca.

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

That rhythm set Jack's teeth on edge and he shifted uncomfortably on the table.

"So, Herr Major. What is on the menu for today? More esanguination? That's always fun, slow and painful?"

It was getting harder and harder to not give away anything vital to the Major, especially as fatigue set in and Jack could only hope to get shifting the topics in an attempt to keep ahead of things.

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"No, today I thought something more basic. And, it occurred to me, more personal."

He drew a Luger from his jacket and stepped forward into the exam room. "After all, you've more than earned a personal attention, as you said."

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

The change in tone, from the slightly tinny voice through the intercome to the deeper, vocals that spoke of the Major being in the room with him, caused Jack to turn his head and look towards the man. Upon seeing the Lugar, his lips twitched in an expression that was utterly humorless.

"Going to do a bit of work yourself, Herr Major?"

[ooc: Pssssttt... *nudges you towards e-mail so I can get to adding to the chaos. ;D*]

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"Beware the officer not willing to take the field when necessary. Who has not fired gun or taken fire."

He placed the Lugar against Jack's temple.

"You see Captain Harkness, I too have seen what is on the other side. I too have died."

[handsomejack.livejournal.com]

There was a calm acceptance of the gun against his temple, a weariness that crossed centuries of time and space in his eyes as he looked up at the Major.

"Then you know there is nothing," Jack said. "It just goes black."

[warconductor.livejournal.com]

"Indeed. And cold. Although I concede that might have been the German winter and the blood loss. But sometimes I suspect..."

And he smiled.

"That death is not so easily tricked."

And he squeezed the trigger.