neverwouldiever | Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and other Sounds

"If this is how you get off, I might need a bigger dowry." Jack laughed, looking around for the parts that the Doctor had specified. "Yeah, I see them!" He hurried over to the valve, noticing the piece on the floor. Everything stung, making it difficult to touch anything without getting burned. He could feel the radiation attacking his cells, but just as easily, he felt them repairing and staving off the damage as well.

Jack pulled the piece from the ground, hissing and dropping it the first couple of times before he steeled himself to pick up the metal piece. He hurried back to the broken valve, and using the tools that had clearly been abandoned on the floor, got to work replacing it.

"If you like the view so much, you know you don't need a special invitation to get it, right?"

"I don't know about that. If the way to my heart was as specific as seeing your naked body barely withstand radiation damage, I'd really suggest you don't offer." Of course they'd be teasing and flirting in this situation. Very much them, the Doctor supposed. Very much Jack at any rate and the man did have a way of bringing it out in him. He had to smile despite himself, even though he didn't stop watching carefully, making sure Jack wasn't having too much trouble. "If you can just put the casing back on when you're done, the whole thing should be stabilizing. I'll have to figure out a new algorithm to make it work without blowing up again, but that shouldn't be a problem."

Jack easily did as he was told and snapped the casing back over the valve when he was finished replacing it. He had to admit that it started to sound better already. More of a regular radioactive hum than the evil, nasty sound he'd heard when he first came in. Without wanting to spend too much time in the room, Jack hurried to the door, knocking on it quickly. "All right, we're done! Can you please let me out? I don't want my hair to start falling out!"

Also, he wanted to get back to John to make certain he wasn't cannibalising the TARDIS for valuables or anything.

The Doctor nodded and quickly opened the door for Jack, closing it immediately once the man was inside. He kept his distance, for radiation reasons as well as some that had the potential to be even more dangerous, even if in more complicated, emotional ways. "I'll need to walk over to the main control room. You can go back to the TARDIS already, I suppose." He wasn't sure if Jack remembered that talk he wanted to have, but he wasn't about to bring it up himself. "Just stay away from the console room. Go to your room if you have to, you know. Kiss and stuff right away."

Jack hurried out and collected his clothes, and shaking his hands and dancing a little, as if it would help him expel all the radiation he'd collected. Jack frowned at the Doctor when he said he had things to do. "What about you?" he asked, pausing in the middle of pulling on his shirt, and actually looking a little hurt. "What are you going to do? I should probably come with you just in case, right?" Still... he didn't trust John to be by himself for this long, especially in one of the most valuable pieces of technology in the universe. Maybe he'd be able to distract John long enough for the Doctor to get back.

"No.. No, you're right. Stupid... Just... hurry up, okay? I don't know how long I can keep his sticky fingers out of the TARDIS." He pulled up his trousers and gave the Doctor a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back to the TARDIS.

It wasn't hard to get out of the TARDIS, that part had been childs play. Really, he called that ship a good one? It'd sell well because of the retro look but mostly, he wasn't thrilled with it. Old, faulty, easy to break. Hence why he was here, behind the Doctor, and not inside it still. The locks didn't even require any sort of extra coding, what was that all about?

And the guns? Well, John could find a gun anywhere he needed to. The workers had some unusual things in their lockers and while this cheap crappy handgun wasn't the best, he could still blow someone's brains out.

"Hello again," John said in a friendly tone, pressing the barrel to the back of the Doctor's head. "You have five seconds to convince me not to blow your brains out all over the floor."

"I really wish people would stop doing that. Guns, me, any combination and it never ends well." So the Doctor didn't sound overly worried, but he had stilled, even tensed. His hands stayed where they were, but that put one of them very close to the sonic screwdriver and that was a definite option. He didn't care for weapons much, but he could disable them, given half a chance.

The question was whether he'd have half a chance. No good to reason with John, he knew enough about him by now. "I'm worth a lot more alive than dead. Not just sentimental value. High bounty from several species, just for the privilege of killing me. Lots of money, dead Doctor, everyone wins. Well. I don't, but I reckon that's beside the point."

Jack had nearly lost his mind when he'd returned and seen John missing. John had left and that could never, ever be a good thing. Particularly when he had no idea what was available for him. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long to find out.

"John," Jack's voice was full of fire. He was threatening the Doctor. His Doctor. guns... No guns with the Doctor. He'd removed his pistol back at the Hub in effort to keep John's hands off of it, and now he was sincerely regretting that decision. "Put. The Gun. Down. NOW." There was always the possibility that John might pull the trigger. He sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"What? You think a bounty would appease me? Please, I kill fuckers like you, I don't bargain with them," The Doctor had wronged him and in John's eyes, he deserved to die. Grabbing the Doctor around his neck, he hauled him close protectively as Jack arrived, partially using him as a shield to protect himself but also tilting him so the gun was firmly against his temple.

"Oh give me a reason not to, Jack. Really, give me one good reason. Because no matter what happens after this point, I'm screwed. The benefit I have is that I can at least screw you two over in the process," Yes, the old John Hart end game. If he had to suffer, he could make sure everyone else did. He could take the Doctor's life and hurt Jack quite badly before he ended up locked away for the rest of eternity. "Trouble with taking a man's freedom, Jack. I have nothing to gamble over. This is literally it, I'm not going to lose or win either way regardless of what happens to him. I just feel a little happier when he dies!"

The Doctor leaned back because he wasn't given much of a choice. And people wondered why he disliked guns. He wasn't worried about dying, partly because he knew that it wouldn't be now. Four knocks and this time, there hadn't even be one. This wasn't how he'd die, never mind how hard the gun was pressed against him.

Maybe he ought to point out that killing him would definitely mean not getting laid with Jack tonight, but he reckoned this wasn't going to work at this point either. So instead he moved his hand a little, hoping it wouldn't draw attention, closer to the sonic screwdriver. "How long since you left the TARDIS, John? You can take a lot less radiation damage than either of us."

Jack was fully ready to bargain with John, threaten violence, anything to get him to release the Doctor. However, when the Doctor spoke, Jack paled. He was right, and Jack hadn't even stopped to consider the fact that there might have been radiation leaks through the hallways. Either that, or it was a clever ploy by a very clever man. In any case, he still looked absolutely horrified.

"John... John we need to go back to the TARDIS. You might have been exposed... and if you were, we need to get you treated right away. Please, don't be stupid, and just listen!"

Radiation? Wait, what? No. Shit. They were lying. They had to be lying because he was winning for once and they couldn't take it. Grinding his teeth, John stayed his ground, even if the slight tremble of the gun gave away that he was feeling a little less confident. If there was one thing John liked and one thing he cared about, it was being alive. Trust these two to try and rob that from him too.

"You're lying. You're just trying to get me to drop the gun. I'm not going to. I'd rather be radiated," John insisted, even if he wouldn't. They were tricking him, it was as simple as that. Right? There was a brief moment when he frowned, looking at Jack like he wasn't quite sure. "... You're lying. I'm sure of it."

"Drop the gun? Now, why would you do that? Keep the gun where it is, how about that? Let's just walk back together, you can keep threatening me. Makes you feel powerful, doesn't it? Gun in your hand. Too bad it doesn't help against radiation." The Doctor's finger in his pocket had reached the screwdriver and he slowly tried to spin it around so he could actually use it. Not an easy task with a gun at his temple, but he'd been through worse.

"Jack isn't lying. He didn't even know until I told him." Now, whether or not the Doctor was lying, that was another matter. But either way, the power of suggestion could be very influential. "But you can feel it, can't you? Crawling all over you. Let's go to the TARDIS. Bring the gun, it'll be fun."

Sometimes, Jack wished that the Doctor would just shut up. John usually didn't take well to being so openly mocked. Still, he was usually better at this sort of thing than Jack was, and that was very much a saving grace.

"John... I'm safe. The Doctor is safe. Our bodies can handle it... Yours can't. Trust me when I say this, John, cancer is not a great way to go. Not to mention all of the other health effects it'll have on you." He took a cautious step forward, hands empty and raised. "If we hurry, we can help you. Your hair is much too pretty for you to lose."

"I'm not being tricked by this fucker," John insisted as he kept the gun firmly against the Doctor's head. Hey, he'd had radiation sickness before and hell, if he was going to die because of these two then he was at least going to make a mark. Adding pressure and taunts to John when he'd under stress was perhaps the most unwise move anyone could make, it always made him a little more impulsive.

John was at heart a gambler. "You're trying to get into my head, aren't you? I know it. I'm not a idiot. Suggesting symptoms so I feel them? Oldest trick in the book, mate. So here's the easiest way to prove it to me, prove that I'm being radiated. Fix my bit of kit here and I'll be able to detect the radiation." John said as he shoved his arm out a little further so the Doctor could take a look. Maybe do whatever zappy thing he did with that blue wand he had. "If you actually give a shit about me and you living through this then fix it? If you don't, we die together. Seems fun, right? Death! Exciting. Never done that before."

John let out a nervous but reckless laugh with anything but a stable smile on his face. Dying was terrifying but dying while he took someone with him he didn't like? Seemed like a fitting end. "Come on, times a'ticking. If I'm going to die, all these moments are very precious."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, but he acquiesced readily enough, taking out his screwdriver and flipping through the seconds. Only for a second or two it ended up being pointed toward the gun, but the Doctor's eyes were on the screwdriver and his eyebrows went up. Huh. Well.

He held the sonic screwdriver against John's vortex manipulator, shifting his weight from one feet to the other as a song started to play. He hummed the first few beats of 'My heart will go on', but one glance at Jack's serious expression made him stop the song and, after a few moments, the humming as well. "I was on the Titanic once. Well. Twice. But one time in space. Not the original Titanic, obviously. But it didn't end well either. I met an Alonso there. Maybe I should introduce you some time, Jack."

While he talked he finished up unlocking the settings required to measure radiation. He grabbed John's wrist to have a look, whistling under his breath. "Would you look at that! There really is radiation."

Jack was nearly about to reach for his vortex manipulator instead when the Doctor had decided that he wanted to cooperate. Great. He sighed and lowered his arms. He wasn't playing around, and this wasn't fun for him anymore. "That was Christmas, right?" Jack wasn't sure where he was going with this, but no one would soon be forgetting the Christmas that the Titanic nearly crashed into Buckingham Palace. "Maybe you should." He turned his attention right to John, staring hard at him. "I like clever men who don't make stupid decisions."

The Doctor's reaction made Jack's eyebrows lift in surprise. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, after all, who knew how long that valve had been leaking before the two of them stepped in to fix it? "..How bad is it?"

"You like anything that breathes," John shot back with a frown, looking at his readings with a frown. There was radiation but it wasn't too bad. For radiation anyway. If he didn't get inside that ship then he was probably going to die slowly and painfully, it was a matter of getting away from the exposure that mattered. With a sigh, John gave Jack a look that was just on the verge of a sulky child who'd been proved wrong.

"Well. Shit," John said bluntly as he turned to Jack, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Oh how could he resist one more chance at giving Jack a shock because hell, they'd spent days together with Jack waving his authority around. Time for John to take the piss.

So, with a shrug, he cocked the gun back and without little thought, he fired.

And nothing happened. John grinned playfully, pressing it a few more times because he knew this was going to happen. For two reasons. One, the gun was entirely empty. And secondly, he was pretty sure the Doctor, being the smark bloke he is, already jammed it. Holding it up playfully, he offered it to the Doctor standing in front of him. "You cheated."

"Not so bad, Jack. If we get some treatment in the TARDIS we'll be right as rain. Well, the two of us, I suppose you're usually right anyway."

Glancing to the side as the gun was cocked, the Doctor really didn't look all that worried. However, when John 'fired', he did pretend to be startled, clutching very dramatically at his right heart. It lasted for about two seconds before he started to smile.

The Doctor took the gun from John, his grin only widening as he opened it up to check. Just as he'd expected, unloaded. "So did you!" He threw the gun behind himself and started off in the direction of the TARDIS. "Come along now, John Hart, I'll give you something against the radiation. Wouldn't want that pretty hair to fall out, isn't that what Jack said?"

Now Jack felt cheated. He felt all of the tension leave his body at once, and it nearly left him weak on his feet. That really wasn't fair. He hated being left out of the loop on situations like this. He dropped his arms and rubbed his face, trying to get all of the tension out of it.

Now that the calamity was over, Jack felt a surge of rage shoot up through him, and he very, very much felt like punching John. So with a few steps to close the distance between them, he did, throwing his fist as hard as he could manage at John. "Don't you ever, EVER do something that stupid in front of me again!" He honestly didn't care whether or not John was having fun. Jack was pissed off, and he would drag John's unconscious body back to the TARDIS if he had to.

John reeled back, dropping his head downwards, blood dripping from his face because ow, that was certainly Jack's full effort. Growling in annoyance, John shoved Jack as hard as he could away from him, tempted to throw a punch himself. "I didn't have a loaded gun, you bastard! Why the hell did you hit me? I didn't do anything!"

Was the dumb stupid prank not funny for Jack? Well, that was weird! Wiping the blood off his face, he held out his hand to gesture to the Doctor, looking awfully annoyed that only he got punished. "Aren't you going hit him too? He knew! He could have told you, he lied. I always lie, what's his excuse? He's your mate."

Shaking his head, John started to leave because what else could he do? Fight Jack till he died of radiation? Nah, no fun. Plus Jack would be fine. Boring. "God sake, you don't shoot a bloke and look what happens? And then you ask why I always kill people!"

"Well. For the record, I technically didn't know until just before I enabled your vortex manipulator." The Doctor had turned around when the two started fighting behind him. Alright, Jack was the one throwing punches, but John didn't seem as if he was that far from it either. He shook his head when John seemed to calm down enough to just follow him instead. With a snap of his fingers he made the TARDIS doors open, waiting for the two Captains to be ready to go inside.

"Life's too short to waste time fighting! Make love not war! Something or other, I'm all out of quotes, come along already before I settle on Lion King again."

"I hit you because you could have killed our one ride out of here, you idiot! Do you know how to fly a TARDIS? Because I sure as hell don't! And even if it were loaded, you'd have done the same thing!" He growled and grabbed John by the jacket, shoving him in the direction of the TARDIS.

"Let's go before more of your terrible decisions end up killing us all." Now the question would be what to do with John, because in Jack's mind, that was definitely on the 'fuck up' end of the list. "I've about had it with you."

"How could I kill him with an unloaded gun? Prick." John shot back as he roughly jerked himself out of the hold, once again using all his weight to push Jack away because hey, he was a pretty strong and intimidating guy when he wanted to be. And when Jack wanted to hurt someone, he really went for it. "I wouldn't of shot our ride, genius. Never kill the driver, that's rule number one. God, you really do think I'm that stupid."

To be fair, John could sometimes be that stupid and it wouldn't be the first time he'd stranded himself somewhere in his recklessness. Whether it was killing a partner or accidentally mortally wounding the person with the keys to the ship. Though he did rarely kill anyone who had a ship he couldn't fly, he wasn't a total idiot after all. "If you've had it with me, let me go! It's not my fault you've decided you have to babysit me."

"Jack." The Doctor's voice was soft, gentle, just as his hand when he put it on Jack's shoulder once he was close enough. "It's alright. No harm done, he just had to try." He turned to walk inside the TARDIS, already starting her up while he still waited for the other two to follow behind him.

He hadn't been worried about John killing him, not really. For one thing, he was still waiting for four knocks. For another, for better or worse, John cared what Jack thought of him. And some things, as Jack's anger showed, could be a permanent deal breaker.

"Where do you want me to take you?"

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One last tag before sleep!

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