Drapetomania ➻Doctor Who

Doctor Who?

"...The police are on the scene along with the fire brigade. There are reports of a body being found inside the wreckage. It hasn't been confirmed exactly who this unknown deceased person was..."

Everyone in Torchwood Three was crowded around Tosh's computer, staring intently at the screen that was showing them the news report. Henriks, the department store Cora had gone to earlier, had exploded due to a bomb blast and Cora hadn't returned from her mission yet.

"Voicemail." Owen cursed, pulling his phone from his ear. "Six times. I've called her six times and she still hasn't answered yet."

"She could just have her phone on silent as usual." Suzie shrugged. "Or she could be driving."

"Or she could be the body they found in the wreckage!" Owen snapped, dialling in her number again.

Tosh slid her rolling chair to another screen and typed in something, before sighing and coming back. "I tried tracking the Torchwood bike, but it's still parked near Henrik's." She turned to Jack, who was alternating between staring at the screen and at the entrance of the underground base. "Jack, should we go down there? You know, see if it's actually-"

"No, not yet," He murmured, turning back to the screen. "Let's wait to see if they find out who's body that is."

"What if she's stuck somewhere in the wreckage and they haven't found her yet?" Owen pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to Jack. "What if she's still alive in there? We have to go get her!"

"Or what if she's on her way here?"

"With her bike over there? Yeah, of course, because Cora's one to enjoy long walks." He snapped, starting to walk towards the entrance. Jack stopped him and gently pushed him towards where he was before, much to Owen's visible chagrin. "There's other ways of travelling, Owen." He said calmly before turning back to the screen.

"Oh, so you expect her to call a random taxi all the way back to Cardiff when her bike is literally right there?"

"Maybe she had no other choice." Jack shrugged.

Owen exchanged a look with Tosh, who shrugged. Jack had been unusually calm when Tosh had exclaimed about Henrik's exploding, a stark contrast from Owen, who quite literally jumped over the railing to see what was going on. He didn't even look surprised when Owen frantically told him what had happened. He'd been mysterious as usual, but everyone was too focused on the Henrik's incident to bother about yet another of his episodes.

"Anyway, I would suggest you guys get back to doing whatever you were before you found this out." Jack said, pulling away from the chair he was leaning on to look at the computer screen, where the news reporter was going on about how authorities were still on their way and had been blocked because of oncoming traffic.

"Are you joking?" Owen turned towards him. "Our friend was in a building that exploded and you just expect us to go back and do our jobs?!"

"Was I not clear the first time I said it?" Jack turned to him, a challenging expression on his face.

"Jack, I have to agree with Owen here-" Tosh started, only to be cut off by Jack, who looked between the two of them. "You're going back to work, that's an order." He said firmly. "Cora's probably perfectly alright and on her way here." He turned away and walked upstairs towards his office.

"Bloody arsehole." Owen muttered, only for Jack to call back. "And I wear that title like a badge of honour!"

Suzie rolled her eyes and walked across a bridge onto another part of their underground base which had a table with the metal gauntlet on it. Owen, on the other hand, turned to Tosh, who sighed and turned back to her computer, pushing her glasses up her nose. "What the hell's wrong with him? Who does he think he is?"