#boeshaneposterboy

@boeshaneposterboy

The Doctor stood at the console, soaked through, expression blank. Donna wasn't with him. Donna didn't remember him at all. He felt empty and so much more lonely than he'd felt in a long time. He wanted to follow the advice Donna had given him a long time ago: "Find someone."

He knew he shouldn't travel alone. Bad things happened when he traveled alone and not just to other people. He could be a danger to himself and he was even more aware of that right now, but after what had just happened how could he justify bringing someone else along? Snatching up some human out of their normal life and throwing them into danger? They could die, they could be scarred for life. He reached for a lever on the console. Maybe he should just...

Before he could take off, a thought hit him. There was one person he wouldn't be putting into any real danger by bringing them along, one person who might even understand what he was going through. But, he'd hurt Jack so much already and he'd already come to the rescue for the Doctor so many times.

@boeshaneposterboy

Blood. There was blood and death, everywhere, and his head was killing him...

The Doctor hadn’t planned to come there at this date-- heck, he hadn’t even planned to come there at all. He usually avoided stepping into actual battlefields for a plethora of reasons, not least of which that they weren’t usually the best point to push in order to change anything.

So what was he doing there today? Well, he was wondering that too, but he hoped the TARDIS had a really good reason for it, because he sure hadn’t been the one to enter those coordinate... And he was still looking for whatever it was she had put him there for.

Somehow, he doubted she’d brought him here just so he could be captured and contribute to helping free some other captive. Not that it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t usually her habit. Although, who was he to judge, right?

Either way, here he was, catching his breath against a crumpling wall, after narrowly avoiding to blow himself up on a landmine -- even less fun than it sounded. He pressed a hand against his side. It came up wet and orange-red. “Ugh. Course.” He growled to himself as he let his head fall back against the wall. Flying debris. Could have been much worse.. He was still a little surprised that he’d managed to avoid getting shot at any point so far. Though he’d better wrap this up before he got too dizzy to make it back to the TARDIS... But he couldn’t stay there much longer.. He didn’t want to get caught in the bombing he knew was coming soon...

He breathed for a few second more, eyes closed, then gathered his strength and pushed forward, ready to take a look around the wall before he went on...

When one thinks of Stark Industries, they think of games. They think of the Magic Box gaming system. And that, in turn, makes people think of Marvelous Heroes.

There was more to it than that. 

Marvelous Heroes wasn’t the only game that the Magic Box had, for instance, and it was certainly more than a gaming system. Many people couldn’t afford a lot of technology, or subscriptions to multiple things, so the Magic Box internet hotspot capability was prized by poorer gamers. The processing power of the system was breathtaking as well, able to be used for day to day computer usage, and the screen free holographic technology meant that all you needed was the system to do everything to do with it.

It also meant that, with all these things in mind, that a blackout of that internet system for any reason would be a catastrophe.

Worse, alongside the blackout of the game systems, all the phones and other internet capable Stark tech that was linked to the company satellites also went black. It made the world aware very quickly that something had gone horribly, incredibly wrong. Yes, the systems all still worked, but calls were suddenly no longer perfect, bouncing off cell towers that weren’t on the Stark network, and anyone relying on a Magic Box system for their internet was suddenly very much in a bubble.

It took about three hours for the blackout to alarm the public.

Now, going on three days, the company was in a frenzy, calls going out constantly from the higher ups, and the publicity team was in a taiilspin trying to keep the bad press down and speculation out of the papers.

The game teams, especially those that were in Stark Tower, were having a whole different issue. No one could go home. ID badges weren’t working, and while people could take the stairs up and down, the blackout had locked down the building entirely, so all the employees were just... stuck. 

Sure, they’d gotten an apology from JARVIS, and everyone knew JARVIS, he was a fixture, but then, nothing. No one could reach the Boss, and only a handful of people had any idea that a new character had been in the works and might have something to do with the situation. 

“Yeah,” Jack confirmed.  “Not a whole lot of other people here for me to be talking to.  But I think you’re avoiding the question.  Why?  I know you’ve done bad things.  I’m not under any illusions there.  But what have you done that’s so unforgivable that it eats at you like this?” 

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed, just as his expression turned into a cold scowl. He crossed his arms and lifted his chin, just a little. Finally, he raised an eyebrow, deeply unimpressed.

@boeshaneposterboy | Continued from [x]

“I know a great club where we can do whatever we want,” Jack supplied helpfully, a suggestive smirk on his face.  “Came across it a while back.  It’s a good time.”

The Doctor raised both eyebrows, eyes wide in mock-surprise and genuine curiosity, before he leaned in a little, eyes going half lidded as he crossed his arms and gave him a sultry smirk.

“Oh yeah? ‘whatever we want’, huh?” He had to say, that was tempting. Even just the thought of discovering what Jack had in mind specifically. “Could be an awful lot of things with you, Ja-ck.”

illusorysoldier

“I have self respect, so no.”

“Okay, ouch.  I take it my reputation preceeds me.  Hey, don’t believe half of what they tell you.  At least half,” Jack said, leaning against the wall nearby.

Cloud frowned. He thought that would be it, really. Just say no to this infamous stranger -- whatever he’d meant to ask or tell him, he hadn’t cared -- in this strange land he’d found himself in, and walk away. Easy.

But the other was radiating a strange sense of sincerity that made Cloud pause, considering him a bit longer. He couldn’t help but be intrigued, even as his arms stayed firmly crossed in front of his chest.

He wasn't used to having companions anymore. The Doctor had been traveling alone so long that having not one, but two on board was almost too much. But Rose was asleep, and he was working under the console alone. He didn't even notice Jack had come out to join him until he felt a pair of eyes on him. The Doctor turned and lofted a brow at Jack.