Nov. 3rd, 2008 02:14 am
Time and Death (Prologue/?)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
savvyliterateBack a couple weeks ago, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladychi and I issued a challenge with each other to write a crossover with J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)'s In Death universe with Doctor Who. Both of us emerged with monster fics from this and this is the prologue for it. Lots of love also goes to aishuu for lovely brainstorming sessions.
Title: Time and Death
Characters (Pairings):
From Doctor Who/Torchwood: Ten, Donna Noble, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness (Ten/Rose)
From the In Death Series: Lt. Eve Dallas, Detective Delia Peabody, Roarke, Chief M.E. Morris, Detective Ian McNab, others (Standard pairings from this series apply)
Rating: M.
Spoilers: In Doctor Who, this takes place after 4.07 and disregards anything to do with JE, River Song, or what have you. We're going to just pretend that series 4 ends this way. ^_~ For the In Death series, it takes place after "Innocent in Death," but you do not have to be current on the series to enjoy this story.
Summary: In New York 2060, a series of corpses appear all with the same strange mark - a chest cut open to reveal two hearts. Eve Dallas is looking for a man she believes is obssessed with creating a medical miracle, but she's not quite sure who's at fault: The strange British man in a pinstripe suit and his companion, or the stranger blonde who keeps appearing and disappearing from each crime scene before she can be questioned.
Time and Death
Prologue: The Corpse Had Two Hearts
The corpse had two hearts.
It, thought Lieutenant Eve Dallas, could almost be considered one of those works of art that her husband, Roarke, paid obscene amounts of money for. The middle-aged man - white, of average build with close-cropped dark hair - lay spread eagle in the dead center of Greenpeace Park. He wore a long leather jacket that almost made Eve a touch envious. The jacket was open, displaying a bare chest that had a Y-inscison made with such clean precision that Eve swore she saw tears in Chief Medical Examiner Morris’s eyes. He had made it to the park at the same time as she did, the dispatch call having intrigued him to the point where he ventured out of the morgue himself to the crime scene.
The normal cascade of sound that symbolized night life in New York City in the summer of 2060 was somewhat muted in the middle of this peaceful park. It wasn’t the first time this year that Eve had been pulled from her warm bed, and her equally warm husband, to fight said traffic to the park. Last fall, another series of murders had involved this park. Eve thought briefly of Annalisa Sommers and how she had been a victim of pure chance, of a desperate woman using a serial killer to cover her own jealous actions.
Morris crouched on the other side of the body, sealed hands lightly inspecting the wound. He was definitely treating it as a work of art. “This is beautiful,” he gushed. “Whoever did this work is a master, had years of experience. Look at how the skin is folded back and clipped. The entire purpose of this Y-cut was to show off the hearts.”
“I can see that,” Eve replied a bit curtly. Her gaze swept over the body once more. “I know also that,” she said gesturing to the heart located in the right ribcage, “isn’t medically possible.”
“It is if you read the latest gossip rags,” Morris replied cheerfully, to which Eve nearly rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not,” he agreed. “It was surgically added at some point, but it won’t be until I get this boy on my table that I can determine if it was pre- or post-mortem.”
Eve’s eyebrow winged up. “Pre-mortem?”
“Entirely possible. If this man was hooked up to heart-lung machine while his right lung was removed to accommodate the second heart, then there’s a good chance he survived for the duration of the operation. Or, it could be an alien.”
“They allow you to read anything in the morgue, don’t they?” Eve frowned. “It doesn’t feel like that sort of medical experiment. You mentioned yourself, whoever did this was a master. But it wasn’t in the name of science, not like the sleepers in early ‘59 were.” Her gaze swept over the body once more before settling back on the chest. “It’s not just art, but a statement. Whoever did this wanted to make a bold statement.”
Morris sat back on his haunches. “I have to agree with you, Lieutenant.”
Eve knelt, reached with a hand coated with Seal-It to pick up the man’s limp hand to identify him. “I’ll ID him and start tracking down next of kin. Where in the world is Peabody?” She scanned the screened off crime scene for her missing partner. When she tagged Peabody, she’d been at some kind of club wearing a dress that Eve was positive broke several statures of public indecency. Peabody had managed to say something about a date with her co-hab, Ian McNab, and that she’d be over as soon as she found decent clothes and took a dose of Sober-Up.
“No!”
Eve leaped to her feet and pivoted, hand dropping to her stunner as a blonde-haired woman emerged from the direction of the privacy screens that blocked the murder scene. She swore and moved to intercept. “This is a crime scene,” she started to order, but the blonde ignored her. She shoved Eve to one side and crouched next to the body.
“No, no…,” the blonde cried, tears rolling down her face. She took a long look at the corpse, then suddenly released a shuddering breath. She sat back, cupping her face in her hands for a moment before getting shakily back to her feet. “It’s not him. Thank God, it’s not him.”
“Do you know him, ma’am?” Morris asked, holding up a hand when he noticed Eve bristling.
“No, I don’t. I saw … thought he was someone else.” The blonde gave Eve an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Officer.”
“Lieutenant.” Eve took in the woman’s appearance. She was slim, several inches shorter than herself. She wore jeans and a dark blue jacket, which concealed some sort of pink-colored shirt. Her blonde hair brushed her shoulders and there were circles beneath her brown eyes. The woman was definitely foreign, her accent almost but not quite Roarke’s Irish. She wasn’t that good at placing accents, but she guessed that the woman was from the British Isles. “You came this close to contaminating my crime scene and being tossed in the back of a black and white for that.”
The woman arched an eyebrow, then a big grin split over her face. “I assure you, Lieutenant, that despite how it seems, I do know enough by now not to contaminate a crime scene.” She gave the corpse a sad look. “I just had to make sure.” She closed her eyes. “What’s the year?”
“Pardon?”
“The year?”
“2060,” Morris spoke up. “July 2060.”
The woman flashed him a grateful smile. “Thanks.” Her gaze moved to the sky, her eyes filled with longing. Then, she turned on her heel and started back toward the privacy screens. About five steps away from the screen, she suddenly vanished.
Eve blinked, then started at Morris. He gave her an equally puzzling look, then walked to where the woman vanished. He took a couple more steps forward, then nearly plowed over Peabody as she emerged through the screens.
“Hey, Morris!” Detective Delia Peabody flashed him a bright smile, which quickly faded when she saw the puzzled look on his face and the slightly pissed one on Eve’s. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you see a woman, blonde and brown, roughly 5’4 and in her mid 20s?” Eve snapped. “Wearing jeans, dark blue jacket and that pinkish purple Mavis loves.”
“Magenta? No, I haven’t seen anyone beyond the barriers that wasn’t a uniform. Well, you’ve got your usual crowd of gawkers, glide carts, and the summer intern from Channel 75, but that’s pretty routine. Why?”
Eve didn’t answer. She simply turned back to the dead. She didn’t want to entertain the possibility that the strange British woman had just vanished. It just wasn’t possible.
ladychi and I issued a challenge with each other to write a crossover with J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)'s In Death universe with Doctor Who. Both of us emerged with monster fics from this and this is the prologue for it. Lots of love also goes to aishuu for lovely brainstorming sessions.Title: Time and Death
Characters (Pairings):
From Doctor Who/Torchwood: Ten, Donna Noble, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness (Ten/Rose)
From the In Death Series: Lt. Eve Dallas, Detective Delia Peabody, Roarke, Chief M.E. Morris, Detective Ian McNab, others (Standard pairings from this series apply)
Rating: M.
Spoilers: In Doctor Who, this takes place after 4.07 and disregards anything to do with JE, River Song, or what have you. We're going to just pretend that series 4 ends this way. ^_~ For the In Death series, it takes place after "Innocent in Death," but you do not have to be current on the series to enjoy this story.
Summary: In New York 2060, a series of corpses appear all with the same strange mark - a chest cut open to reveal two hearts. Eve Dallas is looking for a man she believes is obssessed with creating a medical miracle, but she's not quite sure who's at fault: The strange British man in a pinstripe suit and his companion, or the stranger blonde who keeps appearing and disappearing from each crime scene before she can be questioned.
Time and Death
Prologue: The Corpse Had Two Hearts
The corpse had two hearts.
It, thought Lieutenant Eve Dallas, could almost be considered one of those works of art that her husband, Roarke, paid obscene amounts of money for. The middle-aged man - white, of average build with close-cropped dark hair - lay spread eagle in the dead center of Greenpeace Park. He wore a long leather jacket that almost made Eve a touch envious. The jacket was open, displaying a bare chest that had a Y-inscison made with such clean precision that Eve swore she saw tears in Chief Medical Examiner Morris’s eyes. He had made it to the park at the same time as she did, the dispatch call having intrigued him to the point where he ventured out of the morgue himself to the crime scene.
The normal cascade of sound that symbolized night life in New York City in the summer of 2060 was somewhat muted in the middle of this peaceful park. It wasn’t the first time this year that Eve had been pulled from her warm bed, and her equally warm husband, to fight said traffic to the park. Last fall, another series of murders had involved this park. Eve thought briefly of Annalisa Sommers and how she had been a victim of pure chance, of a desperate woman using a serial killer to cover her own jealous actions.
Morris crouched on the other side of the body, sealed hands lightly inspecting the wound. He was definitely treating it as a work of art. “This is beautiful,” he gushed. “Whoever did this work is a master, had years of experience. Look at how the skin is folded back and clipped. The entire purpose of this Y-cut was to show off the hearts.”
“I can see that,” Eve replied a bit curtly. Her gaze swept over the body once more. “I know also that,” she said gesturing to the heart located in the right ribcage, “isn’t medically possible.”
“It is if you read the latest gossip rags,” Morris replied cheerfully, to which Eve nearly rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not,” he agreed. “It was surgically added at some point, but it won’t be until I get this boy on my table that I can determine if it was pre- or post-mortem.”
Eve’s eyebrow winged up. “Pre-mortem?”
“Entirely possible. If this man was hooked up to heart-lung machine while his right lung was removed to accommodate the second heart, then there’s a good chance he survived for the duration of the operation. Or, it could be an alien.”
“They allow you to read anything in the morgue, don’t they?” Eve frowned. “It doesn’t feel like that sort of medical experiment. You mentioned yourself, whoever did this was a master. But it wasn’t in the name of science, not like the sleepers in early ‘59 were.” Her gaze swept over the body once more before settling back on the chest. “It’s not just art, but a statement. Whoever did this wanted to make a bold statement.”
Morris sat back on his haunches. “I have to agree with you, Lieutenant.”
Eve knelt, reached with a hand coated with Seal-It to pick up the man’s limp hand to identify him. “I’ll ID him and start tracking down next of kin. Where in the world is Peabody?” She scanned the screened off crime scene for her missing partner. When she tagged Peabody, she’d been at some kind of club wearing a dress that Eve was positive broke several statures of public indecency. Peabody had managed to say something about a date with her co-hab, Ian McNab, and that she’d be over as soon as she found decent clothes and took a dose of Sober-Up.
“No!”
Eve leaped to her feet and pivoted, hand dropping to her stunner as a blonde-haired woman emerged from the direction of the privacy screens that blocked the murder scene. She swore and moved to intercept. “This is a crime scene,” she started to order, but the blonde ignored her. She shoved Eve to one side and crouched next to the body.
“No, no…,” the blonde cried, tears rolling down her face. She took a long look at the corpse, then suddenly released a shuddering breath. She sat back, cupping her face in her hands for a moment before getting shakily back to her feet. “It’s not him. Thank God, it’s not him.”
“Do you know him, ma’am?” Morris asked, holding up a hand when he noticed Eve bristling.
“No, I don’t. I saw … thought he was someone else.” The blonde gave Eve an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Officer.”
“Lieutenant.” Eve took in the woman’s appearance. She was slim, several inches shorter than herself. She wore jeans and a dark blue jacket, which concealed some sort of pink-colored shirt. Her blonde hair brushed her shoulders and there were circles beneath her brown eyes. The woman was definitely foreign, her accent almost but not quite Roarke’s Irish. She wasn’t that good at placing accents, but she guessed that the woman was from the British Isles. “You came this close to contaminating my crime scene and being tossed in the back of a black and white for that.”
The woman arched an eyebrow, then a big grin split over her face. “I assure you, Lieutenant, that despite how it seems, I do know enough by now not to contaminate a crime scene.” She gave the corpse a sad look. “I just had to make sure.” She closed her eyes. “What’s the year?”
“Pardon?”
“The year?”
“2060,” Morris spoke up. “July 2060.”
The woman flashed him a grateful smile. “Thanks.” Her gaze moved to the sky, her eyes filled with longing. Then, she turned on her heel and started back toward the privacy screens. About five steps away from the screen, she suddenly vanished.
Eve blinked, then started at Morris. He gave her an equally puzzling look, then walked to where the woman vanished. He took a couple more steps forward, then nearly plowed over Peabody as she emerged through the screens.
“Hey, Morris!” Detective Delia Peabody flashed him a bright smile, which quickly faded when she saw the puzzled look on his face and the slightly pissed one on Eve’s. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you see a woman, blonde and brown, roughly 5’4 and in her mid 20s?” Eve snapped. “Wearing jeans, dark blue jacket and that pinkish purple Mavis loves.”
“Magenta? No, I haven’t seen anyone beyond the barriers that wasn’t a uniform. Well, you’ve got your usual crowd of gawkers, glide carts, and the summer intern from Channel 75, but that’s pretty routine. Why?”
Eve didn’t answer. She simply turned back to the dead. She didn’t want to entertain the possibility that the strange British woman had just vanished. It just wasn’t possible.