Hey there, kids! It has been awhile but here I am! Due to moving back to uni my updates never sort of happened but I plan to fix that now! Welcome to Part 9 of the Unexpected series! Hope you like it!
Allons-y and enjoy!
----
Just Keep On Running
He was running. Again. Always with the running. He could hear claws clicking behind him, chasing him, over the rasping of his own breath. His arms wheeled as they spun in a calculated pattern to increase his traction to enable him to turn the corner quickly but it was a pattern that also looked incredibly silly. But when one is running for one's life they tend not to notice that sort of thing. He shot round the corner thanks to this and put on a burst of speed, desperately trying to get ahead.
He was wearing his favourite trainers, white converse like his dad's, and what had once been a black blazer and slacks with a deep red shirt. The claws had rather changed that and it now looked like a loose cobbling of shredded rags on a gangly frame just hitting its growth spurt. He was only glad that he wasn't wearing a tie. That would've been most inconvenient. He'd also lost his glasses somewhere along the way, he made a mental reminder to get a new pair. When he got out of there.
It had all started with a simple trip. They were only going to Shan Shen – a planet that looked like an enormous Chinese bazaar – for a quick look round. A bit touristy but John had insisted. Donna had really liked Shan Shen and recommended it to John. Though she was gone he still liked to remind himself of her. Though his dad had said to stay away from fortune tellers. He wasn't sure why but he went with it. As always. It was better that way. More fun too.
Well, back on track, it had started with a quick visit. They were musing through the fourteen square mile Third Minor Market, below the two first Major Markets and above the Four, Five and Six Minor Markets, when his dad had picked up an odd signal. With identical grins they'd followed it, with no one like Donna to hold them back they were perpetually getting into trouble. Low and behold they'd found a stash of warp stars containing exploding nuclear storm drives waiting to go off. Someone was planning to make Shan Shen a nuclear wasteland.
They'd put a stop to the detonation of course. It had been quite a substantial effort and had taken the better half of ten minutes frantic rewiring and debate about the cultural importance of red wires and bombs. Why did you always have to cut the red one? John didn't know and neither did the Doctor. Eight of those ten minutes had been a fierce debate before they realised they had two minutes until detonation.
Shan Shen was a beautiful planet, very busy but very pretty. John admired it as he bolted down the back alleys at high speed. Of course, after they disarmed the warp stars they'd been discovered and he and his dad had made like bananas and split. His dad had taken the warp stars and John had taken the now defunct detonator and vanished. The idea was to hide and meet up later. That was the plan anyway.
So far it wasn't going so well. He was being hotly pursued and was fast running out of places to run to. Whatever was chasing him was a damn sight bigger than him so he'd been turning narrow and sharp corners to gain distance. However he was running out of corners and whatever was chasing him was catching up. Great.
He bolted into a courtyard and immediately tried to stop. The problem was because he'd been running for quite some time he'd built up decent kinetic rhythm and motion that sort of carried him forward. The motion didn't quite want to stop. This meant that, despite his best efforts, he ran straight into someone upon entering the courtyard and boy did it hurt. He and his unfortunate victim tumbled together over a bench and landed sprawled on the floor covered in dust.
"Argh," he moaned as he clutched the side of his head, he'd given it quite a whack. He jumped up when he realised he was still entangled with the person he'd run into. The person was a girl actually, she was not from around here either if her clothes were any indication. She too was clutching her head. "Sorry," he mumbled standing up and offering his hand.
She took it and got to her feet, she was taller than him even though he was hitting a growth spurt. It was a pain only being ten. "Who are you?" she asked as she dusted off her clothes.
John didn't have time to answer as a triumphant shriek caught his attention. He jerked around to see that emerging from the entrance of the alley he'd just shot out of was one of the creatures chasing him. It was big, fat and a sickly sort of green. It had small black eyes that definitely had a mean gleam to them. But it was definitely the long claws that bothered him most. Most definitely. "Found you," it rasped.
John acted on instinct. He seized the girl's hand and looked straight into her eyes, "Run!" he shouted and dragged her after him. Together they hurtled around corners and John was pleased to note that her stride was keeping up with his and that she wasn't screaming. Screaming would have really sucked. She also didn't tire easy, he couldn't hear breathlessness even after they'd been running for awhile.
He glanced behind them after ten minutes and couldn't see the creature. He slowed his run to a jog and listened carefully. The girl did too. He looked around; they were in a small back alley, virtually a dead end. A noise startled him and he dragged the girl behind a stack of boxes. Warningly he placed his fingers against his lips. She nodded.
Some was moving around just beyond the boxes, he could hear the scraping of claws. There was an angry growl and the thump of feet. The creature was gone. John let out an enormous sigh of relief and leaned his head against the wall. He let go of the girl's hand. "Sorry," he told her with a laugh, "I just really didn't want them to catch us."
"Well, if it's any help I didn't either," the girl replied with a grin. "I like running."
"Me too," John agreed, "it's good for you." He stood and dusted his suit off, or the remains of it anyway. "Dad's right. There's something unlucky about black suits. I'm so going back to brown, maybe blue. I like blue."
The girl hummed and looked him up and down, "I recommend brown. It'd be a better look," she told him while looking with a critical eye.
His looked down at his suit thoughtfully, "you think?"
"Definitely," she said with a nod. "I'm Jenny by the way, nice to meet you," she beamed, holding out her hand. "How old are you anyway? Twelve or something?"
He took it and shook with a smile, "nice to meet you. I'm John, John Smith." He grinned too and scratched through his hair. "And I'm ten."
"Bit young to be running about aren't you?" she asked, cocking her head in an oddly familiar gesture.
"Nah, do it a lot. Usually I'm with my dad but I lost him while I was being chased," John shrugged, he knew Jenny wasn't mocking him.
"Oh, what were you doing and why were you running anyway?" Jenny sat down on a box and pulled out a chocolate bar.
"Why all the questions?" John replied, slumping down too. He took off the remains of his blazer and began to sort through the pockets.
"I like questions and you look interesting," she said through a mouthful of chocolate, her eyes intensely focused on him.
"Fair enough," John said grandly. "Well, me and dad came for a look around, nothing bad you understand. We weren't looking for trouble or anything. We found all these warp stars filled with nuclear explosions and we thought that wasn't good. They were set to go off so we defused them. Evidently we annoyed someone because I just spent the last twenty four minutes running away from them."
"Really?" Jenny asked leaning closer. "What was chasing you?"
"They're called the Slitheen and they're from Raxacoricofallapatorius, its some way away," John told her as he sorted his items into his trouser pockets, he was rather annoyed to lose the blazer really. "They were chasing us because we foiled the family business thing they've got going. They destroy planetary life with a nuclear explosion and sell of the radioactive slag to any dodgy dealer thy can find. Dad told me about it."
"And you stopped them?"
"Me and my dad? Yeah, I guess so," John looked up at her tone, it was oddly intrigued.
"I think I'll have to go with you," Jenny nodded, folding her arms with a tone of finality.
"What? You can't do that. Dad said no hitchers anyway," John argued, brows dropping.
Jenny was about to reply when another voice cut across her, it was oily and disgusting. "There you are, little flies," it gurgled. Above them stood the creature, the Slitheen, John had no idea how something that big moved quite that fast.
"Hi," John managed. "I'm sorry I think you have the wrong people."
"No, I don't think I do," the Slitheen chuckled gloopily as it advanced at them down the alley.
"Don't try to run," rasped another voice from behind.
John glanced round and threw his hands up in frustration. "Oh come on! Reinforcements? That's just not fair," he grumbled and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"I think, little flies, that you will be coming with us," the first Slitheen continued. They advanced, forcing their large claws and larger bodies down the alleyway towards their prey.
"What do we do?" Jenny asked as she backed into John, gazing at the one behind them.
"Well, we're kind of in a dead end so I suggest we do exactly what they say," John replied as he gauged every possibly exit route.
"And then?" Jenny laughed, smiling despite the danger.
John also grinned. "I'm making this up as I go along," he told her. "But don't worry, I've got family history." As soon as that was said they were led away with a push and a shove into the darkness of Shan Shen. His dad was definitely right. Black suits were very unlucky.
They were taken to a very dull looking building – that was quite an achievement on a planet as bright as Shan Shen. Inside they discovered, to their joy, that there were even more of the Slitheen. Six in total. How wonderful. They were taken and strapped into some strange devices, like giant tables with hand cuffs. It was all very James Bond and John pretended to be suitably impressed. He'd already figured out that the apparatus couldn't do any serious harm so he wasn't too worried.
There was a whirring as a blue laser ran over both him and Jenny slowly. Evidently some kind of bioscanner. It scanned horizontally and vertically three times, three after all is the optimum number, and was clearly triangulating results from there. They were also fitted with some very odd headsets that, from the horrid pressure on his brain, John assumed were designed to measure brainwaves as a sort of primitive intelligence scan.
A few brainscrambling minutes later it all stopped. John looked at the Slitheen expectantly. "Well?" he asked impatiently.
"Well what?" one gurgled in surprise before it could stop itself.
"Why are we here?" John asked in a way that conveyed his opinion of the Slitheen was that they were a little stupid.
"Your genetic results have revealed you are not from this galactic quadrant," a Slitheen on the far left told them.
"Well that's not unusual is it?" John sighed, rolling his eyes. "Why is it relevant anyway? I thought you were trying to kill us, not that I'm not all for being alive or anything." He pulled gently against his restraints. It was no good, they were bound tight. He could hear Jenny doing the same thing.
"Awhile back some of our ancestors were incarcerated on Justicia Prime, the prison planet," gurgled the Slitheen working on the control panel. "The humans had captured them to use our superior intelligence to further their own invention." Beady black eyes turned to them, "this idea, though poorly executed by that disgusting race, has merit. Initial brain wave scans have indicated that you both possess a very high intelligence rating. You will work for us."
That was not a question. "Doing what exactly? Other than inventing I mean. What are we inventing for?" asked Jenny, leaning forward in her restraints.
"Your inventions will further the business," was the simple reply.
"Oh. You mean the destroying planets thing?" John chimed in frowning. "We already put a stop to that here though," he mused.
"Yes," the Slitheen replied, very annoyed. "It is only fitting that, since you disrupted this venture, you benefit with our next business plan." It went back to clicking buttons.
"Wait, what would have happened if we'd not been smart enough?" Jenny inquired, cocking her head.
"You would have been hunted and killed."
"Oh right. That's nice."
Jenny cocked her head slightly, "I still don't think I'm going to work for you," she said after a moment. "The whole destroying worlds gig isn't my thing. Dad would never approve."
They looked at her for a while before the nearest to John placed his long claws over John's neck threateningly. "If you do not assist us we will kill this young male," it slurped.
John and Jenny shared a look that spoke volumes. "That's fine with me," John spoke up nonchalantly. "If I stopped the destruction of this planet what makes you think I'm going to help you blow up others?" He chuckled slightly.
The Slitheen growled, "Do not be impertinent! There is no joke here! If you do not cooperate we will kill your brother," it screeched.
There was a long silence while John and Jenny looked at them bemusedly. "We aren't siblings," John replied slowly as if they were exceedingly slow.
"Nonsense," gurgled the one at the control panel. "Our DNA scanners indicate that your DNA strands share more than eighty seven percent of DNA variables, well over the rate of most species to indicate the fact that you share a parent. In fact, there are only a thousandth of the total strands that you do not share in some rearranged order."
There was more silence. Jenny and John looked at each other closely, then back at the Slitheen and then back at each other. "You're kidding," they replied in exact unison before looking back at their captors.
"You do not know your own family connections?" one slurped, surprised.
"Well we do travel a lot," John mused, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"I have been to a lot of planets," Jenny mused, glaring bemusedly at the floor.
"But the odds are uncountable," John decided.
"Astronomical," Jenny agreed nodding.
They looked at each other again and identical grins spread across their faces. "And completely impossible," they spoke at the same time. They both laughed and began to examine each other. They saw they had the same eyes, dark brown and full of warmth. Jenny had a light sprinkling of freckles compared to John's relative colony on his nose. They were both skinny and there was that spark of mischief in their faces.
"And that means," Jenny said with a smile in her voice, "that's you're in trouble, because-"
"-if we do share a dad," John continued, "and it's the guy I'm thinking of, then he's coming for us. Right now. And that's bad news for you." He looked back at the Slitheen with a confident smile.
"And why is that?" a Slitheen couldn't help but ask.
Jenny grinned broader, "Because he saves planets!"
"He rescues civilizations!" John crowed.
"And, most importantly, he defeats terrible creatures," Jenny finished. "And I think that you fall into all those categories." She relaxed slightly in her constraints.
There was suddenly an almighty bang and the room they were in shook. "What was that?" cried one Slitheen as another ran for the controls.
"Dad's here," John replied as his eyes darted around looking for a way to unlock them, "and I rather think you're in trouble. I mean you listened to the guy trying to keep you talking long enough for this to happen so you wouldn't notice the locator beacon in his back pocket. Talk about amateur!"
All Jenny could do was laugh, laugh and laugh and laugh, even as the room exploded into chaos. Beautiful, unbridled chaos that she'd only ever seen once before at the hands of, and caused by, a man known only as the Doctor – unless of course you asked her and John because then, it seemed, he was known as father.
---
The Doctor had known something was wrong the minute John had not met him back at the TARDIS. In fact he'd been certain of it. His son was a first class runner, quite a dab hand at the fast sprint. He should've been back more than an hour ago. Of course he'd begun pacing the TARDIS anxiously, fiddling with the explosives he'd so easily stolen and beginning to worry.
It had been such a simple decision to switch on John's tracking beacon, something the Doctor now insisted upon. John was still young, only ten years old, and prone to wandering off at a moment's notice. This wouldn't be the first time that the Doctor had lost him, there was that time on Penhaxico 2...
The first thing that was wrong with the signal was that it was immobile, wherever John was he wasn't going anywhere fast. The second thing that was wrong was that it was still for a very long time. John would either be running or bimbling around happily looking through the markets. The fact that he wasn't was more than a little worrying. The Doctor surmised that he must have been caught by the Slitheen. If that was so why hadn't they killed him? They must need him for something.
Well, at least he would be easier to find in one place.
The Doctor had set off at a brisk place, navigating easily with his hand held tracker. The markets seemed to actively work against him as people were constantly moving into his path or static from nearby stalls was obscuring his signal. Nevertheless he jogged on, woe betide him to walk anywhere. Though he did have to fend off a man trying to sell him a six legged chicken; quite apart from having no money he was rather in a hurry after all.
Eventually he reached a building that screamed 'enigmatic evil plan'. In the colourful and hastily moving Shan Shen it was grey. Not even a nice grey. It was slab, boring grey. It was also a square block that ground all sense of vibrant movement out of the first around it. It was a very depressing place and stood out like an incredibly sore thumb.
Clearly the Slitheen didn't read 'One Hundred Ways to Hide an Evil Lair' by Doctor Edmund McDoom. Not that it was a particularly good book anyway. The Doctor much preferred his other title 'How to Be a Scourge but Maintain Good Hygiene'.
He snuck in, of course, through the front door. There were no sentries keeping watch, odd that. What was even odder was what he saw after he'd disabled most of the power cells to the building. It wasn't just John that had managed to squirm loose. His mouth dropped as he realised who was sprinting alongside him.
He could feel the tears in his eyes as she threw her arms around him. He thought she'd died, died so long ago. He hadn't even been able to mourn her as appropriate. Yet here she was all this way away on Shan Shen of all places and, as predictable for any descended from him, in the midst of trouble.
Of course before they could properly reunite there were Slitheen to be dealt with. He was supremely glad that he wired up the overhead sprinklers with a fine mist of vinegar. All it took was a lighter to bring it all raining down upon the Slitheen thereby dissolving them. He didn't want to do it, of course, but they just wouldn't listen.
The three of them stood there amidst the goopy mess and flickering lights just staring at each other for awhile. "John," he said after a moment, "this is-"
"Jenny," John interrupted with a grin, "my sister. I know."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"The Slitheen told us, they did a DNA extrapolation scan," he explained and the Doctor nodded slowly in realisation. "How did that happen anyway?" John laughed, jerking his finger at Jenny who smacked him on the back of the head.
"I visited a planet with Donna and Martha, accident really, just after I dropped you off with Jack-"
"You went visiting without me?" John frowned.
"No, my hand kind of dragged us there," the Doctor retorted, rolling his eyes.
"One of her turns?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Are you going to continue?"
"I'm getting there," the Doctor growled. He loved his son to pieces but he could be incredibly annoying.
"I was born of the populating machines on the planet they landed on," Jenny interrupted, hopping from foot to foot. "Splice DNA, recombine and grow. Except accelerated to sixteen years in about four seconds, quite impressive really."
"That is so cool," John exclaimed turning to her. "The TARDIS did pretty much the same thing with me! Except she wasn't really prepared for it and everything got a little complicated after that."
"The TARDIS?" Jenny asked, looking to the Doctor.
He was still a little stunned for words but, slowly and surely, a smile was beginning to creep across his face. "It's my ship, our ship," he told her.
"And we're Time Lords?" Jenny asked to confirm. It had been awhile after all.
"Of course!" John replied cheerily.
The Doctor reached out a hand a gently touched Jenny's temple, "I'm going to show you who we are, I didn't have time when we first met and after that I just assumed you had died, died before you had lived." He looked away for a second, "this is going to feel weird. I'm going to pass my memories and perhaps some of John's to you through telepathy, a sense every one of our species have. It's going to be confusing at first because you've never done it before-"
"Get on with it," Jenny grumbled impatiently.
John smiled, "definitely my sister," he chuckled.
The Doctor smiled at her and Jenny gasped as four years of memory, on the Doctor's side at least – it had only been a year for her, poured into her brain. She felt strange emotions and saw exciting things. She watched John grow and learned all there was to know about him in a split second. She saw the fate of Donna and couldn't help but feel sadness. Then she saw the history of their people, their planet standing beautifully in the twilight. She also saw its end and felt the terrible sadness that went with it.
The Doctor was right. To be a Time Lord was a shared suffering and culture and for the first time in her life she was complete. She was a true Time Lord - or was it Time Lady? – and did it ever feel good!
As she came back to herself she realised her brother and father were standing in the doorway waiting for her. Her father held out his hand and a huge grin was on his face. He glanced to her brother too. "Come on you two," he called, "we have stars to see! Planets to save! Civilisations to rescue! And a whole lot of running to do!"
She sprinted after them of course, after the only family she had and laughed all the way. They had a whole universe to explore. Best get to it.
----
So? What did you think? I was in the need for a mush fest and here it is!
Please review and raise my lowly self esteem!
Love you all!
- D
