WAR OF THE GUARDIANS: THE EYE OF THE STORM
I do not own Doctor Who, Torchwood, Big Finish, Merlin, Supernatural, Buffy, or Charmed and I am making no profit off of this.
Author's Note: This story is set in my War of the Guardians universe but it also has characters from each of my stories in it. It's a huge crossover of every universe that I've ever created in order to celebrate the second anniversary of War of the Guardians and has been a long time in the making. I'm going to do my best to write it so that those who don't read every story of mine or even those who haven't seen any of them will still know what's going on so don't worry about getting lost. I hope that you'll enjoy it. Now fasten your seatbelts. Here comes the story that will completely change Guardian Who.
CHAPTER 1
MEMORIES OF WHAT USED TO BE
Bella Tyler felt as if her entire life now was just one long nightmare. One that never ended no matter how much she begged and pleaded to wake up from it. It had been this way ever since she had first been possessed by the malevolent entity that had almost caused her to destroy her own world back in the days when she had been a member of her cousin Rose Tyler's Torchwood team.
She thought that she had finally defeated the thing inside of her by seizing control just long enough to blow herself up. It should have ended right then and there with her not only saving the world but also saving Rose.
It should have but it didn't.
To Bella's horror, she found herself suddenly alive once more and still possessed years after her death in a brand new body that had been created for her by an evil woman named Missy. Missy wanted to use her to destroy or at least slow down Rose, who it turned out had actually been a Time Lady with incredible power over all of reality all along, just long enough so that she could put her latest plan to take over all of reality in action.
She knew that picking Bella in particular, given the fact that she and Rose had been more like sisters than cousins back on Pete's World, would be particularly effective. Missy knew that Rose blamed herself for Bella's death after all even though Bella knew that it hadn't been her fault. It also didn't hurt that Missy had arranged for Bella to start tapping into Rose's own powers secretly in order to use them against her.
It wasn't really Bella that was helping Missy though. It was the thing inside of her that was using her name. It wanted revenge on Rose for some reason that even Bella didn't know and was using her to do it just as Missy was.
The real Bella meanwhile was a prisoner in her body and could do nothing but sit back and watch as she was used to hurt Rose and so many others over and over again. She couldn't stop the evil inside of her no matter how hard that she tried, and she had tried so hard so many times now.
So at this point she had started distracting herself from what the evil entity, which was now calling itself Nightshade even though that wasn't its real name, was doing in her body. She did that by living in the past. She replayed her memories, all of her happiest moments, over and over again to remind herself of who she had once been. It was the only source of comfort available to her now, and it helped to keep her from thinking too much about the fact that she was going to be used to kill the person that she loved more than anyone else except her mother very soon now.
It hurt far too much to dwell on what was still to come. It was much better to live in the past than the present now. It was much safer, not to mention happier, there.
For some reason that she couldn't understand she found herself reliving one memory in particular more and more lately. It wasn't necessarily a happy one but it wasn't really a bad one either.
It was of a time back when she and Rose had been living together at the headquarters of Rose's own division of Torchwood. Bella had been awakened by Rose crying out in the middle of the night while having a terrible nightmare.
Just as Bella had reached her bedroom, she had heard her shouting, "I'm sorry, Cassiopeia! So sorry! I couldn't save you. I tried. Cass! No, don't leave me! Please stay!"
"Rose! Wake up!" Bella had shouted as she gently shook her awake.
"No!" Rose screamed as she suddenly sat up with her eyes flinging themselves wide open in a horrified stare.
Bella could have sworn back then that she actually saw Rose's eyes glow for a brief moment. She had told herself that it was a trick of the light but now she knew better. Now she knew that even then she had still had the power of the Bad Wolf even if it had been deeply buried.
"Rose, you were just having a nightmare. You're okay. Everything's fine now," Bella said in a comforting voice as she put her arms around her.
"I was?" Rose asked in confusion.
"Yeah, you certainly was and it sounded like a real humdinger too," Bella said with a smile.
"A humdinger? Who talks like that? I know your parents were a bit out there about wanting to live apart from the rest of the world, but couldn't they have taught you at least some slang from this century?" Rose said with a laugh.
"I told you before to stop making fun of my language, Cockney Girl. I mean I could pick yours apart all day long if I wanted to, but I'm nice enough not to say anything about it unlike some people," Bella said with a warm smile.
"Yeah, sure you are. You only bring it up every single time I say something that you don't like is all," Rose said as she smiled back at her.
Bella suddenly became completely serious as she said, "Rose, are you alright? What were you dreaming about that was so traumatic? Who is Cassiopeia anyway?"
"Who?" Rose asked.
"Cassiopeia. You called her name in your sleep. You said that you were sorry for what happened to her. It sounded like you were really upset about it too like she was someone who you had lost. It kind of upset me too because I've never heard you sound like that before. You sounded like someone had just torn your heart out. Who was she, Rose?" Bella asked.
Rose gave her a blank look as she said, "I don't know. I've never heard of anyone named that. Are you sure that you heard me right?"
"Yeah, I am. If it's none of my business, then just say so, Rose. Don't lie to me though. I never want us to lie to one another about anything," Bella insisted.
"I'm not lying. I swear. I don't know a Cassiopeia. It must have just been some kind of nonsense from my dreams is all. Don't worry about it, okay? I have some really weird dreams sometimes that don't make any sense whatsoever so this was probably just another one of those," Rose said.
"You're sure?" Bella asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I would never lie to you, Bella. You know that. I don't do that and especially not with you," Rose said.
Bella nodded and smiled accepting that even as Lily, Rose's best friend who would later turn out to be her birth mother from Gallifrey in disguise, suddenly said from behind them, "What's wrong? Another bad dream again?"
"Yeah, Lil, it's nothing. I don't know what everyone's getting all up in arms about around here. It's not like no one's ever had a nightmare before. They happen quite a lot you know," Rose said with a grin.
"They seem to happen to you a lot more than 'quite a lot', Rose. What was it this time, Bella?" Lily asked.
"She was calling out for someone named Cassiopeia. She says that she doesn't know anyone named that though. Isn't that weird?" Bella said.
Both women saw Lily wince at the mention of that name and Bella immediately asked, "What? Does that mean something to you?"
Lily quickly smiled reassuringly as she said, "No, it's just odd that it would be a name that she doesn't know is all. Maybe you should stop reading so many Greek myths, Rose."
"I don't read myths, Lil. It never was my thing. You know that," Rose said with a frown as she wondered where that comment had come from.
It wasn't like Lily to say something like that. She was acting very strange all of a sudden for some reason that Rose couldn't understand.
"Yeah, Rose doesn't read period, Lil. Everyone knows that," Bella teased her as she did her best to break the weird mood that had suddenly come over the room in that moment.
"Shut up before I give you a split lip," Rose joked as she pretended to be angry with her.
"Don't worry about it, Rose. It's nothing, alright? You just concentrate on going back to sleep. You're going to need it when we go on the next mission. This one's something about UNIT's moonbase from what I heard about it," Lily said.
"Yeah, you're right, Lil. Sorry for waking everyone. Hopefully I won't do that anymore," Rose said apologetically.
"It's alright, Rose. I'm used to it by now. I'm like a cat now and take naps at every opportunity in order to make up for all of the sleep that you cost me," Bella joked.
"You'd better shut up!" Rose said with a giggle.
"Good night, Rose. I hope you have a sound sleep this time," Bella said seriously as she hugged her.
Lily hugged her as well and then both women want back to bed.
That had been the last good memory that Bella had. It was shortly after that that she had first become possessed by the thing that had done nothing but ruin her life ever since then. Perhaps that was why she was remembering it now because that last night of peaceful dreams that she had after Rose went back to sleep were her last moments of real peace.
"Nighty, I'm talking to you. Are you listening? Hello?" Bella suddenly heard the voice of Missy saying.
Bella realized to her surprise that Nightshade herself had been just as out of sync with reality as she herself was while she was lost in her memories. Could there be any connection between those two things?
Then all such thoughts were immediately put out of Bella's mind as Missy broke into her thoughts when she said to Nightshade, "Well, I'm certainly glad that you've finally decided to stop daydreaming and rejoin us, Nighty? Penny for your thoughts? Or are they really worth it?"
"It was nothing. I was just pondering something that happened a long time ago is all. It's a mystery that I still don't understand," Nightshade said.
Bella was completely surprised by that not to mention more than a bit disturbed. Apparently Nightshade had been watching her memories along with her! Why though? What possible purpose could she have had for doing that?
"Really? What's that then?" Missy asked intrigued.
"It's nothing. Nothing important at all I suppose. So what is it that you want?" Nightshade asked in an annoyed voice.
"A new partner if you keep up that attitude. I can afford to lose the Matriarch, I mean who really wanted Evil Clara from the future around anyway, but I'd rather not lose you, dear. You're far too important to my overall plan. You have to keep Rosie Posie distracted after all until it's far too late to stop me. Not that I'll need you to do that for much longer. Our moment is almost here at last, Nighty. With a little help from you, I've finally gained control of every version of Gallifrey throughout time and space except for my own now," Missy said proudly.
Nightshade smiled eagerly as she said, "So you're constructing new android bodies for the dead Time Lords of every reality already even as we speak aren't you? You're really going to do it. You're really going to turn every Time Lord, living and dead, in every reality into one massive army to take over everything."
"Yes, that is the plan. Is something wrong with that? I'd like to see anyone beat the race that fought the Time War. Even the Daleks themselves could never truly defeat them and with my genius leading them they'll be completely unstoppable. Not to mention that I finally have the power to crush any obstacles in my way ever since I found Weyland's Shield. I'm completely unstoppable now, and I have an unbeatable army. No one can stand in my way this time. Not even the Doctor," Missy said with a smug grin on her face.
"Yeah, I bet you've never said that before," Nightshade said with a chuckle.
Missy frowned as she said, "I don't like your attitude, Bella. Do you find something wrong with my plan?"
"No, nothing at all. Rose has only assembled a small army of Doctors from throughout time and space and their companions to take you down. I'm sure that you'll still beat them though. I mean it's not like just one Doctor has beaten you several times in the past or anything," Nightshade said sarcastically.
Missy glared in anger at her as she said in a cold voice, "This time will be different however. This time I have an object of incredible power that makes me into a god, I have every Time Lord in Creation in one massive army, and I have you with your growing control over Rose's powers. This time I really will win. This time every universe everywhere will finally be mine."
"You mean ours, don't you?" Nightshade said.
"Yes, of course. Ours," Missy said with a small smile.
Nightshade laughed. She knew that Missy would try to turn on her just as she had the Matriarch as soon as she didn't need her anymore. She was alright with that though because she was already planning on doing the same thing herself to be honest.
She had no doubt that the Matriarch was already in the middle of her own plan to wipe out both of them even at that very moment for that matter. She really couldn't blame her after Missy had tried to kill her either.
None of that mattered to her at the moment though. All that mattered to her was killing Rose Tyler. It was all that had ever mattered to her ever since the day that she had first crossed paths with her.
She wouldn't rest until she was lying before her broken in both body and spirit at long last.
"Oh, I can see that look on your face again, Nighty. It's that 'got to crush Rose into little pieces' look that I love oh so much. I really can't wait to see you do exactly that either. It will be soon now. The army is almost ready to go and as soon as they are I'm going straight after Rose Tyler and her army of third-rate Doctor rejects. I want them all taken all of the way once and for all. Then no one will be in my way anymore. No one of any consequence anyway," Missy said eagerly.
"Do you even know where she is? She's left Gallifrey from what I've heard. She knew that it was too dangerous to stay there now that it's under our control. It seems like she's planning on a sneak attack to me," Nightshade said.
Missy laughed as she said, "I'm sure that she is. She's coming here in order to get the minds of her beloved mother Lily and her family back just like I planned. That's when I'll finally have her along with the rest of her little pets."
"Do you really think that she's going to walk into your very obvious trap?" Nightshade asked skeptically.
"Oh, yes of course she will. You should know that better than anyone, Bella. Rose will do anything for her family. Well, except for you of course," Missy taunted her.
Nightshade gave her a stare of death but said nothing as Missy continued, "Yes, she'll come. Have no doubts about that. I know her kind oh so well. She just can't help herself. She has to do the noble self-sacrificing bit. Those are exactly the kind that he always picks to travel with him. He always chooses people who are just as insufferably noble as he is."
"You sound more than a bit bitter about that somehow," Nightshade observed.
"Of course I'm bitter! If he wasn't so insistent on doing what he considers the right thing and going on his stupid idealistic moral crusades throughout all of time and space, then we would still be together. I'd still have my friend," Missy said in a momentarily sad voice.
Nightshade looked at her in surprise for a moment as she got this rare glimpse into Missy's true self. Then it was over as soon as it had begun as Missy began to give her one of her patented mad grins once more.
"So anyway get ready for the fight of your life, Bella. After this, both of us will finally get what we want at last: the complete and utter humiliation of our greatest enemies. What else is life for after all?" Missy said with a chuckle.
"What else indeed?" Nightshade said as she rolled her eyes at this enormous fool's incredible short-sightedness.
Suddenly Missy's entire TARDIS began to shake violently which caused her to start laughing hysterically.
"I was right! You doubted me but I was right. Rosie's here and she's brought her fan club with her," Missy said happily as the ship continued to lurch back and forth violently.
That was when Seb suddenly appeared and said, "This entire ship is under attack by a large army of extremely powerful individuals who are being led by the Doctor and Rose Tyler."
"I know. Isn't it wonderful?" Missy said with a huge grin.
"If you say so. I just thought that I'd let you know," Seb said with a frown.
"Aw, what's the matter, dear? Turn that frown upside down. You know that I've been planning this. There's no way that any of them are getting out of here alive. You almost act as if you're unhappy about that. Now I know that that couldn't be the case could it?" Missy asked with a suspicious smile.
"No, of course not. I want you to win of course. I'm just worried that they may be much stronger than you think. There are so many of them after all," Seb said.
"Let them come. Let her bring as many uptight do-gooders as she likes. I'll still beat them all. I have a little surprise or two up my sleeve for her after all," Missy said confidently.
"Yes, of course," Seb said with a small smile.
"Don't you worry about it any longer. Your lord and master will soon win the day after all," Missy said with a smile.
Seb nodded and then quickly left with an unhappy look on his face. Nightshade almost laughed. If she had been destroyed as many times as Seb had by Missy she probably wouldn't look forward to her winning either.
Seb meanwhile immediately opened a secret encrypted channel to his new employer as he said, "This is Seb calling the Queen. I still don't know Missy's plans but I do know that she had some massive ambush planned. Tell Rose to be careful. I have no idea what she has planned for her. I'm sorry that I couldn't be of more help. Do you read me?"
That was when Mikaela Cook, the Queen of the Machine Alliance that was currently opposing the Half Face Man's android forces in battle after battle throughout the universe and a future companion of the Doctor's, appeared on Seb's screen. She had been using him as her spy for some time now as she tried to get as much information as she could to help the Doctor and Rose to finally defeat their enemies once and for all.
"That's alright. You've already told me more than enough. At least I know for sure that Lily and the rest of Rose's family are there and that they're safe. I also know for sure that Missy has finally gained control over all of the Time Lords. That's why my friends are attacking now before Missy can finish completing her army. You've done more than enough, Seb. You've more than earned your place among us," Mikaela said.
"Just get me out of here and let me find a place where I'm not constantly being destroyed by an absolute madwoman with too much time on her hands. That's all that I ask," Seb said with a hopeful look on his face.
"You've got it. Don't worry about it. Unlike some people, I actually tell the truth. I'll talk to you later," Mikaela said as she signed off.
She then immediately reported what she had learned to the Doctor and Rose. It wasn't anything more than Rose had already suspected though of course. She knew full well that Missy would have some surprises waiting for her. That was just who she was after all.
As the Doctor, Rose, and their group stormed through the ship, they were suddenly stopped by a massive army of androids that blocked them from going any further. These were a small portion of Missy's army of the dead that she had apparently hidden on board instead of giving to the Half-Face Man.
"Well, no surprises so far, Doctor. I was certainly expecting that," Rose said as she began to use her Vortex powers to completely incinerate one row of androids after another so that the nanotech inside of them couldn't completely rebuild them from scratch.
"I'm sure that Missy has far more waiting for us than that. Be ready for anything," The Doctor warned.
"Yes, Doctor. You should be because unlike you nothing that we do is ever predictable," A very familiar voice to the Doctor suddenly said.
The Doctor frowned as suddenly several different versions of the Master in all of his various incarnations from throughout all of time and space all appeared to join the androids in battle. There was the charming and debonair Master who the Doctor had fought time and time again in his UNIT days, the version whose body was dying after he had used up all of his regenerations and who looked like a living nightmare, the Master who had merged with Tremas in order to gain a new body, the version after that who had tried his best to steal the Doctor's regenerations in San Francisco, the Master who had once tricked people into thinking that he was the Doctor right at the cusp of the Time War, the man who the Doctor had first known as Professor Yana, and of course former Prime Minister Harold Saxon.
"Yeah, I expected that too," Rose said with no trace of worry on her face whatsoever as she started to tear through the Masters like they were made of tinfoil.
"Of course you did. I already told you that he was going to do that," Koschei, the Master of Rose's universe, said with a snort as he used his laser screwdriver to attack the other versions of himself.
"So did I but I see that I get no credit for it, Saxon Boy," The version of the Master who had been Clara Oswald said with a smirk as she gleefully attacked her counterparts with her own screwdriver.
Koschei winced as he said, "It's not bad enough that you look like her. Do you have to sound just like her too?"
"Apparently so. Amazingly enough it doesn't bother me half as much as it used to though," Master/Clara admitted with a sly smile as she continued to enjoy attacking other Masters with malicious glee since she hated what she had done in the past so much now.
"What's wrong with being like me, Koschei? I'd say it's a huge improvement myself," Clara said with a nervous smile as she tried not to think too hard about what might lie ahead of them today.
She was still worried about the disturbing dreams of her own death that she had been having for the last few weeks. They continued to haunt her even now while she helped Rose disintegrate several androids at once with her own Vortex powers that Rose had given to her.
Koschei snorted in derision at that even as the Doctor said in an irritated voice, "Can all of you please stop talking? We are fighting for our lives here after all. You'd think that you would take that a bit more seriously."
"Captain Grumpy Pants has spoken! Oh, I remember being you. I can't say that I miss it," A version of the Doctor from another reality who had regenerated into a complete copy of Clara said with an amused look on her face as she used her sonic screwdriver to short circuit several androids near her.
"I still can't believe that of all of the faces that I could have chosen that I would have picked that one," The Doctor said indignantly as he used his own sonic to temporarily disable the link between several androids and the consciousness of the dead that controlled them.
"I feel like I'm being insulted here, Doctor," Clara said with a smile because she knew that wasn't his intention at all.
"Go with that feeling, Oswald," Koschei quipped.
"I just can't get them to shut up, Rose," The Doctor said in disbelief.
"Let them talk. They're nervous, Doctor. They know that this could be the end," Rose said in a low voice so that the others couldn't overhear her.
"Not could be, Rose. It is. This is the end for all of you," Nightshade said as she and Missy finally joined the fight now.
"Yep, I was expecting that too," Rose said still seemingly unconcerned.
Missy smiled as she said, "Really? Well, were you expecting this then?"
Her eyes began to glow now and Rose and Clara both gasped in surprise as they instantly felt her shutting off their connection to the Vortex. She had already tried this before, and it had been reversed. Rose had a feeling that this time they wouldn't be so lucky.
She quickly found out that she was absolutely right as she could feel herself losing more and more power by the moment. Very soon now she would only have the power of the White Guardian to rely on, and Nightshade was still draining that so that she wasn't at full strength.
"Can you feel it, Rose? I've just completely shut you and every other Vortex user everywhere except for Nightshade off from the Vortex for good! I've finally learned how to do that universe wide now, and once it's gone I promise you that it's never coming back again. I've just halved your powers. Tell me. Were you expecting that?"
Terror filled Rose's heart as she realized that yet another part of her vision of the future was coming true now. She was losing her powers!
"It's going to be alright, Rose. We're not beaten yet. We've still got plenty of help coming our way," Clara said even as it sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that more than she was Rose.
Suddenly as if on cue, Christina de Souza, the new Silver Guardian, Shehzadi, the Rani's daughter and a new Guardian herself, and Jenny Tyler, the Doctor and Rose's daughter who had just been given a new position as the Jade Guardian by the mysterious beings known as the Grace, burst into the room leading yet another group of allies. This particular group was composed of several of the Doctor and Rose's allies from other realities including the angels known as Castiel and Anna, Sam and Dean Winchester and their wives, Jessica and Jo, and Dean's daughter Mary, the sorcerers Merlin and Nimueh, the Sidhe known as Sophia, Buffy Summers the vampire slayer, and Paige Matthews, a witch and Charmed One.
"Don't worry. It's not the end, Rose Tyler. We're here now and we are going to . . . I believe the term is kick their butts. Did I get that right?" Castiel asked in an uncertain voice.
"Yeah, Cas. You did just fine," Dean said with an amused smile.
"Stop trying to impress her!" Anna said in an irritated voice.
"I was merely trying to reassure her," Castiel protested.
"Sure you were," Dean said as he laughed.
"Shut up, Dean, or you're going to find yourself without a set of vocal cords," Anna threatened.
"Hey! We're here to fight with them not each other, guys," Buffy said with a sigh.
"Idiots. They may actually make things worse," The Doctor said as he rolled his eyes at these newest arrivals.
"Hello, everyone. I'm finally here at last to save the day," One of the Eleventh Doctors said as he and his crew charged into the TARDIS next.
"Pipe down, Doctor. This is a war not a pep rally," His Clara chastised him.
"You don't understand, Alura. Sometimes a good pep talk can be half the battle and how better to inspire people than to let them know that I'm finally here," Alura's Doctor said with a confident grin.
"Is he for real?" Koschei said in disbelief.
"I believe that rests my case," The Doctor said with a groan.
"Somehow I'm not too impressed by the new recruits, Doctor," Missy said with a chuckle.
"How about this then?" A familiar voice said over the TARDIS' speakers.
Suddenly Missy's TARDIS was invaded by a massive army of Daleks, Thals, and the dead echoes of Clara Oswald in android bodies who had been working for Missy previously until they had been freed from her. The army of Skaro had finally arrived at last.
"EXTERMINATE THEM IN THE NAME OF THE EMPRESS!" The Daleks screamed in unison as they began to fire on Missy's forces.
"This is what you get when you try to kick Skaro while it's down, Missy," Oswin Oswald, the Empress of Skaro, said with a smile in her voice.
"MUST FIGHT THE URGE TO EXTERMINATE," Rusty the Dalek said as the sight of so many Daleks enraged him.
"Whoa! They're on our side, Rusty," Journey Blue reminded her friend.
"That's right, Russ. Cool it. We have enough problems on our hands without getting the Daleks mad at us too," Doctor/Clara said with a frown.
"THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM THOUGH," Rusty said in an irritated tone.
"What's the matter? Can't keep your crew under control?" Doctor/Master taunted Doctor/Clara.
"You'd better be quiet before she hits you with one of her soufflés. Those are considered deadly weapons in seven galaxies," Maisie Pitt, Doctor/Clara's companion, joked.
"Oi!" Both Clara/Doctor and Clara/Master said in protest.
"Well, at least they can both finally agree on something," Rose said as she began to smile with renewed hope.
"I can agree on something too. They're both pudding brains," The Doctor said with a frown.
As an army of Guardians, Daleks, Angels, and other various assorted fighters now joined the Doctor and Rose in tearing into the massive army in front of them, Rose finally began to feel that maybe, just maybe, they might have a chance after all. She actually allowed herself to believe for a brief moment now that maybe her visions of the future wouldn't come true for once.
She couldn't have been more wrong.
Somewhere Bella Tyler was now drowning out the sounds of carnage by blissfully losing herself in her own memories once more because she couldn't bear to see what was coming next. At least while stuck here in her own past she was in a time where she knew that Rose was safe.
She only wished that her fantasies could become a reality somehow. If only she and Rose could both finally become freed from the monster that was currently threatening to destroy both of them.
Right now though, that seemed to be nothing more than a hopeless dream.
Next: The tide finally begins to turn in the battle with Missy and Nightshade . . . in the wrong direction! Missy and Nightshade now gain the upper hand as Rose's vision of doom begins to finally start coming true at last. Will even the addition of more reinforcements including Amy Pond, River Song, Cassiopeia, and the Bad Wolves do anything to help save the day? What will happen once Missy's newest undead army is complete? Plus what's the Matriarch been up to during all of this anyway?