"All human personnel will report to their stations!" A robotic shout emerged from the bronze casing of the Dalek, shaking its blaster towards the houses on either side of the street. "We will kill if required! Step away from your homes safely and those you feel strongly for will not be exterminated!"
A soft laugh came from one of the windows of the brick buildings. "What're you gonna do, try to push us to your base?"
"Exit the housing facility! Exit! Exit!" the Dalek screamed towards the boy. "Do not require the use of force!" It made its way towards the front door and hovered over the steps to the porch. "Prepare to be exterminated!"
"Do it then," the boy jeered, sticking out a tongue.
"Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Dalek slid into the house and moved towards the boy's room. Its plunger-like appendage grabbed the doorknob and pulled the wooden door open. He simply grinned at the droid, although one may have noticed a bit of hesitation.
"Yeah! Exterminate! Come on!"
The blue eye drooped slightly. "I...cannot...exterminate you."
"And why's that?" The boy put his hands on his hips.
"There is a 2% chance that you are the Savior." It paused in what appeared to be thought. Finally it raised its eye stalk again and slowly moved away from the room. "You will not provide this information to anyone. You will remain here and not follow me."
The door closed with a wimpy thunk. The boy watched the Dalek move out into the streets again, calling for everyone to report to the Dalek bases. Everyone was leaving; even the boy's parents had. No one was about to stand up to a real Dalek.
The closet door opened and the eighth Doctor stepped out with a smug grin of victory. "See what I told you, Jonathan? They can't kill anyone because they might be this 'Savior'."
"What is the Savior, Doctor?"
He sighed. "I still don't know. For now, I need to help the people who've already gone there. I have reason to believe the Daleks are grouping the humans together to see which one of them is the 'Savior'... whatever the Savior is."
"ALERT! ALERT! The Doctor is detected!" The Dalek began moving back towards the house. "Exterminate the Doctor! Requesting backup!"
"That doesn't sound good," the Doctor said, moving a curtain to look out the window. "Backup is on the way."
"But they can't actually kill you, Doctor- you said they won't kill any of us. Right?"
"Well, I'm a bit different." He placed his hands on Jonathan's shoulders. "Right now you need to follow that Dalek into places people haven't abandoned yet; show them it won't kill you. And I," he said, pulling a red sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket, "must dash!"
He sprinted down the stairs and out the backdoor just as the Dalek entered the front. "Seek! Locate! Destroy!" He fumbled for the key stored inside the 'P' in "POLICE BOX" and inserted it into the keyhole, blasting into the TARDIS and setting a destination in outer space.
"Backup ready!" Another Dalek could be heard, this one's voice lower. The Doctor frowned. It fascinated him to think of reasons why Daleks higher in command had lower voices, and his mind drifted elsewhere imagining the voice of the highest command of Dalek. Shrugging the idea off, his hand grasped the handbrake and pulled it.
A surge of vibration erupted through the console room as the TARDIS encountered a fault. "We have captured and disabled your TARDIS! You cannot escape!" Outside, a strange mechanism about twice the size of the TARDIS held a blue circular laser around it.
His eyes widened. They could disable his TARDIS? He couldn't- wouldn't believe that, and he hoped he was right. He moved a dial to a harder and faster dematerialization wire and tried to take off again.
Making progress, but not by much. The TARDIS struggled to levitate out of the atmosphere, and time travel was currently out of the question- completely cut off. He managed to pilot the box as it heaved against the weight the machine was bearing against it, dragging it away with him.
The Doctor pushed the dial farther and farther as the TARDIS heaved harder and harder, gaining speed until it was travelling at light years in minutes. On the monitor, the words "PLANET ZYLPHIA INCOMING" flashed in red.
He kept boosting up the pace and gaining speed, hoping to break free of the field. When they were a few hundred miles away from the planet's atmosphere, he finally broke free of the mechanism and kicked away from it without stopping.
There was no time to react going at such an incredible speed, and without the Dalek machine pulling him anymore, the pace had increased exponentially. In a matter of milliseconds the TARDIS exploded against the ground of the planet Zylphia.
"What an awful way to land the TARDIS," was the first thing the Doctor said to himself when he woke up. The box had landed facing the ground, the doors broken off their hinges and laying on the patch of ground blocking an exit, and the entire room was sideways.
He was laying on one of the metal beam structures around the center console. He looked up and saw the glass cylinder in the middle had partially shattered, and frequent eruptions of sparks flew from the control panels.
The Doctor perched on the metal beam, searching for a safe place to land. At last he saw the soft chair he used to sit in- the perfect place to get down. He took a small leap of faith and landed roughly against the seat, then got up when he saw what was next to it.
"I loved that record player," he said to himself nostalgically, holding up a fragment of a record. "Even though it went haywire often. And at the perfect moment as well."
He checked his pockets for the sonic screwdriver but could not find it. There was no point searching through the rubble; even a sonic would easily break under the impact. He finally hopped down to the doorway. "Now… how do I get out?"
"Doctor?" A muffled voice emerged from outside the box. "Doctor, is that you?"
"To whom am I speaking? How do you know my name?"
"You don't sound like the Doctor," the muffled voice replied. "Different regeneration?"
"Who is this?"
"Don't you remember me? It's Leela, you fool!"
He stepped back for a moment. "You don't sound like Leela."
"Leela the second! I'm her daughter!" He heard a few noises of metal working. "Look, you need to get as far away from the door as possible- if your TARDIS is offline, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't, a quick explosive from underground should whack it back upright!"
"I'm not sure about that," the Doctor responded, doing some quick math in his head.
"I really don't care if you're sure, because I already set it up a few minutes ago while you were taking a nap. If I were you I'd get out of the way."
"Would it kill you to ask!?" The Doctor scrambled to the top of the chair and grabbed onto a hanging wire.
"Five, four, three- screw it-" There was a quick blast and the gravity in the room shifted. The Doctor was hurled backwards and landed on the ground. There was still a wobble and he caught a quick glance of who he had been talking to, then the TARDIS fell backwards onto the rear.
"Bit too much?" Leela asked; the Doctor could hear a grin in her voice. He sighed and began his climb towards the top of the room. Finally he grasped the sides of the doorway and hoisted himself onto the surface.
He was immediately met with a wave of red smog, and he fell to the dirt ground in a coughing fit. It wasn't just the breathing, though: he could feel something happening to him… He stood up flailing his arms and finally found Leela's shoulders. She rolled her eyes as if nothing was wrong.
"Put this on, stupid!" Leela sarcastically handed him a clockwork machine she had a copy of on her mouth. "You're just letting the air in like it's an open house!"
He quickly slapped it over his mouth and took a deep breath. He immediately exhaled again when he smelled the air it was producing- it smelled so strongly of oil he could taste it in his mouth. In fact, maybe he was tasting oil in his mouth. He shrugged the thought away and looked to Leela the Second for help.
"What?" Leela looked at him uncertainly.
"What do we do now?" the Doctor threw his hands in the air but stopped halfway, noticing his voice was coming out faint and scratchy.
"Oh. I dunno. Wanna stay at my place?"
He put his hand to his forehead and nodded slowly. "Just make sure nothing happens to my TARDIS while it's repairing."
"Nah." Before the Doctor could argue, Leela grabbed his hand and dragged him in an unknown direction. He heard another blast of sparks erupt from the TARDIS and hoped nothing went wrong.
They finally arrived in a small village consisting of many bronze-colored buildings and victorian styles of clothing and architecture. The air surrounding the village was clearer than he had expected, and the closer they went to the center the less red he saw in the air around him.
He hadn't been able to get a good look at Leela outside the village. She was small, thin and short. Still looked like a teenager. The Doctor suspected she wasn't, as she had older eyes. Maybe one hundred, two hundred years old? He wasn't sure. Her hair was cut in a pixie style, bangs swept over one of her blue eyes. She wore a load of gear, which the Doctor assumed was for fighting. It looked it, the sheaths and the belt and the ammo packs helped him figure it out. She looked like someone interesting. Someone resourceful. He was excited to learn more about how she knew who he was.
They arrived at the front door to a two-story building- make that more like one and a half; the triangular roof was so low there was enough space for a second story, but a lot of the sides were cut off and someone would have to crouch.
"The lower floor is my shop," she said quickly, leading him up the stairs from an open room filled with racks of weapons ranging from swords to blaster guns, "and the upstairs is my home. I'll make some coffee."
"Tea's fine, thanks," he said, remembering the first time he had tried coffee in his current regeneration. Tea tasted a load better.
"You want tea?" Leela simply laughed. "Tea like from the Milky Way? Or Mutter's Spiral, depending on who you ask… we can't afford tea!"
"You're joking!" The Doctor thought of tea as an essential thing in life. "I bet you're lucky I brought some."
"You carry tea?"
"Got a problem with that?" He reached into his coat pocket. Leela shrugged, smirking. She walked over to the one table in the cramped room and sat down, proceeding to grab a needle attached to a cord and stab it into her arm.
The Doctor literally leaped in surprise. "What're you doing that for!?"
"I'm a Time Lady on my dad's side; one of my most popular items in stock is tanks of regeneration energy. It can power some of the biggest weapons in the village."
"You're extracting regeneration energy from yourself? You have no idea how unhealthy that is!" He jumped into the seat across the round table from her. "Okay, first things first. Who are you?"
"I told you, I'm Leela's daughter. I thought you knew this."
"Me? Never seen you before in my life. Do I meet you in the future?"
"Yeah, I was thirteen- I know, pretty much an embryo of a Time Lord- but I was self-aware and I traveled with you. You'll be in your tenth regeneration, I think- maybe eleventh," she counted with her fingers in thought. "Which one are you in now?"
"Eighth. You?"
"Third."
"And how much regeneration energy have you sold?"
"Oh, I don't know…" She counted with her fingers again. "Maybe two gallons total?"
"Two gallons?" The Doctor practically yelled. "Sure, maybe you're in your third regeneration, but I might say you've only got five or six left! And I don't even know if the limit changes with your mother being human…"
"So? I've made plenty money from it. If it wasn't for this war I would still be in the streets." A surge of pain rocketed through her spine and she let out a cough and a hack.
"Oh, for the love of- take that thing off!" He flicked it off her arm. "Speaking of coughing, what the heck was that red stuff? Why isn't it in the village?"
"We don't have a name for it- we don't need one. It's naturally in the atmosphere; only Zylphians can breathe it safely. As for everyone else, sure, you can survive in it with some coughing, but it goes into your bloodstream and breaks down your DNA slowly."
"Do you mean to say I lost part of my DNA back there?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be too much to cause any harm. Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?" She held up a hand.
"Five," the Doctor said without thinking.
"You'll be fine," Leela reassured him, lowering the four fingers she had held up. "Anyways, it's not in the village because the village was built around a crack in the ground where some Zylphioze escaped. It's an orangey, thick liquid under the surface that repels the red stuff. We have a fountain of it in the middle of the town."
"And what's this war?"
"Zylphia's become a spot that many different races like to come to and live on- it's technically called Zylphi-A, alongside Zylphi-B and Zylphi-C, but it's the only habitable planet in the system. But there's so many other species that the native species- the Zylphians- quickly became about 40% of the total population. The problem's that Zylphians are known to be quite angry and short-tempered creatures- so some villages began allowing less rights to them when it comes to purchasing weapons, getting alcoholic beverages, those kinds of things.
"The Zylphians started an uprising, demanding equal rights. I mean, it is technically their planet anyways."
The Doctor nodded. "How old are you, by the way?"
Leela looked at him in confusion. "Aren't you going to ask…"
"Ask what?"
"...which…" Leela started the question expecting him to finish.
"Which what?"
"Ugh," Leela punched him in the arm, hard. "Which side I'm on!"
"Does it matter? It's bad enough you're on anyone's side. Anyways, how old are you?"
"Turned one hundred and seven last month," she muttered, quite furious to be insulted like that, "and if it's anything to you, I'm with the Zylphians. This is a pro-Zylphian village." She liked to think being on this side made her a better person.
"So the whole planet is made up of small villages huddling around Zylphioze?"
"Not all villages are. Some of the Zylphian groups are keen on staying true to their culture- since they can breathe the fog stuff, they have tribes living out there. Allies like us can't help them out there."
The Doctor was silent for a moment. "Why aren't you traveling with me anymore?"
Leela hesitated. "You said I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because then you'll know, and you'll try to prevent it, which means I wouldn't leave, which means I wouldn't be here to tell you, which means you wouldn't know, which means you wouldn't try to prevent it, which means I would leave, which means I would be here and tell you-"
"I get the point-"
"-do you?" Leela raised an eyebrow, sounding tough even though she had no idea what she meant by that. "Anyways, you're here now. You can end the war and we can go traveling."
"What?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow himself. "What makes you think you're going to travel with me again?"
"'Cause you said we would go traveling when you came back!"
"But there's a war going on. I can't just solve it with a wave of my hand-"
"Don't make excuses. Didn't you travel with my mom? If she got to see the stars, why won't you let me?"
"Leela, you may not know this. The Last Great Time War- well, hopefully the Last- is just beginning. And… I heard some bad news about your mother."
The room was devoid of noise, save for the Victorian clock on the wall constantly pelting the silence with ticks. Both heard a bell ring downstairs. Leela placed the needle carefully on the top of the odd machine extracting the energy and hopped down a few steps. "Stay here. I've got a customer- stay here."
"I know, you said-"
"Stay." She finally went downstairs and left the Doctor to himself. He could hear the conversation downstairs when he put his ear to the floorboards. He didn't know why, but he already felt like he was responsible for her. It might have something to do with her family.
"I got an order for a couple a' cartridges of your fuel," a man said with a gruff voice.
He could hear Leela rummaging through some items, then an exasperated sigh. "We're out. I didn't have time to extract regeneration energy, I had a friend-"
The Doctor couldn't help but smile at the fact he was already considered her friend, even though they had just been arguing over her departure. He kept listening.
"You said the order would be ready," the gruff voice said, extremely annoyed. "I came all the way across town!"
Leela muttered something under her breath. The Doctor could make out the words "such a long way", said in a sarcastic tone.
"Hey!" The man's voice rose quickly. "What'd you say?"
"Sir, what were you actually going to use the regeneration energy for?"
There was a pause. Finally the man responded, "That Project Final thingy- it's none o'yer business!"
"Oh," again, the Doctor could hear the sarcastic grin in her voice, "but it really is my business." He peeked downstairs and saw Leela leaning across the table and pointing to a handmade sign on the window. The sign said "The customer is NEVER right".
Again, he tried to hold back a smile. Even though he didn't admire the activities Leela partook in, it was pretty impressive how much she stood up for herself. His smile faded quickly when he heard the sound of metal dragging against the floor.
"Why you little-" he was surprised it was Leela saying this and not the man. He heard the clash of metal against metal as the man swung one of the weapons at her. He dashed down the stairs and grabbed a very thin sword, jamming it straight between the two weapons.
"Doctor, I said STAY UPSTAIRS!" Leela yelled at him.
"I'm saving your life!" He said right before the man swung his weapon at him. Leela rolled her eyes and chucked a battleaxe, knocking the heavy weapon to the side. "You sure you're the one saving lives?- oh yeah," she turned back to the angry man, "if you're wondering, this idiot is the reason I don't have your cartridge."
"That's it- I'm calling authorities!" the man yelled, storming out of the shop.
"What's he going to tell them, we defended ourselves?" the Doctor asked, lowering his voice in surprise of the sudden lack of noise.
"We have to leave, now," Leela said worriedly. "I didn't think he'd call the cops. He has no charges to press, but if the cops look at my records again- let's just say I'm not what you'd call a 'legal citizen'."
"Really?" The Doctor said, before Leela grabbed his hand again and they set off out of the village.
The walk through the fog was silent. Both had masks covering their mouths and the Doctor seemed to be itching all over. He walked briskly with a mug in his hands. Leela walked almost just as quickly, but her back was more hunched. Leela led the Doctor through the smog, glancing at her compass nervously, hoping they weren't going in another direction than where she'd hoped.
"By the way," Leela said loudly, breaking the silence, "did you ever finish making that tea?"
The eighth Doctor closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, and let it out. He immediately regretted this, almost choking on the foul scent coming from the mask. "What do you think this is? I've been holding it for the last six minutes, waiting for it to cool."
"I don't know," Leela snapped back, "I just thought it was a lousy excuse for a weapon." Without asking, she snatched the mug, quickly took off her mask, and took a huge gulp. She then proceeded to spit it back out, directly on the Doctor's sleeve.
"Hey!" the Doctor protested, but was interrupted by Leela.
"Why do rich Zylphians drink that stuff!?" She whipped the mug back into the Doctor's hands, spilling half of the tea in the process. "Why don't they just pay a cheap price for some good coffee? Coffee always hits the spot: breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack. Chocolate milk's a good treat too, unless it's made of real chocolate; I prefer the completely artificial kind." She smiled towards the confused Doctor.
"Suit yourself," the Doctor shrugged, taking a sip of the tea himself. He had adored tea ever since waking up in that morgue. "In my opinion, coffee is just an energy drink." At that point Leela, who had only drunk chocolate milk and (after age twelve) coffee her whole life, decided then and there to grab the mug once again and chuck it behind them.
"Where are we going, anyways?" the Doctor half-snapped. "It all just seems empty, save for the cell-eating air."
"To another Zylphian ally village. There we can figure out how to win the war so we can leave and go traveling."
"What?" The Doctor looked at her in surprise. "I never said you were traveling with me! And no one's going to 'win' the war. That's killing millions of people."
"You got any better ideas?" Leela squinted into the distance. "There it is, see?"
The Doctor reluctantly followed her into the village. It was impressively similar to the other village, seemingly identical. This one, however, seemed a bit busier: people were walking quickly from building to building, bringing carts and wheelbarrows along with them. The buildings were slightly cleaner, and there were occasional military bases made of granite. Overall, the villagers seemed more open and advanced.
Leela led the Doctor into one of the military bases and brought him into a room. The inside walls were white, but the makeshift bulbs in each room cast a yellow glow over everything. "First thing you can do is study this." She handed him two glass containers, each full of blood. "The village is working on a new bio weapon to combat anti-Zylphians, but we don't have enough resources to figure out anything about the blood. That one's Zylphian and that one's human. Any observations?"
"Yes, an obvious one," the Doctor said, inspecting the blood samples closer and tapping the one containing Zylphian blood. "I think they're the same."
"What?" Leela grabbed them back. "What do you mean, they're the same? Let me get another set of samples." She hurried into another room and came back with two more containers of blood. "This one's Zylphian and that one's Zygon."
Again, the Doctor examined the containers thoroughly, then began to screw off the lid of each one. "This might seem gross, but it's actually very effective," he warned, and before Leela could respond he tasted a drop of each blood. Leela backed up a bit. He nodded slowly, licking his lips. "Definitely the same blood. Similar, at least- similar enough to be two different breeds, but unlikely different species altogether."
"But that's not possible-" Leela stormed out of the base and looked around at all the townspeople. "You're telling me these are all the same species?"
"Now that I think about it, it is strange not one of them look that different from a human or Time Lord," he gestured toward a huge crowd of townsfolk. He was right- Leela had just assumed they were all genetically different, but their physical appearances were all that of a human. There was not a single Malmooth, not one Sontaran.
"So you're saying there's no real conflict?" Leela asked, turning to the Doctor confusedly. "That everyone's biologically on the same side?"
"It's a possibility," the Doctor said, sounding a lot more sure than a "possibility". He tried wiping the stain of tea on his jacket and finally resigned to the imperfection. "Take me to a place with many people- this is going to be public."
When Leela thought of a crowd, she always thought of a Zylphian bar. So that was exactly where they were, and a stuffy one at that. Many people- she still couldn't really grasp the fact they were all Zylphians- were sitting at tables alone, drinking a special blend of coffee and beer. On the other hand, there were many fights breaking out in different places in the bar. Every time two people started throwing punches, the bartender would look up with tired eyes, then go back to cleaning the table.
The Doctor made long strides towards the front of the room. Leela, however, immediately noticed someone in the crowd. Walter noticed her too, his eyes widening after glancing in her direction. He got up and walked over, but Leela slapped him in the face before they could talk. He was so surprised he flew to the ground. Leela brushed her hands and followed the Doctor to the front of the room.
"Everyone, there is an important announcement I have to make," the Doctor shouted at the crowd. An old man in a seat nearby looked up, but everyone else was either too wrapped up in a fight or depressed or tired to listen. The Doctor tried again. "Excuse me! I have an announcement!" Still, no one even glanced in his direction. The old man shook his head and turned away. The Doctor tried grabbing their attention a final time. "This is about the war!"
Suddenly the room was deathly quiet. Everyone was now intrigued about information on the war. Fists lowered to people's sides and everyone gathered around the Doctor, shoving their way to the front row. "People of Zylphia, there is something none of you have noticed about this war- your biology. After briefly researching some blood samples, I concluded that everyone on this planet is Zylphian."
There were a few offended grunts among the group. "Let me put it another way- I'm told Zylphia is a spot many different species like to live on. But why would someone choose to live on a planet at war? Tell me, raise your hands; how many of you were actually born on another planet?" The crowd was silent. No one raised their hands. Finally a man with a mustache in the back responded, "My family arrived here generations ago." There were a few agreeing "yeah"s throughout the group.
"Raise your hand if you know that for certain," the Doctor responded quickly before things got out of hand. "Raise your hand- if you have proof, evidence, that you arrived here generations ago, and that you don't come from a long line of Zylphians."
"I've got proof," a woman in the back responded quickly. "My mother came here herself."
"By what mode of transportation?"
"I dunno," the sound of ruffling papers came from the back of the crowd as she shuffled through documents. "Oh. She came by a Voidcraft Replication!"
"Then I'm afraid your mother lied to you," the Doctor said sadly, "because Voidcraft Replications would lose power after a trip within the same system. And the only other planets in this system are Zylphi-B and Zylphi-C, which aren't safe for life."
"Are you saying we're Zylphians!?" The same old man who had noticed them before stood up, trying to prove he wasn't too old to fight yet.
"Well, yes- but more specifically, this is between different breeds of Zylphian."
"Are we dogs?" A bearded man shouted from the middle of the crowd in a Scottish accent. Another voice erupted, then another, and another.
"You're tellin' us we've been fighting for nothin'?"
"You think those Zylphians deserve equal rights?"
"What species are you, then?"
The doors at the other side of the room slammed open and a man with a large fedora walked in with a cane. "Now, now, gentlemen… I think we all know who this man is."
The Doctor gave a surprised expression in return. "Really? You know me? The Doctor?"
He pointed the cane at the Doctor. "You are the Returner! And we will not let you destroy Zylphia with us by your side!"
"Sorry, what?" Suddenly Leela and the Doctor began to get shoved towards the door by the crowd, which now seemed to have become a drunk mob. There were too many of them to fight back, and Leela definitely did fight back, but it was no use.
"Walter!" Leela shouted through the crowd. "Help!" She finally saw him getting up from the ground across the room, rubbing his cheek. He saw them and scrambled up, trying to push his way through the crowd, but the crowd was too big. He was pushed back to the ground. He sprang up again and ran in front of the mob to the door, holding it shut.
The Doctor and Leela were pressed up against the door, but Walter put all of his energy into keeping it shut. "Okay, you've almost repaid me."
"Repaid you for what?"
"For being a jerk!" Leela crossed her arms, kicking at the crowd reluctantly. "Now you're slightly less of a jerk."
Walter interpreted this not exactly how Leela had expected, and leaned around the door to kiss her. She rolled her eyes and slapped him to the ground again, and the door burst open from the mob. "Never mind," she called to him as she and the Doctor began running, "you're still a jerk!"
"Now where do we go?" the Doctor asked. "Got those masks with you?"
"Crap, I left them at the base!" Leela turned her head back. "Nice going, Doctor. They think you're the Returner and I'm some sidekick."
"Who's the Returner?"
"Just some old Zylphian legend," Leela responded, catching her breath and running faster, "it talks about some dude 'returning' to Zylphia and bringing its end. Kids' stuff." They reached the edge of the village, and an invisible line seemed to hold in the clear air. On the other side was red smog.
The Doctor glanced back to the crowd, which was gaining. "Now what?" Leela asked impatiently. "Doctor, what do we do?"
Before the mob could reach them, the Doctor grabbed Leela's hand. "Do you trust me?" He asked, backing up towards the edge of the village. The mob was seconds away.
"I trust you from the future, so… I hope I trust you?" Leela stared at the crowd. The Doctor persisted. "Leela, I need you to trust me. Do you understand? You can't think I'm insane."
"I'm not sure…" Finally the mob was too close for comfort. "Okay I trust you!" she yelled quickly, and the Doctor pulled her backwards and into the smog. She immediately thought he was insane, and tried to run back into the clean air, but the mob was now gathered, blocking their path.
Both began coughing and stumbling through the air. "Now what?" Leela managed to gasp out, grabbing the Doctor's arm. The Doctor quickly reached into his coat pocket and began tugging at something. Finally he pulled out a feather. "Again, do you trust me?"
"NO!" Leela responded, but held to his arm tightly. The Doctor reached over with the feather and tickled her under her nose. "What're you- Doctor!" Leela moved her head backward, but the Doctor kept tickling. Finally Leela couldn't hold it back and she sneezed.
All the sudden the red smoke flew backwards and they were given a small radius of clear air. Leela stared out in shock. She finally turned to the Doctor with one eyebrow raised. "Trust me," he explained, "real tea isn't all that bad. Zylphioze- interesting tea ingredient, I must say."
He handed her a feather and they began tickling each other, giggling. Every time one of them sneezed, it would add to the path they were creating of clear air. Finally Leela pointed in one direction and managed through a giggling fit, "there's a small radio village that way!"
They set off on their sneezing journey towards the third village.
Leela kept tickling the Doctor with her feather as they entered the miniature radio village, but almost immediately the Doctor held up a hand to signal her to stop. Instead, she persisted, and in a millisecond the Doctor stopped laughing or showing any effects whatsoever. His face was stern and he slowly reached to grab the feather and took it out of her hand.
"As of now we're Zylphia's Most Wanted, thanks to you. Now what do you propose we do?" Leela asked, following him to the nearest building of the village. There were only about ten buildings total, so the village was actually more of a camp, and the primary purpose was to broadcast information to everyone on Zylphia. It was still being used by almost every village, despite the war.
The Doctor walked with purpose into the radio tower base, immediately noticing a poster with a drawing of an explosion and a mushroom cloud pinned to a bulletin board. "What's this?" He grabbed the poster and ripped it off the pins, examining the title.
"Project Final Chapter," Leela read from the poster. "It was broadcasted by a rogue group of Zylphians in this tower a few weeks ago; looks like they put up an advertisement while they were here."
"What's Project Final Chapter?"
"Short and simple, it's a giant batch of nuclear missiles. They're going to target them at every Anti-Zylphian village and organization there is. They said in the broadcast it could take them a couple of weeks, but donations of any kind of fuel could shorten the process to a matter of days."
"That doesn't sound good. Hold on- I've heard of this before.-Where… hold on hold on hold on!" The Doctor pointed at her but stopped in thought. "Your customer, what did he say he was going to use that regeneration energy for?"
"He said it was none of my business."
"No no no, before that!"
"I don't know, something about-" Leela's eyes widened. "Oh."
"A matter of days isn't what we're talking about when it comes to regeneration energy- it's more powerful than almost any kind of fuel on most planets. If that man had donated any regeneration energy to Project Final Chapter, it could launch in a matter of hours." He relaxed a little, finally. "Good thing you didn't have any to sell."
Leela did not relax with the Doctor. "Can I mention something a bit… bad?"
"Of course, what?"
"...He was one of my best customers. He's bought at least half a gallon-"
"We have to think of something quick! Leela, the world could end any second now!" The Doctor hurried up the stairs of the radio tower. The rooms were fairly large, but cramped with arrays of tables and stacked boxes. A human architect would claim there were far too little windows, and sunlight was the only source of light through the few windows there were. Leela still held the poster in her hand, squinting at something in the corner. The Doctor reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver, hoping to provide some more light, only to realize he still didn't have one. He flicked on a nearby switch and a set of small, red bulbs flashed with brightness, then faded to a soft level of light. They were attached to a large, mechanical device with gears lining the sides.
"Yes, that is what I'm looking for!" the Doctor grinned with excitement. "Now we have the most effective mode of stopping a war: communication."
He heard Leela growl and the sound of a paper rustling on the floor softly. He turned around to find the poster laying on the ground and Leela nowhere to be seen. "Leela?" he shouted, but no answer. He peeked his head around a few crates. "Leela?"
"We have almost enough power to launch the nuclear missiles," a voice sounded from under a walrus mask to a group with similar masks around them in a circle. They were in a large, open space in an underground base filled with metal pipes and vents spewing steam. Many stalactites grew downwards from the ceiling, with a red bulb hanging from the tip of each. "As soon as we receive our last promised donation of fuel, Project Final Chapter will be ready for the countdown."
"How long must we wait for the donation, sir?" asked another person in the group, wearing an identical walrus mask. "The Anti-Zylphians must pay for their crimes against justice and purity."
"It should be arriving any minute now," their apparent leader proclaimed, then turned around to the sound of a wooden, castle-esque door creaking open. The same man from Leela's shop emerged with an anxious look. "Sir, I… cannot provide you with my promised donation."
"Excuse me?" The group parted to create a path as the leader began walking towards him. "And why is that?"
"I ordered all my energy donations from Leela the Second; she didn't have my order today." The man's lip quivered as the leader came closer. Finally the leader was so close the man had to glance to the side to see anything except the face of a walrus. He could smell something too, not coming from the person themself, but from the mask… as if something was rotting.
"I see," the leader said politely. "In that case, you'll have to find other ways of keeping your promise. Because we Zylphians know all about promises, don't we?" The man began to stumble backwards, but the leader grabbed his wrist. "We keep them. Isn't that right?" A few grunts of agreement emerged from the small group behind him.
The leader let go of his arm and the man started shaking. "P-Please don't hurt me," he said, backing up. "I have a family-"
"Hurt implies long-lasting effects," the leader interrupted. "You'll only feel a sharp sting and then we'll be finished."
A moan of intense fear made its way out of the man's mouth, a fear unlike any fear he'd ever felt, one that burned in his heart, knowing he might die that day. He made a break for it and sprinted out of the doors. The leader of the group simply snapped his fingers in the air and two of the people in the group sprinted after him at an incredible speed. They grabbed him by the arms and dragged him back.
"Don't worry," the leader said reassuringly, "you're keeping your promise." He snapped his finger in the air once again. "Pleasure doing business with you." The man struggled to break free but it was no use. One of the Zylphians slowly lowered its mask from its face and pointed the tusks at his chest. Wind could be softly heard as it flew towards him.
"Stop!" A shout erupted from down the dark corridor behind the doors. Leela stormed into the room. "You-" a barrage of insults emerged from her mouth and towards the leader of the rogue group, and finally she found herself glaring at them.
"What in the name of sanity has gotten into you," Leela screamed, "Walter?" She slapped the mask of Walter's face and he stumbled back. He returned the glare, feeling a small amount of blood make its way to his skin.
"What do you mean? Project Final Chapter's going to end the war! Isn't that what you wanted?"
"That's killing millions of people!"
"You can talk! When did you start caring for others?" he snarled.
"When did you start questioning me?" Leela snarled back, leaning forward and spitting.
"When I saw Zylphia for what it really is!" Walter shouted, louder than Leela had earlier.
"What's that?"
"Guilty." Walter frowned and walked towards a large lever in the wall. "And now that you're here, we'll have enough power to end this stupid war!" He raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and two more people with walrus masks stomped forward and grabbed her arms with incredible strength.
Walter narrowed his eyes. "We both know you won't put other people before your own safety. You're big on instincts. That's one of the reasons I liked you in the first place."
"We both know that isn't true, Walter, you motherf-"
"Luck's out for you, I'm afraid," he snarled loudly, snapping his fingers a final time. He let out a deep breath. "Kill the man; let the girl feel pain."
"Walter, you don't have to do this!" Leela struggled as one of the executioners slowly reached for their masks. "There's a man called the Doctor- you met him back at the bar- he can help, he's working on it right now! No one has to die!"
There was the sound of someone gurgling in their own fear of death itself as the sound of wind followed it and Leela heard the man being stabbed by the tusks of the mask behind her. Walter looked at the people with the walrus masks, then back to Leela. "Make her give up that regeneration energy we were promised."
Leela began shaking uncontrollably as the Zylphian slowly moved the mask to her wrist. The tusk dug into her skin, then up her arm and to her shoulder. Leela let out a deep sigh and almost instinctively began to use her own regeneration energy. As she did the level of power the bulbs in the ceiling received grew, and the yellow energy began to make its way towards the pipes instead.
"The fuel's nice," Walter said calmly to the man holding the mask, "but I want to see her suffer." His hands rested on the lever in the wall.
The man did the same to her other arm, then to her legs, her face, and her back. Aside from the shaking, Leela simply kept her eyes shut and thought about the Doctor. Walter frowned more. "Why aren't you reacting? You should be in agony."
She slowly raised her head to face him, and as she did more blood was forced out of the back of her neck. "I'll have you know I traveled with the Doctor before. The Doctor from the future, after he fought in a war bigger than any of this. And this is nothing compared to what happened to me when I was thirteen years old."
Suddenly there was a loud crackle of static noise over the speakers around the room. "Attention Zylphia!" the Doctor announced rather grandly. "I assume Leela can hear this, and if she can, everyone around her should know one thing: if you lay a finger on her, I will see to it you pay the price. Personally.
"Now, regarding this war- you may know Zylphia is only a cultural term. It's really called Zylphi-A, part of the Zylphi system in the Andromeda galaxy. Alongside it are the planets Zylphi-B and Zylphi-C, which you were all told aren't habitable for life. Keywords: you were told."
Walter frowned in confusion at the rest of the group, which seemed just as lost as him. Leela smiled; she knew what the Doctor was doing, and it was working. He continued after the sound of rustling paper was heard, probably the Doctor picking up another poster. "The attack on the Miracle Village."
Walter raised an eyebrow, remembering the news from a week ago. "For those of you who may not know," the Doctor read aloud, "Miracle Village, home to a whopping 8% of Zylphia's population, was recently bombed by an unknown group. I'm here to tell you I know who did it. I know who killed 8% of the world population. And they're not finished; they're far from finished. They've been watching over this war for the past century, laughing at your stupidity. You haven't even noticed the attacks they've made over the hundred years this war has gone on- and they're responsible for a removal of at least 20% of the population at the start of the war."
"Get to the point," Leela muttered under her breath, almost breaking under the pain. She held firm and shut her mouth tightly.
There was a pause before the Doctor finally spoke. "Zylphi-B is responsible for the attack on Miracle Village. They are preparing bigger and badder weapons to fire at this miserable planet squabbling with itself. That is why this war must end. You must focus your power on Zylphi-B or you will all perish."
"He's lying!" Walter yelled, gripping the lever tightly. "He's lying about all of it!"
"But sir," one of the members of the group said softly, "what… what if he isn't? Can we take that chance?"
"Fine!" Walter glared at the group. "Everyone in favor of firing the missiles at Zylphi-B, raise your hand!" Walter did not raise his hand, but the rest of the group did. Leela did as well, knowing full well she didn't count. Before Walter could protest, the group made their way to the opposite side of the room where the controls were and recalculated the destination of the missiles.
"We now have enough regeneration energy to fire a nuclear attack on Zylphi-B," one member declared. Walter's eyebrows raised in fury and he took his hands off the lever. Leela sprinted towards the lever and grabbed it, but Walter grabbed her wrist with unrealistic strength.
"I'm not letting you waste 600 nuclear missiles on a barren, empty planet, Leela the Second!" he shouted, and forced the lever up. His strength was far more than that of Leela's; for some reason, all the members of the rogue group had far greater strength than thought possible. Leela's hand began to turn red as blood circulation was cut off. It wavered and shook but Walter's hand would not budge.
Leela turned to the rest of the group, raising her fist to the air. "I know Zylphians have a genetic bloodlust! I know you all have a craving for war inside you! But do you really understand what you're deciding today? You can kill millions of innocent lives, or defeat the real threat. Who's with me?"
One cheer burst out from the group, but quickly died down as it realized itself being alone. One man hesitantly took off the mask and threw it to the ground. He walked over and joined Leela in forcing the lever down.
"No," Walter grunted, moving the lever back up, holding them both back. Before long, three others put their hands on the lever, forcing it down. Walter's face turned red as he struggled to keep it up. Leela turned to the rest of the group, who were wary about either decision, and nodded her head. Finally two more made their way over and pushed the lever down with all their might. A rumbling was heard from all around them and a few red bulbs dropped to the floor, shattering fiercely. Leela grinned and sprinted out of the base.
The Doctor found her outside on ground level, and they looked up at the stars and at Zylphi-B. Hundreds of missiles rocketed from the ground up into the sky. The Doctor smiled. "Now the Zylphians can satisfy their craving for victory and no one will get hurt. My guess is they'll be fighting Zylphi-B for a long time. Constantly congratulating themselves over a victory when nothing actually happened." He added, "That sums up humans for you."
Leela grinned at the Doctor, then at Zylphi-B. Small bursts of explosions could be seen on Zylphi-B's surface even from down there, and they heard cheers of victory from down below in the base. Leela glanced at her bloody hands and suddenly remembered the pain she was feeling, stumbling back a bit as the feeling surged back.
"Leela! Who did that?" The Doctor glared down the entrance to the base.
"Doctor, it's fine, really-"
"Who?"
"...Walter. You met him earlier," Leela sighed. "Please, it's okay-" She paused and watched the Doctor storm down into the base. "Doctor! Stop!"
"Walter, is it?" the Doctor asked him politely.
"Y-Yes- Walter Tâk… I didn't know-"
"You heard what I said. Anyone who touches Leela must answer to me."
Leela called from the entrance. "Then you'll have to answer to yourself if you hurt him." He turned around. "What do you mean?"
"If you hurt Walter, you hurt me. Doctor, let's just go. There's been enough conflict for one day." The Doctor reluctantly followed Leela back outside and they made their way in the direction of the TARDIS. The Doctor had a worried expression. "I hope nothing's happened to the TARDIS- what with all the explosions."
"Yes! The beams! I love the beams, good thing they're not gone yet," the Doctor grinned, patting the metal beams surrounding the metal console. The TARDIS had finished repairing itself and it was complete with a new desktop theme.
The center pillar was filled with purple lighting, and water made its way down the insides of the glass center. The walls were a dark, burnt shade of red, and orange lights lined the edges, not exactly lighting the room very well, but appearing bright themselves. Leela noticed a variety of assorted controls surrounding the console, including what appeared to be a typewriter; a motion-sensing glove; a number of joysticks; an engine out in the open; a smaller, separate control panel detached from the rest of the console that spun around; a string with a grip hanging from the ceiling; and finally what appeared to be jumbled parts of a church organ.
The floor was made of dark wood, but was a number of meters below where they were standing, as the front entrance opened to a vent-like platform. A number of bookshelves lined the walls, each lit by a purple light. Overall there was an overwhelming amount of burnt reds and oranges along with intense purples. The Doctor grinned to himself. "Now then, I'm going to need a new suit while this one's in the wash, no thanks to you," he said, walking away and pointing to the tea stain on his sleeve. A large doorway opened from the side of the room to a smaller area full of different styles of clothing. A sectioned off line from the top of the doorway down to the wall at the back of this room was made of mirror.
"How about this?" the Doctor asked, holding up an old leather jacket.
"Naw," Leela replied, "too extroverted. The Doctor I used to travel with would've probably liked it."
"I see," the Doctor responded, moving the jacket to a pile to save for later. "How about a nice tie?"
"Yeah, that is something that other Doctor did wear a lot." She looked at the Doctor, who held up a wide, checkered tie to himself, smiling. She burst out laughing. "Might as well try on a bow tie while you're at it!"
"Ew, never a bow tie," the Doctor half-jokingly said, tossing the tie to the side. "Maybe I could wear a scarf…"
"I'm not replacing my mother," Leela scowled.
"Right, yes, sorry." The Doctor looked through the pile for some time and finally pulled out a black coat with three bright, shiny gold buttons. The coat was a soft fabric, and only the cuffs were leather. On the bottom of the front were two pockets (colored the same) that seemed more appropriate for a hiking excursion than this formal wear. He took off the coat he was wearing and, with a small eye roll, pulled off the cravat as well, leaving only his vest and dress shirt. He put a solid purple tie on as well. He then got himself into the new coat and raised his arms with a smile, waiting for Leela's input.
"I don't know, there's something… missing," she decided, rummaging through the pile herself. Halfway through she stopped, appearing to have found something for him. Instead she put on the white gunslinger's gloves herself and continued searching.
At last she pulled out a top hat. "Are you sure?" the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow. "I do enjoy a top hat should the occasion arise, but all the time? Wouldn't it fly off my head?" She shrugged, handing it over. He slowly moved the hat on top of his head. He realized it fit perfectly. Almost as perfectly as his shoes. His eyes lit up and he dashed back into the console room.
"Okay, screwdriver, screwdriver- ah!" He paced over to one control panel with his hands behind his back. A new sonic screwdriver had been generated, and the top half looked brilliant- three rods formed a triangle of purple light. Up and down the rods were infrequent metal platings. There was a silver and dark gray handle with a simple button on the front. The bottom half was still inside the control panel, and Leela impatiently tugged it out.
"Oops," was the first thing that was said after the sonic screwdriver snapped in two with a shower of sparks. The bottom half was still stuck inside the control panel, and now there was a small bunch of disconnected wires hanging out of the top half. The Doctor grabbed the screwdriver from Leela and tried using it- luckily it didn't seem like the bottom half was necessary, but there were a few sparks flying from the wires and some bolts of static electricity making their way out of the purple rods. The sound of the screwdriver was also more broken, with a layer of static sound, a fuzz over the natural hum.
"Let me just try to generate a new one-" He pulled the typewriter keys backwards, then let go of them and let them spring back into place. He then tugged the string hanging from the ceiling and a painful noise came from the TARDIS.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Leela asked, unable to hide her smile- she was glad there was finally some more action.
"I think the TARDIS is going to do something I've only seen done once before," the Doctor said worriedly, turning to her. "I think we're entering Red Lantern Mode."
Walter Tâk sat in the bar with his head on the table, an empty glass standing next to him. There were far less fights there now- punches were replaced with high fives each time another successful attack was declared on Zylphi-B.
"Tâk," a rough, empty voice said from someone standing in front of him. He didn't need to look at the voice; he recognized it immediately. "Is it done?"
"No," he moaned from the table. "They all turned on me. They thought that barren planet was more of a threat. Those villages are still intact."
"I told you to get rid of the Zylphioze patches on the surface of the planet."
"Well, I didn't. What can I say?" Walter let out a sarcastic, hysterical laugh. "I guess… sorry!" He laughed again.
"They must perish before the war begins," the voice responded. "Time Lord Victorious must be inevitable."
"Yeah, well what about the Savior?" Walter glared up. "It's not like you can deny the countless warnings-"
"Their kind must perish and I must survive," the voice growled. "On the occasion the prophets weren't false and a Savior arises… leave them to me."
"You must know something about Zylphians," Walter said through his teeth. "We don't try to work miracles. We accept what was told would happen. Don't try to change the facts."
"I am the facts," the voice said on the last day of Walter's life.
To be continued