On 13 Bannerman road sat a large house, but this wasn't just any house, it was the home of Sarah Jane Smith, former companion to the Time Lord known as the Doctor. Nowadays she protected the earth from her attic with her adopted son Luke and his friends Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer along with an alien super computer.
Sarah Jane was writing an article for a magazine, teaching Rani some of the finer points of journalism while Clyde and Luke were playing battleship, when Mr. Smith activated.
"Sarah Jane, I am detecting a build up of temporal energy" Mr. Smith declared.
Striding over to the super computer, Sarah Jane asked "Where, Mr. Smith?"
"76 Totters lane." Mr. Smith replied, pulling up a map and highlighting the coordinates in red on on his screen.
"A junkyard?" Clyde quirked an eyebrow at that "Must be some trashy aliens."
Rani shoot him an unimpressed look as Sarah Jane rolled her eyes fondly
"Come on, let's go check this out." Luke said, grabbing his jacket from the back of a nearby chair and heading towards the door.
Arriving at the location there was a large blue sign that said 'I.M. Foreman, scrap merchant'.
"It's a scrap yard." Clyde said surprised
Rani looked at him in surprise "You knew that."
"I thought it was a junkyard. There's a difference."
"Like what?" Rani demanded
"Scrap is cool." Clyde informed her firmly "Junk is just junk."
"Well, both can dangerous, so be careful. We don't need anyone getting hurt. The readings are coming from this direction." Sarah Jane said, looking at the readings on her watch and heading towards an old staircase.
Splitting up Sarah Jane Luke, Clyde and Rani all went in different directions looking for the source of the temporal energy.
Looking over a pile of boxes, Luke saw a figure laying in the center of a smoking crater. It was a girl about about their own age. She had vivid streaks of blue in her wavy dark gold hair, wearing a royal blue skater dress, a sheer blue crop top and space patterned leggings.
"Over here!" Luke called out and scrambled down the edge of the crater. He hurried over to the girl and knelt down, pressing two fingers to the side of her neck to cheek her pulse. He blinked and glanced at her face, studying her face uncertainly "Who are you?" He breathed as the sound of the others approaching reached him.
"Careful, Luke we don't know what she is." Sarah Jane cautioned her son as she came up beside him.
"She's just a girl." Luke said.
"Lots of aliens look like humans." Sarah Jane reminded him, looking at her scanner watch. "That's strange. I can't seem to get a clear reading on her."
"Maybe we can just ask her" Clyde said gesturing to the girl who was starting to stir.
Groaning, she sat up, bringing a hand to her head.
"Take it easy, you've had a hard trip." Sarah Jane said reassuringly, placing a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Yeah, a trip through the Time Vortex could be considered hard." The girl said, opening dark blue eyes the same color as the streaks in her hair.
"How do you know about the Time Vortex?" Sarah Jane demanded suspiciously.
"I just came from the 54th century, of course I know about the Time Vortex! It became common knowledge two centuries ago." The girl exclaimed shooting her an odd look from under her hand as she continued to rub her forehead.
"Well, now you're in 2009." Clyde told her
"2009! Whoa, that's so retro! Then you must be Sarah Jane Smith, it's an honor to finally meet you, the name's Idris." The girl said jumping up, grabbing Sarah Jane's hand and pumping it up and down vigorously.
'How do you know who I am?" Sarah Jane asked, confused.
"Early 2000s, sonic lipstick? Who else would you be? Now I'm going to need your help." Idris said with a pleading look in her eyes.
"Help? Help doing what?" Sarah Jane asked, still not convinced.
"Building a time beacon to contact my parents and get me home, of course." Idris said.
"How are we going to build a time beacon?" Rani demanded.
"With a bit of spit and sonic." Idris said pulling a sonic screwdriver out of her pocket and activated it.
"Where did you get a sonic screwdriver?" Sarah Jane asked, eying her skeptically.
"They were quite popular from 5355 to 5356 until the Doctor shut it down. I got this one for my birthday." Idris said with a pleased smile.
"Hold up. So it's easy to build one of these time beacon things?" Clyde broke in
"Of course!" Idris grinned confidently. "We'll need a friction contrafibulator and a portashrinker . . . ah." her face fell as realization dawned "Maybe it won't be so easy. In that case a hamster wheel and a three inch wad of blueberry bubble gum will have to do."
"Seriously, bubble gum and a hamster wheel." Clyde said as the others ran on ahead.
"What do you need to build this beacon?" Sarah Jane asked
"Well, first I need to find a place with three steel beams, about three feet long each to use as conductor braces and that warehouse looks like a good place to start." Idris said pointing at an old warehouse across the street and then heading in that direction.
Entering the building, Idris looked around. "Yes, this will do nicely." she said.
"Do you really know what you're doing?" asked Rani.
"The concept's sound, but there is a chance of temporal disintegration if it overloads." Idris admitted.
"That's doesn't sound good." Luke said glancing over at her in concern.
"No it's not, the closest thing I've ever seen to it was when Thanos disintegrated half the universe." Idris said solemnly. "Now to start building." she said clasping her hands together and rubbing them.
"Luke, could you hand me a spanner from that box on the right?" Idris asked from underneath the beacon her voice muffled.
"Sure, no problem." Luke said, getting up and reaching for the spanner. But knocking the box over spilling its contents all over, the spanner rolling down the hallway.
"Whoops, don't worry I'll get it." Luke said heading down the corridor. Reaching down to pick up the spanner a shadow came over him. Looking over his shoulder, Luke screamed as green tentacles burst out of the shadows towards him.
"AHHH!"
"Luke, Luke where are you?!" Sarah Jane cried out in concern.
"Spread out in groups of two, look everywhere. Rani, Clyde you two go together and I'll go with Sarah Jane." Idris said, jumping up.
"Hold up. Since when are you in charge?" Clyde demanded.
"I don't hear anyone else coming up with any other ideas. Now come on, we're wasting time, let's go." Idris said urgently "You two go that way. Sarah Jane and I will look down this corridor. Quick now."
"We're going." Rani assured her and grabbed Clyde's arm, dragging her still grumbling friend along behind her.
"Let's go." Idris urged, turning on her heel
Sarah Jane shot her a pensive frown, thoughts clearly turning in her head.
"So how do you really know about me?" she asked at last as they walked down a corridor together.
Idris glanced up and looked at her in surprise "I told you."
"You expect me to believe that everyone knows about what we're doing here?" Sarah Jane shook her head firmly "No. Flattering but no. Most of UNIT doesn't even know what we're doing."
"The truth then?" the girl sighed "If you must know Dad always said if I wound up on Earth in this time zone I should ask Sarah Jane Smith for help and I am definitely going to need your help." Idris confessed.
"And who is your father?" asked Sarah Jane.
"That's the big question, isn't it?" Idris replied.
Sarah Jane's lip quirked slightly in amusement "So you've traveled with the Doctor?"
"As have you." Idris pointed out
"Is that why I haven't been able to get any readings from you?" Sarah Jane asked suspiciously.
"No, it's because of this." Idris said, pulling a TARDIS key on a chain out from around her neck."It acts as a bio-damper and don't you know it's rude to scan someone without their permission?" Idris asked playfully.
"I'm sorry, it's just you can never be too careful." Sarah Jane said, walking ahead.
"All you had to do was ask, I trust you." Idris assured her. Lifting the key over her head, she handed the key to Sarah Jane. "Go ahead and scan me." Idris said throwing her arms out wide in invitation. A green tentacle suddenly shot out at her from the shadows and struck her on the back of the head knocking her unconscious then grabbing Sarah Jane causing her to drop the key.
"He's nowhere to be found – What happened?" Rani demanded, running up to Idris who came stumbling down the corridor.
"Something grabbed Sarah Jane and knocked me out from behind. Just give me a minute and I'll be fine." Idris murmured holding the back of her head and collapsing on a crate.
"You stay right here and rest, we'll handle this. Come on, Clyde." Rani said, heading down the corridor with the boy following at her heels.
Only to hear screams coming from the hallway a few minutes later.
"Clyde? Rani? Are you okay?" Idris called, but there was no response. "That's not good." she murmured, narrowing her eyes "Come on Idris, you we're born for this." Idris said to herself then pushed herself her feet. She gripped the wall as a wave of dizziness swept over her. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. A moment later the world finally stilled. She opened her eyes and started back down the corridor.
Checking the walls for any hidden panels and not finding anything, Idris was starting to get frustrated.
"I'm missing something, right in the corner of my eye." Idris murmured to herself. 'Of course a perception filter, definitely aliens then' Idris thought to herself. Turning to her left Idris saw another corridor leading to a cell and laying in it was Luke.
Gasping, Idris hurries over "Luke. Luke wake up!" she called urgently to him through the ray beams.
Luke stirred and blinked his eyes blearily "Huh, what happened?" he gasped out, waking up.
"It looks like you were captured. Do you know by whom?" Idris asked.
"It was Mrs. Wormwood, the Bane!" Luke said, jumping up.
"How do you know about the Bane?" Idris demanded, expression startled
"They made me." Luke stated simply
"Eww. I'm not judging." Idris said quickly. "Come on, we need to find the others before the Bane want a snack." Idris said, sonicing the door to the cell and heading quickly down the corridor. Coming to a door, Idris and Luke peeked through it to see a room full of machinery and Mrs. Wormwood standing in front of a cell with Sarah Jane, Rani and Clyde in it.
"That's a time channeler." Idris said warily in a low tone, nodding to the machine.
"What's that?" Luke asked in a whisper, confused.
"When partnered with a time channeler, a time sensitive being can travel along the timelines. But that one seems to have been modified so that anyone can travel as long as the entrance remains open. In the tentacles of the Bane the results could be disastrous." Idris explained.
"How did you escape Horath's portal?" Sarah Jane questioned.
"Oh, Horath really wasn't all that cracked up to be. Actually he was extremely cracked, decayed past the point of recognition. Thankfully his ship was in perfect working order." Mrs. Wormwood said.
"So what do you want this time?" Rani asked, her dark eyes narrowed in a glare.
"With this machine I shall rewrite time and prevent the death of the Bane Mother by your hands, Sarah Jane Smith. Luke shall act as a fixed point and a time sensitive being shall provide the power. " Mrs. Wormwood said, running her hand almost lovingly over the machine.
"Like you're going to get your hands on a time sensitive being. they're not very common." Rani pointed out.
"Oh, I already have one." Mrs. Wormwood purred menacingly, shooting them a look.
"I won't let you get away with this. I will stop you, Mrs. Wormwood, that's a fact." Sarah Jane declared firmly.
"So you're the reason I'm here" Idris said, walking into the control room as if she owned it, leaving Luke standing in the doorway behind her.
"So you've finally arrived. If you don't comply with my orders I will incinerate Sarah Jane Smith and your friends" Mrs. Wormwood demanded.
"Idris, Luke, get out of here!" Sarah Jane cried out from behind the ray beams.
"You know if you wanted to get me to do what you wanted, this is the wrong way to do it. So you should be very, very afraid." Idris said as if stating a fact.
"And why is that?" Mrs. Wormwood asked in a patronizing tone, humoring her.
"Because I'm the daughter of The Doctor and River Song and you're about to regret imprisoning my friends." Idris said, whipping out her sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the beam projectors causing them to explode. "Run!" Idris yelled, then sonicing the time channeler, destroying it.
Running down the corridor being chased by Mrs. Wormwood in her bane form, Idris looked at the small group around her.
"Just like the rathtars in episode seven of Star Wars" Idris said with a big smile on her face.
"'Episode seven?' There is no episode seven." Clyde said.
"Oops, spoilers." Idris said running ahead.
Running towards the open doors Idris called to the others "Come on everyone, we're almost there." Just before running into a force field.
"You can't get away this time. The force field around this area is tied to my bio-signature and as long as I'm alive it will stay up. One way or another you will fix the time channeler and then you will help me." Mrs. Wormwood raged
"It will only work if I do so willingly, so what makes you think I would ever help you?" Idris asked angrily, spinning to glare at the Bane .
"Because if you don't I will kill your friends one by one. Do you think the Doctor would be pleased if you we're the cause of the death of one of his oldest friends." Mrs. Wormwood said threateningly.
"So that's it, when I say duck, duck." Idris murmured to them sadly, slowly pulling out her sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the beacon. "Duck!" Idris yelled activating the beacon causing it to overload and sending ripples of golden time energy shooting out in all directions. The gold arcs hit Mrs. Wormwood, who screamed as she was turned to dust.
Slowly getting up from the floor, they all saw that Mrs. Wormwood was no more.
"She's really dead, isn't she?" Luke asked, looking at the dust that was once the woman who created him.
"I'm afraid so, I'm not looking forwards to explaining this one to mum and dad." Idris said sadly kneeling by the pile of dust.
"You did what you had to do, for all of us. Now let's get you home." Sarah Jane said, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
"I hope the beacon was active long enough." Idris said worriedly, as they entered the attic.
"I think you have much more to worry about, and a lot of questions to answer young lady." Sarah Jane said sternly.
"Yeah like, how can you be the Doctor's daughter and who's River Song?" Clyde demanded.
"And when did this happen? We just saw him a few weeks ago and he said nothing about a daughter." Rani added.
"Okay, one, counting in earth years I'm not a young lady, I'm fifty-five years old. Two, you should really ask your parents that one. Three, the best way to describe mum is she's basically a Time Traveling female Indiana Jones and four, when you last saw him it hadn't happened yet and it won't have happened the next time you see him either. That's all I can really say without giving away any spoilers." Idris explained as a familiar wheezing sound filled the attic as the TARDIS appeared. "Looks like the beacon was on long enough. See you later Sarah Jane, Clyde, Rani and Luke." Idris said, blowing Luke a kiss and entering the TARDIS.
THE END ?