Disclaimer: I do not own the Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who, or any other owned item utilised in this story. This is done purely for amusement, and not profit. This applies to all content in the story. (After this I'll start putting random stuff up.)
A/N: Alright, this is my first Whoverse story. It's actually a sequel to a "series" of Doctor Who I've yet to write (that'll be interesting, or a continuity nightmare). I actually intended to write the DW first, but meh.
Next thing: I'm a stickler for canon, so I'll be making references to the greater canon of the universe, retconing/explaining stuff to make my interpretation of the current universe/timeline clearer to the reader.
Next Next Thing: This will essentially be a series of "episodes".
Final Thing: Takes place after Series 4, and Clyde has moved away to take an Art scholarship.
THE NEW SARAH JANE ADVENTURES
Episode I
It All Begins Again
Once the sky was full of stars and mystery and wonder. Now Luke is gone, Clyde is gone, and Sarah Jane is a shadow of the woman she used to be. What do I do? Do I hunt the aliens and adventures myself? Or do I let the old days fade away, a bed time story for my children?
What does the future hold? That future- that terrible future- that Eve showed me so long ago seems so close…I'm scared. I don't want to be alone.
~ Journal Entry of Rani Chandra.
Under the cover of a star-speckled night, Rani Chandra crept towards the abandoned warehouse, ducking between lit lampposts and jumping out of sight whenever the low rumble of a car's engine trundled past. It was past midnight and she doubted it was a good idea for a lone girl to be wandering around this rather seedy area of London.
Yet here she was, investigating rumours of low wails from this specific warehouse, 42B. No one knew exactly what was causing it, some said it was just echoes, and some said "young hooligans, trying to start a fire".
There was a second rumour, however, that a group of said hooligans had tried to break into the warehouse on a dare and never returned.
And thus, here was Rani, about to try to follow their lead and force her way into the warehouse, alone, without help, without a fall-back plan. Once upon a time, Sarah Jane would've be at the helm, but now she was a shadow, an empty shell, lost in the days where Luke was socially inept and Clyde was the joker in the pack.
No time for memories, Chandra! Rani scolded herself, returning quickly to the present.
Reaching somewhat uneasily into the small bag she had brought with her, Rani produced a small torch and tape recorder. Raising the recorder to her mouth, she quietly began to speak:
" This is Rani Chandra, journalist-" Her dictation halted suddenly when a loud crack resounded in the background, most likely from a car backfiring. Bringing her racing heart back to normal, she continued;
"-here to investigate strange rumours regarding Warehouse 42B, possibly extraterrestrial in nature. I wonder what it could be…Slitheen? Whatever it is, I'm going to find out."
With that, she pocketed the small sliver recorder and holding the small torch in a sweaty hand, crept forward towards the warehouse, ominously devoid of any illumination save the weak rays reaching from the far off lampposts and the moon.
Reaching its gargantuan main doors, she saw that they were bound by thick iron chains, held together by a lock. She wouldn't be getting in that way.
Set back, but still determined to find access to the warehouse, she began walking in a circuit, intent on finding an alternate entrance. As luck (or common sense on the designer's part) would have it, she found a normal door, obviously intended for use by various personnel. Approaching cautiously, she reached the door, and to her slight surprise, found it unlocked.
Entering the warehouse, she found it dark and silent. Thumbing her torch on, she shone the beam around the warehouse, the weak lance of light revealing little more than thick dust particles hanging in the air, and the objects closest to her.
The warehouse, formerly a storage site for meat products, was dusty and dank. Thick chains hung from the ceiling, creaking ever so slightly in the silence, a few boxes were strewn around the other-wise empty space, some covered by thick sheets of blue tarpaulin. A thick stench of blood and decayed meat-a remnant from its meat processing days- pervaded the air. The disturbing atmosphere was reinforced by the faded red stains scattered around on the floor and walls.
However, there didn't really seem to be any sign of any alien activity. Not quite willing to call it a day just yet however, she began rummaging for a light switch, hoping for some decent light to aid her search. After ten minutes of fruitless labour, she finally found the technician's booth, complete with a circuit breaker box for the lighting in the warehouse.
A small thud in the distance made Rani spin around, the weak torch-light dancing around haphazardly. Shrugging it off, but not quite able to ignore the new feeling she was being watched, she returned her attention to the dust-covered circuit box. Prizing the transparent switch cover off, she saw the largest black one was denoted with a faded label that read "master". Flicking it with apprehension, she sighed with relief when the massive overhead lights clicked on, filling the warehouse with light.
Her eyes adjusted to the sudden change in ambiance, and she noted a large trap door on the other side of the warehouse, which unlike the rest of the gloomy place, was dust free.
Bingo, she thought triumphantly.
Turning the torch off and storing it in her pocket, she made her way triumphantly towards the trap door. Once close, she saw that it was made from a brown wood, and by the looks of it, very heavy. Her rough analysis proved true when she tried unsuccessfully to open it. Gritting her teeth, and squaring her shoulders, she forced her fingertips into the almost-gap where the door met floor, and with a grunt, slowly managed to prise it open.
To her exasperation, only darkness again was revealed to her. Once more, she retrieved the torch from her pocket and turned it on to reveal a ladder reaching down ten or so feet to a stone floor. Climbing down, she jumped the last two steps, landed and turned. A dark tunnel stretched ahead of her.
Ignoring the now-mounting unease that began to send chills down her spine, she slowly began to make her way through the seemingly endless tunnel. A minute passed, then five, then ten, then twenty…
Good thing it's Saturday…
Eventually however, a small pinprick of light appeared, slowly getting bigger until Rani found herself emerging to an underground cavern, with stalactites and stalagmites laden throughout, with a single dim lamp to provide illumination. Another dark tunnel branched off to her left. She suddenly realised that the raw meat smell from the warehouse had carried along to the cavern as well.
By her own estimations, she was somewhere near the Thames, the notion reinforced by the subtle drip-drop of what could have been water in the distance.
However, she was slightly disappointed to find it devoid of pretty much anything interesting.
Almost as if a higher power had heard her thoughts, a low hissing began to fill the air. Turning quickly, she realised it was coming from the second tunnel, and that it was getting louder …closer.
Looking around frantically, she decided that the only suitable hiding place was behind a rather large stalagmite off to the right of the entrance. Moving quickly, she just managed to thumb the torch off and take cover, just as three creatures emerged from the tunnel. Rani felt they wouldn't be out of place in a J.R.R Tolkien book.
The creatures were human-sized and hideous. Dark crinkled scaly flesh covered a taut muscle-bound body. Each one bore rusty metal helmets and scattered armour plating. Glowing orange orbs served as their eyes ( At least, that's what she thought they were.), shining brightly through slits in the helmets in the dimly-lit cavern. Massive arms ended in hands with six fingers, reaching down just short of the aliens' knees.
The three aliens hissed and clicked, utter giberish to Rani. Carefully and quietly, she tried to remove her tape recorder from her pocket, intent on recording the creatures' conversation for later translation by Mr Smith. To her abject horror, the recorder slipped from her grasp and clattered on the floor.
Instantly, the three aliens stopped "talking" and turned towards the source of noise -and her. The biggest's - probably the leader- mouth opened to reveal a gaping wet maw. The aliens advanced. Rani shrank back, all hope of escaping now gone, dead as she was sure to be.
Her back hit the cavern wall, and the lead alien its arm, about to strike her down, without hesitation, without mercy. Rani closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
I'm going to die.
I'm so sorry…
The death blow never came; instead, a hand -human, warm- enclosed hers. Her eyes snapped open and turned to the hand's owner. A boy, near her in age and height, with a mess of brown hair. His brown eyes,-alight with boyish mischief- met hers and his mouth opened to speak a single word:
"Run."
Before Rani could react she was being pulled through the tunnel the aliens had originally entered from, leaving them behind in the process, though their alien screams followed them, carried by the tunnels. Adrenaline substituted when her breath ran out and muscle ache became too much.
Soon enough, (although she had long since lost track of both the time and her surroundings), Rani and her apparent savoir somehow emerged from some sort of cellar onto a deserted and silent London street. The boy suddenly dropped her hand (now covered in perspiration), and turned back towards a set of ground-level doors she realised they had escaped the tunnel complex from.
Slamming the two heavy wooden doors closed , he pulled a small sliver cylinder from his pocket, pointed it at the doors and pressed a button. The tip glowed with blue light and a low buzzing filled the air.
Some sort of Sonic Lipstick? Rani pondered.
The buzzing and light stopped, the boy nodded in satisfaction, pocketing the Sonic "Lipstick".
He then turned towards Rani, and she was able to take him in properly for the first time. The brown hair and eyes formed part of a fairly handsome face. A skinny frame was clad in a pair of dark jeans, a thin maroon hoodie, beneath a navy blue suit jacket. Finishing the somewhat bizarre combination was a pair of scruffy white trainers. Rani was vaguely reminded of someone, but for the life of her couldn't remember who.
His mouth opened in a quirky smile, and spoke:
"Good thing I was passing through, no?"
His voice was strange; it contradictionally sounded like it should be both from someone young and old; She also thought she could discern a slight Scottish accent. She got the impression he picked his words carefully.
"Well…yeah" She admitted. "Who are you?"
"I'm just a bit of a trouble shooter." He said, amused. "Wandering around, getting into all sorts of weird and wonderful misadventures."
Rani snorted. "You're just a kid."
"You'd be surprised…" Mystery man murmured thoughtfully; "So, what's your name?" he said, hastily diverting the subject.
"Rani. Rani Chandra."
The boy grinned, the mischief returning to his eyes. "Pleased to meet you, Rani-Rani Chandra." He began to wring his hands, in what she realised was a sign of -surprisingly- nervousness.
Rani, however, wanted answers, and wouldn't be distracted; "You never told me your name." she stated accusingly; "and don't say it's too dangerous." She cut him off as he began to open his mouth.
The boy seemed to deflate, and reluctantly muttered: "Mark Auld". Rani scanned his face for any sort of dishonesty, but found none.
Silence reigned between the two, which Mark eventually broke by saying: "Well…it's past my bedtime, so..toodles." And with a final mischievous wink, turned and began to leave.
"Oi! You can't just walk away!" Rani shouted after Mark. His only reaction was to raise his arm in a lazy farewell wave, before turning a corner and leaving her alone in the now deserted street.
Okay…what just happened?
The following Monday , Rani was at Park Vale, hunting in her locker for her Biology textbook, frustration evident. She hadn't had a chance to see Mr Smith or Sarah Jane, as her mother Gita had had a family reunion on Sunday which she had been forced to attend. The majority of which she didn't even know existed, let alone having met them before. That said, Rani couldn't exactly fault her mother for being pregnant, could she?
She couldn't go tonight either, as her father had roped her into helping out at the Parent's Evening later. How the school expected you to study for your A-Levels while constantly being expected to help out at Photo-Days, Parent's Evenings, Open Days, school plays, and whatever else, she didn't know. (and lacked the courage to ask her father, fearing the Headmaster in him to get overprotective of all things educational).
She found the book she was rummaging for in her locker, and closed the locker with a bit more force than intended.
"Hey, Rani, what's up?" One of her friends, Charlotte asked, having fought through the sea of students to find her before the bell rung for them to return to class.
"Oh, nothing much, yourself?"
"Same, weekend was boring…where were you? I never heard from you all weekend." Charlotte asked.
"I was…busy." Rani replied sheepishly. Y'know how it is…hunting aliens, trying to save the world.
Charlotte, however, wouldn't accept her excuse. "Meeting a boy are we?" She said, interest in her tone.
Well…actually… "No! why do you always say that?" Rani asked exasperated, rolling her eyes.
"Well, what else could you be doing?"
Rani was saved the need to make further excuses when the bell rang, signalling them to fight through the crashing tides of the younger and smaller students to reach Biology.
A few minutes later, Rani and Charlotte were seated in class, listening to Mr. Andrews teach them about the structure of enzymes. Or rather, Charlotte was listening and Rani was musing about Mark and the creatures from Saturday.
Rani, boredly glanced out of the window, eyes scanning for something of interest.
You've got to be kidding me.
Wandering around outside in the gloomy weather was Mark, eyes focused on some sort of device in his hands. He was rotating aimlessly on the spot, frowning. Then the device flashed once and he nodded, before heading in the direction of what she noted would be a set of emergency exit doors for the school.
What could he be doing here?
"Quick bit of revision: What is the protein structure type of an enzyme…" Andrews trailed off, eyes scanning the class for a victim; "Rani?".
Startled, Rani quickly tried to backtrack through the teacher's words, and ignore the gleeful and expectant stares from the rest of the class. What was he talking about? Enzymes. Protein. Structure…
"Globular?" she tried hesitantly. Andrews nodded in acceptance, but added; "Please try to pay attention in future, I don't teach for the good of my health."
Rani didn't even bother to go home, despite her tiring day -double English and Maths, bad news for any student- instead stood bored behind a raffle table, selling out tickets and help to the parents without their children present.
She didn't even have her iPod or mobile phone, and was beginning to feel the effects of an hour of standing on her legs. The parents need the chairs more, she thought ruefully. Glancing at her watch did do much either, only showing just how little time had passed- it had just gone five o'clock. The evening was to last until seven.
This is going to be hell.
The day got a lot more interesting, however, when she once again saw a now-familiar face in the crowd, Mark.
Hello…
Thinking quickly, and determined to escape the sheer boredom of the situation, Rani grabbed another helping student and gestured to the raffle table. "Man the fort, I..uh…gotta do something"
The boy blinked in confusion. "Um. Okay."
Rani smiled, before making a beeline after Mark through the crowd. Her quarry eluded her however, leading into one of the corridors not in use for the Parent's Evening, and as such was shrouded in relative darkness, save the slight light from the outside streaming through the windows.
She sighed when it became apparent that she had lost him; but her disappointment was short lived as a vaguely human-shaped mass blurred past her, nearly knocking her on her back before disappearing round the corner.
Rani stood blinking at the spot the blur had disappeared from, when the head of Mark peeked around the corner, confusion in his eyes , before disappearing again. Then, cautiously, he walked back into full view, looking more or less the same he had on Saturday-although the hoodie was now dark blue and the suit jacket a light brown.
Stopping a foot shy of Rani, he looked at her sheepishly, an awkward silence forming between them.
"So…" she said uncertainly. "How you been?"
"Good, good, and you?" Mark replied, embarrassed, if the way he was scuffing his shoes on the floor was any indication.
"Keeping busy." As Rani's faculties caught up with her, a sudden thought popped into her head:
"Um, why were you running?"
Mark's face took on a look of confusion. "What?"
"Running." Rani repeated; "You just came running round that corner like you were being chased by something. Why?"
Comprehension dawned on Mark's face: "Oohhhh. Yeah, well y'see…"
His explanation was cut short when the doors at the opposite end of the corridor were blasted violently off their hinges with a resounding crash, revealing one of the monstrous troll-like creatures from Saturday.
"That sums it up quite nicely, actually…" he commented dryly. "Time to move, I reckon."
Rani was already moving. "C'mon, we've got to keep it away from the others." She grabbed Mark's arm and pulled him away, and the two quickly began to run. The troll-thing roared and followed, crying for blood
The two raced through the corridors, away from the parent's evening. The troll followed them persistently, swift as a cheetah despite its ungainly physique. Its careless gait caused it to constantly smash into walls, leaving a trail of ripped down posters and concrete chips in it's wake.
Thinking quickly, Rani grabbed Mark again and pulled him to a stop outside a disused science classroom; "Quick, use your sonic thing; open the door." Mark accepted her command and without missing a beat extracted his sonic device -which she noted looked similar to the one the Doctor had used during Sarah Jane's wedding, so she guessed it was a "screwdriver"- and buzzed it at the door, unlocking it.
After entering Mark locked the door behind them and pocketed the screwdriver, Rani slumped against a leg of one of the remaining tables, the adrenaline having worn off.
Despite the situation, Rani couldn't help but smile. She had missed this. The fear, the excitement, the running from the arms of death. The world and adventure Sarah Jane had shown her, the stars and wonders of time and space.
Her reverie was brought harshly back to earth when Mark quipped: "So, got a plan or did you just want to be alone in a room with me?"
"Well, now that you mention it…not at all." Rani said grimacing, wisely choosing to ignore the last part. "I'm making this up as we go along; We need to barricade the door, stop that thing getting in." She decided authoritatively.
Mark seemed to agree with her assessment, and the two hastily began pushing tables and chairs against the door, in a bid to stop the creature from getting in. Just as they were stacking the last table, the creature arrived on the other side of the door. It growled softly, before beginning to ram the door in menacing rhythm, determined to smash down the door and reach its two unwilling victims.
Bang…Bang…Bang…
"Right…" Mark murmured thoughtfully, ignoring the noise; "we're in a science classroom, what's in the room?" he bounded over to the windows: "Too high up to jump, and wouldn't deal with him outside." He moved to one of the work stations: "GAS! We could use gas- fill the room and blow him up…"His face fell and turned to a frown. "but then we'd be caught in the blast. Okay, forget gas."
Bang…Bang…Bang…
Rani watched in -despite the situation- amusement as he scanned the room for inspiration. "Right, what does big guy have: heightened strength , heightened sight, smell…" Rani giggled and cheekily asked: "So, got a plan or did you just want to be alone in a room with me?"
"I'm just making it up as we go along." Mark echoed cheerfully.
BANG!
"OI!" Mark yelled at the door in annoyance, the pile of furniture showing worrying degrees of fragility. "I am trying to think, thank you very much!" His eyes settled on the electronic tanoy speaker fixed to the wall.
"Noise, hearing…fantastic!" He climbed onto the workstation below and began to use his screwdriver to prise the speaker from the wall. "Big old noise- he wont like that, haha!"
He jumped down and began to fiddle with the speaker's internal wiring: "Just got to give it a bit of an upgrade…"
Rani suddenly realised something. "Mark…"
"Yeah?"
"It's stopped."
Mark froze, and eyed the door warily.
"They don't just give up, they're like Jixen or a Predator: chases you till you're dead or it is."
"Predator s aren't real…" Rani pointed out.
He ignored her and returned his attention to the speaker, and Rani cautiously began to make her way towards the door. Peeking through a gap in the furniture barricade, she found no sign of the creature. She made her way over to Mark. "I think it's gone."
Rani frowned as felt something sprinkle onto her head. Looking up, she saw a stream of dust falling from the ceiling. Sudden realisation dawned on Rani, and she roughly shoved Mark away, before flinging herself backwards as the ceiling collapsed, and the monster came crashing down right where they had been standing, sending concrete, plaster and dust everywhere.
It turned towards her, and growled before stalking forward, arms raised. Rani scrambled backwards.
Suddenly, a high pitched shriek filled the air, piercing Rani's eardrums. The creature grabbed the sides of it's armoured head and howled, thrashing around before collapsing in an ungainly heap. Mark appeared from nowhere, speaker in one hand and sonic screwdriver in the other, which he pocketed to offer Rani a hand up.
"Is it dead?" she asked.
"Unconscious." Mark replied, unconcerned.
"How do you know?"
"'Cause the dead ones explode." He deadpanned.
Mark prodded the unconscious creature with his foot, just as a soft whirring began to fill the room. Blue light enclosed the creature before it disappeared from sight.
"Teleport retrieval protocol." Mark explained. "All repairable units are automatically transported away."
"Won't more come? Y'know, to investigate?" Rani queried.
"Nah, we're good for now."
"Good." said Rani. "'Cause I want some answers."
It was 17:32 and twenty-nine seconds, and Mark had finally found someone interesting.
Planet Earth is home to just a few hairs short of seven billion human beings.
Seven billion brilliant, incredible, cruel and amazing humans.
Seven billion boring humans.
But now, he had found someone of interest. Someone who had seen the stars and life from other worlds -he knew she had without a doubt-and held them in awed regard, just like he did, just like his grandfather did.
The girl-her name was Rani- was now in the mass of bored students, stressed parents and annoyed teachers, making her excuses to pull away to talk to him. He would have stuck away, like he did before, but Rani was interesting, and something about her intrigued him; something he couldn't quite place a finger on.
So he would stay, and answer her questions -what he could, anyways, he didn't have all the answers, not yet.
He briefly wondered why the Sentinel had come here. Had it tracked her? He doubted it; their smell wasn't that good. He settled on simple coincidence. After all, stranger things had happened- and after what he had seen of time and Time and twilight, this was hardly a miracle.
Rani emerged from the crowd, looking pleased with herself. "Just had to tell Dad I wasn't feeling well." She informed him. "Surprised you never ran off again."
Despite himself, Mark smiled.
"You're interesting."
An hour or so later, the two found themselves sat in a small café nursing mugs of steaming tea- the café, Rani noted fondly, being the same one Clyde and herself had used as a "base of operations" when a pair of robots removed everyone from the planet to search for their heir, Gavin. She doubted Mark had known her sentimental value towards the place though.
He made so many Adam and Eve jokes…
Her reverie was broken when Mark spoke.
"So, where do you want to start?" He prompted.
Rani frowned. There were too many questions she wanted answered. Who was he? What were those things? In the end she settled for:
"How come you didn't run off again?"
Mark lowered the mug he had been about to drink from, and replied: "I dunno. You're interesting. You've done this sort of thing before."
Rani briefly wondered what he meant be "interesting", but decided to go along the more concerning line. "How do you know that?" Had he been spying on her? Or did he know someone she had ran into before?
"Well…three things." He set down his mug and leaned back in his chair.
"Number One: your clothes." Unconsciously Rani glanced down at her school uniform -black shirt and skirt; what was wrong with it?
"Fashionable, but more practical than anything else. Your shoes in particular." He paused. "You're wearing trainers. An attractive, probably popular girl like you would never deliberately wear those kind of things to school. Which means you wear them unconsciously or out of habit. Why would you do that?" He grinned. "Because you do a lot of running."
Almost instantly, Rani was reminded of Sherlock. And the observation and deduction did make sense, she supposed, although it was a fair leap of logic.
Mark reached into his coat pocket and produced -Rani realised with a start- the tape recorder she had dropped on Saturday. He held down the "play" button for a few seconds.
"This is Rani Chandra, journalist-"
"Number Two." He continued, setting the recorder on the tacky plastic table. "You came prepared. You didn't just go into that warehouse on a whim. You were looking for something more than just a rumour. You knew what you were doing."
He fell silent, deep in thought, as if debating within himself on how to continue.
"Number Three?" Rani prodded.
Slowly, he leaned across the table until his face was inches away from Rani's, and stared deep into her eyes. Rani was entranced, and found herself unable to pull away. His eyes were so old…
"Your eyes." He murmured softly. "They show your emotions. You weren't scared; not the way you should've been. You were scared of something you recognised. Something you had seen before. A normal person would have been terrified of something they had never encountered, but you weren't…you were brave…"
Seemingly coming back to his senses, he pulled back and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"So yeah. Aliens."
He hastily picked up his mug again and began to drink. suddenly incredibly interested in staring at the cheap fake flower on their table, obviously embarrassed at himself.
The two sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes, before Rani decided to brave the unknown once again.
"So what were those aliens then?"
Mark seemed to grasp this like a lifeline, and quickly began to ramble. "They're called Sentinels. They're not a race per se, it's actually more of a scientific practice."
Rani frowned. "What do you mean?"
"'Sentinel' is the term used for an organism created from an amalgamation of extrapolated genetic material from multiple distinct species." He explained.
Rani was nonplussed. "Eh?"
Mark frowned, trying to think of a better way to explain.
"Y'know how farmers and stuff would splice genes from one plant into another, like modifying a potato plant to grow tomatoes as well?"
"Yes." Rani answered, beginning to understand where he was going.
"Well, more or less the same idea." Mark stated. "You take the desirable genetic traits of whatever organisms you want and mix 'em all together. And that's a Sentinel."
"Are they all like monsters?"
"Not really." Mark answered. "They're actually illegal under the Shadow Proclamation charter. Before being outlawed they were used as disposable slave labour for pretty much anything. Mining, construction, anything that had a high risk factor."
Rani nodded, before deciding to simply wing it and ask the question that had been plaguing her for best part of an hour. "Who are you, really?" She blurted.
Instead of looking offended as she had feared, Mark simply took on an air of patient amusement.
"Well…"He began. "basically, I found my long-lost grandfather who was an alien. And he took me around time and space in a little blue box-"
"The Doctor!" Rani gasped. It all made sense now. She knew that Mark had seemed familiar somehow. "He's your grandfather?"
"Well, technically not." Mark admitted. "Bit more complicated, we never did bother to find out the exact term, so we just stick with grandfather."
"Wouldn't that make you alien?" Rani asked.
Mark nodded. "I was born human but when I met him my latent Time Lord DNA was awakened. Two hearts, respiratory bypass system, the whole shebang."
"Why aren't you with him now?"
A dark look crossed Mark's face. "Bad stuff happened. We got separated. I had to wander the universe myself for a bit. Long story. And um, well, then we found each other again, but something happened with the TARDIS and I've been stranded here ever since."
Rani raised an eyebrow. "He's never came back?" She asked sympathetically.
"I don't think he can, to be honest." Mark mused thoughtfully.
"How long were you alone for?"
"Ohh, just short of a thousand years." Mark replied mildly.
"How old are you?" Rani cried disbelievingly.
"Again, complicated." Mark said grinning. "Lost count at about twenty-seven million."
"Million?"
"Yup, looonnggg story. So these days I stick with a thousand and sixteen, makes the most sense for me." Mark finished with a crooked smile.
Rani was dumbfounded. "You're looking good for it." She commented lamely.
"Heh. Moisturiser." Mark frowned. "Hang on, how do you know the Doctor?"
"I know an old companion of his. And I've met him twice."
"What one? The companion, I mean, not the Doctor." Mark clarified.
"Sarah Jane Smith." Rani said, a sliver of pride in her tone.
"Ohh, I know her! Well, of her, anyways. He always had a soft spot for her." Mark trailed off. "Where's she now?
"She's…around." Rani said, carefully. "She's not who she used to be. Everything's just kinda caught up with her."
"Can she help us?" Mark asked hopefully.
"Probably not." I wish she could…
"Worth a shot." He nodded in dejection.
Suddenly, a thought popped into Rani's head, unbidden, and she chastised herself for not realising sooner. "Wait, you said the Sentinels were created; who's in charge of them?"
Mark grinned. "Clever girl, was wondering whether you'd catch on to that."
"Yeah, well." Rani said cheerfully. "I try."
Chuckling, Mark continued. "The big guy in charge is a scientist, calls himself the Krulius."
"You're kidding."
"Friend of yours?" Mark asked, once again amused.
"Ehh, not so much." Rani snorted. "First time was when he crashed on Earth and released a whole load of aliens into the internet. It was hell finding them all. Second time he teleported me to his ship and tried to get revenge on Sarah Jane."
"Fun."
"Not really." Rani muttered. The Krulius was a bitter enemy of Sarah Jane, and by extension, Rani herself.
"What does he want with Earth?" Rani queried. She doubted it was revenge on Sarah Jane, otherwise she wouldn't have run into them on simple chance.
"Like I said, the Krulius is a scientist, specifically a geneticist- he wants to create the perfect life form." Mark began to explain.
"Still doesn't explain what he wants with Earth though." Rani pointed out.
"Well." Mark said. "Humans are an incredibly…virile race." He looked sheepish now. "Capable of interbreeding with most hominid species of similar size. Good physiological compatibility. Like how we use rats and bonobo chimps for vivisection due to similar responses."
Rani cocked an eyebrow, not particularly keen on where he was going with this. "You mean he's here for test subjects?"
"Well, yeah." Mark deadpanned. "Seven billion perfect lab rats, unable to fight back, largely unprotected by Galactic Law…"
Rani decided that now she had all the facts, it was time to draw up the battle plans .
"So." She began after a pregnant pause. "What're we going to do about it? Do you know where he is?"
Mark accepted her sudden determination without missing a beat. "Well, I know he's in orbit somehow. Not quite sure where, but I know how to track him."
"How's that, then?"
Mark reached over and gently tapped the tape recorder with his finger.
"The Sentinels are controlled via a broadcast transmitted to each individual Sentinel, far beyond the range of human hearing or accessing. However, the recorder would've still picked up the signal-"
"And we can track it to it's source?" Rani guessed, completing Mark's sentence.
"Precisely." Mark seemed slightly put out he hadn't been able to finish his explanation. "Slight problem though, tiny, insignificant…" He looked a mix of embarrassment and annoyance. "I don't actually have the technology to find him."
Rani sighed and rolled her eyes. There's always something…
"What would we need?"
"Well…" He began to tap his mug in rhythm, considering. "Advanced processor, audio-analysis systems, extremely powerful cryptography and encryption-decryption protocols…" He listed off.
"A supercomputer, basically." Rani stated. Guess we're in luck then.
"Yeah, well beyond Earth tech. Cant really just pop into PC World for one…" Mark grumbled.
"Well, Mister Auld." She reached over and plucked up the recorder, a broad smile on her face. "I believe I may have just the thing, now that you mention it."
For some reason or another, an old memory popped into her head as Rani and Mark stood outside Sarah Jane's house. An old memory, of far more happy and optimistic times.
)*(*)*(
"So why do I have do this?" Luke asked, bemusedly holding up a video camera on Clyde's request, while Rani and Sarah Jane watched on in curious silence.
"You'll see, my young padawan." Clyde answered cryptically. He turned towards the girls. "Sarah Jane, if you would?"
Sarah Jane rolled her eyes good-naturedly, but complied as Clyde cleared his throat in preparation for whatever he was about to do. Luke thumbed the camera on.
"Three. Two. One. Action!"
Instantly Clyde began energetically moving towards the front door, looking intently at the camera.
"Thirteen Bannerman Road is where Sarah Jane Smith lives, and it's home to things way beyond your imagination!" Clyde declared dramatically, while the others looked on in baffled confusion.
"There's an extraterrestrial supercomputer in the wall, a genetically-engineered boy genius in the attic-" Clyde grinned at Luke. -"a schoolgirl investigator across the road-" He winked at Rani. "And a whole universe of adventure." He reached the front door and pointed downwards. "Right here on the doorstep!"
At this, his monologue was deemed over as he took an exaggerated bow towards the others, jaws hanging low in disbelief.
"What in the world was that?" Sarah Jane demanded.
His only response was laughter, which the others soon found themselves joining in, even though they didn't quite understand why they were laughing.
)*(*)*(
Rani missed those days.
According to his own internal clock, it was now 18:42 and fifteen seconds. Mark and his new friend Rani were outside a large house, a good story or so taller than most of those on the street, built from bright red bricks in the old century style.
13 Bannerman Road, Ealing. Home of Sarah Jane Smith, according to Rani. And, he presumed, the supercomputer Rani had mentioned but refused to elaborate upon, saying only that he'd love it.
Across the road was Rani's house -Number 12- which she had said was the whole reason she had met Sarah Jane. Her father had taken a job as Headmaster of the local school and moved to Bannerman Road, during a strange time of disappearing children, which Rani had quickly gotten herself involved in, ultimately helping Sarah Jane to defeat the cause of the disappearances- The Pied Piper of Hamlin, an energy being from a far off cluster.
"You sure she'll be okay with this?" Mark asked.
"She's out at the moment, doing an article on a new shop in London." Rani answered, side-stepping the question deftly.
Mark let it slide, but filed it away for future reference. He guessed that Sarah Jane had really reached the end of her tether and given up on time and space completely. He felt saddened by that. There were too few of her mould about, too few to save the world from every threat -from above and within.
Torchwood was effectively dead in Britain, but Mark knew they were still operating in America. UNIT was just going too gung-ho and guns blazing for his liking. Most of the Doctor's old companions were still about, making differences though. There would always be someone around willing to save the world, but whether they were in a position to do so was another matter entirely.
Although there was no longer any massive alien invasions in Earth's history, there had once been, and would be in the future. And their echoes still remained for those directly involved…The 456 had ripped Torchwood apart, but while the rest of the world had forgotten, Torchwood remembered.
Those time-cracks had really done a number on the timeline, Mark decided. His time in twilight had shown him all that was once and could be, and what had been undone and rewritten.
Mark was pulled back to the present from his musing on temporal theory when Rani began to walk towards the house, beckoning him to follow. Rani unlocked the door with a key taken from underneath a nearby plant-pot and the two entered.
Rani deigned to show him around proper -and Mark would've felt slightly uncomfortable gallivanting around the house if she had. Instead she lead him straight up the stairs, past two floors, stopping outside a wooden door which Mark guessed would lead to the attic.
Rani gestured towards said door. "After you."
Nervous, curious, Mark pushed the door open and entered the attic.
A thin layer of dust covered everything, and there was a general notion of disuse and abandonment about the room, but Mark could tell almost instantly that this place had once held a warm magic in it's walls, a sense of peace and wonder and safety.
Over on the far wall a construct of orange bricks stood- He guessed it was part of the chimney vent. On the other end, shelves and desks carried all sorts of junk, some alien, some mundane. A larger leather recliner sat in the middle of it all.
Mark liked this place.
"So." Rani said. "What do you think?"
"It's neat." Mark admitted. "Still don't see a supercomputer though."
In response, Rani simply strode past him to stand next to the chimney construct. Turning towards Mark, hands on hips, she spoke with a giggle: "Well, lets not disappoint then…"
Glancing once towards the brickwork, she called out to no one in particular:
"Mister Smith, I need you."
Almost instantly, a musical fanfare began to play from within the brickwork. The lower half split open and swung outwards on unseen hinges, spraying jets of pressurised air and sending pieces of paper fluttering about. The upper half slid upwards. Together they revealed a screen bearing a fluid multi-coloured model and a cobbled-together computer terminal, both of which extended outwards towards them.
"Hello, Rani." Mr Smith greeted. "How may I be of assistance?"
He knew he was staring, and he knew his jaw was hanging slack but he didn't care. They had a computer in the wall. That was awesome.
"It's in the wall…" Mark muttered, dumbfounded.
Rani laughed. "Like it then?" She asked in a teasing tone.
"It's…awesome." Mark laughed with her.
"I see you've brought a friend." Mr Smith said. The fluid model on the screen flickered for a second and if Mark had known better he would've said it was the Mr Smith equivalent of a frown. "A non-human friend. Shall I put him in a containment vortex?"
"Um, no, that's fine." Rani said quickly. "He's a good alien."
"Like the Iron Giant. Or E.T. Or Paul. Yeah, Paul's better." Mark supplied jokingly. Rani didn't even bother to dignify his response with a frown or eye-roll and instead addressed Mr Smith again.
"The Krulius is back." Rani informed him. "We need you…" She pulled the tape recorder from her pocket . "To scan this. There should be a signal broadcast you can isolate and use to track down his ship." She placed it on a little tray that had been extended from the main terminal.
"Try around the frequency of two-thousand." Mark chipped in. "It'll be coded, so you'll have to decrypt it as well."
"Indeed." Mr Smith paused. "Commencing scan. Full analysis and decoding should be completed in approximately twenty minutes."
Mark nodded in satisfaction. Rani spoke: "Well, I'm just nipping across the road to change, be back in a couple mins."
"Okay." He acknowledged.
Rani smiled and left. Mark blew out a sigh and wondered how he was to entertain himself until her return. He busied himself for the next few minutes examining the various paraphernalia around. The alien junk was interesting enough, but Mark quickly found himself drawn to the various photographs on the walls.
The oldest one was a greying, wrinkled one, showing a young Sarah Jane with an older man with ridiculous hair and an even more ridiculous scarf- The Doctor in his fourth incarnation.
The rest showed an aged Sarah Jane, some with Rani, others with a dark skinned boy, another black-haired teenage boy and a girl. Mark didn't know who they were, but he noted that Sarah Jane looked youngest in the ones with the girl, and none showed Rani with the girl.
He assumed that meant they were around at different times. A thought popped into his head: what if Rani and these others were like Sarah Jane's companions? The gears in Mark's head began to turn, as the rolling stones of deduction hit home.
These kids, were like Sarah Jane's companions, just like herself had been the Doctor's…the Doctor never took the leaving too well; what if the same had happened here? For some reason, these three had left Sarah Jane -he doubted they were dead, Rani's behaviour didn't quite support that- moving on with their lives and it hit her hard, causing her to sink into depression.
It made sense, if Mark thought about it.
His detective-esque deductions were cut short when the door behind him creaked open. Mark spun around to find himself face to face with Sarah Jane Smith herself.
"Who the hell are you?" She demanded. "How did you get in here?"
"Well, umm…Rani, invited me." Mark explained hurriedly, nervous of invoking her temper. "We needed Mister Smith to help find the Krulius."
"The Krulius…" She breathed, all anger forgotten. "I can't…I'm sorry."
"Can't what?" Mark asked.
"Help you…" She answered. "I promised…never again." Never again to save the world.
"They left you, didn't they?" Mark said, sadly gesturing to the photographs on the wall. "And it broke your heart."
Her only response was to nod.
"Whatever happened to the brilliant Sarah Jane, the one the Doctor loved, the one that saved the world so many times?" Mark asked.
"She got tired." Sarah Jane answered stonily. "Tired of being alone."
"Is Rani dead?" Mark asked abruptly, bluntly. "Is the Doctor dead?" He marched to Sarah Jane's side and pointed at the wall. "Is anyone in those photographs dead?"
"No…" She answered, confused.
"So how are you alone?"
"They grew up, left me…" Sarah Jane muttered quietly.
"Like how you moved on from the Doctor?" Mark asked pointedly. Sarah Jane frowned. "How do you-"
Mark cut her off. "Doesn't matter. What does matter is that you are not alone. You've got Rani, and I'm more than willing to those three would drop everything if you asked them to and come running."
He paused, mulling over something be offering with a crooked smile: "Just because you've parted ways doesn't mean you're alone. You'll still be there, in their hearts and memories, just like they're in yours."
Sarah Jane fell silent in contemplation, pondering the nature of Mark's words.
"I…need to go…" She declared, before making a beeline for the door.
"Weeeellll, that went well." Mark commented dryly after she had left.
A minute or two later, Rani entered, clad in jeans. "What did you say to her?" Rani demanded.
"Something she needed to hear, that's all." Mark responded cryptically.
"Analysis complete." Mr Smith interrupted. The two turned towards him expectantly. The fluid model disappeared, replaced with a display of the Earth and nearby satellites. A single red dot pulsated above the Earth.
"I was able to trace the signal back to the Krulius' ship." The supercomputer informed them. "A Starjumper-class deep-space exploration ship, obsolete by most standards. However, it does boast a wide array of stealth systems, many of which are illegal under the Shadow Proclamation."
"So we know where it is now." Rani stated. "What now, do we tell UNIT?" She asked Mark.
Mark shook his head in the negative. "They don't have anything useful, and they'd just want to blow it up. It's up to us."
Rani grimaced. "Do we send a message or something?"
Mark shrugged. "Can if you want, reckon he'll listen?"
"Doubt it."
Mark grinned and nudged her in the arm. "But we're the good guys, so we do it anyway."
Rani laughed, before turning to Mr Smith.
"Can you open up a channel or something?" She requested.
"Establishing connection now." Mr Smith dutifully reported.
"Well, lets see the Darth Vader reject then…" Mark muttered under his breath.
The screen changed again, this time to a video display. Static flashed for a second across the display before resolving itself into the Krulius.
'Darth Vader reject' was not too far off the mark. The actual face was hidden behind a rebreather apparatus, with large goggles hiding the eyes. Dark coarse robes enshrouded the body, making the actual figure within difficult to distinguish.
"Least we cant smell him." Rani quipped quietly.
The Krulius seemed unsurprised by the sudden call, even expecting it. The Sentinel might've tracked her after all…
"Rani Chandra." The Krulius greeted. Its voice was an electronic rasp, filtered through the mask he wore. "Is Sarah Jane not with you? I doubt it's in her nature to delegate…"
"She's on holiday." Mark said dismissively. "Nice little trip to the Bahamas, y'know?"
"And just who are you?" The Krulius asked. "Has she picked up another half-form for her dangerous games?"
"I'm no child." Mark stated flatly, simply.
Rani chose this moment to cut to the chase. "Leave Earth or we'll be forced to stop you." She declared stalwartly.
The Krulius laughed, a horrible, grating thing, like a thousand nails down a chalkboard. Mark and Rani both winced.
"Stop me how? Nothing your pitiful little planet has could shoot me down!" Another laugh. "In fact, why don't you both become my first test subjects for my new project?"
"Crap." Mark hissed under his breath. He's gonna teleport us. They hadn't expected this.
The Krulius barked an order to something off screen. "Isolate them, bring them here!"
"Mr Smith, can you stop it?" Rani asked desperately.
"I can only divert-"
"THEN DO IT!" Mark and Rani roared in unison. Fields of blue light enclosed them both, before vanishing into non-existence, leaving the attic in sudden silence.
Neither Mark, Rani or the Krulius had noticed Sarah Jane watching from the doorway.
The world around Rani swam and faded in and out of dizzying darkness as the teleport deposited them in an unknown location.
Eventually, her breath returned and she was able to take in her surroundings for the first time. From the looks of it, they were in some sort of engineering storage room-dark and dank. Metallic alien crates were stacked up haphazardly in columns of five or more around the room . The floor was composed of metal grating, which pressed coldly against Rani's face. Off to one side was a viewport, revealing the void of space, onyx black save for the minute pinpricks of stars light-years away in the distance.
"You're fine." Came Mark's voice from her left. "No injuries." Rani managed to sit upright-big mistake, her head was still spinning-and turned towards him. He had donned a pair of tortoise-shell glasses, perched on the edge of his nose. His screwdriver was out and dancing over a control panel, mostly likely for the door to his right.
"Mr Smith managed to shunt us a couple hundred yards from our intended destination." He continued. "I think we're in the broom closet."
"Pretty big for a broom cupboard." Rani commented.
"Meh. I've seen bigger."
Rani stopped paying attention, having managed to reach her feet. She managed to stumble over to the viewport, and what she saw made her gasp. "Oh my god..."
Hanging weightlessly in the void was Earth. The giant blue orb, interspersed with green and white was a breathtaking sight. From space, it was hard to believe anyone had ever lived there. That it was a planet dying of pollution and war. A small part of brain -given up to hysterical giddiness- noted that she couldn't see the Great Wall of China…or any man-made construct for that matter.
It was incredible.
Mark had noticed Rani's sudden behaviour and abandoned his task to made his way over to the viewport next to her.
"First time?" He asked knowingly, the ghost of a soft smile on his lips.
"It's beautiful…" Rani breathed, held fast in an ethereal trance. She gently reached up and pressed her hand against the glass, as if hoping to reach out and touch the planet below. She had been in space before, but she had never seen it, nor had she seen the Earth in such an amazing light.
"You survive, y'know." Mark, pocketing the spectacles and eyeing Rani furtively. Her only response was an almost unnoticeable tilt of the head. He continued. "Humans. Through all the war, and all the famine, and all the other crap, you survive. Right up till the end of the universe itself." His voice held a respectful, almost reverent tone. "and that's something."
Rani didn't respond. She was still consumed with the Earth.
Chuckling, but understandingly-almost guiltily- Mark reached out and gently grabbed her shoulder and gently pulled her away. "C'mon." He said softly. "We have to go."
Eventually, Rani was able to tear her eyes away and follow Mark over to the door. He once again produced his sonic screwdriver and jabbed it at the control panel. It hummed for a second and slowly the door slid up with a hiss, like something from Star Trek.
A long, narrow corridor stretch outwards and turned out of sight. A walkway of metal grating hung over a series of pipes. It was in similar condition to the 'broom closet' -everything was dark, run down, old and rusty; probably like the rest of the ship.
"They could really do with a decorator…" Mark commented offhandedly, as the duo made their way through. He turned to Rani, a goofy grin on his face. "Y'know, splash of paint here, maybe some candles…"
Rani simply shook her head. "You're weird, you know that?"
Mark laughed. "Yeah, but I'm the cool kind. Like Gandalf. Or Albus Dumbledore."
"Ehhhh, not so much." Rani retorted, but without any real malice. He genuinely did seem to be the Doctor's grandson. He had that same air of aged wisdom and childish eccentricity about him.
The two reached another door. Once again Mark sonic'ed-Rani briefly wondered if that was even a real verb- it open to reveal a colossal cavern-like hall. Near-blinding neon light shone from a single massive orb in the ceiling, covering the room in clinical white light. All around them were racks of bluish white spheres. Rani realised that they were stasis pods: designed to store an organism within in suspended animation. She had seen them last time she had been on the Krulius' ship, but then there had been a meagre dozen or two. There was now upwards of fifty and then some.
Mark obviously recognised them too. A look of grief flashed across his features and he shook his head slightly, disparaging in the situation of the prisoners. "Oh, you poor little things…" He murmured. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"Can we help them?" Rani asked hopefully.
Mark shook his head, downcast. "Look at their skulls."
Rani cautiously crept closer to the nearest rack. In the lowest orb she could recognise a tiny alien called a Graske- diminutive, with cream skin and three head tails. A tiny monitor was attached to the metal frame that contained the pods, showing various vital signs.
Rani squinted through the blue haze, and saw what Mark had meant. A scar encircled the Graske's forehead, looping around full circle. She frowned, before sickening realisation hit her like an oncoming train.
"He took out their brains? Rani cried disbelievingly.
Mark simply nodded. "But they're still alive." Rani pointed out, gesturing to the vital signs monitor.
"Would've replaced them with cerebral nanocircuitry. And those things-" He gestured to a thin, ribbed column that connected to each alien at the base of the skull. "-are feeder tubes; they'll give them whatever nutrients and supplements they need."
He sighed and ran a tired hand through his hair, somehow managing to have aged a lifetime in a few heartbeats. "He didn't even give them dignity in death." His voice was cold, underlined with anger. "Dead corpses masquerading as living puppets."
Rani glanced at the spheres with pity. She could recognise Graske, Groske, Raxicoricofallipatorians, Veil, Judoon, Uvodni, Arcateenian; Some she had only ever seen thanks to Mr Smith: Draconians, Tereptils, Myuokootni; and some she couldn't even put a name to…
Rani regained control of herself and spoke objectively. "We've got to keep moving."
Mark hesitated for a spilt-second, still eying the spheres with sadness before nodding. "Yeah…"
He looked around, scrutinising the room as a whole. His eyes fell on a large set of doors across from them. He turned back towards Rani, the depression replaced with a manic, cheerful grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Come along, Chandra!" He called, before bounding towards the door, crazy youthful energy returning. "We've got a world to save!"
Rani quickly trotted after him, catching up just as he reached the door. He produced his screwdriver and pointed it in the direction of the control pad.
The door slid open…to reveal a group of Sentinels on the other side waiting expectantly. Mark and Rani stared wide-eyed with disbelief, before Mark spoke a single word that summed up the whole situation.
"Crap."
A/N: Well, that went alright. This was originally going to be a single chapter but I decided to spilt it. Part Two will probably be a fair bit shorter, depends. Now before I let you press that oh-so-attractive review button I just want to talk about a few things regarding this.
1. Mark is not just a Gary Stu self-insert Doctor clone. He has a lot of the Doctor's quirks, but from Episode 3 onwards you should hopefully start to see a much more nuanced personality. We'll certainly be delving into his history and thought processes as the series goes on. I had to portray him as I did in this because of the chapter's set-up- lack of familiarity between characters.
2. There will be first-person segments in later stories. I didn't include them here 'cause I didn't really think they fitted this set-up chapter. Expect a positive shift in the overall language as well.
3.(last thing, I promise!). I like putting in subtle references. Cookies go to whoever finds the obvious ones. Quadruple cookies go to whoever can find the insanely complicated one that borders on sadistic. I'll even give you a clue: The Inbetweeners.
So, read, review,( Or spam my inbox with speculation about the titles and summaries) and buckle up: this going to be one hell of a ride, with laughter, love, heartbreak and the insane adventures you can only find in the world of Doctor Who and the Sarah Jane Adventures…
All the best.