A/N This fanfic was written by three teenagers on summer vacation. We've been planning it since half way through the school year! We spent hours a night on our characters, and we understand the first chapter is vague. That's the point. Everything becomes clear soon, so hang in there! We have BIG BIG plans for this story! Livy, Claire Bear and Christian, that's our names. (To know who's writing the Author's Note, you can tell by which Doctor catch phrase we use at the end. Livy=Alonsy Claire Bear= Geronimo Christian=Fantastic)
We did this entirely for fun.
As for the lady I met at the comicon I told this about, who sold me the little crochet and felt Tenth Doctor? The girl with the brown pixie cut hair who got really excited about it? Yep, it's me! If you're reading this now, thank you so much. Both my friends fangirled for about twenty minutes over the little Ten you made, and he's standing proudly on top of my bookshelf with my softball trophies and American girl doll, Elizabeth.
Without further a-do, our story begins. Alonsy!
"How long has she been in there?"
Oracle opened her eyes, blinking out of her meditation. Currently camped out in the hallway, sitting on Lotus position, and having a bowl of chocolate covered pretzels at her side, she was patiently waiting for the completion of Haddock's new invention. Kryus, however, had only just realized Haddock had been in the workshop for five hours straight.
In his opinion, that was never a good thing.
Oracle shrugged,"It doesn't matter. Just let her tinker away. She'll come up for air eventually," she replied, closing her eyes again. Kryus sighed loudly, and sat down on the floor next to her. Oracle raised an eyebrow at the sound of the sigh, and spoke without opening her eyes, "What's stressing you out now?"
"Stressing? I'm not stressing out. Nothing of the sort," Kryus scoffed, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, well, super soldiers don't just dramatically sigh at random," Oracle shot back.
Kryus frowned. Not that it mattered. The high collar of his military jacket covered his face up to his mouth, and then there were the thick goggles, and the thick, worn-to-a-dull-gray scarf wrapped over his face. Haddock and Oracle never saw the point of him hiding his face, but he always pitched a fit, with a lecture always starting with the words "If the enemy..." so now, they just left him to do whatever he saw fit. They had their weird habits, he had his. Haddock had to do a full-circle turn and analyze her surroundings every exact five minutes, Oracle had to meditate for at least two or three hours a day...
Oracle had a point. Besides, lying to Oracle never worked. She literally saw through everything. Not physically, on some sort of psychological level. "Well, it's just...I dunno, I just don't think we built this ship very well. It's scrap, not top-notch. Haddock can only hold it together and keep it in flight for so long, and now she's in there, just tinkering on whatever the hell is so much more important than keeping us from dropping out of the cosmos."
Oracle opened her eyes, and looked at him more pointedly.
Kryus sighed again, "And I'm also worried she's gonna have another one of her klutz moments, and some heavy metal object is gonna fall and crush her."
"She's not that helpless."
"She's a midget."
"Everyone is a midget to you."
Kryus was about to retort, but then he nodded. True. He was almost seven feet tall. And Haddock wasn't taller than five feet and four inches, and didn't even tip the scale at a hundred and ten.
Haddock was prone to spending hours on end in the workshop, and if you dared to bother her, you would be met with the scariest facial expression of someone who had been concentrating for so long, she didn't even blink for about five full minutes. They'd eventually learned to just hope and pray whatever she was up to didn't explode. On not-so-rare occasions, it had. That was when Kryus had decidedly confirmed Haddock was not allowed to touch the kitchen appliances under any circumstances.
"Sooo, how long are we gonna sit here?" Kryus asked after a good twenty minutes.
"As long as it takes for her to finish." Oracle replied.
"Why can't you just give straight answers?"
"That was a straight answer."
"No! That-" Kryus began, but he didn't finish, because the doors to the word shop slid open with a hiss, and Haddock came out, covered in oil, a few burnt patches on her clothes, but all in all, still whole and looking quite pleased with herself. "What, I get a welcoming party?" she asked, crossing her arms.
Haddock was small. She was close in age to her two friends, but in comparison, she was, well, a midget. How she could maneuver and work as a mechanic throughout the engines of their ship and the work shop at all, was a mystery. She had thick, dark brown hair pulled back in a hasty bun, generally a pale complexion, and amber colored eyes. She had a faint spray of freckles of her nose and the tops of her cheeks, though some were covered up by some oil smears on her face from the workshop.
Kryus stood up, and shot her a glare, even though it couldn't be seen through the goggles and scarf. "What were you doing?"
"Tinkering." was her cheery, curt reply.
"Tinkering on what?" Oracle asked, remaining seated on the floor.
"This!"
Haddock pulled out a rectangular, shiny, silver metal object from her heavy tool belt. It was flat surfaced, with a screen, and then what Kryus guessed to be over twenty buttons, on both sides.
"It's a damn remote?!" he near shouted.
"Nope! Well, sort of." she said, holding it up for Kryus to see, "See, it's connected to the ship's computer, so whenever something goes wrong, I can pull it up on the screen, and stabilize it until we can go in and completely repair it. I mean, what if I'm on the other side of the ship, and then something explodes on the opposite side, this'll come in real handy."
Kryus grumbled. The Oracle stood and approached Haddock. "I would hope so, you spent a very long time on that."
A voice echoed from a nearby speaker, "Commander Kryus, we have a minor issue!"
Kryus ran to the speaker and held the button. His crew was a batch of Sontaran mercenaries he hired himself. He made sure they were cloned with his technical capabilities, like tactics and Tardis piloting.
"Report Lieutenant!" He demanded
"We are detecting a foreign device tampering with our controls, we are under attack! Shall we engage in a forward assault?"
"Negative, it's just Haddock's new device, stand down."
She began pressing buttons to demonstrate the device's functionality. The lights flickered, doors opened and closed, and vents began blowing at her command. She went down the list of buttons until she got to the last one, a strange red one.
That's odd, I don't recall installing that one." She muttered. But it was her invention, only she had touched it, so what harm could it do? Purely because she had a policy of, "screw common sense, engage curiosity," she immediately pressed it.
A tremor rocked the entire ship, and the trio exchanged silent glances, and simultaneously began running towards the console room of their Tardis. They were shocked to see the entirety of the console blown to bits, with the casing of the Core starting to come exposed. Kryus leaped forward and tried to hold the casing together, yelling commands. Though, his words came muffled and voice strained. After all, holding an entire console together by laying on top of it, and trying to pull both halves back together with your own physical strength wasn't an easy task. There were no questions, and the Sontarans lined up around the console, lowering the power on their laser guns, and began welding the metal back together,in an attempt to take some of the force off of Kryus, but to no avail. The metal couldn't cool and harden fast enough, and the console continued to pull apart, and even other parts of the ship were began to collapse and come apart.
"Initiate emergency land sequence 221!" Haddock shouted on instinct, grabbed Oracle's arm, and pulling her aside as a metal beam crashed to the ground a few feet away, making the floor shudder and creak under the weight of all the debris. Oracle, as always, was serene and calm in the chaos, and simply patted Haddock's hand, which was still gripping her arm in a death grip. Haddock kept looking around so fast, Oracle felt a twinge of worry that she might end up giving herself whiplash. Haddock was good in chaotic situations, but it wasn't easy to tell unless you knew her well. She seemed just as chaotic as her surroundings, babbling at incredible speeds, darting around like a pixie, and occasionally waving her arms about, and turning in circles as she tried to decide her next move.
Currently, she was just clinging to Oracles arm, racking her brain, trying to figure out what she had just done to cause their ship such damage. Kryus diverted his attention from the console long enough to ask Haddock, "Where are we going to land?"
"To the nearest planet with a stable atmosphere, that's certain. When though, that's the real issue. Here's to hoping we don't get dropped off during this world's apocalypse." Oracle answered for her.
"I don't understand...It was a repair device, but it just demolished all the systems and engines. I didn't put that in, I know I..." Haddock mumbled, thinking out loud like she did when she was particularly stressed out. Oracle glanced around, and gently guided her confused companion to a less dangerous place, where the risk of them being crushed or burned was at minimum.
The Oracle pried Haddock's fingers from her arms, "Just sit here, and think. But don't space out," she said. Haddock waved her hand at her, "Yep, yeah, got it." she grunted. Oracle, entrusting that Haddock had enough common sense for once to stay in one spot, turned and scanned the destruction of their console room. About four computers were still operational. Choosing the one with the least amount of smoke and sparks coming off of it, she typed her codes into the computer. As the data ran across the cracked screen, she stepped back. Several alarms began to blare, right on cue. They all reached for a handrail or bench to cling to, but there weren't very many options. That was not good, because the landing was sure to be rough and even as they were searching for handholds the ship lurched and tossed them like ragdolls across the floor, even Kryus. Clambering up, Kryus caught both Oracle and Haddock before the two girls were thrown into the debris falling on the end of the ship. It only took one arm to hold onto them both, and even though Oracle was completely calm, Haddock grumbled angrily, "I don't need you to carry me around, I can do just fine on my own, you son of a..."
Kryus and Oracle both simultaneously tuned her out. Kryus kept his free hand around a handrail, which creaked and moaned under the weight of the trio, and threatened to break. The ship tilted farther, and they were almost hanging vertically, when it began to leaned back in the opposite direction.
"My stomach just flipped," Haddock muttered, her face tinted slightly green. Oracle patted her arm comfortingly, "Just try to keep your lunch down." she told Haddock, who grumbled incoherently.
Finally, the ship righted itself, and the were laying on the floor. Kryus hesitated, making sure the ship was completely done with rocking to-and-fro, and completely still. Once he was sure it was safe, he let go of Oracle and Haddock, and the handrail. Both girls stood up, and Haddock stumbled, bending over with her hands on her knees, and trying not to be sick.
"Delicate stomach?" Kryus asked, as he got to his own feet.
"Shut. Up." was her reply through gritted teeth.
Oracle smiled every so slightly. If they could begin picking at each other, no physical damage was dealt out to them. Turning away from their quiet bickering, Oracle called out hopefully, "Environment check," to the computer, but was interrupted by the loud opening of the door. White, pure light flooded into the console room, followed by an icy wind. It felt wonderful, after the smoky, over-heating technology they had been tossed about it not a half hour earlier. Kryus and Haddock stopped their banter enough to walked up on either side of Oracle, and stare at the door.
"We're safe." Haddock said breathlessly, "Sort of. Well, we're not dead."
Ignoring her natural dark humor thrown into that comment, They crept forward hesitantly to the door, and gazed out at what seemed to be a colder climate, great fat snowflakes drifting down from the sky, with spectacular rock structures rising up from the ground. And a mile or two in the distance (Only Kryus could see them) was what appeared to be openings in the rock towers, Hexagonal or octaganal, he could not tell, but definitely not a natural formation.
"I wonder what spe-" Haddock began to ask her question but was interrupted by both her comrades simultaneous response.
"Ood."
"Well now what?" Kryus asked, looking at his beloved ship. Not much of a ship anymore. It physically hurt, the damage done to it. He'd worked so hard to build it. Haddock and Oracle disregarded his unnatural affection to the spacecraft.
The ship herself, Even in her ruinous state, still had a functioning chameleon circuit. It had disguised her as a rock formation. Anyone who ventured inside would be shocked to find a door- and a dying time machine.
Oracle sat down heavily on the icy ground, rubbing her temples. She paused, closing her eyes, and letting thoughts and scenes flit through her mind. A man, in a brown jacket, climbing gingerly over the rocky, snow covered hills of what she was sure was the very planet they'd been dumped onto just recently.
"I've had a vision," She stated, and the other two exchanged looks before listening. Oracle was weird, that's all there was to it. She picked up things they couldn't. Anyone would say she was a prophet, or a psychic. Not the case. She was highly sensitive, and could pick up things in the air that only she could decipher. It helped she could see through time, however foggy it would be. "A man will show up with a box."
"That's it? That's all we have to go off of? A man in a box is going to show up and save us?" Haddock growled, bending down, snatching up a stone, and throwing it into the distance out of pure frustration. After that, she stood there, shivering.
"It's too cold to wait." she stated moments later, and Oracle quickly agreed. Kryus walked over to the two who were now sitting side by side on a nearby rock, huddling together to stay warm. Taking off his heavy military coat, he placed it over Oracle and Haddock. Even though Oracle wasn't short, she was far smaller in comparison to their super soldier friend. The jacket easily covered them both. Haddock wore light clothing so she wouldn't over heat when dealing with machines, and the Oracle was wearing a thin jacket, one you would out on if there was a chilled breeze. Neither were dressed warmly enough for this climate. Kryus wore full body armor under his jacket, which kept him warm, even though the cold wouldn't affect him as much as his two friends. He pulled all of the weapons out of his jacket before draping it over his comrades, and was now taking inventory. Best to remove any explosives, before Haddock got any ideas, the little she-devil.
"Three grenades, two handguns, sonic blaster, rifle, knives... wait? Where is my good knife?" He was starting to sound worried, as though he had lost his child.
"I've got a rough idea," The Oracle said, as she pulled it out from behind her. It was still in a coat pocket, (Sheesh, how many did he need?) and had been poking her in the back, rather annoyingly. It was a large blade, in an ornate scabbard,with the names of it's former users written in circular Gallifreyan. He put it at his sat beside the two girls. After a few moments, Haddock decided the silence was enough. They began to talk about where they would go from here.
After all, escaping from Torchwood Labs with no plan was suicide.
Somewhere in deep space...
The Doctor scrambled around the console, flipping levers and twisting twists and mashing buttons. Nothing seemed to stop his ship from doing as it pleased.
"Is it something I said? Honestly, could you just-Whoa!" He cut off, as he was thrown to the side, barely managing to grab on to his handrail, nearly being thrown over it.
"You don't want me to start calling you sexy again do you? Is that what this is about? Or is it the new coat? Too dark? Come on, give me a hint!" he said in exasperation.
He continued babbling apologies to his ship, begging her to be reasonable and to let him take the controls back. But then the realization dawned on him. Some time ago the soul of his Tardis had been put into a human body for a short time. He remembered her saying: "I take you where you need to go,"
Where could he need to go at such a time? He had just lost two of his best friends, couldn't he have a moment of peace before he was out again? The Tardis sure didn't want him to. He heard the sound of her engines starting the landing sequence. He parked her and ran towards the front door.
He flung the doors open. "The Ood Sphere? What business do I have on the Ood Sphere?"
He heard the charging of a sonic weapon, and a deep voice "Good question."
"Great gobs of fire, Kry, you can't just put guns to people's heads the second they show up!"
The man looked shocked and somewhat offended at the greeting Kryus was giving. Haddock took a good look at him. He wore dress shoes and brown socks, and his pants were just a bit to short. On his torso was a white shirt and a tweed jacket, and a very prominent bowtie. His hair was pushed over to one side in the front, and on top of his head sat a red fez, somewhat askew.
"Nice bowtie," Haddock said involuntarily.
"Thank you, bowties are cool." He said quickly, forcing back a smile. Quickly observing the trio, he immediately picked out their possible roles. The bowtie liking girl, small, dressing in overalls, a white shirt, heavy tool belt, and gloves, hair pulled back and out of her face. A mechanic. Small, but probably stronger than she looks. She had the biggest, brownest eyes he'd seen in a long time, full of curiosity, and suspicion. She was a young adult, cute, in her way. Her complexion was pale, and freckled across her nose and cheeks, but other than that, unmarked, save for all the oil smears on her face and clothes. Clearly, she didn't give a damn about vanity. Smaller than her companions, and the large man stood somewhat close to her. A protective stance. She probably ranked as a little sister to him.
The man wore what looked like armor. Shiny, metal, and with tech blinking on the arms and neck. And words were gouged out of the chest plate, but the bow-tie man could easily see the letters T, W, D, and a few O's. Over his face was wrapped a dull gray scarf they made have possibly once been a dark red, and he had wide goggles. His face was hidden. At the moment, he had a gun pointed at the bow-tie man's face. A soldier.
The other girl, far taller than the mechanic, but not nearly as tall as the man. She was slender, slightly broader shoulders than the other girl, and much taller, almost six feet. She had long, thick, straight light brown hair and short bangs that verged on a reddish color, and fair skin, but naturally bright cheeks, touched with red. She wore rectangular, dark blue glasses, and her eyes were a kaleidoscope of greens, blues, and browns. She looked very sophisticated, wearing a long dull blue skirt, a tucked in off-white top, and a light denim jacket. She seemed a little...exotic. She was serene, quiet, and not at all hostile. She was also intimidating.
"Kryus," she said, "Lower your weapon. He's not an enemy."
"Everyone is an enemy until further inspec-" the man began, but one sharp look from those colorful eyes, and he nodded curtly, and lowered the weapon. The small girl, taking it as some sort of, "Okay, go!" signal, immediately stepped forward boldly, "Well, who are you? Speak up, come on, we're freezing!"
Bow-tie man blinked, stunned that the smallest was the boldest. Snapping out of it, he began to speak quickly, "Ah! Well, excellent question! I'm the Doctor, nice to meet you, just Doctor. And who are you?"
"Classified inf-" the man, Kryus, began, before the small girl said, "Logan Haddock, mechanic, engineer, and captain."
Kryus glared down at her, or at least, Doctor assumed it was a glare, "You're not the captain, I'm the captain! I built the ship!"
"No, you lifted all the heavy objects, while I did all the actual technology, and blueprints. I'm captain. Captain Haddock, you got a problem with that?"
"Yeah, I do, you little midget, It's my damn ship!"
"My designs, my engines, my workshop! You gun head, why would we put you in charge?!"
The woman in the blue skirt calmly walked around them and stood next to the Doctor. "They're always like this," she smiled apologetically, "Sibling rivalry, or something like that."
"They're siblings?" Doctor asked doubtfully, looking at them both. Kryus's hair was visible, only his face was covered, and Doctor could see a light brown/dirty blond crew cut. Not the same deep chocolate brown as Haddock's. And Kryus was nearly seven feet tall! Haddock didn't even make it to 5'3.
"Not genetically, no." the blue-skirt woman replied. "But he's protective of her. She has a brilliant mind, but she's a klutz and a loose canon. Kryus is smart, not as smart as her, but he doesn't lack in intelligence. He thinks with guns and fists, though. He has good intentions, however, and looks after us both. Our ship crashed. There was a...malfunction of sorts."
The Doctor looked at her inquisitively.
"And may I have the pleasure of making your acquaintance?" He said, tilting his head a bit and steping forward.
The Oracle began, speaking in a dramatically mysterious voice that if Haddock heard, she would be dissolving in snickers and giggles. "My true name need not be known, I go by nothing but The Oracle. I am by far the most intelligent person in our fellowship, a genius compared to these Neanderthals." Kryus and Haddock ceased their bickering. Both appeared taken aback by her somewhat harsh words. Oracle smirked a little, and shrugged, smiling at them, "I kid. My primary job is to advise my companions on courses of action because of my predictive abilities."
The Doctor nodded quickly, then turned to Kryus, who stood much taller than he. "And who are you my monstrous friend?"
"Commander Kryus Kobanh, genetically engineered super soldier with more combat and survival skills in my pinky finger than any of you have in all your bodies combined. I am the leader of a group of mercenaries meant to defend our ship, or rather I am what's left of them. All six are now KIA's."
"How unpleasant." The Doctor said, playing with his fingers."Anyway, I'm the Doctor, I'm at least 900 years old, I lose track of exacts such as my birthdate. I have no profession, no real duty." His voice trailed off at the end, and he stared blankly as if remembering a nightmare. "Now! Big and Scary over here told me your ship was destroyed is that correct? And you have no means of travel?"
The Oracle answered the series of questions that followed as delicately as she could as to reveal no information as to their origins. "Yes, we just crashed about an hour ago. Our ship is our only means of travel and homage."
"Well then." The Doctor smiled and pushed the box's door open, "Come along, then, can't leave you out here to freeze, can I?"
The trio walked inside. Haddock's jaw dropped, and stayed dropped as she began walking around the console room of this Tardis.
The Doctor put his hands up "And by the way it's bigger on-"
"It's a Type 40! These things are vintage! Wow Doctor, you must be older than dirt to be flying one of these. She's beautiful though, looks like a fresh regeneration!" Haddock blurted out, racing up the steps, and running about the console, leaning forward to look at each device close up. Oracle and Kryus exchanged looks, and smiled knowingly. At least Haddock could be cheerful, the gear head.
The Tardis hummed as though it were showing affection. The Doctor however was slightly offended, but more shocked and amazed she knew what a Tardis was, and even more impressed that she new the model! The Doctor had a new favorite. But that original happiness drained away. This was not information anyone was well equipped with, save those from the Time War. And all others the Doctor knew from then were pretty much just Daleks, and enemies.
"How did you know that?" He asked, his mouth more flapping than talking.
"Don't worry about it, I'm just a gear head!" Haddock grinned and walked away, back to her spot between Kryus and Oracle. For some reason, she seemed most content being surrounded by her two companions, and they both seemed more at ease being close to each other.
Haddock began to head back to doors, and Oracle frowned, "Where're you going?"
"I want to be outside, just for a little longer." Haddock replied. Kryus's shoulders visibly sulked. He had a feeling what was coming.
"But it's freezing out! You'll get hypothermia," Oracle protested, grabbing her hand to pull her back in. Haddock was already half outside again, "I'll just stand in the door. I just want to look."
"Why is she so intent on going back out in a coming-blizzard?" Doctor asked, walking up behind Kryus.
Kryus's face was covered. Always. So no one ever saw his facial expressions, and now, he was grateful for it. Looking sad didn't suit a soldier. He crossed his arms, and watched as Haddock answered Oracle's question, in hushed voices. Oracle's face softened, and she nodded, and a smile burst across Haddock's face, and both girls headed outside again, standing side by side, and staring out at the increasingly white landscape.
"They just want to look because we've never seen real snow before. That's why." Kryus spoke in an oddly flat, quiet voice. Doctor's cheerfulness shattered.
He was beginning to realize that this trio wasn't just a crashed ship. They were something a little bigger than that. They knew what a Tardis was, they were an well organized team, elite and perfect for working as one. Well, nearly perfect, save for sibling bickering. Kryus was obviously some genetic experiment of sorts, Doctor had seen enough of those to know one on sight.
They had a mature, calm, collected strategist to direct them. Oracle, no wonder the name was chosen for her.
They had a 'gear head', an engineer, mechanic, who was remarkably observant, and confident. She had an earthly name, Logan Haddock. However, her companions only call her Haddock. No first name or nickname. Even though they are all close, they seem stiff and argumentative.
A super soldier, a protector, and a warrior, who was emotionally stoic and collected, although he might have a bit of a temper. He evidently was protective of his two companions, but neither of them feared him. Haddock most definitely didn't, considering how often she called him an idjit and other derogatory terms.
They were capable, and well-suited to be a trio, to run a ship. So Doctor came to wonder, Why did they crash? What were they doing? What were the words scratched out of Kryus's armor? How did they know about a Tardis?
But pushing those questions aside, Doctor stood there, waiting patiently. He had originally wanted to take off, and fix their dilemma of a crashed ship as soon as possible. But now he could wait a while. If it would at least make those words ringing in his head stop seeming so sad and hurtful, then he could wait a little longer and let these strangers stare at the blinding white world outside of his ship for a while.
"We've never seen real snow before."
What? Who? How? The Doctor was mouthing the words, staring at his Tardis scanner to find matches in Human records. He was going off of the mechanics name, which was a common name on Earth during the 21st century. But, Kryus was an alien name, a name from a long lost language, one he knew very well. It was a dialect of ancient Skaroan, during the age of the Kaled. Why was one of them named an Earth name, and the other Skaroan? And the most pressing of the issues was their 3rd member. She donned the same mark of shame as the Doctor; She refused to say her real name. Could she be Gallifreyan? No. Something else, something different. That was impossible. He wasn't thinking straight, because of the grief.
Grief.
Ponds.
The Doctor heard a slight creaking sound from above, and he quickly turned and was startled by Haddock standing directly behind him, nearly breathing down his neck.
"I was just trying to figure out where to take you," He said, half honest.
"You're just scared. You do realize we may not be human?"
"I figured as much," The Doctor said. Taking a step toward her, scrutinizing her. The small mechanic stared back boldy.
"You are all far better looking than humans from what I've seen," he said. Laughing a small bit and leaning back on the console.
"You don't know that. We haven't seen Kryus' face before. He hides it for a reason only he knows, keeps on telling us it's so his 'enemy' can't track him. He's just a big headed idjit who insists on going commando 24/7."
"Interesting," The Doctor had been anxious to speak to Kryus, who had avoided him thus far. He seemed to know something important, and the Doctor adored important secrets. But the Doctor had his own secrets, some that must never be spoken of ever again. So he understood why Kryus had his own, but he was still curious as to what they were. "So what about you? You have a first name, but your friends just call you Haddock."
"They call me that when I'm annoying them. Oracle calls me Lo any other time." Haddock replied.
"Why are they annoyed with you?"
"Well, Sontarans tagged along for the ride with Kryus, and a few days ago, I rigged all their guns to shoot silly string instead of lasers." Haddock grinned crookedly, "Totally worth it."
Doctor stared at for a moment, before smiling wearily, "You're a mischievous one, aren't you?"
"Yep." she chirped, hopping up and sitting on the hand rail. "What about you? You're nice, but you're pretty gloomy."
"I'm not gloomy! Who's gloomy? I'm the Doctor, I detest gloomy!"
"That was a spontaneous protest. You lie." Haddock deadpanned.
Doctor opened his mouth to protest once more, but decided against it. Evidently, Haddock wasn't easy to lie to. He'd have to work on that. "Very well," he said, "I'm gloomy. So is Kryus. What can you tell me about him, Haddock?"
Haddock frowned. "You can call me Logan."
"Logan, then. I repeat my question."
"He's big, bossy, and loud." Logan replied, crossing her arms, and jumping up, and landing on the rail of the handrail, balancing easily. Doctor blinked, "Um, you might fall that way."
"No, I'm fine. I prefer to move around when I speak." she said, pacing along the handrail, practically striding back and forth. Doctor marveled a little bit at her balance. Of course she was agile. Being so small, and having a big job as a mechanic, to run an entire ship, she had to be able to climb about the engines like a monkey. At this point, she probably couldn't even keep still. "He seems to have a lot of authority over you two," Doctor added in.
"Hmph, yeah, I guess. You could put it that way." Logan shrugged, balancing on one foot.
"He's your leader, then?"
"Wellll," Logan drawled, thinking, "I wouldn't say that. It's a majority rules thing. One of us takes charge depending on the situation. Kryus takes care of us, more than he actually leads us."
"But Kryus seems to always be in charge, but you question him." Doctor pointed out, "So why do you do that? Don't you trust him?"
Logan stopped walking, and looked back at the Time Lord, "With my life," she replied, "I just argue because it's my job. He's my brother, I have to give him a hard time."
"I see...are you two related?"
"No."
"Are you related to Oracle?"
"No."
"Any of you related at all?"
"No."
Doctor frowned. One more try to get a yes. "But you're a family?"
"Yes. We're all we've got." and with that, Logan seemed to lose most of her energy, and deflate, sitting back down and sighing, "We don't have anything else but each other. We started out that way. We plan to end it the same."
"You're all very close."
Logan nodded silently. Doctor began to suspect the small girl was done with questions, but his curiosity over won.
"How did you become a mechanic?"
"...I grew up that way."
Strange answer, but Doctor pressed on, "I was wondering, why does Oracle have a name like that? What does she really do?"
"I...I'm not sure..." Logan began to avoid eye contact. Is she lying? She's mischievous, but not a lying type. Doctor thought.
"What about Kryus? Your names are of different origin. Where did you all come from?"
"I..."
"Come on, you can tell me."
Logan gritted her teeth, feeling her fingernails dig into the handrail. "I don't want to. Shut up."
And he did. He stood there, observing her. Logan wouldn't look at him, she just stared at the floor and gripped the rail until her knuckles were white.
They stayed like that for quite awhile until they heard the pounding of feet. Oracle burst through the door and pummeled down the stairs, but she was smiling and laughing. The reason why appeared when Kryus shot through the door yelling,"FOR GODS SAKE ORACLE IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME BACK MY KNIFE I WILL THROW YOU OUT THE FRONT DOORS!" Oracle then started running around the console with Kryus on her tail, while The Doctor and Logan promptly scrambled out of the way.
After chasing her for quite some time(she was very fast)Kryus finally tackled her to the floor and snatched the knife from her hands. He stood up and walked up the steps back into the corridor. Everyone guessed he was mad even though, yet again, they couldn't see his face. Oracle was still on the ground laughing.
Logan hopped down and helped her up then said,"That was amazing!" The Doctor was smiling himself, because it reminded him of a time now gone, but still a fond memory.
But Oracle couldn't stop laughing and Logan then got a very mischievous grin on her face.
"You didn't?"
"I did."
Now The Doctor was very confused and was about to ask what they were talking about when he heard another loud yell.
"OOOORRRAAACLEEEE!"
Now Oracle grinned and asked him,"You know any good hiding places?"
"I've had this ship for hundreds of years. Of course I know good hiding places," The Doctor exclaimed. He grabbed both their hands and ran into one of the lower corridors.
"Now there are plenty of places here to hide but we need to go where he wouldn't expect us to be," he said as they ran,"Oracle, where would he expect you to hide?"
"Well Doctor, as I haven't explored yet, I have no idea of what's in here. Make your best guess, I know you have been observing us," Oracle said.
"What did you take from him anyway? Not the knife I saw you had." He asked her.
Logan told him,"She took his favorite handgun. It's fairly small, small enough to conceal in your sleeve. He hardly uses it but it does come in handy every now and then."
The Doctor shuddered, "How many weapons does he have?"
Logan quickly piped up:"Four handguns, four knives, several grenades, a wire, two fists, a cold stare, and a very powerful sniper rifle."
"How does he hide that?"
Kryus' voice echoed from above them, and within seconds he was upon them from a duct, with a fell swoop he floored Oracle and had his handgun back. "It's collapsable," he said in a cheery tone, pulling out large pieces of metal from assorted places on his body.
The Doctor tightened his jaw, he knew that Kryus is a soldier and the girls protector but he still didn't like the idea of guns on his ship.
"Logan stashes tools" Oracle quickly peeped, as she started to stand up again.
Logan's hands flew, and within seconds there was a pile of wrenches and screwdrivers and similar tools on the ground, including lock picking supplies.
The Doctor pondered on what to do next.
"Well, as I keep my promises I am going to drop you lot off at the nearest space station. But before you all go and get some sleep in the bunks. Just down that hall, turn left, second door on the right," The Doctor told.
At that Oracle yawned and headed down the hall yelling,"Goodnight!" Logan followed quickly after and said,"G'night." Kryus didn't say anything, he just nodded to the Doctor and followed Logan.
The Doctor waited until he didn't hear their footsteps and voices anymore, to head back to console.
He jogged up and inquired,"What is that word?"and proceeded to turn knobs and punch buttons, until the computer came up with an image of Kryus's chest plate as it tried to match letters to it. First a T, then three O's. An R, C, two D's and finally W.
The Doctor couldn't believe his eyes but it was right there and it made sense, but still seemed so unlikely. A million thoughts of how rushed through his mind as he stared at this word. A word that changed everything.
That word was TORCHWOOD.
