Title: Key 2 Time 2: Part 3: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall
Author: lallafangirls
Rating: T
Characters: Romana III, Amy, K9, Narvin
Spoilers: It's extremely unlikely.
Summary: Returning to Gallifrey was not the problem.
Disclaimer: If we owned Doctor Who, the next series would see the return of Romana and no more Daleks.
Notes: We are simply two bored yet highly excitable fangirls who are awaiting the Key 2 Time series in the New Year. Completely AU.
If you wish to read this and have it make the tiniest amount of sense, we recommend reading: Part 1: On The Other Side and Part 2: Between a Rock and a Hard Place first.
Key 2 Time 2: Part 3: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall
Romana was starting to panic as she hit the TARDIS controls a little more roughly than she usually would and carried Amy outside. She was immediately greeted by a small band of Chancellery Guard, and Narvin, standing at the front, fuming. She sighed loudly; she had been hoping to get Amy to the medical bay unnoticed by Narvin and the like.
"Romana!"
"President Romana, actually."
"Whatever. You were meant to come straight back here!" Narvin's rants all seemed to merge into one if you'd been around him long enough. "What were you thinking landing on Mondas?"
"Hello Romana, I'm glad to see your safe and well. Who is your friend? I see she's sick, let's get her treated."
"Yes, who is she anyway?"
"Amy. Human. Ish, anyway. Created by the White Guardian to search out for segments of the Key to Time. Has suffered a severe shock from the TARDIS we were travelling in. Should recover adequately if we can get her to the medical bay and allow her to receive suitable treatment."
Romana roughly shoved K9's notes into Narvin's hands and pushed through the Chancellary Guard and stormed off towards the medical bay. They followed, as she expected and watched her every move as she carefully placed Amy down. As she explained Amy's condition to the medic, she sorely missed private conversations. The medic nodded at her every word, eager to please his Lady President, promised that he would be in contact should there be any change, allowing Romana to beckon Narvin and his cronies out of the medical bay to give them some peace.
Once in her private quarters, Narvin, as expected really started laying into her. She had been away barely a day and the paperwork already appeared to be sky high, despite Braxiatel's attempts to ensure only the bare essential got sent through to Romana's office. She flicked through the few on top as Narvin muttered about the web of time, something she, like every other Time Lord was aware of. It was hard enough keeping her own thoughts in track, never mind having Narvin's concerns laid on top of them. Frankly, she felt like she was hitting her head against a brick wall.
"Yes, Narvin. I am perfectly aware of what is happening to the web of time! I can feel it too."
"Which is why you must stay here, Madame President," Narvin said firmly.
"No, it's why I must go out into the field to help Amy!" Romana was getting more and more frustrated.
"We can send anyone to do that, Romana. We need to keep our President safe! We can't have you gallivanting around time and space - we saw you landed on Mondas!"
"Yes, and we were fine. I have field experience that is totally different to anyone on Gallifrey - even in the CIA, Narvin."
Narvin was refusing to admit that she was entirely correct. "Yes, but fetching the Key to Time again, Romana. It was dangerous for you last time. You know the Black Guardian still has scores to settle with you."
She rolled her eyes, frustrated. "Exactly, no one else knows what to expect from it, because no one else has done it! Why slowly build up the Black Guardian's hatred of our world, individual by individual? We only survived the Time War by a whisker..."
When Amy awoke, she was vaguely aware that she was lying on a cold, hard surface. Her head felt extremely heavy and fairly numb. She opened her eyes and immediately closed them again, the light was too bright.
"Romana?" she called out. "Romana? W-Where am I?" She shielded her eyes and attempted to sit up as she heard a vague whirring become louder.
"Mistress Amy! You must stay where you are!" A familiar metallic voice instructed.
Amy looked around, slowly. She felt extremely groggy. "K9, is that you?"
"Affirmative!"
"Where am I? Where is Romana? What happened to me K9?" She soon realised she was not in the TARDIS, although her surroundings were as clinical as the machine was. Something terrible must have happened.
"Mistress Romana has to deal with problems brought to her attention by Narvin. You are in the sick bay. You collapsed, complained your head hurt then fell unconscious. Mistress Romana brought you back to Gallifrey to be treated," K9 replied immediately.
It took her a little while than usual to deal with the statements K9 had thrown at her. He seemed to have the same habit as Romana at throwing out a million and one facts in one go. Once she realised what K9 had meant, the worry immediately started to rise inside her as the grogginess thankfully subsided.
"Gallifrey? K9 I shouldn't be here. Can you help me escape?"
"Negative Mistress. I am under strict instructions from Mistress Romana to make sure you do not leave." K9 responded.
The worry in Amy had taken over. She immediately stood, feeling suddenly much better and started pacing around the room. She felt rather like a caged lion now. She was furious at herself for leading Romana back here, and furious at the planet for trapping her friend here, too.
"K9, how long will Romana be? I don't like this." She felt extremely uncomfortable on Gallifrey. There was always going to be something unwelcoming about a planet that trapped you in one room upon first visit.
"Mistress Romana did not state how long she will be. You must remain where you are Mistress Amy," K9 chirped.
"K9, how do these doors open? There are no handles."
"A code is needed to open the door. I cannot give it to you."
'A code?' Amy thought, 'so this system would be linked to some sort of alarm if the wrong code was entered'.
"K9 please? Romana didn't want to come back here and it's because of me that she is."
"Negative Mistress. I cannot give you the code."
Amy could have sworn that there was the slightly hint of regret in K9's voice. She turned away from K9 and started entering random codes. It only took one attempt to set off the alarms. Amy grinned. "Oops!"
She immediately heard footsteps echoing in the corridor beyond the medical bay she was trapped in. Amy faintly heard Romana yell at whoever it was that was stopping her from getting to the door, and couldn't help but stifle a laugh. It served them right, after all. The faint beep of the correct access code and the door swung open to reveal Romana and a crowd of uniformed men, most of whom were looking very ashamed of themselves.
"This is what you get for bringing human waifs and strays here! You and the Doctor should learn..."
"Shut up, Narvin." Romana immediately replied, "Amy, I see you're up and about. I assume you're feeling better?"
"Yes, well my head is still throbbing but I am ok. What happened? Why did I collapse?"
She nearly muttered 'and I don't think much to being called a waif and a stray' but managed to bite her tongue. This Narvin looked very professional and like he held quite a lot of power on this planet. Despite her association with the President, it seemed like he could still cause her a fair bit of trouble if she really asked for it.
"Just a small... erm... accident with the TARDIS." Romana was typically vague with her descriptions. "Narvin is going to organise a new one for us which shouldn't be so temperamental. Aren't you Narvin?"
Romana's glare would ordinarily be enough to get her own way, but Narvin was obviously immune to it. As he continued to defy his President, Amy stood by his side and started glaring at him too. It was surprisingly fun. Especially watching him stutter over his words as a result of it.
"Madam President... I thought I made my..".
"Perfectly. But this, I believe is important enough for me to leave Gallifrey, is it not?" Romana was as collected as usual, if a little short-tempered.
"Yes, but..."
"And I have all the skills necessary to keep both myself and Amy out of unnecessary danger?"
Yes, but...
Amy was surprised Narvin hadn't given up yet. But then again, he didn't particularly look the type. He still seemed unimpressed with Amy's presence, which was good, because she wasn't particularly impressed with his, never mind his diabolical attitude.
"And if something goes wrong, we have K9 with us, don't we?"
"Yes, but..."
"Yes, but nothing. Please go and organise our transport for us."
"He really doesn't like being told what to do," Amy commented, "typical male."
Romana shrugged in response. "Narvin always has what's best for the planet in mind. Even if it does send its leaders slightly mad." She smiled sweetly as Narvin approached, with a slightly bashful look across his face. "Ah, Narvin. Back already? That was surprisingly quick."
"President Romanadvoratrelundar." Amy had always been under the impression that Romana was the only one who could pronounce her name. "I'm afraid we simply cannot let you leave."
Members of the Celestial Intervention Agency unexpectedly grabbed Romana and Amy by the arms. Romana looked thoroughly annoyed as Amy attempted to throw them off to no avail. She obviously expected problems, where Amy had not.
"What do you think you're doing to me?" Romana positively growled at the man holding tightly onto her left arm. "Let me go!"
The answer seemed blindingly obvious to Amy as she spotted K9 withdrawing slowly behind them. She attempted to beckon him forwards, gave up before shouting, "Hey! K9, shoot them!"
"Laser set to stun Mistress," K9 usefully informed them.
K9's laser beam effectively dealt with all but one of the CIA. Amy free to attack launched herself at Narvin, who she'd taken a thorough disliking to. He was able to predict her, outmanoeuvred her so she landed up lying rather uncomfortably on the floor.
"Narvin, please! There's no need to act like... like Time Tots. Unless you can give me one good reason to stay, Amy, K9 and I are leaving." Romana's bark was obviously worse than her bite as the head of the CIA, rather shame-faced attempted to come up with a justifiable reason. She glared at the CIA member still holding tightly onto her arm. "Oh, and you can let go of me, too."
Trying to help, Amy added, "She is your President! She can do whatever she wants!"
"Please be quiet for a moment, that's not helping." Romana's voice was low.
"Romana, you need to stand up to these jerks. You're the President for crying out loud!"
"You'll soon learn, on my planet, that at the highest level of politics, most of what occurs is just talking. I've had worse."
"The Black Guardian, what if the Black Guardian gets you?" Narvin's interjection was fairly unexpected. At least, it took Amy by surprise.
"Then you'll just have to elect a new President in that situation, won't you? You've been perfectly eager to do so in the past."
"I don't think I want to," Amy muttered gloomily. At least it appeared they were finally leaving Gallifrey.
Storming past him, with Amy and K9 in tow, she quickly turned around and bid goodbye to Narvin. As she followed Romana to… wherever they were going, Amy was quickly coming to the conclusion she was glad she didn't live on Gallifrey. Not for the awful bureaucracy, not for the sterile environment you were forced to live in, but because she would never find her way around.
"Amy, I'll just go collect my sonic screwdriver and then we can be on our way."
After a short while, Romana's posture immediately crumbled, as if she was finally off-stage. Amy watched her from outside of the Presidential quarters as she searched hurriedly for a 'sonic' screwdriver, held up a slim metal cylinder before pocketing it. As she reached Amy and K9 at the door, she smiled briefly.
"Well, that could have been a lot worse."
"Back to the TARDIS then?" Amy mimicked Romana's feigned brightness. "I am certain there are no segments on Gallifrey!"
"Back to a TARDIS at any rate. We'll have to choose one that's more responsive to you," Romana corrected her in that irritating fashion.
"How will we know if it responds to me or not? I really don't want to go through all that again."
Romana smiled at Amy's innocence as she led her down yet more twisting corridors. Eventually they reached the TARDIS birthing bay. It took Amy's breath away to see all the grey boxes thrumming gently in front of her. All these machines capable of travelling through time and space if given the right instruction. There were so many, how could they limit it down to one in the quickest time possible?
"There's a difference between a TARDIS in flight and a TARDIS stationary in the birthing bay," Romana assured her.
"K9 will be able to take readings when we're inside to tell the suitability, if you just hold one control, won't you K9?"
"Affirmative, Mistress."
"Okay, if you're sure," Amy was obviously still doubtful. "We have to get the rest of the segments before the Doctor and my sister do."
"I know."
Romana swung open the door to one of the new TARDISes. Nodding approvingly, she beckoned Amy forwards to have a look as well. "I think we should try this one."
Amy glared at Romana doubtfully as she approached the TARDIS control panel. She had barely touched a control before it gave her an electric shock. She shook her finger, trying to stem the pain and walked out, rather annoyed.
"I don't think that's a good one for me. Let's try this one."
She strode over to one three to the left of the one she had just tried as Romana locked the other one up. Putting herself in a confident mindset, she walked inside, assuring herself that her third attempt at flying a TARDIS would be the lucky one. Yet again, as she grabbed the control, it shocked her. Walking out, pride dented slightly, she approached Romana and K9.
"I have a feeling we will be a while."
"Don't be quite so violent with them!" Romana was obviously unimpressed with how she had treated the two TARDISes. "You wouldn't introduce yourself to a person like that!"
Amy snorted. "You're not expecting me to stroke the console like the Doctor does, because that's just....weird."
"No, no. Just be a little... gentler," Romana assured her. "TARDISes don't get on with people if you're going to be rough with them."
As Amy walked slowly, if a little self-consciously towards another unit with K9 at her heels, Romana started mumbling to herself, "There's nothing wrong with stroking the console."
"Okay." Amy stepped carefully into next TARDIS as K9 followed her inside. "I feel like an idiot."
She walked around the console, contemplating what button to press. She tried not to make any sudden movements, as if she was attempting not to scare a young animal.
"Okay," she sighed, "let's see if you like me."
She tentatively took hold of a control, as gently as she possibly could. She waited for the inevitable shock and felt nothing. K9 was whirring away, printing out numerous reports that all read as gobbledegook to her.
"Well, this is a step in the right direction, I guess."
She let go of the control as soon as Romana walked slowly through the door, noticing how Romana was allowing her fingers to run gently across the TARDIS wall before she headed over to the console.
"K9, readings please?"
"Affirmative, Mistress."
"I can feel a gentle vibration, is that a good sign?" Amy was quickly becoming very fond of this TARDIS. Mainly because it was the only one that hadn't hurt her.
"Yes, very good. It seems to be getting along fine with me, too."
Amy rushed over to Romana as she doubled over in pain. Obviously not so good, as it looked like it had shocked her. She brushed Amy away as she pulled herself up to her full height, still glaring at the TARDIS console.
" That hurt. I don't understand why someone hasn't managed to reduce the pain in that process."
"What happened?"
Amy felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and began to head towards the door. So much for what Romana had said about it getting along with both of them.
"Fusing of symbiotic nuclei. Nasty process." Amy nodded at what Romana had said; not understanding a word of it.
"Looks like this is the one we're using, then. Are you okay with that?"
"Fine by me," Amy grinned in response. "Let's see if I can get this to fly."
Amy quickly rushed around the console, pressing buttons at random, although something in her mind was telling her they might help. The TARDIS lurched slightly, unimpressed with its treatment whilst Romana stood with folded arms, glaring at her. Eventually, she stopped and looked at Romana, waiting for what she had been patiently trying to say.
"No, no, no, no. Let's take our time, so to speak, shall we?" Romana said. 'Oh great,' Amy thought, 'another lecture.' Romana continued, "I'll get us away from this place and into the vortex, first."
"We have all the time in the universe, right?" Amy replied cheekily.
"Not if we want to save the Universe, right?"
End.
Look out for Part 4. Coming soon. Ish.