"Alright, Noobie, pay attention," A short man with sharp blue eyes barked, snapping his fingers in a taller man's face, "I don't know what you've been told, but I do know that whatever it was, it wasn't the truth. They usually leave it up to us to do the real debriefing, so lemme throw some rules out there: first, don't ask any questions until I'm done talking; actually, just don't say anything at all. You got that?" He quipped, narrowing his eyes at the other man.
"Yes, sir," The taller man spoke, and immediately regretted it. He didn't quite understand why he felt intimidated by the short man in front of him, but something about the way he carried himself, and the way his blue eyes pierced through his own brown eyes unnerved him.
The short man shook his head, his short brown hair shaking as he did, "I told you not to speak, remember?"
This time the taller man only nodded, his sandy blonde hair barely moving with the action. They had been standing beside of the Lincoln Memorial for several moments now, and he was beginning to wonder why they were even there. He cautiously looked around him, only to see that none of the tourists even so much as glanced at him. This made him furrow his eyebrows in confusion, looking towards the other man in question.
"They could see us, if they wanted," The man began, motioning to them, "But they don't. We're standing in a perception filter. They'll just continue to look right on over us, forgetting we were even here." He smiled now, nodding in a surprisingly appreciative way, "You're observant. Good for you."
Much to the taller man's surprise and the shorter's amusement the block beneath them began to move down into the monument.
"Easy there, cowboy," The shorter man said, grabbing onto the other's arm. "What was your name again? Toby?"
"Tony, sir," Tony said, swallowing down saliva that had pooled in his mouth. "Tony Miner."
"Well, Tony Miner, welcome to Lincoln," He replied, motioning around them as they were lowered into a spacious chamber. The walls were mostly wooden, much to Tony's surprise, although the feeling came off something like a sewer. There were devices everywhere that Tony had never seen before, and somewhere nearer to the left of the room was a group of people watching them descend.
Tony, finding it hard not to gape at the fact that they were now in some sort of secret base underneath a national monument, turned his attention to the people watching him. There were two women and one man, all of them seeming to be laughing at his expense. He was led over to them by the first man, who stood beside them as they got closer.
"Alright, guys," The shorter man said to the rest of them, silencing them, "This here's the Noobie. Tony Miner, the CIA's finest doctor. Tony, this is Emma Twain," He directed his attention to a petite woman with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes who waved politely at him.
"Hello," She said pleasantly, sticking her hand out to shake his own. "Nice to meet you. I hope you don't have a hard time coming to terms with all this."
Tony shook her hand hesitantly, but his reply was cut off by the original man speaking again.
"And this is Abigail Lynch," He motioned towards the other woman, who had light brown hair and blue eyes.
She moved forward and shook his hand, choosing to remain silent instead of speaking. He smiled at her in a way he hoped was comforting, assuming she was shy.
"And this fellow is Grant Carpenter," The short man nodded his head in the direction of the tanned man with black hair and brown eyes. "And I saved the best for last: me! I'm David Grout, the best one out of this lot!"
That sparked several different remarks from the others such as 'in your dreams' or 'sure, whatever'. They all soon went on their own way, returning to their desks, occasionally glancing towards David and Tony. David continued showing Tony around, trying to explain the best he could about what they did there. It was all a bit too much for Tony to take in, honestly. He had heard of aliens, of course. They had been all over the news the past few years, especially over in the UK. He just didn't expect to be put into some organization in the States that handled aliens. He was hardly qualified to be an alien doctor.
"You alright there, Tony?" David asked him for the second time, knocking Tony out of his thoughts. "You seemed to be zoning out. It can be a bit much at first, I know, but you were chosen for a reason. Don't worry about it. Instead, how about I show you to where you'll be working?"
Tony nodded, unsure of what to say. David seemed to be the man in charge here, but the way his demeanor had changed from when he first met him was surprising. Tony no longer felt intimidated. He felt a camaraderie, of sorts. David didn't really seem like the type of person to lead an organization like this. None of the others did, either. That left Tony with a very large question, but he was stalled from asking it as he walked into the Med Bay. It was fantastic. Everywhere around him was extremely new medical equipment, computers, and everything he would ever need to work in a place like this. After seeing facilities like these, he figured he'd be hard-pressed to want to turn it away, but there was still one thing bothering him—
"Who, exactly, is in charge of this place? If you don't mind my asking?" He asked as he walked over to a table, examining the instruments that lay there. "I mean, no offense, but none of you guys seem like the type to, I dunno, lead something like this."
In response David offered him a lopsided smile, shrugging. "You'll meet the person in charge soon, I'm sure. A fan of larger-than-life entrances, that one," He laughed, his eyes wrinkling in mirth. "I'm afraid our faithful leader is off for the day, doing who knows what. In the meantime, though, I'll leave you to it. There are manuals all over the place, and I highly recommend reading them before pressing any buttons."
Tony was dissatisfied, but nodded anyway, watching the other man disappear back out into the hallway. This place made absolutely no sense. He couldn't deny his curiosity, though, and soon began flipping through the manuals he found. He was thoroughly fascinated with it all. A lot of the devices here were made from scavenged alien technology. It would take a little bit of time to get used to this. He figured the others were busy discussing him, trying to decide if they wanted to keep him or something. Before he got in the medical bay he wasn't sure he wanted to stay himself, but now he hoped they kept him. He could learn a lot from technology like this.
A blaring siren soon erupted throughout the entirety of the base, startling Tony out of his reading. Unsure of what to do, he ran out and looked into the hall. He glanced behind him, wondering if he should stay in the med bay… But he was extremely curious. He ran down the hall and emerged in the main chamber, watching as the rest of them crowded around a monitor near the center. David was the first to notice him and waved him over, eager to include him.
"Take a look here, Tony," David said, motioning to the screen. "There's been some Rift activity. We're gonna need to go check it out. You coming?"
"If I'm allowed," Tony responded, nodding. "This… "Rift activity", does it mean aliens are in the city?"
"Sort of," The quiet brunette Abigail spoke up, startling him. "It's a tear in the fabric of space and time. Sort of a gateway for things to get in. The other end of the rift is sort of just free flying in space-time."
Grant nodded in affirmation, "And right now, it seems like something came through. Let's go!"
Everything from then on was hectic to Tony. They all piled into an SUV and sped off to the coordinates. Abigail was frantically typing away in a laptop while Grant and David prepared pistols. Emma was driving them all, occasionally glancing back to make sure they were ready. They soon arrived at a parking complex, which was thankfully not very occupied. It seemed most of the people had gone off somewhere, probably shopping, leaving their cars behind. Abigail and Emma were staying behind at the SUV to continue monitoring the situation, while Grant, David, and Tony went up to the top level, where the energy seemed to be coming from. They quickly broke apart as they emerged on the top, each looking for anything unordinary.
Tony was beginning to wonder if he should've maybe asked for a gun when he heard a low growling from his left. Exhaling quietly, he peaked around, coming face-to-face with one of the most hideous creatures he had ever seen. It bared its teeth at him, revealing extremely sharp canines. Frightened Tony began back away, wondering how the creature—or alien, maybe—could breathe seemingly without a nose. It followed him as he backed away, its gait appearing to be slightly limping. "David? Grant? I think I found it!" He called out, hoping they heard him. It appeared they had, he heard shouts back at him, but he was too concerned with the thing quickly advancing on him to care. He tuned out everything around him but the threat before him. He didn't even see the concrete shed materializing off to his left. All of this attention was focused on the hideous, deadly looking creature, until—
"Oh, damn it all, I'm late again, aren't I?" A soprano voice chimed loudly, with a strong American accent that he couldn't place to a specific region, causing both he and the creature to look for the owner. "I thought for sure I had it right, but nooooo! Of course not! And now look, there's a Weevil! What are you doing here, big boy?" The woman asked, moving towards the pair of them. Tony was absolutely stunned. Where had she come from? She had long blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a pale complexion. She wore brown pants, dark orange Converse, a white blouse, and a fedora. Who wears a fedora anymore?
The "Weevil", as she called it, seemed to be frightened by her. It began backing away from her approach. Her eyes narrowed as she reached inside of the bag she wore around her torso, pulling out a small syringe. "It's alright, sweetheart," She cooed to it, moving forward again. "Just don't do anything fishy, and I'll not have to hurt you."
Tony shook his head to clear his senses, moving forward to the woman's aid. He had no idea who she was, but she seemed to have a better grasp on the situation than he did. He also felt compelled to help her, to follow her lead. She acknowledged he had moved behind her and nodded, which made him feel like a prick for hiding behind a woman, but he had no other choice. He couldn't explain his sudden urge to be behind her.
The two of them continued advancing on the Weevil until it had its back to half-wall, where there was a 40ft fall. The woman stopped advancing as it began to realize it could no longer retreat, watching as it tried to decide on what to do. The other two escape routes, on either the left or right side of the Weevil, were soon blocked off by David and Grant. Tony observed that they seemed to know the woman he was with, as they didn't question it when she raised her hand and stopped them from advancing on the Weevil.
"Hey, come on," She said again, moving to the Weevil by herself. "Just relax. Don't do anything rash—" No sooner had she said it did the Weevil sprint forward, roaring its outrage at being trapped. Tony had no idea what was happening as he watched the creature charge at him, paralyzed by fear. He hardly even realized that the moment the Weevil had begun, the other three people had moved into action. David and Grant had rushed forwards along with the woman. She was much closer than them, though, and managed to push Tony out of the way before the creature could tackle him. Tony laid on the ground in a daze as he watched the Weevil tackle the woman instead, flinging her hat to the side as they wrestled. David and Grant watched on helplessly, unable to shoot the creature without risking hitting the woman. Tony watched in horror until he saw the syringe the woman had been holding. He quickly pushed himself forward and grabbed it, rushing past Grant and David to the skirmish. He hesitated to plunge the needle into the creature's leg until he saw blood fling away from the fighting two, and almost as soon as he had finished injecting the liquid the creature stopped fighting. It instead rolled away from the woman, writhing slightly as unconsciousness overwhelmed it.
The woman laid there, slightly winded, her eyes closed as she fought to catch her breath. That was something Tony could handle. He rushed to her side as the other two men went to detain the Weevil. Asking her if she was alright seemed to be like a dumb thing to do, so he instead lifted up her left arm, wincing as he saw a very painful looking bite wound. "I'm gonna need to clean that," He told her, giving her a once over for any other wounds. "Might need stitches, too. It looks pretty deep." He looked up to her face to find her smiling down at him, which caught him by surprise. He wasn't expecting her to look so happy after what had happened. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm peachy," She said with a nod, sitting up. "Nothing like a good ole fashioned fisticuffs with a Weevil to get your blood pumping!" That made the two eavesdropping men beside them to laugh, causing both the woman and Tony to look over at them. "What?" She questioned them indignantly, frowning. "It's the truth. Get that Weevil into the cage in the SUV and stop being pricks."
"Oh, sure, Commander," David said, still chuckling. "And what will you do? You gonna let Tony there take care of your arm?"
"Well, I guess so," She shrugged, glancing at Tony. "Who is he, anyway? Is he a random?"
"Nope," Grant said, heaving the Weevil off the ground and over his shoulder. "He's our new doctor."
"If you'll recall, Commander, you had a bit of a rant about us needing to keep a doctor around. So here he is," David nodded, grinning at them.
"I didn't necessarily mean it in a literal sense," She murmured, looking back at Tony. "But yes, I will be having him tend to my arm. Off with you two, then."
"Whatever you say, Commander," Grant said with a grin, lugging off the Weevil with David following behind.
"Uhm, I'm sorry to butt in, but shouldn't we be going with them?" Tony asked, watching as his two associates left.
"Nah. Now, c'mon, help me up," The woman said, holding a hand out to him. He was obliged to help her stand, worrying over every movement she made. She was a relatively tall woman, but lanky, and she didn't seem to have much muscle to have been able to fight such a creature as she did. "Oh, stop that, I'm no child for you to be finicky over," She chastised, trying to be strict as she smiled at him. "We'll take my ride back to the base."
"Again, I'm sorry, but who are you? 'Commander', they said? Commander who? Commander of what?" Tony asked, following her as she walked to the storage shed on the level. He was beginning to worry that she had hit her head as she fiddled around with the door handle of it, trying to open it.
"Oh, sorry, I'm terrible at introductions. I'm the Commander, that's all. No need for any other names," the Commander told him, flashing him a quick smile before she started digging in her pockets. She soon pulled out a key and rammed it into the lock, pushing the door open and going inside as she retrieved the key. "Now, come on, let's go to get you some supplies to clean my arm with, like you said."
His face was contorted with confusion as he watched her waltz into the storage shed. She must've hit her head sometime during that fight and was delirious. He really needed to get her to a hospital, or back to the base, to get properly checked out.
"Well? You coming?" She called from within the shed, causing him to frown and move forward to retrieve her.
What he ran into, though, was completely unexpected. His eyes widened as he looked around, sputtering in confusion. It was huge! There was a huge room inside of the tiny storage shed! That was impossible! He quickly backtracked and looked at it from the outside again before moving inside, trying to wrap his head around the idea. "This is impossible; it's bigger on the inside!"
"Impossible? No. Improbable? Yes!" Was the Commander's response, obviously delighted with his reaction. "It's called a TARDIS: time and relative dimensions in space," She explained, gesturing to the machine around her. "We're in the console room. This is where I pilot her from," She placed a hand on the chair she stood beside and quickly pulled it back, grimacing at the blood she left on it. "Let's go get this cut cleaned up, yeah?"
"Yeah…" He mumbled, still looking around in awe. There were metal pillars leading up to the ceiling at an angle, with odd round shapes placed around the walls in a pattern that seemingly had no point. In the middle of the room was a giant glass container with an oddly pulsating red light, surrounded by what looked to be controls. There was a slight humming noise throughout the room, which he assumed belonged to the motor of the strange machine. He didn't notice as the Commander sighed and shook her head, moving forward and grabbing his hand to pull him along with her. He was even more surprised to find himself moving down a hallway, which added even more impossibilities to the list. The hallway was relatively plain, with doors scattered here and there, but where they ended up was anything but ordinary. The room they were now in was scathingly white, but in a sterile way, like a hospital. Various instruments were strewn around; along with several containers that he could register as a place to deposit medical waste. He felt her grip on his hand release as she moved away to sit on one of the beds, watching him observe the room.
"Maybe instead of just gaping at everything, you could do something you're familiar with, like sterilizing this before it gets infected," the Commander suggested to him, inclining her head to her arm. "You'll find all you need in that cabinet right there," she pointed it out with her Converse clad foot as she watched him, smiling again as he moved to do what she suggested.
They continued on in silence for a few moments while he got the necessary supplies and cleaned her wound, wondering how she managed to wince only slightly when he poured the antiseptic on it. It was almost as if she didn't feel the pain. She maybe didn't. She walked around in this TARDIS like she owned it, and he knew that it definitely wasn't from Earth. There was no way they had developed technology like this. If that was the case, he was left to assume she may be an alien instead of a human. She looked human, though. Her skin felt cooler than human skin, but it was possible her species has a lower body temperature. Either that, or she was just cold. He would've continued on that train of thought, trying to decide whether or not she was human, but she cleared her throat.
"That, uh, that thing… That thing that you did, out there, with the Weevil," she stumbled across her words as if she found it difficult to speak all of the sudden, which surprised him into looking up to meet her eyes. "It was, uh, good," she finally managed to say, smiling at him nervously. "Thanks."
"No problem," He replied, unsure of what else to say. He was confused by her sudden apparent shyness. Did she not thank people often? Maybe he should feel honored. But what would make her react in such a way? It was almost like she didn't expect help from anyone else. The others that work with them seemed like a respectable sort; they would have jumped in to help her if they could have. "This looks like it's gonna heal right up," he told her, looking back down at it. "I thought it was deeper before, but I was apparently wrong. It probably won't even scar."
"Nah, I doubt it would," she replied, smiling at him. "It'd take a lot more than that to scar me!" She jumped up then, startling him at the suddenness. It seemed she was over the previous embarrassment. "And you weren't wrong, Anthony. It was deeper before. I just healed up already."
"You… healed up?" He questioned her, furrowing his brows. "That doesn't make any sense."
"No. I guess not," She amended, grinning wolfishly. "Not if you're human. But I'm not! And you already knew that. I could tell by the way you were looking me over. You've got a very sharp eye, Doctor Anthony Miner."
"How did you know my full name?" He asked her, unsure of how to approach the sudden revelation that he was in the same room as an alien—an attractive one, at that. "And please, call me Tony."
"Oh, well, I may have done some digging around in David's mind to find that out," shrugging nonchalantly she began to exit the room, beckoning him to follow her. "I didn't think it would be right to go rifling through your thoughts without even knowing you, so I did it to him. Probably annoyed him, too," grinning, she led him back to the console room they were in before, "Now then, we should probably get back to them. What do you think?"
"I… I don't know. If you aren't human, what are you?" he asked her quietly, standing awkwardly to the side as she moved around the console, looking at a screen and flicking buttons. "You certainly look human."
"No," she suddenly insisted, looking at him instead of the screen in front of her. "You look Time Lord. We came first."
"But that's impossible!" He replied, taken aback by what she had said.
"No, no," she chided, frowning at him. "It's only improbable. There's a difference."
"Right, I guess I should've expected a reply like that," he countered, frowning back at her. She wasn't necessarily the easiest person to talk to when she found himself facing such an impossible situation.
"Always expect the unexpected," she grinned at him, her chiding tone gone. "Now, then, what'd you wanna do?"
Tony sighed and shook his head, moving around to look at the screen with her. He only found himself staring at numerous symbols and shapes that he didn't understand, though. "I don't know. What'd you say this thing was? A TARDIS? Time and relative dimensions in space?"
"Oh, yes, exactly," she responded, apparently delighted that he had remembered it word for word.
"Time and space, huh? Does that mean it's a spaceship?" his questioned was answered with an ecstatic nod, which urged him to continue his train of thought. "And a… time-ship? Time machine, even?" when he received another nod he felt slightly more confident, beginning to smile. "That's… amazing, but we really should get back to the others…"
"Oh, like they'll know we've gone anywhere! It's time and space, remember? I could get us there at any time I wanted!" she finally spoke with glee, beginning to hop around the entire console, pressing buttons and pulling levers. "You should hold on!" she called to him, laughing as the ship began to jerk.
He desperately clung onto a rail beside him, observing how her white shirt no longer had any blood on it. He'd just have to check it off as an alien thing, he guessed. He'd also have to put erratic behavior, overbearing giddiness, and childish antics on that list. He just wondered where she was taking him, and why he even trusted her to begin with.
It wasn't long until she began slowing down, locking things into place as the TARDIS steadied out. Tony was able to let go of the railing as she checked everything, mumbling to herself and nodding. "Alright, we're ready. I've extended the oxygen field a bit so we can walk out a little further."
"That sounds nice and reassuring," he said quietly, frowning in apprehension. He wasn't sure he actually did want this. He had no idea where they were… or when. He couldn't fight his overwhelming curiosity, though.
The Commander offered him a reassuring smile, as if she knew he was uncertain, and offered her hand to him. He took it without hesitation, letting her pull him along to the door. "You ready?" she asked him, offering him a grin.
"Not really," he said, smiling nervously. Her enthusiasm was a little contagious, but he couldn't help but to be scared of what was beyond those doors.
"Oh well," she quipped with a grin, pushing the door open and dragging him with her.
As they emerged through the door Tony felt his breath hitch in his throat; floating in front of them, thousands of miles away, was the Earth. Beneath his feet was the moon. "You've gotta be kidding me," he said in amazement, looking around them. "I'm on the moon."
The response he got was a solid punch in the shoulder.
"What the hell!" he exclaimed, holding onto his arm and frowning at her.
"What?" shrugging innocently, she motioned around them. "This is real. I thought something you humans did was put yourselves in pain when you think you're dreaming."
"That's just a saying!" he informed her, shaking his head. "I didn't need you to punch me. I believe this."
"Oh. Good. Right on, then," she was obviously surprised at how accepting he was of what was happening to him. She left him standing alone to walk out five more feet, stopping and turning to him. "This is where the field extended to. Go any further and you'll die."
"Oh, you're a very cheeky woman," he stated, grimacing. "I'm fine here, thanks."
"Yeah, don't blame you," she said, going back to him and sitting down. "Not too exciting, this. It's just the moon."
"What could be better than this? Not many people get to stand on the moon," he replied, crouching beside her. "This is absolutely fantastic."
"No, that's fantastic," she amended, pointing at the Earth. "That lot down there, the human race. No idea what's going on around them. They aren't alone in the universe, and they know it, somewhere deep down inside of them, but they don't care. They keep on living their lives, doing what they do best: surviving. And that's what they should be doing. They don't need to know about the rest of us out there in the universe. Not yet. And that's what we do, Tony Miner. We keep them from finding out, as best we can. We save them, we help them, we do whatever they need us to do, and then we go home at the end of the day with no one the wiser. We aren't appreciated; we're unknown to all but the highest of authorities. This isn't a job for glory seekers."
"No," he agreed, overwhelmed by the significance of the moment. "But it is a glorious job."
The Commander smiled at his words, nodding and standing up. "You're right in that. You're very accepting of all of this. Most people would have more questions."
"Well, I have no choice but to believe in the evidence of my own eyes," he informed her, looking back at the Earth. "As far as I can tell, you've transported me from somewhere down there," he pointed at the planet, "To here. That's enough proof for me."
She flashed him a grin as he looked back at her, motioning to the ship. "Welcome to Lincoln, Tony. Ready to head back?"
"You bet. It seems I need to read up on the anatomy and physiology of aliens now," smiling he moved to into the TARDIS, still curious as to how it actually worked. She followed him in, shutting the door firmly behind her.
"What do you say? Wanna get back before them?" She asked him, moving to the monitor and reading the symbols as they flew past. "I know for you and me it's been about twenty minutes, but if you want, I can get us back there at about… I dunno, sixteen minutes ago?"
"Whatever you want," he told her, readily grasping the bars surrounding the center console. "I'm just going to hold on."
The Commander offered him a warm smile with rose tinted lips before she began running around the console, adjusting knobs, pressing buttons, and pulling levers. Tony held on tightly as the TARDIS began to come to life, shaking around as if it was in motion. It wasn't long until they were still again, and the Commander motioned to him to let go of the railing. "Alright, here we are. Let's go."
Tony nodded as he followed the Commander out of the TARDIS, marveling at the fact that they were actually back at the Lincoln base. She seemed to have kept her word, too, because no one was there. "So… we really did it, then? Traveled in time?"
"Yep," she nodded, confirming his thoughts. "Not that big of a deal. I'll make sure to give David some books for you to read, on alien anatomy and whatever it was you said." The Commander walked over to a plain gray couch that was pressed against the wall, plopping herself down onto it. "They'll be here soon."
Almost on cue Tony began hearing the voices of the others, turning to watch as they emerged from a hallway off to the right. He watched them in anticipation, wondering where the Weevil had gone. They all looked the same as they did not long ago. David was even carrying the hat the Commander seemed to have forgotten about at the parking garage.
"Oi, you forgot something," David called to the Commander, waving it around. "And where the hell have you been?"
The Commander harrumphed at David's treatment of her hat, launching herself off of the couch and marching over to him. "I'll have you know," she began, waving her finger in his face, "That I—" she paused, scrunching her brows in thought.
"That you what? Lost track of time on the fifth moon of some blue planet where the people resembled ants?" David remarked, raising his eyebrow at her and grinning.
"I…" she continued, releasing the breath she had been holding and taking a step back. With every second of silence, she seemed to get paler.
"Commander? You alright?" Tony questioned, moving forward a little. "You seem to have gotten a little bit pale."
"Yeah," she blinked several times as she took another step away from David, beginning to sway. "Don't worry."
Tony and David both moved forward to her, unwilling to let her fall. "Don't worry about what, Commander?" David asked her, holding onto her left arm to steady her. Tony stood with a grasp on her right.
"Me," she said meekly, losing the strength in her knees, her legs buckling. David and Tony held onto her tightly, keeping her from hitting the ground. "I just forgot, that's all. I forgot…"
"What'd you forget?" David questioned her, peaking around to see her face. "Why are you practically passing out?"
"Oh," she exclaimed, her lips forming an 'o' as she remembered. "Radiation."
That caused Tony's eyebrows to perk up as he began to look her over again. She wasn't exhibiting any typical signs of radiation poisoning, but he didn't really know what to look for if she was an alien. "Let's get you to the med bay." He lifted slid his arm around her back, crouching to do the same behind her legs as he lifted her. "We can't hold you up forever."
The Commander only murmured a response as her head drooped, to which the rest of the group took to be permission. David and Tony went on to the medical bay while the rest of them went to their desks to do the paperwork that came along with the Weevil.
"What's happened to her? Do you know?" David asked as they laid her down on one of the beds, his forehead creased in worry.
"She said radiation. I can only assume it's radiation poisoning. She isn't really exhibiting any of the typical symptoms, but she did say she wasn't human, so I don't know why I expected it," Tony informed him, pulling a stethoscope off the wall.
"Well, she was acting a little strange, for her," David admitted, shrugging. "I just figured she had a good time off where ever she was. Maybe that's what radiation does to her species?"
"Maybe," unsure, Tony only nodded a little, placing the stethoscope over the left side of her chest. Her heartbeat was strong and steady, which was good, but there was something else… Narrowing his eyes in confusion Tony moved the stethoscope over to the right side of her chest. His eyes widened when he realized just what the odd sound in her chest was. "She has two hearts. Two hearts? How is that even possible? Do you think she has multiples of other organs?"
"I dunno," David answered, watching Tony with amusement. "I only knew about the hearts thing."
Tony shook his head, sitting in one of the nearby chairs. That was weird. It was even weirder that she took so long to exhibit any symptoms. Actually, he wasn't even sure what was wrong with her. He'd just have to wait, hope, that she woke up, and then—
The Commander jerked upright suddenly, her eyes wide and breathing heavily. Both Tony and David jumped, startled, before moving to her side. She stared, unseeing, at the wall in front of her for a few seconds before plopping back down on the bed, her eyes wandering from David to Tony. "Did I pass out?"
David shook his head as she asked them, chuckling, "Oh, yeah. You sort of passed out."
"Was it at least a little bit respectable?" She questioned, looking between him and Tony. "Please don't tell me I flailed or anything."
"Nope," Tony interjected, shaking his head. "You just sort of collapsed. Looked like your knees went weak. What happened?"
"Oh, well," she began, sitting up again. "I went spelunking into a class 4 O star…"
"You did what?" David exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief. "There's no way you could go spelunking in a star."
"That's what I said! But then there it was: a spelunking star. It was huge. It was also alive, and in a lot of pain. They had drilled a lot of holes in it for spelunking. I guess I underestimated the amount of radiation in its core when I went to go calm it down. Oh well. It could've been worse," she finished with a nod, throwing her legs off the side of the bed. "I apologize if I was acting strange. Radiation tends to get to my head a little. Are you the new guy?"
"Yeah," Tony said, shaking his head in disbelief. "We've met. You took me to the moon."
"Oh," she blinked slowly, furrowing her brows in thought. "I suppose I did. Sorry. They shouldn't have left you with me, though, so it wasn't my fault. Welcome to Lincoln, Noobie. If you need anything ask David, and if he gives you any problems don't be afraid to tell me." Finished speaking, she stood up, nodding to them both as she exited the room. It was almost like she was a completely different person.
"She's not acting the same," Tony said to David, frowning at the other man.
"No. She's acting like normal, now," David told him with a knowing smile, shrugging. "You'll get used to it. She's not that bad. A little rough around the edges, maybe, but she's decent enough. Really, though. If you need anything all you have to do is ask."
"Well," he took a moment, considering what he had learned, "I'd like some books on aliens. I need to learn their anatomy, or I won't be able to do my job well."
"Consider it done," David grinned, nodding and rushing out of the room. It was pretty obvious that he didn't want to be left answering the new guy's questions.
That was fine with Tony. He wanted to be left alone a while. He had a lot to think over. In fact, the only other interruption that day was when David came back with a box full of assorted books. They chatted idly for a bit before David left again. Tony began reading almost immediately after David had left, not looking up again from the pile of books until he heard the door open.
"Hey, Noobie," the Commander's voice called, causing him to look up at her. She didn't look much different from before. She had her fedora on, which he thought was a bit silly, and appeared to have redone her natural toned makeup(or possibly her species just naturally look that way.) "Are you planning on going home tonight?"
Startled, he pressed the button on his iPhone, seeing the time on the now lit display. "I didn't even realize it was already past seven," he told her, standing up, "I got a little caught up with reading."
She only nodded, watching him as made sure he had his keys and wallet. "You can't take the book home tonight. Maybe another time, but not now. I can't risk them falling into someone else's hands."
"I understand," he nodded, smiling slightly. He wasn't really sure he liked how cold she had become, but she might've just been tired. "I'll just be leaving, then."
"I'll walk you out," she told him, walking back out into the hallway. They continued walking in silence for several moments until he couldn't take it anymore.
"Are you not going home for the night?" he asked, glancing over at her.
She looked at him, appraising the nature of his question, "I stay here. I suppose you could call this place my home."
He could only nod as he thought of the implication, looking around at the base. As far as he could tell there weren't any bedrooms. Maybe she meant in her TARDIS? Or maybe she didn't sleep at all? He had no idea. The first thing he had looked for was a book on her species, Time Lord, but had found nothing. Not even a small mention. It wasn't long until they emerged out of a door he hadn't noticed before. He looked around curiously, noting that they weren't that far from the Lincoln Memorial. They had come out of a closed down snack shop.
"Off you go," she told him, waving in the direction of the street. "Try not to get attacked by Weevils."
"Technically I saved you from the last one," he reminded her, offering her a friendly grin.
"Yep," she said, popping the 'p' at the end. She didn't offer him a smile in return. Instead, she began walking away, her hands folded behind her back.
Tony frowned as he watched her walk away, wondering what she was going to do. It wasn't like he could stop her, after all, and they had his cell number to get ahold of him if anything happened over night. He watched her for a moment longer before shrugging, turning to walk away to where his car was parked down the street. He had his hands shoved into his pockets as he thought about the different species he had learned about that day, barely paying attention to anything, especially not the rhythmic sound of feet padding on the concrete behind him.
"Come on!" the Commander barked at him, grabbing his upper arm and dragging him with her as she ran, causing him to begin to run as well. "Run!"
"Run?" he exclaimed, surprised by her sudden appearance. "From what?" he asked, looking behind them. He very quickly wished he hadn't. She had been out of his sight for all of five minutes, and had already provoked a group of Weevils into chasing her. "What did you do?!"
"What did I do?!" she yelled back, glaring at him, "I didn't do anything! I just thought I smelled something weird, so I checked it out, and then I found them! They're chasing me! I'm not chasing them! Turn!"
He was suddenly pulled into an alley to their right, the Weevils pursuing them having issues regaining their speed after the sudden turn. Tony wasn't sure what to do. He didn't have any weapons to defend them with, and it seemed like all the Commander was interested in doing was running. He'd have to invest in some running shoes soon if his new job was going to be like this. "Shouldn't we call the others?" he questioned her, glancing behind them to see the Weevils beginning to catch up.
"I don't know, maybe!" was her response, letting go of his arm to begin digging in her bag. "I personally don't see the point," she said, pulling out a rather impressive looking pistol from the depths of her purse. It didn't look like any weapon he had seen on Earth, so he assumed it was alien in nature. It was chrome, but had a large and glowing red center.
"What is that?" he asked her, now finding himself struggling to keep up with her after she let go of him.
"It's a gun!" she responded, annoyed, because she thought that was obvious. "They need to be dispatched!"
"You're going to kill them?" he squeaked out, skidding to stop running after he realized she had stopped and turned around.
"Yes," she replied calmly, raising it and aiming, "I am."
He had no chance to respond as a metallic whizzing noise echoed through the alleyway. He watched helplessly as she gunned down the six Weevils funneling their way to them in the alley. He now understood why she had chosen to pull him down into it. It forced the Weevils to run by a straight line, allowing only two to stand beside each other. It was easier for her to pick them off. He watched with an emotion akin to horror as they seemed to disintegrate before his eyes, listened to their panicked cries. He could hardly believe that the wonderful, philosophical, intelligent, alien woman; the woman who had spoken so kindly of the Earth and what she did, would so willingly kill these creatures. Did the same compassion for humans not pass on with other species in her mind? He wasn't sure. He wasn't even sure he could speak after witnessing that.
"Stop it," she snapped back at him, ejecting the red coil from the center of the gun before putting it back into her bag. "If you're going to stare at me at least close your mouth."
"But you just… You just killed them, like it was nothing, in cold blood. They were defenseless to an attack like that," he protested, coming to his senses and walking up to her.
The Commander sighed as he spoke, shaking her head. "No. They weren't defenseless. They'd have torn us apart with their teeth."
"But they were unarmed. We could've—should've—called the others and attempted to catch them. You didn't kill the one earlier today," he pointed out, his frown creasing all of his features. "I mean, honestly, you had me thinking we were doing something good here. Like we were helping people. And aliens. But look at this. Look at you!" he suddenly exclaimed, pointing at her calm face, "You don't care to kill these living beings. If that's what Lincoln is about, I've changed my mind."
They stared at each other in silence for a few moments, neither of them daring to break it. It was a battle of their wills, and they were both very strong. Neither refused to break eye contact, barely breathing, waiting to see who would give in. Much to the surprise of Tony, it wasn't him to break first.
"You're free to do as you please," the Commander had spoken, glancing away from him and to where the Weevils once were. "Go home. Think it over. Come back in tomorrow, regardless of if you decide against working with us. And don't tell the rest of the team. I will know if you do." Her last few words were spoken quietly, but were laced with vehemence.
It was obvious to him that she was done speaking to him. He could tell that she still wasn't bothered by what she had done, but she wanted to make sure he had to think it over before deciding on quitting his new job. And like hell he wouldn't tell any of the others. They deserved to know what their leader was doing behind their backs. "I'll see you in the morning," he responded, stuffing his hands into his pocket and moving past her. He rushed back the way they had come from, not stopping until he was next to his driver's side door and searching for his keys in his pockets.
"They fell out," a monotonous voice told him, prompting him to look to see the Commander holding his keys out to him.
"Thanks," he mumbled back, quickly unlocking his doors and getting in. She didn't reply to him, only watched as he buckled his seat belt and began to back out of the spot and drive away. He found it slightly unnerving, seeing her there. In the alley he had seen the fires of war burning in her eyes, changing her soft features into something more dangerous. When he saw her then, holding his keys out to him, he saw something much different in her eyes: weariness. Her eyes looked so old, so battle-worn, but her body was so young. She made no sense to him. If he had found a book explaining her species, then he could've possibly understood the mixed signals. As it was, he was left to assume she was just older than she looked. Maybe not extremely, but enough. She most definitely knew how to handle a tight situation and her sudden personality switches had him thinking on mental disorders she could have. The only exception was that he had no idea whether or not that was just how her species acted, and until then he was only left with his silent speculations.
He would have never even considered running down into that narrow alley, and until he had seen what she was doing, funneling them into her bullets, he hadn't understood. As soon as he understood, he'd wished he hadn't. Perhaps her nickname, Commander, was something she actually earned. He didn't want to think on it anymore as he entered his apartment, shedding his shoes off and locking the door behind him. He only wanted to shower and sleep.
The following morning he anxiously went back to Lincoln, unsure of what would occur. He was standing by the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln as he thought about the events of the previous night, completely on the rocks about what his decision would be. Taking a night to think about it had definitely been for the best, but he still disagreed with what the Commander had done. He didn't get to spend time alone with his thoughts for very long before he saw David approaching him, as jovial as ever.
"Morning," he greeted Tony happily, waving as he came over. He stopped by him, his smile faltering a bit when he noticed that Tony seemed to be in a less than happy mood. "Something bothering you?"
Tony took a moment to process the question, wondering over his options. He could let the shorter man know about what had happened the previous night; on the other hand, he ran the risk of angering his new boss. He ultimately sighed and shrugged, gesturing for the David to join him on the lift before it descended into the base. "Just having some trouble processing all of this, I guess," he finally said, gesturing around to their surroundings as the underground office came into view.
"Well," apparently David had been expecting a response such as that, because he recovered his happy mood as quickly as he lost it, "That's to be expected. There's a lot to take in, considering yesterday morning you didn't even know aliens were a common thing. Now you're working with one!"
"With?" Tony asked quickly, raising an eyebrow in question. "I thought she was the boss?"
David shrugged, his eyes wandering over to where the Commander was sprawled out on the gray couch. He knew she was listening, like always. She typically just laid there until something exciting happened, and then she'd help them out. "I'd not go that far, might give her an even bigger ego," he joked, jerking a thumb at her as she stuck her middle finger up and pointed it at them in a sign of annoyance. "She helps us out. We don't really have a boss, but if we did it'd be her. She takes on the official role of it, but hates it. She has to play goody-goody for the higher-ups."
"Only because they're too dumb to realize I'm here to help them, not be their puppet," the Commander called to them, rolling over to view them as they stepped off of the lift. "You're the first two in."
"Is that really something surprising?" David asked as he moved past her and to his desk, turning his computer on and putting his things away.
"Not for you," she replied, watching Tony as he idled in the main room. "But it's his second day, so it's new. Well, it is your second day, right, Anthony?" her question was obvious laced with secrecy, hinting back at the previous night in a way that David wouldn't understand without having been told prior.
"Yes," he replied promptly, frowning at her. If she wanted to play the cold game, he could too. "I thought about it after I got home last night, and regardless of you killing those Weevils in cold blood with no intention of reporting the encounter I still would like to work here."
That caught David's attention rather quickly, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair as he turned to look between the Commander and Tony. "You did what, now?"
"I've got some reading to do," Tony replied casually, trying to keep his face calm as inwardly he jumped for joy at one-upping the Commander. He knew better than to sit and gloat, though, and quickly high-tailed it into the med bay to continue his reading from last night. He didn't feel too bad about putting the Commander in the spotlight about it with David, considering she had been the one to be rude first. He was surprised, though, to find that the near-empty bookshelf in the corner of the room was now full of the books he had last night and several others. It was almost like a second Christmas, except they weren't wrapped up and under a tree. He could only imagine the conversation going on in the other room as he settled into one of the chairs in the room, opening several books on the counter in front of him.
He had been reading for about an hour when the door to the room slammed open, revealing the blonde woman who had been the very center of his thoughts as he read about the Silurians, homoreptilia that thrived thousands of years ago. He watched her curiously, an eyebrow raised as he watched her storm across the room and throw herself onto one of the hospital beds in the room. He wasn't sure whether or not he was supposed to talk. She obviously came in here for a reason, but without saying anything he wasn't sure how to react. He could tell she wanted some sort of a reaction from him by the way she was laying. Her arms were crossed over her chest, she had one leg crossed on the other, her ankles locked tightly at the end. Her eyes were closed, but he knew she was listening to every movement he made. She was extremely observant, so he hoped she recognized the fact that he turned back to his books instead of talking to her was a sign of spite.
She apparently understood what he was doing. He heard her roll over to face him, and practically felt the eyes boring into the back of his head. He continued to ignore her, aware of the fact that it was taking everything she had to not burst out at him first. He quite enjoyed the battle of wills they had partaken in since last night, but he knew it wouldn't last. He didn't know much about her species, but he needed to. He wanted to be able to properly treat everything he ran across, and that included her. With a sigh, he gave up their silent feud, turning around to face her.
"I can't find anything in these about, what did you say, 'Time Lords'," it wasn't phrased as a question, but they both knew it was one. He wanted to know why they were conveniently left out of everything. He was beginning to suspect she had gone through and erased anything about her species in the books.
"Oh," the tone of her voice was a bit surprised as she processed his question. She had apparently been expecting different words to be uttered from his lips. "Well, we're secretive," she finally said, sitting up and shrugging. "But you're not likely to run into any other Time Lords, so you don't realistically need to know about it."
There was something hidden within her words. Tony was sure of it. He just didn't know what to make about her last comment. "Why wouldn't I run into any other Time Lords?"
The Commander seemed forlorn for a moment as her lips pursed. He could see her contemplating a response in the silence, but ultimately she just shrugged and said: "You just wouldn't. No reason."
"Okay," Tony agreed, not wanting to push a potentially sensitive area, "What about yourself? I'm going to be running across you nearly every day, aren't I? I feel like I should at least be able to treat you properly if you get wounded," his argument was solid and he knew it, he could even see that she knew it. He just didn't understand why she wouldn't just tell him.
"No need to worry about me," her response was much quicker this time, her sky blue eyes peering into his own brown. "You'll find that I generally take care of myself."
"Commander, you have a bivascular system. That's pretty different from humans. I can't just treat you like a human with two hearts because there's no such thing." Persistence was key, he felt like.
"Oh, never treat me like a human. Most of your medicines will probably kill me," she said with a nod, a smile beginning to lighten her features. "Aspirin, in particular. But for the most part my person will take care of itself. It's one of the genetic adaptations made to some of our military."
"Aspirin?" He asked incredulously, turning around to write it down in the notebook he had, frowning. "I'm not sure I understand that one, but alright. I especially don't know if I agree with genetically manipulating anyone, regardless of their occupation. But is there anything else?"
The look on her face when he turned around was one of mild shock, which caused him to grin. She had just realized that he had inadvertently gotten her to tell him about some of the health concerns and culture of her species. "There were some desperate times in which genetic manipulation was deemed necessary. But how did you do that? How did you weasel your way to find that out?" she asked him, leaning forward on her knees, her feet swinging as she watched him curiously.
"I had a few psych courses in school," the grin didn't leave his face as he shrugged nonchalantly; trying to blow it off like it was nothing.
"You don't understand," she cut in, leaning back again and propping herself up with her arms. "You just got me to give you information without me even realizing it until it was too late. That's something I need to be careful with. No one has ever gotten me to talk when I didn't want to before; not in a long time, anyway. I was trained against that sort of thing."
"What do you mean, 'trained'?" he questioned her, his eyebrows rising as his curiosity piqued.
"Basic military training, not related to the genetics thing," she said with a shrug, still eyeing him suspiciously. "Why so curious?"
"Basic training doesn't cover what to do in a situation in which information could be compromised," he replied, frowning. "And I assume that's what you meant when you said 'no one has gotten me to talk before'. You're speaking like you've been in a war before." It would make sense to him if she had, he decided.
The next response he got came much slower and quieter than the last few; which caused him to frown at the implications. "I was in a war, once," she told him, locking eyes with him. Her eyes were deep, serious, and he would've sworn that they held all of the fires of the universe in them. "The last 'great' Time War. Nothing 'great' about it. Not that you'd remember it anyway, but I was in it. I was a commander in the military, if you didn't already guess."
Considering what his next question should be, Tony found himself wondering just how long ago this war was. He had never even heard of it, let alone the ones before it. He was also baffled by her use of the word 'last'. It was a very strange way to word her sentence. He wetted his lips before he spoke, locking eyes with her once again, "I have a lot of questions. You probably won't answer many of them. But what'd you mean by 'last'? And what kind of war was it? When was it? Were you injured in it? Are you really the age you look like?" He waited with bated breath as she took in everything he said, hoping she'd answer at least some of it.
"You're right," she told him with a smile, standing up. "I probably won't answer many of those. In fact, I don't think I'll answer any."
Tony watched her as she exited the room, hair swishing behind her, flabbergasted. He couldn't believe she had done that. She led him on up until the point that he had started asking the questions he thought were worth something, then she just walked out as if she hadn't been asked anything at all. It was frustrating to him if only for the fact that he had wanted to learn more about her species and the one they were at war with; he was curious above all else. That bothered him, but he'd never show her that it did. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to antagonize her. He was always respectful of his superiors – 'was' being the key word. Something about her made him want to act out, to try and get her to act like she had the day he met her. He was awe stricken when they met by her intelligence, her TARDIS, her sense of humor, and even her ages old wisdom… however, she now only acted in a way he could only describe as cold. It was like she gave everyone the cold shoulder.
He spent a few more minutes wondering about her and what had been said before he turned back to his notebook. He sighed as he saw the page labeled "Time Lord" and a few written on it, about her bivascular system, apparent genetic alterations, and the other about aspirin being a poison. He'd just have to find out more another day. For now he resigned himself to studying the species in the other books. He spent most of the day doing this because there were no dire situations that needed the entire team to go out.
The Commander left out a couple of times with either David or Grant for company each time. They caught a couple of Weevils, but it was a fairly calm day. Emma informed him that it was actually pretty normal for it to be that way. It wasn't often that the rift actually flared up like it had the previous day, and most of their calls were about Weevils who were harassing humans. He was fairly surprised when 7 PM rolled around. He wasn't sure whether or not he actually expected the Commander to show up again and tell him the time, but she didn't show up. He found himself walking out of the base alone, wondering where she had been.