Chapter Andy Met the Doctor Part 2
The Doctor bounced off the train over to an officer off to the side. I noticed one of the monsters leering at me I followed behind, not wanting to be alone. The officer also had the green pus running down his arm. I needed a gas mask.
"Hello there Officer… Shumway. Right, so, I'm the Chief Scientific Advisor of the Ministry of Defense. You can call me the Doctor," he added," oh and this is Andy Brando, my assistant." The Doctor flashed a wallet with a white blank card. I confusedly inspected it when Officer Shumway nodded. Did he actually believe him? The card was blank!
The Doctor winked at me.
Officer Shumway told us," it was the bloody weirdest thing. Out of nowhere, out walk those things on the tracks. One of my mates, Todd, bless his soul, walked over to 'em and started questioning 'em. Next thing you know, one takes a bite out of his face! Another finishes him off, and by the time I make my way over it takes a bite out of my arm! One of the other officers fired at 'em and I was able to get away. They spread out and started eating everybody. By the time, we were able to corner 'em, they had sealed off all the exits so we're trapped with 'em until someone on the outside gets help. But we're running out of bullets to hold 'em off and they don't kill 'em anyways, just injures 'em for a while then they heal. Bloody bastards." Shumway paused, hissing in pain as more pus poured out his wound. The smell made me feel faint.
"I don't know how much longer we can hold 'em off till help comes. The smell in here is making people delirious and the blood, suicidal. My arm is fucked up and they'll have to cut it off-" He stopped, hearing a gunshot go off. The monster groaned in pain and fell to the back of the pack." I might not make it out of here." Shumway finished.
"Well the good news is that I can promise to get you out of here. The bad is that you'll definitely be losing that arm. When the Vulture Demon bit you, that's what they are, Vulture Demons. He injected a poison, which is disintegrating the muscles and tissues in your arm. Makes it easier to bite and chew through."
I grimaced, he continued," now, they are easy to defeat. All we need is fire but a really big one," he gestured with his arms the size. "Unfortunately, I can't make one without the right tools but I may be able to reason with them. Get them to back down." I told you he was insane. I was right about the common sense thing." As for your arm, if only I had my sonic. I could analyze how much longer you'll have with it. And see how much longer it'll take before the poison spreads to the rest of your body, killing you."
"I can't feel my arm no more," Shumway whimpered.
"Oh, oh, oh, that is bad. We maybe have an hour and a half before it spreads and it's too late to save you. But it's hard to tell without my sonic. Lost it yesterday. Haven't found time to replace it yet-"
I cut him off. "What this?" I asked pulled the sonic out of my jacket.
"My sonic!" cried the Doctor.
He grabbed it from my hand, giving it a big kiss. Shumway and I exchanged looks of bewilderment.
"I thought it was a laser pen," I said.
"A laser pen?! No, no. This is a sonic screwdriver. It can do most anything. It is not a laser pen." He pointed it at Officer Shumway's right arm, the green stone glowing once again.
"Ah, like I said before, about an hour and a half till it's too late to save you. But I can guarantee you'll make it out of here alive. I'm the Doctor."
Turning to me he said, "Why didn't you return it earlier?"
I shrugged. " I was distracted by your abnormally large chin, the train breaking down, oh and 'Vulture Demons', who apparently like to eat people's faces off, like the guy on bath salts in Miami." I kissed my teeth, glancing at the Vulture Demons.
"My chin is not abnormally large," he whined.
Sharing another look with Shumway, I chuckled.
"Whatever you wanna tell yourself."
After feeling his chin, the Doctor said, "Well let's get a move on. We've got a station full of people to save." Moving past me, he bounded over to the line of officers holding off the Vulture Demons.
Shumway shrugged with his good shoulder and followed him. Sighing, I went as well and caught up just as the Doctor was about to talk down the pack of Vulture Demons.
"Right, hello, I'm the Doctor. Now you have been eating these humans. Which is bad. You can't go around eating people's faces off! That's not very polite. Now, why don't you run off back to your planet and leave the poor humans alone. How bout it?"
Silence fell as everyone within hearing distance stared at the Doctor. Well, crazy people can be quite foolish. I thought he was supposed to talk them down, not talk down to them.
A Vulture Demon at the front lunged at the Doctor. An officer grabbed his jacket and pulled him behind the wall of officers as more shots fired.
Smacking him on the arm I yelled," I thought you were supposed to be helping not making things worse?!"
He smiled guilty. "Something like this always ends up happening. But I fix things. Eventually."
I blew a raspberry. I noticed the line of police eyes were watering and the stench of death assaulted me. The smell was coming from the pack of Vulture Demons. I backed away, pulling the Doctor with me.
"I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe." I wheezed out. My eyes were watering like the officers. The smell did not seem to have an effect on the Doctor.
"There you go with the broken record thing again," the Doctor said.
"…Shut… up." It took a lot of effort to say that. The Doctor eyed me up and down. Taking my arm, he nodded at Shumway and dragged me over to a far off corner of the station.
"You weren't that affected when you first got over there," Shumway stated.
Placing my hands on my knees, I slid down the wall. "I think my fear was distracting me."
I breathed more deeply. My body was suffering from the lack of oxygen. The smell was not as prevalent over here, though. I watched as the Doctor paced back and forth. The sight was making me dizzy.
"Okay, we need a new plan. Obviously, they are not going to surrender and we are running out of resources to keep them contained. We need to make a fire. A really, really big, fire. Maybe we can burn something. "He looked wildly around the station.
"Making a fire won't do anything unless we can get them on there. And a fire will take too long to kill them. No, no, we need something more powerful." He rubbed his hands together and shifted on the balls of his feet.
"May I make a suggestion?" I piped up after a moment of silence.
Grabbing the Doctor's outstretched hand; I stood up but wobbled a bit.
"You have a plan?" Shumway asked.
"Depends; does anyone in here have any hairspray, nail polish remover, gum, a cigarette, a lighter, and a giant trash can?"
Looking between the two men, I watched their faces change from curious to bemusement.
"Uh, yeah here's a light and fag. And I'm sure one of the ladies has… hairspray and nail polish remover. But what is this going to do?" Shumway pulled out the said items and handed them over.
"It'll create a big explosion. But listen; I need you to get the Vulture Demons on the tracks and everybody as far away as possible. Do you think you can get the other officers to use all their bullets to get them there?"
"I'm sure I could. But that leaves us defenseless." Shumway's arm hung limply by his side; more pus was seeping out. My eye twitched at the smell.
"Don't worry about that. If my plan works, they'll be dead and you'll be on your way to a hospital."
The Doctor nodded in excitement. "I see where this is going; you clever, clever, girl you. I was wrong about you before. You are brilliant." He cradled my cheeks in his hands. I took them off my face and put them on his cheeks.
"Don't say that just yet. I could end up killing us all."
He waged a finger at me. "No, no. This will be cool, your greatest achievement thus far. You get to say you saved a station full of people." He grinned and winked.
I smiled back. "Well I'm sure you've done better. But we need to act fast. Doctor, can you get around and ask if anyone has nail polish remover and hairspray? I have gum. While you're at it get everyone as far away from the tracks as possible. Shumway, go tell the other officers the plan. I'll tell you when to give them the cue to start."
Simultaneously, they went off to do their separate duties. I pulled out a piece of gum and chumped on it loudly.
Five minutes later, I was pouring the nail polish remover in the trashcan along with the hairspray. I smoked the cigarette a bit after sticking the gum to the inside of the trashcan. I nodded at Shumway, who gave a whistle to the line of officers. They made a tight circle around the Vulture Demons and started firing at them. Slowly, they led them to the train tracks. The Vulture Demons fell back onto the track, next to the subway train we had gotten off. Sticking the lit cigarette on the gum, I backed away. The Doctor squeezed my shoulder then lifted the trashcan above his head.
"Get ready boys, I'm about to blow you away."
He couldn't be cornier if he tried. The Doctor tossed the trash can onto the Vulture Demons, and then sprinted over to Shumway and me.
My makeshift hairspray bomb went off in a ball of flames. The tongues licked the train and blew off the very front. The blast shook the entire station, sending some people to their knees. The stench of death shot up into the air, it mixed with the smoke and choked the air. It was hardly breathable for a few minutes.
After the smoke cleared, people made their way over to the ledge, to check if they were truly dead or not. A pile of ash was all that was left of them.
"Ring-a-round the rosie-"
The Doctor continued, "A pocket full of posies-"
"Ashes! Ashes!"
We smirked at each other as we said the last line together. "They all fell down!"
Laughing, he said, "normally, I don't celebrate the demise of my current advisories with a nursery rhyme but today I will an exception for a one Miss Andy Brando."
The Doctor kissed my forehead then clapped his hands together. "Right, then someone should clean all that up. I can't, I've got important scientific advisory things to do. Bye-bye Officer Shumway. Get that arm fixed up quick, will ya?" He furiously shook Shumway's good hand.
"And you, Andy Brando, I will see you soon."
He grabbed my hand and kissed it. Waving good-bye, he went off to who knows where after he blew open the exit doors with his sonic screwdriver.
Wait a second! He could have opened those doors a long time ago. I could have been home by now. That son of a-
"He could have opened those doors before, couldn't he?" Shumway questioned, cutting me off mid-thought.
"Duh."
"Hey, where did you learn to make that bomb?"
"Burn Notice," I deadpanned.
An hour later, Shumway was in surgery, along with other civilians who were injured by the Vulture Demons. One of the officers made sure my name was kept out of the press. My parents knew I was there, but no one outside those present knew of my involvement in the incident. My parents made me take the bus and or a cab wherever I needed to go now. Their paranoia was resilient.
Two weeks later, while walking home I spotted a blue police box on the corner of the street. Standing next to it with his arms folded was the Doctor. He smiled when he finally noticed, right when I was about to turn around and walk the other way.
"Andy Brando, lovely day isn't it?"
"Doctor? What are you doing here?" I fixed him with a suspicious look.
"I told you I would be seeing you again soon; came to keep my promise. I didn't overshoot her again did I?" He looked at the police box.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Um, I'm not sure what you mean by tha- "He cut me off.
"How long has it been since you've last seen me?"
"Oh, uh about two weeks," I shrugged.
"Brilliant! I actually got it right this time. Now, would you like to join me inside my blue box? I want to show you something."
I hope he does not want to show me what I think he wants to show me.
Deciding that I could take him if he tried anything I replied, "Isn't it gonna be a little cramped?"
"Nah. You'll find that it is very roomy." He winked.
I think he has eye problems.
"Fine, but you go first."
Flashing me a giant smile, he opened the door and went inside. Peeking in, I let out a gasp.
"Told you."
I goggled, walking inside. It looked like in a huge control room with three levels; at least I think it was a control room with a hexagonal console in the middle. It reminded me of a teched out Home Underground.
"Do you like it? It used to be neony but I changed it back a while ago. Never really liked the new design." He snapped his fingers and the door closed.
"It's… spacious… bigger on the inside… what is this place?"
I crept over to the console and touched the buttons. The Doctor watched me closely.
"It's the TARDIS."
"What? Is that even a proper word?"
"TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. She's a time machine; and a spaceship; a time machine and a spaceship. Isn't she beautiful?"
I nodded. "Gorgeous. A time machine? Is that why you've got the same clothes on? You've been jumping through time wearing the same clothes. Compared to our first meeting from three weeks ago, it must be the same day for you."
I placed my hand on my hip and looked at him expectantly.
"Well, I've been busy. Tracking down Vulture Demons takes a lot of time, you know. You're taking this better than most."
"I'm holding it in. I might have a panic attack soon. Speaking of Vulture Demons," I pointed a finger at him, "you said that there were disappearances, meaning that they would have been doing everything in secret. Why did they take over an entire subway station? "
"I suppose they got tired of only eating small amounts of people's faces off and decided to go for a bigger meal. Good plan; I would have done the same if I was them."
"And what's up with that paper you showed Shumway? It was blank but he believed you anyway when you said you were a Scientific Advisor for the Ministry of Defense."
He stopped fiddling with his bowtie. "What? It was blank? Oh that can't be right."
Pulling it out his jacket pocket, he flashed it at me.
"No, still blank. I'm guessing it's not supposed to do that."
Shoving it inside his jacket he said, "No no no, it's not. Do you know what this means?"
The Doctor turned on his heels and bounced about the room. He did not wait for me to answer.
"It means, Andy Brando, that you might be a Saturnyn"
"What? Are you just spurting out nonsense now?"
"Course not. Tell me, can you see yourself in reflections? Don't answer that, of course you can. This means that your IQ level is at least above average, higher than I thought before. You can be a genius if you wanted." I blinked.
"Not yet at least, you have untapped potential. If you continue to use that clever mind of yours to, I don't know, solve mysteries and just being in my presence, you'll eventually get there."
The Doctor leaned forward and knocked his fist lightly against my skull. I swiped at him, slapping him on the cheek.
"What are you? And why am I here? There's no mysteries to be solved in here but how your ego ever got that big." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"That hurt," he rubbed his cheek. "I'm a Time Lord-"
"Time Lord? That ego of yours has gotten bigger already."
"-Yes, yes, Time Lord. I have two hearts and a spaceship, that good enough for you? As for why you're here, my last travel companion Clara, said she needed a holiday from me-"
"I can see why," I interrupted.
Ignoring my comment he went on"-and ever since I've been shopping for a new one. And you, you clever cheeky girl, are perfect."
"Glad to know I'm just the replacement." I picked at my nails and rolled my eyes.
"There's that cheek I love." I fought off a smile.
"Let's say I do decide to travel with you, where would I sleep? Are there any bedrooms through that hallway?" I pointed to it.
"The TARDIS is infinite. You could have your own wing if you want. All built around your wants and needs."
That sounds tempting. He makes a good proposal. I might be giving in here.
"Do I get my own key?"
The Doctors face lit up. "Oh! Yes, yes of course. But before we finalize anything, how old are you?" His expression was serious for once.
I cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Why? Well, my new rule is that I only travel with adults. That's why. Too much danger for minors and I don't want to deal with parents."
"Well it just so happened that I'm 18. I took a gap year so I'm a year behind than I'm supposed to be."
Okay, so I lied. But he would have never let me go if I told him the truth. A little white lie won't hurt anyone.
"Perfect! Since you are new to traveling through all of space and time, where would you like to go first?" He asked a permanent grin on his face.
Thank the Lord, he believed me.
I tapped my chin, thinking. "Anywhere through time and space? Take me to a planet outside this galaxy. Somewhere you've never been. In the future," I added.
The Doctor's grin got bigger, if possible. "I knew I'd have fun with you. Most want to stay on earth."
He jumped all around the console, pushing buttons and flipping switches. I carefully observed everything. He turned to me.
"Right, Andy Brando. You better hold on," he placed his hand on a lever. I grabbed onto a bar.
"Ready. Set," he pulled down the lever.
"GERONIMO!"