New Earth 2.0
"Ok, mom, I gotta go," Olivia laughed, carrying a duffle bag as she, her mother, Joyce, and her best friend, Aaron stood in the front lawn of Joyce's home where the TARDIS was parked.
"Just be careful, please?" Joyce requested, still hugging Olivia.
"I will," she promised and Joyce finally released her to let her hug Aaron tightly with one arm. "Take care of her."
"You just get your butt home once in a while," he smiled as she pulled away and grinned back before hurrying into the TARDIS door.
She dumped her bag near the door and looked to the tall, brown-eyed, brunette, freckle-faced man standing at the console with a huge grin. He looked up at her as the door shut behind her and grinned in return as he pulled on two levers on the console before she ran toward him to stand with him at the console.
"Where are we going?" she asked him as he worked on the console, the TARDIS engines filling the room.
"Further than we've ever gone before," he replied before grinning, and that smile was so infectious that she couldn't help but grin back.
After everything they'd been through, she'd never felt as giddy as she did now. Was it the new face or the fact that she was back in the TARDIS? She didn't know, and honestly, she didn't care as the tall, handsome man she now knew as the Doctor ran around her, operating the console until the TARDIS came to a halt. He ran to the door and lifted his brown trench coat from the column next to it as Olivia pulled on a blue leather jacket and stepped out first.
Her eyes widened at the sight outside the door. They were parked on a hill, giving them a perfect view of the city beyond, vehicles flying through the air over the water of the coast around them.
"It's the year five billion and twenty-three," the Doctor explained, stepping next to her as the wind whipped around them. "We're in the galaxy M87, and this…this is New Earth. Not bad. Not bad at all."
"God, that's amazing!" she grinned. "I'll never get used to this. New ground, new sky and…new smells? What is that?"
She frowned as the Doctor bent down and pulled a blade of grass from the ground, holding it toward her, reporting, "Apple grass."
"Oh, that's awesome!" she grinned.
"Yeah, yeah," he nodded with a grin.
"I love this," she grinned back at him before taking his hand in hers. "I love…traveling with you."
"Me too," he grinned, and she could tell he was oblivious to what she really wanted to say. She was only half disappointed by it, but part of her didn't want him to know what she really meant. She was diverted when he dragged her ahead at a full run, still holding her hand. "Come on!"
She laughed, giddily as they stopped nearer to the coast and he pulled off his trench coat to spread it over the grass.
"Milady," he grinned, still holding her hand as she curtsied and he helped her recline back on one side of the coat, then laid down next to her. "So, the year five billion: the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted."
"First date," she recalled, grinning at him and he returned her grin.
"We had McDonald's," he recalled, making her grin widen and her heart fluttered at the fact that he'd remembered. "So, anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement. They find this place. Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit—lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in."
"So what's that city over there?" Olivia asked as he sat up on his elbows and she looked to him, expectantly.
"New New York," he replied, instantly.
"Serious?"
"It is! It's the city of New New York! Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original. That makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York."
"Think you missed one," she smirked, making him frown in thought before he caught on.
"I did not!"
Olivia couldn't help but giggle as she still stared at him.
"What?"
"You're just…so different," she shrugged.
"New New Doctor," he grinned, and she couldn't help but giggle again.
She couldn't believe how she was acting. It was the same man, just…different. Deciding to distract herself from it she shifted to stand, avoiding stepping on his coat.
"Can we go to the city they named twice?" she hoped as he stood as well, lifting his coat to pull it on.
"Well, I thought we might go there first," he confessed, making her frown when she followed his gaze to the building on the coast not too far away with a huge crescent moon on the side.
"What's that?" she asked, helping him put his coat on.
"Some sort of hospital. Green moon on the side: that's the universal symbol for hospitals," he replied, digging into his pocket to pull out his Psychic Paper and show it to her. "I got this. Message on the Psychic Paper. Someone wants to see me."
"'Ward twenty six. Please come'," Olivia read before he closed it and tucked it back into his pocket as she took his arm, sighing, "And I thought we were just on another date."
"We can sight-see later, I promise," he grinned, leading her toward the hospital. "Although…why does it have to be a hospital? I hate hospitals."
"Oh, that's rich, coming from the Doctor," she laughed as they quickly came to the doors of the hospital and stepped in.
"I can't help it," he replied. "I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps."
She kept hold of his arm as he led her through the lobby of the huge, sterile white building toward the lifts.
"This place is huge," she murmured as people milled around them, women in huge hats all in white with veils over their faces and patients alike. "Not even the ones back home are this open."
"No shop," the Doctor noticed as her arm slipped away from his to trail behind. "I like the little shop."
"This far in the future and they haven't cured everything yet?" she wondered, stopping when someone walked past her, the Doctor still heading toward the lifts.
"The human race moves on, but so do the viruses," he explained as Olivia stared at the cat faced woman in white that walking past her. "It's an ongoing war."
He stopped and turned just as she looked back at him with wide eyes.
"Cats," she chirped as he approached her again.
"Now, don't stare. Think what you look like to them all…" he looked her up and down, and she didn't fail to notice the look in his eyes before he resumed, "…pink and black. That's where I'd put the shop! Right there!"
Olivia frowned in the direction he pointed as he turned to head toward the lift head, telling it he wanted to go to Ward twenty-six.
"Wait! Doctor!" she called when she looked back and saw the doors closing on the lift, but when she ran toward them, they'd already closed.
"Oh, too late," he called. "I'm going up."
"It's ok, there's another elevator I can use!" she called, hurrying toward it.
"Ward twenty-six!" he told her. "And watch out for the disinfectant!"
"Why?! What's it do?!"
She couldn't hear his reply when he made it.
"What?!"
She didn't hear whatever he said after that and by then her lift had arrived. She stepped in and glanced around in awe as she stood in the center.
"Ward twenty-six, please," she grinned and felt it move, instantly.
"Commence stage one disinfection," a computerized voice announced.
She screamed in shock when she was suddenly showered with water from all sides, making her breathe through her mouth and keep her eyes shut as she was drenched. The water suddenly stopped and she sighed in relief, shaking her head like a dog to get the access water off of her, and she couldn't help but laugh at what she might look like. She tried straightening herself up but powder was suddenly shot at her from the directions the water had come from, making her jump with a squeak and freeze in her place. Then the air dryers came on, blowing with such force that they kept her centered, but she had to admit, this one was her favorite stage in the whole process.
The lift stopped and she stepped out, fully dry but she frowned in wonder when she found herself in what seemed like a basement.
"The human child is clean," a voice called down the tunnel, making her jump and turn to see a strange looking alien in scrubs. "This way, Olivia Felton."
She watched him run away and looked around at the things on the floor before leaning down and picking up a metal pipe she could use as a weapon, knowing she wasn't in the right place. She followed him slowly, keeping plenty of room between them as he hopped around down the tunnel. He disappeared through a door and she raised her pipe when she saw a projection player on the other side. As she stepped through the plastic draped over the doorway, she looked to the projected image on the screen. There was some kind of party going on with people in suits and dresses, and one woman in particular with a familiar voice caught her eye.
"Oh, my God, that's—"
She cut herself off as she spun around to see a stretched piece of skin with a face on it in a metal frame with a brain beneath it.
"Peekaboo!" Cassandra sang.
"You stay away from me, you piece of hide!" Olivia snapped, backing away toward the door again.
"Why? What do you think I'm going to do, flap you to death?" Cassandra shot back.
"Don't send Mommy's Little Helper after me, either," Olivia retorted, keeping her pipe raised.
"Oh, that's just Chip," Cassandra explained. "He's my pet."
"I worship the Mistress!" Chip called.
"Moisturize me, moisturize me," Cassandra called to him and he lifted a bottle to spray her with. "He's not even a proper life form. He's a force-grown clone. I modeled him on my favorite pattern. But he's so faithful. Chip sees to my physical needs."
"Oh, I really hope you mean food," Olivia blanched before questioning. "How can you still be alive?"
"After you murdered me—"
"I had nothing to do with it," Olivia cut in. "And it was your own fault anyway. You killed yourself."
"The brain of my mistress survived," Chip explained. "And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin."
"But you got ripped apart. Where'd you get the skin from?" Olivia frowned.
"That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body," Cassandra explained. "This piece is the back."
"Ha! You're talking out of your—!"
"Ask not," Cassandra interrupted, irritably.
"The mistress was lucky to survive," Chip reported. "Chip secreted milady into the hospital."
"So they don't know you're here," Olivia realized.
"Chip steals medicine, helps milady," he explained. "Soothes her, strokes her."
"Yeah, you can keep that to yourself, Chip," Olivia warned him.
"But I'm so alone, hidden down here," Cassandra complained in a woe-is-me tone. "The last human in existence."
"Oh, jeez, you're like a broken record," Olivia exasperated. "In case you haven't noticed, you're on New Earth."
"A vegetable patch," Cassandra spat.
"There are millions of humans out there."
"Mutant stock."
"They evolved. Not like you. You turned yourself into a tapestry and for what?"
"Oh, I remember that night," Cassandra sighed of the projection, making Olivia turn to watch. "Drinks for the ambassador of Thrace. That was the last time anyone told me I was beautiful. After that, it all became such hard work."
"Well, you're a survivor Cassandra, I must say," Olivia shot back, glaring at her.
"But I've not been idle, Olivia," Cassandra explained. "Tucked away, underneath this hospital, I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something."
"Really?" Olivia nodded, in mock interest.
"Oh, these cats have secrets," Cassandra replied, ignoring Olivia's sarcasm. "Hush, let me whisper. Come closer."
"Nice try, ya blue-eyed blanket," Olivia scoffed, backing into a doorway. "I'm not going anywhere near you."
She was suddenly stopped when something grabbed hold of her arms, tendrils of light wrapping around her wrists, and she instantly struggled.
"Chip, activate the Psyhograft!" Cassandra ordered.
"Let me go, now!" Olivia snarled, still struggling to be free, but she was soon in a tent of light instead of being set free. "What are you doing?!"
"The Lady's moving on," Cassandra replied, triumphantly. "It's goodbye, trampoline, and hello, Bright Eyes!"
Olivia struggled when she saw a bright light heading toward her, and a moment later she was released, falling to the floor, the pipe falling from her hand. Chip ran toward her as she gave a groan and moved slowly.
"Mistress?" Chip called.
"Moisturize me," she breathed…in a very different accent. Chip ran to get the spray bottle as she tried sitting up then looked to one of her arms with wide eyes. "How bizarre."
Chip paused as he watched her examine her hands.
"Arms…fingers…" Some raven hair fell into her sight, making her gasp. "Hair! Let me see! Let me see!"
She shot to her feet and ran to a mirror, running her fingers through her hair.
"Oh, my God!" Cassandra in Olivia's body breathed. "I'm a chav! Look at me! From Class to Brass! Although…" Her tone changed when she realized Olivia had chosen a particularly tighter blouse than what she would usually wear and jeans that accentuated her shape. "Ooh, curves."
She started bouncing on her knees, standing sideways as she stared at herself in the mirror, Chip bouncing along with her.
"Ooh, baby! It's like living inside a bouncy castle!"
"The mistress is beautiful!" Chip smiled.
"Absolutement!" Cassandra grinned with pride, looking to him and spotting her old frame behind him. "Oh, but look."
"Oh, the brain meat expired," Chip noticed as they stepped toward it. "My old mistress is gone."
"But safe and sound in here," Cassandra assured him, tapping Olivia's temple with a triumphant smile as she felt at her neck.
"But what of the Olivia child's mind?" Chip wondered.
"Oh, tucked away," Cassandra explained. "I can just about access the surface memory. God…she's with the Doctor. That man. He's the Doctor. The same Doctor with a new face! That hypocrite! I must get the name of his surgeon."
She moved back to the mirror to examine herself again, Chip following her.
"I could do with a little work. Although…nice rear bumper."
She admired Olivia's backside in the mirror until a song came from her pocket, making her frown in wonder.
"Oh, it seems to be ringing," she realized, pulling out Olivia's cell phone to examine it. "Is it meant to ring?"
"A primitive communications device," Chip explained as she answered it.
"Liv, where are you?" the Doctor asked on the other end of the line.
"How does she speak?" Cassandra asked Chip placing the phone to her ear.
"Old Earth American," he whispered back.
"Um…sup bro?" Cassandra replied in an exaggerated American accent.
"Where've you been?" the Doctor asked her, seeming not to notice her strange tone. "How long does it take to get to Ward twenty-six?"
"I'm on my way, dude," Cassandra continued. "I'll be there before you can…spit."
"You'll never guess," the Doctor grinned on the other end. "I'm with the Face of Boe. Remember him?"
"'Course I do!" Cassandra laughed. "That big old…Boe race."
"I'd better go," he replied, sounding distracted. "See you in a minute."
Cassandra frowned and pulled the phone back to hang it up and tuck it back on her pocket.
"Right, I'll need to meet him soon," Cassandra said, stripping off Olivia's leather jacket and adjusting her chest to be as alluring as possible.
"This Doctor man is dangerous," Chip warned her as she bent over to tousle her hair a bit then flip it back up to look at her reflection.
"Dangerous and clever," Cassandra replied, fixing her hair. "I might need a mind like his. The Sisterhood is up to something. Remember that old Earth saying? Never trust a nun, never trust a nurse, and never trust a cat. Perfume."
Chip handed her a small vile and she tucked it into her cleavage before marching back toward the lifts.
"I'll come get you," she told him. "Stay here until then."
"Yes, Mistress," Chip nodded.
"Ward twenty-six," she told the lift as the door closed.
Get out of my body, you evil piece of hide! Olivia shouted in her head, making her wince and hold a hand to her head.
How are you doing that?! Cassandra demanded. You're supposed to be dormant!
Maybe I've got a knack for survival myself, Olivia shot back. He'll realize it's not me, ya know. He's not stupid.
No, but I only need him to believe me until we find out what's going on here. Now go back to sleep.
No! Cassandra, you can't—!
Olivia was cut off when the doors opened and Cassandra strolled out into Ward twenty-six. She soon spotted the Doctor looking over bags of solution through thick-framed glasses before he spotted her and rushed toward her.
"There you are! Come and look at this patient." He took her arm and led her around, pulling her close as he pulled off his glasses. "Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover: two days. I've never seen anything like it. They've invented a cell washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced. And this one." He led her toward another patient. "Pallidome Pancrosis. Kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine. I need to find a terminal. I've gotta see how they do this." He led her out of the door again, continuing, "'Cause if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?"
"I can't Adam-and-Eve it," Cassandra replied, her own voice coming out, making the Doctor frown as he stopped to stare at her.
"What's…what's with the voice?" he wondered, making her turn to him to meet his gaze.
"Oh, I dunno, just larking about New Earth," she sighed, feeling Olivia's hormones going crazy as she looked at him. "New me."
"Well, I can talk," he smirked, then grinned, "New New Doctor."
"Aren't you just," Cassandra breathed, and unable to hold back the hormones any more she grabbed him by the hair to plant a long, hard kiss to his lips, her fingers running through his hair before she just as suddenly pulled back and released him. He stared at her as she panted for breath then sputtered, "T-T-Terminal's this way."
She turned to head toward it as the Doctor watched her for a moment, recovering from the moment of passion.
"Yep…still got it," he chirped, lifting a hand to smooth out his ruffled hair, meeting her at the terminal to look it over. "Nope, nothing odd. Surgery, post-op, nanodentistry. No sign of a shop. They should have a shop."
"No, it's missing something else," Cassandra noticed, examining the terminal. "When I was down stairs, those cat/nurse/nuns were talking about intensive care, but where is it?"
"You're right. Well done," the Doctor complimented, glancing at her in evaluation.
"Why would they hide a whole department?" Cassandra wondered as the Doctor pulled his Sonic Screwdriver from his jacket. "It's gotta be there somewhere. Search the subframe."
"What if the subframe's locked?" the Doctor asked, warily.
"Try the installation protocol," Cassandra replied, irritably.
"Yeah, 'course, sorry, hold on," he nodded, using the Sonic on the screen. The wall hissed and slowly lowered in one section and the Doctor watched as Cassandra marched ahead, adding, "Intensive care. Certainly looks intensive."
He followed her through the halls and into a huge basement, down a labyrinth of stairs before stopping on one floor to stare at all the green, glowing doors that filled the many floors from top to bottom. The Doctor stepped toward one of them, using the Sonic on the lock and the lights around it turned red as an alarm sounded. He pulled the door open to reveal a dazed man in a dirty, dingy hospital gown sitting in the small room, sores all over his discolored skin.
"That's disgusting," Cassandra blurted before asking, "What's wrong with him?"
"I'm sorry," the Doctor told him. "I'm so sorry."
He shut the door before opening the next one to reveal a woman this time, looking just as sick and dazed.
"What disease is that?" Cassandra questioned.
"All of them," the Doctor replied solemnly. "Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything."
"What about us?" Cassandra questioned, worriedly. "Are we safe?"
"The air's sterile," he assured her as he shut the door. "Just don't touch them."
He stepped back toward the railing to stare at the entirety of the immense room, Cassandra stepping next to him.
"How many patients are there?" she wondered.
"They're not patients," he told her.
"But they're sick."
"They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm!"
He turned and marched back down the isle, Cassandra following him.
"Why don't they just die?" she wondered as he stopped again to look over a door.
"Plague carriers," he replied. "The last to go."
"It's for the greater cause," one of the nuns called, coming up the stairs.
"Novice Hame," the Doctor ground out. "When you took your vows, did you agree to this?"
"The Sisterhood has sworn to help," Hame replied.
"What, by killing?!" he shouted back.
"They're not real people," Hame insisted. "They're specially grown. They have no proper existence."
"What's the turnover, hm?" he questioned her. "A thousand a day? A thousand the next, a thousand the next? How many thousand? For how many years? How many?!"
Cassandra couldn't stop Olivia's body from getting goosebumps as he yelled like that, and she could feel Olivia's consciousness trying to surface again, but managed to keep her at bay.
"Mankind needed us," Hame insisted. "They came to this planet with so many illnesses, we couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow. So the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are…flesh."
"These people are alive,"
"But think of those humans out there. Healthy and happy, because of us."
"If they live because of this, then life is worthless."
"But who are you to decide that?"
"I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you wanna take it to higher authority, there isn't one. It stops with me."
"Just to confirm," Cassandra called, stepping toward them to ask Hame, "None of the humans in the city actually know about this?"
"We thought it best not—"
"Hold on," the Doctor cut in. "I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand: What have you done to Olivia?"
Ha! Olivia shouted, triumphantly before she was buried again by Cassandra.
"I…don't know what you mean?" Hame replied, honestly.
"And I'm being very, very calm," he ground out. "You wanna be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Olivia's head, I want it reversed."
"We haven't done anything," Hame insisted.
"I'm perfectly fine," Cassandra argued, trying to be casual.
"These people are dying, and Olivia would care."
"Oh, alright, clever clogs," Cassandra sighed, turning the Doctor to face her. "Smarty pants." She pulled his tie from the jacket to hold it. "Lady killer."
"What's happened to you?" he questioned.
"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out."
"Who are you?" he demanded with a frown and she pulled him close by his tie to whisper in his ear.
"The last human."
"Cassandra?"
"Wake up and smell the perfume," she snapped, pulling the vile of perfume she had and spraying it in his face. He was knocked out and fell to the ground where Novice Hame knelt down to try helping him.
"You've hurt him," she said, looking up at Cassandra. "I don't understand! I'll have to fetch Matron."
"You do that, because I want to see her," Cassandra retorted. "Now, run along. Sound the alarm!"
Some time later...
Cassandra you can't do this! Olivia shouted at her from the confines of her mind as Chip sat the Doctor in an empty tube and shut the door.
Wrong, Bright Eyes, Cassandra shot back. Can, and will. Now, quiet, little tart.
"Let me out!" the Doctor suddenly called from the tube. "Let me out!"
"Aren't you lucky, there was a spare?" Cassandra crooned, leaning against the frame to look at his blurry image through the green glass. "Standing room only."
"You've stolen Olivia's body," he snapped.
"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor," Cassandra reported. "And now that's exactly what I've got: One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about…" She looked to Olivia's watch on her wrist, resuming, "…three minutes left. Enjoy."
"Just let Olivia go, Cassandra," he implored.
"I will," she assured him. "As soon as I find someone younger and…less common, then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hush-a-bye, it's show time."
"Anything we can do to help?" Matron Casp asked as she and another nun stepped toward her but stopped a few feet away.
"Straight to the point, Whiskers," Cassandra replied. "I want money."
"The Sisterhood is a charity," Casp smirked. "We don't give money. We only accept."
"The humans across the water pay you a fortune. And that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment. That's all I want. And perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I will tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?"
"I'm afraid not," Casp shot back.
"I'd really advise you to think about this."
"There's no need. I have to decline."
"I'll tell them, and you've no way of stopping me. You're not exactly Nuns with Guns. You're not even armed."
"Who needs arms when we have claws?" Casp snarled, lifting a hand to bare the claws she spoke of with a hiss.
"Well, nice try," Cassandra smiled, nervously before turning to Chip calling, "Chip! Plan B!"
Chip grabbed a lever attached to the wall, making an alarm blare as the doors to the tubes on their floor, releasing the infected patients, and the Doctor.
"What have you done?!" he snapped at her as she marched down the hall.
"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake 'em up," Cassandra replied before bolting down the hall, Chip following her. "See ya!"
"Don't touch them!" the Doctor shouted to the two sisters on the other side of the group before launching after Cassandra and Chip. "Whatever you do, don't touch!"
A moment later sparks suddenly burst from the locks on the doors, following the three as they ran, making Cassandra scream as all the doors swung open and they stopped at the top of the stairs leading further down to see all the doors open.
"Oh, my God," Cassandra groaned.
"What the hell have you done?!" the Doctor snapped.
"It wasn't me!" she shot back.
"One touch and you get every disease in the world. And I want that body safe, Cassandra! We've got to go down!"
"But there's thousands of them!" she cried in panic.
"Run!" he screamed making her give a cry as she hurried down the stairs, Chip right behind her and the Doctor right behind them. "Down! Down! Go down!" the Doctor shouted as they ran down the stairs to reach the lower basement as the PA system announced a quarantine on the building. "Keep going down! Down!"
Cassandra ran toward the lifts in the basement and tried to summon one of them.
"No, the lifts have closed down," the Doctor reported. "That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving."
"This way!" she shouted, running the opposite direction. She and the Doctor easily dodged some of the infected patients coming down the hall, but Chip had fallen behind, making the Doctor look back and stop as Chip wailed.
"Don't let them touch you!" he called to Chip.
"Leave him!" Cassandra shouted, coming back to pull on the Doctor's sleeve. "He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half-life. Come on!"
"Mistress!" Chip called as she ran off, the Doctor hurrying after her.
"I'm sorry, I can't let her escape!" he called sincerely, running after Cassandra in Olivia's body.
She led them to the room with the Psychograft where the Doctor shut the door behind them and locked it with the Sonic, and Cassandra ran toward another door to open it, only to reveal more infected people, making her scream and slam it shut again.
"We're trapped!" she cried. "What are we going to do?!"
"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body," he ordered. "That Psychograft is banned on every civilized planet. You're compressing Olivia to death!"
"But I've got nowhere to go," she told him. "My original skin's dead!"
"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now get out."
She only smiled at him, making him lift his Sonic Screwdriver toward her.
"Give her back to me," he ordered once more.
"You asked for it," she retorted. She took in a deep breath and the light that was Cassandra flowed out of Olivia…and into the Doctor.
"Oh, god, my head," Olivia groaned, then looked around the room in wonder. "Where is she?"
"Ooh, my. This is…different."
Olivia shot her gaze to the Doctor, instantly noticing his different tone and stance.
"What…the…hell," Olivia blurted.
"Goodness me, I'm a man," Cassandra grinned, sashaying around the room. "Yum! So many parts, and hardly used."
"Did you just say…yum?" Olivia wondered with a frown that soon went to a wide-eyed stare of horror as she made the Doctor dance in place.
"Ah! Ah! Two hearts!" Cassandra cried, making Olivia slap a hand to her face in embarrassment for him. "Oh, baby! I'm beating out a Samba!"
"God, please get out of him!" Olivia begged.
"Ooh, he's slim," Cassandra replied, running and appreciative hand down his side before looking to Olivia, grinning, "And a little bit foxy. You thought so, too. I've been inside your head. You've been looking. You like it."
The door burst open and a group of infected patients headed toward them, making them freeze and stare at them.
"What do we do?!" Cassandra demanded, hitting Olivia's arm. "What would he do? The Doctor. What the hell would he do?!"
Olivia turned to the ladder behind them, saying, "Well, since down didn't work so well, let's try up."
"Out of the way, Bright Eyes!" Cassandra snapped, shoving Olivia out of the way and running toward the ladder to get climbing, Olivia hurriedly following.
"If you get out of him he can think of something to get us out of here!" Olivia told Cassandra as they climbed.
"God, it's tedious inside your head," Cassandra shot back. "Hormone City."
"Do you wanna die?!" Olivia retorted but screamed when something grabbed her foot. She held tight to the ladder as she looked down to see Matron Casp gripping her ankle.
"All that good work, all that healing, the good name of the Sisterhood," she snapped as Olivia tried kicking her off. "You have destroyed everything!"
"Go and play with a ball of string," Cassandra called.
"Everywhere…disease!" Casp hissed. "This is the human world! Sickness."
She suddenly screamed, letting Olivia go as she fell, instantly becoming infected when one of the patients touched her.
"Go!" Olivia shouted at Cassandra who instantly climbed farther up the ladder. They stopped at the elevator door, which Cassandra tried to open but failed. "Use the Sonic Screwdriver!"
"You mean this thing?" Cassandra sneered, pulling the Sonic from his jacket.
"Yes, that thing," Olivia sighed in exasperation. "Useit!"
"Well, I don't know how! That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts."
"Come back into me and he'll open it," Olivia sighed, and Cassandra gave a face, making her shout, "Just do it!"
"Hold on tight," Cassandra warned, and her consciousness traveled from the Doctor and back into Olivia, making her groan, "Oh, chavtastic again. Open it!"
"Not till you get out of her," the Doctor demanded, pointing the Sonic at her as he hung easily from the ladder.
"We need the Doctor."
"I order you to leave her!"
Once again, her consciousness traveled from Olivia to the Doctor.
"No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout," Cassandra complained.
"God! Is it so difficult?! Get out of him!"
"But if I go into you he simply refuses. He's so rude!"
"Just do something!"
"Oh, I am so gonna regret this," Cassandra groaned before leaving the Doctor and Olivia watched her consciousness head past her and into the woman leading the infected toward them. "Oh, sweet lord! I look disgusting!"
The Doctor used the Sonic on the doors to open it, jumping in and holding a hand toward Olivia as she hurried after to him.
"Nice to have you back," he grinned, making her grin back as he pulled her through the doors.
"Nice to be back," she replied, but as he pulled her through the doors Cassandra caught up with her and pushed her to the floor as he shut the doors.
"That was your last warning, Cassandra!" he snarled, turning to her as Olivia's body leaned back on the wall.
"Inside her head," Cassandra murmured in horror. "They're so alone. They keep reaching out just to hold us. All their lives, and they've never been touched."
The Doctor stepped toward her to offer his hand, making her glance between him and it before she took it and he pulled her up without a word. Pounding on the other side of the door made her jump but the Doctor only stepped around the corner to open the next door that led directly into Ward twenty-six. A woman with blonde hair came roaring at them with a stool.
"We're safe!" the Doctor told her, making her stop. "We're clean! Look!"
"Show me your skin," she demanded.
"Look, clean. If we'd been touched we'd be dead," he assured her, both he and Cassandra displaying their hands and arms, and the blonde lowered the stool. "So, how's it going up here? What's the status?"
"There's nothing but silence from the other wards," the blonde replied. "I think we're the only one's left. But I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."
"You can't do that," the Doctor told her, shaking his head. "If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine."
"I'm not dying in here," she ground out, clutching her working handheld.
"We can't let a single particle of disease get out," he snapped at her. "There is ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!"
"Not if it gets me out."
"Alright, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Liv, Novice Hame, everyone! Get me the intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!"
They all worked to gather every bag they could find as the Doctor grabbed a few more supplies, wrapping a rope all around his torso. When he was given the bags he attached them to the rope and when Cassandra approached him he asked, "How's that? Will it do?"
"I don't know. Do for what?" Cassandra retorted as he ran toward the lift and opened the doors. "The lifts aren't working!"
"Not moving, different thing," he replied, backing up and placing the Sonic in his teeth before running toward the open doors and grabbing the line attached to the lift to dangle from it, attaching the wheel to it.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Cassandra demanded.
"I'm going down," his reply came, muffled by the Sonic still in his teeth before he removed it and used it on the wheel. "Come on!"
"Ha! Not in a million years!"
"I need another pair of hands. What do you think? If you're so desperate to stay alive, why don't you live a little?"
Cassandra looked to the door to see the infected group coming toward her and realized she had no choice. She ran with a cry toward the gap and jumped, grabbing onto the ropes over the Doctor's chest and wrapping her legs around him as much as she could.
"You're completely mad!" she realized. "I can see why she likes you."
"Going down!" he announced before hitting something on the wheel as he held onto it and Cassandra screamed as they went down…fast. They only slowed when they were an inch or so above the top of the lift and jumped down.
"Well, that's one way to lose weight," she sighed, straightening herself out.
"Now, listen," he ordered. "When I say so, take hold of that lever."
"There's still a quarantine down there, we can't—!"
"Hold that lever!" he snapped before beginning to pull the bags from the rope around him. "I'm cooking up a cocktail. I know a bit about medicine myself."
Cassandra grabbed the lever as the Doctor opened the bags and emptied them into the tub of solution in front of them.
"Now, that lever's gonna resist," he warned her, pulling the rope off and rushing toward the door in the roof of the lift to open it. "But keep it in position. Hold onto it with everything you've got."
"What about you?" Cassandra asked, watching him lower himself into the cabin.
"I've got an appointment," he replied. "The Doctor is in."
Cassandra heard Olivia's giggles as he dropped down into the cabin and rolled her eyes. He used the Sonic on the door to open it before backing deeper into the cabin.
"I'm in here!" he called to the infected people outside. "Come on!"
"Don't tell them!" Cassandra shouted.
"Pull that lever!" he ordered her.
She gripped the lever as hard as she could and pulled as the Doctor kept calling the infected toward him.
"Commence stage one: Disinfection," the PA announced and the cabin showered the infected with the solutions he'd dumped.
"All they wanna do is pass it on!" he called as they headed back out, and he was drenched as well. "Pass it on!"
"Pass on what?!" Cassandra demanded.
"Alright, come on down!" he called, and she let go of the lever to jump down into the cabin with his help.
"What did they pass on?" she wondered. "Did you kill them, all of them?"
"No," he replied with a shake of his head before heading out of the lift. "That's your way of doing things. I'm the Doctor, and I cured them."
They stepped out into the lobby full of now cured patients as one of them came up to hug the Doctor and he returned the hug before entreating her to sit.
"It's a new subspecies, Cassandra," he explained, grinning the entire time. "A brand new form of life. New humans! Look at them! Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, completely alive!" You can't deny them 'cause you helped create them. The human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out!"
Later...
NNYPD officers milled around the hospital, taking away all the sisters, including Novice Hame, who was walked out right past the Doctor and Cassandra in Olivia's body as they stepped back into Ward twenty-six.
"The Face of Boe!" he recalled, running toward his place at the back of the room, Cassandra following him and they found him alive and healthy.
"You were supposed to be dying," the Doctor smirked.
"There are better things to do today," Boe replied. "Dying can wait."
"Oh, I hate telepathy," Cassandra groaned. "Just what I need. A head full of big face."
The Doctor shushed her, irritably.
"I had grown tired with the universe, Doctor," Bow explained. "But you have taught me to look at it anew."
"There are legends, you know," the Doctor reported. "Saying that you're millions of years old."
"Well, now, that would be impossible."
"Wouldn't it just? I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me."
"A great secret."
"So the legend says."
"It can wait."
"Oh, does it have to?" the Doctor wondered in disappointment.
"We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day."
The Face of Boe disappeared into thin air.
"That is enigmatic," the Doctor admired with a nod. "That—That is textbook enigmatic." He sighed and turned to Cassandra. "And now for you."
"But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?"
"You've lived long enough. Leave the body and end it, Cassandra."
She lifted a hand to her face, crying, "I don't want to die!"
"No one does."
"Help me!"
"I can't."
"Mistress!" Chip called, running toward them and turning their attention to him.
"Oh, you're alive!" Cassandra cried.
"I kept myself safe, for you, Mistress," he explained.
"A body," Cassandra hummed, thoughtfully. "And not just that, a volunteer."
"Don't you dare!" the Doctor snapped. "He's got a life of his own."
"I worship the Mistress," Chip argued as Cassandra winked at the Doctor. "I welcome her."
"You can't, Cassandra. You—!" the Doctor was cut off when her consciousness moved into Chip, and he caught Olivia before she fell to the floor. "You alright?"
"Y-Yeah," Olivia sighed, but didn't move out of his arms right away. "I'm…good."
He cautiously let her go but her legs hadn't really come back to her control yet and she began sinking to the floor again, making the Doctor pull her up again.
"Sure you're alright?" he snickered.
"Quit laughing at me, just give me a second," Olivia sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder before taking in a breath and lifting her head to meet his gaze. "Hi."
"Hello," he grinned. "Welcome back."
"Oh, sweet lord," Cassandra called, making the couple part and look to her. "I'm a walking doodle."
"You can't stay in there," the Doctor told her. "I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city, they can build you a skin tack, and you can stand trial for what you've done."
"Well, that would be rather dramatic," Cassandra replied. "Possibly my finest hour. And certainly my finest hat. But I'm afraid I don't have time. Poor little Chip is only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last—"
Cassandra fell to her knees, making the other two catch her to keep her from falling to the floor.
"You alright?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm fine," she replied, then realized, "I'm dying. But that's fine."
"I can take you to the city," the Doctor told her.
"No, you won't," she argued. "Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me anymore. You're right, Doctor. It's time to die. That's good."
"Come on," the Doctor urged, he and Olivia standing her up. "There's one last thing I can do."
Moments later...
The Doctor led Cassandra in Chip's body out the door of the TARDIS and into the dinner party, Olivia right behind them. They soon spotted past Cassandra chatting everyone up and Chip/Cassandra turned to the Doctor.
"Thank you," she breathed.
"Just go," the Doctor replied. "And don't look back."
They watched Chip/Cassandra walk toward herself, and Olivia took the Doctor's hand in hers as they watched them speak before Chip/Cassandra sank to the floor to die. She swallowed as the Doctor turned to pull her back toward the TARDIS and she sniffled when they stepped back inside and he shut the door behind them.
"Alright?" the Doctor murmured, setting a hand on her shoulder and Olivia nodded, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"She told me about that moment," she replied. "And she told me that she modeled Chip after her favorite pattern. I just realized…that's why. It's all just one big paradox, isn't it?"
"Sometimes," he smiled warmly, wrapping his arm completely around her shoulders to pull her toward the console.
"That was nice of you to do that," she smiled back at him as he released her to operate the console.
"Well, it was the least I could do, since I couldn't save her," he replied, and Olivia couldn't help but smile as she watched him run around the console, but frowned when he paused. "Can I ask…how much do you remember?"
That made her swallow and blush as she recalled the lip lock Cassandra had made her plant on him and averted her gaze to the console.
"Everything," she muttered, honestly. "Y-You?"
"Everything," he replied, going back to driving. "Just curious."
She nodded in understanding, wondering if that was all or if he had more to ask, but when he said nothing else she strolled around the console to stand next to him.
"Just so you know…" she began cautiously and he looked to her with a frown of wonder, as she resumed, "…that's…not how I wanted our first kiss to go."
"I know," he simply replied before turning back to the console and making her frown at him in wonder but she said nothing else on the subject.
"Where to now?" she wondered, making him look to her again and they exchanged smiles.
"Anywhere!" he grinned. "Your turn."
"Ok," she grinned back. "I'm just gonna change. Be back in a minute."
Without thinking she reached up and kissed his cheek before turning and racing toward the stairs. He froze in his place then turned to watch her bound up the stairs to the wardrobe before placing an entranced hand to his cheek where she'd kissed him. He gave a smirk before it turned to a grin as he turned back to the console to fly the TARDIS to their next adventure.
A/N: reviews?