Chapter Six- Mist of the Umbra
And now back to Doctor Who: Into the Vortex.
The Doctor nodded, almost imperceptibly, and drew back.
"Come along then, Kitty." he motioned behind his back for Rose to follow.
"Okay, I'll start off then." Rose walked a couple of steps in the other direction, then doubled back when she was sure that they had turned the corner.
"So, Miss Eden," the Doctor was saying. "What do you say for a quick trip in the TARDIS when this is all over?"
"Sure," replied Probably-not-Kitty. "Sounds fun." Rose inched along the corridor, and peered around the bend. The Doctor had pressed his fingers to Definitely-not-Kitty's temple, and she was silently struggling. She gasped suddenly, and slumped in the Doctor's arms.
"She seems to be unconscious a lot," commented Rose.
"If it really is her," muttered the Doctor. "I think the slide is this way."
They set off again down the corridor, this time dragging a comatose girl behind them.
"How do you do that, you know, thing, where you knock people out?" queried Rose.
"Time Lord ability," he replied. "I go into their mind and touch the area of the brain that controls sleep, it usually works."
After arriving at the entrance, they stood there and stared at it for a moment.
"Doctor?" asked Rose eventually.
"Yes?"
"I just realised that Fake-Kitty probably wanted to keep us down here for a reason."
There was a long pause.
"You know, you're probably right."
There was a growl behind them.
"And that's the reason. Come on, get up!"
"Can't we just leave Kitty here as bait?"
"That would be mean. Hurry up."
Rose scrambled up the slide, using her knife for grip, not daring to look back. She grabbed the girl who looked quite a lot like Kitty Eden by the back of her shirt.
"KEEP GOING," yelled the Doctor. "EVERYTHING'S FINE."
More growls and an animal scream emitted from below.
"Yeah, right," grunted Rose, nearly at the top. It was definitely easier coming down.
"I'm at the top!" she called down.
"Great. Move to the side."
There was a massive whoosh of air, and up out of the tunnel came the Doctor, looking a bit windswept. He was clutching the sonic screwdriver, which seemed to be pushing out a continuous stream of air.
"Right!" he grinned, not seeming fazed at all by meeting a massive homicidal monster. "To the TARDIS!"
/DW\
"She's on the sick bay bed," reported the Doctor, heading straight for the lab. "I think it's time to stop those Daleks."
Rose blinked. "Doctor..."
"No time, Rose, I shoulda done this ages ago."
"But Doctor..."
"Sorry, tell me some other time."
"Doctor." She grabbed his shoulder and turned him directly around. He stared at No-Way-Is-This-Kitty, standing in the doorway.
"Oh," he said, attempting to collect his thoughts. "Wait a moment. Okay."
He took a breath.
"What have you done with Kitty?" he asked, his eyes flashing.
"She's right here," the girl laughed. Rose nudged him.
"Possession," she mumbled softly.
The Doctor bit his lip, thinking. "So you're not from this universe. Hum."
"I was sucked through decades ago," the girl using Kitty's face answered.
"Oooh, ooh," the Doctor paced back and forth. "Possession, memory recall, that's not much to go on... I would say Isolus except they're all in their pod..."
"She's glowing blue," Rose added. Indeed, her skin was emitting a light blue shine.
"Yes, thank you!" he exclaimed. "You're a..." he said an odd, melodic word that the TARDIS didn't seem to translate properly. Rose frowned.
"Sorry, what?"
"She's a..." the odd word was pronounced again.
"I didn't exactly catch that."
"A..." the word again.
The oddly named creature was watching this with an expression of dark amusement. "You might want to call me an Umbra. It's certainly easier to say, although it is a bit... primitive."
"Umbra then," Rose decided.
"It means 'shade'," the Umbra added helpfully.
"All right, thank you for that. Now, what do you want?" the Doctor asked.
The Umbra smiled slightly. It wasn't exactly what you'd call a pleasant, inviting smile, either.
"I thought you'd never ask. I want your bodies."
"Wait, what?"
The Umbra blushed slightly. "That came out wrong. Um, I want your minds. I'm going to possess you," it clarified. "I can split my mist as many times as I want, you know."
"Okay, thanks for that," Rose smiled pleasantly. "There's one thing you should know, though."
"What's that?"
"Never tell the protagonists your evil plan before you execute it."
/DW\
The Umbra, in the body of Kitty, was now locked inside the quarantine chamber. Rose dusted her hands off, and, whistling a happy tune, strolled off to see what the Doctor was doing. He was apparently constructing an odd-looking machine from spare parts.
"What does it do?" She leaned down to where he was, and eyed the contraption curiously.
"It connects to the TARDIS central core," he explained, tinkering with some of the wires. "It could, plausibly, suck all of the Daleks into a single spot. If we travel in time to just after the Daleks arrived, we can transport them away before they do any damage."
"Brilliant!" Rose grinned. "Where should we bring them?"
"Well, somewhere far away from people, obviously. I would suggest a place, but in this world it could be completely different. And the only person who really knows this world is..."
"Kitty," completed Rose with a groan. "So we have to get the Umbra out of her. Why can't we have a normal day for once?"
"That would be boring. Plus, if you've forgotten already, our lives are a television show."
"Right," agreed Rose, getting up with a groan. "So, how do we exorcise the Umbra?"
"Well, I had an idea..."
(A/N:
Fun, fun, fun... next time- Daleks meet the power of Monty Python, the Umbra meets a plastic pink cupcake, and Mr Rock meets someone's head.
Please Review!
And, sorry if you don't like this... I may be dropping this bombshell a bit late... but there will be a bit of Doctor/Rose shipping in here. It won't take up the story though! Also, Iwrote a DW oneshot, slightly related to this story. ^_^
Lotsa Luv,
~Kitty)