Author's Notes: I would like to apologize for some things in this chapter. One, in real time, it is very short, but feels longer. Two, for those who are highly emotional and know these flashback scenes, I'm sorry. And for those who don't, sorry for the spoilers.
THE PAIN AND SUFFERING
Commissioner Gordon had succeeded in his mission. The disruptor Batman had given him was activated, and the bomb no longer received any signals that could make it explode. It was all on Batman now to defeat Bane and get the core to the reactor. Waiting for that to happen, Gordon went to the doors of the truck's cargo hold and looked outside from a small hole, expecting to see Batman coming. All he saw was one of the tanks roaming behind the truck, escorting. Gordon turned to watch the bomb's timer, eleven minutes left before the actual explosion. Taking another look outside he saw a motorcycle and riding on it was, as she was introduced to him, the Doctor's Impossible Girl.
Gotham City Hall:
Talia had left. Batman and the Doctor were tied up and Bane was guarding them with a shotgun. Batman was struggling to stay conscious, as he had been stabbed and was bleeding out. The Doctor, in the other hand, was, unnoticed, trying to lose his binding by using the technics taught to him by Harry Houdini.
''You know I have to kill you now,'' Bane said, before kicking Batman on the floor and pressing him down with his foot. ''You just have to imagine the fire.''
''You first!'' The Doctor, having released himself, said angrily and pressed his hands on the exposed skin on Bane's head. Batman, lying on the floor and in a physical connection to both Bane and the Doctor via Bane's foot, suddenly started to see things.
First vision:
Batman got himself up and saw he was standing in a graveyard. It wasn't night but a day and he could see a city in the horizon, on the other side of the river. He put his hand on where Talia had stabbed him. The wound was still there, but the pain was gone. Then he lifted his head and saw the TARDIS in the distance.
''Doctor!'' Batman yelled as he started running towards it. If the TARDIS was there so was the Doctor and he could explain what was happening. As he got to the Police Box, he saw a red-haired woman and a dark blondish haired man. The latter one was looking at one of the gravestones.
''Amy, come look at this,'' the man said. ''This gravestone has the same name as me.''
''What?'' Amy said with a laugh, before realizing what he had told. As the man's face turned dark and worried, he suddenly disappeared and a stone angel was revealed standing behind him, pointing its finger towards Amy.
''DOCTOR!'' Amy screamed and Batman saw the Doctor come out of the TARDIS accompanied by a curly haired blond woman in a black dress. The Doctor's appearance however shocked Batman. Thought his Kashmir jacket was switched to tweed one, only half of his body was the Doctor's. The other half was Bane's.
''Where the hell did that come from?'' the blond woman asked not taking her look away from the angel.
''A survivor, low on strength, but keep your eyes on it,'' the Doctor/Bane hybrid said with a mixed voice of them both, while scanning it with his Sonic Screwdriver.
''Where's Rory?'' Amy asked holding back crying on her voice.
Batman could see she knew exactly what had happened, but tried to refuse believing it. The Doctor/Bane hybrid walked closer to the stone angel and looked at the gravestone.
''Sorry,'' the Doctor/Bane hybrid said looking Amy apologetically. ''Amelia, I'm so sorry.''
''No'', Amy said shaking her head. ''We could just use the TARDIS to go back and get him. One more paradox…''
''Could rip New York apart and I can't…''
''That's not true,'' Amy said firmly. ''I don't believe you.''
''Mother, it's true'', the blond woman said, to which Batman responded with a disbelieving look.
''Mother''? Batman repeated looking forth and back between the two women, unable to believe that younger one was the older one's mother. Amy started to walk towards the angel.
''Amy, what are you doing?'' the Doctor/Bane hybrid asked as Amy walked past him.
''That gravestone, Rory's? Is there another name? Isn't there?''
''What are you talking about?'' the hybrid asked before starting to try pulling Amy to opposite direction. ''Back away from the angel, come back to the TARDIS, we figure something out!''
''The angel, would it send me back to the same time to him?'' Amy asked, failing to hold her crying at bay.
''I don't know. Nobody knows''.
''But it's my best chance, right?'' Amy said stepping closer to the angel.
''NO!''
''Doctor, shut up!'' the blond woman told to the hybrid. ''Yes, mother. Yes it is.''
''Amy…''
''I just have to blink, right?'' Amy asked, as the hybrid kept yelling no. She ignored him. ''And I'll be fine. I know I will. I'll be with him, like I should be; me and Rory together. Melody?''
''Stop it!'' the hybrid protested desperately as the blond woman came to Amy and took her hand. ''Just stop it!''
''Melody,'' Amy said finally breaking to cry. ''You look after him. And you be a good girl and you look after him.''
''You are creating a fixed time,'' the hybrid said almost crying as well, while Melody kissed Amy's hand. ''I will never be able to see you again.''
''I'll be fine,'' Amy said crying under her breath. ''I'll be with him.''
''Amy, please, just come back into the TARDIS,'' the hybrid begged desperately. ''Come along, Pond, please.''
''Raggedy Man,'' Amy said in tears before turning to the hybrid, ''goodbye.''
Then she disappeared just as Rory had. The angel's other hand now pointed to where Amy had been. The look on the hybrid's face, the Doctor's side, was devastated. Batman moved to look at the gravestone, to which Melody was leaning on. She also looked devastated while holding her gaze on the stone angel. It said:
IN LOVING MEMORY
RORY ARTHUR WILLIAMS
AGED 82
AND HIS LOVING WIFE
AMELIA WILLIAMS
AGED 87
''No'', the hybrid kept saying with cry in his voice. Batman could see this was really painful for him to live through. He was going to go and put his hand on hybrid's shoulder out of sympathy, as Melody had, but suddenly the vision changed.
Second vision:
Batman was standing in darkness. For a moment he didn't see anything, and then a light appeared. Looking around his surroundings, Batman realized that he was inside the TARDIS, but in a different console room. He saw Amy and Rory sitting next to a railing surrounding the console and the Doctor/Bane hybrid stood facing the source of the light. It was in the shape of a dark haired woman in a blue dress, like a ghost.
''Doctor?'' The light called. ''Are you there? It's so very dark in here.''
''I'm here,'' the hybrid said delighted walking closer. ''Hey…''
''I have been looking for a word,'' the light said looking down on the hybrid. ''A big, complicated word, but so sad. I found it now.''
''What word?''
''Alive,'' the light said, looking down to the hybrid smiling sadly. ''I'm alive.''
''Alive isn't sad,'' the hybrid said half shaking its head.
''It's sad when it's over,'' the light said. ''I'll always be here, but this is when we talked.''
Batman looked around the console room wondering what the light meant.
''Here in the TARDIS,'' Batman muttered before looking to the console where the light was projecting from. ''She's the TARDIS''
''And now that has come to an end,'' the light said as the hybrid was trying to keep crying at bay. ''There's something I didn't get to say to you.''
''G-goodbye,'' the hybrid said silently, as crying was coming out of his voice.
''No. I just wanted to say…'' the light corrected with a sad smile. ''Hello, Doctor, it's so very, very nice to meet you.''
She smiled and cried as the hybrid's Doctor face began to cry.
''Please,'' the hybrid begged in tears, ''I don't want you to…''
The light then leaned back as the TARDIS console started to make its wheezing noise. As the tubes inside the console went up and down, the light broke its form and flowed into the engines. The hybrid looked so sad, but kept his posture and didn't break down. Amy and Rory watched holding each other.
Batman came to conclude that all that was happening was the Doctor showing Bane, through his eyes, the pain and suffering the Time Lord had experienced. As Bane had told Batman that he would have to imagine the fire, the Doctor was sharing his pain with Bane to make him feel whole other fire. Memories seemed to go backwards from present to past since Amy and Rory, who were lost in previous memory, were here.
Third vision:
Again Batman found himself inside the TARDIS, but in a different console room. Another sad memory. Walking around the console, Batman saw a different red haired woman, older than Amy, and the Doctor/Bane hybrid. Except that this hybrid's Doctor side was different. His hair was brighter brownish shade and it was sticking up. Face was also different and he was wearing a brown pinstriped suit.
''I wanna stay,'' the red haired woman said.
''Donna…'' the hybrid said, with a different Doctor voice. He also looked he was ever so sorry. ''Donna, look at me.''
''I was gonna be with you… forever,'' Donna said, looking scared.
''I know.''
''Rest of my life,'' Donna continued, ''travelling, in the TARDIS. The Doctor Donna.''
The hybrid looked somberly at Donna as she started to panic.
''No, I can't. I can't go back,'' she begged as the hybrid put his hands on her shoulders. ''Don't make go back. Doctor… please, don't make me go back!''
''Donna'', the hybrid said holding her as Batman was not sure what was happening. ''Aw, Donna Noble, I'm so sorry… but we had the best of times. The best, goodbye''.
''No, no, please'', Donna begged as the hybrid put his hands on her face. ''NO, DON'T..!''
She passed out and the hybrid took her in his arms, holding her. The TARDIS landed and the hybrid began to carry Donna out. As Batman followed them, he saw they had landed to a suburban area. The hybrid carried the unconscious Donna to one of the houses, pressed the doorbell and knelled down. The door was opened by an elderly man who seemed to have been waiting for them, but the happiness was worn off as he saw the hybrid and Donna.
''Help me,'' the hybrid begged.
''Donna,'' the old man said looking down to them, before helping the hybrid carry her upstairs and put her to rest on a bed. The hybrid took a little time to look at the sleeping Donna, before joining the old man and a woman in the living room, identifying them as Wilfred Mott, Donna's grand father and Sylvia Noble, her mother.
''She took my mind into her head, but that's a Time Lord's consciousness,'' the hybrid explained what had happened to Donna in heavy voice. ''All that knowledge was killing her.''
''But she'll get better now?'' Wilfred asked hopefully.
''I had to wipe her mind completely,'' the hybrid said. 'Every trace of me, and the TARDIS, everything we did together, everywhere we went, had to go.''
''All those wonderful things she did,'' Wilfred said, assuming what he already knew.
''I know, but that version of Donna is dead,'' hybrid said leaning closer to elderly father and daughter. ''Because if she remembers, even just for a second, she'll burn up. You can never tell her. You can't mention me or any of it, for the rest of her life.''
''But the whole world's talking about it,'' Sylvia said, ''we traveled across space.''
''We did?!'' Batman said surprised hearing this and looked around the room, trying to find something to date when this was happening. A calender on the wall said 2008, when he was still isolated in Wayne Manor after Rachel died and he had taken the fall for Harvey Dent's crimes. ''What else did I miss?''
''It will just be a story,'' hybrid said. ''One of those Donna Noble stories when she missed all again.''
''But she was better with you,'' Wilfred said desperately.
''Don't say that'', Sylvia said, but Wilfred kept him self on the Doctor's side.
''No, she was!''
''I just want you to know that there are worlds out there, safe in the sky, because of her,'' the hybrid said. ''That there are people out there, living in the light, singing songs of Donna Noble. They are all a million light years away. They will never forget her, thought she can never remember.''
They all shared a moment of silence, until the hybrid added: ''And for a one moment, one shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe.''
''And she still is,'' Sylvia said. ''She is my daughter.''
''Then maybe you should tell her that once in awhile,'' the hybrid shot back, right before Donna entered the room.
''I was asleep, on my bed, wearing my clothes like a flipping kid! What did you let me do that for?'' Donna said to her mother and grandfather, before pulling out her mobilephone and started dialing someone's number. She barely even noticed the Doctor/Bane hybrid. ''Donna means Donna.''
The hybrid raised from his chair and greeted his arm to Donna, who gave it a short handshake.
''John Smith,'' the hybrid introduced himself to Donna who, to Batman's shock, didn't even look at him.
''Mister Smith was just leaving,'' Sylvia said.
''My phone's gone mad, everyone's gone barmy, they are talking about planets in the sky. What have I missed now?'' Donna said before leaving the room. ''Nice to meet yea.''
Batman didn't know if he should have been sorry for having missed all that had happened during his isolation or for Donna who had apparently turned from better to a worse person without even knowing it.
''As I said,'' Sylvia said looking at the hybrid, ''I think you should go.''
Batman returned his focus on the Doctor/Bane hybrid, thinking how sharing this kind of pain with the warlord affected on him. The hybrid walked to the kitchen where Donna was chatting loudly with someone on her phone.
''Aw, Donna, I was just gonna go,'' the hybrid said, giving her his lat goodbye.
''Yeah, see ya,'' Donna said like the hybrid was a stranger. The hybrid left, taking some glances back to her before walking out to the rain. The TARDIS was waiting on the other side of the street where it ws left. He was accompanied by Wilfred and Batman, who anyone couldn't see.
''Aw, disturbances, you'll be having a lot of those. Still, it'll pass. It always does,'' the hybrid said before turning to face the old man. ''Bye then, Wilfred.''
''Aw, Doctor?'' Wilfred asked as the hybrid had walked to the rain. ''What about you now? Who have you got? I mean... all those friends of yours..?''
''They've all got someone else,'' the hybrid said. ''Still that's fine. I'm fine.''
''I'll watch out for you, son,'' Wilfred said compassionately.
''You can't ever tell her!'' the hybrid told him, raising his voice.
''No, no,'' Wilfred reassured ''but every night, Doctor. When it gets dark, when the stars come out, I'll look up on her behalf. I'll look up in to the sky and think of you.''
Batman looked back and forth to the two men and the friendship left between them.
''Thank you'', the hybrid said and stared to walk to the TARDIS. Batman ran after him and as the engines started to go, he watched as the hybrid struggled to keep its cool. The Bane side had now started to crack.
Forth vision:
Batman was standing in, what looked like a futuristic computer server-room. The Doctor/Bane hybrid was lying on the ground, handcuffed to a pole. The Doctor side was the same as in the previous memory. looking around the room Batman saw a woman wearing a white spacesuit without the helmet. He recognized her.
''Melody...'' Batman said recognizing the woman. If these memories were going backwards, how could she have been here?
''No no no, what are you doing?'' The hybrid asked as he saw Melody sitting on some kind of throne and working with wires. ''That's my job!''
''Well I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose,'' Melody said with a happy-go-lucky attitude.
''Am I in handcuffs?'' the hybrid said noticing his predicament. ''Why would you even have handcuffs?!''
''Spoilers,'' Melody said in a flirting tone.
''This is not a joke,'' the hybrid demanded. ''Stop this, IT'S GONNA KILL YOU! I have a chance you don't-''
''You wouldn't have a chance and neither do I!'' Melody said very seriously, and looking sad. Both look each other worriedly. ''I'm timing it to the end of the countdown. There would be flip in the command flow. That would improve our chance with clean download.''
''River, please no,'' the hybrid begged, confusing Batman. Was this woman's name Melody or River and was she even the same woman?
''The funny thing is, this means you've always know how I was going to die,'' River said holding sadness back, while Batman was getting even more confused. ''All the time we've been together you always knew I was coming here.''
''The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean,'' River told, and Batman understood she was also a time traveler, ''you turned up in my doorstep with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Derilium, to see the Singing Towers. Ah, what a night that was: The Towers sang and you cried.''
''Auto destruct in one minute,'' said a computer voice.
''You didn't tell me why, but I guess you knew it was time,'' River continued as the hybrid looked listening about his own future, ''my time to come to the Library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue.''
The hybrid saw two sonic screwdrivers lying on blue book and tried to reach for them, unsuccessfully. They were too far. Out of instinct, Batman tried to help him but his hand just phased through as he was never really there.
''There's nothing you can do,'' River said apologetically.
''THEN LET ME DO THIS!'' the hybrid yelled.
''If you die here, that means I never met you,'' River said almost crying to the thought.
''TIME CAN BE REWRITTEN!'' the hybrid protested.
''Not those times,'' River begged shaking her head. ''Not one line. Don't you dare.''
The hybrid looked at River with a look that reminded Batman of Harvey Dent, before his face was burned. Right before Rachel died.
''It's okay,'' River said in comfortable whispers. ''It's okay, its not over for you. You'll see me again. You have all of that to come. You and me. Time and space. You watch us run.''
''River, you know my name,'' the hybrid said as the countdown came to last 10 seconds. ''You whispered my name in my ear. There is only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There only one time I could.''
''Hush, now,'' River said crying silently while holding two power cords. ''Spoilers…''
As River put the two cords together, a bright light illuminated the room. Batman raised his cape to cover his eyes and looked at the hybrid. The Bane side was cracking even more and then exploded, leaving the hybrid just as the Doctor. Whatever the Time Lord had done to Bane by sharing his pain with him, it was now done. Batman woke up to reality with a loud bang.
Gotham City Hall:
''About the whole no guns thing,'' Selina said as she climbed of the Batpod, ''I'm not sure I agree with it as strongly as you do.''
She had decided to come back to help. She had ride to the City Hall, past the fighting policemen and mercenaries and shot her way inside. Bane had been in the line of fire and had been shot through the room.
''What did you do that for!?'' The Doctor yelled at Selina. ''I had just telepathically defeated him!''
''Well now he stays down,'', Selina said, before kneeling to release Batman from his binds. ''What went wrong?''
''That woman Bane had here was the trigger man,'' the Doctor said. ''She stabbed him and left, probably to secure the bomb's explosion.''
''Never liked her any way,'' Selina said when Batman had been gotten free.
''They are trying to keep the core from reaching the reactor,'' Batman said throwing the ropes away. ''You'll cover the ground, I'll cover the air. GO!''
''Wait! You have been stabbed,'' the Doctor said searching his pockets and pulled a glowing tube out. ''Nanogenes, I borrowed them from New New York Hospital in the year 5 000 000 000, they'll heal your wound.''
The Doctor released the nanogenes into Batman's wound and it sealed itself. Batman nodded to the Time Lord as a thank you and they ran outside. The fight was still on, but not as big as when they had last been there. As Selina was turning the Batpod around, the Doctor looked for his companion.
''Clara, where's Clara?'' The Time Lord wondered aloud as he failed to find her.
''She's already in pursuit,'' Selina told him. ''I saw her passing me while I came here.''
''Perfect, just perfect,'' the Doctor said and started to run after Batman. ''Does your aircraft have two seats!?''
Author's Notes: Did I do the right thing killing Bane like this? It is pretty much the same thing as in the movie, but the Doctor did also some damage to his mind. Even if he did survive from being shot, he would be catatonic or comatose from feeling all the mental pain the Doctor made him experience. Also, there was the 10th Doctor seen in the flashbacks. I managed to bring in a past Doctor to the story after all.
