The Lazarus Experiment (Part 2)
Martha, Tish, Evy, and the Doctor raced inside moments before the monster that was Lazarus could catch them, the Doctor turning to seal the lock of the door with the sonic while Martha pushed the button for the lift.
"Are you ok?" she turned to her sister.
"I was gonna snog him…" Tish trailed in horror.
Evy would have laughed had Lazarus not proceeded to bang on the doors triggering an automatic security response in the building. Sirens began to blare with a computerized warning echoing over the loudspeakers, "Security breach. Security breach. Security beach."
"What's happening?" Martha looked around, concerned, as the lights went out.
"Uh, an intrusion," Tish explained, "It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts. Seals the exits."
"He must be breaking through that door," the Doctor reasoned.
"The stairs!" Evy shouted, running towards them, "Come on!" just as they got down the first flight they heard the door crash open above them, "He's inside!"
"Haven't got much time!" the Doctor called out as they continued to run. They didn't stop until they reached the reception again, "Tish," he turned to her, "Is there another way out of here?"
"There's an exit in the corner," she replied, shaken, pointing to the corner in question, "But it'll be locked now."
The Doctor tossed the sonic screwdriver to Martha, "Martha, setting 54. Hurry."
She rushed off, followed by Tish, as the Doctor jumped onto the platform in front of Lazarus's machine, Evy jumping up to stand next to him.
"Listen to me!" he shouted, "You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"
"Don't be ridiculous," a snooty woman in an evening gown remarked, "The biggest danger here is choking on an olive."
In that moment glass shattered on the second floor and Lazarus appeared, leaping down onto the reception floor.
"Oh yes," Evy rolled her eyes, "He looks so much like an olive doesn't he?"
She was scared, not quite so frightened as she'd been when facing the Daleks, but still enough to try and hide it with remarks like that. Lazarus looked far too much like a skeleton for her to be calm about the situation. Not to mention he was completely crazed and trying to kill them. What on Earth he'd been thinking by trying to experiment on himself...her gaze flickered over her shoulder at his machine, a thought striking her but then the screaming of the guests pulled her out of her thoughts.
Martha and Tish ran to the door, trying to open it as everyone began to panic and run for the exits. Evy jumped off the machine and went to help some people who had fallen down from the shock of Lazarus's appearance.
"Mum!" Evy heard Leo calling, "Get back!"
She looked up just as Lazarus pushed a table out of the way and sent it flying towards Leo, knocking him out.
"Leo!" Mrs. Jones called, rushing to her son's side.
"Over here!" Martha shouted as she got the door open, "This way! Everyone downstairs now! Hurry!"
Evy pulled a few people to their feet, pushing them towards the door as she ran to help some others.
Lazarus closed in on the snooty woman, who was just standing there, staring at the monster in shock.
"No!" the Doctor shouted as Lazarus attacked her, "Get away from her!"
It was too late, the woman fell to the floor, drained of life.
Lazarus wasted no time before making his way towards Mrs. Jones and the now barely conscious Leo, "Lazarus!" the Doctor tried again, "Leave them alone!"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a table flew across the room and nailed Lazarus in the back. He spun around, roaring in fury, trying to see who had thrown the table, but the room was in such chaos that he couldn't see anyone. While his back was turned Martha ran to her brother's side, helping him up.
"Martha," her mother breathed, but Martha ignored her, focusing on her brother's injury.
"C'mon, stay with me," Martha whispered to Leo, pulling him and her mother away before Lazarus could turn around and attack again.
"What's the point if you can't control it?" the Doctor shouted, drawing the monster's attention away, "The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool, a vain old man who thought he could defy nature. Only nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!"
He ran away suddenly, an enraged Lazarus following after him.
Evy determined then and there, she was going to kill him for his idea of baiting the monster…or she would if her head wasn't throbbing.
~8~
Martha reached up, studying her brother's head as she examined him just outside the reception room, "What's the Doctor doing?" Tish asked.
"He's trying to buy us some time," she told them, "Let's not waste it. Leo, look at me. Let me see your eyes," she turned to her mother in concern, "He's got concussion. You'll need to help him downstairs," she went over to an ice bucket, putting some cubes in a napkin. She turned, about to press it to her brother's head herself, when she caught sight of something in the reception area. She quickly passed the napkin to her mother, "This'll keep the swelling down. Go! I'll be right behind you! Tish, move! We need to get out of here!"
She pushed her family away towards the stairs and turned back. She ran into the reception area and over to the machine where Evy was knelt beside it, leaning forwards so she was half in it. She moved to the side to see Evy had a panel on the floor open and was pulling wires out.
She was about to ask Evy what she was doing when she noticed something more troubling, "You're bleeding," Martha gasped.
"It's just a bloody nose," Evy replied, wiping the small trail of blood under her nose on the back of her wrist and getting back to work, "It's nothing."
"You could have a concussion or something," Martha insisted, "Let me examine…"
"No!" Evy shouted, turning to Martha, she quickly reached out and took the sonic screwdriver from her. She fiddled with it a bit, "Setting 50 restores power," she told her, handing it back, "It should help get the power back and the doors open," she looked at Martha who stood there, unmoving, "Go!"
She gave her a nudge, pushing her towards the door. Martha hesitated a moment before running out of the room, there was a huge crowd of people that would die if she didn't get them out. She could come back to help Evy as soon as she succeeded.
So she ran down the hall, coming up to the mass of partygoers still trying to get out the locked main entrance.
"We can't get out!" Tish shouted, seeing Martha approaching, "We're trapped!"
"There must be an override switch," she stated, looking around, "Where's the security desk? Tish!"
Tish pointed to a booth a few feet away, "Right there."
Martha ran towards the desk and slid over the top, making her way to the control panel and using the preset sonic on it. Moments later the power was back on and the doors opened.
~8~
"I've got to go back," Martha said, once she was sure everyone had gotten out and her family was alright.
"You can't!" her mother shouted, "You saw what that thing did. It'll kill you."
"I don't care. I have to go."
"It's that Doctor, isn't it?" her mother glared, "That's what's happened to you. That's why you've changed."
"He was buying us time, Martha," Tish reminded her, "Time for you to get out, too."
"It's not just him mum," she shook her head, "Evy's still in there. I'm not leaving them."
"Martha!" her mother called, but Martha just ran back up the stairs and into the building.
~8~
In the main reception area, knelt next to the machine, Evy frowned in frustration as she worked on the wires. This would be so much easier if she had a sonic screwdriver to help her. But to do this manually…it was near impossible, but she could do it, she knew she could. It would also be easier if she didn't have a massive headache. It would be even easier if she wasn't keeping tabs on the Doctor and hearing his plans as he ran about with Lazarus on his tail.
She stiffened suddenly, her eyes widening as the Doctor reached the labs.
"If he gets himself blown up," she muttered to herself, "I'll kill him."
~8~
Martha was running through the halls, trying to get back to the reception area when she heard a blast coming from around the corner where she knew the labs were. She raced down it and crashed into the Doctor as she reached the corner.
"What are you doing here?" the Doctor demanded when he saw who he'd run into.
"I'm returning this," she held out the screwdriver for him, "I thought you might need it."
"How did you…" he trailed, confused, as he stared at the setting. He'd only told her about setting 54, she wouldn't have had time to go through all the settings to 50 to get the power back on.
"Evy set it for me," she explained quickly, "I was heading back to get her…"
"She's still in here?" his eyes widened, completely disregarding what Martha had been saying about the sonic in his concern for the girl.
Martha nodded, "She was doing something to the machine and told me to get everyone out. I was about to go get her when I heard the explosion. That was you then?"
"I blasted Lazarus," he nodded.
"Did you kill him?" she asked hopefully.
Then Lazarus came crashing down the hall.
"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say," he replied before pulling her down the hall, "Let's get Evy and get out of here!"
~8~
They ran back into the reception room, Martha immediately spotting Evy, "Evy!" she called, running over to her. She pulled her away from the machine, checking her eyes to make sure she didn't have a concussion or some other sort of injury.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked, walking over to them as Martha's examination turned into a hug of relief. Evy was fine.
"She was bleeding before," Martha informed him, pulling away.
"Are you alright?" the Doctor turned to give Evy the onceover as well.
"I'm fine," she assured them, "It was just a bloody nose."
The Doctor frowned as he squinted, he could just barely make out a darkening of the skin under her nose where she'd wiped the blood away.
"What do we do now?" Martha asked, looking around, "We've just gone round in a circle!"
Lazarus burst into the room as Evy pulled them towards the machine, "We can't lead him outside. Come on, get in," she pushed them into the device and barely managed to close the door behind her they were so crunched together.
"Are we hiding?" Martha asked, a bit out of breath as she was sure someone's elbow was pressed into her lungs.
"No, he knows we're here," the Doctor commented, "But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."
"But we're trapped!"
"Well, yeah, that's a slight problem…"
"You mean you don't have a plan?" Martha's eyes widened.
The Doctor looked sheepish but Evy smiled, "But I do."
"You do?" she asked, breathing a bit easier, at least someone had a plan.
"I'm very good at backup plans," Evy gave a breathy laugh, "When Lazarus changed his DNA the energy field in this thing reactivated dormant genes, they're becoming dominant.
"He's human?" Martha's shock was apparent.
"It's a throwback," the Doctor confirmed.
"Some option that evolution rejected millions of years ago, but the potential was still locked in the genes," Evy explained, "Until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake."
"So what's the plan?" Martha shook her head.
"Wait for it," she smiled.
Moments later the machine started up.
"He's switched the machine on!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"That's not good, is it?" Martha looked between the two of them, "Is that part of the plan?"
Evy just nodded. Martha shut her eyes tight as the energy field charged up and glowed brighter than it had during Lazarus's experiment.
But, suddenly, it changed, moving out from the capsule, leaving them safe.
They listened for a moment, but, hearing nothing from Lazarus, they stepped out of the machine to see him lying on the floor, still young, but human again.
"What did you do?" the Doctor asked, staring at the prone form of the professor.
"I rigged the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it," Evy explained, staring sadly at the body as well.
"Did it kill him?" Martha asked.
The Doctor shook his head, "When he transformed, he was three times his size, cellular triplication, he spread himself thin," he turned to Evy, "It took you all this time to reverse the polarity?"
She rolled her eyes, "Well, it's not like I had a sonic device to help!"
"You did it all manually?" his eyes widened in shock, but he was clearly impressed as well, "But that's impossible!"
"He seems so…" Martha's voice drifted over to them, cutting off what Evy was about to say. They looked up to see her crouching next to the body, "Human…again. It's kind of pitiful."
"Eliot saw that, too," the Doctor commented.
"'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper,'" Evy quoted.
~8~
Medical services came and took the body of the professor, carrying it out in a body bag on a gurney, Martha, the Doctor, and Evy watching from the steps outside the labs.
"She's here!" someone called. They looked up to see Tish running over to Martha and hugging her, "Oh, she's alright."
"Ah, Mrs. Jones, we still haven't finished out chat," the Doctor smiled as Martha's mother stormed over to him. His smile didn't last long as she slapped him in the face.
"Keep away from my daughter!" she demanded.
"Mum, what are you doing?" Martha asked in shock.
Evy placed a hand on the Doctor's cheek where a red print was already forming. Unconsciously he leaned into the touch, her hand was cool and felt nice against his stinging skin.
"Do all their mothers do this to you?" she asked him, a bit of a laugh in her voice.
"Every time," he replied.
"He is dangerous!" Mrs. Jones shouted, "I've been told things."
"What are you talking about?" Martha frowned as her mother grabbed her shoulders.
"Look around you! Nothing but death and destruction!"
"This isn't his fault," Martha defended, "He saved us, all of us!"
"It was Tish who invited everyone to this thing in the first place," Leo added, "I'd say, technically, it's her fault."
Tish elbowed him in the side just as there was a crash down the street. The Doctor and Evy took off running. Martha tried to follow but her mother grabbed her.
"Leave them!" she told her daughter. But Martha just shook her head and pulled away, running after them.
"Martha?" Tish called.
~8~
They were standing at the ambulance, stopped outside a church when Tish ran up to them. The doors were open and they could see the medics were dried up husks like all of Lazarus's other victims.
"Lazarus, back from the dead," the Doctor shook his head, "Should've known, really," he took out the sonic and began searching for the fluctuating DNA once more.
"Where's he gone?" Martha looked around.
"That way," the Doctor said, getting a direction, "The church."
"Cathedral," Tish corrected as they all looked at her. She shrugged, "It's Southwark Cathedral. He told me."
They walked inside, moving slowly up the aisle, the Doctor with the sonic held out in front of him.
"Do you think he's in here?" Martha asked quietly.
"Where would you go if you were looking for sanctuary?" Evy countered.
As they drew nearer to the front of the cathedral they saw someone huddled under a red blanket behind the altar, Lazarus.
"I came here before," he said, sensing them standing there, "A lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat there, just a child…the sound of planes and bombs outside."
"The Blitz," Evy breathed, guessing what he was talking about.
"You've read about it," he nodded.
The Doctor shook his head, walking to stand before him, "I was there."
"You're too young," he scoffed.
"So are you," the Doctor shrugged.
Lazarus laughed but it quickly turned into gasps of pain. They could see he was fighting the mutation, "In the morning, the fires had died, and I was still alive. I swore I'd never face death like that again," Evy walked around him, coming to stand near the Doctor, watching him carefully as he glanced up at the bell tower, "So defenseless," he continued, "I would arm myself, fight back, defeat it."
"That's what you were trying to do today," the Doctor realized, turning his attention back to the man.
"That's what I did today," he corrected.
"What about the other people who died?" Evy frowned.
"They were nothing," he spat, "I changed the course of history."
"Any of them might have done too," the Doctor argued, "You think history's only made with equations? Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that."
"No, Doctor," Lazarus glared, "Avoiding death. That's being human. It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fiber of being. I'm doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more…successful," he groaned in pain, his body trying to change.
"Look at yourself!" Evy shook her head, "You're mutating! You have no control over it! You call that a success?"
"I call it progress. I'm more now than I was. More than just an ordinary human."
"There's no such thing as an ordinary human," the Doctor said passionately.
"He's gonna change again at any minute," Martha whispered, coming up to them.
"I know," the Doctor whispered back, "If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work."
"Up there?" Martha looked up, he nodded.
"You're so sentimental, Doctor," Lazarus continued, "Maybe you are older than you look."
"I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one," he informed the man, "In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle. Tired of losing everyone that matters to you. Tired of watching everything turn to dust," he squatted beside Lazarus, his back to Evy who was wearing a sympathetic, understanding look, "If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you end up alone."
"That's a price worth paying."
"Is it?" Evy countered.
"I will feed soon," he told them, feeling the change taking over.
"I'm not gonna let that happen," the Doctor warned him.
"You've not been able to stop me so far," he smirked.
Evy stepped forward about to take a leaf out of the Doctor's book and bait the man again, say something to get Lazarus to follow her up the tower, when Martha beat her to it.
"Leave him, Lazarus! He's old and bitter. Thought you had a taste for fresher meat."
"Martha no!" Evy shouted, but Lazarus stood up and began to chase her and Tish towards the stairs. She lunged forward to go after them, but the Doctor held her back.
"I'm going to need your help down here," he told her before taking her hand and pulling her towards the center of the cathedral.
"Doctor!" they heard Martha shout from a small ways away, "The tower!"
"Where are they?" Evy looked up at the floors above them, "Martha!"
Martha appeared in one of the archways, "Evy! Doctor!"
"Take him to the top, the very top of the bell tower, d'you hear me?" he shouted up to her.
"Up to the top!" she repeated, "Then what?"
Suddenly she disappeared, pulled back into the archway and the duo could just barely make out her running before she disappeared again.
The Doctor looked around, spotting a large pipe organ. He began running, still pulling Evy along as he had yet to let go of her hand. They ran up to it, sitting on the bench. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and began fiddling with the settings.
"Hypersonic sound waves," he muttered to himself, "Inspired."
He handed it to Evy who jammed it into a slot in the organ and began pulling out all the stops she could reach as he did the same.
There was a commotion at the top of the tower followed by the sound of someone screaming.
"I hope there're good acoustic in here," Evy commented as the Doctor began playing the organ. Nothing seemed to be happening even as he played more frantically.
"We need to turn this up to 11," Evy muttered, pulling the screwdriver out and resetting the volume of the organ. She stuck it back in and the Doctor began to play, much, much louder than before.
The sound waves from the organ were slowly becoming visible to the naked eye as the noise resonated straight up the bell tower. Moments later there was a loud crash and the Doctor jumped back from the organ. He and Evy leaned over to see Lazarus, in his human form, lying on the ground.
"Martha?" Evy shouted, praying to the stars that her friend was alright.
"Martha!" the Doctor shouted when there was no reply.
"I'm okay!" Martha called back, "We're both okay!"
Evy let out a breath of relief, leaning her head against the Doctor's shoulder and laughing just a bit. The Doctor turned and put an arm around her shoulders, half hugging her as he too laughed at the fact that it had worked. Both knew he'd only been vaguely sure that it might possibly work.
"Come on," he said after a moment, getting up and holding a hand out for her to take. She picked up the sonic before taking his hand and following him down to the base of the bell tower. She stood back as he knelt by Lazarus's side, closing his eyes as the body began to age back, signifying he was truly dead this time.
Evy frowned as the Doctor's thoughts started to drift to his own tiredness and escapes from death. She stepped forward, reaching out a hand to brush her fingers through his hair before falling to his shoulder, comforting him. He took a breath, before standing up, taking Evy's hand and walking back to the stairs, waiting for Martha.
Once they saw her heading down, Evy let go of his hand and rushed to hug her friend, followed closely by the Doctor. Soon they found themselves in a three way group hug.
"Don't scare me like that again Martha," Evy said, pulling away, "Next time one of us has to be the bait, how about we let the girl not wearing high heels to do the running yeah?" she stuck out her foot to reveal flats.
Martha laughed, "Yeah, but I've got the shorter dress…no tripping over my hem."
Evy grinned, "Touché."
"I didn't know you could play?" Martha turned to the Doctor.
"You call that playing?" Evy frowned playfully.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Well, you know, if you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up."
"Hmm, especially about playing loud," Martha joined in the ribbing of the Doctor's skills.
"Sorry?" he asked, leaning forward like he didn't hear her.
The girls just laughed at him.
~8~
Back in Martha's flat, the Doctor and Evy were standing in front of the TARDIS, Martha in front of them.
"Something else that just kind of escalated then," the Doctor commented.
"I can see a pattern developing," Martha laughed, "You should take more care in the future. And the past, and whatever other time period you find yourself in."
"It's good fun, though, isn't it?"
"Yeah," she agreed as Evy nodded.
"So…what d'you say, one more trip?"
Evy fought a smile from appearing on her face.
"No," Martha said after a moment, "Sorry."
He frowned, "What do you mean? I thought you liked it."
"I do," she said quickly, "But I can't go on like this. 'One more trip.' It's not fair."
"What're you talking about?" he tilted his head in confusion.
"She doesn't want to be just a passenger anymore," Evy clarified.
Martha nodded, "I don't want to be someone you take along just for a treat. If that's how you still see me, well, I'd rather stay here."
"Okay, then," he agreed, "If that's what you want."
"Right," she scoffed a bit, "But we've already said goodbye once today so it's really best if you just go," she turned and walked away from the TARDIS, keeping her back to it. But when nothing else was said and she didn't hear the familiar sound of the TARDIS disappearing, she turned around. Evy was grinning broadly while the Doctor was just standing there, "What is it?"
"What?" he shrugged, "I said okay."
"Sorry?" she frowned.
"Okay," he repeated, nodding towards the TARDIS.
Martha's eyes widened, "Oh, thank you! Thank you!" she ran to him and hugged him, laughing.
"Well, you were never really just a passenger, were you?" he replied.
Martha turned to Evy and hugged her as well, "I told you so," Evy smiled.
"Yeah you did," she agreed, "You were right."
"Were you lot taking bets about this or something?" the Doctor frowned teasingly.
"Or something," Evy replied, pulling away from the hug but looping her arm through Martha's.
The Doctor just laughed, holding the door open for the two women to step through. And soon, off they went to their next adventure.
A/N: Anyone want to guess what her ability is?
Just a note on my series Recollections, I'm so sorry for not updating it recently. This week has been crazy, two birthdays and a wedding to go to, BUT! The wedding vows really inspired me for the next chapter of that series, so expect it, by the latest, Tuesday :)
