Disclaimer: Not mine. It's very sad, I agree. If it looks familiar, it's because it's also on LJ and Teaspoon.
Chapter Summary: Rose and the Doctor make their escape. Calling the adventure over, however, would be speaking too soon.
A/N: I am so terribly sorry this took so long to update - I hope you all didn't give up on me. Journey's End rather threw me for a loop. Updates will now continue on their regular every 2-3 day schedule.
Chapter Seven: Cellular Disruption
Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt wasted no time; he immediately began examining the room, starting from the door and working his way carefully around the edges. Safe behind the protective barrier of the small black notebook, the Doctor glanced down at Rose, who was barely daring to breathe. He grazed her cheek with his finger, and apparently it was enough, because a moment later, she reopened their telepathic link, her silvery-turquoise thoughts overlapping the purple of his.
Move.
It wasn't words exactly – their link had never worked quite in that way – but she seemed to understand. Careful to remain behind the barrier, they moved off the cot and around the opposite end of the room, away from Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt, who kept up a running dialogue.
"Now, Rose Tyler, so clever, how did you escape, how did you escape, oh so clever, we'll have to talk about this too, fear in the hearts of Daleks and now this! I'm quite impressed, really, and that takes a good deal, now, look here!"
The Doctor and Rose, nearly at the door, froze, and watched as Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt laid his hand on the cot. He began to dance.
"Still warm, you aren't so far gone! You're about and about somewhere, you are, in fact I think you might be—" Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt whirled around and in his hands was a little black notebook as well. The barrier between them shuddered, and blinked out. "There you are!" he sang. "Found you, Rose Tyler!"
"So you did," said Rose weakly.
"Can't pull the wool over your eyes," said the Doctor cheerfully. "Well, stone, perhaps." He shoved Rose out the door and leapt after her. He flipped to another page in the notebook, pressing a button. The door winked back into existence. "That ought to hold him for a moment."
"Where did you get that thing?" asked Rose from the floor.
"No questions, love, time to run now," said the Doctor, pulling her up, and no sooner had they turned the corner at the end of the hall, but they heard Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt's cheerful and angry voice behind them.
"Rose Tyler! We'd like a word with you!"
"Remind me never to become famous," gasped Rose. The Doctor kept running, flipping pages in the notebook as he looked for something. "And you didn't say what that is."
"Cellular disrupter," explained the Doctor absently. "Quite clever, really, little descriptions on each page, and you press the button when you're at the page you want, and ah, this will do quite nicely."
He came screeching to a halt and turned around just as Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt appeared around the corner. The little blue man's face lit up when he saw them.
"Ah, there you are," he said quite cheerfully. "Off to lecture, Rose Tyler, and we'll settle with your friend, no worries there."
"Think not," replied the Doctor, and pressed the button. Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt stopped in his tracks, and looked down at his body, which was beginning to fade.
"Oh, dear," he said with a sigh. "Page 372, was it?" He began moving again, and Rose instantly jerked back, but the Doctor didn't budge.
"Thought it would do," said the Doctor.
Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt stood beside them now; he reached out as if to grab them, but his arm, completely transparent, went straight through them.
"My contribution as well," he said, still managing to sound glum in his cheer. "Quite appropriate, good fellow. I'm glad you're finding the disrupter useful."
"Oh, very."
"We do have a more updated model, with another five hundred pages, if you would be so interested?"
The Doctor's ears perked up. "Another five hundred pages?"
"Doctor," Rose interrupted. "Run?"
"Oh, yes, sorry." The Doctor grabbed her hand and they continued down the hall, leaving Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt behind.
"I'm sure we could make you an excellent bargain!" he shouted, and kept jogging after them.
A few minutes later, they skid to another halt, where the hallways diverged into two. "Don't suppose there's a map in there?" gasped Rose, leaning over.
"Probably one of the other 500 functions," said the Doctor. "Oh, look, it works as a compatible screen to my sonic screwdriver, now, that's clever, I could use that."
"Does your screwdriver have a map in it?"
"Ah, Rose, don't be silly."
"Doctor, which way do we go?"
The Doctor cocked his head towards one hallway, motioning her to be quiet. He listened for a moment, and then turned to the other and did the same. "This way," he said confidently.
"Are you sure?"
He grabbed her hand and ran, since that was faster than talking. Within minutes, they had reached the landing bay, and the Tardis in the center of it, still surrounded by the black obelisks. The Doctor stopped near one.
"I believe these obelisks may be what's dampening the Tardis's travel circuitry," he said, flipping in the notebook. "If we could disrupt them – run inside, Rose, and check the screen – when everything comes online, it'll tell you."
She did, and just as she dashed into the doors, he grinned. "Ready, Rose?"
"Offline!" she shouted.
"Not for long!" He pressed the button.
"Still offline!"
The Doctor frowned. "Now, that ought to have worked, this should have reduced the obelisk to dust. All right, next page – no, no, no, yes. ALL RIGHT, ROSE?"
"Still offline!"
"Oh, for—" He kept flipping. "All right, Rose?"
She stormed out of the Tardis then, marched over to the obelisk, gave it a cursory once over, and suddenly bent down and slammed her hand onto the very base.
The Tardis whirred to life, and the Doctor stared at her, mouth open.
"I turned it off," she said, irritated. "Honestly, if you'd taken a minute to read the directions."
"Directions?" he squeaked.
She pointed at the etchings along the edges of the obelisk. As soon as he put on his glasses, he saw letters – words – directions. "Off switch located at base of column," he read aloud.
"Doctor," said Rose. "Run now?"
"Well, I wear glasses to read!" he argued, and followed her into the Tardis. "You can't expect me to read little black words on tall black obelisks without someone telling me to put them on!"
"Oh, those glasses are only for show," said Rose. "Can we go now?"
Within minutes, they were in the Vortex, back to the same routine of trying to keep the ship together as they sailed through time. It left very little breath for conversation, and as soon as they'd landed, the Doctor took Rose's hand.
"What did you tell them? When they asked how you defeated the Daleks?"
"I didn't say anything about the Tardis."
"I know," he said calmly, "or it would never have been left unguarded. Which makes me wonder what it is you did say."
"I told them I waved my hand, and the Daleks turned to dust. And that they were startled that I could do it – and later, when I saw them again, they were so surprised that I had been able to turn them to dust – me, just me, not even you – they were shocked. And then they died."
"Skipped a bit, there."
"Yeah," she admitted, grinning. "Couldn't exactly disillusion Mr. Para-whatsit that I had help on the second go."
"No," he grinned, and just as quickly frowned. "Wait – you told him – you scared the Daleks?"
"To death, essentially," said Rose, and the Doctor rushed to the console screen, typing a few things before his eyes went wide.
"Oh. Well, that explains it. Rose, you're getting a reputation."
"Sorry?"
"When I was in the Deathsmith's testing facility, I noticed their next prototype – a robot-type figure, more of an android, really. Apparently it will be used to house their next invention, and the intent was to give it whatever ability you were able to provide."
Rose sat on the jump seat with a thump. "I told them I'd scared the Daleks to death."
"Yep."
"But – you can't actually scare someone to death…can you?"
"That's what destroyed the Deathsmiths, about a hundred years after we left them," said the Doctor, reading the screen. "Their last invention – the Apocalypse Device, turned on them. Scared to death by their own creation…which you suggested."
Rose clutched the edge of the seat. "I think I might be sick. They were sweet."
"Rose, they locked us in a stone-lined cell, would very likely have kept us there until we'd told them everything we ever knew, and probably would have killed us in the end by testing their new toy on us. And lest you forget, no tea."
"But that's two entire species I've helped to destroy!" wailed Rose. "And this time, I can't even say I had help! They're going to start calling me the Destroyer!"
"The Oncoming Rainshower?" suggested the Doctor.
"How can you be so flippant about this?"
"Because it was the Deathsmiths of Goth," said the Doctor, suddenly harsh. "Hardly one of the world's most benevolent group of scientists. You did notice, Rose, that most of the inventions they had there weren't terribly fuzzy. They involve pain and entrapment, with a hefty dose of death as the ultimate goal."
"But – you didn't kill Mr. Paralogginstrainosmitt," said Rose. "You just sort of – turned him into a ghost."
"And I'm not all that certain he'll be able to turn back. I didn't see a reversal. We were running for our lives, Rose, and I have no doubt that if he'd caught up to us, he would have taken you away and that would have been the last we saw of each other."
Rose laid her hands on his chest. "They gave the Daleks their weapons."
He exhaled. "Yes."
"Tell me what you did back there – it wasn't revenge."
"No," he said. "But I can't say I don't have a certain perverse pleasure in the fact that you brought down their entire civilization."
She wrapped her fingers around his coat lapels and shook them, thumping him lightly. He watched her, warily – Rose's moral fiber was full of the shades of grey of the universe; his less so, and he wasn't sure what'd she think of this.
"You are merciless, in this body," she said finally. "I always knew, but – I don't expect it. Times like this, I can't help but remember—" She bit her lip.
"Before I changed?" he filled in. She nodded. "Same man, me. Just a different aspect. Lucky thing about regeneration, every bit of my personality gets the spotlight at least once."
"I like this one," said Rose. "Well, not the merciless bit. But on the whole, it'll do."
"Good," he said, resting his hands on hers. They stood for a moment, smiling faintly at each other, before he broke into a grin. "Now – Shakespeare?"
Rose grinned at him. "We've set up another species to annihilate themselves, and you're ready for the next adventure?"
"Aren't you?"
She sighed. "You're hoping to distract me with Shakespeare."
"Will it work?"
"It might."
"Wardrobe," he replied cheerfully. "Holler if you need help with the corset."
"Cheeky Time Lord," she said, and was tripping down the ramp when the Tardis bells began to ring. "Oh – Doctor – the crossroads are ready. Let me call my mum before we go? Just in case we take a bit longer than expected."
The Doctor stared at the console, frowning. "That's odd. She just sent photographs this morning, your mum – the crossroads shouldn't be ready until tomorrow at the earliest. How long were we in that cell?"
Rose had already settled herself on the jump seat and was dialing her superphone. The Doctor had thought she would go somewhere else to make the call, and as much as he didn't want to intrude on her conversation (or risk Jackie wanting to talk to him), he also didn't want to leave the console room. He crouched behind the console, opposite Rose, and began to fiddle with the circuitry.
"Mum!" said Rose. "We've had such an adventure, but imagine where we are now?"
The Doctor couldn't hear Jackie, but he wouldn't have been surprised if the response had involved chapels and tuxes and flowers.
"Elizabethan England, unless the Doctor's misdirected us again."
"Oi!" he shouted indignantly, and Rose laughed.
"Yes, that's him. We're in the console room. I can hear you perfectly, Mum, I don't think the connection's ever been this clear, and you just sent me those photos of Molly and Donald in school uniform. Have they started yet?"
Blue wire to the green wire, cross the yellow wire under, where was his sonic screwdriver….
"Oh." Rose's voice was suddenly strained, and the Doctor held still, listening again. "I didn't realize the pictures were two months old already."
His head hit the console on his way up, and nearly knocked him back down. When he managed to stand up (head ringing), Rose was looking at him, her eyes wide with fear.
"Oh, I'm sure they've having a splendid time, they're both so quick," Rose said. Her voice was still frantic, and the Doctor walked around the console and leaned against it opposite her.
"Mickey?" she continued, brow furrowing. "No, of course, I haven't spoken to him in ages. If you give me his mobile, I'll ring him in a – oh. He is? I – I suppose that's all right, Mum, but it's giving up a little time with you. Of course, I'll ring you in a few days, when it's safe. Love you, mum, Pete and twins too."
Mickey? mouthed the Doctor, and Rose was able to nod before she began speaking again. He marveled at the way she managed to keep her voice light and cheerful, even if her face was drawn and worried.
"Hullo, Mickey. I think I know why the blue box was humming."
Something in Rose's expression shifted, and she slowly pulled the phone from her ear.
"He wants me to put him on speakerphone," she said, and pressed the proper button. "Mickey? Can you hear us?"
"Is the Doctor there?" Mickey Smith's voice had changed, the Doctor noted – authoritative, strong, and almost demanding.
"Hello, Mickey," he said. "Saved the world today?"
"Twice," said Mickey. "You?"
"Oh, same. Rose did her bit too. She tells me you're quite the important man there."
"Doctor, I have a question and I would appreciate an honest answer."
"No pleasantries with you, are there?"
"Is it correct that four years ago you pulled Rose Tyler from the blue box in the Torchwood Tower Storage basement, a year after you saw her in Norway?"
The Doctor locked eyes with Rose, who was suddenly going pale.
"Ah – yes. I believe that is correct."
"Then why—" There was a pause, and they heard Mickey swallow. "Explain to me, then, Doctor, why I remember Rose being in this world for five years, and she didn't leave to join you until yesterday?"
