The Waters of Mars (Part 2)
Evy bit her lip hard as she ran down the tunnel with the Doctor, the two of them easily catching up to Adelaide.
"All I'm saying is…bikes!" the Doctor said, trying to lighten the mood, "Little fold-away bikes. Don't weigh a thing."
They ran into a huge open area, with a wide square cut into the base of it where a huge sheet of ice could be seen.
"They tell legends of Mars from long ago," he commented, staring down at the ice, "The fine and noble race that built an empire out of snow. The Ice Warriors."
"I haven't got time for stories," Adelaide waved him off, running to a computer.
"Maybe they discovered something," Evy replied, "And used their resources and power to freeze it down there."
"We need to find any sort of change in the water process," Adelaide told them, looking through the computer files, "We've got to date the infection."
The Doctor went to type on a computer next to Adelaide's for a moment before, "Access denied," the computer announced.
Evy sighed and nudged him to the side, typing away herself, as Adelaide glanced at them from time to time.
"You two don't look like cowards," she commented, "But all you've wanted to do is leave," she gave them a sideways glance, "You both know so much about us."
"Well, you're famous," the Doctor shrugged, watching Evy type.
"It's like you know more."
"This moment…" he began, struggling, trying to find the words he could say without giving everything away, Evy glanced up at him with warning, "This precise moment in time, it's like…I mean, it's only a theory, what do I know, but, I think certain moments in time are fixed. Tiny, precious moments. Anything else is in flux. Anything can happen. But those certain moments, they have to stand. This base on Mars, with you, Adelaide Brooke, this is one vital moment. What happens here must always happen."
Adelaide tensed, obviously frightened by his words but trying to cover it up, "Which is what?"
"We don't know," Evy said quickly, shaking her head at the Doctor.
'We're not supposed to tell her. Say too much and it could change things for the worse,' she warned.
'But we can't just leave her here to deal with this not knowing things will be alright in the end,' he argued.
'They die in a fiery explosion, how is THAT alright?' Evy asked, a bit of Donna slipping into her.
'The future that her granddaughter creates because of her. That's how.'
"I think something wonderful happens," the Doctor turned to Adelaide, trying to offer just a bit of comfort, "Something that started fifty years ago, isn't that right?"
Adelaide's eyes widened as she turned to them, now very frightened of how he knew about her, about that, "I've never told anyone that."
"You told your daughter."
'Careful,' Evy warned.
"And maybe, one day, she tells the story to her daughter," he continued, "Of the day the Earth was stolen and moved across the Universe. And you…"
Adelaide hesitated, sensing that they already knew the story, but speaking nonetheless, "I saw the Daleks…we looked up. The sky had changed. Everyone was running and screaming. And my father took hold of me…" she trailed off in thought, recalling that day, "He led me to my room and told me to stay there, that he was going to find my mother and bring her back. He promised they'd both come back…I never saw him again. Nor my mother. They were never found. But out on the streets, there was panic and burning. I went to the window…and there, in the sky, I saw it, Doctor, a Dalek. And it saw me. It stared at me. It looked right into me. And then…" she half smiled, tears in her eyes, "It simply went away. I knew, that night, I knew I would follow it."
"Not for revenge though," Evy said, more of a statement than a question.
"What would be the point of that?"
The Doctor smiled, "That's what makes you remarkable. And that's how you create history."
"Doctor," Evy turned to him, sharply.
"What d'you mean?" Adelaide looked confusedly between the two of them.
"Imagine it, Adelaide," the Doctor began quickly, knowing if he hesitated, if he stopped, Evy and his own mind would keep him from continuing, "If you began a journey that takes the human race all the way out to the stars. It begins with you. And then your granddaughter, you inspire her!"
"Doctor!" Evy's eyes widened, seeing what he was planning to tell Adelaide, but it was too late.
"So that, in thirty years, Susie Fontana Brooke is the pilot of the first light speed ship to Proxima Centauri. And then everywhere, with her children and her children's children forging away to the Dragon Star, the Celestial Belt of the Winter Queen, the Map of the Water Snake Wormholes."
"Doctor! Stop it!"
"One day a Brooke will even fall in love with a Tandonian prince, and that's the start of a whole new species," the Doctor smiled, looking at Adelaide, "But everything all starts with you, Adelaide. From fifty years ago to right here, today. Imagine."
Evy shook her head in shock, 'Do you have ANY idea how many laws you just broke?'
'She's going to die in a fiery explosion anyway remember?' he shot back bitterly. At least he could give the woman a bit of comfort that she gave the human race the way to survive.
"Who are you?" Adelaide paused, looking at them, "Why are you telling me this? Doctor? Why tell me?"
"Don't," Evy warned him, which only made Adelaide frown in concern.
"As consolation," the Doctor replied, pained.
Evy hit a button on the computer, finally managing to crack the system, a log popped up with Andy's profile.
"Andy Stone," Evy read, "Logged on only yesterday."
She clicked the log and a video popped up of Andy, "Maintenance log, 21:20, November 20, 2059. Number three water filter's bust," he held up the filter, "And guess what. The spares they sent don't fit. What a surprise. Over and out."
"A filter!" the Doctor almost laughed, "One tiny little filter and then the flood!"
"But that means the infection arrived today and the water's only cycled out of the bio-dome after a week," Adelaide breathed a sigh of relief, "The rest of us can't be infected. We can leave!" she brought up the comm., "Ed, we're clean, how're we doing?"
"Shuttle's active, stage one," Ed replied.
Adelaide nodded and turned to run back to the central hub, the Doctor and Evy running after them. The Doctor looked pained, not just from what he knew was coming for the crew, but for the anger he was feeling from Evy, she was far angrier with him than the time he'd knocked her out to face the Sontarans…
"You were right, Doctor," Adelaide said lightly.
"What about?" he looked over at her, pulled out of his thoughts.
Adelaide smiled, "Bikes!" he managed a semi- forced chuckle as they reached the control room again. Adelaide went over to a bin and picked up the spacesuits, handing them back to the Doctor and Evy, "Now get to your ship. I'm saving my people, you save yourselves. I know what this moment is, it's the moment we escape. Now get out!"
Evy winced at the hope in the woman's voice as the Doctor clutched the suits, staring after her in pain. They stood there, motionless, watching the crew packing, knowing the whole truth of what as actually going to happen.
Evy looked over as a faint beeping noise began. She could see a blinking alarm, the bio-feeds tracing Andy and Tarak going off. But with all the noise and shouting and rustling, the crew didn't hear. She nudged the Doctor, the two of them looking from the beeping to the ceiling where the computer was saying the other two crewmen were, but they said nothing.
'We can't,' Evy whispered in his mind, 'We've done enough damage already.'
The Doctor winced, his words had given Adelaide hope…
The crew continued packing for just a bit longer before Adelaide finally noticed the alarms beeping, "What the hell is noise?" she demanded, "Mia, you lot, shut up!"
"It's the module sensors," Ed said, "Exterior twelve. The cameras are down, but there's pressure on top of the module. Two signals, right above us."
"That means…" Steffi began, frightened, her voice shaking as she looked up at the ceiling along with everyone else, "…they're on the roof?"
"How did they get inside the dome?" Roman asked.
"They used the maintenance shafts," Ed realized.
"The shaft's open and they haven't got spacesuits," Mia shook her head, scared, as Yuri took her hand.
The Doctor eyed them, devastated, as he watched the two seek comfort in each other. Without realizing, he took Evy's hand as well.
"They breathe water," Ed replied.
"They'll freeze," Steffi argued.
"They've got that internal fission," Yuri breathed.
"We're safe," Mia tried to find hope, "They can't get through, can they?" there was a creaking noise, a grinding sound, as though metal material was being broken down, "Can they?"
"This place is airtight," Roman shook his head.
"Can they get through?" Steffi looked around, "Ed? Can they get through?"
"I don't know," Ed frowned, "The water itself is immotile, but it has some sort of persistence."
"Everyone, listen to me," Adelaide took charge, "That's ten feet of steel combination up there. We'll need all the protein packs or we're gonna starve. Now keep working. Roman…" she tapped his arm, "Watch the ceiling. Ed, get to the shuttle. Fire it up."
"I can carry more than this lot can!"
"That's an order!"
"Captain!" he half grinned and ran out.
'Doctor,' Evy whispered to him, leaning her forehead against his arm as Adelaide glanced over at them amidst everyone scrambling to try and work out ways to survive, 'It's already going to hell…we didn't cause this. We need to GO.'
She tugged his hand, leading him out of the room, neither of them looking back. They made their way over to the airlock they'd been brought in through, both putting on their suits in silence. Evy watched the Doctor as he finished suiting up, concern radiating off of her for him. He looked so devastated. She felt it too, she didn't want this to happen, not after having gotten to know Adelaide Brooke. But this wasn't like Pompeii, no one survived this explosion.
"Are you ready?" she asked, attaching his helmet for him.
"No," he replied, but he took her hand anyway and they turned to the airlock.
They stepped in and shut the door behind them. Evy pushed the button to open the other door but…
"Access denied," the computer announced.
She tried again but…
"Access denied."
"Tell me what happens," Adelaide's voice came on over the comm. in their suits.
"We don't know," Evy answered.
"Yes, you do. Now tell me."
"You should be with your crew..."
"Tell me!" she demanded angrily, but they were silent, "I could ramp up the pressure in that airlock and crush you."
"Except you won't," the Doctor said, gripping Evy's hand tightly at just the thought of it, "You could have shot Andy Stone, but you didn't. I loved you for that…" he paused, "Imagine…"
There was silence a moment as the Doctor fought against himself as to whether or not to tell her the truth.
"Imagine you knew something," Evy said carefully, "Imagine you were in Pompeii…"
"What the hell's that got to do with it?" Adelaide asked.
"And you want to save them and by trying to, you make it happen."
"Anything I do just makes it happen," the Doctor mumbled, sounding so tired and broken that Evy could feel herself start to cry, but she had to be strong for him.
"Captain, we need you right now!" Steffi's voice sounded before a door shut.
"I'm still here," Adelaide said after a moment.
The Doctor took a deep breath before turning to face the camera, "You're taking Action One."
"Doctor," Evy whispered, tugging his hand.
"There are four more standard action procedures, and Action Five is…"
"Detonation," Adelaide answered.
"The final option. The nuclear device at the heart of the central dome."
"Doctor, don't!" Evy warned, knowing that his words would set into motion the events that would keep the fixed point as it was meant to be, but knowing that by him doing so it would make him responsible for it, that would kill him.
He ignored her.
"Today, on the 21st of November, 2059, Captain Brooke activates that device, taking the base and all her crew members with her. No one ever knows why. But you were saving Earth."
"Doctor, you need to stop!"
"That's what inspires your granddaughter. She takes your people out into the galaxy because you die on Mars. You die today. She flies out there, like she's trying to meet you."
Adelaide gasped, "I won't die…" they could hear the tears in her eyes, before she spoke more determined, "I will not!"
"But your death creates the future."
There was silence.
"Help me," she begged, but they were silent, "Why won't you help, if you know all this, why can't you change it?"
"We can't," Evy shook her head, "Adelaide, we're aware. But we can't."
"Why can't you find a way? Tell me. I don't know."
"I'm sorry, but I can't!" the Doctor shouted, silencing her, "Sometimes we can. Sometimes we do. Most times we can save someone or anyone. But not you. You've wondered all your life why that Dalek spared you. I think it knew! Your death is fixed in time. Forever. And that's right."
There was silence a moment before Evy took a breath, "For us to change that…something that has so great an impact on the events of history...of the future...it's too much power," she blinked back tears, thinking of her brother, "It turns us into monsters."
Adelaide swallowed hard, "You die too?"
"No," the Doctor replied.
"What's gonna save you?"
"Captain Adelaide Brooke," he tried to smile, but failed.
There was another round of silence before Adelaide whispered, "Damn you."
And the airlock unsealed…they could step out onto Martian land...but...they could still hear everything…
"Water!" Roman shouted, "We've got water!"
"Get back!" Mia called, "Get away! Get back! Captain! Don't touch it! Get away! Don't let it touch you!"
"Everyone, we're abandoning this section," Adelaide ordered, "Get to the shuttle. Yuri, lead the way. Section B corridor now!" a door opened and they could hear water pouring down, "Close it!"
"Yuri!" Steffi shouted, "Lock the door behind you! Did it touch you? Yuri! Did the water touch you?"
"I'm clean!" he gasped, "I'm dry!"
"Everyone, section B is out!" Adelaide tried to take charge, "Listen to me, take every pack that you can. We'll go around by Section F."
"Transferring oxygen stations to Section F," Steffi replied, "Mia, you take the red-line stocks."
"And hurry up!"
There was a crash and the sound of pouring water. Everyone began calling for Steffi…she must have been trapped.
The Doctor shut his eyes tightly, Evy grabbed his hand in her own as though she could anchor him there in that moment, that they had to leave now, keep him from running back to the base to help like she knew he was fighting himself to do.
"Shut the door!" Roman shouted, "Close the door!"
There was a sound of a door shutting and then more shouts to Steffi, promising to come back for her, to get her out. She was really trapped now.
"Captain, it's inside!" Steffi screamed.
Evy winced.
More screaming for Steffi.
She tugged the Doctor's hand, pulling him out of the door and onto the Martian land, but they could still hear them all screaming inside the base.
"The exit panel's fused, Captain!" Roman called, "We can't open it."
Steffi screamed.
"We can't get through!" Yuri shouted.
"Don't, please, I can't move!" Steffi begged them.
The Doctor tensed as Evy bit her lip to hold in a sob as the sound of a little girl speaking German played over the comm., Steffi's daughter.
Steffi sobbed, replaying her daughter's voice, leaving Evy and the Doctor to listen to it as they tried to walk away.
"Steffi!" Adelaide shouted, "Can you hear me?"
They could hear Steffi convulsing.
"Oh, my God!" Mia gasped.
They walked on.
"Out, get out!" Adelaide ordered, "Ed, we're going round the long way. How're we doing?"
"All systems are live 100 percent, not a single delay," Ed replied, "Don't you worry, Captain, we are gonna fly!"
There were flares behind them as the shuttle fired up.
"We need air in Section F right now, all of you!" Adelaide ordered.
"Locking chamber three," Yuri said, "Locking chamber four."
"Gate five is open!" Roman called, "Gate six is open!"
"Roman, come on, with me!" Adelaide shouted.
Roman was silent for a moment before responding resignedly, "You better go."
"Don't just stand there, move!"
"You really better go without me," he half sobbed, "I'm sorry, Captain. One drop."
The Doctor shut his eyes in pain as Roman began convulsing, converting as well.
The crew shouted for Roman, screamed for him.
Evy squeezed the Doctor's hand as they continued to walk.
Mia and Yuri argued, Yuri trying to pull her away as Mia tried to run back to help Roman.
There was the sound of a door opening and a spray of water, and then Ed was over the comm..
"Captain, the shuttle is down," he groaned in pain.
Evy gasped, trying to hold back tears as she could hear in his voice...he was fighting the infection.
"What the hell do you mean?" Adelaide demanded.
"Compromised," he strained, "It was Maggie."
"Get out of there!"
Ed grunted, "Too late. They want this ship to get to Earth. Got no choice," a button was pushed, "Hated it, Adelaide! Oh, this bloody job! Never gave me a chance," he strained, "You never could forgive me," he gasped, "See you later."
A button was pushed and the shuttle exploded in a giant fireball. The ground shook. The blast threw the Time Lords forward onto the ground.
"We're losing oxygen!" Yuri shouted, "The hull is broken!"
It was too much. Evy let out a sob, curling in on herself as she listened to their screams. It tore her apart to not be able to help, but it needed to happen, it had to happen…that was all she could tell herself, even if it didn't help at all.
She gasped, looking over at the Doctor lying on his back, the both of them surrounded by flaming debris, she could feel a shift in his thoughts.
She watched as he slowly pushed himself to his feet and looked back at the base. His thoughts racing, everything he'd ever said about the Time Lords since the end of the war came back to him. How he was the last, how they were gone, how they used to keep their eye on everything, and then…her own words about how he'd broken the laws…
He looked at the base, a cold determination in his eyes, before he glanced down at Evy, his gaze softening as he felt her pain, mirroring his, within him. He turned and began to head back to the base.
"Doctor!" she shouted, pushing herself up and running after him, seeing what he was going to do, "Doctor!" he kept walking, "Theta stop!" he paused and turned around, "You can't do this!" she shouted, desperately, "You can't…please…"
He just smiled at her, walking forward and hugging her briefly, "Go back to the TARDIS," he whispered to her, "I'll make it better."
"No!" she yelled as he pulled away and began to run to the base, "Doctor!"
She couldn't go after him. She couldn't. She couldn't help him do this…it wasn't right. It went against their very nature, their entire being.
But she could feel it, the darkness that had been there in him since the war…it was consuming him…and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
~8~
The Doctor ran back into the airlock, pulling off his helmet as he ran through the base and back to the main control chamber where the three remaining crew were cowering, grabbing a tube of some kind on the way, "Mia, take this sealant, fix that leak!" he tossed her the tube, "Yuri, open emergency oxygen. Adelaide…" he pulled her up, "Don't just sit there!" he looked around at the other two crewmembers running around, doing as he ordered, "That's better! The dome's still got integrity. Ten feet of steel combination, made in Liverpool, magnificent workmanship!"
"It can't be stopped!" Adelaide shouted, "Don't die with us! You still have Evy!"
He just grinned at her, shouting in triumph, "No, 'cos someone told me just recently, they said I was going to die. They said 'he will knock four times.' And I think I know what that means, and it doesn't mean right here, right now, 'cos I don't hear anyone knocking, do you?" and then there was a loud knock on the door behind them. He stumbled back, frightened, as a second and third knock resounded. He looked around to see Andy on the other side of the door and glared at him, "Three knocks is all you're getting!" he ran to the computer, flipping on a switch and sending a volt of electricity through the door, electrocuting the man before he could knock again, "Water and electricity, bad mix! Now then what else have we got?"
He looked around to see Mia anxious, Yuri happy, and Adelaide stunned.
"But there's no way to fight them!" Adelaide replied.
"Heat!" he shouted, "They use water, we can use heat! Works against the Ice Warriors, works against the flood. Ramp up the environment controls and steam them!"
Adelaide ran forward, trying to stop him, "But you said we die!" the room jolted violently, sending everyone almost to the ground, "For the future, for the human race!"
The Doctor just began to speak hurriedly, with such authority, as though just by speaking it would make it true, "Yes, but I was very recently reminded there are laws. There are laws of time. Once upon a time there were people in charge of those laws, but they died! They all died!" he sounded almost hysterical with grief, rage, and the power of being able to do what he pleased, "Do you know who that leaves? ME! It's taken me all these years to realize the laws of time are mine! AND THEY WILL OBEY ME!"
~8~
Over in the TARDIS, a lone figure sat huddled against a Y-beam behind the console, flinching at the words echoing in her mind, covering her ears as though it could block the words…but he was too loud…she couldn't…
~8~
An explosion threw the Doctor to the floor. Alarms sounded and, as things began to fall around them, Adelaide ran to the computer.
"Environment controls are down," she read, "Sorry, Doctor, it looks like history's got other ideas!"
"I'm not beaten yet!" he cried desperately, "I'll go outside! Thermic heat regulator!" he picked up his helmet, only to see that it was broken and threw it away in fury, "Not beaten, not beaten! You've got spacesuits. In the next section!" he ducked down a hallway, only to see it pouring water and ran back to the room, "We're not just fighting the flood!" he shouted, angry and desperate, "We're fighting time itself, and I'm gonna win!"
'Evy!' he called, he needed her to bring the TARDIS there, but there was no reply, 'Evy!'
Silence.
"Something is happening to the glacier!" Yuri cried, typing at a computer.
"Think, think, think, think, what have we got?" he rubbed his head, Evy wasn't responding…he needed another plan, "Not enough oxygen," he opened a container, "Protein packs , useless! Glacier, glacier mints, minty, monty, molto bene, bonny, bish, bash…argh! Look, look, look at the room! Section H, what's in Section H?" no one answered, "Anyone?"
"Nothing, it is just storage!"
"Storing what?"
"I don't know, the weather spikes, the robot, atom clamps…"
The Doctor opened a cupboard, "Atom clamps? Atom clamps! Who needs atom clamps? I have a funny robot!" he tore off the cupboard, revealing Gadget.
"Gadget-gadget."
He grabbed his key to the TARDIS and fixed it to Gadget's hand, "You take that, good boy!"
"Gadget-gadget."
He put on the auto-gloves and prepared to activate Gadget even as the room crumbled around them, "Off we go then!"
"Gadget-gadget."
Adelaide rolled her eyes as Gadget began to move, and turned to the computer, preparing Action Five. Gadget trundled slowly through the water.
"Come on, come on!" the Doctor waved his arms.
"Implementing Captain's Protocol," the computer announced.
The Doctor whirled around to see Adelaide standing there, "Adelaide! What are you doing?"
"Action Five?" Mia gasped.
"If I have to fight you as well, then I will!"
"Nuclear device now active and primed," the computer announced.
Mia and Yuri looked around, terrified, as the countdown from 100 began. The Doctor used the sonic on Gadget's computer, sending the bot racing outside, "Blast off!" the fire appeared from Gadget's tracks, but the Doctor was still frustrated, watching it on the monitor, "Faster!"
Gadget flew across the ground, leaving a trail of fire and dust.
There was an explosion, throwing Adelaide to the ground.
~8~
Evy looked up, startled, as something thumped against the side of the TARDIS.
~8~
"Nuclear device entering final process," the computer announced.
Yuri put out a fire on the ceiling as the Doctor used the gloves to open the TARDIS.
45 seconds left.
"And we're in!" he shouted as Adelaide watched, shaking her head at him as he looked down at her with a manic grin.
~8~
Evy's eyes widened in horror as she saw Gadget enter the TARDIS and make its way over to the controls. She had been planning to use the Doctor's Shifter and pull him back into the TARDIS, but he would see her now and probably pull it off…and if she kept the robot from getting the TARDIS to the base…the Doctor would die within it…
She backed away.
"Gadget-gadget."
Gadget rolled over to the console, pressing a button as the TARDIS roared to life.
24 seconds left.
The TARDIS rumbled as it dematerialized and reappeared in the base.
~8~
8 seconds left.
The Doctor watched, proud, as the TARDIS solidified, everyone else looking on in awe before he pushed them inside, running to the console.
0 seconds...
The base blew up as the TARDIS took off, Adelaide running to Evy's side as she saw the woman cowering against the back wall.
The Doctor seemed to take no notice of anyone else as he hopped out of his suit, while piloting with one hand, getting the TARDIS to appear back on Earth, on a snow covered street. He grinned and laughed, running to the door and opening it, ushering them all to head out. Adelaide tried to get Evy to stand, but the woman waved her off, working on getting out of her suit instead.
The Doctor tossed his suit aside, stepping out onto the snow and turning to watch as Adelaide walked out of the TARDIS, followed by Mia, who nearly ran from the box in terror, while Yuri slipped out last.
"Isn't anyone going to thank me?" he asked as Gadget rolled out and shut down, "He's lost his signal. Doesn't know where he is."
"That's my house," Adelaide gasped, seeing her house only a few feet away.
"Don't you get it?" he asked them, frustrated, "This is the 21st of November, 2059. Same day, on Earth. And it's snowing!" he twirled around happily, "I love snow."
"What is that thing?" Mia gasped, pointing at the TARDIS, "It's…bigger…I mean…bigger on the inside…" she turned her horrified eyes on the Doctor, "Who the hell are you?"
She stared at them a moment before running off, Yuri stepped forward to go after her but stopped and looked back at Adelaide.
"Look after her," Adelaide told him.
"Yes, ma'am," he nodded, taking off after her.
There was a small creak as Evy stepped out of the TARDIS, breathing hard, her eyes red with tears.
"You saved us?" Adelaide asked, looking at the Doctor who was looking at her expectantly.
He grinned and strode towards her, nearly strutting, "Just think though. Your daughter and your daughter's daughter, you can see them again," he smiled as Adelaide shook her head, "Family reunion," he turned and soniced her front door, opening it.
"But I'm supposed to be dead," she glared at him.
He shook his head, still smug, Evy felt nearly sick as watching him…that look…it was the same one the Master wore.
"Not anymore," he replied.
Adelaide struggled to get her words out, "But, Susie, my granddaughter, the person she's supposed to become might never exist now."
The Doctor sighed, "Nah. Captain Adelaide can inspire her face-to-face. Different details, but the story's the same."
Evy closed her eyes, shaking, she could already feel the timelines changing and when they snapped into place…it wouldn't be good.
"You can't know that!" Adelaide shouted, "And if my family changes…the whole of history could change!" the Doctor's smirk fell from his face, "The future of the human race, no one should have that much power!"
The Doctor blinked. Those were the same words Evy had often said about their responsibilities as Time Lords.
"Tough," he replied grimly.
Adelaide took several steps back, shocked at him, afraid of him, "You should have left us there."
"Adelaide, I've done this sort of thing before," he tried to justify himself, "In small ways, saved some little people. But never someone as important as you. Ooh, I'm good."
"Little people?" she nearly spat, "What, like Mia and Yuri?" and now she was angry, "Who decides they're so unimportant, you?"
The Doctor glared at her, getting angry now, "For a long time now, I thought I was just a survivor, but I'm not. I'm the winner. That's who I am. Time Lord Victorious."
That was enough, Evy had had enough.
Adelaide looked over at her, "Can't you stop him?"
The Doctor actually snorted at that. It wasn't that Evy couldn't stop him, it was that she wouldn't. The only way he'd stop now was if she killed him, and she could no sooner do that than destroy the Universe.
But Evy was fuming. She strode forward, a glare that could freeze Mars over again on her face, "Do you have any idea what you have done? How many laws you have broken?"
He just smirked, "We're the last Eves, there's no one to enforce them."
"That doesn't give you the right to break them! They were put in place for a reason! Every single one was the result of a situation like this. Of a Time Lord overstepping their bounds, taking power that they weren't meant to wield! They were put in place so the consequences wouldn't happen!"
"The laws are for me to decide now," he said stonily.
Evy's eyes filled with angry tears, "I never thought I'd ever see you become as twisted as my brother!"
He stepped back as though he'd been slapped.
"This is wrong," Adelaide breathed heavily, running past the Doctor and into her home, "I don't care who you are. The Time Lord Victorious is wrong!" she slammed the door behind her, leaving the Doctor stunned.
Moments later Evy collapsed against the side of the TARDIS as a shot rang out from Adelaide's house.
"Evy!" he shouted, running to her side as she grabbed her head in pain, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I'm one of the inspired!" she ground out, gasping.
The Doctor's eyes widened as he recalled from her memories that she was meant for the Temples…she was highly inspired…which meant…changes to the timeline, extreme changes, affected her on a higher level. While an average Time Lord would, at most, sense the change and be aware of the different details, the inspired could almost physically feel them changing. It was said to feel like knives stabbing the mind…and it looked it.
He gasped as he saw time change, Adelaide being found on Earth, dying here instead of on Mars, Yuri and Mia telling the story of how she'd saved them, how Adelaide's granddaughter Susie would still go on to be the first light speed pilot...
Evy gasped, pushing herself off the snow, out of his arms, and rushing into the TARDIS. She ran to the controls just as the Doctor hesitantly walked into the room, her thoughts were completely blocked. He watched as she ran around the base of the console, pulling open a panel and pulling something out which she strapped to her wrist.
"Wh-what are you doing?" he breathed, a sense of dread filling him.
She looked up at him, glared at him really, holding something dangling on a chain in her hands…a Perception Filter…and given how much he didn't want to look at it, one operating at full power.
"Fixing your mess," she spat, pulling the Filter on.
The effect was immediate.
A Filter, operating at full power and designed for a Time Lord mind, was almost like a forceful dissection of the Link. It was like he was cut off from her. His mind couldn't, wouldn't, be able to notice her, sense her essence, her mind, her feelings…everything, ever sense of her was cut off...everything but a faint buzz of the Link in his hearts telling him she was just alive.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
"No!" he gasped, collapsing to the ground, hand clutching his hearts, "Evy! No, please!"
Evy barely gave him a passing look before she walked out and left him there.
~8~
The Doctor was curled next to the captain's chair, his arms wrapped around his the back of his head which was buried in his knees as he tried to breathe through the crushing pain, the weight of the absence of the majority of the Link. He didn't know how long Evy had been gone, it wouldn't matter, a second felt like eternity in this agony.
The door to the TARDIS opened but he couldn't look over…if she still looked at him with the anger...the hatred...she had before…he didn't know if he could handle it.
She stood there, eyeing him as he all but tried to fold in on himself on the floor before she couldn't bear to see him like that any longer, knowing the torture of the Filter and his solitude was punishment enough. She walked over to the captain's chair and sat down, sliding the Filter off as she went, tossing the crude Vortex Manipulator she'd made back on the console with it.
As soon as she sat down the Doctor moved and grabbed her legs, hugging them as he actually cried, the full weight of everything crashing down on him. The laws he'd broken, how he'd tried to rewrite time, how he'd treated her as though she were inferior to him…what had he done?
Evy ran a hand through his hair soothingly, "Time is back how it should be," she murmured, staring at the wall, "I took Adelaide's body to Torchwood, Jack's still there by the way," she rubbed her head, "I found Mia and Yuri, brought them to Torchwood as well. Jack said they'd give Adelaide a private burial, and he'd find work and new identity shimmers for Yuri and Mia…"
"I'm so sorry," he murmured, his face pressed into her side, "I'm so, so sorry…I…"
"I know," she replied, eyes filled with tears again, "I know how you felt, I've wanted to go back and change things too…but the laws were written for a reason, by people more clever than us. And we need to respect them."
"I know," he nodded, "Never again, I swear, never ever again."
"Good," she replied slowly before sliding off the chair and crouching before him. She lifted his face to look at her, smiling a bit at him as she stroked his cheek, "I love you Theta."
He closed his eyes, crying in relief at those words…he'd been so scared…
"I always will, no matter what," she promised him.
"I love you too Luna," he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion.
He opened his eyes…and stared at her in horror…
She frowned at the expression on his face before looking down to see that he'd noticed her dress was stained with blood. She sighed, "No one will be able to tell Adelaide was ever back on Earth…for all anyone knows, she died on Mars."
She'd cleaned up the blood for him, he realized. She was covered in someone's blood for him…he really was a monster, to put his Link through that.
He broke down, sobbing, as she moved closer to him, hugging him tightly.
"I went too far," he cried.
"Yes you did," she wouldn't lie to him, "But you came back…"
"You pulled me back."
She opened her mouth, about to speak more words of comfort, when the sound of an Ood song filtered over to her, "Do you hear that?"
She felt him stiffen in her arms.
"We should go," she said, getting up and heading to the console, "We can leave, now, and…"
"No…" he breathed, standing, wiping his eyes, she turned to face him, "I've gone too far...maybe...maybe this is my punishment."
He looked down, ashamed, but then felt Evy take his hands, "You're not facing it alone."
He smiled down at her a bit before taking a breath and walking towards the door with her. They stepped out to see Ood Sigma standing beneath a lamppost down the road.
"Is this it?" he asked the alien tearfully, "My death?"
Evy squeezed his hand as Ood Sigma merely tilted his head.
"Is it time?" he asked again.
Ood Sigma vanished.
Evy let out a breath of relief before turning and pulling the Doctor to her, hugging him tightly as he returned the embrace, feeling as though he'd dodged a bullet…
But then the cloister bell began to ring.
"No!" Evy shouted, running back into the TARDIS with him.
They glanced at each other before getting to work on the controls and taking off.
A/N: I guess now we know what River was talking about eh? It's a terrible method of punishing the Doctor, but I felt like here, he REALLY needed something shocking and drastic to get through to him. And Evy is not one to stand by and let him get away with things. She knows that some things can be stretched, worked around the rules, but others...well, she's already seen her brother corrupt by the power of being a Time Lord, she CAN'T lose the Doctor to it as well. I probably gave the Perception Filter more power than it should have in this series, but we've only really seen low-level Filters so I figured, one at full power, must have a VERY strong impact on the mind and senses it is altering. I've made it so that the Filters trick the mind, affect how it works and what it notices, so the one Evy used here made his own mind not see/notice/sense, her at all. Poor Doctor...
I will say this, if all goes to plan, we will see another HIGH level Perception Filter come into play in Series 6 of this story. But who will be wearing it, I won't say...
There was a line in this episode, when Ed says that Adelaide never forgave him. I always wondered what he meant by that, what did he do? No one seems to know. My thoughts are that, maybe, Ed was the one who recommended Adelaide for the mission. I felt like she didn't want to be separated from her family, that she hated Ed for that, but that, being there really was worth it, but that wouldn't make up for her missing important parts of her family's life, and she'd never forgive Ed for that. Just a thought. What do you think?
Next chapter...the Time Lords run into a Donna who remembers them. The Master learns something interesting. The reason for the rivalry between the Doctor and Master will be revealed.
