Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I make any money from it.
A/N Thanks for a great welcome back and all the reviews. I am truly grateful.
Here is the new chapter and we see how Rose escapes. Also, her allies.
Happy Reading!
Chapter 9
Darkness was a blissful escape, Rose realised. It hurt when it first sunk its claws into you but as it dragged you towards oblivion, it was a feeling that was incomparable. Then again, Rose had never put much stock into letting anything drag her anywhere. Except maybe the Doctor...
Wake up.
Rose opened her eyes as her mind commanded her body sharply. She tried to keep her reaction as quiet as possible. She realised that she had been secured to a zeppelin seat and that no one had realised that she was awake yet.
The zeppelin was shaking and shuddering as it travelled through the storm. Everyone else was frantic as the journey was less than ideal. Amidst the chaos, Rose heard the news broadcast being aired.
"...and in a tragic accident, Earth Commander and Vitex heiress Rose Tyler was found dead when there was a gas explosion on the floor of her hotel room. Miss Tyler was the only casualty of the explosion which injured 10 others..."
Rose reckoned she should be thankful for small mercies. She was afraid of what the Shepherd Taskforce would do to cover their tracks. An accidental death wasn't so bad after all. She hoped her mum, dad, Tony and Mickey...oh god, Mickey! Rose had a brief moment of panic as she thought of Mickey.
But luck was on her side as the broadcast continued. "...Head of Torchwood New York Mickey Smith, refused to make a comment and is requesting privacy for the Tyler family as they grieve this tragic event..."
Rose closed her eyes and tried to blink back tears. She hoped they would be fine. But right now, she had bigger worries.
"Can't we get out of this infernal storm?" demanded Suzie Costello, yelling into the phone connected to the pilot's cabin.
"We took the longer route over Scotland because you wanted to leave New York at once," snapped the pilot. At Suzie's annoyed growl, he grew nervous. "We can make an emergency landing, I suppose," he said. "We are near the old Torchwood Estate. There is a zeppelin pad there."
"Then land us," ordered Suzie sharply. "I can't take much more of this storm."
Rose had to stop herself from sighing in relief. The Torchwood Estate was the perfect place to be. She knew that Estate like the back of her hand. And not just because she had once been locked in its dungeon with a werewolf.
A few months after she had been in this world, Rose had found herself curious as to what event had caused this universe to off-shoot from the main universe. The most obvious clue was staring her right in the face: Torchwood. In that main universe, Torchwood had been founded by Queen Victoria to defend Britain against the Doctor and Rose.
But there had been no Doctor and Rose in this world. So Rose had gone digging into Torchwood's history. Only to find that the Torchwood Institute had been founded by Lady Isobel McLeish after Queen Victoria had been murdered there along with her guards and Sir Robert.
Knowing that had given Rose some peace of mind. She had blamed herself for a long time, thinking that it had been their own arrogance that had created Torchwood which had later separated them. But this little confirmation that Torchwood would have existed regardless was a small consolation.
She had taken to making small trips to the Torchwood Estate every now and then. Like Bad Wolf Bay, it was a reminder of the life that she had lost and she always felt much better after spending time around those places. The Doctor had been big on moving along and not talking about the past but Rose liked to face her demons. Keeping things bottled up only hurt later and she had learned this the hard way.
The zeppelin landed shakily and Rose kept up the pretence of being unconscious. No need to let her captors know that she was awake. An unconscious enemy was less dangerous than a conscious one. She felt herself being lifted up and the cologne told her it was Flynn from R&D.
Shame, she had liked him, despite his horrible taste in cologne. Rose had to work very hard not to gag at the overwhelming musky scent every time she had seen him. And now, it was harder than ever since he was carrying her.
She could feel the storm raging as they left the warmth of the zeppelin and stepped outside. She could hear the rain pattering on the tin roof of the hangar close to the zeppelin pad. It was freezing cold but someone must have been holding an umbrella over Flynn because the rain wasn't hitting Rose.
As she was being carried to the house, Rose did a quick inventory of herself. She didn't think she would have her bag since they would have made sure to let it burn in the 'explosion'. But Rose had kept two things in her jacket that she knew she would need: the radio to call the Commander, and that other thing she had picked up from Torchwood.
She could still feel them against her ribs and she was grateful for that. If those things were taken away, then Rose wasn't sure what she would do. Finally, the air became slightly warmer again and Rose knew they must have reached the house.
"Secure her," ordered Suzie. "The dungeon will do."
"Ma'am," one of them started to protest and Rose recognised the voice belonging to one of the technicians from Malcolm's lab. "The dungeons are draughty and not very clean."
"So?" demanded Suzie. "She's not like us, is she?"
The protester fell silent and Rose wanted to scream at her for being such a meek sheep. Sometimes Rose really hated her own species. Though, she wondered as she was chained up to the shackles attached to the dungeon wall, there was something to be said about irony.
Once she was positive that the doors had closed, Rose opened her eyes and wanted to laugh out loud in sheer disbelief. She was chained to the very wall she had been during the werewolf incident. Except, she did not have Sir Robert's household to help pull the shackles off.
She tried tugging them on her own but realised that they were in surprisingly good condition despite their age. At least her feet were free, she thought gloomily.
Rose supposed that Suzie would be along soon enough. Rose knew her protocols well. She would ask her the secret of her non-aging. The first interrogation would not be very violent.
The second one would involve taking blood samples and then working out which truth serum would work best on her. If the truth serum didn't work, then the real guns came out.
Torture of the physical and mental kind, the worst sort of depravities would soon follow until the subject broke or died. Whichever came first. Rose had a morbid thought as she wondered how long she would last.
No, no, no, she thought firmly. She would escape as soon as she could.
The dungeon doors banged open and Rose adopted a neutral expression. "Evening, Rose," Suzie greeted, looking a tiny bit smug.
Resisting the urge to smack that look off her face, Rose nodded politely. "Good evening, Suzie. Nice dungeon. Is it yours?" Just because she was keeping her tone polite did not mean that she was going to be meek and submissive.
Suzie chuckled. "Your sense of humour is adorable," she said, as if speaking to a child. "I suppose you know why you are here."
"Enlighten me," said Rose dryly.
Suzie raised her eyebrows. "You are not human," she said bluntly. "What are you?"
"Straight to it, aren't you?" asked Rose. "Don't you remember that I know every single one of these interrogation procedures? Better than you, I might add."
"Fine," snapped Suzie. "Then, perhaps we can skip the niceties." She looked away from Rose. "Bring her to the dining room!" she ordered.
Rose did not struggle as Flynn and one of the other Agents that Rose knew was called Garrett, came over to her and unchained her shackles from the wall. They grabbed her arms but Rose did not struggle. Suzie led the way out and Rose followed with her escorts.
"You can't even look me in the eye, can you?" she asked the two Agents who were keeping their gazes in front of them. "I wonder how betrayal feels..." she murmured, noticing the way that they flinched. Good, she thought. Let them understand the consequences of exactly what they were doing.
"Don't listen to her!" snapped Suzie. "She is trying to mess with you."
But the damage was done, Rose knew. It was one thing to persecute aliens when they were strangers. But to have their own Commander with whom they had worked for five years, it would be considerably more difficult.
She was brought to the dining room and Rose was forced to sit in a chair set a little way away from the table, with her hands bound to the chair arms with ropes. Laid out on the table was an array of Earth and alien torture devices that would make the toughest of villains quiver.
Suzie watched Rose's face for a reaction but was seriously disappointed when Rose only gave the devices a passing glance. "Where are the others?" asked Rose as she was tied to the chair. "Surely they are not going to miss me being tortured. Or don't they have the guts?" she asked impudently.
"Shut up," ordered Suzie as the Agents looked uncomfortable.
"I mean," Rose continued, not giving any indication of having heard Suzie. "If they are going to be a part of this, then they should have the guts to look me in the eye as they torture me. Don't you think?"
Suzie picked up a dermal incinerator and pointed it at Rose. "Stop talking or I'll burn out your eyes first," she threatened.
Rose raised her eyebrows. "So, I suppose Lydia was the traitor? Where is she anyway?" she asked.
"You are not asking the questions," snapped Suzie.
"I think you'll find out I am," said Rose condescendingly. "So, Lydia," she prompted.
"She arrived ten minutes ago from London," Agent Garrett said meekly.
Rose gave him a bright smile. "Excellent, I want to see her," she said.
"No," said Suzie.
"Can it, Suzie," said Rose in a bored tone. "I'll see dear Lydia before I feel like talking to any of you." At Suzie's incredulous glance, Rose rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I'll talk. Whatever you need. You won't even have to use that dermal incinerator. Which incidentally, you are holding backwards." Suzie dropped the weapon and Rose had to try hard not to laugh. "Well?" she asked.
"You get fifteen minutes," said Suzie.
"Make it twenty and I'll add in a few more juicy tidbits," said Rose with a winning smile.
Suzie gritted her teeth as she opened the door and beckoned Lydia in from a room at the furthest end of the hallway. Rose could see the rest of the Agents watching Rose with scared and slightly ashamed eyes. Rose refused to feel an ounce of sympathy for them. She had worked with those people, mentored quite a number of them and they had never thought twice about betraying her.
"Hello Lydia," she said in a tone that she reserved for her team when they had something monumentally stupid. Lydia flinched and ducked her head. "Leave us," Rose ordered. Suzie looked like she was about to protest but even Lydia nodded at her to go along. The two Agents in the dining room were only too glad to leave. When the doors had closed, Rose stared squarely at Lydia. "So, you gave me away." It was a cold statement.
Lydia flinched again and nodded. "I had to," she said in a small voice.
"Had to?" asked Rose in a mocking voice. "You're saying you didn't have a choice?"
"My sister, she started this Taskforce..."Lydia began and Rose shook her head.
"Your sister hunted hundreds of aliens and massacred them," said Rose in a level voice. "Harmless aliens who had done nothing but live in peace. Ethnic cleansing of a whole different kind."
Lydia glared. "Don't talk about her like that," she said.
"And you are following in her footsteps," said Rose, her voice taunting. "Bad blood, I reckon. Tell me, was the family of Hartman built to grow murderers or something?"
Lydia picked up a gun from the table and pointed it at Rose. "Shut up!" she yelled.
"You really are proving my point, you know," said Rose calmly. "Your first instinct is to murder." She tutted loudly. "All my training is in vain, isn't it?"
"I said, stop talking!" Lydia said as she walked up to Rose and rested the gun against her forehead.
Rose gave her a smile. "Guess that answers that," she murmured. "My training really was in vain."
In a flash, Rose had kicked Lydia right in the gut. Lydia went staggering backwards, the gun slipping from her grip and careening off. Yet again thankful that her legs were free, Rose hobbled over to the wall and jammed her side into it. The chair arm that her hands were bound to, only took three hits to break. Rose was grateful that these chairs were new and not the sturdy old chairs from the Victorian times. IKEA furniture was not very good at restricting movement.
With one hand free, Rose tugged the ropes from her other hand and ducked just in time as Lydia fired the gun. It hit the wall behind her and Rose knew she had very little time before the others came rushing in. Grabbing the broken chair arm, she threw it with as much force as she could at Lydia.
Lydia ducked but she wasn't expecting Rose to throw the second arm immediately after it with deadly precision. It hit her forehead with a crunch and she slumped to the floor unconscious. She was still breathing and Rose waited long enough to grab two guns and a knife before running over to a window and throwing it open.
She was only one floor above the ground and thick ivy grew along the outer walls of the house. Without hesitating, Rose swung herself out of the window, finding firm hold in the ivy. She heard the dining room doors fling open as the rest of the agents rushed in.
Rose knew she hadn't got long, so she began to slither down as quickly as she could. The rain drenched her, she could barely see and her hands were scraped quite painfully but she was thankful when her feet hit the squelchy ground.
Upstairs she saw Suzie leaning out of the window, ready to fire. Rose ducked into the bushes around the house and navigated through the darkness, trying to avoid getting hit by Suzie's errant firing. She knew that there was a hedge here that led to the shed beyond the house which was used as a garage.
Lydia hadn't come with them on the zeppelin which meant that she must have driven here from London. Rose discovered she was right when she saw a Torchwood issue SUV parked inside. It took her one try to open it and about thirty nine seconds to hotwire it.
Pressing her foot down on the accelerator, she floored it away from the Torchwood Estate. She could hear the agents firing at her but she knew the SUV was bulletproof. There were no other cars at the house but Rose still took the precaution of smashing up the navigation system in the car.
She drove for an hour or so, doubling back twice to make sure that she would leave everyone confused. Finally, as dawn broke over the horizon, she drove to a small seaside village and hopped out. It was still too early in the morning for people to be about so she managed to remain inconspicuous as she climbed one of the tall cliffs near the sea.
The sun started to rise and with a heavy heart, Rose pulled out her phone and sent two messages, one to Mickey and one to her mum and dad. They both said the same thing: Ten.
Once the messages were sent, Rose placed the phone on the ground and stomped on it as hard as she could. It broke with a satisfying crunch. The code would tell them that she was alive but leaving Earth. Without a proper goodbye, this was the best that she could do.
With a heavy heart, she pulled out the radio and activated it. It only took a few moments before the connection was made. Rose took a deep breath.
"Commander Skaldak, it's time."
A/N End of the chapter. Thanks for reading.
So, what did you think? Rose has escaped and is now ready to leave Earth.
And now you know who the allies are. They were actually mentioned back in Chapter 2 of this story. I know Skaldak is from Series 7 but I used him rather than Ssard because more people would know him.
The next chapter will actually show the Doctor's side of things. I know everyone has been eager to know how the things are on the other side of the void. It will be up soon. See you then!
~ Phoenix
