Thank you for the reviews :) Oh dear, we're closing in on the bad guy now. What could happen next?

Chapter Nine

"Doctor!" Ruby cried out while her fingers were clutching the console unit as if holding on for dear life. The TARDIS was shaking violently, but even if the bombs had hit somewhere close, it didn't seem to affect the ship at all.

"Don't worry!" the Doctor responded hastily as he made his way around the console, flicking switches and pressing buttons, "Nothing can get in here. This is the safest place in the city right now."

Another impact rocked the TARDIS, almost knocking Ruby off her feet.

"It's made of wood!"

"Ruby," he panted and darted around the room until he came to a halt right next to her. He bent down until they were both at eye level, staring intently at her. "Do you trust me?"

The man was bonkers. And alien. And he had a space ship / time machine that was made out of wood. But he had also managed to save them from the Romans and Kate Stewart, who had seemed like a beacon of sanity in this mess, appeared to have absolute faith in him.

"Yes," she replied eventually, "Yes, I trust you."

"Good," the Doctor granted her a smile, "Because nothing will ever happen to you, not while you're inside the TARDIS. You have my word."

A bomb detonated in the distance, but this time it was only felt as a faint rumble inside the ship.

"How do we stop the planes from destroying London?" Ruby wanted to know. They had to do something. The city was not prepared for an attack like this.

"Oh, I have a plan," the Doctor chuckled and moved a few steps away from her, frantically fidgeting with the controls, "A friend of mine did this once. Well, more of an enemy than a friend and if she finds out I copied her, I'll never hear the end of it, so don't tell her."

"Doctor-" Ruby attempted to ask him what exactly he was talking about, but he was so busy at the controls that she didn't dare to interrupt him. Instead Ruby remained exactly where she was, watching him work his space ship. It was a strange sight, especially because just a few hours ago she hadn't even believed in aliens and time travel and now she was right in the middle of it. She had wanted an adventure, hadn't she? Well, right now Ruby was in one and despite the danger, despite the fact that all of this could go wrong, there was a tiny part inside of her that was enjoying it. Ruby felt her bad conscience tug at her because out there people were dying and she was excited because for once her life wasn't boring. And yet, by the looks of it, she wasn't the only one.

"Pull that lever over there," the Doctor told her with a smile and pointed at a large, silver lever.

"This one?" Ruby asked just to be sure and the Doctor nodded in response. Carefully she closed her fingers around the handle. She was helping save the city. She was operating a space ship. If that wasn't a reason to feel at least a little bit happy and excited, Ruby didn't know what was. She pulled the lever and the entire world went quiet.

"What?" she asked in confusion, turning her head towards the Doctor, "What happened?"

Still he granted her a smile. "Congratulations, Ruby Smith. You just saved London from a German air raid."

"How?" Ruby wanted to know, "What did we do?"

The Doctor nodded towards the door. "Come on, let's have a look."

He skipped ahead and Ruby followed after him until they had reached the door. When he pulled it open, she almost didn't believe her eyes. The planes were still there, still in the sky. Yet they weren't moving. Ruby watched them for a long moment just to be sure and even spotted a bomb that appeared to have been caught mid-fall. Still. All of them. Frozen.

"I reiterate," Ruby breathed, "How?"

"Ah, just a cheap Time Lord trick," the Doctor shrugged it off, but the expression on his face told Ruby that he was still very proud of what he had achieved, "Froze them in time. Haynes wants to play Time Lord, well, he's just challenged the wrong one."

"Are there many of you?" she questioned.

"Not in this corner of the universe, no," he replied and his voice had taken on a more sombre tone, "Which is probably for the best. I left my home planet and I did so for a reason."

Ruby made a mental note to ask about his reasons later, but right now she felt like there were more pressing matters that needed their attention – and also because she doubted the Doctor would actually answer. Even though he seemed to love to talk, Ruby had already noticed that he answered personal questions only grudgingly.

"It can't stay like that though, can it?" Ruby asked instead, "I mean, it seems safe for now, but I doubt people will be comfortable walking around under that."

She pointed towards the bomb that was still caught mid-fall and hadn't moved even though they had been staring at it for a while now. Ruby wasn't even sure she would have so much faith as to walk right under it.

"We'll find Haynes," the Doctor said gravely, "We'll switch off the machine and they will disappear back to where they have come from."

Ruby looked at him questioningly. "You make it sound so easy. How are we gonna do that?"

"Cleverly. Close the door," he responded and turned around to head back inside the TARDIS before Ruby even had a chance to react. By the time she had followed him to the console unit the Doctor was already busy at the controls.

"Yes, but how?" she wanted to know. She hated not knowing what exactly was going on just because someone else was too lazy to explain it to her.

"The city is without power," the Doctor told her while he turned one of the monitors so he could look at it, "Except for wherever Haynes is and he used the energy to power the machine that brought the planes here."

"I'm still not following," Ruby said and looked at him expectantly, "Unless you suggest we go looking for the only place with its lights on in the entire city."

"We'll do exactly that," the Doctor replied and grinned at her.

She raised her eyebrows doubtfully, for a moment questioning if he really was as smart as Kate Stewart believed. It would take forever to search the entire city.

"Except that we're using the TARDIS to find it for us. The energy signature from the event that brought the planes here will be the same. I've scanned for that and voilà," the Doctor said and pointed at the monitor.

Ruby made her way around the console unit and had a look. It showed a strange map and it was covered in symbols that probably meant something to the Doctor since the same kind of writing was all over his space ship, but the only thing Ruby actually recognized was the rough area in which Haynes kept his machine.

"Looks like an old warehouse or something."

"We'll know in a moment," he replied and to her surprise the Doctor pulled a lever and all of a sudden the space ship sprang to life.

Ruby reached for the console, but soon realized that she didn't even need to. The TARDIS started to roar, the metalwork above their heads that was covered in symbols had started to turn and the lights inside the glass case at the centre had also changed, but other than that there was no indication that they were moving at all. Yet somehow Ruby knew that they must be moving. And then, a short moment later, the sound stopped along with the rotating metalwork at the top.

"Where are we?" Ruby asked, "We've moved, haven't we?"

The Doctor nodded, but the excitement seemed to have left him. Instead he looked weary. "We're just around the corner from where Haynes is," he explained.

"And now we'll stop him?"

Ruby watched while the Doctor took a long, deep breath as if he was torn about something. He looked down at his feet for a while before he gaze came to rest on her face again. "You can wait here if you want to," he said in a calm manner, "It's completely safe. Safer than where I'm going."

"What?" she frowned at him, "No way. You took me with you!"

"I did," he replied, "It's going to be dangerous."

Angrily Ruby crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him. "I was a zoo keeper. I went into a cage with lions more than once. Just because I'm scared sometimes doesn't mean I'd rather miss out on a once in a lifetime chance."

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but Ruby cut him off.

"I'm coming with you," she determined, "Besides, if there are more Romans in there you will need someone to save your arse."

Ruby watched as the Doctor raised his eyebrows at her. "If I remember correctly, I was the one who saved your arse."

"Completely beside the point," Ruby countered and marched past him towards the doors. She'd be damned if she missed out on the conclusion of the most amazing adventure of her life. Behind her the Doctor sighed, but Ruby didn't care. He had started it by inviting her to follow them into the UNIT headquarters and now she would see it through with him.

This part of the city was just as dark as the rest of it and the only thing that told Ruby they were close to Haynes was the low rumbling sound of a machine, the machine. As soon as she started to hear it, Ruby instinctively slowed down, waiting for the Doctor to catch up with her. She had given him a big speech about wanting to come along, but now that they were close to actually facing the man who was behind it all, she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. And uneasy was an understatement. Ruby was scared.

"What are we going to do?" she asked the Doctor, her voice low, almost a whisper, "Do we punch him to the ground and call UNIT so they can drag him to a prison cell?"

The Doctor scoffed in reply.

"Or do you have secret alien powers that you can use against him?" Ruby went on as they turned around the corner. She could already see the door from there. "Super strength?"

"If you mean can I open a jar of pickles effortlessly, then yes."

"That's a no then," Ruby blew the air out between her teeth, "Laser beams that come out of your eyes?"

She heard the Doctor chuckle next to her. "That would be an extremely inconvenient superpower, don't you think? How would you even look at people?"

Ruby sighed. "Okay, what is your superpower then? If it's something gross, I'd like to know before I see it in action."

And before they stepped inside the warehouse which they were getting closer and closer to. It was high time for a plan. Then the Doctor stopped next to her and she felt his gaze upon her.

"What is a gross superpower?" he asked, the confusion audible in his voice.

Ruby came to a halt as well. "I don't know. Maybe something like the Hulk where you rip your shirt off and turn green. I'd just kinda like to know before you strip naked next to me."

"I'm not gonna strip naked," the Doctor said dryly and it sounded as if he was trying very hard not to show how insulted he actually was by her last comment. It was really time they came up with a decent plan because the warehouse door was only a few steps away and by the speed the Doctor was going, they would be inside before she could question him further. "I don't have a superpower. Well, not really, except maybe not dying. Unless you count the two hearts."

The Doctor stopped next to the door and reached for the handle. Ruby tried to get the question out as quickly as possible.

"What's the plan then?"

He turned around to look at her, his hand never leaving the door handle. "We're gonna go in there and talk," he said and tore the door open.