"Um, be careful then."
"Yeah, one day." He said, winking as he slipped through the door.
CHAPTER TEN- Warning
Despite having brushed off Donna's comment rather indifferently, the Doctor did intend to return in one piece- Albert and whoever the other Shal was would not be of concern, but the four Guardians Cethy had were more worrying- the Doctor had run into them before; which was how he'd lost one of his lives and come out of it with several fingers missing (luckily he'd been able to grow them again, so no harm done there.) The beaks- he knew from personal experience- looked blunter than they were, and the retractable talons could leave oneself in pieces in one lucky swipe. Their hoods had been lifted again, leaving only the tip of their beaks showing, and they remained, silent and forbidding, in the background. Cethy smiled and held up the screwdriver. "Looking for this?" he asked pleasantly.
"Yes, actually- mind if I have it back?" the Doctor replied, not very hopeful. "You have no idea how much it'll cost to replace it." Cethy only laughed, instead chucking a large heavy volume at him. The Doctor caught it and read the title.
"Ah! Thanks. Didn't want to leave without Willie's parting gift." He nodded a thank you and dropped the book into his pocket, bowing slightly as hit the bottom several seconds later, the weight dragging him downwards.
"Yes, I'd gathered how much 'Willie's' gift meant to you." Cethy's eyebrows rose as the Doctor glared at him.
"Only his close friends were allowed to call him Willie," He snapped hotly. "Well, actually, only me 'cos he couldn't stop me, but anyway; don't call him that. He may be dead and everything but he was a great play writer so you'd better show him respect."
"Don't point at me, man." Cethy snapped, as the Doctor's accusing finger threatened to poke him on the nose. "Besides, I don't really care"-
The Doctor tutted irritably. "Well, you wouldn't; probably don't have any idea who William Shakespeare even was."
"Well, no, actually." The Doctor stumbled and looked at Albert, shock on his face.
"Can you believe that?" He half-shouted at her. "The greatest writer man…play-writer um, person, in history, and he doesn't have a clue who he is. Even Donna knows he is. Shame on you Cethy Amil." He accused, ignoring the yell from Donna inside at his insult to her intelligence.
"Face facts Donna- you're no Einstein!" He shouted, looking at the camera he couldn't see, but knew was there.
"What, and you are?" Came her reply.
"'Course I am- taught good old Albert everything he knew!" he turned back to Cethy. "Right, anyway. So, where were we?"
"I believe you were going to surrender you and vehicle." Cethy paused. "Though you can keep the annoying woman. Just leave her somewhere."
"Ah… right, you see, I'm not going to surrender my police box to you, Amil." The Doctor, stepping closer to the man. "Because after everything you've done- to her, to Donna- I've only got one word to say to you."
"Which is?"
"Yoink!" He yelled, snatching the screwdriver from Amil's slack fingers and leaping backwards. Keeping his eyes on the advancing Guardians, he shouted, "Right Donna, press the button!"
Donna heard the Doctor shout, and- teeth gritted- she pressed it, hard.
There was an ear-piercing scream from outside, and as one, the four cloaked birds crumpled to the ground, writhing. Black smoke was issuing from their robes in dark clouds, and they were soon engulfed in it, occasionally a flailing arm broke through, but soon even their screams quietened.
"Doctor? What did you do to them?" Donna asked as she stepped out of the TARDIS and walked over to where he was standing, looking down at the charred robes clinging lifelessly to a pile of bones, smoking quietly.
"The field surrounding the TARDIS is like a separate atmosphere, Donna," he explained softly, still watching the heap. "While I was talking, the TARDIS was converting it- it changed the air slightly- nothing drastic enough to affect us, but the Guardians are sensitive to subtle changes, and the alterations were enough for me to, um"-
"Reduce them to ash?" Donna asked.
"Yes. When you pressed that button, it sent out a kind of energy atom, which gathered around the Guardians and ignited- turning the Guardians to ash. But they're not dead, don't worry."
"They look pretty dead to me," Donna said dubiously, looking at the smoking pile. She started as it shifted slightly, and a tiny head poked out from under the ashes, dark grey feather's crowning its head and two shiny black eyes that were too large for its skull. A small steel-coloured beak opened and a soft cry escaped. The Doctor grinned at her.
"I thinks he's hungry." He said, looking kindly at the tiny grey bird, whose was straining upwards at them. He bent and picked it up- the thing only barely fitting snugly in his arms- and moved it closer to Donna. "Look familiar?" he asked.
"Is that…"
"Yep. Told you I didn't kill them. When the protons activated, it stimulated the body's enzymes into reversal, all the way back to birth. Cute, isn't he?" He grinned, stroking the back of the chick's head softly, making it emit a kind of strangled purr of contentment.
"Don't think you're keeping it, Doctor," Donna warned, eyeing the chick warily. It chirped and nibbled the Doctor's finger. It was hard, looking at the chick lying in the Doctor's arms, to picture the thing when it was full grown; cold and forbidding. He looked at her and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I know- young Guardians are difficult to look after anyway." He sighed and looked genuinely saddened at the thought of not being able to keep it. Donna rolled her eyes; the man got worse every day.
"Right," he said, putting the chick down- it gave a small whimper at the abandonment- and straightened, turning to Cethy, who been watching, frozen, still staring at where his guards had once been. He shook his head and glared at the Doctor, who glared back.
"You'll die for this, Doctor." Cethy, producing a gun from one of his many pockets and pointing it at him. The Doctor wordlessly wrenched the thing from the man's grasp, flicked on the safety and emptied the bullets onto his palm and tossing them over his shoulder before handing the weapon back to him.
"If there's one thing you should have guessed by now, Amil," He said sharply, his voice dark. "Is that I am not someone for you to mess with, and sticking a gun in my face is the worst way to do it." He leaned forward. "I'd stop trying to kill me, if I were you, and instead concentrate on walking away from this right now, otherwise I'll have to make you."
"Never." Cethy snarled, and gestured at Albert, who snarled and jumped at the Doctor, her teeth bared.
He turned and pointed the screwdriver that was still in his hand at the wall behind him, which slid open to reveal an empty life shaft. He stepped out of the way, and Albert fell through the opening, her mouth open in an echoing growl. Her cries receded as she continued to fall down the shaft, ending with a loud crash as she slammed into the lift cab, several floors below. The silence echoed as the Doctor stared at Cethy, daring him to move forward. The second cat-person was nowhere to be seen, Donna figured she (or he) must have fled.
"Right," She said to break the silence. "Shall we be off then?" The Doctor turned to her and nodded.
"Just one more thing," he said, pointing at the four squirming forms on the floor. "Grab a bird and let's go. We're taking them back to where they came from." The Doctor kept his eyes on Cethy whilst Donna picked the Guardians up, one by one.
Donna was huffing away in the TARDIS, but the men outside of it said nothing, only looked at each other.
"I shall find what I want, Doctor." Cethy said finally, breaking the cold silence. "Whether you or another Timelord out there gives it to me."
"There's no-one else, Amil." The Doctor said; his voice flat. "we're the last ones left. Stop dreaming about knowing everything, get off this research shuttle and go out there, back to whatever planet you came from and start living."
"I can't. "Cethy snapped back, his voice bitter. "You are not the only on to lose your planet, Timelord." The Doctor's gaze softened in understanding.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "Where?"
"Sky Seven." Cethy looked away and closed his eyes, for once not looking like an insane, evil man who collected rare and beautiful species to kill and stuff and display in boxes.
"The Inhl Sickness." The Doctor nodded. "Wiped out half of the galaxy. I was there. A different man but still the same- I helped as much as I could, but the strand was too modernised, too intelligent. Only by destroying the infected planets could the disease be stopped." Cethy nodded bitterly and turned back to him, his eyes blank.
"But that is not what you remained here for is it, Doctor?" he asked.
"No." He admitted. "I've come to tell you to stop, Cethy. Let us leave. Don't follow us, don't try to stop us- find another planet then, to live on. Stop nursing this unhealthy obsession to own ever species in the universe that strikes your fancy. Stop it now, or you will regret it." His voice didn't waver- it held every ounce of the grim certainty Cethy could see on the man's face.
The Guardians- or whatever the Doctor had called them- were about the size of a large cat, and shrieked shrillingly when you picked them up. "Okay," she huffed, struggling to keep the wriggling bird in her grasp. "Where d'you want the last one?"
"Just stick him with the others," the Doctor said, as he shone the sonic's light into Alina's eyes. She nodded at his back and lowered the bird in to space under the lifted grate in the floor gently, dropping it in the last half-foot. Straightening, she lowered the grate and turned to where the Doctor was picking Alina up.
"Okaaay," he murmured. "Can you just hold her up, please Donna?" I need her upright and facing the TARDIS console."
"Um, sure. Why?" She asked, trying the limp girl from him and again feeling surprised at the girl's lightness.
"Because I'm going to try and motivate her consciousness into repairing itself- by looking into the Time Vortex, the TARDIS strength'll flow into her, giving her the necessary energy to begin the process." He looked up and took a deep breath.
"You don't if it'll work, do you?"
"No," He admitted. "But it's only chance- I have to try." He came over and position her in front of the TARDIS panel. "Okay, stay there and just hold her there, but don't look into the light when I open the barrier."
"Why, what happens if I do?"
"Long story- you'll end up looking into the time vortex and you will absorb the excess running energies. Your human mind can't cope, I'll have to absorb it from you, which'll mean I'll end up dying, making me have to regenerate, which I don't want- look, never mind. Just don't look into it. Keep your eyes closed." He said, turning back to the console. "Ready?" Donna nodded and closed her eyes tightly.
Heat rushed over her, light brighter than she could have imagined seared her eyelids, as dazzling as if she had had them open, and was staring straight into it. She felt the girl's body tense in her arms and jerk so violently she almost lost her grip on it. Her back arched against Donna's chest, the manacles that had been digging into her stomach crumbling to dust under the heat, and a deep sigh resonated through her body.
The light ceased as suddenly as it had come, and Donna cautiously opened her eyes. She been kneeling on the floor without even realising her knees had buckled, her arms loosely clasping the girl's shoulders. Her vision was blurring after the blinding light, and she only vaguely saw the blue blob that must have been the Doctor rush over; she surrendered the girl to him and wearily massaged her eyes, and when they re-opened, her eyesight was slightly better. She turned back to the Doctor, who was still holding Alina. Dread washed over her as she looked at the limp figure. It hadn't worked…
But then, with a deep sigh, she opened her eyes, locking onto the Doctor's immediately. Recognition sprang into her eyes instantly. The two of them looked at each other wordlessly, Alina's face a mass of puzzlement and disbelief as she stared into the face of the brother she's lost.
"Doctor…" she breathed.
A/N: She's awake! Ah… how will she react, what will they all say? Not quite sure yet, but I'm sure it'll come to me. Anything worth reviewing??