The Doctor and I stood in the TARDIS, listening in to both pilot and dalek transmissions. "Danny Boy to the Doctor..." the pilot called solemnly, "only me left now. Anything you can do, sir? Over." the pilot asked from his plane in space, hopelessly trying to take down the dalek ship with one little fighter plane, even if it was installed with alien technology.
The Doctor hung his head low and picked up a small microphone from the console. "I can disrupt the Dalek shields, but not for long. Over."
"Good show, Doctor, go to it. Over." The pilot responded. The Doctor began pulling levers and typing things in the console to disrupt the shields.
I felt the ground shake a little, and I knew that the pilot had successfully blasted part of the ship. "Danny Boy to the Doctor... going in for another attack."
The Doctor picked up his microphone again, looking at the monitor. "The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship! Over." he commanded.
"What about you, Doctor?" Danny Boy asked him.
"We'll be okay."
I stood leaning against the rail and nervously played with my locket, not wanting to deal with what was next. To the left of us, a white dalek appeared on a big circular monitor. "Doctor! Call off your attack!"
"Ah-ha, what? And let you scuttle off back to the future? No fear. This is the end for you. The final end!" The Doctor hissed, walking up to the monitor. I kept tangling and untangling the long chain in my hands. Maybe it would have been the final end if I hadn't been so stupid.
"Call off the attack, or we will destroy the Earth." The dalek echoed.
The Doctor looked slightly triumphant. "I'm not stupid mate, you've just played your last card."
"Bracewell is a bomb," the dalek told him simply. Well that was fast.
The Doctor was a little worried now. "You're bluffing. Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body! There isn't a bone... in your body."
"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum! Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android."
The Doctor went back to the console and pushed a button, disappearing the big monitor so that now the dalek was on the small TARDIS monitor in front of him. Now it was just him and the dalek, face to... shield, or armor, casing... thingy. "No! This is my best chance ever! The last of the Daleks! I can rid the Universe of you, once and for all!"
"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below! The Earth will die screaming!"
"And if I let you go, you'll be stronger than ever. A new race of Daleks."
"Then choose, Doctor! Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth. Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum! Choose, Doctor! Choose! Choose!"
The Doctor looked down a little before turning to me. He looked at me as if he were asking me what to do. Of course, I still had a blinding hatred and fear for the daleks that felt so powerful it was terrifying, but there was no way I would let the earth die. I knew the bomb was real, and it was my fault, but no matter how much I hated the daleks, those people didn't deserve it. So I walked over and picked up the microphone. I handed it to him, knowing that Danny Boy probably wouldn't trust an order from me, and I wasn't sure what to say anyway. The Doctor eyed me carefully and took the microphone solemnly before speaking into it. "The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Withdraw."
"Say again, sir. Over." The pilot replied.
"Withdraw! Return to Earth. Over and out," the Doctor spoke again, this time with more life in his voice, realizing what was at stake.
"But sir...!" The pilot began to argue, but the Doctor cut him off.
"There's no time, you have to return to Earth now! Over!" The Doctor said again, putting the microphone back in his place and pulling levers, setting us back on course for the Earth. Almost immediately, he ran out the TARDIS and we were back in the storage room in the war cabinets. I followed him as he ran back to the map room to see Amy, Winston, and Bracewell there among others. He didn't even give it a second thought before running up to Bracewell and punching him square in the jaw.
"Doctor!" Amy gasped in shock.
The Doctor shook his hand in pain. "Ow! Sorry, Professor. You're a bomb! An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb."
"What?!" Bracewell breathed, from his spot lying on the floor.
"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you- a captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension!" The Doctor knelt beside him while I knelt on the other side, trying to remember what it was that Amy said to stop the bomb. The Doctor opened Bracewell's shirt and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Now keep down!"
His skin seemed to open to the side like layers, revealing a metal chest underneath it. In the middle was a blue light up circular pad that kind of reminded me of Iron Man that was divided into 5 sections. One of the sections lit up.
"Well?" Amy asked, trying to grasp what was going on.
"He needs to stay human. He needs to remember what it's like to be human and then the bomb won't go off, right? He's dalek technology, the bomb is dalek technology, and daleks are only hate. He just has to fight that and remember being human." I explained. "So you have to tell us. Tell us what you remember about your life." I told Bracewell.
Two of the sections were already turning red as he began talking. That's strange, I don't remember it being that fast in the show. "My family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey. Just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but...but there was a storm."
"And your parents? Come on! Tell me!" The Doctor hurried.
"Good people. Kind people. They... They died. Scarlet fever." Bracewell stuttered. I tensed just a little when he said the word Scarlet.
"What was that like? How did it feel?" The Doctor asked him, and already, the next panel was turning yellow. This was way too fast. This wasn't right... I must have done something on the dalek ship.
"Please..." Bracewell begged, but the Doctor was determined. "How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me! Tell me now!"
I racked my brain, trying to remember what I did on the dalek ship. I just stood there really, although I did get shocked. Maybe that was it. I touched the golden progenitor thing, so maybe that did something. There were already four red panels, which meant I had to act now. It would take longer for Amy to figure it out, even though I wanted to let her, and probably should have.
"No, wait." I told the Doctor. I leaned closer to Bracewell and mustered the calmest tone I could manage, as opposed to the Doctor's rushed one. "Have you ever loved someone, even when you know you really shouldn't?"
"W...what?" Bracewell stuttered again.
Amy came to kneel beside me, and I was glad she figured out what I was trying to do, because I felt like I would mess things up even more if I said things she was supposed to say. "It hurts, doesn't it? But it's a good kind of hurt."
Bracewell sighed a little. "I really shouldn't talk about her."
"Oh, there's a her," Amy raised her eyebrows.
"What was her name?" The Doctor asked, catching on.
"Dorabella," Edwin replied hesitantly.
"Dorabella? It's a lovely name, it's a beautiful name." The Doctor smiled, seeing that it was starting to work. The last tile turned completely blue.
"What was she like, Edwin?" Amy asked him.
Bracewell looked up and a dreamy look crossed his face with a hint of a smile. "Oh... Such a smile. And her eyes... Her eyes were so blue...Almost violet. Like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world... Dorabella..." he sighed, and all the panels turned blue.
"Welcome to the human race..." The Doctor smiled. He looked up and smiled at Amy and I too, before snapping and pointing to Winston. "You're brilliant," he pointed to Bracewell, "You're brilliant," he looked to Amy now, "You're brilliant," he leaned over Bracewell and kissed her on the forehead and she giggled. Then he looked to me. "And you... I..." he leaned over Bracewell and kissed me on the forehead also before standing. "Now, gotta stop them! Stop the daleks!" he announced, running out of the room.
"Wait! Doctor! Wait... Wait, " Bracewell stopped him, sitting up. "It's too late. Gone. They've gone."
I stood up and closed my eyes. I had a much better chance of stopping this than the Doctor knew, and I didn't. I proved to myself right now that I remembered how to shut Bracewell down, so I really could have done it. "NO, no, no! They can't! They can't have got away from me again!" he yelled.
I winced a little, and Bracewell adjusted his glasses from his spot on the floor. "No, I can feel it, my mind is clear. The Daleks have gone."
The Doctor held on to a pole, all his energy drained as he leaned against it. I fidgeted in place a little, the air in the room growing tense.
"Doctor. It's OK! You did it. You stopped the bomb. Doctor?" Amy asked, walking up to him.
"I had a choice. And they knew I'd choose the Earth. The Daleks have won. They beat me. They've won." The Doctor gulped, defeated.
"But you saved the Earth. Not too shabby, is it...?" Amy asked. Thankfully, everyone in the room was staring at the Doctor, so no one noticed me glaring hard at the ground. "Is it?" Amy asked again.
I recovered a little, and looked up. "No," the Doctor remarked softly, smiling slowly. "It's not too shabby."
"It's a brilliant achievement, my dear friend. Here, have a cigar!" Winston bellowed, handing him a cigar.
"No," the Doctor declined, waving it away.
888
Back on the rooftop, the Air Raid Warden helped a group of Marines raise the Union Flag. It flew proudly in the wind, symbolizing the small victory. Little did they know the flag not only represented England, but in that moment, it was for all of the earth.
888
"So, what now, then?" Amy asked Winston Churchill, the three of us standing around the war map.
"I still have a war to run, Miss Pond."
A woman came up to him and handed him a paper, almost as if proving his point. "Prime Minister," Winston took the paper from her.
"Oh, thank you." He read the document and sighed. "They hit the Palace and St Paul's again. Fire crews only just saved it." He announced, but Amy and I got distracted when Breen walked in the room, sobbing and hugging a pilot's cap.
"Is she okay?" Amy asked.
"She just lost someone." I told her.
Another woman went up to Breen and began comforting her, and I could hear her repeating comforting words over and over, saying she was sorry.
"Where's the Doctor?" Amy asked.
"Tying up loose ends. I've taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in." The Doctor replied, walking into the room.
Amy and I moved to stand next to him while Winston gave him a stern look. "Won't you reconsider, Doctor? Those Spitfires would win me the war in 24 hours!"
"Exactly," the Doctor commented, sipping his tea.
"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?" Winston begged him.
The Doctor put his cup down. "Oh, it doesn't work like that, Winston. It's gonna be tough. There are terrible days to come. The darkest days. But you can do it. You know you can."
"Stay with us, and help us win through! The world needs you."
The Doctor shook his head. "The world doesn't need me."
"No?" Winston asked, confused.
"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill." The Doctor smiled, holding two fingers in a 'V' for Victory again.
Winston chuckled and put the papers down on the desk beside him. "It's been a pleasure, Doctor. As always."
"Too right," the Doctor confirmed, holding out his hands and hugging him.
"Goodbye, Doctor." Winston told him.
"Oh, shall we say adieu?" The Doctor grinned, pulling away.
"Indeed." Winston agreed, before turning to Amy. "Goodbye, Miss Pond."
Amy laughed and put her hands beside her head in disbelief. "It's... It's been amazing meeting you."
"I'm sure it has!" Winston smiled. Amy leaned forward to kiss Winston on the cheek, and then he turned to me. "And you, Nova." He took my hand and kissed the back of it, and I couldn't help but giggle a little. Winston gave the Doctor one last nod and turned to walk away.
"Oi, Churchill!" Amy called. He turned back and Amy held out her hand. "TARDIS key. The one you just took from the Doctor." I laughed a little as the Doctor nearly chocked on his tea and pat his pockets to check for the key, but I knew it wasn't there.
"Oh, she's good, Doctor! Sharp as a pin!" Winston chuckled, handing the key to Amy. "Almost as sharp as me!" The Doctor turned his head sideways and gave us a lazy grin as Winston lit his cigar. "KBO!" he reminded us, walking away once again.
Moments later, the Doctor held out his hand in front of Amy. Amy rolled her eyes and slapped the key in his hand.
888
The Doctor, Amy, and I walked back into Bracewell's lab so see him standing stoically at his desk with a black leather glove over his stump of wires now, waiting for the inevitable, or at least what he thought to be the inevitable. "I've been expecting you, Doctor. I knew this moment had to come."
"Moment?" The Doctor asked.
"It's time to de-activate me." Bracewell sighed.
"Is it? Oh, uh..." The Doctor turned to look at Amy and I, and we both raised our eyebrows at him. "Yeah."
Bracewell sighed and turned to face us. "You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business."
"No, you're dead right, Professor. 100% right. And by the time I get back here in... what, ten minutes?" The Doctor asked Amy, who made a strained face.
"Mmm, more like 15."
The Doctor nodded. "Fifteen minutes, yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do. You are going to be so de-activated. It's going be like you've never even been... activated."
"Yeah, 15," I confirmed.
"15 minutes?" Bracewell asked.
"More like 20, if I'm honest. Once Pond and Nova and I see to the urgent thing…" The Doctor trailed, looking to us for help.
"Yes!" Amy pointed at him.
"Really important. Thing." I added.
"…we've got to see to. The... the... See?" The Doctor asked him.
Bracewell looked down. "Very well, Doctor. I shall wait here and... prepare myself."
Amy leaned over to the Doctor and I. "That Dalek tech's a little bit slow on the uptake," she muttered. "That thing we've got to do!" She exclaimed. "Gonna take half an hour, realistically, isn't it, Doctor?" Amy shouted obviously.
"Easily! So no running off, that's what I'm saying. Don't go trying to find that little Post Office with the ash trees or that girl... What was her name?" the Doctor hinted.
"Dorabella?" Bracewell asked.
"Dorabella." The Doctor confirmed. "On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in half an hour."
The Doctor began smiling a bit, and then Bracewell caught on, smiling wide and laughing. "Thank you, thank you Doctor!"
"Come along, Pond." the Doctor said, turning away and walking out, Amy and I giving each other that post-adventure giggle that seemed to be a continuing trend for us now, before following the Doctor out also, leaving Bracewell to live his human life.
888
"So, you have enemies then?" Amy asked the Doctor as we stood outside the TARDIS doors.
"Everyone's got enemies," the Doctor told her, turning around and leaning back on the TARDIS doors. Amy and I moved to either side of him.
"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell. You've got, like, you know, arch-enemies." Amy emphasized.
"Suppose so," the Doctor replied, while Amy looked at me, waiting for a reply.
"I don't even know what a Budgens is," I admitted, and she laughed at me.
"Oh yeah. I forget you were American," she told me, and I faltered a little at the fact that she said were. "And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff. But no, it's dangerous."
"Yup. Very." The Doctor recalled. "Is that a problem?"
Amy looked to him. "Well I'm still here, aren't I? You're worried about the daleks."
"I'm always worried about the daleks," he whispered, looking up.
"And you are too." Amy looked to me, leaning forward to see me on the other side of the Doctor.
"Well, that's kind of a new thing for me." I admitted again.
"It'll take time, though, won't it? There's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up." Amy said, trying to give us hope.
The Doctor stopped leaning on the TARDIS and turned to Amy. "It's not that. There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you have."
"Me?" Amy asked.
"You didn't know them, Amy. You'd never seen them before. And you should have done. You should." he told her, unlocking the TARDIS doors and going inside. Amy looked at me confusedly but I only shrugged, and she stepped in also, following him inside. I turned and looked back at the scene one last time, not knowing if I'll ever see it again, and then I saw it- the crack in the wall.
888
Once the Doctor had officially set us on a smooth course in the time vortex, Amy sighed. "Well, I don't know about you Time Lords, but we've been up for two days straight. I'm absolutely knackered! Night," she told us, walking away. The Doctor and I both said goodnight to her back, and then we were both alone.
"I'm sorry," I blurted to the Doctor, and he stopped poking around and looked at me.
"Why?"
"For not staying behind." I spoke quickly, trying to think of a way to admit my mistake to him.
"What are you talking about?" he asked me, moving closer.
"If I had stayed behind with Amy, I could have deactivated Bracewell and you could have destroyed the daleks, forever." I told him, looking down.
"Hey," he spoke softly, "That wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known," he reassured me, though really, it was only less reassuring, because I did know. "But you have to tell me now, Nova. Who are you, really?" he asked me.
I looked up at him and bit my lip, taking a deep breath. I couldn't tell him the complete truth, and I hated it, but I had to say something. I had to try. "Okay..." I started carefully. "You know how I'm a scientist?" I asked, and he nodded. "Well um, I work at Area 51. I mean, I didn't have a choice, but I don't' know… it's not something I'm really proud of," I rushed nervously.
The Doctor nodded, not really showing any other expression on his face besides concentrated. I had no idea what Area 51 was like over here, or if it was just the same, but I did know that I had to go back. Even though I had very few friends, I still had them, and my dad. I couldn't possibly just leave them without explanation. I would miss them, and I would hope that they'd miss me too. So I had to figure out a way to explain it to him, so I could go back.
I took a deep breath. "And that's where this takes me," I told him, pulling out my locked from under my shirt. "I don't know why. I don't even remember getting it, I've just always had it."
Okay, so maybe it wasn't the exact thing that it did, but I couldn't tell the truth. Besides, at least I finally admitted to where I work. It's not like I'm completely lying, either. It's just... an abridged version of the truth. I had to tell him somehow, because I had to go back. I wasn't completely ready to do this, and not staying with Bracewell was proof. Not only that, but even if I had a Time Lord family and everything, I still have one at 51, and I'm not leaving them now.
The Doctor walked back over to the console. "Well, I don't know much about it, you know. I've never been there, surprisingly. I suppose I could go see it, now−"
"No!" I shouted, cutting him off, though I was extremely relieved that he claimed to have never been there and not know very much about it. I guess he just didn't bother with America that much.
"Why? What's wrong with your job?" he asked me curiously.
I gulped. Sure, the actual problem was that it was in a different universe, so who knows what it's like here, but I didn't want to admit that what was really wrong with my job was me. Not only was our department's moral code a little messed up, taking things from people, or sometimes even taking actual people and testing on them, but I wasn't even that good at it. The only reason I hadn't become a janitor or something yet is because I love science anyway, so I guess Zodiac just cut me some, or a lot, of slack. I was always messing up, and the others would always give me annoyed looks… but when we discovered something, when I got really excited, they gave me pitied looks.
I had to come up with an excuse, quickly. The best lies are the ones with a little truth in them, after all. "We're American. It's small, and everyone knows everyone. At least 10 people would shoot you on sight." I told him, and this time I wasn't exactly lying. If a normal citizen took one step across the perimeter line, they would be shot. The secrets we kept were precious, rare, and deadly. Only the people that worked there and security detail had authorization to go in. We couldn't risk anything.
Thankfully, he nodded and seemed to get it. "Is that what you were afraid to tell me?" he asked me, leaning back on the console.
I shifted back and forth a little, nervously. "Yeah, so… If you want me to leave or something…" There are a million things I was afraid to tell him, not only because I would probably get some kind of alien-induced heart attack if I tried, but because I was afraid he would look at me differently.
"I don't want you to leave." he said sternly. "Tell me- just tell me, one thing," he hesitated. "Your name as a Time Lord is a promise you make to yourself. Why did you choose your name? What does it mean?" he asked me.
I thought about it. At the time I chose it, there was something inside me that just told me it was my name, even before, but I felt like it also came with a message. I was timid, before. I would do something and then shrink back, or be forced to do things I didn't want to and not complain anyway. I had chances to help people, and I didn't take them. But here, I could be anyone else. I could be someone different. I could be the girl who helped people and took chances, and I could be…"New," was all I managed to say, quietly.
"And that's all that matters. Even if you go back," he assured me, smiling softly. I knew there was some truth to that, but I couldn't help but wonder if he would say the same thing if somehow he knew exactly everything that was going on right now. It's not like I had much of a choice anyway, but I felt that even if I didn't have the weird mental trigger inside me, I still wouldn't tell him.
"But I do have to go back sometimes, Doctor. I have friends and family. I don't want to leave it. Time goes by slower here, I think. But I still have to go." I explained. I was nervous about being gone so long after what happened last time, but at the time, although begrudgingly, Zodiac explained that I had only been gone two hours. I had to hope he wasn't lying.
The Doctor nodded and looked a little sad. "Hey, I'll be back." I told him. "Seriously, really, really quickly. I have to do this now. Tell Amy if I'm not here in the morning!" I hurried, reaching to my locket and pressing the crystal before I changed my mind.
888
I landed in the same exact place I was before, just at the entrance of my apartment with my backpack and a slight headache again. I couldn't believe I did that. I couldn't believe that I told the Doctor and then left, and that he seemed to be okay with it.
Once my headache subsided, I noticed the house was silent. "Dad?" I called, walking to his room and finding it empty. After everything that happened, I thought he would come back. Sure, he was on a mission in Rome somewhere to retrieve something, but he's come back early before. Something alien had happened to me. I could have died or something, and he still stayed halfway across the world.
I walked over to the couch in the living room and plopped down on it. I looked at the phone and thought of calling Meredith or Dylan, but then I spotted a light on the answer machine. I sighed and leaned over and pressed the button to listen to it.
"Hey, Scarlette. Sorry I won't be home tonight. I heard what happened, sorry about that, kiddo. Don't worry, though, strange things like that happen to everyone at some point. Did I ever tell you the story of how I found this substance; just on the floor, and when I touched it all my fingers were glued together? Took them days to get them unstuck! So at least you're home safe with all your fingers. I'll be there tomorrow, hopefully. I might even bring Sally along. Love you, see you soon,"
I laughed a little at my father's strange antics and turned the machine off. I felt comfortable and safe, but for just a split second, I couldn't help but think that he wasn't my real dad anymore, and I couldn't help but wonder if he would ever know.
A/N: Aww poor Nova... And her dad... And her blaming herself. She seems to have a gigantic guilt complex there... I wonder why?! (Muahahha) we will find out very soon. And you will be very sad.
I am SO excited for you all to start reading the time of angels/flesh and stone pieces, I worked extra long on those, and we find oht a whole lot of things. Once again thank you for all your support, and come back wednesday for more!