A/N: Hello again! Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! Here's another chapter. =D.
Bluffing
"So," the Doctor began. "No offence, but who are you? And how do you know who we are."
"We have followed your trail for many years now Doctor. Following you from planet to planet, always one step behind you."
Stalker much?
"But why?" he continued. "This is way too massive. You managed to find an Orantia – a species supposedly extinct – to be your personal oracle."
"Not to mention practically an army of Pevalimon which were also supposed to have been wiped out."
"The Orantia has predicted the future for me for many years, in return for protection from those who would seek to harm him."
"But you haven't been on earth. Someone would've noticed. I mean, I know that the human race is stupid, but they aren't that stupid."
"Excuse me," the lady replied in astonishment.
"Ah, right. Sorry. So, what's this whole 'invasion' about?"
"We prefer the term infiltration. Invasion just seems too, I don't know, evil?"
"And you think that changing the word changes what you're doing?" I asked incredulously. "Just leave us alone."
"Erica," she said, turning to me. "There is no us. You are not one of us."
I saw the Doctor shoot me a puzzled look, but I was too wound up to care.
"As long as I live, I will always be human," I rebutted. "You cannot tell me what I am. You are as human as I am, we both have aspects of ourselves that we don't like to admit, but I think you have more of a reason to be ashamed of yours."
"And what do you mean by that, young Erica."
"I mean that you have betrayed your race by siding with these beings. This oracle and these Pevalimon. You are taking over so silently, that not even the Doctor discovered it until a few hours ago."
"And unfortunately, it was a few hours too late," the lady replied, smiling contentedly.
"What do you mean by that?" the Doctor asked, finally zooming back into the conversation.
"I mean, that your friend here," she pointed to me, "Sped up the invasion process when she captured two of our top spies three months ago. In two hours the invasion will be complete. The children will have already bended to our will. The adults will be powerless beneath their newfound knowledge. No one will even guess that we were behind it now that Torchwood and UNIT have been dealt with."
"What?" I whispered quickly, shock running through me.
"Don't worry," the Doctor said, turning to the lady. "She's bluffing."
"If that's true then she keeps a bloody good poker face." My anxiety was coming out as anger. I could feel my heart rate accelerating. I noted that I should probably learn how to control my emotions, but I definitely wasn't learning it right now.
"Calm down Erica," he replied. "She is bluffing."
"What makes you so sure of that Doctor?" The lady asked.
"Because I've just realised who you are, I've just remembered who the Orantia is, and also how to wipe out an entire Pevalimon army without breaking a sweat."
She scoffed and I smiled. I saw the fear in her eyes.
"Ariella of Parethon. You've been missing for quite a while. I believe your brother is taking over the empire. You could've done it if you'd stayed but, well, that's evil plans for you. The Orantia is the last of its race that has been living in seclusion in the outermost reaches of the Revioa System since the time war. Until you, little Ariella, dug up its hiding place and decided to work with it. But you needed the Pevalimon's intelligence to tell you what it was saying. When they couldn't tell you what it was saying, they told you to find me. So you decided while you were here that you would just you know, take over the planet. No biggie."
"Well done Doctor. But you are no closer to finding the real reason behind everything."
"Well, what I'm guessing is that-"
"You want me," I interrupted.
"Oh, very good Erica."
"What?" the Doctor exclaimed. "You want her?"
"Don't act so astonished. I'm not completely useless."
"Yeah, but I mean, they want you. Over me."
"Wow, I was right. You are cocky."
"Excuse me?"
"Time's ticking away here," I said to Ariella, ignoring the Doctor as I so often did. "So, you get me in exchange for calling off the whole invasion and the earth is returned to completely normal."
"What do you think this is?" Ariella scoffed. "The invasion isn't getting called off. If you don't come with us then we keep you here for the rest of your life."
"Ah. Somehow I doubt that will be pleasant."
"It won't be," Ariella agreed.
"Well then. I am going to hand this conversation back over to the Doctor."
"Oh, so now you stop ignoring me?"
"Just speak."
He turned away from me and walked towards the windows. "See, the one thing you've forgotten is that I said I know how to wipe out an entire Pevalimon army."
"And I don't believe you," Ariella replied.
"Think again," he said. Pointing the screwdriver out of the window towards the building housing the centralized vacuum and the Orantia.
Sirens echoed for miles as the Pevalimon ran towards the source.
"What have you done?" Ariella yelled over the wailing alarm.
"I've just made your life a lot harder."
She screamed a string of swear words in our direction as we ran out of the church back into the elevator. We pretty much walked through the place where our belongings were being held, grabbed them and walked out into the cold. Not one Pevalimon in sight.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Nothing," he replied honestly. "I set the alarm off."
"You had no idea how to wipe out the army did you?"
"Nope," he said putting his key into the door of the Tardis.
"You were bluffing," I stated.
"I know. I am amazing aren't I?"
"Seriously, I have no idea how your legs support your massive ego."
"Well it's like they say," he replied stepping into the Tardis. "You don't go, without ego."
"First time I've ever heard something like that," I muttered, closing the door on Antarctica.