A/N: Hi, everyone! I'm here again. I want to thank you all who has reviewed, faved and subscribed. Thank you very much!
My school is starting tomorrow which means I'll have less time to write. The chapter will continue coming up once a week until this fic/first series is over. Then I'll start the second series as a new fic(thus part one). That one probably will update once in every two weeks since I haven't written much of chapters yet and my matriculation examination is coming up. But don'tyou worry though, I try not to lo9se my interest with this. :)
10. Everybody lives. Just this once. Everybody lives!
The gas-mask people were surrounding Rose, Sierra, the Doctor and Jack. Then - the Doctor stared sternly around at them.
"Go to your room." He said like he was addressing to a disobedient child. Nevertheless the gas-masked people hesitated. "Go to your room!" He said again. The gas-masked people cocked their heads to one side. Rose and Jack looked at one another while Sierra looked at the Doctor. While watching this episode back home she had had troubles to get how the Doctor had managed to do it but now when she was there… She understood it completely. All that authority that surrounded the Time Lord and coated his every word at the moment. "I mean it! I am very, very angry with you. I am very, VERY cross! Go - to - your - ROOM!"
He pointed violently in no particular direction, and miraculously, all the gas-mask people turned meekly away. Sierra slid on the floor as her legs gave out in relief. She hadn't been that terrified in ages. Even when she counted the encounter with the Dalek in. To be honest, she'd rather be exterminated than being turned into a gasmask zombie.
The patients and staff in the hospital climbed back onto their beds and the Doctor sighed with relief too. "I'm really glad that worked. Those would've been terrible last words."
"And that's all you were thinking at the moment." Sierra laughed shakily. Rose sank on the floor next to her and the girls wrapped their arms around each other. After the barrage balloon and now those zombies, they couldn't do anything else than cling into each other.
Rose was sitting by one of the beds, looking at one of the gasmask people. Jack settled down in another chair nearby. Sierra was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked into the thoughtful silence.
"They're not. Those masks are flesh and bone." Jack said.
"How was your con supposed to work?" The Doctor asked.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space-junk... let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front - oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for. Never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con." Jack explained with a shrug.
"Yeah. Perfect." The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners - Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." Jack laughed at his own joke. The Doctor merely looked at him and his laughter died away. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room. This is what your 'harmless piece of space-junk' did."
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter - it was empty." Jack said in defensive manner. The Doctor looked darkly at him and walked off.
"Rose. Sierra."
"We getting out of here?" Rose asked and got up.
"We're going upstairs." Rose followed him. Sierra scrambled on her feet too. Jack got up and called after the Doctor.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living - I harmed no-one! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me - I had nothing to do with it." He was saying.
"I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day." The Doctor didn't even bother to turn around. Sierra glanced at Jack.
"What he is saying is that the 'space-junk' you got here wasn't empty." She told him.
A siren went off in the distance.
"What's that?" Rose asked.
"The all-clear." Jack answered.
"I wish." The Doctor muttered. They left the ward.
Rose and Jack were running down a corridor looking for the Doctor. Sierra had also disappeared somewhere.
"Mr Spock?" Jack called.
"Doctor?" Rose called. They dashed past a flight of stairs. The Doctor popped his head around the banister.
"Have you got a blaster?" He asked. Rose and Jack skidded to a halt and backtracked.
"Sure!" Jack grinned. They ran up the stairs and found themselves standing outside a door.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken." The Doctor explained.
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out." The Doctor said and turned to Jack then. "Get it open."
Jack grinned and pointed the blaster at the door. The Doctor stood back, beside Rose.
"What's wrong with your Sonic Screwdriver?" The girl whispered.
"Nothing." Jack's blaster cut a perfectly square hole around the lock of the door and it squeaked open.
"Sonic blaster, 51st century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?" The Doctor asked.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked back, curious. The Doctor took the blaster from Jack for a look.
"Once." He stated.
"Well, they gone now. Destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vapourized the lot."
"Like I said - once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." The Doctor gave the blaster back with a pleasant smile at Jack and entered the room. Rose went up to Jack.
"Nice blast pattern."
"Digital."
"Squareness gun."
"Yeah."
"I like it." Rose went into the room. Jack laughed and followed her then.
Sierra jumped when a hole appeared on the wall next to her. She stared at the three of them who scrambled through it. The Child was approaching them from inside the room. Jack grabbed his sonic blaster from the Doctor.
"Give me that!"
"Are you my mummy?"
Jack pointed the blaster at the wall and it rebuilt itself, blocking the Child out.
"Digital rewind." Jack stated and tossed banana back to the Doctor. "Nice switch."
"It's from the Groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate." The Doctor shrugged.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?"
"Bananas are good."
The Child thumped the wall from the other side, cracking it.
"Doctor!" Rose said.
"Come on!" The Doctor gestured them and yanked Sierra's hand, waking her up from her daze. "Where were you?"
"Got lost."
They rushed down a short flight of stairs and down another corridor, before they encountered all the patients bursting out of the ward and calling 'mummy'. They hastily backtracked, but the gasmask people came from that direction too. They found themselves back at the point where they started, where the Child was breaking through the wall.
"It's keeping us here so it can get at us." The Doctor said, finally letting go of Sierra's hand.
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked, pointing the blaster in each direction in term.
"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital."
"Except us." Sierra added.
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?" Jack asked.
The Doctor took the Sonic Screwdriver out of his pocket, but Jack was not looking as he was too busy brandishing his sonic device at the gasmask people. Sierra also dug her hands into her pockets.
"A sonic, er... oh, never mind." The Doctor mumbled.
"What?"
The Doctor turned to face the other group of gasmask people, switching on his Sonic Screwdriver. Sierra did the same with her Sonic Light. Switching the settings she got almost blinding light at one group of masked people.
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that."
"Disrupter? Cannon? What?"
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am sonic-ed up!"
"A sonic what?!"
"SCREWDRIVER!"
Sierra laughed. Jack spun around. At that moment, the Child finally managed to punch through the wall and began to climb through the hole. Rose grabbed onto Jack's wrist and made him point the sonic blaster at the floor.
"Going down!" She shouted.
"What!?" Sierra managed. Another part she had forgotten. Rose blasted a hole in the floor. They all fell in a messy heap on the floor of the ward below. Jack hurriedly activated the digital rewind, closing the hole so they couldn't be followed.
"Doctor, are you okay?" Rose asked.
"Could've used a warning..." The Doctor muttered and got up. Sierra followed him, holding her head with both of her hands.
"Never ever again…" She was mumbling.
"Ugh, the gratitude."
"…of champagne in the middle of an adventure." The brunette continued.
"What?" Rose snapped to look at Sierra too see if the girl was joking. Apparently she wasn't. Jack got up too now and helped Rose on her feet. While they were brushing themselves off the man finally asked the question that had popped into his mind on the second before the Child had gotten through the wall.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?"
"I do!"
"Light!" Rose looked around.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'oohoo, this could be a little more sonic'?"
"What, you've never been bored?"
"There's gotta be a light switch!" Rose muttered while she was promptly ignored by the two men.
"I'll handle it." Sierra flicked her Sonic Light on. "My Sonic is handy unlike theirs…" Rose snickered.
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" The Doctor was asking Jack.
"Oi, shut up! It was bad enough when Rose was flirting with Jack." Sierra shouted at the two of them. They shut up and looked at her. Jack with a smirk and the Doctor with a most curious expression on his face. Rose had finally found a switch with the help of Sierra and turned the lights on. All the gas-mask people lying in the beds sat up and started calling 'mummy'.
"Door." Jack said and they rushed to it as the patients started getting out of bed. Finding it locked, Jack tried to blast it open but his sonic blaster didn't work. "Damn it!" He stepped back, allowing the Doctor to use his Sonic Screwdriver instead. He whacked the sonic blaster angrily. "It's the special features, they really drain the battery."
"The battery?!" Rose repeated with arched eyebrows. The Doctor opened the door and they dashed through it.
"That's so lame." Rose shook her head.
"Limpy even." Sierra added with a nod. She hadn't forgiven the Doctor yet for calling her 'Limpy' but hey, she could pass it on.
The Doctor slammed the door shut behind them and locked it with. Jack ran to the window nearby.
"I was gonna send for another one, but SOMEBODY'S gonna blow up the factory." He turned to glare at the Doctor.
"Oh, I know - first day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates." Rose chuckled.
"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit." The Doctor stated and took a step back.
"The door?! The WALL didn't stop it!" Jack shouted.
"Well, it's gotta FIND us first! Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!"
"Well, I've got a banana, and at a pinch you could put up some shelves."
The Doctor walked to the window and Jack.
"Window-…"
"Barred, sheer drop outside. Seven stories." Jack told him.
"And no other exits." Rose added. Jack settled comfortably into a chair.
"Where does all these chairs come from?" Sierra thought.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" The Doctor turned and eyed him for a moment, then looked at Rose and Sierra then.
"So, where'd you pick these ones up, then?" He jerked a thumb at the direction of them. Sierra glared while Rose downright growled.
"Doctor…"
"They were hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." Jack answered. Rose looked ever so slightly uncomfortable.
"Okay, one, we want to get out of here. Two, we CAN'T get out of here. Have I missed anything?"
"Yup. Jack just disappeared." Sierra quipped. The Doctor spun around to see Jack's empty chair.
After moments of stunned silence, the Doctor had sat down on the very same chair. Rose approached him and put her hand casually on the back of his chair.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" The Doctor looked up at her, giving her a look.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted."
"I mean... men."
"I can also do it." Sierra pointed out. "Shall I go after him?"
"Nah. Okay. Thanks. That really helped." The Doctor muttered.
"You are not making any sense." Sierra huffed. An old radio nearby sprung into life and Jack's voice transmitted through it.
"Rose? Sierra? Doctor? Can you hear me?" They all hurried over to the radio, the Doctor picking it up. "I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you."
The Doctor, in some confusion, held the wires that had been ripped out of the radio.
"It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it - hang in there." Jack continued
"How're you speaking to us?" The Doctor asked.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grille."
"Now there's a coincidence."
"What is?"
"The Child can Om-Com too."
"It can?" Rose asked. The Doctor nodded.
"Anything with a speaker grille. Even the TARDIS phone."
"I called to the Tardis phone too. Does that mean my cell phone can Om-Com?" Sierra asked, puzzled.
"What, you mean the Child can phone us?" Rose asked, practically running over Sierra. The brunette shot a glare at her.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiiind you." The Child said through the radio.
"Doctor, can you hear that?"
"Loud and clear."
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do."
"Coming to find you, mummy!" The Child said.
"If he's looking for his mother, why is he targeting men too?" Sierra mused deep in thought.
"Remember this one, girls?" Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' started playing through the radio.
"I was sleeping. Ask Rose." Sierra stated. Rose looked uncomfortable as the Doctor turned to look at her questioningly.
"Our song." The girl fidgeted. Sierra snorted. The Doctor nodded slowly but it was clear he didn't like it. Rose shifted from foot to foot, smiling embarrassedly.
Rose shuffled around in the wheel chair, bored. Sierra had fallen asleep against the wall. The radio was still playing 'Moonlight Serenade'. The buzzing of the sonic screwdriver was also in the background. Rose spun the wheel chair around in the Doctor's direction. He was holding the Sonic Screwdriver up against the wall near the window.
"What you doing?"
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete. Loosen the bars."
"You don't think he's coming back, do ya?"
"Wouldn't bet my life."
"Why don't you trust him?"
"Why do you?"
"Saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing." Rose shrugged and took a look at Sierra who was sound asleep. How could she sleep in the middle of all this? And fall asleep that quickly? The Doctor wasn't answering to the blonde. Rose looked at him for a moment. "I trust him 'cos he's like you. Except with dating and dancing."
The Doctor shot her a look.
"What?"
"You just assume I'm..."
"What?"
"You just assume that I don't... dance." The Doctor said slowly, hesitantly. Rose grinned.
"What, are you telling me you do... dance?"
"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume that at some point I've danced."
Rose grinned even more. "You?"
"Problem?"
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you... dance?"
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast."
Rose, still grinning, stopped shuffling around in the wheelchair and got up to turn the music up. The Doctor looked around a bit confused about what was going on. Rose walked slowly forward, flirtatiously. He looked determinedly back to the wall. Rose held her hand out to him.
"You've got the moves?" She asked. The Doctor looked back at her. "Show me your moves."
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete."
"Jack'll be back, he'll get us out. So come on - the world doesn't end 'cos the Doctor dances." Rose said, not lowering her hand. The Doctor snapped the Sonic Screwdriver off and, after putting it back into his jacket pocket, stepped away from the window and towards her, an odd expression on his face. He stood in front of Rose for a moment and took her hands. But instead of taking a dancing pose, he turns her hands over and looks at them.
"Barrage balloon?"
"...What?" Rose asked, snapping into reality.
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon." The Doctor told her, turning her hands over and looking at them.
"Oh... yeah. About two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet above London - middle of a German air-raid - Union Jack all over my chest. Sierra had a chance to cover hers since she was sitting in a rope loop but I was above her only with my own strength."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "I've travelled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly." He went back to examining her hands.
"Is this you dancing? 'Cos I've got notes." Rose asked in amusement.
"Hanging from a rope a thousand feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise." He showed Rose her own hands. "Sierra I understand if she really was just sitting…"
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up..."
"Oh, we're calling him 'Captain Jack' now, are we?" There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a captain..."
"He's not really a captain, Rose." The Doctor smiled.
"D'you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain envy." The Doctor half nodded, not denying it. He took her hands and they began to dance. "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."
"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked."
"Yeah? Shame I missed that." Rose smiled.
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock." Jack's voice was heard again but this time not from the radio. The two looked up to see that they were standing in Jack's ship, Sierra still asleep and against the wall. They looked around at their surroundings, now standing apart.
"Most people notice when they've been teleported. You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the Nav-Com offline to override the teleport security." Jack told them with a smile.
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is." The Doctor remarked.
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous."
Rose smiled.
"Like I told her - be back in five minutes." Jack ducked into a compartment underneath the console. The Doctor looked around.
"This is a Chula ship." He stated.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only, this one is dangerous."
The Doctor snapped his fingers, and his hand was instantly surrounded by nanogenes.
"They're what fixed my hands up! Jack called 'em, um..." Rose trailed off, trying to remember the term.
"Nanogenes." Sierra was awake now. She stretched and got on her feet. "Ouch, here we are again I see."
"So, sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed - all better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws." The Doctor explained to Rose who beamed. He banished the nanogenes with a wave of his hand and turned to Jack. "Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk."
"As soon as I get the Nav-Com back online." The Doctor looked mildly annoyed. "Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were..." Jack gestured the two. "…doing."
"We were talking about dancing!" The Doctor said innocently.
"It didn't look like talking."
"Didn't feel like dancing." Rose told. The Doctor gave her a rather naïve look. Sierra was laughing behind her hand at the scene.
Rose was sitting and talking to Jack who was in the pilot seat. The Doctor was sitting some way behind Rose, not taking part in the conversation. Sierra was sitting next to him and leaning her head against his shoulder. She was still feeling a bit sleepy. Especially with all that staying still.
"So, you used to be a Time Agent - now you're trying to con them?" Rose asked while Jack was fiddling the controls.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money." He answered.
"For what?"
"Woke up one day when I was working for them - found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back."
"They stole your memories?" Rose asked, incredulously.
"Two years of my life. No idea what I did." The Doctor watched him. "Your friend over there doesn't trust me. And for all I know... he's right not to."
The computer beeped.
"Okay, we're good to go." The Doctor looked up. "Crash site?"
"Finally!" Sierra stretched again and sat up straighter.
They walked over the rail station near the bombsite and peered over the barbed wire.
"There it is." Jack said and spotted the soldier earlier pacing up and down. "Ay, they've got Algy on duty. Must be important."
"We've gotta get past." The Doctor stated.
"The words 'distract the guard' head in my general direction." Rose muttered.
"Rather you than me. I'm awful at flirting." Sierra said.
"Who said anything about flirting?" Rose shot back and Sierra gave her a look. "Alright I get it."
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea." Jack said slowly.
"Don't worry... I can handle it." Rose waved him off.
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me. You're not his type. I'll distract him." Jack walked away. "Don't wait up."
Rose and the Doctor looked at each other.
"Meaning Agly swings to the other direction?" Sierra thought aloud. She hadn't earlier given it many thoughts.
"Relax, he's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing." the Doctor was telling Rose.
"How flexible?" The blonde asked.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy."
"Meaning?"
The Doctor grinned. "So many species, so little time..."
"What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and... and..."
"Dance." He sniggered. Sierra also laughed at Rose's expression. It was rather hilarious. But then she turned to look at where Jack had gone. Algy had fallen to his knees.
"Oh, god, look!" Sierra tugged Rose's sleeve and before the very eyes of the four of them Algy's face transformed into a gas mask. Jack was horror-struck. The other soldiers began to hurry over.
"Stay back!" The Doctor shouted without any effect.
"You men! Stay away!" Jack commanded. Rose, Sierra and the Doctor rushed over to Jack, and Algy who was lying on the ground. Rose stared down at him in shock.
"The effect's become air-borne. Accelerating." The Doctor muttered to himself.
"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked, her eyes wide like a pair of saucers.
"Nothing."
The air-raid siren sounded on the background. Jack looked up.
"Ah, here they come again."
"All we need. Didn't you say a bomb was gonna land... here?" Rose realized.
Jack nodded. Someone in the background was singing. Sierra turned to look in the direction of singing.
"Never mind about that. If the contaminants air-borne now, there's hours left." The Doctor told them.
"For what?"
"'Til nothing. 'Til forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" The Doctor looked around to see Sierra already walking to the direction of singing. It's coming from the shed nearby.
"Rock-a-by baby, on the tree tops, when the wind blows the cradle will rock..." Nancy sang shakily but gently. "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all."
The door creaked open. Nancy turned her head sharply to see the Doctor poking his head into the shed. He motioned for her to continue singing. Sierra peered in, annoyed that she'd been pushed aside. Always the Time Lord had to be in the center of everything.
"Rock-a-by baby on the tree tops, when the wind blows the cradle will rock..."
The Doctor approached her, taking his Sonic Screwdriver out of his jacket pocket. He flicked it on and unlocked her handcuffs. Rose and Jack appeared in the doorway next to Sierra. Nancy stood up and they all left the shed, leaving the gas-masked soldier fast asleep.
They went back to the bomb site, and the Doctor and Jack uncovered the Chula med-ship, which had a tarpaulin over it, hiding it from view. Nancy, Rose and Sierra watched.
"You see? Just an ambulance." Jack said.
"That's an ambulance?" Nancy asked.
"It's hard to explain, it's... it's from another world." Rose smiled to the young woman.
"They've been trying to get in." Jack told while taking a closer look.
"Of course they have." The Doctor rolled his eyes while Jack began to enter the code. "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?"
"Well, the sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll see I had nothing to do with it." Jack snapped. The controls exploded with sparks, and they all jumped backwards. An alarm went off. "Didn't happen last time." The ex-Time Agent mumbled.
"It hadn't crashed last time. They're the emergency protocols."
"And the thing is that this ship wasn't empty from the beginning." Sierra rubbed her temples. "It had something inside that can't be detected with X-ray scans and such… Are you even listening to me?" Everyone else was looking at a red light on the control panel that was flashing.
"Doctor!" Rose yelled suddenly. The gates at the other side of the bomb site were shaking.
"Captain, secure those gates!" The Doctor shouted.
"Why?" Jack frowned.
"Shut up and do it!" Sierra snapped to him. Jack obeyed. The Doctor turned to Nancy.
"Nancy, how'd you get in here?"
"I cut the wire." She answered.
"Show Rose." He tossed the Sonic Screwdriver to Rose. "Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D."
"What?"
"Reattaches barbed wire. Go!"
In distance Jack slammed the gate shut. Sierra sat on the ground, rubbing her temples.
"You okay?" The Doctor asked worriedly.
"Yeah, just a bit tired…"
"Okay…" The Doctor turned his back to her.
"Forty-five minutes."
"What?" He whipped around.
"Okay, two sets of forty-five minutes. Two episodes. Altogether ninety minutes. That's all that took me to watch this adventure. Here it has been several hours and a few near-death experiences. It's taking its toll on me. And to be honest, I was much more terrified at the hospital than when I was held hostage by that Dalek." Sierra looked wearily up into the Doctor's disbelieving eyes. But before he could say anything, Jack came back to open the hatch of the med-ship.
"It's empty. Look at it." Rose and Nancy joined them.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose? Sierra?"
"I dunno."
"Yes, you do." He mimed summoning the nanogenes.
"Nanogenes!"
"Finally!" Sierra huffed. "Took you lot long enough!"
"It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."
"Oh, God." Jack was ashen-faced now.
"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night and wearing a gasmask."
"And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Rose asked.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though - these nanogenes - they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like."
Jack, Rose and Nancy were listening to him intently, processing this. Sierra just wanted to get back to Tardis.
"All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do, they patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly - off they go, work to be done. 'Cos you see now they think they know what people should look like and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire Human Race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!" The Doctor's voice had risen almost to a shout. Sierra covered her ears, annoyed. Jack was abashed, shaken.
"I didn't know." Ha managed to say. The Doctor fixed him with a cold stare for a few seconds, and then went back to examining the med-ship, starting work with the Sonic Screwdriver Nancy stared into the distance, beyond the fence. The gasmask people had arrived, all of them still calling 'mummy'.
"Rose?" Rose rushed to Nancy's side, following her gaze. The gasmask people stumbled towards them over the rail-track. They were still quite a distance away, yet too close. Rose rushed back to the med-ship, and looked again at the flashing red light on the control panel.
"It's bringing the gasmask people here, isn't it?" She asked the Time Lord.
"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol." He answered.
"But... the gasmask people aren't troops..."
"They are now. This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up - they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you."
"That's why the Child's so strong. Why it could do that phoning thing."
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old - looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them."
The gasmask people surrounded the fence. The five of them looked around nervously. Even Sierra was losing her earlier cool.
"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked.
"Good little soldiers. Waiting for their commander." The Doctor gave the answer.
"The child?"
"Jamie." Nancy said quietly.
"What?"
"Not 'the child'. Jamie." Nancy glared the captain. The Doctor looked at her.
"So, how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked, tried to sound calm.
"Any second."
"What's the matter, Captain? Bit close to the volcano for you?" The Doctor asked sarcastically.
"He's just a little boy." Nancy said.
"I know."
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy."
"I know. There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can."
"So what're we gonna DO?" Rose interrupted loudly.
"We wait for the child and then Doctor gets an idea how to sort this out." Sierra shrugged.
"Except I don't have any idea how." The Doctor glared her.
"Don't worry, you will."
Rose sighed. Tears welled in Nancy's eyes.
"It's my fault." The young woman choked.
"No." The Doctor said immediately.
"It is. It's all my fault."
"How can it be your-." He suddenly broke off. He spun around, looking at all the gasmask people positioned behind the fence, calling for their mummy and then back at Nancy, who was sobbing uncontrollably. He stared at her. "Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?"
A bomb landed nearby. Rose and Jack flinched. Sierra kept her eyes on the sky instead of the gas-mask people.
"Doctor… that bomb. We've got seconds." Jack said. Another landed.
"You can teleport us out." Rose told the captain. The Doctor wasn't paying them any attention, eyes fixed on the sobbing Nancy.
"Not you guys. The Nav-Com's back online. Gonna take too long to override the protocols." Jack said.
"So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do." The Doctor said to Jack, his eyes still on Nancy.
"Jack?" Rose stared at him. Jack looked at her almost apologetically and teleported himself out.
"How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway." The Doctor was talking to Nancy. Still sobbing, she glanced up at him and then away again, shame written all over her face. "He's not your brother, is he?" Nancy shook her head. "A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied." Nancy nodded, tears streaming down her face. "You even lied to him."
The gates swung open. The Child stood at the forefront of an army of gasmask people, ready to charge.
"Are you my mummy?" The Child asked.
"He's gonna keep asking, Nancy. He's never gonna stop. Tell him." The Doctor told the young woman – no, the young mother. She didn't answer. The gasmask people began to walk forward. "Nancy... the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me... and tell him."
The Child approaches them. "Are you my mummy?"
The Doctor gave Nancy a gentle push in the direction of the Child.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?"
"Yes." Nancy whispered and said then with a stronger voice. "Yes. I am your mummy."
The Child walked slowly forward. "Mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
Nancy kneeled before him. "I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes."
"He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left." The Doctor muttered to Rose and Sierra.
"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry." Nancy told her son tearfully and she took him into her arms, no longer caring what would happen. The nanogenes surrounded them, making them glow with a golden light. "I am so, so sorry."
"What's happening?" Rose asked. "Doctor, it's changing her, we should-…"
"Shh!" The Doctor held a hand to silence her. Sierra could only stare at the beautiful scene of mother and child surrounded by the golden light. "Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes - figure it out! The mother. She's the mother! There's gotta be enough information, figure it out!"
"What's happening?" Rose asked.
"See? Recognizing the same DNA." The Doctor pointed the pair.
Nancy fell away from the child to the ground, as the nanogenes disappeared. The Doctor and Rose rushed over, the Doctor staring down at the child, hardly daring to hope. Sierra scrambled on her feet and followed them.
"Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one." The Doctor mumbled. He reached out to the gasmask... and removed it, revealing a perfectly ordinary, sweet little boy underneath. Nancy stared in delighted wonder. The Doctor laughed ecstatically and lifted the little boy into the air, swinging him around. "Ah-ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years 'til pop music - you're gonna love it." He hugs Jamie, laughing.
"What happened?" Nancy asked.
"The nanogenes recognised the superior information - the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Haha!" The Doctor put Jamie down in front of her. "Mother knows best!"
"Jamie...!"
A bomb landed nearby.
"Doctor, that bomb..." Rose began.
"Taken care of it."
"How?"
He gestured Nancy and Jamie. "Psychology!"
The bomb fell towards them but was suddenly snatched out of the air by a blue force-field. The same force-field that had saved Rose and Sierra earlier. A moment later, Jack appeared hovering in the tunnel of light.
"Doctor!" Jack called to them.
"Good lad!" The Doctor shouted back.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long."
"Change of plan - don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it? Safely as you can?" The Doctor asked.
"Rose?" Jack asked the blonde.
"Yeah?" The girl asked, her voice slightly shaking.
"Goodbye." And he disappeared and then reappeared. "By the way - love the t-shirt." He grinned and Rose grinned back, pulling the t-shirt down embarrassedly. Jack disappeared again. His ship zoomed off into the night sky, the bomb with it. The Doctor walked a few paces away, staring intently at his hands. He summoned the nanogenes. Sierra mimicked his actions. The nanogenes fluttered around their hands. Sierra grinned at the sight. This was one of the things she had always wanted to do.
"What're you doing?" Rose asked.
"Software patch. Gonna email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." The Doctor threw the nanogenes away from him, towards the gasmask people who were still standing around on the train track. Sierra just chucked the nanogenes in the air above her. The herd of those golden fireflies floated above her head for a moment before zooming towards the gas-masked people. She let out a laugh full of joy, happiness, excitement and relief. The Doctor gave his widest grin to her as the gas-masked people fell on the ground, the nanogenes surrounding them.
"Everybody lives. Just this once. Everybody lives!" He laughed. And the people got to their feet without gasmasks! They were restored to normal human beings now. The Doctor bounded over to Doctor Constantine.
"Doctor Constantine. Who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor! World doesn't wanna get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit. These are your patients. All better, now!" The Doctor gestured the people around.
"Yes, yes... so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?" Doctor Constantine said, looking around in confusion.
"Yeah, well, you know - cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably gonna find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?" He rushed back to Rose and Sierra and jumped a top of the space-ambulance. "Right, you lot! Lots to do! Beat the Germans, save the world - don't forget the Welfare State!"
Doctor Constantine smiled and he and his patients began to walk away. The Doctor bended down to the control.
"Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"
"Usually the first in line." Rose smiled. The Doctor looked at her and grinned. She grinned back.
"Okay, let's get back to Tardis, shall we?" Sierra asked and stretched her arms towards to sky. "I'm getting cramps on my back for all this sleeping while sitting."
"That was your own fault, you know." Rose told the brunette.
"No it wasn't. It was your fault."
"And why's that?" There was a challenging tone in the blonde's voice.
"Because you had to be flirting all the time. Whether it was the Doctor or Jack, you acted like a love-sick puppy. Or were you just trying to make Doc jealous?"
"What? I wasn't flirting all the time!"
"Oh, yes you were. And if there is something I can't stand, it's meaningless romance in its lovesickness. Love triangles are the worst." Sierra made a mock shudder and grinned at Rose then.
"And what do you know about it if you haven't ever dated anyone?"
"The fact that I haven't dated anyone doesn't mean that I am oblivious on the term relationship. It's different if you just happen to sync with someone but the thing you did... Don't take offense on it but I rather not to be at the place or conscious when it happens."
"Fine." Rose huffed.
"Done, ladies?" The Doctor asked and hopped down the shipwreck. He had quite an odd expression on his face. He didn't know what to think about what Sierra had just said or how Rose reacted to it. (A/N: Up to you my dear readers. What do you think he is thinking? Tell me too!)
"Yeah, we are." Sierra shrugged and jogged to him. Rose glared her for a second but followed then.
They entered the TARDIS, the Doctor chatting away happily. He was trying to divert the girls thoughts away from the earlier conversation.
"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off - because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help - ditto - all in all, all things considered - fantastic!" Rose smiled at his enthusiasm.
"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!" She poked his side.
"Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?"
"What?!"
"I had my first bicycle when I was five. When I was twelve I had a green one." Sierra remarked dryly, a hint of smile evident on her face.
"And everybody lives! Everybody lives!" The Doctor continued and flipped a switch on the console. "I need more days like this."
"Doctor..." Rose started.
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on FIRE!"
"What about Jack?"
The Doctor's smile faded, and he carried on working, like he didn't want to answer this.
"Why'd he say goodbye?"
"Because he is overdramatic flirt." Sierra smiled and walked to the console. "C'mon, let's go to pick him up."
Rose and the Doctor were waltzing in the console room with 'Moonlight Serenade' playing on the background. Rose was teaching the Doctor dancemoves, making okaying noises as they danced. Jack looked around at the sheer size of the place, compared with the outside. Sierra had disappeared somewhere.
"Right, and turn..." Rose told the Doctor who spun her around, getting her arm all twisted. "Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time - don't get my arm up my back!" The Doctor looked sheepish. "No extra points for a half-nelson."
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff." The Doctor mumbled and addressed then to Jack. "Close the door, will you. Your ship's about to blow up - there's gonna be a draft."
Rose grinned and leaned against one of the pillars. The Doctor flicked a switch and the engines started up. "Welcome to the TARDIS."
"Much bigger on the inside..." Jack mumbled.
"You'd better be."
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is... you may cut in." Rose smiled. They grinned and Rose took Jack's hand, as if to dance with him.
"Rose! I've just remembered!" The Doctor said suddenly.
"What?"
And 'In The Mood' blared out. Lights flashed all around the room, and the Doctor moved towards Rose in time to the music, clicking his fingers. "I can dance! "
"Actually, Doctor... I thought Jack might like this dance." Rose smiled.
"I'm sure he would, Rose. I'm absolutely certain. But who with?"
Rose sniggered and hopped up the steps to take the Doctor's hands. He spun her perfectly. Jack watched them with a big smile on his face as they danced around the console room. The Doctor suddenly threw her backwards over his arm, earning a whoop of delight from Rose. She pulled herself up, and sagged onto his shoulder, giggling.
"Found it!" The three of them heard from the corridor. Sierra emerged to the console room waving a CD in triumph above her head. "It was between my pillow and pillow case."
"And it is what, exactly?" Rose asked.
"My turn to choose the music. The band is called the Chameleon Circuit, the CD is called the Chamelaon Circuit, the music genre is called Time Lord Rock and the song I'm choosing is… Doctor What!" Sierra inserted the CD into the console. "And that's the only song we are listening because the others contain spoilers or would get us too sad." Sierra smiled and the Tardis started to play out the song. After a moment of confusion the three of them, native in that world, were singing along with Sierra.
"My girlfriend thinks that I'm a nutter. My parents say that I'm an utter fool, for wasting my time on this.
"But I'm not chasing my imagination, I just can't help avoid my fixation, 'Cos I know that he really exists.
"But if you look through time then you will find, So many artifacts have been signed with clues, All pointing his way.
"And though he may have different faces, I think it's him in all the cases, the man is an enigma who knows where he is today.
"Just have a look at what I've found and see, Am I going crazy or is he following me, You can find his legacy sketched throughout, Though the history books always tend to leave him out.
#
"He's called the Doctor. But Doctor What? I think he's a Martian though I know that that's a long shot.
"Doctor… But Doctor When? I'll check back to prehistoric times and there he is again
"Well that's the Doctor. But Doctor How? He saves the planet all the time but never stops to bow.
"Oh mister Doctor… But Doctor Who? And most importantly Doctor, how can I find you?
#
"He takes danger with him everywhere he goes. So if he does show up then we'll know. That something's not right.
"But I just can't help but think that I would make a good companion by his side. I'm pretty bright, always polite, oh Doctor take me up tonight.
"I know that I should get a grip but I need to see inside his ship. And have him take me everywhere he gone.
"Or at least I'd like to meet the guy to shake his hand and say goodbye. And thank him for all he's done.
"You can't deny aliens must be real. Well is it that hard to believe that some might be revealed to look like us. Well I know it's just all speculation but I feel I must. Try to trust in what I feel.
#
"He's called the Doctor. But Doctor What? I think he's a Martian though I know that that's a long shot.
"Doctor… But Doctor When? I'll check back to prehistoric times and there he is again.
"Well that's the Doctor. But Doctor How? He saves the planet all the time but never stops to bow.
"Oh mister Doctor. But Doctor Who? And most importantly Doctor, how can I find you?
#
"I know to you I must look like some kind of Neanderthal. While you're a flying cosmic genius and know-it-all. I'm just an insect, there's nothing I can do. How could I expect that would ever meet you Doctor!
"But Doctor What? I think he's a Martian though I know that that's a long shot.
"Doctor… But Doctor When? I'll check back to prehistoric times and there he is again.
"Well that's the Doctor. But Doctor How? He saves the planet all the time but never stops to bow.
"Oh mister Doctor. But Doctor Who? And most importantly Doctor, how can I find you?"
A/N: I do not own the lyrics of "Doctor What". Those belong to Charlie McDonnell, member of Chameleon Circuit. I recommend you all to go and check out some songs from this band. They are plain awesome!
And now, plz rvw!