CHAPTER 10
I do not own Doctor Who or The Sarah Jane Adventures, and I am making no profit off of this.
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Mel finally let Sarah Jane, Maria, and Amy inside of the prison area only to find that they were already too late. K'anpo was lying unconscious on the floor while Rani still lay there motionless in a trance. It was obvious that Kali was gone now, and the Valeyard's plan had succeeded.
"K'anpo! Are you alright?" Mel asked tenderly as she gently shook him awake.
"I'm always alright whenever I wake up looking at you," K'anpo said as he kissed her.
"He looks alright to me," Amy said with a grin.
Rani, however, would not wake up no matter how much Sarah Jane tried to rouse her.
"Amy, is she alright? Can you tell?" Sarah Jane asked.
Amy placed her hands on Rani's head and nodded as she said, "Yeah, she's fine, Sarah Jane. She's very weak though. It seems that the BG removed Kali in a really rough way and didn't care how it affected Annika. She's put her mind through a lot."
As the four women continued to check on Rani and K'anpo, the Valeyard woke up alone and decided to escape while he still could. He had anticipated running into one of Sarah Jane's friends on his way out, but he had never anticipated the sudden appearance of the being that now stood in front of him blocking his way.
"All attempts to leave will be unsuccessful. You will remain here until you have been properly dealt with just as the Mistress has ordered," K-9 said.
"I'm the one giving the orders here, and I order you to move, K-9. I am your master. You will listen to me," the Valeyard said.
"Incorrect. You are not the Doctor Master. You are only a part of him. You are not the complete Doctor Master, and therefore your orders will not be accepted," K-9 said.
"Stupid machine! Move out of my way or I will destroy you!" the Valeyard shouted.
"Unlikely. You have no weapons, and you have been taken by complete surprise by my sudden appearance. My conclusion then is that you have no way to destroy me, or you would have already done so," K-9 said.
"Stubbornness is not a good quality to have. I was attempting to be merciful for old time's sake, but I see that was a mistake," the Valeyard said.
Suddenly he looked up behind K-9 and said in a surprised voice, "Doctor, what are you doing here?"
K-9 was distracted just for a second, but that second was long enough for the Valeyard to pull out a sonic screwdriver and use it to shut the robot down. He raced off down the corridors of Ice World with a huge laugh as he was sure that he had successfully escaped now.
He was wrong.
A woman that he hadn't seen in hundreds of years now blocked the way to the transmat that he had hoped to get out of the ship with. She seemed to be enjoying his sudden irritation immensely.
"Hello, Fake Theta. I see you're trying to run away like the coward that you are. Amy thought that you might try something like this so she asked me to come along just in case. Aren't you glad?" Selene, Amy's sister, said with an enormous grin on her face.
"Get out of my way!"
"Not likely. Care to take me on in a fair fight?" Selene asked.
"Who wants to play fair? Fair is boring," the Black Guardian said as she knocked Selene out from behind with a touch of her hand to her head.
"You know you really are the best possible match for me. I don't know why I never realized that," the Valeyard said just before he gave her a passionate kiss.
The Black Guardian pulled away from the kiss and wrapped her arm around him protectively as she said, "It's because you were an idiot is my own personal theory. It's time to go now. Mission accomplished. Kali is free."
"Not so fast. I want to know where Kali is," Rani said in a severely weakened voice from behind them.
They turned to see Rani, Sarah Jane, Maria, and Amy watching them. The Black Guardian actually laughed and seemed completely unconcerned.
"What do you care? You're free of her now. I thought you'd be thanking me for that," she said.
"You thought wrong. I want to know where she is," Rani demanded.
"I want to know what you did to my sister. I don't care how powerful you are. If you've hurt her, I'll put my foot where the sun doesn't shine!" Amy threatened.
"Believe it or not, she'll be fine, Cliodna. I'm not a heartless monster. I don't kill for no good reason. Usually," the Black Guardian said.
"Who are you?" Rani asked.
"I'm no one that you've ever met before, Annika. Although I certainly know a lot about all of you," the Black Guardian said mysteriously as the Valeyard laughed.
"What's the joke, Valeyard?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Joke?" the Valeyard asked as he tried to play innocent.
"I know the Doctor very well. So I always knew when he was hiding something or when he was laughing because he secretly found something amusing. What's so funny?" Sarah Jane asked perceptively.
"The Black Guardian's true identity. It's amusing me greatly that none of you know it and could probably never figure it out in a thousand years," the Valeyard said truthfully.
"Let's not mock them, Theta. They can't help it that their brains are so small and limited," the Black Guardian said with a chuckle.
"I'll show you small!" Amy threatened as she started towards her with her fists clenched.
"I'm getting bored with you already, Cliodna. Don't make me bored, Cliodna. I do very nasty things when I'm bored," the Black Guardian threatened in a low voice.
A young woman with long dark hair suddenly appeared next to Amy and punched her in the jaw knocking her out cold. Sarah Jane looked at her in shock as she realized who this new arrival must be.
"Kali, I presume?" Sarah Jane asked.
"You're right on the mark, Sarah Jane, as usual. Do you like my new body? I think I look pretty good myself," Kali said as she looked at herself appraisingly.
"I'm sure that you have things here well in hand, Kali. I'll let you take care of them for me. The little people are just simply too boring for me to have to deal with," the Black Guardian said as she quickly vanished along with the Valeyard.
"The little people?!" Sarah Jane said with her expression a cross between amusement and irritation.
"She's a bit of a smug condescending egotist, isn't she? I suppose you could consider me ungrateful after she just gave me a new body, but I can't help but heavily dislike her. Maybe it was from being a part of Rani too long, but I actually prefer you better, Sarah Jane," Kali said.
"Is that why you haven't killed us yet?" Maria asked.
"Maria," Sarah Jane said in a warning tone.
"Oh, let her speak, Sarah Jane. She's right after all. If I didn't have a soft spot for all of you, I'd have killed you all long ago," Kali said.
"Why do you have a soft spot for us? I would have thought that you'd have killed me at least now that you're finally free of me," Rani said.
"Don't tempt me, Annika. I did just save all of your lives after all. She was going to kill all of you," Kali said.
"Why? Would you do that?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Always asking the right questions, aren't you?" Kali said with a smile.
"You still didn't answer her question," Maria said boldly.
"I like you, Maria Jackson. You're very brave or at least you do a very good job at hiding your fear anyway," Kali said.
"How do you know who I am?" Maria asked.
"I know everything that Annika knew. We did share a mind for a very long time after all," Kali said.
"I notice that you're still managing to avoid answering my question," Sarah Jane reminded her.
"She doesn't think that I know who she's helping but I know, Sarah Jane. The Valeyard's mind is an open book to me even though he doesn't know it. He actually thinks that his mind is unreadable. The arrogance! Both of them are helping the Celestial Intervention Agency. They want to help them take over Gallifrey. I won't allow that. Not because I care anything about those doddering old fools in the High Council, but because the Celestial Intervention Agency are the ones who experimented on me and tortured me. They also made sure that I was executed despite my sister's protests because I wouldn't agree to serve as a body for their precious Pandora, the former Lady President of Gallifrey who tried to make herself dictator for life in the distant past until she was executed just as I was. Also just like me, she survived. She survives even now unknown to everyone. I would never work for someone who would help them.
Apparently, she didn't take that into consideration or else she didn't think that I was smart enough or powerful enough to find out. Or maybe she's just so arrogant that she thinks that I don't care about anything except for mindless chaos like she does. Whatever the reason, I'm going to help stop her and them from getting what they want even as I pretend to help them. I can always kill all of you later. Right now, you may all prove more useful to me alive," Kali finally admitted.
"Are you sure it's not just that you fancy us?" Clyde joked as he, Luke, Lady Jane Grey, Henry, and a repaired K-9 who had been found and fixed by Luke on the way there all suddenly appeared.
"You're always the jokester, Mr. Langer, aren't you? Right now though, you're terrified of me. Not for yourself so much as for your friends and in particular, the woman that you love," Kali said as she smiled at him malevolently.
"Well, you've gotten more out of him than I ever have," Rani said indignantly.
"It helps if you actually read his mind instead of being all high-minded and refusing to like some people," Kali said.
Amy suddenly woke up as she said, "Enough playing around, Kali. Tell us what you're up to."
"I'd love to know that too. That and where I can get something besides an aspirin for this huge headache that bus made when it hit me," Selene joked as she too woke up.
"Oh, I show a little mercy in saving all of your lives, and suddenly everyone is so bold and demanding. Then again I expected nothing less from you, Cliodna. You always were quick to run off at the mouth," Kali said in amusement.
"Something doesn't make sense here. If she was going to kill us anyway, why didn't she kill Selene?" Sarah Jane asked.
"I'm not complaining," Selene said as she rubbed her head.
"It's because you stopped being amusing, Sarah Jane. When Cliodna started threatening her, she became bored and decided to kill you all. She was going to leave you alive longer until then. She likes the idea of having someone around to torture," Kali explained.
"You mean she wanted to kill us just because she got bored with us?" Clyde asked unbelieving.
"Yes," Kali said.
"What's to stop her from coming back and finishing the job when she finds out that you haven't then?" Luke asked.
"I imagine she's forgotten all about you now. It's just like she told all of you. You're the little people to her. All that matters to her are two people. They're all that's ever mattered to her really. Everyone and everything else are unimportant. You're all just means to an end to her and nothing else," Kali said.
"You know who she is, don't you?" Sarah Jane realized.
"Yes, I do. She's the last person that any of you would ever think of I can tell you that much. Keep your head down and keep a low profile, Sarah Jane, and you may survive. As for me, I'm off to pretend to be one of her flunkies as much as that makes me cringe. I have to find out exactly what she's up to so that I can put a complete stop to it with the most efficiency," Kali said.
"I still think you just fancy us, and don't want to admit it," Clyde joked.
Kali gestured at him, and he screamed in agony as she caused immense pain to his mind. She continued to apply more and more pressure to his brain until he thought that it would explode.
Then to both Kali and Clyde's surprise, Rani shoved Kali against the wall with a telekinetic shove that caused her to lose her concentration and broke her hold on him. Kali actually smiled as she realized that Rani still had powers even though she was gone now.
"Well, well, well! It looks like someone's just developed powers of their own. Could it be that being exposed to my powers helped trigger your own latent abilities, Annika? That's a question to ponder some other time, isn't it?" Kali said.
"Leave Clyde alone, or we'll find out just how powerful that I am now together as I use my new abilities to split your skull apart!" Rani threatened.
"Oh, I love it! Little Rani's gotten an attitude now that she's got herself some new skills! Aren't you the bold one?" Kali said amused.
"Get out of here and leave us alone," Rani said with renewed strength.
"Don't be so quick to turn me away, Annika. I may be your greatest ally in what lies ahead. They'll come for you sooner or later once they discover that you're a threat to them. They're going to be coming for all of you. They've already proven what they can do to all of your lives when they want something. They turned them all upside down! That was just them getting started. Watch yourselves. I certainly intend to watch out for myself," Kali said.
Then she swiftly walked away as she went to her new TARDIS which was parked nearby. She had managed to liberate herself one when she awoke in her new body back on Gallifrey. She did owe the Black Guardian a great deal for that, but she owed the Celestial Intervention Agency even more. She would not let them get away with what they did to her and especially not for what they did to her sister.
She still remembered the horrified look on Ushas' face when she thought that they had killed her. She would make them pay for that. All of them! Especially Pandora and Braxiatel.
She knew that Braxiatel was still alive. She had learned that from the Valeyard as well. No mind could keep secrets from her. Around her, everyone's mind was an open book no matter how well protected that they thought it was. She was quite simply the best at what she did.
She would pretend to be helping the Black Guardian with her little plan while all the while she was really helping herself to gain her revenge on them. They would never even see it coming because they didn't realize that she knew that they were even involved in it.
One day, they would realize it though. They would finally understand the truth to their horror on the day that she brought their entire world crashing down around them just as they had hers. Just as they had to Ushas.
"Clyde, are you alright?" Rani said as she helped him up off of the ground with a concerned look on her face.
"I'm fine. I think that I'm going to join Selene in a call for some of that pain medicine though. I really need about three or four hundred of them for this headache that I've got," Clyde said.
She then surprised him when she gave him a quick kiss on the lips as she said, "If you ever do something that stupid again, I'll kill you myself!"
"I guess I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry," Clyde said in a pain-filled voice.
"Your brain will stop feeling like it's on fire soon, Clyde. Right now, it's just numb from all of the trauma that it's just been through. Soon the real pain will begin when that wears off," Rani said.
"Thanks, Rani, for cheering me up," Clyde said with a groan.
"I'll help you with it. I'll make sure it's not too bad. Just relax," Rani said in a soft voice as she wrapped her arms around him.
"It's about time. I thought they'd never get together," Amy whispered to Sarah Jane.
"They're still not together yet. They're still too stubborn to admit that they're a couple," Sarah Jane whispered back.
"They'll get around to it. Some people are just slower about committing than others, that's all. They're not anywhere near as bad as the Doctor was though. It took him over a hundred years to admit that he loved Rose if I remember correctly," Amy whispered back as she tried not to laugh.
"That sounds like him," Sarah Jane said as she tried not to laugh as well.
"Does this mean that I can go home now, Mum?" Henry asked Rani.
"I'm not sure. What do you think, Sarah Jane?" Rani asked.
Everyone looked at her in shock as she didn't even seem to be fazed by the fact that Henry had just called her Mum. Sarah Jane decided not to mention it for now as she said, "I think it should be safe as long as we watch out for ourselves like Kali warned. Besides, I'm sure Henry's dying to see his girlfriend, Abby."
"She's not my girlfriend," Henry protested.
"Yeah, sure!" Clyde said as he winced from his head hurting just because he talked.
"That serves you right. Maybe that'll teach you to keep your mouth shut," Rani teased him as she gave him another quick peck on the lips.
Rani then turned to Amy and said, "Thank you for helping me, Amy. I really appreciate it. I guarantee you that I'll never do something like that again. I learned my lesson. I just wanted to help Lady Jane. I felt so bad for her."
"I know but you have to think sometimes before you do something, Rani. You really need to stop acting like a teenager. Next time, I might not be able to bail you out," Amy warned.
"I guarantee that I'll think twice before I do anything even remotely like that. I think it's the fact that I was a teenager until just recently. I'm still a little influenced by that kind of mindset, Amy. I'm sorry!" Rani said as she looked down to the floor.
"It's okay. I'm used to having people around that I have to bail out of trouble. You do remember whose mother I am, don't you?" Amy asked with a grin.
"You're a good friend, Cliodna. You always were. Thank you!" Rani said as she hugged her in gratitude.
"I want to thank you too. I'm so glad that Rani's going to be alright. I feel so bad about what I've done to her," Lady Jane said as she finally spoke up.
"You don't need to feel bad about anything. You didn't do anything wrong," Amy said.
"That's right. I was the one who messed up not you. It's all fine now anyway. Now I'm in even worse danger from an entirely different source, and it's got absolutely nothing to do with you," Rani said with a grin.
"So you see? Rani's just a trouble magnet. If it wasn't you, it'd always be something. The girl just can't help it," Selene said with a chuckle.
"That is so true," Amy said.
"Thanks a lot. You make it sound like I get into trouble on purpose or something," Rani said with a grin.
"What am I going to do now?" Lady Jane asked.
"Anything you want to. You're finally free to determine your own destiny," Rani said.
Lady Jane thought for a moment and then she said, "I think I'd like to stay with you a while until I find out what that is. Is that alright?"
"I'd love to have you. You'll be like the sister I never had in either of my lives," Rani said enthusiastically.
"Trust me. It's not all it's cracked up to be," Selene joked.
"Hey!" Amy protested with a smile.
"I would like that, Rani. I think that we'll get along very well. At least, I hope so anyway. I'll try not to be too much trouble," Lady Jane promised.
"I'm sure it's not you that I'm going to have to worry about," Rani said as she looked at Henry who had a fake innocent look on his face as if he was already up to something.
"Should I tell my parents about being a Time Lord?" Rani suddenly asked.
"That's up to you. I would though if it were me. You could also tell them the truth about all of us too if you want," Sarah Jane said.
"You should do it. They'll eventually find out anyway. Both of my parents found out about Sarah Jane despite my best efforts at trying to keep it a secret. It's better if they don't find out about it when they're in the middle of deadly danger. I learned that from personal experience," Maria said.
"Thanks. I guess I'll have to do it now that I have both a new son and a new friend/sister in my life. That's just too many secrets to keep," Rani said.
"Rani, when did you decide to make Henry your son?" Sarah Jane finally asked as her curiosity finally won out.
"When I was finally freed of Kali. That made me want to make all kinds of changes to my life," Rani said.
"Isn't it cool?" Henry asked.
Yes, it certainly is, Henry. It certainly is," Sarah Jane said.
Clyde meanwhile had a terrified look on his face. He wasn't just getting Rani if he continued in a relationship with her. He was also getting Bane Boy and a former bloody Queen of England. It was bad enough thinking about Haresh before. This just made things a little worse. He would have to think about this. Was she worth it?
He thought about it for a few minutes, and then he initiated a kiss with Rani for the first time. He both surprised and delighted her by doing so.
She was worth it.
Next: Rani tells her parents the whole truth about her and Sarah Jane even as she introduces them to Henry and Lady Jane. Haresh may just surprise her with an admission of his own.