Here's the next chapter ^^ it's a bit early, but i'm sure you all don't mind. though apologies in advanced! you'll understand when you reach the end ;) and thanks a ton for the reviews! this one's a bit long and there's quite a number of page breaks, but i hope you guys and girls enjoy it and please let me know what you think. :D
I popped up in a very shaky Tardis, stumbling through the hallways and trying to find the console room. Once I did, I spotted the Tenth Doctor, Donna, and Martha all clinging to the console and being tossed about; the same time I was thrown forward into the Doctor, who I clung onto like a life support.
"Bad time to be popping up I see!" I called out over the noise and he grinned, hugging me around the waist and making me wince as his arm pressed against the scratches on my back. "Watch the back, Spaceman!"
He moved his arm up a bit higher, but continued to grin. "Alex! Perfect timing! The Tardis controls are stuck!"
"Good to know!" I called out, grabbing onto the console before calling out to the other two. "Nice to see you both again, Martha! Donna!"
"You too!" They both called back, before Donna complained.
"What the hell is it doing?!"
"Like I said, the controls aren't working!" The Doctor replied, the console sparking as he was flung towards the jump-seat; his spare hand visible below him. "I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it."
"I thought that was just some freaky alien thing. You're telling me it's yours?!" Donna said, sounding slightly disgusted.
"Well…"
"It got cut off. He grew a new one." Martha explained.
"You are completely impossible!"
"Not impossible. Just unlikely." He chirped back as I rolled my eyes.
"What are you talking about?! You got lucky!"
There was a loud spark and a bang, before everyone flew away from the console, myself and the Doctor landing somewhat safely in the jump-seat.
"So what have you been up to, Alex, that caused this?" He lightly touched my neck bandage and I sighed tiredly, pulling a hand through my hair.
"Let's see, since the Ood? I've been to a haunted house, the sewers of Manhattan, a friend's house, Satellite Five with the forehead doors—" I snapped my finger to emphasize. "—playing hide and seek with Weeping Angels, and I just came from a New New Earth hospital running from angry cat nurse nuns."
Donna and Martha headed over.
"Sewers?"
"Forehead doors?"
"Cats?" The Doctor questioned, reaching over and pulling the bandage from my neck as I winced and glared at him, smacking his leg as a rebuttal.
"Yeah, they didn't like me running into their locker room and that hurts by the way."
Donna raised a brow as Martha went to get the medical salves the Doctor told her to get and he pushed me forward to look at the bandage on my back as well.
"Why were you in a cat locker room?" Donna asked, curious and slightly weirded out.
"Because these—" I pulled out the Groucho glasses. "—don't exactly work as a disguise when security is on the look out for me."
The Tardis hummed a chuckle and I frowned up at her.
"It's not funny you crazy blue box!"
The Doctor chuckled. "It couldn't have been that bad, Alex."
I turned to him with a frown. "Couldn't have been that bad? I was forcibly kissed by a girl!"
"You kissed a girl? Again?!" Martha questioned, walking over and handed the Doctor the salves, that he quickly applied to my scratches.
"She kissed me." I grumbled, before the Doctor told me to stand and remove my coat.
I did so and shivered as his cold hands touched the bare skin of my back as he lifted my shirt to put the salve on my other wound.
"Hey! There's no more wound!" Donna said in amazement, pointing at my neck and the Doctor grinned, wiping the extra salve from his fingers onto my shirt, to which I grimaced.
"Of course. They weren't that bad and were relatively clean, so the salve fixed them right up. Go grab a change of clothes, Alex, and then we'll go check out where we landed."
I grumbled, hoping I would've just been able to take a nap or something after running on no sleep for a good day and a half, when clothes fell over my head. I pulled them off and immediately scolded the Tardis.
"I can't even walk to the closet without you doing something?! Ugh!"
I heard the others laughing at my misfortune as I went to my room and changed into the grey tank top, black long-sleeved wide-collared shirt, and dark jeans the Tardis had dropped on me, grumbling under my breath before heading out to the console room.
"You ready?" The Doctor asked and I nodded, trying to get out of my tired slump and perk up a bit at wherever we were about to walk into.
We all headed out and looked around at the junky looking area, but I immediately didn't like it.
"Why would the Tardis bring us here, then?" The Doctor muttered as he went over to a nearby standing piece of metal and wiped his fingers over it, sniffing.
"Oh, I love this bit." Martha said quietly behind me with Donna.
"I thought you wanted to go home?"
"I know, but all the same. It's that feeling you get."
"Like you swallowed a hamster?"
"Doctor, I don't like this." I said, moving towards him. "This doesn't look like a junkyard. It looks like a make-shift military—"
"Don't move! Stay where you are! Drop your weapons!" Voices shouted and all of us raised our hands at the sight of the men pointing rifles at us.
"We're unarmed. Look, no weapons." The Doctor said, he and I flipping our hands around to show our lack of weapons. "Never any weapons. We're safe."
"You sound like you do this often." I grumbled quietly, earning a wink from him as one of the men spoke.
"Look at their hands. They're clean."
"Alright. Process them. Those two first."
A soldier grabbed the Doctor and another grabbed me, pulling us both towards two machines.
"Oi, oi!" The Doctor complained. "What's wrong with clean hands?"
"I think I know." I said back, nervousness clenching in my stomach as both our right arms were shoved into some device. "And I'm not going to like it!"
"What's going on?" Martha asked as Donna spoke and I braced myself.
"Leave them alone!"
"Something tells me this isn't about to check my blood pressure. Agh!"
"Ah!" I let out a yell as well, trying to pull my arm out to no success as something scratched and dug at the back of my hand.
"What are you doing to them?!" Donna asked as we both continued to yell out in pain.
"Everyone gets processed." A soldier said as the Doctor explained a bit.
"It's taking a tissue sample. You okay, Alex?!"
"Not really! Ow! God, that hurts!" I cried out, pressing my forehead to the machine and clenching my eyes shut against the pain.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?"
Both our arms were released and I quickly pulled mine out of the machine, the Doctor grabbing my wrist and pulling me over to him as Martha checked out both our hands along with Donna.
"Are you two alright?"
I grimaced. "It looks better than it felt."
The Doctor though, was distracted by something else. "What on Earth… That's just—"
Two sets of glass doors opened and two people stepped out. One, I recognized as Jenny, the Doctor's daughter, but the other was a whole new person; I myself knowing that I hadn't been around in the show to have gotten a clone myself.
"That's different." I muttered, looking at the dark brown haired man who stepped out with bright blue eyes and a skinny but toned body.
"Arm yourselves." The head soldier told them, tossing them both a large gun as Martha started asking questions.
"Where did they come from?"
"From me." The Doctor said, glancing at Jenny and then the man beside her. "And Alex, it seems."
"From you and Alex?" Donna questioned. "How? Who are they?"
"Well, she's… Well, she's my daughter and he's Alex's son."
Jenny smiled over at him as the man did the same to me. "Hello dad."
"How's it going, mum?"
"This way." The head soldier commanded and we started following, but I stuck to the Doctor, eyeing my supposed son as he marched alongside Jenny.
"Um, just to let you know, this doesn't happen in the show. I mean, she does but my, uh… son doesn't. I-I'm guessing this has something to do with my presence mucking things up?"
"Well, not mucking up really. Just the universe's way of filling in the extra space? Hard to explain."
I furrowed my brows, Martha and Donna walking beside us and listening in. "But he's got brown hair. No one in my family had brown hair. It was either red or blonde or black. So where'd the brown come from?"
Martha and Donna let out short sniggers and I glanced at them in question, but Martha waved it off mouthing that she'd explain it later so I dropped it for now as we approached the military base. I reached for my pocket to pull out my black book with information on this episode, but winced when I realized I hadn't put on my coat before walking out of the Tardis and that I'd be on my own for this one. The Doctor must've noticed my slightly panicked expression and took my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and for once, I didn't pull away; feeling like that's just where my hand belonged, in his.
"Did you say daughter?" Donna questioned. "And son?"
"Mm, technically." The Doctor hummed as Jenny and—my newly dubbed son—Lukas set themselves up to protect the military base.
"Technically how?" Martha asked and the Doctor quickly went off on a rant.
"Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parents in biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently."
I rolled my eyes, spotting Donna and Martha's confused looks.
"Cloning, in a nut shell."
Donna nodded, understanding that, but the Doctor pouted at how I simplified it when it was much more complicated than just simple cloning. But he'd get over it.
"Something's coming." Jenny called out as shadows lined the walls and figures headed over, shooting.
"It's the Hath!" The head soldier called out as he, Jenny, and Lukas started shooting back; the Doctor pushing us behind him a bit.
"Get down!" Jenny called back to us and Martha and I dived to the ground as a stray bullet flew past our heads.
The Doctor and Donna moved behind one area as Martha and I moved behind another, but the Hath were fast approaching.
"We have to blow the tunnel! Get the detonator!" The head soldier ordered, but the Doctor was immediately against it.
"I'm not detonating anything!" The Doctor shouted back, checking on a wounded soldier as another fell and Martha and I were grabbed by two Hath.
Martha screamed in panic, but I stayed relatively calm knowing that they weren't going to hurt us, though my heart pounded away in my ribcage. We were pulled back over by the Tardis as Jenny dived for the detonator and the soldier ordered them to continue.
"Blow the thing! Blow the thing!"
"Martha! Alex! No! Don't!" The Doctor called out, but Jenny pushed the button and they were forced to run as the detonator exploded and the tunnel collapsed; Martha and I being knocked out in the process.
I winced when I woke up, sprawled out on the dirty ground with Martha on top of me and I sighed.
"You'd think I'd learn not to jump into danger at this point."
Martha coughed, pushing herself up and seeing that she'd been on top of me. "Sorry."
I shrugged. "Used to it. N-Not the women on top of me thing!" I blurted out, seeing how she could take it the wrong way. "I meant being sprawled on my back. No wait, that doesn't sound right either. I meant—"
I was cut off by a chuckle and Martha got up, reaching down to help me to my feet.
"It's alright. I know what you meant."
"That's good. I was running out of different ways to say that." I smiled, before we both heard a pained gurgling cry and spotted an injured Hath not far from us.
Martha immediately went into doctor mode and knelt down beside him as he clutched his right shoulder.
"Hold on. I've got you. It's your arm, yeah?"
He gurgled and Martha fidgeted confused.
"Is that a yes?"
The Hath turned to her and nodded with a grunt, Martha shaking her head.
"Let me examine it. Keep still. Still. Yeah?" She held out her hands. "No move."
He nodded again and I sat back and watched as Martha mumbled to herself.
"Half-fish, half-human? How am I supposed to know?"
"Just do what you would do for anyone." I told her, giving her and the Hath a reassuring smile as I knelt next to her. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it either way."
She nodded, checking his shoulder. "Is that a shoulder? Feels like a shoulder. I think it's dislocated."
There was a crash and more Hath soldiers arrived, pointing their guns at us, and Martha and I held our hands up.
"I'm trying to help him. I am a doctor and he is my patient, and I'm not leaving him."
The Hath still pointed their guns at us, but they weren't advancing so I nudged Martha and put my hands down.
"Go on. I think they'll let you."
She nodded. "Grab his shoulder, Alex. I'll need your strength."
I did as she said and she turned to the Hath.
"Now this is gonna hurt. On three, Alex, I want you to give a swift yank back, okay?"
"Sure thing."
She held the Hath's arm as I held his shoulder with my palm on the base of what I was guessing was his shoulder blade and she counted down.
"One, two, three!"
She pulled as I yanked and his shoulder slipped back into place as the other Hath aimed their guns once more and we launched our hands up in the air. Thankfully, the Hath we helped was on our side and stopped them from possibly killing us. Martha was thankful and all, but I could tell she wanted answers and I smiled a bit as she spoke.
"Now then. I'm Doctor Martha Jones. Who the hell are you?"
I smiled a bit and put a hand on her shoulder. "These, Martha, are called Hath. And they're sort of at war. I'll explain more on the way. Now then, Hath!" I grinned at the fish people. "Take us to your leader!"
Martha scoffed. "You just couldn't help it, could you?"
I winked at her. "I've always wanted to say that."
Donna and the Doctor followed after Jenny and Lukas down a tunnel and Donna got curious.
"I'm Donna. What's your name?" She asked Jenny, hoping to have something to call her other than 'that girl'.
"Don't know. It's not been assigned."
"Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?" She asked.
"How to fight."
"Nothing else?"
The Doctor explained. "The machine must have embed military and tactics, but no name. She's a generated anomaly."
"Generated anomaly. Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny." Donna asked, coming up with a name on the spot.
"Jenny. Yeah. I like that. Jenny." Said woman grinned.
"What do you think, Dad?" Donna teased with a grin.
"Good as anything, I suppose."
"Not what you'd call a natural parent, are you?"
"They stole a tissue sample at gunpoint and processed it. It's not what I call natural parenting." He countered.
"Rubbish. My friend Nery's fathered twins with a turkey baster. Don't bother her."
"You can't extrapolate a relationship from a biological accident."
"Uh, Child Support Agency can."
"Look, just because I share certain physiological traits with simian primates doesn't make me a monkey's uncle, does it?"
"I'm not a monkey. Or a child." Jenny told him, though he seemed less inclined to care.
Donna nodded and turned to the other male in the group. "What about you?"
He glanced at her and raised a brow. "What? My name?"
"Sure. You're like Jenny, right? Let's give you a name."
He smiled, reminding Donna and the Doctor of the familiar red-head who was with Martha. "Actually, my mum already gave me a name. She was calling me Lukas."
The Doctor rolled his eyes with a slight smile. "She would."
Donna raised a brow. "What'd ya mean?"
"She has a habit of naming or nick-naming things she likes. Animals, people, machinery. You name it. She once called a toaster oven Lincoln. Claimed that toast was the only thing that never tells a lie."
Donna scoffed. "Are you sure she's alright in the head?"
He smiled a bit as well. "Sometimes, I'm not sure."
The group entered the military base and the Doctor quickly decided that now was the time to get some answers.
"So, where are we? What planet is this?"
"Messaline." The head soldier said. "Well, what's left of it."
All around them, men and women were being processed and cloned, or were moving around crates of equipment, but Donna was confused.
"But this is a theater."
"Maybe they're doing Miss Saigon." The Doctor quipped, sitting on a crate nearby.
Donna ignored him. "It's like a town or a city underground. But why?"
A white haired man approached and the Doctor stood right back up again.
"General Cobb, I assume."
"Found in the western tunnels, I'm told, with no marks. There was an outbreak of pacifism in the eastern zone three generations back, before we lost contact. Is that where you came from?" Cobb asked.
"Eastern zone, that's us. Yeah. Yeah." The Doctor lied. "I'm the Doctor, this is Donna."
He nodded to Donna as Jenny and Lukas spoke up.
"And I'm Jenny."
"Lukas." Said man held up a hand with a grin.
"Don't think you can infect us with your peacemaking." Cobb scoffed. "We're committed to the fight, to the very end."
"Well, that's alright. I can't stay anyway. I've got to go and find my friends." The Doctor grinned, putting his hands in his coat pockets.
"That's not possible. All movement is regulated. We're at war."
"Yes. I noticed. With the Hath. But tell me, because we got a bit out of circulation, eastern zone and all that. So who exactly are the Hath?"
Martha and I were led into the Hath camp and I immediately could spot the similarities between this and what the other camp were doing. Both were making clones to fight the war and both had obviously forgotten what this whole fighting thing was all about. The group was told something by our Hath friend, and they swarmed us and pat our heads and shoulders in a friendly fashion, making me chuckle as Martha did the same.
"Back at the dawn of this planet, these ancient halls were carved from the earth. Our ancestors dreamt of a new beginning. A colony where human and Hath would work and live together." Cobb explained as Donna, Jenny, Lukas and the Doctor walked through the theater.
"So what happened?"
"The dream died. Broken, along with Hath promises. They wanted it all for themselves. But those early pioneers, they fought back. They used the machines to produce soldiers instead of colonists and began this battle for survival."
"There's nothing but earth outside, why's that? Why build everything underground?" Donna asked, having climbed up to a window.
"The surface is too dangerous."
"Well, then why build windows in the first place? And what does this mean?" She gestured to a plaque with a set of numbers written across it.
"The rites and symbols of our ancestors. The meaning's lost in time." Cobb explained, but the Doctor felt that something was up.
"How long's this war gone on for?"
"Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead."
"What? Fighting all this time?" Donna questioned in disbelief, back at the Doctor's side.
"Because we must. Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance. It's all we know." Jenny piped up as Lukas frowned slightly.
"How to fight and how to die."
Once all of the Hath greetings were done, Martha and I stood in front of a hologram projection and stared at it as the Hath watched us, like they wanted us to do something with it.
"Right." Martha said, looking at them in confusion. "So… We're here."
She pointed on the map and the Hath hummed, turning to look at each other. I had no idea what was going on, so I just stayed quiet, wondering what the Doctor was up to as well as how Lukas was doing with him. He's not exactly the happiest guy in this episode, if I remember right.
The Doctor also looked at a map exactly like the ones the Hath were currently looking at.
"Does this show the entire city, including the Hath zones?" He asked.
"Yes. Why?"
"Well, it'll help us find Martha."
The head soldier shook his head. "We've more important things to do. The Progenation machines are powered down for the night shift, but soon as they're active, we could breed a whole platoon from you two."
"I'm not having sons and daughters by some great big flippin' machine." Donna looked over at Lukas and Jenny. "Sorry, no offense, but you're not… Well, I mean, you're not real."
"You're no better than him!" Jenny complained. "We have bodies. We have minds. We have independent thought. How are we not real?"
Lukas nodded, feeling slightly offended as well. "Jenny's right. What makes us so different from you?"
"Well said, soldiers." Cobb complimented. "We need more like you, if we're to find the Source."
"Ooh, the Source." The Doctor hummed, interested in this new bit of information. "What's that, then? What's a Source? I like a Source. What is it?"
"The Breath of Life." Cobb said mysteriously, something that made the Doctor want more details.
"And that would be?"
"In the beginning, the great one breathed life into the universe. And then she looked at what she'd done and she sighed." The head soldier explained.
"'She'. I like that." Jenny smirked and Lukas nodded with a hand on his chin.
"Yeah. Me too, for some reason."
"Right. So it's a creation myth." The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"It's not a myth. It's real. That sigh. From the beginning of time it was caught and kept as the Source. It was lost when the war started, but it's here. Somewhere. Whoever holds the Source controls the destiny of the planet."
"Ah!" The Doctor shouted, swinging a hand through the hologram and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "There's a suppressed layer of information in this map. If I can just…"
Using his sonic, the map shrank and even more tunnels and chambers were added to it.
"What is it? What's it mean?" Donna asked, unsure what he'd just done.
"See? A whole complex of tunnels hidden from sight."
"That must be the lost temple. The Source will be inside. You've shown us the way and look, we're closer than the Hath. It's ours." Cobb said excitedly.
The map in front of us started to change and soon added more tunnels to the picture and Martha pointed it out.
"Hold on. Look." She grew excited and called the other Hath over as I crossed my arms with a smile.
"The Doctor did that. It's a new map. A whole different set of tunnels."
The Hath started celebrating and congratulating us as though we were the ones who did something, before Martha turned to me in shock.
"I think we just started a war."
"Tell them to prepare to move out. We'll progenate new soldiers on the morning shift, then we march. Once we reach the Temple, peace will be restored at long last." Cobb ordered a man, but the Doctor was a bit worried.
"Uh, call me old fashioned, but if you really wanted peace, couldn't you just stop fighting?"
"Only when we have the Source. It will give us the power to erase every stinking Hath on the face of this planet."
"Hang on, hang on." The Doctor said, putting up his hands. "Second ago it was peace in our time, now you're talking about genocide!"
"For us, that means the same thing." Cobb replied.
"Then you need to get yourself a better dictionary." The Doctor told him sternly, hand on his hips. "When you do, look up genocide. You'll see a little picture of me there and the caption will read 'over my dead body'!"
Cobb laughed, not taking him seriously. "And you're the one who showed us the path to victory. But you can consider the irony from your prison cell. Cline, at arms."
Cline, the head soldier, aimed his gun at the Doctor, Donna, Jenny and Lukas.
"Oi, oi, oi, oi!" Donna said, eyeing the gun. "Cool the beans, Rambo."
"Take them." Cobb ordered. "I won't have them spreading treason. And if you try anything, Doctor, I'll see that this woman dies first, since the other was taken by the Hath."
"Come on, this way." Cline said, nodding his gun towards where the prison cells were.
The Doctor ignored him for a moment though and pointed a finger at Cobb.
"I'm going to stop you, Cobb. You need to know that."
"I have an army and the Breath of God on my side, Doctor. What'll you have?"
"This." He tapped his forehead, but Cobb hardly worried.
"Lock them up and guard them."
"What about the new soldiers?" He asked, talking about Jenny and Lukas as they stepped forward.
"Can't trust them They're both from pacifist stock. Take them all."
Cobb pushed Jenny towards Lukas who glared at the man as he caught her, before they were led into an underground cell. The Doctor tossing his coat onto the bench inside before sitting down.
"More numbers." Donna said, drawing their attention to the panel above the door. "They've got to mean something."
"Makes as much sense as the Breath of Life story." The Doctor grumbled as Jenny turned to him in surprise.
"You mean that's not true?"
"No. It's a myth." Donna said, sitting down beside the Doctor. "Isn't that right, Doctor?"
"Yes, but there could still be something real in that temple. Something that's become a myth. A piece of technology a weapon."
Lukas nodded, eyes scanning the cell. "Behind every myth there is some truth."
The Doctor eyed him carefully, his words sounding like something Alex would say, but before he could think about how similar Lukas was to her, Donna interrupted his thoughts.
"So, the Source could be a weapon and we've just given directions to Captain Nutjob?"
"Oh, yes."
"Not good, is it?"
"That's why we need to get out of here, find Martha and Alex, and stop Cobb from slaughtering the Hath." He looked up, spotting Jenny and Lukas eyeing him. "Wha—What are you—What are you staring at?"
"You keep insisting you're not a soldier, but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general." Jenny said, almost excited.
"No, no. I'm trying to stop the fighting."
"Isn't every soldier?"
"Well, I suppose, but that's… that's… technically, I haven't got time for this. Donna, give me your phone. Time for an upgrade." He said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver.
"And now you've got a weapon." Lukas said, tilting his head a bit at the contraption.
"It's not a weapon."
"But you're using it to fight. Isn't that what a weapon's for?" He asked, Jenny smirking beside him and he crossed his arms and watched the Doctor sonic Donna's phone with curiosity.
"I'm going to learn so much from you. You are such a soldier." Jenny grinned.
"Donna, will you tell her?"
"Oh, you are speechless. I'm loving this. You keep on, Jenny. You too, Lukas."
Lukas smiled a bit just as the Doctor rang up Martha's phone.
"Doctor?"
"Martha! You're alive!" The Doctor shouted, standing up.
"Doctor! Oh, am I glad to hear your voice. Are you alright?"
"I'm with Donna, we're fine. What about you? Is Alex with you?"
Donna held out a hand to Jenny and Lukas, who were eyeing them. "And Jenny and Lukas. They're fine too."
"Yes, alright." He said to her, before letting Martha know. "A-And Jenny and Lukas. That's t-the woman and man from the machine. The soldiers. My daughter and Alex's son. Except they aren't. They're—They're… Anyway, where are you?"
"I'm fine too, by the way!" He heard Alex chirp over the phone, sending a wave of relief through him.
"We're in the Hath camp. We're okay, but something going on. The Hath—Oi!"
The Doctor stiffened, getting worried only to hear Alex on the phone.
"Oh, shut it. I know what's going on… Hello, Doctor! You've caused quite a situation over here."
"What do you mean?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed.
"Well, your little trick with the map worked both ways. The Hath are marching off to meet with your clone people."
"With both armies heading that way, there's going to be a bloodbath."
"You never know, Doctor. But what do you want us to do?"
"Just stay where you are. If you're safe there, don't move, do you hear?"
"What's that? The battery's dying and even if it wasn't, I'd still completely ignore your order to stay put. So see you at the Source, Doctor!"
"No, Alex! Don't you dare ha—" He frowned, looking at the phone. "She hung up on me."
He tried to dial again, but the phone wouldn't connect so he growled in frustration and passed it back to Donna as chants started up outside.
"To war! To war! To war!"
"They're getting ready to move out. We have to get past that guard." He said to Donna, but Jenny and Lukas weren't going to be left out.
"We can deal with him."
"No, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere." The Doctor said, grabbing her arm to stop her and Lukas pausing just behind.
"What?"
"You belong here with them. Both of you."
Donna immediately didn't like that, moving to their side. "They belong with us. With you and Alex. She's your daughter and he's her son."
"They're soldiers! They came out of that machine!" He said, raising his voice angrily.
"Oh, yes. I know that bit. But what do you think Alex would do?"
He frowned at her, shaking his head. "Oh, don't you drag her into this."
"Yeah? Listen. Have you got that stethoscope? Give it to me." She demanded and the Doctor hesitated. "Come on."
He pulled it out and passed it to her. Donna put it in her ears and Jenny eyed her warily.
"What are you doing?"
"It's alright." Lukas said, drawing her attention to him as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I trust her. Don't you?"
Jenny nodded and Donna gave them both a small smile before placing it on the left side of her chest and then on the right.
She smirked and took it out, passing them to the Doctor. "Come here. Listen. And then tell me where she belongs."
The Doctor put them in and listened as Donna move it from one side to the other of Jenny's chest. The Doctor pulled the device out and put it away, stepping back to lean against the wall.
"Two hearts."
"Exactly."
"What's going on?" Jenny asked, confused.
Donna was a bit too. "Does that mean she's a… what do you call a female Time Lord?"
"What's a Time Lord?" Jenny asked in confusion.
"It's who I am. It's where I'm from." The Doctor replied, not looking happy, but feeling torn about the whole situation.
"And I'm from you."
"You're an echo, that's all. A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared suffering." He snarled, battling the feelings growing up in him, before calming himself. "Only it's gone now, all of it… Gone forever."
"What happened?" Jenny asked.
"There was a war."
"Like this one?"
He laughed bitterly. "Bigger. Much bigger."
"And you fought… and killed?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"Then how are we different?" She asked, not seeing anything strange or odd with her and Lukas, compared to the man in front of her, yet he seemed more than willing to deny any relationship.
Lukas stepped forward. "I'm sorry."
The Doctor eyed him, having heard those words so many times before from the one person he wished was here with him right now.
"What about you, huh? You don't have two hearts and you're not Alex. You're nothing like her."
"Doctor!" Donna scolded. "He's plenty like her! I know you've seen it too!"
"Doesn't matter." Lukas said, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter if he likes me or not, because I trust him." Lukas smiled a bit a him. "And that's what matters, right? Knowing that despite all odds, he'll work everything out whether he's doing it for me or for someone else."
"Lukas…" Donna muttered and he grinned over at her.
"'Sides, I never shot that gun. I'm no soldier." He looked over at the Doctor. "I already had battle techniques in my head from my mum. Knew how to shoot a gun too."
The Doctor didn't like that and growled at the man. "She was never a soldier."
Lukas shook his head. "Nah, but the strategies are the same for chess, yeah? Just got to know where to move the pieces."
Donna and Jenny looked between the two men, wondering what was going to happen next, and the Doctor sighed, pulling a hand through his hair.
"I'll never be able to understand that woman." He grumbled, thinking of Alex and how she had once again surprised him; without even being there, at that! "Go…" He waved a hand at Cline. "Go do your thing."
The two so-called soldiers beamed at each other and headed towards the guard as Donna came over and pat his back.
"Good job, Spaceman."
Once the phone battery died, Martha chose to try and ask the Hath for a charger, but that didn't seem to be going so well.
"I need to charge it up. I need power. Do you understand?"
"No, Martha. He doesn't. He's a bit busy upgrading the map." I told her, pointing at it as it changed to a 3D one. "See?"
"In 3D! Oh, you're a clever Hath." She told him, slapping a hand playfully against his shoulder. "So this is where everybody's headed. But look. Those tunnels sort of zigzag. If Alex and I went up and over the surface in a straight line, we'd get there first."
The Hath started to disagree with her and she frowned.
"Why not?"
A set of charts and readings popped up and she looked at them as I did.
"Those are readings for the surface."
"Doesn't look too bad." She said, glancing at the Hath. "Nitrogen and oxygen about 80-20. That's fine. Ozone levels are high and some big radiation spikes, but as long as we're not out there too long…"
The Hath bubbled a bit and Martha eyed him warily.
"We have to find our friends."
We both started to walk off, but stopped as the Hath seemed to ask to come with us and she nodded.
"Come on then."
I grinned as well. "Always room for one more!"
Jenny peeked through the cell bars over at Cline as Lukas leaned his back up against them on her right, very nonchalant.
"Hey."
"I'm not supposed to talk to you. I'm on duty." Cline said.
"I know. Guarding me." She sang, scooting closer to him. "So, does that mean I'm dangerous? Or that I need protecting?"
"Protecting from what?" He asked, moving closer to her as well, facing her through the cell bars.
"Oh, I don't know. Men like you?"
They laughed before she grabbed him and kissed him, pulling him close enough to the cell that Lukas was able to grab the pistol from his belt, aiming at him.
"'ello. Now how about you keep quiet and open the door then, eh?" He grinned.
Cline seemed to hesitate, but Lukas cocked the gun and Cline hurriedly did as he was told, Jenny and Lukas sharing a grin.
"I'd like to see you and Alex try that." Donna challenged the Doctor.
Once they were all out and headed down the stairs, Lukas had to pull Jenny back as he spotted a guard.
"That's the exit."
Lukas lifted his gun, but the Doctor scolded him immediately.
"Don't you dare."
Lukas raised a brow, having not planned on actually shooting the gun other than to cause a distraction, but Donna pushed both him and the Doctor away from each other.
"Let me distract this one." Donna offered. "I have picked up a few womanly wiles over the years."
She flipped her hair and started to make her move towards the stairs, but the Doctor quickly stopped her.
"Let's save your wiles for later. In case of emergency."
He started digging through his pockets for something and found just what he needed. A little mouse toy was wound up and set on the ground, squeaking away until the guard spotted it and headed over to pick it up. Just as he did though, Jenny knocked him out with a swift karate chop to the neck.
"Nice." Lukas complimented and she smiled over at him, but the Doctor was less than pleased as he jumped up off the stairs with Donna.
"I was going to distract him, not clobber him!"
"Well, it worked, didn't it?" She pouted, not seeing why he was so upset.
"She only knocked him out."
The Doctor though, rummaged through the man's pockets before picking up the toy.
"They must all have a copy of that new map." He pointed the toy at her and Lukas in frustration. "Just stay there. Don't hurt anyone."
The mouse squeaked before he shoved it away and stormed off, but Jenny took one look at Lukas who smiled.
"Well, he's no commanding officer, yeah? So why are we listening to him?"
She grinned back at him. "Ooh, I like you."
They both chuckled before chasing after him, neither knowing just how much like their 'parents' they really were.
Martha, the Hath and I hurried up a set of stairs to a door heading out to the surface, but the Hath stopped behind us and we looked down at him as he waved his arms, telling us to stop.
"You can stay down here and live your whole life in the shadows, or come with Alex and I and stand in the open air. Feel the wind on your face. What's it going to be? It's up to you, but nothing's going to stop us, eh?" Martha looked at me and I nodded.
"Oh, yeah. New planet surface? What's there to not be excited about?"
We headed up to the small ladder and Martha let me go first to do the grunt work and open to heavy hatch. Wind blew in my face and I hurried up onto the rocky surface before Martha and the Hath followed.
"I knew you couldn't resist it!" Martha told him through the howling of the wind.
The place looked rather bleak, but I could tell that there was some chances for it with the dead trees and the tall spires in the distance.
"Uh, language?" Martha told the Hath as he spouted out some swears in his amazement. "Come on."
We all started heading up the rocks and I stuck to the back this time, wondering what I was going to do to stop what was going to soon happen.
Meanwhile, Cline had been found tied up and gagged and the Doctor's now-wanted group followed a map he'd snatched until they stopped.
"Wait!" He held up a hand, looking around. "This is it. The hidden tunnel. There must be a control panel." He said, pulling out his sonic in search.
"It's another one of those numbers." Donna pointed out. "They're everywhere."
"The original builders must've left them." The Doctor said, guessing. "An old cataloging system."
"You've got a pen? Bit of paper?"
The Doctor started digging through his pockets before he found them, handing them to her as she continued.
"Because, do you see? The numbers are counting down. This one ends in 14. The prison cell said 16."
"Always thinking, both of you. Who are you people?" Jenny asked.
"I told you, I'm the Doctor."
"The Doctor? That's it?"
"That's all he ever says." Donna sang.
"So, you don't have a name either? Are you an anomaly too?"
"No."
"Oh, come off it. You're the most anomalous bloke I've ever met." Donna scoffed just as the Doctor removed a panel of wood to reveal a control panel.
"Here it is!"
"And Time Lords?" Lukas asked, watching the sonic screwdriver in fascination. "What're they for?"
"For? They're not… They're not for anything." The Doctor replied, confused.
"So what do you do?" Jenny asked as he grunted.
"I travel… Through time and space."
"He saves planets." Donna explained. "Rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures, and runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved."
Jenny chuckled at that as Lukas smiled, just as the Doctor got the door to open.
"Got it!"
"Squad five, with me." They heard Cobb's voice echo down the corridor, along with gunshots.
"Now, what were you saying about running?"
The group rushed down the passageway with the soldiers following behind them, but were forced to stop as their way was blocked by criss-crossing lasers.
"That's not mood lighting, is it?" Donna joked, the Doctor pulling his mouse toy out and tossing it into a laser; it sparking and disintegrating.
"No, I didn't think so." Donna muttered as Lukas pouted a bit.
"Poor mouse."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at that, before moving to a box nearby and working on it. "Arming device."
Jenny and Lukas stood beside him to do what they could to help, but Donna wandered a bit, to yet another metal panel with numbers on it.
"There's more of these. Always eight numbers, counting down the closer we get."
"Right. Here we go." The Doctor said, just as a bang and shouts echoed down the hall.
"You better be quick." Donna told him.
"The general…" Jenny and Lukas started heading towards the hall, but the Doctor grabbed them both.
"Where are you going?"
"We can hold them up." Jenny said, trying to help.
"No. We don't need any more dead."
"But it's them or us!"
"It doesn't mean you have to kill them."
"I'm trying to save your life!"
He argued with her, before putting his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me. The killing. After a while, it infects you and once it does, you're never rid of it."
"We don't have a choice. I'm sorry." She said, rushing off as he called after her.
"Jenny."
"We always have a choice." Lukas said, smiling over at the Doctor and catching his attention. "I'll watch out for her."
"You better." He grumbled, before Lukas followed after Jenny with the pistol he had.
Once there, he knelt beside her and they open fired on Cobb and his men.
The Doctor though, went back to work as Donna gaped in shock as bullets hit some things further behind her.
"Told you." The Doctor said. "Nothing but soldiers."
"They're only trying to help." She argued.
Jenny and Lukas, meanwhile had ducked down to think up a plan, though Lukas was the one doing that and Jenny was staring down at her gun questioning what her mind was telling her and what the Doctor has said.
"Jenny, Lukas, come on!" The Doctor called out ahead of them.
"Coming!" She replied, but didn't move as Lukas spoke up.
"I know what it's like, you know. I may not have my mum here, telling me things like what the Doctor's doing for you, but I know that there's a part of me that doesn't want to hurt people and it's fighting with the part that does."
"Then why're you different from me? How come you're not having this big of an issue?"
Lukas put a hand on his chest. "It's like he said, I'm not a Time Lord like him or an echo of one like you. I'm just a human like my mum and I don't know her much at all, but I do know that she has never wanted to hurt someone, even if they were bad; because I don't want to hurt anyone."
She frowned at him. "But you're shooting too."
He grinned at her. "Yeah, but I'm not aiming at them."
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Cobb called out and the shooting stopped just as the Doctor got the lasers down in the other room.
"Jenny, Lukas! Leaving! Let's go!"
"You're children of the machine." Cobb called out to them. "You're on my side. Join us! Join us in the war against the Hath. It's in your blood. Don't deny it."
Lukas and Jenny stood up, but Lukas put his gun away—whereas Jenny aimed it at Cobb— and he put a hand on her shoulder as he spoke softly to her.
"I won't force you to choose, Jenny. It has to be your decision."
He stepped away then, looking over his shoulder before taking a deep breath and heading around the corner where the Doctor and Donna waited at the end of the passageway.
"Come on, Lukas! Where's Jenny?!"
He rushed over to them. "She's choosing, Doctor!"
The Doctor looked down the passageway with worry, calling out once more. "Jenny, come on!"
She rounded the corner laughing and a sense of relief flooded through him.
"That's it!"
"Hurry up!"
The lasers suddenly appeared before she reached them and she stopped, trapped.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. The circuit's looped back."
"Zap it back again." Donna demanded.
"The controls are back there."
Gun shots started going off behind Jenny and she panicked a bit.
"They're coming."
"Wait. Just… There isn't… Jenny, I can't—"
"I'll have to manage on my own." She tossed her gun aside and lifted up her arms. "Watch and learn, father."
With a series of flips and cartwheels, Jenny passed every laser; much to the shock of Donna and the Doctor.
"No way." Donna gasped. "But that was impossible!"
"Not impossible. Just a bit unlikely." The Doctor rushed over and hugged her tightly, grinning from ear to ear. "Brilliant! You were brilliant! Brilliant!"
"I didn't kill him. General Cobb. I could have killed him, but I didn't. You were right. I had a choice." She grinned up at him, before looking over at a smiling Lukas. "Thank you, Lukas."
"Welcome."
Just then, the door down the hall clanged open and Cobb and his men soldiered through.
"At arms." Cobb ordered and the men lifted their weapons as Lukas led Jenny and Donna out of the range of fire.
"I warned you Cobb. If the Source is a weapon, I'm going to make sure you never use it." The Doctor said seriously.
"One of us is going to die today and it won't be me." Cobb said, before firing, the Doctor ducking down the next passageway, silently hoping that Alex and Martha were having a better time on their end.
Martha and I were doing our best to navigate the rocky terrain and I knew what was going to happen soon. I was just waiting for the line and hoping that I would be fast enough to stop the Hath from dying.
"It can't be much further." She said, taking a few more steps and slipping on a rock. "Ah!
"Martha!" I called out, quickly grabbing her arm and scraping my hand on the rocks below me as I laid down to try and keep her from falling further down hill.
We still fell a good ways down and I quickly pulled her up beside me, before pushing her higher, just as the bubbling black water made it's way up to my knees. Come on, come on! I dug my hands into the dirt to try and slow my decent, but it was too late. Instead of Martha, I was waist deep in the bog and quickly sinking further.
"Alex!" Martha called, but I didn't struggle, knowing better than to do that.
"Don't! Hold on. Let me think!"
The Hath slid down the steep terrain carefully, landing beside Martha as they stood on the bank of the bog.
"Think?! You're sinking!"
"Yeah, but not as quickly as I could be! Now, can you reach me?"
She tried, stepping a single foot into the bog before I stopped her.
"No! Don't go further!"
"I'm not leaving you!"
I rolled my eyes. "I didn't tell you to. Hath! Can you grab Martha's arm?"
He nodded and did so, Martha finally catching on.
"A human chain!"
I nodded. "Hath, don't go further than having one foot in the bog or else you'll sink too, but hang on to Martha as she tries to reach me, yeah?"
He bubbled in agreement and they slowly made their way over to me. I was now chest deep in the sludge, but thankfully, Martha and the Hath were just long enough to reach me and I grabbed her hand as they started backing up and dragging me out. Once back on safe land, I laid back and breathed heavily, a grin stretching across my face as I pat the Hath on the leg.
"Thanks, Hath. You too, Martha. I didn't think that'd work."
"Work?! You nearly sank into a bog!"
I waved a finger feeling a bit unnerved by my scare, but a sinking bog was not the most dangerous thing I'd dealt with.
"Correction, you nearly fell into a bog."
She frowned down at me as I sat up and wiped the sludge off me with a disgusted look.
"You traded places with me? Why did you do that? Would I have died in that?"
The Hath looked between us, confused and I sighed.
"Yeah, sorry. I can see the future. And no, you wouldn't have—"
"Then why—"
I pointed over at the Hath. "He would have. He would've jumped in to save you."
She shook her head, shocked. "No, but… You and him, you could've done the chain and—"
"No." I said, seriously. "Because I was here and ready for it, I was able to slow down our fall, so I didn't go in as far as you would have otherwise. You would've been too far and one of us would've had to have jumped after you. I'd probably have done it, but he'd probably beat me to the punch."
Martha turned to the Hath. "You would've done something like that to save me?"
He bubbled out a response and nodded. Martha grinned and hugged him.
"Ooh, you're the greatest." She turned to me then and hugged me as well. "You too. Thank you for saving him."
She whispered the last bit to me before we started up again, being a lot more careful this time as we progressed. Though I had this nagging feeling that saving Jenny wouldn't be nearly as easy as saving the Hath was.
"So, you travel together, but you're not together with anyone?" Jenny asked as her, Lukas, Donna and the Doctor made their way through the tunnels closer to the Source.
"What? No. No. No way. No, no. We're friends, that's all. I mean, we're not even the same species. There's probably laws against it." Donna said, before eyeing the Doctor. "Although, I don't know what that means for Alex."
Jenny chuckled as the Doctor sent them both an annoyed frown.
"And what's it like, the traveling?" Lukas asked, popping into the conversation.
"Oh, never a dull moment. It can be terrifying, brilliant and funny. Sometimes all at the same time. I've seen some amazing things though. Whole new worlds."
"Oh, I'd love to see new worlds."
"Me too." Lukas agreed to Jenny's worlds.
"You will, won't they, Doctor?"
"Hm?" He hummed, pretending like he wasn't listening.
"Do you think Jenny and Lukas will see any new worlds?"
"I suppose so." He said with his lip curling up ever so slightly, shocking Jenny and making Lukas grin.
"You mean… You mean you'll take us with you?"
"Well, we can't leave you here, can we? And Alex would have my head if I tried."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jenny chirped, hugging him. "Come on, let's get a move on." She said, bounding off ahead as Lukas followed.
"Careful, there might be traps!" The Doctor called after them as Donna smirked.
"Kids. They never listen and it looks like you'll have your hands full with those two. They're already rather close." She looked over at him to see how he'd react to that, but she didn't expect the serious look on his face. "Oh, I know that look. I see it a lot round our way. Blokes with pushchairs and frowns. You've got dad-shock."
"Dad-shock?" The Doctor questioned.
"Sudden unexpected fatherhood. Take a bit of getting used to."
"No. It's not that."
"Well, what is it then? Having Jenny and Lukas in the Tardis, is that it? What're they going to do, cramp your style? Like you've got a sports car and they're going to turn it into a people-carrier?" Donna asked, but the Doctor decided that she deserved to know.
"Donna, I've been a father before."
"What?"
"I lost all that a long time ago, along with everything else."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me?" She asked. "You talk all the time, but you don't say anything. You and Alex both."
"I know, I'm just… When I look at them now, I can see them. The hole they left, all the pain that filled it… I just don't know if I can face that every day."
"It wont stay like that. They'll help you. We all will."
"But when they died, that part of me died with them… It'll never come back. Not now."
"What about Alex? Hm? Don't you think she feels that way about him?" Donna nodded over at Lukas. "I mean, she had siblings. Six of them. And she took care of them like they were her own kids. Does she feel the same about Lukas as you do about Jenny?"
"I don't know, Donna." He admitted. "We understand each other better than we think, but it's mostly because we've gone through similar things. We've both lost everything, so we know that some feelings won't ever return. Part of her died with her family just as mine did with my family."
"I'll tell you something, Doctor." Donna said, facing him seriously. "Something I've never told you before… I think you're wrong."
Gunshots went off then and Lukas and Jenny rushed back over to where the Doctor and Donna had paused.
"They've blasted through the beams. Time to run again." Jenny looked up excitedly. "Love the running. Yeah?"
"Love the running." The Doctor agreed.
They took off running, but were forced to stop at a dead end.
"We're trapped!" Donna said, but the Doctor disagreed.
"Can't be. This must be the Temple." He rushed over to a red wall. "This is a door."
Donna though, was focused on another metal panel. "And again. We're down to 12 now."
"Got it!" The Doctor called out, having sonicked open a control panel.
"I can hear them." Lukas called out, fidgeting slightly at remembering he had no weapon to protect himself as he had tossed his away in the firefight earlier.
"Nearly done."
Donna frowned. "These can't be a cataloging system."
"They're getting closer." Jenny called out this time.
"Then get back here." The Doctor ordered.
"They're too similar. Too familiar." Donna muttered about the numbers.
"Not yet."
"Now!" He shouted again, before getting the door open. "Got it!"
One his side, Donna joined him entering the Temple, and on the other, Martha, the Hath and Alex entered.
"They're coming." Lukas said, pushing Jenny in front of him and into the Temple. "Close the door."
The Doctor closed it just in time and Jenny grinned up at him.
"Oh, that was close."
"No fun otherwise." He replied, before they dashed off further inside.
"Not what I'd call a Temple." Donna muttered, their group still a ways away from Martha's group; who were trying to warm up after suffering through a freezing walk on the surface.
"It looks more like—
"Fusion drive transport. It's a spaceship." The Doctor said, cutting off Jenny.
"What, the original one? The one the first colonists arrived on?" Donna asked, but the Doctor made a face.
"Well, that could be, but the power cells would've run down after all that time. This one's still powered up and functioning. Come on!"
He hurried off up some stairs as the others followed, before they spotted a section of wall being cut through slowly.
"It's the Hath." Jenny said. "That door's not going to last much longer. And if General Cobb gets through down there, war's going to break out."
The Doctor rushed around the corner and put on his glasses as he found something. "Look, look, look, look, look, look. Ship's log. 'First wave of Human-Hath co-colonization of planet Messaline'." He read off the screen.
"So, it's the original ship." Lukas stated, brows furrowed in slight confusion.
"What happened?" Donna asked.
"Phase one, construction. They used robot drones to build the city."
"But does it mention the war?" Donna asked as he skipped to the end.
"Final entry. 'Mission commander dead. Still no agreement on who should assume leadership. Hath and humans have divided into factions'. That must be it. A power vacuum. The crew divided into two factions and turned on each other." He explained, though Donna was looking over at a digital set of numbers. "Start using the progenation machines, suddenly you've got two armies fighting a never-ending war."
"Two armies who are now both outside."
"Look at that." She said, catching their attention.
"It's like the numbers in the tunnels." The Doctor responded.
"No, no, no, no. But listen." Donna waved a finger. "I spent six months working as a temp in Hounslow Library and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat. I'm good with numbers. It's staring us in the face."
Lukas moved over to her and eyed the numbers before realization dawn on his face. "Oh."
Donna nodded at him with a smirk. "'Oh' is right, big boy."
"What is it?" Jenny asked and Lukas pointed at the numbers.
"It's a date."
The Doctor quickly stepped over.
Donna nodded. "Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date, then you've got year, month, day. It's the other way round, like it is in America."
"Oh! It's the New Byzantine Calendar."
"The codes are completion dates for each section. They finish it, they stamp the date on. So the numbers aren't counting down. They're going out from here, day by day, as the city got built."
"Yes. Oh, good work, Donna." The Doctor complemented.
"Yeah, but you're not getting it. Lukas?" She passed him the notepad and he skimmed it before his eyes widened.
"The first number is 60-12-0-7-17. Today's date is 0-7-24. It's only been seven days. The war's only lasted seven days."
Jenny was lost though, completely confused by this new information. "But they said years."
Donna shook her head. "No, they said generations. And if they're all like you, and they're products of those machines—"
"They could have 20 generations in a day. Each generation gets killed in the war, passes on the legend. Ooh, Donna, you're a genius." The Doctor said again, shaking her.
Jenny still wasn't convinced. "But all the buildings, the encampments. They're in ruins."
"No, they're not ruined. They're just empty. Waiting to be populated." The Doctor said, expression shocked. "Oh, they've mythologized their entire history. The Source must be part of that too. Come on!"
The rushed down the way to another corner, but everyone stopped upon seeing the other group across the way.
"Doctor!"
"Martha! Alex! Ooh, I should have known you two wouldn't stay away from the excitement." He rushed over and hugged Martha before spotting the Hath standing behind Alex and pulling Martha behind him, glaring. "You get away from her. Alex, come over here."
She just rolled her eyes. "Really? I'll have you know he's saved my life and you should know better than to judge a book by it's cover, Doctor. 'Sides, haven't you figured out what's going on yet? They're not even enemies."
Lukas stepped up beside him, peeking around his shoulder to look up at him. "Mum's got a point."
"Ooh, fine." The Doctor grumbled, but Alex didn't move.
"Doctor."
He let go of Martha with a groan and stepped towards the Hath, holding out a had to shake.
"Sorry for that and… Thank you for saving Alex."
The Hath seemed to smile at him as he gurgled pleasantly and shook the Doctor's hand. Alex nodded and started walking over to the Doctor, but walked past him to Donna.
"Donna! I missed you! Hope you set the Doctor straight for me while I was gone." She stood there as Donna hugged her, still not really one for hugging, and Donna nodded.
"Oh, you bet I did." She then pulled back, wrinkling up her nose. "Ooh, you're filthy! What happened?!"
"We took the surface route." Martha replied, pointing up as she hugged Donna and Alex moved over to smile at a surprised Jenny and a grinning Lukas who bear hugged her.
Alex then turned to the Doctor who was pouting childishly and she rolled her eyes, opening her arms.
"Oh, come here."
He saw what she was offering and grinned, bounding into her arms and hugging her as he spun her around and she complained.
"Oi! Put me down! I offered a hug, not a Merry-Go-Round!"
The group chuckled, but their joy was quickly cut off as they heard Cobb shouting down the way.
"That's the General. We haven't got much time." The Doctor said, putting Alex down.
"We don't even know what we're looking for."
Alex raised a hand. "Actually, I do. Follow your nose."
The group soon realized the smell of flowers and were quick to head towards it, though none of them were expecting what they found.
I was nervous. Oh man, was I nervous. I still hadn't figured out what I was going to do. I thought about taking the gun off Cobb before he could pull it out, but he's a soldier, he'd realize what I was doing and that'd only speed up the process. I thought about telling everyone, but who'd believe me? Sure, maybe the Doctor, but I wasn't stupid. I could cause a whole 'nother war if I wasn't careful. The humans would think everyone was picking sides again and everything would blow up in my face. So what could I do? There had to be something I could do. But the way I saw it, Cobb was still going to pull the gun on the Doctor and Jenny was still going to jump in the way. Lukas might even jump in the way. He might do it to protect the Doctor or even to protect Jenny—which I wouldn't put past him, the two of them seemed to have good chemistry. If he did, though, what else could I do? I was trying so hard to figure it out, but all I could see was one of the people I cared for, dying because everything went wrong.
"Oh, yes... Yes… Isn't this brilliant?" The Doctor questioned, not quite pulling me out of my thoughts, but at least tuning me back into the real world as everyone approached a glowing orb.
"Is that the Source?" Donna questioned as the Doctor set his coat on a crate nearby.
"It's beautiful." Jenny commented.
"What is it?"
"Terraforming." The Doctor explained. "It's a third generation terraforming device."
The Hath behind us bubbled in curiosity and excitement and Lukas grinned at him, the two seeming to be quite the buddies now.
"So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?" Donna questioned, confused.
"Because that's what it does. All this, only bigger. Much bigger. It's in a transit state. Producing all this must help keep it stable before they finally—"
The Doctor was cut off as Hath soldiers and Cobb and his men stormed the area, all guns aiming at one another, as the Doctor stood between them with his arms out; the Hath friend of ours stopping his side as well.
"Stop! Hold your fire!"
"What is this? Some kind of trap?" Cobb asked, demanding answers.
"You said you wanted this war over."
"I want this war won." Cobb clarified.
"You can't win. No one can. You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers, getting more distorted the more it's passed on." The Doctor explained, gesturing to the globe as the Hath translated to his friends. "This is the Source. This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical. It's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases. A cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable. Look around you. It's not for killing, it's bringing life."
The Hath had already put their weapons down and were looking up at the plants as he went on.
"If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting, no more killing." He then picked up the globe. "I'm the Doctor and I declare this war is over!"
He smashed the globe and it's gasses escaped, glowing as they floated up into the atmosphere. The soldiers all put down their weapons as they watched, human and Hath alike, but there was one man who didn't. The same one I kept my eyes on as my mind panicked. What do I do? What can I do? I have to stop this, but how?! Someone's going to die either way! What could I possibly do?!
"What's happening?" Jenny asked the Doctor who smiled down at her.
"The gasses will escape and trigger the terraforming process." He said, looking so fond of her; his daughter.
How could I do this to him? How could I let her die for him? His only family. Even if she's just an echo, the way he looks at her. He cares for her. He loves her like she was his own.
"What does that mean?"
He's had kids. He's lost his kids. He's lost everything. I remember how devastated he was when she died in his arms. How many people has he had to hold as they died right in front of him? How many of his children? I can't let him loose another child. I just can't.
"It means a new world."
Jenny smiled up at him, before spotting Cobb as he raised his weapon. I was too far from him to deflect the aim of his gun elsewhere. I was incapable of taking the weapon off him. I was so useless. People died because of me. People were going to die because of me.
"No!" Jenny called out and the Doctor turned as Cobb fired his pistol.
No is right. I'm sorry, Doctor.
The bullet tore through muscle and bone, embedding itself through the heart and into the shoulder of the person standing before the Doctor, but that person wasn't Jenny. She'd been pushed out of the way in the last second. Pushed away, by me.
The Doctor held me as my knees buckled and Cobb was brought to his knees by a few soldiers; Martha, Donna, Jenny, and Lukas quickly coming over as I struggled to do much of anything past the pain.
"Alex! Alex, talk to me, Alex. Please, Alex. You can't do this. Not to me. Please."
I hardly felt Martha's fingers on my neck checking my pulse. Nor could I hear Donna asking whether I was going to be okay or not. All I could do was stare up at the Doctor as he looked at me in panic, eyes searching for anything he could do.
"I-I did good… yeah?" I asked, but he shook his head, holding me closer and sending pain up my shoulder, but I didn't care.
"You idiot." He scolded, breathlessly. "What were you thinking? Y-You've been shot."
His voice cracked on the last word and I cringed as my heart struggled to beat.
"S-Sorry… I couldn't think o-of anything else." I glanced over at Jenny as she clung to Lukas, both with tears in their eyes as they watched me silently.
"W-Why? Why did you do this?!" He asked, tears slipping down his face.
I managed to reach a shaky hand up, brushing a tear from his face. "Because… you were so fond of her… she's your daughter… y-you can finally have a p-piece of your family back."
"What about you?! What about Alex?! My Alex?! You were supposed to stay here! You were supposed to be with me always! You're my constant! The one who never leaves! You make me better! You've always made me better and now… What am I supposed to do without you now?! Alex, please! Tell me! What am I supposed to do?!" He begged, but my breath was starting to hitch, blood clogging my throat as I struggled to help; to give him some sort of answer.
"L-Live… Live and always forgive… Always find… something beautiful." I said, smiling a bit, but everything was numb now.
My lungs that had felt like fire were now relaxing and my heart slowed down to a halt. A part of me was scared. I was dying. I didn't want to, nobody did, but it happens to everyone and I was lucky. I got to die with someone else telling me I mattered. That I meant everything to them. That they—
"Please! Alex! I-I love you! Y-You can't…"
They loved me. Not as a friend or family member. They loved me. The Doctor loved me. And that made me so happy. Happy and scared, because he wasn't supposed to love me. He was supposed to love Rose, marry River. But I was also scared because now I would never see him again. I wouldn't hear him laugh and bicker with me like Eleven. I wouldn't have him yelling at me and teasing me like Ten. I wouldn't have him being suspicious and worried like Nine. I would never meet Twelve. Everything was ending right here. And suddenly, I didn't want to. Please… don't make me leave him.
The Doctor watched as Alex's eyes closed and any life signs, any hope he had of her living through this died, along with her. It was like someone had ripped his hearts to pieces and thrown them away to burn. A worse pain than regeneration because he knew that this was a younger Alex. This was one who hadn't loved him like he did. This was one who was still fighting with everything that happened to her, still battling with his younger self. And to have her taken from him so soon, before she could experience anything and ruining every chance he had of meeting her again, he didn't know what to do. He pressed his lips to hers as a final goodbye, begging some part of him to save her, but knowing that it was already too late. It only became worse when her shoulder glowed and her body disappeared from his arms, because now, he didn't even have a body to bury. He was left with nothing but two empty hearts and a fury burning in his chest.
He stood up and furiously stomped over to where Cobb was kneeling on the ground, picking up his discarded pistol and aiming it right between the man's eyes. He stood there, cocking back the hammer and breathing hard, hatred scorching deep inside him as the Oncoming Storm begged for him to shoot the man in front of him. And he considered it. He was absolutely furious over what Cobb had done, because that was his Alex who had just died in his arms. The woman he loved despite her being human. Despite her not being able to save everyone. Despite her secrets and habits and pain. He loved her and now he never could again and to put a bullet in the very man who caused it all would have been almost relieving. But Alex's final words came back to him.
"Live and always forgive…"
He lowered the gun, flipping it over and waving it in Cobb's face.
"Alex never would. Have you got that? I would, but Alex would never." He stood up, still furious, but speaking to everyone. "When you start this new world, this world of human and Hath, remember that! Make the foundation of his society a woman who never would!"
He threw the gun away and sat on the ground, cross-legged and frowning at the floor.
"Doctor?"
The man didn't look up, so Lukas sat in front of him, speaking calmly.
"I didn't know my mum very well, and she didn't know me… but she gave me my name despite that and… well… would you mind… telling me about her? About my mum?"
The Doctor looked up at Lukas who, despite everything he'd done so far and everything he'd been through, didn't say 'I'm sorry' to him or get angry over what happened. He just wanted to hear stories. He wanted to know about the woman who could barely be called his mother, yet was willing to give her life for Jenny and for him. The woman who forgave.
"She was a brave woman." The Doctor started off, getting up and leading Lukas and the others back. "A stubborn, cunning, ridiculous woman…"
Sneak Peak:
"N-No. That… That's impossible…"
It wasn't supposed to be here. It was impossible for it to have appeared here... What if I don't end up with them? What if I end up in the middle of the Time War? Or with Cybermen? O-Or in the Time Vortex or something? I frowned then, clenching my fists around my pants angrily. No. What am I thinking? I already know what I'm going to do, because… I relaxed and nodded, determined.
"Because they will have always loved me no matter what I choose…" I reached a hand out slowly. "And he will always save me."
