CHAPTER 14

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RETURN OF THE VIYRANS PART 1

Clara woke up the next morning after the incident with the Symmetry feeling very odd. Her hands kept feeling like they were on fire, and her eyes kept burning. She also had a splitting headache like nothing that she had ever experienced before.

"Oh, great! Don't tell me that I'm coming down with something else again already. I only just got over that stomach virus last week," Clara said in a combination of irritation and worry.

As she looked in the mirror in the bathroom though, she realized that this was not just another virus. Her hands and eyes were glowing with energy!

"Rose!" Clara screamed in terror hoping that Rose would hear her wherever she was.

Rose never came though so Clara quickly left her room and started running toward the Console Room looking for her. As soon as she entered the room, she found the Doctor working under the console with his back turned to her.

"Doctor?" Clara said in a terrified voice.

"I'm afraid that whatever it is will have to wait, Clara. I'm busy. The Old Girl needs a lot of rewiring, and I've put it off long enough," the Doctor said as he completely ignored her.

"Doctor, I think . . ." Clara said.

"Not now," the Doctor said.

"Doctor . . ." Clara tried to say again before being cut off once more.

"I told you I have to do this. It's very important," the Doctor said in irritation.

"So is this!" Clara screamed as bursts of Vortex energy flew out of her hands and hit the console.

The console exploded and quickly caught on fire as sparks flew out everywhere, and the Doctor was immediately flung to the floor by the impact of the explosion. Clara screamed the Doctor's name in fear even as she turned away from him to keep from accidentally firing in his direction any further.

Then to her horror, she saw the Doctor and Rose's two and a half year old daughter, Jacqueline, come into the room.

"Get out of here, Jackie!" Clara screamed as she turned away from her.

"You're using the power of the Vortex. How are you doing that, Aunt Clara?" Jacqueline, whose superior Time Lord intelligence meant that she could speak perfectly even as this age, asked in concern.

"I don't know. All I know is that I can't control it, and I accidentally blew up the console and hurt your Dad with it. I might hurt you too if you don't get out of here," Clara warned.

"No, I'll be fine. I already have a force field up, and Dad's not too bad. He's just been knocked out. I'm more worried about you. Since when do you have Vortex powers?" Jacqueline asked.

"What are you, two and a half going on forty? I know you're smart, Jackie, but you sound just like your Mum now," Clara said as she tried to joke around so as not to worry the child.

"Thanks," Jacqueline said with a pleased smile on her face.

"Clara?" the Doctor asked with concern as he woke up.

"Doctor, something's wrong with me. I'm burning up. My head. It hurts," Clara said as she began to glow even brighter now.

The Doctor knew exactly what this was. The Vortex was killing Clara.

Jacqueline glowed with power as she touched Clara and drained all of the energy out of her. Then she powered back down again as she continued to look at Clara with concern.

"What just happened?" Clara asked as she continued to look at her hands for fear that she would start glowing again.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out, Clara. Don't worry," the Doctor reassured her.

I drained it all out of her for now, but it'll come back sooner or later. Something's changed her so that she's constantly tapping into the Vortex, Dad. You'd better get Mum here. Jacqueline told the Doctor telepathically.

"Okay, now you're talking about me telepathically. I know something's wrong whenever you start doing that," Clara said in an upset voice.

"It's going to be okay, Clara. I'll find out what's done this to you and fix it. I promise," the Doctor said.

"The energy's coming back, isn't it? That's what you're keeping from me," Clara realized.

"I was afraid of this. Now Clara's been affected too, and it isn't just her," Rose said as she suddenly appeared in the room and fixed the console with a wave of her hand.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked.

"It's happening all over the Earth. People are developing Vortex powers, and it's killing them since human beings can't handle that kind of power. I've just been off draining all of their power and trying my best to return them to normal. All I can do is slow down the disease though because I don't know enough about it to kill it without harming the host," Rose said.

"Disease? There's a disease that gives people Vortex powers?" the Doctor asked in surprise.

"Apparently there is now. I've never seen anything like it. Then again I'm not a doctor. Luckily it doesn't seem to be able to infect Time Lords. UNIT did tests on it to make sure. They did that before calling you. Of course you wouldn't answer your phone so they called me instead which was a much better idea," Rose said.

"Weird diseases appearing out of nowhere," the Doctor said thoughtfully.

"Does it sound familiar?" Rose asked.

"It sounds like the Viyrans," the Doctor said.

"I remember them. You and I ran across them once when I was still traveling with you as your companion back when you were good old Sandshoes," Rose said with a fond smile on her face.

"Who are they? They must be evil to create a disease like this," Clara said.

"No, they're just trying to clean up after themselves after a whole host of deadly diseases that they created for warfare were released from the containment facility where they were being stored until they could be destroyed. The escaped viruses quickly spread throughout the universe and could wind up anywhere at any time. The Viyrans have made it their job to track down and get rid of every single one. I've run across them a couple of times, and it was always a different and even stranger disease that I encountered each time. One disease even gave you good luck, and another one made your wishes come true," the Doctor said.

"Lucky me. I had to get the one that brings about certain death instead of one of those," Clara said with a nervous sigh.

"If this is the Viyrans, then they should be appearing soon to clean up after themselves so don't worry. They did before when they evacuated a whole village that the Doctor and I traveled to once and put a perceptual barrier around it so that no one could see it since the virus that landed there couldn't be destroyed even by them," Rose said.

"Oh, that's so wonderful. What if my disease is one of those? What if it can't be cured?" Clara asked as she became even more upset and Rose mentally kicked herself.

"That won't happen," Rose reassured her.

"What if it does?" Clara asked.

"You won't die, Clara. I'll make sure of it. I could always change your body so that it can use the Vortex safely, but I don't want to do that unless I have to," Rose said.

"I don't want these powers. I just want them gone. They're too dangerous and too hard to control. I might have killed the Doctor," Clara said.

"Try living with them in secret for most of your life especially as a child," Rose said with a sad expression.

"I honestly don't know how you did it. I've only had them a day, and I'm already about to go out of my mind with worry about them," Clara said.

The Doctor silently wrapped his fingers around Rose's and gave her an apologetic look that Rose knew was him saying that he wished he could have known about her abilities so that he could have helped her with them. She smiled at him warmly for a moment to let him know that she was okay now.

"Just stay calm and keep your emotions under control, Clara. When you become emotional, the power will activate and go out of control," Rose advised.

"I'll try. I'm sorry for getting so scared about this. Usually I'm much braver than this. I just don't want to hurt any of you," Clara said.

"Believe me when I say that I completely understand, Clara," Rose said.

I hope that these Viyrans appear soon. I don't like seeing her so upset. Jacqueline said telepathically to her parents as she watched Clara shaking all over from anxiety.

It's not just her. There have been over a hundred cases reported so far, and they're all going out of their minds with worry too. Most of them aren't dealing with it half as well as Clara is, and they're causing massive damage everywhere that the disease strikes. UNIT has been slowly finding them and keeping them all together so that they aren't a danger to anyone. I was just at UNIT HQ trying to help them, but it didn't work out. I just delayed their deaths for a little longer. Rose replied ominously.

What? No! You can't let them die. You can't let Aunt Clara die! Jacqueline replied in an emotional mental voice as she tried to hide her feelings so as not to alarm Clara.

I won't. I promise you that. If I have to, I'll change her and all of the others so that the power won't burn their bodies out, and then I'll remove their connection to the Vortex. At least I hope that will work. I'm not sure if it will or not since this is a disease causing all of this. I think that we need to try to contact the Viyrans if they don't show up soon. I need to know exactly what this is before I can try to alter it or I might make things worse. Rose answered.

"Please don't talk about me telepathically. Tell me the truth to my face. Am I going to die?" Clara said in tears.

"No. Not even if I have to risk creating my own version of Fenris in the process. I also have something else that I can try before risking that," Rose assured her.

"You mean the potion you found that can make people into Time Lords? I'm not sure I'd want to take that unless I had no other choice," Clara said warily.

Rose looked at her in disbelief as she said, "How did you know about that?"

"Jenna, my echo from the future, has a big mouth sometimes, and she lets certain things slip every once in a while," Clara said with a small smile.

Rose shook her head as she began to wonder just how much longer she could keep the potion a secret especially from the High Council.

"The point is that we're not beaten yet, Clara. We're going to save you I promise," the Doctor said.

Clara nodded but the worry on her face didn't go away in the slightest. She was still shaking all over as Jacqueline wrapped her arms around her and said, "You're going to be okay. Mum and Dad would never let anything happen to you."

Clara smiled at her and said, "I know."

Then the monitor let up as one of the Viyrans appeared on it confirming the Doctor's suspicions. The Viyran appeared in one of their regular white hazmat suits and spoke in a voice that sounded very familiar to the Doctor even though he couldn't quite place it. The Viyrans usually used the voices of others to communicate with, but the Doctor couldn't quite place the owner of this particular voice because it had been distorted and modified so much. Still there was something about it though.

"Doctor, we meet again. I see that the one you called Rose is still with you as well which is fortunate since we may need the Bad Wolf to help us this time. No one knows more about the power of the Vortex than she does," the Viyran said.

"I'll be glad to help if you can give me some more information about this disease," Rose said.

"Land the TARDIS onboard our ship and we'll tell you all that we know about it," the Viyran said.

Then the Viyran gave the Doctor some coordinates as the Time Lord looked at Rose hesitantly. The Doctor didn't believe that the Viyrans were evil, but he was always wary of landing anywhere blind. He had been in far too many traps in his life especially so soon after what had happened with the Symmetry to want to find himself in another one any time soon.

Rose nodded to him her silent agreement to go ahead with the Viyrans' request as both of them briefly looked at a worried Clara who was lightly stroking Jacqueline's hair as the child continued to embrace her. The Doctor's mind was made up now. He was going to take a chance and go to the Viyrans' ship. They had to help her and the rest of the people affected by it before it spread completely out of control and infected the entire human race.

The Doctor dematerialized the TARDIS even as Rose went to quickly check on Polly and Mikaela. They may have become infected as well from being around Clara. Rose quickly checked both of them and smiled with relief as they came up completely free from the disease.

"I could have told you that, Rose. I'm immune to most diseases thanks to the Symmetry. They gave me this universal booster shot once. I had no idea what it was at the time, and I was terrified that they had just killed me. It turns out that they were trying to protect me. They're very caring towards me in their own weird way," Mikaela said.

"Why haven't I been affected?" Polly asked curiously.

"It's probably because of what your granddaughter did by changing you. That's good. At least I don't have to worry about you two too," Rose said.

Is Aunt Clara doing alright? Lily asked from her crib where she lay next to her brother Michael.

So far but she's very scared. Don't worry, Lil. We'll help her. Rose replied.

That was when they heard Clara screaming. Rose, Polly, and Mikaela went running to the Console Room as Idris automatically appeared to watch over the babies as she usually did when the others were busy.

Is she going to be alright? Lily asked Idris.

"You know I can't tell you that even though you will be my favorite of my thief's children. Or is that are my favorite? Maybe it's were my favorite. Oh, well. The point is I can't tell you. I'm sorry. She's an old companion of your father's from when he was all dashing and romantic," Idris replied.

Who is? Lily asked as she tried to work around Idris' usual confusing language to find out what she was talking about.

"The woman working with the Viyrans. Your father will meet her again soon. Yay! I finally got my tenses right! I did, didn't I?" Idris asked.

Yes, Aunt Idris. You did. I'm proud of you. Lily replied.

"I knew now why you will be my favorite," Idris said as Lily tried not to laugh at her language mistakes.

Back in the Console Room, Rose, Polly, and Mikaela finally entered to see Clara glowing with Vortex energy yet again. Blasts of it were now going everywhere as she screamed in fear. The Console Room was being torn apart as the Doctor tried his best to avoid being hit by Clara's attacks, and Jacqueline was slowly draining the Vortex energy away from her while protecting herself from attack with a force field.

Rose drained the energy from Clara yet again in a matter of seconds, and she collapsed to the ground in tears. Jacqueline wrapped her arms around her yet again as she did her best to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry. Is everyone okay?" Clara asked in a terrified voice.

"We're fine, Clara. Just relax," Rose said in a calming voice as she quickly repaired the damage to the Console Room.

"We've really got to get her some help soon. She's getting worse and worse. The sonic says that the energy in her body is building up even quicker now," the Doctor said as he scanned Clara with his sonic screwdriver.

Shortly afterwards the TARDIS finally landed on the Viyrans' ship that was currently in orbit around the Earth. As soon as the Doctor left the ship, he gasped in recognition at the young woman who he saw standing there waiting for him along with two Viyrans on either side of her.

"Charley? What are you doing here with the Viyrans?" the Doctor asked.

"Doctor? Is it really you?" Charley Pollard asked.

Charlotte 'Charley' Pollard was a young woman who the Doctor had rescued from a fatal airship crash in 1930. It turned out that Charley had been supposed to die in that crash and that he had altered history by saving her. That had caused him a lot of trouble later on, but he had always thought that Charley was worth it. She had been one of his eighth incarnation's most beloved companions until she had decided to leave him one day out of the blue with only a note left behind to explain why she had left. Or at least that's how he remembered it anyway. Actually thanks to the aftereffects of a fight with the Cybermen the Doctor had forgotten the exact reason why she had left, but she would soon remind him of it.

"Of course it's me. Who else do you know that wears cool clothes like this and travels around in a blue box?" the Doctor said with confusion.

"I thought that you died. I'm so glad that I was wrong," Charley said as she gave the Doctor a warm hug.

Rose quickly cleared her throat and gave her a little wave as she said, "Hello. I'm his wife, Rose."

"Wife? So you've finally got someone to keep you in line, eh?" Charley asked with a grin as she quickly let go of the Doctor.

"I like you already, Charley," Rose said with a grin as she shook Charley's hand.

"Why did you think I was dead?" the Doctor asked still confused.

"I thought that the Cybermen killed you in the far future. You never came back to get me so I was sure of it. Then when the past version of you with the nightmarish coat reappeared in answer to my distress signal I just went with him. It's a long story how I got from him to the Viyrans. Let's just say that I started working with them after I made you forget that I had traveled with that incarnation in order to preserve your timeline," Charley said.

"You traveled with Old Sixy? I wish I could remember that. I bet he drove you mad," the Doctor said still unsure about what she was saying but knowing that Charley wouldn't lie to him.

"There were moments that I wanted to wring his neck, yes. I managed to keep from killing you though by reminding myself how much I liked your eighth self," Charley said laughing.

"Now I like you even more, Charley. Plus I've finally found someone else with as mixed up a life story as River's from the sound of it. So can they or you tell me more about this disease of theirs?" Rose said as she got directly to the point.

"We believe that we already have a cure. We just need a patient to test it on. We assume that you've brought one," one of the Viyrans said.

"Y - yes. That's me. Can you help me?" Clara asked in an emotional voice.

"We believe so, yes. We need you to test a possible cure on first though as a test subject," the Viyran answered.

"Test subject? Oh, no you don't. You're not touching her. She won't be used as a guinea pig if I can help it," Mikaela said firmly.

"You can use me. I can't die anyway," Polly offered.

"We must have someone who is already infected," the Viyran insisted.

Clara looked at the Viyrans in fear as Charley asked them, "Are you sure that this won't hurt her?"

"Nothing is certain. What is certain is that she will be burned alive by the Vortex sooner or later as the disease's effects continue to worsen," the Viyran said.

"That's what you didn't want me to know," Clara realized as she looked at the Doctor and Rose with a mixture of both anger and understanding on her face.

"Let me test the cure first. I need to make sure of what it will do to her before I'll allow you to do this," the Doctor insisted.

"She doesn't have much time left and neither do the humans infected on the Earth below. She could only have a matter of hours left to live if even that," the Viyran informed him.

"I'll do it. Give it to me," Clara said.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked in alarm.

"If it could save others, then I have to do it. I can't let my fear control me and keep me from helping them. Give it to me," Clara said as she bravely walked up to the two Viyrans.

"You need to be sure about this," Charley said to the Viyrans still unconvinced.

"We are as sure as we will ever be. Only a test subject will be able to tell us more," one of the Viyrans replied.

"You'd better hope that nothing happens to her or I'll make sure that you all pay for it. You don't even want to know what I can really do when I can get angry," Mikaela threatened them.

"Yes, we know who you are, Promised One. Nevertheless we will risk the wrath of the Symmetry in order to save the human race from this weapon of our own devising," the second Viyran answered.

"Word about me seems to have traveled quickly," Mikaela said surprised.

"We pay attention to all events of importance in the universe in order to better track down our diseases," a Viyran explained.

"Clara, you don't have to do this," the Doctor said.

"I want to, Doctor. Wish me luck," Clara said as she smiled bravely.

"Good luck, my Impossible Girl," the Doctor said as he and Rose both hugged her tightly for a moment.

"Rest assured that we will do our best to help her," a Viyran said in an almost sympathetic tone.

"What do I do?" Clara asked.

"Just stand still. It will all be over with shortly one way or another," another Viyran said.

Then the two Viyrans held out their armored hands and a warm glow came from them and covered Clara in its brilliance. Clara smiled at first as she began to feel the power of the Vortex fading away from her body. Then something seemed to go horribly wrong as pain like she had never felt in her life before shot through every part of her body,

Clara screamed in pain and fear in a mournful wail that completely terrified her friends. Then before any of them could move to help her, Clara fell over onto the floor with a loud sickening thump and didn't move.

"Clara!" the Doctor screamed as he scanned her with his sonic.

Then he began to cry as he said, "She's dead. You killed her!"

"I'm so sorry, Doctor! I didn't know that this was going to happen," Charley said as she apologized to him in tears.

"We are very sorry for your loss. We seem to have made a mistake somewhere. We must take the body for study as we regroup and try again at coming up with a real cure before it's too late for the others as well," a Viyran said.

"No! Don't you touch her! You leave her alone or I'll wipe you out! All of you!" Jacqueline threatened as she came running out of the TARDIS in a panic.

She held Clara close to her as she said, "It's okay, Aunt Clara. You're okay. Please talk to me. Please!"

The Doctor and Rose both looked at this scene in absolute sorrow even as Mikaela broke down in Polly's arms.

"No, this isn't what's supposed to happen. She's alright in my time. She's alright," Mikaela protested.

"Please wake up!" Jacqueline screamed in pain.

Then she gently laid Clara down and anger filled her face as she said, "You're going to bring her back or you're all dead! Bring her back!"

Jacqueline started attacking the Viyrans with blasts of Vortex energy even as Rose screamed at her to stop. The Doctor meanwhile took Clara into the TARDIS so that he could examine her in the medical bay as he vowed to find out what had gone wrong himself so that he could find a cure that worked.

He would not let Clara's death have been in vain!

Next: Clara's not really dead, right? Surely I wouldn't do that, right? Come back next time and find out while the race for a cure begins. Will one be found in time to save the other victims? Will the Viyrans survive the wrath of Jacqueline? What will become of Charley Pollard? As it turns out, Humanity's fate may finally rest not in the hands of the Viyrans but in someone else entirely. Someone who may finally have to embrace a role that they never wanted to in order to save the lives of billions.