The Doctor was thrown to the floor for the second time that day. Dust swirled through the air as the Tadis shook in the shock wave. Another explosion followed the first, then another, and another. The cacophony was deafening. After a minute the shaking stopped. The sound of explosions continued, only muted, like they were a long way off. The Doctor staggered to his feet. He checked behind him to see Danika and Adam doing the same. Danika was pulling a phone from her pocket. Within second she was talking to someone he guessed was her UNIT commander. They both seemed well enough.
Today was getting to be ridiculous. He'd had bad days before, hundreds of them, but it seemed like every time he turned around something else was going wrong. He was going to figure out who it was who was bombing them and how to get them to stop before anyone got hurt. He turned and headed for the console. He had one foot on the bottom step when he saw movement from Elle.
"Don't move." Elle growled. She was holding something in her hand, pointing it straight at him. He stared at the object, trying to identify it. It wasn't typical Earth tech for this time zone. If he had to guess it was some sort of modified sonic blaster. Even without knowing for sure he knew that the object was a threat. He took a step back slowly. "Good boy." Elle practically purred.
"What is that thing?" Adam asked. He wisely hadn't moved from his spot by the door.
"Modified sonic blaster." The Doctor said. From the smile on Elle's face he knew he was right.
"You're only half right, DOW." Elle flipped the device casually and gracefully, moving so fast that her hand was a blur. Suddenly the black hole of the muzzle was replaced by a small purple light. Now the odd stick-like shape of the device made sense.
"That looks like a – " Danika had apparently gotten off of the phone. She had moved so that she was standing only a few feet behind the Doctor.
"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said.
"I call it a dual sonic device, or DSD for short." Elle flipped the device back around so that the blaster was pointing at him again.
"Where did you get that?" The Doctor asked. He'd never seen anything like it. Whoever had made it must have been nearly as brilliant as him in order to account for the differing sonic frequencies in a single device.
"I made it." Elle bragged.
"Impossible. Earth doesn't have the technology yet." The Doctor heard Danika scoff behind him. "Even with whatever has fallen through the rift." He added.
Elle smiled and waved the blaster, or DSD, he should at least call it by what it was. "I may have had a little help on the structure of the blaster. But that hardly counts. The model I looked at was outdated and the upgrades on it drained the battery after a few hours. Mine has even more upgrades and an unlimited battery life." She looked smug. She was enjoying herself.
"ENOUGH!" The Doctor screamed. Elle's smile twitched but stayed in place. He could see Danika and Adam flinch. "There are innocent people dying out there. People dropping bombs on us. Now is not the time to play games or show off your shiny toys."
"Wrong." Elle's voice was flat.
"I'm sorry?"
"Adam, did you initiate Protocol 9?" Elle asked. Adam nodded once. "Meaning complete evacuation. That was exactly seven minutes ago. By now, there will be no one within ten miles of here. Except for UNIT and they can handle themselves. Meaning, DOW, there is no one dying. At least, not out there."
"Why do you keep calling him that?" Danika stole the question that the Doctor was about to ask.
"It's his name." Elle said.
"No, his name's the Doctor."
"That's what he goes by, yes." Elle smirked and the Doctor's heart did a little hiccough. "But there is a more truthful name, is there not? A name given by an ancient enemy when your soul was revealed." The Doctor's blood ran cold. He knew what she was talking about. He knew what DOW meant. What he didn't know was how she knew.
"Don't." The Doctor hissed.
"What?" Adam asked.
"You don't want your friends to know the truth about you." It wasn't a question. The Doctor lunged forward, intending to do whatever it took to make sure Elle didn't say reveal too much. BAM! Elle fired a shot high, leaving a scorch mark on the Tardis wall. The Doctor froze. "I said don't move." Elle snapped.
"What does DOW mean? And what did you mean about an ancient enemy?" Danika asked meekly.
"It's from the incident at the Medusa Cascade. DOW is an abbreviation of the name given to him by Davros. It means Destroyer of Worlds."
The Doctor felt his knees go weak but he managed to stay upright. Of all of the horrible memories that today had brought back this had to be the worst. The Medusa Cascade. The day he'd lost everyone. Some for the second time. "You shouldn't know that." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "The only people there that day are either in another universe or would never say anything."
"Yeah, well. I've got my ways." The Doctor took another step forward as Elle talked, moving a little more slowly. BAM! Another shot went off over his head. "Would you stop doing that. I really don't want to have to shoot you."
"But you said you wanted him dead." Adam didn't understand, and honestly neither did the Doctor.
"I have something much more elegant planned." Elle reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a small glass vial with a white tablet inside. "See this. Another one of my creations. Mix of carteostrophic nanocules and tulmenian powder with just a dash of B67."
The Doctor didn't move. He was trying to analyze what that combination of chemicals would do. The carteostrophic nanocules would stop his hearts within seconds. But why the tulmenian powder? Did she think that would stop his regenerating? Cause it wouldn't. At best it'd slow it down some. Then there was the B67. He knew he'd heard that before. But where?
Adam whispered something. The Doctor looked at him and Adam repeated himself, louder. "B67… Isn't that retcon?" Of course!
"But why use an amnesia pill if you want to kill the Doctor?" Danika asked.
"I don't want to kill him. No…" Elle smiled a wicked smirk. "I need him to walk away from this."
"But you said…" Danika started.
"He must be dead. The body must survive." Elle leveled her gaze at the Doctor. Her brown eyes holding his. "Have you figured it out yet?"
"The pill will kill me, but I'll just regenerate."
"Which is why I added the retcon." Elle said in a sing-song voice.
"What would that do?" Adam had finally left his post by the door and was inching closer to them. His curiosity had gotten the best of him.
"Normally, nothing. But when given at the exact moment of regeneration…"
The truth hit the Doctor like a ton of bricks. "I'll forget everything. Everything I've ever done. Everywhere I've ever been. All of it. Gone."
"And you'll cease to exist. You may regenerate but you won't be you. You won't even remember you. The perfect justice."
"Justice for what?" The Doctor asked weakly.
"I believe I can answer that." A familiar voice crackled over the Tardis comms. The Doctor must have snapped. He must be losing his mind. There was no way that on top of everything else today that he had heard that voice. He hallucinated it. He had to have. Only the other three people in the room reacted to the voice as well. So it had to have been real.
"Jack?"