A/N:-OK, maybe one hour kinda stretched to five hours… But blame the voices! They kept distracting me! And The Grudge – I HAD to watch it while typing. Toshio is such a cute little boy, though vair freakidge. BUT HERE IT IS! (Directions: fly over Disclaime and WARNING)

Disclaimer: OOH! I own lotsa things! Some cheese, nachos, pickled radiators, red bus passes, magic shoes, totem poles, Barclays pen, giraffe mug, squidgy pig and… OOH! MAH TOES! AND THERE IT IS! DOCTOR WHO Did you know that gullible sounds like banana if you say it really sloooooowly?

Warning: Un-betaed: all mistakes MAAAIIIIIINE! Am looking for a Beta (in a strange, non-advertising way), but I'm vair sure that nobody else except mah squidgy pig and SHeeP of DOOOOOOM would seriously want to Beta pages and PAGES of an AU.

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Taking the Doctor's word for it, Donna dodged the shooting guards, and flitted past them – speedily slipping down into, and through, a dark, dank alley way. That Time Lord had better be right about meeting her, or she'd owe him a slap. If she came back alive… Donna swallowed back that thought, shivering.

She carried on running, past the dumpsters, past the guards' dead corpses grimacing, past the suspiciously red-eyed rat that scampered across the damp ground. She chased the bright light at the end of the alley, and when she reached the soft, pallid rays of sunlight – she leaned against back the wall, catching her breath back.

She shut her eyes, and considered the possibilities of where exactly Warehouse 15 was. But, just as her mind slithered into deep thought, a dark shadow covered her.

Donna exposed an eye, but soon found not only her eyes wide open, but her mouth.

"You're nicked."

"You! Again! Good grief, I'm getting blinking tired of you. Wait a minute, are you STALKING me?!" Donna gasped, face aghast, but carried on anyway, "'Cos if you are mate, then you've got another thing coming!" she growled, and raised a finger in the air at him; the unnamed stalker-of-a-guard dropped his jaw open, flustered. "You're keen, that's what you are. Wha', following me around like a lost puppy. Revenge 'cos of a tiny, little bruise?! Tough nut you are," Donna scoffed, voice laced with sarcasm.

"I'm here to arr--"

"You're not my type anyway," Donna blundered on, and casually flicked her hair back "Too blonde."

"Neither are you, ginger. But, you're still going out with me."

"Do I look like I'm thick? No, I don't. 'Cos, listen to me sunshine, I AM N--" Donna heard the click of locks, and looked down to her suddenly shackled hands. "Oh."

"Play on words," the guard said, with a wink. "They call it a pun. Didn't you know that, love, or are you just too thick?"

Donna scowled at him, and reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged off.

&&&&&&&&&&

"…and then, just as the executioner was about to chop my head off for mentioning "Mozart", I offered the Tribal Leader some jelly-babies and he let us go!" the Doctor rambled, and Rose just chuckled. Rose had merely asked him what Warehouse 15 actually was, but as per usual, he'd gone off intone of his ramblings again. Not that she minded. But it was just that Donna happened to be possibly missing; probably looking, and waiting for them too.

"You see," continued the Doctor, as they trekked across the snow, still searching for the warehouse in question. They managed to lose the Ood and the guards some time back, and the Doctor found this time to slot in his daily "previous incarnation" tales. Not that he actually told Rose this, but… "I was in my fourth incarnation, at the time, and I happened to have an overly obsessivefetish for jelly-babies. And when I was say obsessive, I mean obsessive."

"Even worse than your love for bananas?" Rose questioned cheekily, grinning.

"Now, that is taking it too far, Rose Tyler! How can anything beat bananas? They're nutritious, they're shaped like phones, they taste very, very good, a and they're YELLOW! Yellow? When compared to bananas – jelly babies are like, like saying pears taste better than bananas! Anyway… The jelly-baby obsession was pretty deep, I have to admit," the Doctor guffawed, and mimicked differently random intonations,. "You Doctor are condemned to death. Would you like a jelly baby? Quick, look, there's a solar flare! Jelly-baby, anyone? I kill you: Lord of Time. Care for a jelly-baby?Now drop your weapons… or I'll kill him with this deadly jelly baby!"

Rose gaped at him, laughing so hard, her sides started to hurt. "That bad, seriously?"

"Yep," he said, popping the "p". "What was I discussing again, before I started telling you about my fourth incarnation's obsession with jelly babies?"

"Warehouse 15," Rose informed.

"Right, Warehouse 15…" the Doctor repeated, dragging out the syllables of each word.

"So, that's where we'll meet, Donna, yeah? But where is it?"

"Oh, you know, Donna! Course she'll find it. The Warehouse iiiiis…" He fell into a stop, and licked his finger, before putting it up to the air. "That way."

"You sure that you're not just guessing, and doing that to make yourself look good?" Rose dared.

"No!" the Doctor exclaimed, a little too quickly. "Why would I do that? I look good already."

Rose pushed him into the snow.

"Not now, you don't."

&&&&&&&&&&

"Found this one hiding in the alleyways, sir," the guard reported to Mr Halpen, with Donna scowling and struggling at his grasp.

Mr Halpen looked at Donna, surprise. "Why aren't you dead?"

"Because, Baldy, I survived. Your sick, little scheme didn't work, after all. Me, Rose, an' the Doctor, we stopped them. We worked out a way to stop the Ood," Donna explained, shooting daggers at the man in question. "An' they helped us get out of the handcuffs too," she turned to Ood Sigma, adding kindly, "Sorry. No offence."

"Your kindness is most welcome, miss, and the Ood kind do not take offence," Ood Sigma replied, seemingly still normal.

"I'd watch your tongue, if I were you," Mr Halpen replied Donna, narrowing his eyes.

"How did you do that?" Doctor Ryder inserted. "Stop the Ood, from killing you, I mean? We've tried everything, it's impossible!"

"Wouldn't you like to know…" Donna said harshly.

"Well, if you can't help us, then you're of no use to us," Mr Halpen said simply, and clicked his fingers at the blonde guard. "Lock her in the--"

Donna quickly elucidated, "We don't know for sure, if it would work again, if they would listen to us. Besides, the Doctor said he reckoned it was just a one-off thing. We jus' got lucky."

"Sir," the guard began, "should I…?"

"No, no, walk behind us with her. She could be of some help."

"Oh, and Halpen," Donna called out. "The name's Donna. Donna Noble."

&&&&&&&&

Donna traipsed alongside the guard dully, having to be nudged forward every so often, when she slowed down. Ood Sigma hovered behind Mr Halpen, hands clasped as he walked behind the bald man, and the doctor. They were deep in conversation; Donna didn't bother about her blasted manners, seeing the trouble she was already in, and eavesdropped anyway.

"The boy is most likely to be in fright, by now. I am, by all means, sure he's already dragged his grubby fingers along all the machinery, and has been noseying around, " Mr Halpen said, marching briskly across the plains of snow, with Doctor Ryder jogging along side him, and the guard walking along behind them.

"What if he sees the --?" Ryder began.

"Not so loud, Ryder! Do you wish for the whole world to hear?" Mr Halpen snapped. "I thought not. Now, as for the boy, if he has seen it, then we--"

"OH MY GOSH!" Donna shouted, with a scream.

"AAAARGH!" the guard yelled, and the two men in conversation suddenly spun their head around.

An Ood had jumped out from the shadows, and its translator balls was tightly affixed onto the guard's head. The bright yellow electric sizzled through the ball, and flashed onto the guard's head, as the Ood mercilessly electrocuted the guard's brain, and drained the life out of him.

"DO SOMETHING!" Donna yelled at them angrily, but still backed away, just in case.

Doctor Ryder made to charge forward, and aid the dying guard, but Mr Halpen pulled him back quickly – grimacing.

"No! Leave him to die alone! There is nothing we can do!"

"Who d'you think you are to order everyone about like that?" Donna spat, but grudgingly knew that the Mr Halpen was right.

There wasn't anything they could do: the Ood had sucked all the life out of the guard, and frazzled his brain. Besides, Donna wasn't even sure why she cared so much. She hated that guard with a great passion, didn't she?! But the other half of her conscience, told her that he was still human, and it didn't mean that he should've been murdered.

"Leave him," Mr Halpen hissed at the both of them, with a dark glare. "Unless you want to be killed too."

"But, he's— he's--" stuttered Doctor Ryder.

"Dead," came Donna's sombre reply, as the guard's body fell to the snow with a bump. She closed her eyes sadly.

The Ood's eyes glinted a darker shade of red, and glared up at the two remaining men. Donna leapt back, in self defence, preparing herself for the Ood's advance. But it never came, as the loud bang sounded in the air, and the bullet shot through the ear: piercing the Ood in the heart. The creature's eyes broadened, and his legs turned to jelly, as the pain seared through his body.

The last dregs of red drained away from its eyes, and Donna gasped – a wave of pity, sadness, and disbelief flowing through her, all at the same time. It was once, and deep down was still an innocent, harmless being, but now…

The Ood fell onto its knees, and onto the snow: dead.

"I'm sorry," Donna whispered, before she left to follow up Halpen and Ryder.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Mr Halpen, Doctor Ryder, Ood Sigma, and Donna trekked across the compound, debating and suggesting solutions.

"What about this one?" Doctor Ryder suddenly brought up, curtly motioning Sigma.

"No! You've not turned," Mr Halpen said quickly and looked to Ood Sigma. "Faithful to the last. Go. Join your people."

They bowed quickly to Ood Sigma, Donna resting a thoughtful arm of the Ood's shoulder, before he blinked a few times and walked away slowly.

"Come on!" Mr Halpen hastened, after Ood Sigma had left.

But just as they all walked off, Ood Sigma paused and watched the three of them leave – pondering, perhaps.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Rubbing his hands together from the chilling cold, and puffing out "dragon" smoke, Doctor Ryder ambled over the last few strides to the entrance to Warehouse 15. He looked up tentatively at the building, and hoped and wished that the child boy intruder hadn't gotten himself into any trouble, or somehow escaped. If that was the case… he wouldn't hear the last of it. Not ever.

Mr Halpen slid the panel open, to reveal a set of keys, and started jabbering in the code immediately.

"So, this is Warehouse 15?" Donna piped up, eyeing the large, blue-grey warehouse up and down. It was practically like all the others, with just the additional lick of paint, and piece of machinery sticking out.

"Warehouse 15, door open," the computer's cool, feminine voice stated; the warehouse door opening with a small puff.

"What is this place for?"

"This, Miss Noble, is where it all began," Mr Halpen replied, with a smirk, entering after Doctor Ryder.

With a hesitant pause, but deciding she could scrounge out some gossip for the Doctor, followed them in.

&&&&&&&&&&&

"Ood Conversions - information collected. Man saw me. Graske is trapped. People coming. No Rose Tyler," the Graske rasped, already morphed into back, from its human, to original form. It mooched about the fencing, but curled its back up against the wall, when the sound of a door opening sounded.

The deep, intimidating voice in its mind sighed, and hissed out a droning, "You have failed me… But, very weeeell. There is always a next time. Come back. Tell me what you have found out about Miss Tyyyyler."

Just as the two men, and Donna entered Warehouse 15, they saw the figure of a strange, alien, dwarfish creature, and the flash of greenish light, as it teleported back to its master, cackling sinisterly.

"What on earth was that thing?!"

"The Doctor an' Rose, are not going to like this…"

&&&&&&&&&&&

"Rose, can you hear that?" the Doctor stopped, and furrowed his brow, pulling Rose into a halt too.

"Hear what?"

"The ticking. Listen."

After a bit of concentration, Rose could hear the ticking.

"Yeah." It was quiet, and distant. Almost like… "That sounds like…"

"A bomb," the Doctor finished.

The time bomb reached zero.

WHAM!

The great explosion roared and reverberated around, sending up a steamy, explosive smog of fire, ice, smoke, rocks, and debris. The two of them were thrown malevolently back off their feet, and sent hurtling wildly to the vibrating ground.

"Alright?" the Doctor asked Rose, leaping back up.

Rose nodded. "Just a scratch or two."

He offered Rose a helping hand, and she accepted – taking his proffered hand, and allowed help to be lugged back up onto her feet. Coughing, grumbling, and spluttering, they gazed up in small surprise… to see Ood Sigma, serenely stood behind the noxious screen of smoke.

"Oh. Hello!" the Doctor said cheerily. "You don't happen to know where my friend, Donna, is, do you?"

&&&&&&&&&&

"Well, Ryder?" drummed Mr Halpen, expectantly, with a slight smirk smearing the corners of his lips.

Warehouse 15, top security and highly confidential, had been infiltrated by a little boy, and now, what looked like a creature from Star Trek. Not only that, but the alien and the boy intrusions, had both revolved around Ryder. The man seemed to be the only solely responsible person for all, this seeing as there was nobody else to blame. Halpen wanted answers.

"There-- There must've been a flaw in the system!" Doctor Ryder improvised quickly. He wasn't about to hand Mr Halpen the pleasure of weakness, on a plate, that was for sure. "Slipped through security, somehow. Nothing to worry about, I'm sure."

"Is that so," he answered dryly, more of a statement than a question. "But, I wonder who'll be paying the consequences, when our dear, little alien friend turns out to be an Intergalactic Journalist…" He didn't give time for response.

"But, that wasn't a flaw in the system! I know what it was! It's this alien thing, called a… grass. Graske. Whatever. We saw it earlier; it tried to kidnap Rose and…" Donna protested, but stopped, when they blatantly ignored her.

"Now, before we get down to business, where is this insolent, little boy?"

"You don't understand, Baldy," Donna stated, deciding that she'd start being be polite and respectful, when he did. "That "insolent, little boy" is the same person, as the Graske – that dwarf thing that teleported. It can transform, an' disguise itself as different people. If you don't believe, you can ask the Doctor!"

"Enough of the nonsense."

"Gosh, humans of the future are thick," Donna muttered, arms crossed – well as best as a handcuffed person could manage.

Mr Ryder produced his PDA, and used the stylus to fiddle around with it for a moment, claiming that he could track and identify all life forms in the vicinity. Three bleeps and a failure later, the results showed nothing. Nobody else was there, except for them, and the thing. The whole place was empty otherwise.

Doctor Ryder started to worry. If this boy had escaped and seen the things he wasn't supposed to have, spilling it to his parents or whoever… The man let out an muted groan. There'd be trouble. The press, angry reps, the police, the blasted government. And he'd get the blame.

"I— I--"

"Save the explanations for later, Ryder, for now, we shall need to attend to the problem at hand."

&&&&&&&&&&

"It's always been an option," explained Mr Halpen, using his arms to gesture. "My grandfather drew up the plans. That's the advantage of a family-run business, Dr Ryder - the personal touch."

"But we should evacuate. If we can get to the rocket shed--"

Mr Halpen strode over to a small area, standing in front of a large, metal cabinet. "No need. We've got this," He peeled the door open, releasing a creak of hinges. "Detonation packs." He took out some strange, black devices and handed a small handful of them to Doctor Ryder, who frowned at him in confusion. "Place them around the circumference. We're gonna blow it up. This thing dies... so do the Ood."

"What the hell are you two on about? What's the Ood got to do with everything? Wha' thing?" Donna voiced out.

"Detonation packs" in hand, Mr Halpen led them down a small corridor, to a big, resonant room, full of controls and elaborate machinery. Donna followed, as he leaned over some black railings, and outstretched his arms, inhaling.

"This is the thing," Mr Halpen said, through gritted teeth.

Donna copied his actions, bar the arm outstretching, and looked down. She gasped, as she suddenly felt sick to the stomach. "It's a giant, pulsing… brain."

Donna shivered. She couldn't help it. It just looked so creepy, and forbidding. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something that just wasn't right!

"Yes, it is, Miss Noble. And it is time we got rid of it." Mr Halpen began to position and attach the discussed detonation packs, to the walls enclosing the giant brain.

&&&&&&&&&

"The famous Warehouse 15," Rose gathered, as Ood Sigma stopped in front of a cold, grey warehouse. "Looks like the others. Only a bit more…"

"Techno?" the Doctor answered for her.

"That's the word. What's inside it? Ood?"

"The Ood or not the Ood, that is the question," the Time Lord grinned at his pink-and-yellow companion, vaguely reciting one of Shakespeare's most memorable phrases. "And the answer, is behind the very door! So the question remains, Miss Tyler, shall we?" the Doctor offered his arm.

"Sir Doctor, I think we shall," Rose replied, taking his extended arm and shooting him a winning smile.

Twenty seconds later, with a bleep of the Sonic Screwdriver and the sliding of some panels, the door emitted a polite beep – opening up with a hiss.

&&&&&&&&

Once inside, the Doctor and Rose, were led through a vaguely complicated web of tunnels, by Ood Sigma, until they each a particular metal room , where steam and resonating voices bounced off the walls.

"Oh, am I bleeding well pleased to see you two!" Donna yelped, emerging from out of the shadows and running to them.

Donna was about to capture the Doctor in a hug, but then dropped her arms and jangled her chained up wrists, in front of his face.

"That's your twice today," Rose said, with a chuckle.

"I know! Bad day or wha'?" laughed Donna. She turned back to the Doctor and arched an eyebrow. "Am I gonna have to traipse round the Universe wearing handcuffs all the time, or are you goin' to get me outta these?"

"Where was I?" the Doctor said, blinking into reality and out of his contemplation. Donna glared at him, "Ah, yes! Donna! Handcuffs! Right."

The Doctor used the Sonic to resonate, and shatter the handcuffs lock, setting Donna free. Donna rubbed sorely at her red, stiff wrists, and slapped the Doctor one.

"Ow! What was that for?" the Doctor cried.

"Abandoning me!"

"What about Rose?!"

"Leave me outta this," Rose contributed, putting her hands up. But she stepped forward and pulled Donna into a warm, friendly hug.

"I only pick on aliens," Donna replied happily, with a shrug, sneaking a wink at Rose. Rose… Her name triggered the former scenarios to replay in her head. "Graske! I saw it; it teleported, jus' as we came in."

"I don't get it. What does it want with me?!" Rose sighed irritably. Her gaze suddenly drifted, and she gazed on in surprise, spontaneously saying, "An' that is one heck of a big brain!"

The Doctor frowned. He traced Rose's stare and his suspicions were confirmed, by Donna's affirmation. "Did I forget to mention the giant brain?"

&&&&&&&&&

The brain was situated in a rounded well, below them, surrounded by a buzzing, golden, force-field. The brain itself, was literally too big for its own "box; a light, pale pink, and pulsing with protruding, bruise-blue veins.

"The Ood brain. Now it all makes sense!" the Doctor explicated, breathing and strolling forwards. "That's the missing link. The third element, binding them all together. Forebrain, hindbrain and this. The telepathic, call-in centre. It's a shared mind... connecting all the Ood in song."

Something was clicked into place, behind them. A weapon, to be more exact. The Doctor, Rose, and Donna revolved around slowly to find Mr Halpen – his slick, black gun posed and pointed.

"Cargo. I can always go into cargo. I've got the rockets, I've got the sheds. Smaller business. Much more manageable without livestock," Mr Halpen said, a deep shade of red tingeing his face, and small beads of sweat trickling down the sides of his head.

"He's mined the area," Doctor Ryder notified.

"You're gonna kill it," Donna whispered, eyes dark. "This thing dies..." She laughed, without smiling. "You weren't joking."

Rose sussed it. "But if you kill this thing, then the Ood go with it…"

"Well done, you figured it out, have a Brownie point," Mr Halpen said dryly at Rose, voice dripping with cynicism.

"There has to be another way to cure the Ood, though," Donna reasoned.

He smirked, outwardly disregarded her, and pointed a hand an accusatory finger at the brain. "They found that thing centuries ago beneath the northern glacier."

"Those pylons," the Doctor explained succinctly to the perplexed Rose and Donna. He nudged a hand in the direction of the six or so pylons surrounding the brain, creating the static force-friend.

"In a circle! "The circle must be broken"," Donna said, slotting the pieces of the puzzle together quickly.

"Dampening the telepathic field, stopping the Ood from connecting for 200 years."

"Taking away a chunk of their souls," Rose said, reflectively. "Like the processed Ood thing."

"Only ten times worse," the Doctor completed and prolonged, "Preventing them from communicating, and interacting through the mind – hammering down on that last ounce of freedom."

"And you, Ood Sigma, you brought them here," Mr Halpen snarled at the Ood. "I expected better.""

"My place is at your side, sir," Ood Sigma reassured, and as if to prove it, moved to stand beside Halpen.

Mr Halpen chuckled coldly. "Still subservient. Good Oo-- Oo--" He choked on his words, suddenly unable to finish his sentence.

"You OK?" Rose said, offering to step forwards, although her conscience was debating as to why she was even trying to help this malicious, cold-hearted man.

"I'm fine. Now lea— leave me alone," the man insisted. "Or I'll shoot."

"Alrigh'!" Rose replied, angrily, raising her arms up in defence. "I was only trying to help."

The Doctor kept a watchful eye.

"If that barrier thing's in place, how come the Ood started breaking out?" Donna asked.

"Remember, on Krop Tor," Rose brought up, "Danny said the Ood communicated through their minds, too. Like the singing telepathy thing."

"Maybe it's taken centuries to adapt," the Doctor said, shrugging. "The subconscious reaching out. Breaking free."

"But the process was too slow, had to be accelerated. You should never have given me access to the controls, Mr Halpen," Doctor Ryder threw in, finally. He puffed his chest out proudly, and walked forwards – a few feet away from Mr Halpen. "I lowered the barrier to its minimum. Friends of the Ood, sir. It's taken me ten yearsto infiltrate the company – ten long and weary years they were. But I succeeded."

"Yes. Yes, you did," Mr Halpen breathed.

At that split second, Ryder saw the hatred, selfishness, and indifference beaming out of Mr Halpen's eyes; beaming out as his hands reached for Ryder, and shoved him over the railing. That one push, did it all, sending Ryder crying out in helplessness to his death, as he zipped through the air. With one great, greedy gulp, the brain absorbed the fallen Doctor Ryder.

"You... murdered him," Donna gasped, completely appalled.

"Very observant, ginger. Now then, can't say I've ever shot anyone before... can't say I'm gonna like it, but, uh, it's not exactly a normal day, is it? Still..." He held up his gun to fire, fingers shaking, as his inelegant, stubby fingers groped around for the trigger.

"Would you like a drink, sir?" Ood Sigma offered.

"I think hair loss is the least of my problems right now, thanks," Mr Halpen replied, throwing his head back with a snort of laughter.

Sigma shuffled forward, his arm extended, a glass of clear liquid in the Ood's hand.

"Please have a drink, sir," the Ood persevered, shaking the small glass. The Doctor meandered frontward, and rested a hand on Ood Sigma's shoulder.

"If-- if you're gonna stand in their way, I'll. Shoot. You. Too," Mr Halpen stammered, the latter words slurred, and almost like played in slow-motion.

"Please have a drink, sir."

"Have-- have you... poisoned me?" he croaked.

"Natural Ood must never kill, sir."

"What is that stuff?" the Doctor questioned.

"Ood-graft suspended in a biological compound," the Ood explained, his translator ball lighting us, as every time it spoke.

Mr Halpen faltered in his posture, stumbling slightly, and looking decidedly ill. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Oh dear," sighed the Doctor, rubbing a hand across his chin.

"Tell me!" Mr Halpen hissed, gripping onto the nearby railing.

"Funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. It came out in the red-eye as revenge. It came out in the rabid Ood as anger. And then there was patience," the Doctor elongated. "All that intelligence and mercy focused on Ood Sigma. How's the hair loss, Mr Halpen?"

Mr Halpen frowned in confusion, using a free hand to touch his head. The Doctor blabbed on, but the man's words simply became indistinct and garbled – he struggled to capture what he was saying.

His vision blurred, and he only understand the one instruction. "…Listen"

So he listened. And he heard the most beautiful, but most terrible and emotional singing, ringing out in his head – like a never-ending song of woe.

"What have you-- I'm... not--" rasped Mr Halpen.

"What's happenin' to 'im?" Rose questioned, walking backwards, and staring intently at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

"Watch," the Doctor responded simply.

Ood Sigma knew what was to come, and stepped back. The gun dropped out of Mr Halpen's hand, and thudded onto the floor. Mr Halpen grasped his head, and cried out in agony – gasping, and squeezing his head tightly. He tugged desperately at his head, and let out a strangled moan, as the pale skin of his head peeled away to reveal an Ood head. He choked and coughed, hands cupping his mouth and he moaned once more. Spluttering, rouge red, Ood tentacles spilled out of, and to replace his mouth.

"They-- they turned him into an… Ood?" Donna stuttered.

"Yup," came the reply from none other than the Doctor.

"He's an Ood," Donna repeated.

"I noticed."

"How?" Rose piped up.

"The drink. It was a drug, of sorts – it changed him. All under his very unsuspecting nose. Transformed him into the Ood kind, permanently." the Doctor said.

"Forever," Rose breathed.

"Forever." the Doctor repeated.

The new Ood/Mr Halpen made a strange, choked gurgling noise, before he coughed up the tiny, pink blob that played his secondary brain.

"He has become Ood-kind and we will take care of him," Ood Sigma vindicated.

"It's weird, being with you. I can't tell what's right and what's wrong anymore," Donna uttered, confused and uncertain.

"It's better that way. People who know for certain, tend to be like Mr Halpen," There was a loud beeping noise. "Oh!" the Doctor yelped, and rushed over to the switch off all the detonation packs. "That's better. And now... Ood Sigma, will you allow me the honour?"

"It is yours, Doctor."

"Oh yes!" The Doctor leapt over to the equipment, that was powering the force-field. "Stifled for over 200 years but not anymore. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing!"

The field around the brain powered down, and suddenly the song chimed out, heard by everyone. The Doctor guffawed and spun around joyously.

"I can hear it!" Donna and Rose exclaimed, simultaneously.

Ood Sigma raised up his arms, a would-be smile adorning where his mouth would be.

&&&&&&&&&&

The caged Ood raised their arms. The fighting between the red-eyed Ood, and the humans stopped. A peace broke out.

The Ood no longer bore red-eyes, the weapons were left strewn on the ground, and the Ood stood in a harmonious circle – joining in with the song, now happy and rejoicing.

&&&&&&&&&&

Unsure why, Rose had been unsuccessful defeating the temptation to look and find the Graske, to ask it what it wanted. But after a tiring, full sweep of the Ood complex, without any success or any trace, at all, of the mischievous thing – Rose gave up. She resigned to the fact that she wouldn't, and probably never would find out why that creature had tried to abduct her. She just hoped it didn't ever try again.

"Find anything?" Donna asked, joining to sit on the step with Rose.

Rose shook her head, "Nope."

The Doctor bounded over and collapsed to squeeze in between them. "Right. All's sorted. The Ood are free. They're their own people now. No one to control them, or tell them what to do. Just their own free lives."

"Wildebeest," Donna quipped.

"Yup!"

"So the processing, an' that – it's all stopping?" Rose inquired. "They're not gonna be brainwashed anymore?"

"Mm-hmm! How about you?" The Doctor nudged Rose. "Any luck on the Graske front?"

"No' a sausage," Rose replied.

"You know, I never did actually understand that phrase "not a sausage"! You humans make so many random phrases and metaphors, that make no sense whatsoever. Take as right as--"

Rose groaned, "'Here 'e goes again."

"Back to the TARDIS?" Donna asked, getting up, as the Doctor drifted off into his own little world of rambles, and wonderings.

"Back to the TARDIS."

&&&&&&&&&

"I bet he'll take 5 minutes to realise we've gone, and find us again," Rose said, randomly, as they trekked back to the TARDIS.

"That'll be the day! His Lordship and his sea of rambles? 10 minutes. Definitely," Donna betted.

"10 minutes and a day 'til he's noticed I've nicked his psychic paper."

"You didn't!?" Donna paused. "Ten minutes, and a week, knowing 'im."

"A fiver on it?"

"The bet's on."

&&&&&&&&

The Doctor, Donna, and Rose stood just outside the ATRDIS, with some Ood surrounding.

"The message has gone out. That song resonated across the galaxies. Everyone heard it. Everyone knows. The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home," the Doctor informed Ood Sigma.

"We thank you, the good Colours, friends of Ood-kind. And what of you now? Will you stay? There is room in the song for you," Ood Sigma asked.

"Oh-- I've-- I've sorta got a song of my own, thanks," the Doctor nodded.

"I think your song must end soon."

"Meaning?" the Doctor frowned.

"Every song must end."

"Yeah," the Doctor looked to Donna. "Um, what about you? Do you still want to go home?"

"No. Definitely not," Donna confirmed.

"And you, Rose?" the Doctor checked with the blonde, even though he knew the answer.

"There's nowhere else to go. The TARDIS is my home, now," Rose said simply. She added with a sad smile, "Even if I did want to go see mum… I couldn't."

"Then we'll be off."

"Take this song with you."

"We will," Donna assured.

"You can count on it," Rose bolstered.

"Always." The Doctor agreed.

And know this, you, the people of brown, yellow and red, you will never be forgotten. Our children will sing of the Colours, and our children's children, and the wind and the ice and the snow will carry your names forever.

The Doctor, Donna, and Rose waved their last goodbyes to the Ood, before they walked back into the TARDIS, and dematerialised, leaving the Ood singing.

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A/N:- FINITO! Tis finished! I've got a filler chapter lined up next, before the Poison Sky/some-cheese-of-a-name-title-that-I-will-be-thinkings-about-in-due-course.

You're probs sick oof these now, but hi-ho:

If I were to write mah own ep for the this story, somewhere, some when – not that I am *shifty eyes*, which country/city/town would you choose from these:

France – Paris/somewhere near Mont Blanc/French Alps

Korea - Seoul

Some foreign place else (insert)

Reviews are my CHEESE, you fabbity fab GROOVSTERS reading this!!

=D =D =D =D =D