Disclaimer: Hola, my minions. I command you, go forth and take the Doctor and bring him back to me. Soon he will be your king. That is all.
(Okay, that one was weird, even for me. Oh well.)

Ch. 21:

The Jeep pulled up the corner of Donna's road, and the Doctor, Lily, and Donna all got out.

"I'll walk the rest of way." Donna told them.

"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you, and then you can come with us to the school?" Lily asked.

"I'm sure." Donna replied with a smile. "Go, have fun with the geniuses. Try to not let the Doctor destroy anything and I'll see you back at the factory, yeah?"

"I'll try." Lily said, laughing as the Doctor huffed. "See you at the factory."

"Bye!" the Doctor called as he herded Lily back into the Jeep.

"And you be careful!" Donna called after them.

She smiled and slowly turned and began walking down the street. She was amazed by how normal it looked.

"Haven't seen you for days." A neighbor called.

"Yeah." Donna called back. "Been away."

Donna stopped and watched a young boy play with a football, remembering everything she had been through recently from hanging off the Adipose Building, to the young boy she tried to save in Pompeii, to the Ood's song of captivity.

She turned and saw her grandfather in the drive and stifled a sob. He spotted her and began waving his arms. She broke into a run and he grabbed her in a hug.

Martha followed the two soldiers down into the basement.

"What's he doing down here?" she asked them.

"He asked to see you." One of the soldiers answered.

"Why?" she demanded. "Has he found something?"

The soldiers didn't answer, they simply led her to a door and opened it. Martha strode in, expecting to see Mace, but instead she found an empty room with a bubbling pool in the middle of it. She turned and headed back to the door, but the soldiers blocked her way. The door slid shut and she began to scream.

The lights went out.

Donna and Wilf sat, having tea.

"I said so, didn't I?" he was telling her. "Aliens. I said they were real. I just didn't expect them in a little blue box."

"It's bigger on the inside." Donna told him.

"Yeah, but is it safe, then?" Wilf asked her. "This Doctor and Lily, are you safe with them?"

"They're amazing, Gramps. They're just…dazzling." She said. "And never tell them I said that."

"No." Wilf agreed.

"But I'd trust them with my life." Donna told him.

"Hold up." He said. "I thought that was my job."

"You still come first." Donna told him with a smile.

"For God's sake, don't tell your mother." Wilf told her.

"I don't know." She replied. "I mean, this is massive. It's sort of not fair if she doesn't know."

Sylvia chose this moment to walk in.

"Doesn't know what? And who's 'she', the cat's mother?" she asked as she began folding laundry. "And where have you been these past few days, lady, after that silly little trick with the car keys? I phoned Veena and she said she hadn't seen hide nor hair."

"I've been…travelling." Donna told her.

"Oh, hark at her, Michael Palin." Sylvia said. "Are you staying for tea? 'Cause I haven't got anything in. I've been trying to keep your granddad on that macrobiotic diet but he sneaks off and gets pork pies at the petrol station. Don't deny it." She said when he tried to protest. "I've seen the wrappers in the car. Oh, I don't miss a trick."

Donna and Wilf shared a smile.

"Now then, what were you gonna tell me?" she asked. "What don't I know?"

"Nothing." Donna replied. "Just…nothing."

"Good." Sylvia replied. "Right, then, you can sit there and cut out those coupons. Every penny helps. This new mortgage won't pay for itself. Dad, kettle on."

"Yeah, kettle on." Wilf replied, winking at Donna as he got up.

"UNIT's been watching the Rattigan Academy for ages." Ross told the Doctor and Lily as they drove down the road. "It's all a bit Hitler Youth. Exercise at dawn and special diets."

"Turn left." The ATMOS told them.

"Ross, question." Lily said. "If UNIT thinks that AMOS isn't on the up and up-"

"How come we've got it in the Jeeps?" Ross finished.

"Yeah." Lily replied.

"Ha, tell me about it." Ross said. "They're fitted as standard on all government vehicles. We can't get rid of them until we can prove there's something wrong."

"Turn right."

"Drives me around the bend." Ross continued as he turned the bend into the school drive.

"Oh, nice one." The Doctor complimented him.

"Timed that perfectly." He replied with a smile.

"Ha." The Doctor laughed. "Yeah, you did."

"Okay, Ross just displaced Martha as my favorite member of UNIT." Lily said with a laugh.

"Thank you, ma'am." Ross said.

"Watch it." Lily told him with mock solemnity. "Keep calling me ma'am and you're going to lose your title."

"Yes, ma'am." Ross replied cheekily.

"This is your final destination." ATMOS told them.

"They couldn't have found a better phrase for that?" Lily grumbled as they got out of the car.

They made their way up the pavement to where a young man was watching a group in red sweat suits run by.

"Is it PE?" the Doctor asked. "I wouldn't mind a kick-around. Got me daps on."

"Oh, and I've been trying so hard to cure you of your British tendencies." Lily complained. "Did you really have to use the phrase 'Got me daps on.'?"

"I suppose you're the Doctor." Luke said.

"He is." Lily said, pointing. "I'm Lily."

"Hello." The Doctor said.

"Your commanding officer phoned ahead." Luke told him, not even glancing at Lily.

"Oh, I haven't got a commanding officer." The Doctor replied.

"Ahem." Lily said.

"Except her and Donna." The Doctor added. "Have you? Oh, this is Ross. Say hello, Ross."

"Afternoon, sir." Ross said.

The Doctor ran passed Luke to the doors.

"Let's have a look, then!" he called. "I can smell genius…in a good way."

Lily smiled and joined the Doctor.

The Doctor wandered into a lab where some students were working, with Lily right behind him.

"Oh, now…that's clever!" he exclaimed. "Look!"

He slipped on his glasses and took a closer look at the experiments.

"Single-molecule fabric." He marveled. "How thin is that?"

"About as thin as a single molecule?" Lily asked.

"You could pack a tent in a thimble." The Doctor continued, ignoring her. "Oh! Gravity simulators! Terraforming, biospheres, nano-tech steel construction! Ha-ha, this is brilliant! But y'know with equipment like this, you could, oh, I dunno…move to another planet or something."

"If only that was possible." Luke replied.

"If only that were possible." The Doctor corrected, removing his glasses. "Conditional clause."

Please don't provoke the sociopath. Lily begged.

But it's so much fun. The Doctor replied with a grin.

You've been spending way too much time with me. Lily told him with an answering grin.

"I think you'd better come with me." Luke told them.

He let them out of the lab and into his office which was full of toys and other stuff.

"You're smarter than the usual UNIT grunts, I'll give you that." He said.

"He called you a grunt." The Doctor said, turning to Ross. "Don't call Ross a grunt, he's nice. We like Ross, don't we, Lily?"

"I love Ross." Lily agreed. "In fact I'm thinking of marrying him. What do you say, Ross?"

"Of course, ma'am." Ross agreed.

"Well, I think I might have something to say about that, but we'll come back to that." The Doctor said, glaring at Lily.

Love you. She told him with a grin.

"Look at this place…" she said aloud, looking around. She leaned against the desk and watched the Doctor wander around the room.

"What exactly do you want?" Luke asked, aggravated.

"I was just thinking, what a responsible 18 year old." The Doctor answered. "Inventing zero-carbon cars, saving the world…"

"It takes a man with vision." Luke told him.

"Blinkered vision." Lily said.

"She's right." The Doctor agreed. "'Cause ATMOS means more people driving, more cars, more petrol, end result: the oil's gonna run out faster than ever. The ATMOS system could make things worse."

"Yeah, well, that's tautology." Luke shot back quickly. "You can't say ATMOS 'system' 'cause it stands for Atmospheric Emission System. So you're saying 'Atmospheric Emission System System'. Do you see, Mr. Conditional Clause?"

"It's been a long time since anyone's said no to you, isn't it?" the Doctor asked quietly.

"I'm still right, though." Luke replied.

"Not easy, is it, being smart?" Lily asked. "You look at the world and you connect things-random things-and think, 'why can't anyone else see it? The rest of the world is so slow'."

"Yeah." Luke agreed, studying her.

"And you're on your own." The Doctor pointed out.

"I know." Luke replied.

"But not with this." The Doctor continued, pulling the ATMOS device out of his pocket. "'Cause there's no way you invented this single-handed. It might be Earth technology, but that's like finding a mobile phone in the Middle Ages."

"And whatever he says, that was so not my fault." Lily chimed in. "I have no idea whose phone that was."

"Sure it wasn't." the Doctor said, tossing the device to her. "No, I know what it's like. It's like finding this in someone's front room. Albeit, a very big front room."

He walked towards a large box with a hole cut in it in the middle of the room.

"Why?" Ross asked. "What is it?"

"Yeah, just looks like a thing, doesn't it?" the Doctor replied. "People don't question things. They just think, 'Oh, it's a thing'."

Why are you blocking me from what you're planning? Lily asked suspiciously.

"Leave it alone!" Luke shouted.

"Me, I make these connections." The Doctor said as he walked inside. "And this, to me, looks like…" he pressed some buttons, "…a teleport pod."

He disappeared.

"Damn him." Lily ground out. "Ross, back-up."

Without hesitation, Ross pulled out his back-up gun and tossed it to Lily before pulling out his sidearm and they both pointed the guns at Luke.

"Bring him back." Lily ordered.

The Doctor appeared in a teleport pod, aboard a space ship populated by short men in battle armor.

"Orbit now holding at 556.3, sector 270."

"Oh." The Doctor said.

The men turned and spotted the Doctor. One pointed a staff at him.

"We have an intruder!" the one holding the staff yelled.

"How did he get in?" the Doctor asked. "In-tru-da window?"

You're a dead man. Lily told him. And not just for that joke.

"Bye-bye!" the Doctor called.

He hit a button and took off running. He disappeared mid step.

The Doctor appeared, running out of the device.

"Lily, what's with the gun?" he asked, stopping short.

"My dagger didn't have the proper reach." Lily said simply. "Just because you don't like guns doesn't mean they bother me."

"Whatever, we'll address that later." He said. "We need to get out! Luke, you better come with us."

"Too late." Lily said.

One of the aliens appeared behind the Doctor.

"Sontaran!" the Doctor shouted, turning around and using the sonic screwdriver to short out the control panel at the same time. "That's your name, isn't it? How did I know that, eh?"

He put away the screwdriver.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" he asked. "Isn't that worth keeping me alive?"

"I order you to surrender in the name of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce." Ross said, pointing his gun at the alien.

"Sontaran?" Lily asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"Well, that blows." She said, lowering her gun. "This thing's useless."

She tossed it back to Ross, who barely caught it as he lowered his gun.

"What do you mean?" Ross asked. "Ma'am."

"Oh, so close." Lily said.

"Cordalaine signal, am I right?" the Doctor asked the Sontaran.

He turned back to Ross.

"Copper excitation stopping the bullets." He explained to the man.

"How do you know so much?" the Sontaran demanded.

"Well…" the Doctor replied, walking around the room.

"Who is he?" the alien asked Luke.

"He didn't give his name." Luke replied.

The Doctor walked back to where Lily was leaning against the desk, still put out that her gun wouldn't work.

"This isn't typical Sontaran behavior, is it?" he asked. "Hiding? Using teenagers? Stopping bullets? A Sontaran should face bullets with dignity! Shame on you!"

"You dishonor me!" the Sontaran shouted.

"Then show yourself." The Doctor replied calmly.

"I will look into my enemy's eyes." The Sontaran announced.

He removed his helmet to reveal a large, brown, dome-shaped head with no neck.

"Oh, my God." Ross said.

"And your name would be…?" Lily asked.

"General Staal of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet." The Sontaran replied. "Staal, the Undefeated."

"Seriously?" Lily asked.

"She's got a point." The Doctor agreed. "That's not a very good nickname. What if you do get defeated? 'Staal, the Not Quite So Undefeated Anymore But Never Mind'?"

"Looks like a potato, a baked potato." Ross scoffed. "A talking baked potato."

"Be nice, Ross." Lily rebuked.

"Yeah, you look like a pink weasel to him." The Doctor added.

He leaned down and picked up a tennis racket and Lily handed him a ball, which he started to bounce on the racket.

"The Sontarans are the finest soldiers in the galaxy." The Doctor told Ross, leaning on his shoulder. "Dedicated to a life of warfare."

He twirled the racket.

"A clone race grown in batches of millions with only one weakness-"

"Sontarans have no weakness!" Staal interrupted.

"No, it's a good weakness." The Doctor protested.

"Aren't you meant to be clever?" Luke demanded. "Only an idiot would provoke him."

"Well, he's a genius." Lily replied. "Whether he's smart or not is still up in the air."

"You chose to be my mate." The Doctor pointed out. "What does that say about you?"

"That I have a history of mental illness in my family?" Lily shot back. "You've met my brother."

"Good point." The Doctor conceded. "But back to the point, Sontarans are fed by a probic vent in the back of the neck. That's their weak spot, which means they always have to face their enemy in battle. Isn't that brilliant? They can never turn their backs!"

"We stare into the face of death!" Staal told him.

"Yeah?" the Doctor replied. "Well, stare at this!"

The Doctor hit the ball with the racket. It flew through the air and bounced off the teleport pod and hit Staal in the probic vent on back of his head. Staal staggered and Lily and the Doctor quickly pushed Ross out of the room.

"Out! Out! Out!" the Doctor shouted.

They ran out of the school and down to the Jeep and jumped in. They quickly drove down the driveway.

A/N: Chapter three. Sorry it took so long. So, you know the drill. Review! Review! Review!

Abbey