Hello! Okay, I have two apologies to make. 1 – This is a a rather short chapter. There just isn't really many places to cut it, and it's also a rather short episode. 2 – Sorry it took me so long. My computer crashed on me and I had to rewrite this three times. After a while you just tend to lose your muse if you rewrite too much. And then to top it off, I've been quite sick these last few weeks. I've gotten nothing done. I keep crashing as soon as I get home. And work is a little full out since there are two of us doing the work of four people.

But I seem to be going pretty good at the moment, so fingers crossed I can get more up soon.

In other news, my mother is engaged and they have finally set a date... ish. Sometime in January next year. And they've decided to get married on one of the islands like Rarotonga or something... I don't think I have ever not wanted to go over seas before now. Yes, it will be fun, but not with my family. On the bright side I can bring my lap top. On the down side, I will have to use the money I have been saving for the Auckland Armageddon Expo next year! No costumes, no spending money! Oh, and I am doing a lot of exercise, which is killing my liver. Because Mum says she doesn't want a fat bridesmaid... I'm 52kg! Gah!

Anyway, enough about me, more about the story. I've introduced a bit more of my own plotline in here. So I hope you like it.

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The Factory is Taken

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'We have to find out what is in that gas. What is it for?' Rose said to the Doctor in their heads.

'I have an idea as to what it's for. But we need to know what's in it to get rid of it safely. Ah, looks like Martha's got something.'

'Yeah, something she's trying to hide.'

He walked up to Martha and snatched a clipboard from her hands. He scanned over it.

"There's carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, but 10% is unidentified," she told him. "Some sort of artificial heavy element we can't trace. You ever seen anything like it?"

The Doctor shook his head and passed the clipboard to Rose to look at. "Must be something the Sontarans invented. This isn't just poison, they need this gas for something else. What could that be?"

'Maybe it's something to help them... clone,' Rose suggested. 'You know, like those little sea monkeys. You had to poor something in the water and they would grow.'

The Doctor raised and eyebrow at her in amusement and was about to reply when they heard the UNIT higher ups giving out orders.

"Launch grid online and active," Captain Price stated loudly.

"Positions, ladies and gentlemen," Mace ordered. "Defcon One initiatives in progress."

"What?!" the Doctor cried, running over to him. "I told you not to launch!"

"The gas is at 60% density, 80% and people start dying, Doctor. We've got no choice."

"Launching in 60, 59, 58, 57, 56..." He ran his hands through his hair in panic. "World wide nuclear grid now co-ordinating. 54, 53..."

"You're making a mistake, Colonel! For once, I hope the Sontarans are ahead of you."

"North America, online. United Kingdom, online. France, online..."

"We have to do something!" Rose cried. "We have to stop them!" 'Donna's up there!'

"I – I can't! There's nothing we can do!"

"India, online. Pakistan, online. China, online. North Korea, online. All systems locked and co-ordinated. Launching in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..."

"God save us," Mace muttered. The Doctor looked at the screen with gritted teeth and Rose hid her eyes in his shoulder.

"...4, 3, 2, 1... 0."

The screen shut off. Rose let out a sigh of relief.

"What is it?" Mace demanded. "What happened? Did we launch? Well, did we?"

"Negative, sir," Price told him. "The launch codes have been wiped, sir. It must be the Sontarans."

"Can we override it?"

"Trying it now Sir."

"You lot are useless!" Rose cried. "I thought you were supposed to protect the Earth, not put it in more danger. Everyone would be better off if you just stopped. The Doctor and I have handled worse alone."

"Excuse me, Miss Tyler, but I know perfectly well how to do my job."

"You fired missiles at a race of aliens who love nothing more than war! They've been fighting for centuries with better technology than you'll ever have!"

"She's right. Missiles wouldn't even dent that ship. So why are the Sontarans so keen to stop you?" As he said this, he'd walked over to Martha. "Any ideas?" he asked her.

"How should I know?

Suddenly the radio crackled, drawing everyone's attention. "Enemy within! At arms! Greyhound 40 declaring absolute emergency. Sontarans within factory grounds, east corridor grid six."

Mace walked closer to the radio and began giving out orders. "Absolute emergency, declaring Code Red. All troops, Code Red!"

The Doctor tuned to him with wide eyes. "Get them out of there!"

Mace ignored him. "All troops, open fire."

"No!" Rose cried. She charged towards the radio, as if to grab it and speak to them all. "Don't! You can't-" Hands grabbed at her and she was held back. "Get the hell off me!"

"The guns aren't working," Ross said over the radio. "Inform all troops, standard weapons do not work." The sound of multiple screams reached them and the sound of something hitting the ground. "Tell the Doctor it's that Cordolaine..." There was sudden silence across the radio, followed by cautious footsteps. "Hold on, sir, we have a civilian in the building. Hey! Ma'am. Excuse me, ma'am. You can't be here. This is a military operation. There are armed... offenders in this building. Let me escort you... um... what are you doing?" Everyone's brows creased in concern. Who was he talking to? There was no sound other than him, and there had been no reports of anyone entering the factory. "Wh-what is that? What are you doing? Ma'am, I have to-"

There was a bang and the radio cut out with deafening static.

"Greyhound 40, report. Over," Mace commanded. "Greyhound 40, report. Greyhound 40, report!"

"He wasn't Greyhound 40, his name was Ross," the Doctor hissed. "Now listen to me, and get them out of there!"

Mace stood with a grim face. "Trap One to all stations. Retreat. Order imperative. Immediate retreat!"

They could hear many shouts down the radio, and eventually someone replied. "We're out, sir. We don't know how many casualties. But they've sealed themselves in."

Mace sighed grimly. "They've taken the factory."

"Why? They don't need it. And would you two please let go of my fiancée before she hurts you." At his words two men cautiously let Rose go, and she roughly shrugged them away. He sighed as he walked around the front. "Times like this, I could do with the Brigadier. No offence."

"None taken. Sir Alistair is a fine man, if not the best. Unfortunately he's stranded in Peru."

"Launch grid back online," Price informed them as she screen turned back on. But not a second later, it turned off again. "They're inside the system, sir. It's coming from within UNIT itself."

"Trace it. Find out where it's coming from, and quickly. Gas levels?"

"66% in major population areas. And rising."

Mace almost growled. "Doctor, Miss Tyler, with me, please."

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Ten minutes later they were in a private room, discussing what they knew.

"Why are they defending the factory only after we were inside?" Mace asked.

"Well, there must be something in there they want to protect that wasn't in there before," Rose suggested.

"Yes!" the Doctor cried, gesturing at her. "They wanted UNIT here. You gave them something they needed. Something now hidden inside the factory. Something precious."

"Then we've got to recover it. This Cordolaine signal thing, how does it work?"

"The bullets. It causes expansion of the copper shell."

"Excellent. I'm on it." Without another word he got up and left.

"For the billionth time, you can't fight Sontarans!" the Doctor shouted after him.

Rose sighed and shook her head. "He's a lost cause, isn't he? Still, we have a better option." She held up her phone and waved it in front of him.

"Ooh, yes! Brilliant!" He went to grab it, but she snatched it back.

"Ah, ah... First... This was my idea, after you went through that ridiculous message. So what do you say...?"

He gave her an exasperated look. "I can sometimes be an absolute idiot," he dead-panned, then a smile grew on his face. "But you, Rose Tyler, are absolutely brilliant!"

"Now that's more like it!" She laughed. She handed the phone to him as he hugged her and leaned in to give her a kiss.

"I love you," he said as he dialled.

"You too." It didn't take long for the phone to be picked up.

"Rose?" Donna said as she answered.

"No, it's me."

"Doctor? What was with that rubbish message? I had no idea what you were on about!"

"Yeah... Sorry about that..."

"Where are you two?"

"We're still on Earth. But don't worry, we have a secret weapon."

"What's that?" she asked.

"You."

"Oh," she groaned. "Somehow that's not making me happy. Can't you just zap us down to Earth with that remote thing?"

"Yeah, I haven't got a remote, though. I really should."

"You know I can-" Rose started.

"Yes, but you wont. We've been over this. Anyway, Donna, I need you on that ship. That's why I made them move the TARDIS. I'm sorry, but you've got to go outside."

"But there's Sonterruns," she said in fear.

"Sontarans," he corrected. "But they'll all be on battle stations right now. They don't walk around having coffee. I can talk you through it."

"But what if they find me?"

"I don't know, and I wouldn't ask, but there's nothing else I can do." He was starting to sound a little panicked and pleading himself. Rose bit her lip as she stood by listening. "The whole planet is chocking, Donna."

Suddenly, Rose perked up when she realised there was some way she could help. She went over to the Doctor and took the phone from his hand. "Okay, Donna, listen to me. Sontarans have one weakness, and you're going to need a weapon to get to it."

"A weapon?!" the Doctor cried. Rose ignored him.

"I need you to go to the corral strut on the right of the door. At the base of it, there's a notch. It will just look like a bump in the coral, but I need you to pull it."

She heard Donna doing so. "A mallet?" she said in surprise. "Is that the Doctor's mallet?"

"Yep."

"What is it with you two and the mallets?!"

"The TARDIS doesn't like them," Rose replied. "Way he bangs her about." She shot a glare at the Doctor and he rose his eyebrows, slightly taken aback. "But you'll probably need it. If you run into any Sontarans, you need to hit them with it. But um, not just hit them. There's a specific spot. A, um... a vent or something on the back of their neck. You need to hit that." Before she knew it, the phone was pulled from her fingers and was pressed back against the Doctor's ear.

"The probic vent," he said. "One firm hit will incapacitate the Sontaran."

"Okay... What do you need me to do?"

"The Sontarans are inside the factory, which means they've got a teleport link with the ship, but they'll have it deadlocked. I need you to reopen the link."

"But I can't even mend a fuse!" she cried.

"Donna! Stop talking about yourself like that. You can do this. I promise. Rose and I will be right here."

There was a creak and he guessed she was opening the door, a second squeak sounded like she closed it.. "There's a Sonterrun... a Sontaran," she reported, sounding a little scared.

"Did he see you?"

"No, he's got his back to me."

"Perfect. Did you see the vent? On the back of his neck, on the collar. Looks a bit like a plug, or a hole. You need to hit that."

"But he's going to kill me."

"I'm sorry. I swear, I'm so sorry. But you've got to try." Rose worried her lip as she watched him run a hand over his face and through his hair. They both waited anxiously, small noises coming from the other end of the line.

"Back of the neck!" came Donna's triumphant voice after a moment.

"Ooh!" he said happily. "Now then, you've got to find the external junction feed to the teleport."

"Wh - What's it look like?"

"A circular panel on the wall. Big symbol on the front. Like a – like a letter T wit a horizontal line through it. Or two F's back to back."

"Well, there's a door."

"Should be a switch by the side."

"Yeah, there is. But it's Sontaran shaped. You need three fingers."

"You've got three fingers," he told her.

"Oh, yeah," she said, her voice still very panicked. "I'm through."

"Oh, you are brilliant, you are!" he told her, holding the phone at a weird angle.

"Whoo! Go Donna," Rose said just loud enough so she would hear.

"Shut up. Right. T with a line through it."

"Doctor!" Rose hissed. He looked in the direction she was nodding and saw Mace entering the base again.

"Got to go. Keep the line open!"

"Did you just hang up on her?" Rose said, aghast.

"Don't have much choice-"

"Counter-attack!" Mace ordered, and the Doctor rushed out. Rose sighed. Poor Donna. She was stuck up there and was currently without the protection of the TARDIS. Clearly the Doctor needed people not to know about what he was doing, but she was too concerned for her friend. Friends. Both of them. If Martha had been replaced by a clone, then...

Martha! Something precious inside the factory. They were holding Martha! She rushed out to the Doctor's side to share the information.

"I said you don't stand a chance!" he shouted at Mace.

"Positions. That means everyone!" He threw a gas mask to each of them. Rose looked down at hers, moving it side to side. It really creped her out, but just the thought brought a smile to her face at the memories.

She grabbed his hand. 'Doctor. It's Martha. They're holding Martha, I'm sure of it.'

'Yeah, I had a suspicion,' he replied.

'It's like the Autons with Mickey. They needed him alive to keep the copy going, feed it the right information. They're keeping Martha alive to keep the clone alive.'

The Doctor looked at her, slightly surprised. 'You, Rose Tyler, are absolutely brilliant!' He planted a kiss on her lips, then together they began to move off when they heard a voice from behind them.

"You're not going with out me," Martha clone demanded.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied.

"Yeah, what would we do without you," Rose said. "You're my best friend."

Martha was. And she would stop at nothing to get her back. Stupid potato warriors be damned.