Chapter 25: The Doctor's Daughter
As everyone gripped onto the console, Iris was reminded of the time she had to travel through the Time Vortex while gripping onto the TARDIS, from outside. She grunted as she kept her grip tight while Donna yelled out in fear,
"What the hell's it doing?"
The Doctor answered with, "The control's not working."
Iris saw the man behind her glimpse down at the jar of his hand glow and the liquid containing his hand bubble violently. She rolled her eyes when he said,
"I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it."
Donna looked down at the jar and then looked at him with shock as she said,
"I thought that was just some freaky alien thing. You telling me it's yours?"
The Doctor answered, "Well…."
Martha bit out, "It apparently got cut off. He grew a new one."
Donna's eyes widened as she muttered, "You are completely impossible."
Iris laughed at that while the Doctor said, "Not impossible. Just… a bit unlikely."
Suddenly, they felt the TARDIS stop with a large banging noise. Sparks flew from the console until everything turned eerily quiet. Iris felt the Doctor relax and step back from her. She wasn't sure why he had put himself behind her, but she felt the bond react violently between them. Groaning, she stretched when the Doctor ran outside.
"He never checks if it's safe…" she muttered, causing the other women to laugh and follow her. The Doctor looked around with confusion as he asked,
"Why would the TARDIS bring us here, then?"
Iris shrugged at that. She felt like she had a small inkling about it, but not exactly sure why. Martha smiled a little as she admitted,
"Oh, I love this bit."
Donna chuckled and teased Martha by saying, "I thought you wanted to go home."
Martha shrugged a little as she said, "I know, but all the same, it's that feeling you get."
Donna giggled and asked, "Like you swallowed a hamster?"
But before Martha could retort back, a man's voice said,
"Don't move! Stay where you are! Drop your weapons."
Three men popped up, pointing rifles at them. The group of four time travelers immediately raised their hands. The Doctor quickly rambled with,
"We're unarmed. Look, no weapons. Never any weapons. We're safe."
A soldier's eyes widened and said, "Look at their hands. They're clean…"
Iris eyed the more familiar looking one. She couldn't remember his name, but she heard him say, "all right, process them. Those two first."
"What?" Iris asked when she felt one of the two soldiers drag her to the big machine with the Doctor.
This wasn't the same as the storyline she watched. It had originally been just the Doctor, and yet here she was being dragged with him. The Doctor curiously asked,
"Oi, oi. What's wrong with clean hands?"
Martha looked equally as confused as she asked, "What's going on?"
But before they could get any explanation, Iris and the Doctor's arms were pushed into the machine. Iris felt a tightening sensation around her arm and she didn't like the feeling. She tried to stay still, but her panic was clear as the Doctor muttered to her, "Iris, we're going to be fine."
Iris glared at him and said, "Stop lying will you? Oh, why did I decide to come here instead of helping-"
But that was when something pricked her palm and both the Doctor and Iris yelped out in pain.
Donna saw the look of agony on Iris' face as she tried not to scream out and asked, "What are you doing to them?"
The soldier that had ordered the others said, "Everyone gets processed?"
The Doctor muttered as he tried to stay calm, "It's taken a tissue sample. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?"
Iris grimaced and quickly pulled her arm out when the machine slackened its grip on her arm. She quickly looked down at her palm to find a matching pattern on the back of the Doctor's hand. Martha ran over to them with Donna and asked, "Are you two alright?"
The Doctor looked shocked as he said, "What on earth? That's just…"
But before he could finish, the machinery behind them activated and then a pair of glass and metal doors opened to reveal small figure. Iris watched a petite blond woman in combat boots and trousers along with a khaki t-shirt step outside. The familiar looking man provided her with a rifle as he said, "Arm yourself."
The woman accepted it and looked around her with some awe and curiosity. The time travelers were stumped and Martha managed to ask,
"Where did she come from?"
Iris answered with shock, "From the Doctor and me…"
Donna asked, "From you two? How? Who is she?"
The Doctor gulped and had eye contact with Iris, who looked equally as stunned as he answered,
"Well, she's… well… she's our daughter."
The woman looked up at Iris and the Doctor, smiling widely, her smile resembling Iris' as she said,
"Hello, Mum and Dad."
Iris felt faint and thought she might pass out from the shock.
She was a mom.
…..
Donna looked worriedly at the Doctor and Iris, who both had fallen silent with a look as if their eyes would pop out of their heads from the surprise. Jenny strangely resembled the Doctor more than Iris, but it seemed that her eyes and height resembled Iris more than the Time Lord.
The two companions didn't notice that Iris and the Doctor were having a silent conversation at that moment. Iris stuttered through their bond,
"I knew about her, but I didn't realize…"
"That she would be from both of us?" The Doctor responded.
Through their bond, Iris admitted that and the Doctor said,
"Well… I guess there's a first for everything. But this worries me…"
Iris quickly looked over at him and asked, "What?"
The Doctor winced and said, "Normally, bonded Time Lords have children after the… well… physical bond…"
"Oh…" was all Iris managed to stutter out through their connection as she blushed bright red. The conversation died down after that as both individuals found themselves in an awkward situation. Iris was in a relationship. Strange arrangement of herself with two men, but this just caused a whole different issue. Now she had a child with the Doctor. Albeit, it was from their tissue samples, but it was still awkward to think about this in such a scenario.
Then the Doctor warily pulled out his sonic screwdriver to scan her. The bond normally didn't have any special effects on Time Lords. But that was because they would have already physically bonded before the child came along. But in this scenario, the bond had not been advanced to such degrees but they did. When the readings came, he froze a little and redid it.
He internally groaned as he realized something. Jack was probably going to murder him the next time they met. He was brought of his thoughts when he heard the man say,
"You primed to take orders? Ready to fight?"
Both he and Iris frowned at what the woman said as a response.
"Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir. Generation five thousand soldier primed and in peak physical health. Oh, I'm ready."
The woman walked alongside the man and Iris grimaced as she looked up at the Doctor, who had a cold glint in his eyes as he watched the woman. That was when they both heard Donna choke out in disbelief,
"Did you say daughter?"
Iris nodded while the Doctor said, "Mmm… technically."
Iris elbowed him on the side while Martha asked, "Technically how?"
The Doctor answered, "They took samples of diploid cells from each of us and split them into haploids. They then recombined them in a different arrangement and let it grow. Very quickly, apparently."
Iris sighed, not liking the cold tone in his voice when the woman said, "Something's coming."
Iris warily eyed Martha and was debating about whether to let her go with the Hath or not when everything happened quickly. The man shouted out,
"It's the Hath!"
With that, gunfire rang out and then the daughter yelled out, "Get down!"
The time travelers quickly took cover. They all flinched when the man said, "We have to blow the tunnel. Get the detonator."
The Doctor quickly stood up and argued, "I'm not detonating anything."
The Doctor went to help a wounded soldier. Iris was watching her new daughter when she cursed and turned around when she saw the Hath a little too late. Iris stood up to run after Martha when another soldier dragged her back down as the man said,
"Blow the thing! Blow the thing!"
Iris yelled out Martha's name while the Doctor shouted, "Martha!"
He quickly turned to the man giving out orders and said urgently,
"No, don't!"
But it was too late as the woman quickly hit the button, causing explosions to happen to bring down the roof and seal the tunnel. The Doctor violently turned around to face the woman with obvious anger as he said,
"You've sealed off the tunnel. Why did you do that?"
Iris held the Doctor back a little, making sure he didn't get too close. She felt him trembling and tried to calm him down.
The woman seemed surprised at the reaction and said, "They were trying to kill us."
The Doctor, too angry to notice Iris trying to stop him, hissed, "But they've got my friend."
Donna helplessly watched as the daughter answered with,
"Collateral damage. At least you've still got your friend and Mum. He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead."
Iris pulled the Doctor back from approaching the girl in pure anger while Donna shook her head and gently said, "Her name's Martha. And she's not collateral damage, not for anyone."
The Doctor tried to get out of Iris' grasp as he said, "I'm going to find her."
Iris said, "Doctor, you can't. Not like this."
He glared down at her to only frown when she said to him via bond, "She's better off over there then here right now. Trust me."
The Doctor sighed and tried to clam down as everyone heard the man say,
"You're going nowhere. You don't make sense, you three. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now, move."
The Doctor kept thinking about Martha, worried that she was in danger but that was when Iris tried doing something she had sworn not to try after the whole reset incident. She said,
"I know you're worried about Martha, but she's fine. Here,"
She then showed how Martha was doing right now through their bond. She was showing him Martha helping out the injured Hath and the Hath remaining calm. The Doctor smiled at that and his worry definitely lessened, even though it didn't quite go away. As they continued walking, Iris stayed near the Doctor while Martha remained closer to the girl who looked similar in age to Iris.
"I'm Donna. What's your name?"
The girl shrugged as she thought on that and said, "Don't know. It's not been assigned."
Iris turned around at that and heard Donna ask, "Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?"
The daughter answered mechanically, "How to fight."
Iris asked carefully, "Nothing else?"
But the Doctor answered coldly with, "The machine must embed military history and tactics, but no name. She's a generated anomaly."
Iris grimaced, which the girl noticed and said, "I'm going to give you a name then. How about Jenny?"
The girl murmured, "Jenny…" and a bit louder with, "Yeah, I like that. Jenny." She smiled widely and Iris smiled back and hugged Jenny.
Jenny then asked, "What do you think, Dad?"
The Time Lord answered without much emotion, "Good as anything, I suppose."
Jenny looked a little dejected at that, but it was short-lived as Iris' eyes narrowed in anger at that. Iris knew that Jenny wasn't born in the most ideal circumstances, but she was still a part of Iris and the Doctor. Angry at his response, Iris stomped over to him and hit the back of his head.
"Now you hear me out, mister! She may have been born as a soldier here, but it doesn't change the fact that she's part you and part me. So even if we're not real husband and wife, you be nice to your daughter! I'm not having anyone talk to Jenny like that!"
The Doctor's eyes widened at the protective nature Iris had towards Jenny and then grimaced. Iris may have been kind and protective before, but he could feel the bond act up too, making her anger about his behavior more apparent. She was acting like any Time Lady would have in this situation. His grimace was noticed by Iris, who looked like she would hit him again if he said anything bad and he just muttered, an apology. She didn't seem too happy about it, but Jenny just stopped her from saying anything else with,
"Mum, stop… it's alright."
Iris sighed and let it go as Donna commented,
"Not what you'd call a natural parent, are you?"
The Doctor was about to answer about how she was created from a forced tissue sample, but Iris' warning glare stopped him and he just shrugged. Jenny smiled at that and said, "It's fine. At least I know mum will take my side."
Iris shook her head and looked over at Jenny and said, "Jenny, I'm still trying to digest that I now have a daughter who looks like my age… I'm also trying to make myself used to the fact that I have a daughter at all. I don't mind that. It's strange and not in the most ideal circumstances, but I love you all the same. It's just that you being a soldier doesn't sit well with me. If you want to be, I won't stop you, but if this is what you really don't want to do, I'm going to do everything to help you get out of this."
Jenny looked surprised at that. She hadn't questioned her being a soldier and thought it over as the Doctor said,
"Look, just because I share certain physiological traits with simian primates doesn't-"
With a large whack, Iris' hand hit the back of his head again and the Doctor yelped in pain. Iris waved a finger at him and said, "Not this again! I told you I won't have you insulting Jenny! She's still our daughter. If you can't accept that, then don't voice it. I'm not going around having the father be this rude."
The Doctor sighed. She was getting more and more protective, which meant that the bond between him and Iris was getting stronger and advancing without control. This wasn't going to end well. Jack was definitely going to murder him.
When the group finally arrived at a domed room with a camp of clone chambers, the Doctor asked,
"So, where are we? What planet's this?"
The man who led them here answered with, "Messaline. Well, what's left of it."
Another person continued with, "6, 6, 3, 75 deceased. Generation 6, 6, 71, extinct. Generation 6, 6, 7, 2, 46 deceased…"
The number kept going as Donna muttered, "But this is a theatre."
The Doctor shrugged as he answered, "Maybe they're doing Miss Saigon."
Iris sighed but didn't say anything, causing Jenny to study her a little bit when a man with a white beard approached them as the Doctor said,
"General Cobb, I presume."
Iris rolled her eyes as Cobb answered with, "Found in the western tunnels, I'm told, with no marks. There was an outbreak of pacifism in the eastern zone three generations back, before we lost contact. Is that where you came from?"
The Doctor enthusiastically nodded as he said, "Eastern zone, that's us, yeah. Yeah. I'm the Doctor, this is Donna and this is Iris."
"And this is Jenny, my daughter." Iris added, getting angrier with the Doctor. Jenny looked a little awkward at the animosity starting to build between her mum and the Doctor. She was given information to not really get attached to those who had passed their genetics to her, but something about her parents left her feeling wanting to rely on both of them. But with the tension seeming to heighten between her parents, she shifted awkwardly and shared a glance with Donna, who seemed equally confused as her.
Cobb sighed and said, "Don't think you can infect us with your peacemaking. We're committed to the fight, to the very end."
The Doctor nodded and responded, "Well, that's alright. I can't stay, anyway. I've got to go and find my friend."
Cobb let out a frustrated sigh and said disapprovingly, "That's not possible. All movement is regulated. We're at war."
The Doctor nodded grimly and asked, "Yes, I noticed. With the Hath. But tell me, because we got a bit out of circulation, eastern zone and all that. So who exactly are the Hath?"
Iris felt the somber feeling take over as Cobb said,
"Back at the dawn of this planet, these ancient halls were carved from the earth. Our ancestors dreamt of a new beginning. A colony where human and Hath would work and live together."
The Doctor pressed with another question, "So what happened?"
Cobb answered,
"The dream died. Broken, along with Hath promises. They wanted it all for themselves. But those early pioneers, they fought back. They used the machines to produce soldiers instead of colonists, and began this battle for survival."
That was when Donna looked to the side and noticed the window. Grabbing Iris' attention, she asked,
"There's nothing but earth outside, why's that? Why build everything underground?"
Iris quickly responded with, "Right now, the surface is slightly too dangerous to live in. There's radiation not enough to quickly harm, but it can easily build up over time to be very harmful."
Donna's eyes widened at that and Iris noticed the nervous look Donna was trying to hide. Iris grabbed Donna's hand and said,
"Everything's going to be alright Donna. Just make sure that Jenny stays safe, alright?"
Donna nodded and smiled at how protective Iris was over the girl. It was slightly funny too since Iris was somewhat slightly shorter than Jenny and yet she could still see the clear mother and daughter like attitudes both had towards each other.
Donna then looked at what looked like a strange string of numbers and asked Cline, "What does this mean?"
Cobb answered instead with, "The rites and symbols of our ancestors. The meaning's lost in time."
The Doctor walked up to Cobb and asked, "How long's this war gone on for?"
Iris warily glanced at the Doctor, feeling how on edge he was through their bond. If anything, it felt overwhelming as if their bond had been dialed up by 100. Iris tried to ignore the roaring feelings coming through by studying their surroundings, but it was getting more and more difficult to do so.
But the group heard Cobb answer, "Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead."
Donna's eyes widened and asked in shock, "What, fighting all this time?"
Jenny stepped up and said, "Because we must. Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance. It's all we know. How to fight, and how to die."
Iris immediately winced at that and said in response,
"No, no, no. Even if you were given that supposed knowledge, who created it? And why is it a must? Why can't there be any discussions or anything? And Jenny, we're going to have to talk about this later. I'm not having a daughter of mine start fighting wars for no valid reason."
Jenny looked like she wanted to argue against that, but the looks coming from the Doctor and Iris stopped her. Both of her parents had a somewhat haunted look in their eyes and it terrified her. But Jenny had not realized that this very same look was stemming from two different reasons.
The Doctor quickly hid those emotions away and jumped to look at the map and asked the general,
"Dow this show the entire city, including the Hath zones?"
Cobb warily asked, "Yes. Why?"
Iris answered with, "Well, it'll help us find Martha."
Cline, the young boy argued, "We've more important things to do. The progenation machines are powered down for the night shift, but soon as they're active, we could breed a whole platoon from you three."
Iris and the Doctor immediately winced, not liking the sound of that. Jenny was one thing, a whole platoon sounded awful. Donna just grimaced as she didn't want to get involved between the two other time travelers. That just sounded terribly disgusting on her part.
Donna therefore immediately said, "I'm not having sons and daughters by some great big flipping machine!"
Then she quickly turned to Jenny and said, "Sorry, no offense, but you're not… Well, I mean…"
Iris sighed and grabbed Donna's hand and said, "Donna… she's my daughter."
Donna slightly blushed but did stop what she was about to say as Jenny sadly said to Donna,
"You're no better than him. I have a body, I have a mind, I have independent thought. How am I not real? What makes you better than me?"
Iris was about to say something about that when Cobb interrupted with, "Well said, soldier. We need more like you, if ever we're to find the Source."
Iris frowned at that, which Jenny noticed. Something about Cobb always made Iris grimace or frown. She wasn't sure what it was, but Jenny was slowly becoming wary of the man because of her mother's actions as well.
The Doctor's eyes widened at that and said, "Oooh, the Source. What's that, the? What's a Source? I like a Source. What is it?"
The other man's eyebrow shot up warily as he answered, "The Breath of Life?"
"And what would be?" Doctor asked.
Cline answered with, "In the beginning, the great one breathed life into the universe. And then she looked at what she'd done, and she sighed."
Jenny's eyes widened in wonder and awe as she muttered out, "She. I like that."
Iris smiled amusedly and said, "So it's a creation myth."
Cobb shook his head and said, "It's not myth. It's real. That sigh. From the beginning of time it was caught and kept as the Source. It was lost when the war started. But it's here, somewhere. Whoever holds the Source controls the destiny of the planet."
The Doctor made the map buzz and then studied it for a slight second and said while taking out his sonic screwdriver,
"Ah! I thought so. There's a suppressed layer of information in this map. If I can just-"
He then used the sonic to find more tunnels and chambers. Iris smiled wider, knowing Martha was looking at the very same map. Donna walked up closer to look at it and asked,
"What is it, what's it mean?"
The Doctor pointed to one area and said, "See? A whole complex of tunnels hidden from sight."
Cobb's eyes were wide as saucers as he looked at it and said, "That must be the lost temple. The Source will be inside. You've shown us the way. And look, we're closer than the Hath. It's ours."
Iris rolled her eyes and huffed out in frustration while Cobb continued with,
"Tell them to prepare to move out. We'll progenate new soldiers on the morning shift, then we march. Once we reach the Temple, peace will be restored at long last."
The Doctor stepped up, noticing the hint of anger stemming from Iris at that comment and said,
"Hang on, hang on. A second ago it was peace in our time. Now you're talking about genocide."
Cobb eyed him and answered, "For us, that means the same thing."
Iris marched up to Cobb and said,
"Then you need to get yourself a better dictionary. When you do, look up genocide. You'll see something very different in there. And there's a possibility that you will see a little picture of me in there, and the caption will read, over my dead body."
The Doctor's eyes widened and he quickly looked down at Iris, who had that look of sureness as she spoke about that. He didn't believe that it would be true, but something brought his memory of Pompeii back and how Iris said that she had to tell him something. Was this potentially connected to that?
But his attention was brought back by Cobb, who angrily bit out,
"And you both are the ones who showed us the path to victory. But you can consider the irony from your prison cell. Cline, at arms."
Donna yelled out, "Oi, oi, oi… Alright. Cool the beans, Rambo." To the approaching Cline.
Cobb jerked his head towards their direction and said,
"Take them. I won't have them spreading treason. And if you try anything, Doctor, I'll see that your woman dies first."
The Doctor saw how the man had a dangerous glint in his eyes as they raked over Iris' body. Iris shuddered when the Doctor stepped up and said,
"You wouldn't dare."
Iris scoffed, angered by the comment, but didn't say anything when Cline gently put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Come on. This way."
The Doctor glared back at Cobb as he was escorted out and said, "I'm going to stop you, Cobb. You need to know that."
Cobb smirked and said, "I have an army and the Breath of God on my side, Doctor. What'll you have?"
The Doctor pointed to his brain and said, "This."
Cobb scoffed and ordered his men, "Lock them up and guard them."
Cline looked warily over at Jenny and asked carefully, "What about the new soldier?"
Cobb studied Jenny for a moment and said, "Can't trust her. She's from pacifist stock. Take them all."
Jenny sounded angry, but they were all eventually shoved into a single large cell. Iris sighed and sat down, trying to figure out the best scenario to get themselves out of this situation when Donna was looking around. Donna spotted more numbers and said,
"More numbers. They've got to mean something."
The Doctor merely glanced and said nonchalantly, "Makes as much sense as the Breath of Life story."
Iris looked up and said, "Actually, they do mean something, but Donna, I think I have to ask you to figure it out… My brain hurts from all this… thinking. Here's a pen and notepad for you."
With that, Iris pulled out a notepad and pen from her pockets that she had kept from earlier and handed them to Donna. Donna noticed how tired Iris seemed to be from the whole Sontaran incident and now this.
Donna wrote down the numbers she had seen earlier and was studying them when Iris tiredly stepped up to the Doctor and asked,
"Doctor, can we talk?"
The Doctor stopped whatever he was doing and looked down at Iris and answered, "Sure, what is it?"
Iris looked up at him and asked, "Why does it feel like our bond has been dialed up by at least 100 times in strength?"
The Doctor froze and then a guilty look overcame his face before he could control it. Jenny noticed how Iris' eyes narrowed as if she knew why but wanted to hear the Doctor say it. The Doctor shifted and he put a hand in his hair to quench the anxiety wracking his nerves as he said,
"Er… The thing with Time Lords is that if they are bonded… and have children… er…"
Iris' eyes widened as she quickly glanced at Jenny and then back at the Doctor before whispering out,
"The bond gets stronger?"
The Doctor's face turned red in embarrassment and guilt still written all over his face as he said,
"Not quite… I mean, it does… but it also, well… I checked and it… makes you… well.. more Time Lord."
Iris froze and a confused look was plastered on her face as she lowly asked, "And what does that mean?"
The Doctor stood up straighter and said, "Well… your body… becomes more Time Lord."
"WHAT?!" Iris yelled out.
Donna jumped and looked over at the red-faced Iris. She looked genuinely upset at that. The Doctor winced when Iris asked angrily,
"So that means that somehow, you forgot to tell me that the bond would progress so much that I become a Time Lady after miraculously having Jenny?"
The Doctor winced and all he let out was. "Er…."
Iris smacked him on the shoulder, which caused him to groan out in pain. Iris pointed a finger at him angrily and said, "This… We're going to have to talk about this afterwards! Ugh, I can't believe you!"
Iris stomped away from the Time Lord, who gulped with fear apparent in his eyes. Jenny looked amused at that when Iris muttered,
"We need to get out of here fast. I need to go punch something."
The Doctor responded to that with, "Well, we should find Martha and stop Cobb from slaughtering the Hath."
That was when the Time Lord noticed Jenny staring at him incredulously as he cautiously asked,
"What, what are you, what are you staring at?"
Jenny answered with, "You keep insisting you're not a soldier, but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general."
The Doctor shook his head in denial and said, "No, no. I'm trying to stop the fighting."
Jenny asked in retort, "Isn't every soldier?"
The Doctor looked surprised at that question and looked over to Iris, who sadly looked at him. He sighed and said,
"Well, I suppose, but that's, that's… Technically, I haven't got time for this. Donna, give me your phone. Time for an upgrade."
Donna handed over her phone while the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Jenny was about to argue on something, but Iris gently put her hand on Jenny's arm to stop her. Jenny saw Iris sadly look at her and shake her head, indicating that it was a sore subject.
Jenny stopped and looked over at the man that was supposedly her father. He looked and acted so much like a soldier, and yet, he didn't like that. Iris knew what Jenny was thinking and said,
"He used to be a soldier. That's true, but… he's not proud of it."
Jenny looked at Iris in surprise. She never thought that someone would regret being a soldier. But then again, she had that creeping hint that she might be missing a bigger picture. They then both watched the Doctor phone Martha using Donna's phone and exclaim,
"Martha, you're alive!"
Iris smiled a little at that and said, "I told you so!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes at that and said, "I'm with Donna and Iris. We're fine. What about you?"
Iris punched his arm and added in, "And Jenny. She's fine too."
The Doctor looked down at her and didn't retort like he had originally intended to. Iris' glare sent shivers down his spine and he swallowed a little and continued with,
"Yes, alright. And, and Jenny. That's the woman from the machine. The-"
He was going to say the word soldier but Iris was still glaring at him and he skipped that part and continued with,
"Iris' and my daughter, except she isn't, she's… she's… Anyway, where are you?"
Iris felt like punching his arm again but refrained from doing so as she heard Martha say,
"I'm in the Hath camp. I'm okay, but something's going on. The Hath are all marching off to some place that's appeared on this map thing."
The Doctor's eyes widened in realization and said, "Oh, that was me. If both armies are heading that way, there's going to be a bloodbath."
Martha worriedly asked, "What do you want me to do?"
The Doctor answered with, "Just stay where you are."
But the phone call was abruptly ended with Martha's phone running out of battery. Donna sighed and stored her phone back into her pocket when they all noticed the soldiers shouting from afar, "To war!"
Iris muttered, "They're getting ready to move out. We have to get past that guard."
Jenny excitedly said, "I can deal with him."
The Doctor quickly pulled her back and said,
"No, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere."
Despite his having trouble adjusting with Jenny's presence, he could still feel the protectiveness that came with a Time Lord having a child. It was unnerving, but he still felt it and he couldn't help feel guilty for bringing Iris along with him for this.
Jenny didn't understand that and asked incredulously, "What?"
The Doctor sternly said, "You belong here with them."
Iris sighed and said, "She belongs with us. With you and me. She's our daughter."
The Doctor looked down at her and said, "She's a soldier. She came out of that machine."
Iris' eyes narrowed and then pointed to herself as she said, "Well, apparently she's still our daughter, considering that I am turning into a Time Lady right this minute ever since. I don't like you whining about this, so please shut up and suck it up like an adult will you? She's still a part of both of us."
The Doctor looked like he wanted to argue when Iris reached into his pocket and pulled out a stethoscope and put it on him. Then she set the scope onto Jenny's chest gently. Jenny curiously asked,
"What are you doing?"
Donna came up and reassuringly said, "It's alright, just hold still."
Iris let the Doctor listen to one side of her chest, hearing a normal set of heart beats. Then she moved it to the other side, and the Doctor's eyes widened as he almost tearingly said,
"Two hearts."
Donna smiled and said, "Exactly. She's your daughter, there's no question about that."
Jenny asked in a slightly terrified voice, "What's going on?"
Iris said, "You're a Time Lady Jenny. Despite me being human, I guess the bond was enough to make you and me into Time Lords."
Jenny asked curiously, "What's a Time Lord?"
The Doctor said, "It's who I am. It's where I'm from."
Then Jenny said, "And I'm from you."
The Doctor tearfully said, "You are… but a Time Lord is also so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared suffering. Only it's gone now, all of it. Gone forever."
Iris felt the heavy weight of sadness wash over the both of them as the Doctor seemed to remember the things he went through during the Time War. Iris went up to him and grabbed his hand to squeeze it as comfort. She also tried sending some comfort through their bond.
The Doctor looked down at her and smiled a little, knowing that Iris understood where his pain was stemming from. Jenny saw the moment her parents shared and asked carefully,
"What happened?"
Iris looked up at her daughter and said, "There was a war that was much bigger than this one. It came at such a big cost that it ended up destroying the Time Lords and their enemies, the Daleks, and a big part of the universe with it."
Jenny looked horrified at that and then thought back to her arguments and then asked with tears in her eyes towards her parents, "And you both fought, and killed?"
The Doctor couldn't find the courage to answer so Iris did. Iris tightened her grip on his hand as she said,
"He did. Although it's not really my story to tell, he did partake in that war. I wasn't there on Gallifrey when the Time War took place… and even though I wasn't really in a war, I still fought and shot guns to protect planet Earth, where Donna and I'm originally from."
Jenny then looked over to her father and asked sadly, "Then how are we different?"
The Doctor finally had a good look at Jenny and saw her eyes and shivered. She was right. There was nothing different about them except for the amount of blood on his hands. He guiltily looked down and Iris said,
"I know you're scared to get attached to her since you lost your children back on Gallifrey, but Doctor, she's here right now with us. Doesn't that have to mean something?"
The Doctor smiled a little and said through their bond, "It's just so hard… I see her and I see my children screaming back at me…"
Iris hugged him a little by wrapping her arms around his waist and said, into his chest, "Then we protect her with all we've got."
The Doctor swallowed back a cry of sadness at that as the bond between him and Iris seemed to get stronger at that. He missed his family from Gallifrey a lot. And to get closer to Jenny had felt so wrong and he didn't want to lose her all over again and feel that emptiness. But having Iris here to protect her with him and Donna meant everything for him.
Iris eventually pulled out when Jenny said,
"Mum, I think I got an idea on how to get us out here."
Iris raised an eyebrow at her daughter and looked over at the Doctor when Jenny quickly turned around with a smirk and leaned over the bars of the door and said to Cline,
"Hey."
It sounded flirtatious and Iris had to hold the Doctor back from pulling their daughter back. She could easily see the Doctor's eyes glint dangerously at the boy who turned around and hesitantly said,
"I'm not supposed to talk to you. I'm on duty."
But the three time-travelers could see the look of interest in Cline. Donna chuckled quietly at the protective attitude the Doctor immediately seemed to exude for his new daughter that he had just started to let into his heart through the help of Iris.
Jenny flirtatiously said, "I know. Guarding me. So… does that mean I'm dangerous, or that I need protecting?"
Cline swallowed a little and asked, "Protecting from what?"
Jenny smiled coyly and answered, "Oh, I don't know. Men like you?"
With that, Jenny quickly pulled her arm out to grab Cline's shirt and kiss him hard on the mouth. The Doctor grunted a little as he wanted to do anything to stop that scenario, causing Iris to hold him back even more. But that was when Jenny coldly said,
"Keep quiet and open the door."
Iris glanced over at the gun Jenny had in her hand and quickly grabbed it from her daughter and said,
"I would be very quiet if I were you."
With that, the group left the cell and tried to stealthily walk around the tunnels. They soon spotted a guard on the lower flight of a set of metal stairs. The Doctor said,
"That's the way out."
Jenny looked over at Iris, who held the gun still when Donna suddenly said,
"Let me distract this one. I have picked up a few womanly wiles over the years."
Iris tried really hard to hold her laughter in at that, finding Donna really adorable when the Doctor just blushed a little and said,
"Let's save your wiles for later. In case of… emergency."
Donna rolled her eyes at the Doctor as he began rummaging the pockets of his coat. He then smiled widely as he pulled a wind-up mouse he put down on the ground as a distraction. The guard picked the mouse up in fascination when Jenny suddenly knocked him out.
The Doctor sputtered, "I was going to distract him, not clobber him."
Jenny looked over at her mother, who shrugged as Iris said, "Well, it worked. It's not going to take long for the soldiers to realize that we escaped. Let's go."
Iris grabbed his hand and dragged him along while Jenny and Donna followed along. The Doctor said through their bond, "but I do most of the hand-holding!"
Iris rolled her eyes and smiled as she said, "Clearly, you were too upset to realize that we are short on time. Someone has to deal with you easily being distracted."
The Doctor just smiled and shook his head as they kept on walking. When they reached another section of the tunnel, the Doctor quickly pulled up the map he had taken from the guard and said,
"Wait, this is it. The hidden tunnel. There must be a control panel."
Donna then noticed the new set of numbers and wrote it down and muttered, "It's another one of those numbers. They're everywhere."
The Doctor was studying his surroundings as he said, "The original builders must have left them. Some old cataloguing system."
Donna was looking over the numbers when she finally figured something out and said, "the numbers are counting down."
Jenny looked at the three of them thinking on the numbers and said, "Always thinking, the three of you. Who are you people?"
The Doctor told her, "I told you. I'm the Doctor."
Jenny raised an eyebrow and asked, "The Doctor. That's it?"
Donna smirked and said, "That's all he ever says."
Iris shrugged in response as Jenny asked again, "So you don't have a name either? Are you an anomaly, too?"
The Doctor shook his head as an answer while Donna rolled her eyes as the woman scoffed and said,
"Oh, come off it. You're the most anomalous bloke I've ever met."
The Doctor ignored that comment while Iris laughed quietly. After a while of looking around the Doctor found the control panel and said, "Here it is."
Jenny couldn't hold her curiosity for any longer and asked,
"And Time Lords. What are they for, exactly?"
The Doctor looked at her in surprise and said, "For? They're not, they're not for anything."
Jenny looked incredulous at that and Iris understood. Jenny had been created to be a soldier. Someone born with a purpose from the very start. She wasn't like them, who were born to be alive. But then again, Iris did not understand Gallifreyan ways, so she was curious in that aspect as well.
Jenny then asked, "So what do you do?"
The Doctor answered nonchalantly, "I travel through time and space."
Donna smirked and said, "He saves planets, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures. And runs a lot. Seriously there's an outrageous amount of running involved."
Jenny looked over at Iris, who had a small smile on her lips, but otherwise maintained a slightly amused look while shrugging her shoulders. She ran a lot anyway due to Torchwood, so she couldn't quite tell the difference these days.
The door that the Doctor had been just fussing around with finally opened and the Doctor excitedly yelled out, "Got it!"
They were about to walk through it when they heard Cobb from nearby say, "Squad five, with me."
Everyone eyed each other warily before Iris looked over at Donna as Iris held Jenny's hand,
"Now, what were you saying about running?"
Donna snickered while Jenny smiled widely as they bolted off from where they were. After a while, they stopped at the sudden appearance of a hallway filled with laser beams. Iris groaned and Donna muttered,
"That's not mood lighting, is it?"
The Doctor tossed his wound-up mouse toy into the hallway and the four people saw the mouse disintegrate from the lasers. Donna gulped as she stated her answer with, "No, I didn't think so."
Iris looked at the setting in front of her and said, "It's obviously an arming device, but I think I might be able to get it down."
With that, she walked over to a blue box that was nearby and started working on it. The Doctor saw Iris' face scrunch up in confusion later and started to help her out with it. Jenny watched as the two people worked in near silence as if they had done this for years. And a small warm feeling settled in her heart to see how peaceful her father looked near her mother. As if he enjoyed being close to her.
Jenny then glanced over to Donna, who seemed to be staring at another set of numbers. Jenny walked over, causing the woman to look at her and say,
"There's more of these. Always eight numbers, counting down the closer we get."
But before they could study the numbers further, the Doctor yelled out, "Right, here we go."
Iris walked over with them and said, "Donna, go over with the Doctor. I'll stay here for a bit with Jenny."
Donna gave her a weird look when they all heard Cobb again saying, "Corridor."
Donna looked over at Iris again, remembering that Iris knew things. She shook her head and then grabbed the Doctor's hand and dragged him across the hallway despite him arguing. Iris just said to the Time Lord via bond,
"I'll be fine. I'm going to look over Jenny and make sure that she doesn't get left behind."
The Doctor argued with, "It's not safe for you alone though! I'll stay behind! I know-"
But Iris quickly shut him out of her head for the moment as Jenny said to Iris, "You should go with them, I can hold them up."
Iris shook her head and said, "I'm not leaving you behind here."
Jenny smiled a little but quickly turned serious and said "But it's them or us."
Iris sighed and grabbed Jenny's hands and looked back at her as she said, "It doesn't mean you have to kill them."
Jenny teared up a little and responded with, "I'm trying to save your life. I know you're not really my mom in the most conventional sense, but I still-"
Iris hugged Jenny at that, knowing what the girl was about to say. Iris pulled apart and said seriously,
"Listen to me. The killing. After a while, it will infect you. And once it does, you're never rid of it."
Jenny looked a little terrified by the way Iris said it, but still whispered out, "We don't have a choice."
Iris shook her head and smiled sadly, "We always have a choice. It's just that sometimes, it's hard to make the right one."
Jenny looked down at the gun she held in her hands intently, as if she was thinking of something. Her eyebrows scrunched up together and then she looked at the ceiling for a moment. Jenny then smiled widely as she realized something and asked her mother,
"These pipes, they help for ventilation of sorts, right?"
Iris looked confused at that and then studied those very same pipes and then realized what she was indicating. Iris smiled wickedly and said,
"It definitely has something to do with steam, so yeah, maybe."
Jenny smiled and said, "I know what to do."
Iris worriedly glanced over Jenny, who skipped over to the location and then stood by the blue box again to make sure to reopen the lasers at the proper moment. She waited as she heard the gunfire. Iris never took her eyes off of Jenny, who after waiting, winked towards her mother and then shot at the pipe. Steam hit Cobb and the other soldiers, giving Iris and Jenny the small window of time to run across the hallway before the lasers turned back on. Once they were back, the Doctor smiled widely and hugged Jenny tightly as he said,
"That was brilliant! You were brilliant."
Jenny rambled quickly, "I didn't kill him. General Cobb, I could have killed him, but I didn't. You and mum were right. I had a choice!"
The Doctor smiled proudly at his daughter at that and looked over at Iris, who looked as if she might cry at the scene in front of her. But then the four people heard the footsteps appear towards the end of the hallway and quickly ran away, only for the Doctor to pause as he warned the other soldiers,
"I warned you Cobb. If the Source is a weapon, I'm going to make sure you never use it."
Iris heard the man say in response, "One of us is going to die today and it won't be me."
Iris steeled her heart as she looked over at Jenny. She wasn't going to let the man do anything of that sort. Not today. Jenny deserved to have a full life, and she wasn't going to lose the daughter that she just had.
As they later slowed down to a walk from running for a while, Jenny looked over at her parents and then asked Donna,
"So you all travel together, but is mum and dad actually together? They don't seem… well, I don't really know, but dad looks awkward around mum."
Donna looked over to her and then said, "Although they act like a married couple, they aren't. Iris already had a boyfriend before this whole incident where she had to do a bond thing with the Doctor to live. But I don't know, I secretly wish they were together. I can't bear the tension between those two sometimes."
Jenny looked a little surprised at what Donna told her. So her parents weren't together because her mother had a different man? Jenny wasn't sure what to feel about that. But she shook that off as she asked another question,
"And what's it like, the travelling?"
Donna answered with a soft smile, "Oh never a dull moment. It can be terrifying, brilliant and funny, sometimes all at the same time. I've seen some amazing things though. Whole new worlds."
Jenny's eyes widened in awe as she whispered out, "Oh, I'd love to see new worlds."
Donna smiled and said, "You will. Won't she Doctor?"
The Doctor turned around from talking with Iris about how he planned for a destressing trip for all of them and asked, "Hmm?"
Donna rolled her eyes at that and asked again, "Do you think Jenny will see any new worlds?"
Iris smiled and said, "I don't think why not. If anything, Jenny can live with me… it might be just Earth, but hey, the things we do? You might enjoy that."
The Doctor quickly shook his head and said, "No, no Torchwood. I'm no even remotely going to let her near Jack."
Iris whipped her head around and asked, "Excuse me? What's wrong with my boyfriend?"
The Doctor blushed and said, "Because he-… well, he's just… Jack."
Iris rolled her eyes at that and said, "Well, the you'll have to take Jenny through the universe and show her around, right?"
The Doctor thought on that and smiled as he said, "Well, we can't leave Jenny here, can we?"
Jenny laughed out loud and hugged the Doctor with strong grip while saying, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! Come on, let's get a move on."
The Doctor chuckled and warned her with, "Careful, there might be traps."
Iris laughed out loud in pure joy. The Doctor then looked down at Iris and felt the bond tickle a little at that. Before, both sides felt extremely heavy, but now… it felt as if it was healing the two of them. And Jenny was the reason behind that.
Donna sadly looked at the Doctor. She recognized the way he looked at Iris and her heart reached out for her best friend. The man was in love but couldn't do anything. Hell, he might not even realize his feelings right now, and knowing him, it might be too late for him to express his feelings. But maybe Jenny can bridge that gap for him with her presence. She walked up to him and whispered,
"Kids. They never listen."
The Doctor looked at her with a confused look and she said, "Oh, I know that look. I see it a lot around our way. Blokes with pushchairs and frowns. You've got dad-shock."
The Doctor immediately felt the warmth leave him at that as he asked, "Dad-shock?"
Donna rolled her eyes and explained, "Sudden unexpected fatherhood. Take a bit of getting used to."
The Doctor realized what she was indicating and shook his head as he said, "No, it's not that."
Iris warily looked at the Doctor and gently squeezed his hand before walking to keep an eye on Jenny, allowing him and Donna some privacy. The Doctor breathed in a little as Donna curiously asked questions before muttering out,
"Donna, I've been a father before."
Donna's eyes became wide like saucers at that information and she asked, "What?"
But that was when she saw the Doctor's eyes. They were filled with unexplainable sorrow and she realized what he meant as she heard him say,
"I lost all that a long time ago, along with everything else."
Donna felt tears in her eyes at that revelation. Her friend had lost not only his home, but also his children along with it. That was not something a person should experience in the life, and yet he had.
Donna whispered out tearfully, "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me? You talk all the time, but you don't say anything."
The Doctor sadly smiled as he looked towards Iris, who was following a cheerful Jenny and said,
"I know… I'm just… When I look at her and Iris now, I can see them. The whole my family left, all the pain that filled it. I just don't know if I can face that every day."
Donna didn't know what to say for a moment before looking at Iris, who smiled at whatever joke Jenny told her as she turned around to her friend and said, "It won't stay like that. Iris and Jenny will help you. We all will."
The Doctor looked at her gratefully and said, "But when they died… that part of me died with them. It'll never come back. Not now."
Donna looked at her friend and shook her head as she smiled and said, "I tell you something, Doctor. Something I've never told you before. I think you're wrong."
The Doctor looked down at her in surprise when Iris made him jump by talking to him using their bond,
"Jenny says that they've blasted through the beams. Time to run again."
And as the Doctor looked up, Jenny crashed into him and looked at him with excitement in her features as she said, "Time to run again. Love the running. Yeah? Oh, and mum must have told you about the whole them blasting through… so running!"
With that, the Doctor nodded and said, "Love the running."
They then all started running again, hoping that Cobb would still be a bit far away from them. But it wasn't long before they came at a supposed dead end. Iris frowned in confusion as she racked her brain to figure out what had happened in the episode she had watched in the other universe.
As she was thinking on this, Donna muttered, "We're trapped."
The Doctor shook his head and said, "Can't be. This must be the Temple. This is a door."
Iris then looked up and realized what she was trying to remember and said, "This is a door. You're right, we just need to get through here!"
She quickly went over to help him open the door faster while Donna noticed another set of numbers and was thinking on what it meant and why it seemed so familiar the more she looked at it. But before she could do much with it, Iris pulled the door open and allowed them to get through.
Jenny heard more footsteps get closer and said, "They're coming. Close the door."
Immediately, they ran through the door and the Doctor turned around to lock it. Jenny was grabbing her breath from the exhilaration she felt through the adventure she was having as she excitedly said,
"Oh, that was close."
Iris saw the smile on her daughter's face and shook her head in amusement. In a few ways, Jenny reminded her of the Doctor. She then saw the Doctor stand up straighter as he said,
"No fun otherwise."
Donna, who had been looking around their surroundings rather than interacting with the family drama, murmured,
"It's not what I'd call a temple."
Iris walked up next to Donna and whistled lowly as she said, "Resembles a spaceship, doesn't it?"
Jenny nodded while the Doctor added,
"Fusion drive transport. It is a spaceship."
Iris and Donna rolled their eyes at his addition of facts to Iris' earlier statement. Donna then asked,
"Is this one then the original one? The one the first colonists arrived in?"
Iris nodded and said, "Yeah, but it's funny that the power cells haven't run down after the amount of time Cobb said had passed."
Jenny watched how her mother didn't even look around herself too much compared to her father, who seemed to be taking in every detail of the infrastructure. It was almost as if her mother knew things they didn't. She quirked her head slightly as she was thinking about this when the Docto added,
"Yeah, you're right. This one's still powered- up and functioning."
The Doctor then noticed a flight of stairs and quickly grabbed Iris' hand and dragged her towards it as he told the others, "Come on."
But as they were going up, they all witnessed someone going through another door. Jenny tensed as her eyes narrowed as she whispered to them,
"It's the Hath. That door's not going to last much longer. And if General Cobb gets through down there, war's going to break out."
But that was when the Doctor found something in the corner of his eyes as he quietly rushed over and said, "Look, look, look, look, look. Ship's log."
Iris crept over to him to not get seen and read what was written on it. Donna and Jenny followed to read:
Messaline Leader One mission log designation XG2482942-372. Iris raised an eyebrow and looked at the Doctor as if asking, 'are you thinking what I'm thinking?'
The Doctor nodded, getting that through the bond and read out loud,
"First wave of Human/Hath co-colonization of planet Messaline…"
With that, the rest of the groups continued to read what was written in the log. Jenny muttered out in awe, "So this is the original ship."
Donna swallowed her nervousness a little and then asked, "What happened?"
Iris sighed a little and felt a small trepidation run through her body as she answered with, "Phase one, construction. They used to use robot drones to build this city?"
Donna shook her head as she asked for more clarification, "But does it mention the war?"
The Doctor scrunched his face into a frown as he looked through the log and read,
"Final entry. Mission commander dead. Still no agreement on who should assume leadership. Hath and humans have divided into factions… That must be it. A power vacuum. The crew divided into two armies fighting a never-ending war."
Jenny gulped as she nervously said, "Two armies who are now both outside…"
Donna then found something on the nearby wall as she said, "Look at that…"
Iris looked up and saw the string of numbers and raised an eyebrow in question. The Doctor muttered his thoughts to Donna,
"It's like the numbers in the tunnels."
Donna thought on it for a moment when her eyes widened in realization. How could she not have realized this any sooner? She let out a low chuckle in exasperation as she said, "No, no, no, no. But listen, I spent six months as a temp in Hounslow Library, and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat. I'm good with numbers. It's staring us in the face."
Jenny looked extremely confused as she didn't understand the words that Donna had just said and asked, "What is?"
Donna smirked a little and answered with, "It's the date. Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date, then you've got year, month, day. It's the other way around, like it is in America."
Iris high-fived Donna and said, excitedly, "It's the New Byzantine Calendar!"
Donna nodded and hugged Iris, feeling the excitement from the smaller woman as she continued to say,
"The codes are completion dates for each section. They finish it, they stamp the date on. So the numbers aren't counting down, they're going out from here, day by day, as the city got built."
The Time Lord then nodded as he said, "Yes. Oh, good work, Donna."
Iris then tensed as realization came back to her when she pulled away from Donna and muttered in horror. Donna looked at her and had a sense the other woman knew what was wrong with that as Donna said,
"Yeah… But you're still not getting it. The first number I saw back there, was sixty twelv oh seven seventeen. Well, look at the date today."
The Doctor muttered, "Oh seven twenty four… No…"
Jenny saw the look of horror on both of her parents' faces as she asked warily, "What does it mean?"
Iris kept her voice level as she said, "It's only been seven days since the war really started."
Jenny froze. Was all the information put into her then a lie? As these kinds of thoughts rushed through her mind, she whispered out,
"They said years…"
Donna shook her head sadly as she eyed the girl and said, "No, they said generations. And if they're all like you, and they're products of those machines…"
The Doctor continued her statement with, "They could have twenty generations in a day. Each generation gets killed in the war, passes on the legend. Oh, Donna, you're a genius."
Iris slightly elbowed the Doctor at that, saying to him through their bond, and shook her head, saying, "Not good…"
The Doctor winced at that and had to quickly hide the grimace that was about to overtake his features as his daughter added,
"But all the buildings, the encampments. They're in ruins."
Iris shook her head and answered, "No they're not ruined. They were just empty all this time, waiting to be populated. The people that came before you mythologized their entire history along with the Source."
The Doctor gasped and smacked his head as he muttered, "That makes sense! Why didn't I think of that?"
Iris shrugged and just waited for the Doctor to lead the way. The Doctor quickly grabbed her hand and took them further through the hallways of the building. Iris sighed as they were walking, feeling trepidation settle in as they got closer and closer to the Source. She glanced over to Jenny and looked forward quickly. What could she do to stop her daughter from throwing herself for the Time Lord in front of her?
Iris bit her lower lip when she jumped in surprise as she heard a familiar woman's voice yell out, "Doctor!"
Iris looked up to find Martha running towards them and quickly smiled in relief. The Doctor let go of Iris' hand and hugged his companion, all the while saying,
"Martha! Oh, I should have trusted Iris that you wouldn't stay away from the excitement."
Martha raised an eyebrow at that and then saw Donna and Iris, smiling even wider and hugging the two women. Donna winced a little as she tried to put the sense of disgust down while asking,
"Oh, you're filthy. What happened?"
Martha chuckled in embarrassment as she stated, "I, er, took the surface route."
Iris smiled warmly at her and was about to say something to welcome her when the group all heard the voice of Cobb say, "Positions."
Iris immediately tensed and said, "That's the General. We haven't got much time."
The doctor nodded and the group quickly left the area while Donna said,
"We don't even know what we're looking for."
Iris cleared her throat a little and then Donna noticed with a blush rising on her face as she hid it with a dramatic eye roll and said, "Well, except for Iris here, who happens to know almost everything that happens."
Iris laughed quietly at that when Martha, who had a perplexed look on her face, warily asked, "Is it me, or can you smell flowers?"
Iris nodded in acknowledgment while they heard Cobb getting even closer as he said, "Maintain defensive positions."
The Doctor sniffed a little and then smiled widely, almost looking like what the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland would have looked like as he said,
"Yes, Bougainvillea. I say we follow our nose."
With that, the group followed the Time Lord, who happened to have heightened sense of smell over the other members of the group. Jenny wanted to ask so many more questions when they finally entered the area that represented something of what a greenhouse with a jungle might look like.
The Doctor ran in and said, "Oh, yes. Yes. Isn't this brilliant?"
Iris smiled at that, not really feeling the excitement he did. She sensed his heightened joy but didn't really share it as she was still thinking of a way to prevent Jenny's death. Iris spotted walking closer to something that represented a glowing orb and followed the red-haired woman.
Donna asked, "Is that the Source?"
Iris nodded while Jenny couldn't stop looking around her surroundings with awe as she muttered, "It's beautiful."
Martha, ever the scientist, asked, "What is it?"
The Doctor quickly delved into his explanation with, "Terraforming. It's a third-generation terraforming device."
Iris quelled her urge to laugh out loud when Donna asked with surprise, "So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?"
The Doctor sighed and said, "Because that's what it does. All this, only bigger. Much bigger. It's in a transit state. Producing all this must help keep it stable before they finally-"
But before he could finish his explanation the Hath entered from one side while the soldiers came in from the opposite side. Iris warily eyed the group, her fingers itching to get to her gun. Jenny noticed the wary glance Iris gave the soldiers more so than the Hath and wasn't sure what to feel about that. The group warily looked around them while the Doctor yelled out in urgency,
"Stop! Hold your fire!"
Cobb angrily looked at them and demanded, "What is this, some kind of trap?"
The Doctor shook his head and said, "You said you wanted this war over."
Cobb scoffed and replied with, "I want this war won."
Iris glared at him and said, "You can't win. No one can. You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whisperes, getting more distorted the more it's passed on."
The Doctor continued a little more calmly as he gripped her hand, "This is the Source. This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mythical. It's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases. A cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable. Look around you. It's not for killing, it's bringing life. If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting, no more killing."
With that the Doctor grasped the globe and said, "I'm the Doctor and I declare this war is over."
Iris watched him with awe as she watched it smash to the floor and release the gas and energy around them. But not too long after, her eyes met that of Cobb's who was frowning and she could see the hidden anger behind his eyes. That was when Iris' eyes widened slightly. Cobb was the only one amongst the humans here who was aged. How could she have not realized? Cobb was responsible for at least some of the enmity that was felt between the humans and the Hath. He could easily have been from the time everything started.
Iris felt a pit in her stomach grow at that realization. Nobody else from her group noticed this as they continued to witness the changes around them as Jenny excitedly asked,
"What's happening?"
The Doctor smiled at her wonder and awe as he answered, "The gases will escape and trigger the terraforming process."
Jenny looked confused and asked, "What does that mean?"
Iris kept eyeing Cobb, who didn't break his angry stare at her. Iris noticed how his hand was slowly playing with the handgun in it. She inched a little bit forward as the two individuals continued the stare-down.
One part of Iris' mind blocked off the Doctor, and she was glad that Jenny was distracting him when the moment finally came. She heard the Time Lord say,
"It means a new world."
Jenny must have noticed Cobb's movements as the daughter yelled out "No!"
But as the sound of the gun releasing the bullet echoed, Jenny, who had closed her eyes in anticipation of the impact, noticed the absence of pain. She opened her eyes when she gasped in shock and horror at what she found. Iris stood in front of her and her body fell limp upon the impact. The Doctor quickly caught her body and gently laid her on the ground. He had a panicked look upon him as he felt the blinding pain from the bullet's impact. Ignoring the burning sensation that he shared with Iris, he gently said,
"Iris? Iris… Talk to me, Iris."
Iris took in a sharp breath as it became difficult for her to breathe. She glanced over to Jenny and the Doctor caught her message as he said, "She's alright. Iris, stay with me."
Iris took shallow breaths and managed to whisper out, "Doctor… Jack… tell him, I'm sorry."
The Doctor shook his head as he said,
"Iris, be strong now. You need to hold on, do you hear me? We've got things to do, you and me. Stay strong for me… stay strong for Jenny. Hey? We can go anywhere. Everywhere… You choose."
Iris smiled at that as she felt the cold settle in. She shivered while taking in big gulps of breaths and choked out, "That sounds wonder-… wonderful."
Jenny kneeled towards her mother, tears falling freely as she said, "You're my mom. We only just met. Mum… please… stay awake."
Iris grabbed Jenny's hand as tightly as she could, which was not much, as energy was drained. Iris chuckled and said, "It's… funny, how I get shot twice in not too long…"
The Doctor shook his head and choked out amongst his tears, "Iris, stay with me! Stay awake."
Iris looked at him and let a tear fall, regretting her time away from Jack. She wished that Jack was with her, missing his energy whilst also wishing Ianto was there to keep her warm. Iris shivered as she felt the cold take over her entire body and energy leave her.
Upon feeling Iris grow limp, the Doctor choked out as he said, "You can't die. Not like this. You promised to tell me something after this!"
Iris saw the raw emotions in the Doctor's eyes and felt his emotions amongst the darkness that overwhelmed her vision. She could only hear him vaguely now through their bond. And the emotions were over-whelming and she wished she could console him.
The Doctor saw Iris' eyes close and the small and weak sensation of the warmth through the bond that Iris sent him before she completely fell limp into his hold. The Doctor felt the bond between him and Iris die off and he felt the loss of it.
Because he did not complete the bond with Iris, he didn't die. But he felt as if his other half was ripped away from him. Martha and Donna cried but jumped in shock when the Time Lord yelled out in pure anguish as if he was physically in pain. They all saw him rock back and forth as he cried, holding onto Iris' body tightly.
Jenny silently cried, holding onto her mother's hand tightly. After a minute or two, she suddenly felt a stir of anger in her. Iris, her mother, did not deserve to die. Not like this. Her mother, who accepted her as a daughter when she was thrust upon her and the Doctor. Her mother, who defended her and loved her as if she had been her daughter for years. With that, she stood up and went up to Cobb, who had been pushed to the ground by Cline and another soldier.
Cobb glared at her while she picked up the pistol and pointed it at his head. She wanted to shoot him so desperately. But that was when her mother's words echoed in her mind, like a message,
"We always have a choice. It's just that sometimes, it's hard to make the right one."
Jenny let tears slip as she remembered, staring angrily at Cobb. She eventually lowered the pistol and put the safety on and tossing it to the ground. She ground out to the old man in front of her,
"I never would. Have you got that? I never would. My mum told me that all of us have a choice. And this is mine. When you start this new world, this world of Human and Hath, remember that. Make the foundation of this society a man who never would."
That was when she felt something. Some unidentifiable warmth from her sadness as she looked at her mother. She couldn't place it when the Doctor tensed and then looked up at her.
He seemed hesitant, but looked at his daughter and asked, "Did you feel that?"
Jenny swallowed thickly and asked, "What was that?"
The Doctor looked up at Martha and said, "The bond. She… her bond with mine after Jenny was created. If we wait… If we just wait…"
Martha saw the desperation in the two Time Lords' eyes and wanted to say something when Donna gasped and pointed at Iris' chest and asked,
"What's happening to her?"
They all looked down to find a golden glow emanate from where she had been shot and then her hands. The Doctor choked a laughter in relief and then realized what was going on. He quickly looked around in shock as he yelled out,
"You all have to leave this room. It's too dangerous for all of you to be here."
Jenny asked, "What's happening?"
The Doctor quickly said, "She's regenerating. She's a Time Lady now… I-.. I wasn't sure how much she had been in advancing the bond. But regeneration requires a massive release of energy from the body. You all have to get away from here."
Jenny nodded as she said to her father, "Keep her safe."
The Doctor nodded and everyone started to vacate the room. Once the room was empty, the Doctor stood up and went to one of the entrances and watched as the golden glow around Iris' body began to grow.
He bit his lower lip and prayed for the process to go alright. This could be dangerous considering that she was human. He waited when the massive amount of energy was finally released from Iris.
The Doctor saw the change in her features and once the energy finally died down, he walked over to Iris. He waited by her side. Iris' mouth opened, and he saw the speck of regeneration energy get released as she let out a breath before breathing in deeply.
The Doctor let out a breath of relief and waited for Iris to wake up.
Iris felt the impossible warmth flow through her. A fleck of warmth which grew throughout her body and got warmer as time went by. The once comforting warmth grew unbearable and Iris felt like screaming. But something in her body prevented her from doing so. She felt the massive amount of energy and pressure along with that heat and that was when she felt the change in her body.
How could this happen? She was human and dead, so what was this new sensation? She tried to find an explanation for this when that energy became altogether too unbearable and all she wanted was some way to release it. If she could, she would have clawed out her own chest to let it out. It also felt like she was going to explode and never come back from it. But that was when it expelled from her all at once and Iris let out a breath of relief.
She then felt her body and noticed that she felt different. Something felt off and she felt a presence in her mind call out to her. She longed to reach out to him and comfort him. He felt sad… anxious… something wanted her to go hug him and let him know that she was alright.
That was when she felt a weight get off her chest. She could breathe and let it all out. After a while, she felt an overwhelming sensation take over her. It was almost as if she had more thinking space at the same time, categorizing different thoughts as they raced through her mind, while she tried to discern where she was.
She remembered at that moment. Iris had stepped in front of Jenny and taken the bullet that should have killed her. Instead, she was in this never-ending darkness.
As the Doctor waited, he realized that someone was opening the door on one of the entrances. He looked up to see Jenny stick a bit of her head in to see if the coast was clear. The Doctor tried to tell Jenny it was alright to come in when his voice faltered due to the raw emotions he had felt not too long ago. He cleared his throat and then said,
"It's safe to come in now."
Jenny heard it and carefully came into the room again with Martha and Donna following her. The trio gasped at what they saw. The Doctor noticed and merely shook his head and said,
"I'll explain later."
Donna was not sure what to think of what she was seeing. That was when the trio heard a large breath of intake come from the woman in the Doctor's grasp. The Doctor quickly looked down and let out a breath of relief when he saw Iris' eyes flutter open.
When Iris opened her eyes, she winced slightly at the bright light that she came upon. She closed her eyes and slowly opened her eyes.
And when she finally managed to open her eyes, she saw a pair of intense, chocolate brown eyes look down at her and she felt something rekindle within her. A connection with the man in front of her.
That was when Iris' eyes widened and she bolted up without a warning, gasping along the way. But before she could sit up, her forehead met the Doctor's with a loud thud and she fell back down onto the ground with a groan.
"Oh… That hurt…" The Doctor groaned at that as he rubbed his forehead. Iris saw stars for a moment, sensing not only her pain, but also the Doctor's.
Iris waited for the stars in her vision to disappear until she slowly sat up this time, which allowed for the Doctor to give her some space. Looking up at the other companions, Iris smiled widely and said, "Oh good. We're all alright. So… does anyone have strawberries or pears? I'm really craving them right now."
Jenny stuttered in shock and looked at Marth and then at Donna, but she noticed that they mirrored her own surprise. Then the trio heard the Doctor ask in disbelief,
"Pears?!"