Note: Thanks so much to everyone who's read, reviewed, and favorited so far. I've tried to thank everyone personally for reviews, if you were signed in when you left it. For everyone who's let guest reviews, thanks so very much as well. This chapter is for "royslady51" and "this is my pseudonym", two fantastically awesome readers who gave me fantastically awesome advice/ideas for the last bits of this story. They also happen to be fantastically awesome writers whose work should be immediately checked out. Enjoy!
…
"Now!" Rose barks, throwing herself to the side. Alonso's team spins about, catching their "captors" by as much surprise as Dai and her own team did just a moment ago with their specially hidden compact lasers deluxe. Weapons clatter across the floor as officers are hit with stunners, dropping to the floor like stones.
Rose rolls into a crouch, retrieving the compact laser concealed under the waistband of her trousers; though inspired by Jack, she and the others have remained thankfully fully clothed and had no need to resort to the…extreme hiding place Jack had used. As before, she points her weapon straight at Madame Kovarian. She risks a glance at Dai, Ruskin, and Bentley, all of whom have their own compact lasers drawn on the unconscious guards at their feet.
"Headless Monks, anyone see any?" Rose calls, sweeping the room simultaneously with her eyes and mind. While she's intrigued by her new abilities, she thinks relying solely on them in a situation as dangerous as this might be rather foolish.
Better to use what I have as well as what others can contribute, just to make sure, she thinks.
She can sense the monks' presence nearby, though she can't see them. There's a strange sound that's beginning to fill the room, loud and insistent even over the clanging of the TARDIS's cloister bell. The sound bores deep into Rose's head, setting her temples throbbing again and putting everyone's already strained nerves on edge.
"Dai, what is that?" Rose asks, barely refraining from clapping her hands over her ears.
"The monks' attack prayer! They're close, and they're set to attack," the woman answers from her crouch as she finishes binding the hands and feet of the unconscious officers on the ground. Across the room, Alonso's soldiers rise from securing their own prisoners.
Rose takes a moment to calm her hammering heart and decide what their next move should be: securing Kovarian is obviously high on the list, as is unbinding the Doctor, but there's still the question of what to do with River. She motions Dai over with a jerk of her head.
"Is there anything you could do short of needing a full surgical team to remove that implant from Professor Song? That'd be one less major player to worry about."
Dai looks over at River doubtfully, answering slowly, "I've not tried to remove one of the full implants in anywhere but a controlled lab, but maybe with Ruskin's help, we could figure something out. We'd need to knock her out first."
Without hesitating or even glancing at the Doctor's wife, Rose replies, "Do it. Bentley, let the Doctor loose. I'm going to deal with Madame over here."
…
Fifteen minutes later, Dai and Ruskin are working quietly over River's unconscious form on a portable table dragged in from the rear of the room. Alonso and his team are sweeping the surrounding rooms, performing semi-regular patrols in search of the Headless Monks. Though everyone can still hear them and Rose can still sense them, they've backed off from the immediate area, and despite Dai's detailed description of this level of the base, no one can locate them.
Bentley releases the Doctor who lets loose a torrent of threats aimed at Kovarian that sets Rose grinning despite her sudden immense wariness. They search her for hidden weapons (no use falling for their own trick) then bind her to a chair for good measure.
"Are you alright? They didn't hurt you?" the Doctor asks, turning to Rose. It's the first time she's seen him in hours, and she automatically reaches out to throw her arms around him in relief. For just a moment, everything is back in place as it should be: the bad guy is defeated (mostly), the day is saved (kind of), and she's in the Doctor's arms where she belongs.
"Just got bashed in the head by your wife's all," Rose replies with a faint laugh. "No permanent damage, though I should tell you I—"
"Good, good," the Doctor interrupts briskly, abruptly pulling away from her. His face looks vaguely uncomfortable as he proceeds to begin straightening his disheveled clothing. She sighs internally as he once again retreats inward.
I swear, it's like I'm back with the him of long coat and plimsolls, she thinks, watching as he dusts himself off and rebuttons his shirt. Can't even let himself properly enjoy a hug.
"Are you alright?" she ventures hesitantly. "You were pretty shaky upstairs; did they…hurt you again?"
"Fit as a fiddle, right as rain," he blathers, his hands twisting together nervously under her gaze. "Now there's a saying that only makes sense on a couple of planets, I can tell you, as there's several with acid rain, real acid rain, not that polluted mess you lot have created on Earth, and—"
"Doctor," Rose interrupts firmly. Even his gob is like her old Doctor; can't stop himself once he's started. He stills and stops his fidgeting but refuses to meet her eyes. "What should we do next? I know what I'd like to do with Kovarian, but she's not as much mine to deal with as she is yours and River's."
The Doctor's eyes stray over to his wife's prone form on the makeshift lab station where Dai and Ruskin are working diligently to remove the implant. "I should really get her to the med bay, you know, but not with all that mess that's spread around who knows where in the TARDIS. Really, I've got to go dismantle that machine before we do anything else."
"Didn't Jack destroy the last one by shooting it until it blew up?" she asks, wondering why he needs to take such care.
"Well…yes, as a matter of fact, but a) that was Jack, and b) there's no telling what this woman's rigged inside my TARDIS. You heard the way she was screaming out to us, Rose. I need to dismantle it piece by piece and examine all the components to make sure nothing's set to active if removed. You could call Major Frame's team back to help you guard Madam Kovarian," he suggests suddenly, finally meeting her eyes. He's concerned and means well, she knows, but there's a twinge of annoyance in the back of her mind that she can't quite suppress.
"Frame and his team are hunting the monks down, which we have to do if we want control of this base. Bentley and I can handle watching Kovarian, and Dai and Ruskin can help if we need them. Besides, you'll be within shouting distance, you're only over there," she adds, gesturing to the TARDIS.
"Rose, this is very important, and I need you to listen to me very carefully." He steps closer, unexpectedly intense, and grips her upper arms. "You cannot trust this woman. Nothing that she says, nothing that she does. Never underestimate her, Rose. I did that once, and it cost more than most people could imagine. The universe would be far better off without her, but simply killing her would be far too kind and far too quick. Let me deal with this machine before someone finds a way to make it work, then I'll be back to deal with her."
Madame Kovarian meets the Doctor glare for glare, which Rose grudgingly finds somewhat impressive, considering the repressed anger in his gaze. The Doctor looks back at Rose, giving her a gentle shake to get her attention.
"Seriously, Rose Tyler, you've never been very good at listening to me before, and we both know it." His voice is quiet and intimate, a voice she hasn't heard him use with anyone else, a voice she hasn't heard in far too long. It's full of emotions she can't quite place and ones she's secretly desperate to hear again, and it sets her head spinning. She's not sure if she can process these rapid mood changes much more. "Of all the times I've asked you to do something, I need now to be the one that sticks, got it? She'll never give up, and she isn't defeated, no matter what we think. Please…please, just be careful."
He pulls Rose against him suddenly, enveloping her in his arms and placing a kiss on top of her head before releasing her and striding off to the TARDIS. She allows her eyes to follow him, trying to keep her face impassive, until he disappears inside. She notes briefly that he remembers to leave the door open in case she needs to shout.
Then she turns her attention back to their prisoner, raising her compact laser to keep it trained on the woman's head. Rose is taking no chances, especially with how close this woman actually got to completing her plans to get rid of the Doctor for good.
"You should've helped me, you know. You of all people"
The comment is so quiet and unexpected that Rose has to glance at Kovarian to make sure she even spoke. "Come again? Are you seriously suggesting I should've betrayed the Doctor? Obviously you don't know half of what you think you do about me."
"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth…Isn't that what he calls you sometimes? That's certainly was Melody has told me," Kovarian says, smiling a small, ingratiating smile. Rose wonders if Kovarian really thinks she can win her over with flattery, but the other woman is already speaking again. "Save the Earth and the universe one more time, Rose Tyler. Save it from the worst threat it's ever seen. Help me."
These last two words are spoken with such fierce intimacy and vehemence that Rose is physically forced back a step. She glances around, checking the locations of everyone else, feeling strangely vulnerable talking to this severe and evidently deranged woman.
Dai and Ruskin are thoroughly engrossed in removing the implant without damaging River, and Rose can just hear the Doctor clanking around in the TARDIS. Bentley has his back to Rose, keeping a watch on the rest of the room just in case someone tries to get the drop on them. He's also periodically checking in with Alonso, as well as with other operatives throughout the compound, making sure everyone is poised to take full control of the base. Everyone is waiting to find the last of the Headless Monks before making their final moves, so she is effectively alone with Kovarian.
"Exactly why," Rose begins tersely, "Should I listen to anything you have to say? I know what you've done to the Doctor and his friends in the past, I know what you were planning to do here, and I know what you actually did to him upstairs. I saw the marks, and I won't forget them anytime soon, believe me."
"Because you're practical, Ms. Tyler," Kovarian replies quietly. The woman looks old and tired, quite pitiful actually, but Rose suspects a good portion of this apparent weakness is probably an act.
"Never underestimate her, Rose," the Doctor had said, and he's right. Though she looks weak and defenseless, Rose has an idea of just how ruthless and manipulative this woman can be and doesn't trust a single quiver of Kovarian's thin, wrinkled lips.
"Practical or not, you've either got nerves of steel or you've run completely mad if you think I'd help you so much as tie your shoes, much less do anything that would harm the Doctor."
"But don't you see, Rose, the Doctor is miserable!" she hisses smoothly. "He's lost his best friends, he knows he can never truly be with his wife, and he feels like he has nothing to live for. For all you know, this could be the very miasma of emotion that leads him to become such the threat the Silence has feared. He must be stopped!"
Rose shakes her head wearily, dropping into a chair across from Kovarian, still careful to keep her gun trained on the prisoner. Bentley glances at her, an eyebrow raised, and she nods back to him that everything's fine.
"Save your breath; there's no reason for me to believe anything you've said about him being a danger to anyone. Besides, I think you should probably be glad he isn't near enough to hear you talking about his friends. Like you said, he's a bit sensitive just now, and the way I hear it, you made plenty of effort towards getting rid of said friends and turning said wife against him. More than once."
"He'll leave you again, you know," Kovarian goes on as if Rose hasn't even spoken. "Melody told me what happened on that beach, at Bad Wolf Bay, all those years ago for you. Abandoned with a stranger you knew nothing about, sent back to a world where you didn't belong, not given a single say in the matter. This is the man who left you there without blinking an eye or even saying goodbye, left with another woman in tow. And has he told you what happened to her, to his 'best friend,' as he called her? Because that's a tale you should hear before you make up your mind that he's some sort of saintly, wonderful savior with only your best interest at heart."
"Donna?" Rose replies, mystified. There's a twinge of misgiving in her chest at the mention of Bad Wolf Bay, but Rose pushes it from her thoughts, wanting to leave old feelings in the past.
"Did you not wonder why he isn't still traveling with her, she who said she'd travel with him forever?"
"Well, for one thing, he's a good two or three centuries past that, so I assumed she might've aged and passed on by now," Rose replies scathingly. She glances over at Bentley to see if he's hearing any of this, not sure why she's even thinking about being overheard, but he's gone back to keeping watch again.
"Not even a day back with him, and he's already run you to ground without a single consideration for how you're feeling," Kovarian murmurs sympathetically. "He uses people up and drops them when he's grown weary of their company. You of all his companions should know the pain of that abandonment."
"Could you shut it for five minutes, seriously?" Rose bursts out, startling not only Bentley but also Dai and Ruskin. Though they really should be working on River in the TARDIS med bay, the Doctor hasn't emerged to deem the old girl safe yet. Thankfully, though, her Cloister Bells have thankfully stopped sounding and the dreadful twinge of panic has subsided from the pit of her stomach. She can still hear the humming of the Headless Monks, though she can't pinpoint them precisely, and she hopes Alonso comes back soon with good news.
"Sorry, sorry," she apologizes quickly to the tense pair hovering over the Doctor's wife. "I know, I'll keep it down." The nod without comment, though Dai looks like she wants to say something, and return to their work.
Bentley takes a couple of cautious steps closer, asking, "Shall I fetch the Doctor, ma'am? If she's giving you trouble, we should probably—"
"No, it's fine, Bentley. Why don't you contact Alonso, and see if he's found anything yet. I'd like to secure the rest of the base as soon as possible."
He stares at her quizzically for a long moment before nodding and retreating to his post to start another round of communications. Rose turns back to her bound captive, both exhausted and tense.
"While I appreciate your concern for my well being," Rose says sweetly, her voice dripping with overdone, honeyed sarcasm, "you'd do well to keep your mouth shut for a while if you don't want to spend the next few hours unconscious and wake up with a pounding headache. I hear the stun setting on these things is non-lethal but makes you wish it was otherwise." She twitches the laser in her hand, just in case the other woman has missed her point.
Kovarian regards Rose stoically, her one visible eye hard and unbelieving. "If you were going to stun me, you'd have done it when you took down my officers. Idle threats don't become you, Ms. Tyler. Besides, I'd imagine what the Doctor has in store for me is far worse than anything you could threaten. He's rather talented at punishing those who wrong him."
"What are you on about now?" Rose sighs wearily. "The Doctor isn't some sort of judge and jury running around trying people for crimes."
"No second chances, though, isn't that right?"
"Seeing as I think you're on your third or fourth chance with him at this point, I'd say that's irrelevant to your situation," Rose responds.
"But you know what he did to the Family of Blood, what he almost did and would have done to the Racnoss. What he trained all of you and your friends to do on the Dalek Crucible. I assume Melody told you about what happened on Demons Run. All because he'd lost someone he cared about."
Like now, Rose reluctantly admits, though only to herself. Her thoughts must be more obvious on her face than she'd thought, though, because Kovarian nods knowingly.
"He's more unstable now than he's ever been, and he's more of a danger than ever. Surely you've seen how volatile he can be."
Unbidden images flash through Rose's mind at these words: The Doctor in leather pointing a gun at her, yelling for her to get out of the way so he could kill the last of the Daleks; the anger in his face when she'd saved her father instead of saying goodbye to him; the way he'd vented his anger and frustration on her instead of being grateful that she'd left her mother and best friend in a parallel dimension all so he wouldn't have to be alone; the stories her own Doctor had written in the book they'd compiled of his terrible flashes of anger, things he'd done to some of the very creatures Kovarian had mentioned and others as well. Not that they didn't deserve those things, Rose reminded herself, but she had to agree that the anger of an emotionally damaged Timelord was a terrible thing to witness.
"You're still wrong," Rose says quietly, not meeting the other woman's penetrating gaze. "He's done more good and righted more wrongs in this universe alone than his death could ever possibly make up for. What could he possibly do that's so terrible that it erases all the good you know he's still going to do in his time?"
"You truly want to know why it is I pursue the Doctor so zealously?" Kovarian asks. Her tone shakes Rose from her thoughts, and she meets the other woman's eye. Finally, after a long moment of hesitation, she nods.
"Tell me."
"Certainly. Though it's not widely known, the Doctor's future wrongs are no secret," Kovarian begins quietly. Rose has to lean forward a little just to be able to make out what she's saying. "But first, I think a little intervention will be necessary."
"Intervention?" Rose begins suspiciously. "What do you—" Before she can finish her question, the humming suddenly intensifies, there's a sharp throb of pain in Rose's temple, and she glances at the floor in shock.
"Bentley, Ruskin, Dai, they're under us, about to come up! Call for Alonso's team! DOCTOR!" Rose is on her feet, weapon pointed at the spot where she's finally located the Headless Monks' presence, but before she can do more than shout and aim, huge sections of the floor burst open, throwing Dai, Ruskin, and River to the side. Rose dives out of the way, taking Bentley with her as several monks burst from the opening, swords alive and crackling with energy.
Author's Note: Before you get mad about yet another cliffhanger, remember there's only one, maybe two chapters left. Thanks so much for keeping up with the story so far. If you liked enough to read through, please take a moment to leave a comment or review.