"Hanna are you sure you're okay?" The Doctor asked the girl, concerned, "After all it wasn't that long ago."
"Doctor, I'll be fine. It was days ago." Hanna waved away his concerned remarks, "And if anything dangerous happens then I'll just come back to the TARDIS. I promise." She smiled at him from where she was sitting on the chairs on the far side of the console instead of her usual position of perched up on the railings. "Just go get Clara and let's be on our way."
The Doctor still looked worried for a moment, over the last few days Hanna had picked up a nasty habit of turning a rather peculiar colour and going a bit weak at the knees when she stood up for too long. "Do you really promise though?"
"Yes." She insisted, "If anything dangerous happens then I'll come back to the TARDIS and... I dunno, watch DVDs for a while to spend the long hours alone while I wait for you and Clara to come back."
He smiled slightly at her, "Good. It's decided then." He patted the TARDIS console, "Be sure to remember that, old girl."
A few moments later they landed and Hanna got to her feet to leave. The Doctor stopped her, "I'll go get Clara thank you Miss MacKay. You can stay here and rest."
"Doctor I'm fine...!" She insisted but slumped back into her seat, grumbling to herself.
He smiled at her before bounding out of the doors and Hanna barely had time to get comfortable and close her eyes before he was back, Clara in tow.
"You alright?" The other girl asked Hanna, sitting down beside her.
"I'm fine. Just got a minor headache..." The Scottish girl grumbled, "I keep trying to tell him that but he won't bloody listen to me." She opened one eye and smiled slightly at the other girl, "How about you?"
"Oh, same as normal." Clara smiled at her before her expression turned concerned again, "Look he... the Doctor told me why you did it. You're not worthless you know. You've helped us out a lot."
Hanna sighed, "But I know that things will work out just fine whether I'm around or not. It's not that I think I'm not worth anything, it's just that I know my actions don't really matter. Or if they do matter then I could end up just making things worse because I know how things are supposed to be and they're supposed to go on without me."
"But you're here now. So things can be different."
"The world still needs saving." Hanna replied, sitting up properly, "It's not that different."
"Well no, that bit's still the same. But we can save it in a different way. Help more people because we know that if we do something in a slightly different way then things will work out differently to how you've seen them happen."
"Maybe. Or more people could die."
"Oh, right ray of sunshine you are...!" The Doctor cut in from where he was at the controls, "Very doom and gloom, you're normally bouncing around the place like a child in a sweet shop except you're an adult and instead of a sweet shop you have the whole universe."
"I'm tired and I've got a headache. Reckon you could get us somewhere that's not being attacked by aliens where we can just unwind for a while?" Hanna smiled at him.
Clara looked up, "I've always wanted to go to Vegas."
Hanna grinned, "So have I. Vegas sounds good."
The Doctor grinned at then, "Vegas it is!" He spun around the controls, hitting buttons and switches. "Why don't you girls go get changed?"
"I'm fine as I am." Hanna replied drily, dressed in her usual jeans and dark brown leather jacket but with a fleeced jacket with a hood underneath to keep her warm.
Clara got to her feet, "I think I'll try find something new. See you in a bit." She disappeared into the corridors, leaving the Doctor at the controls and Hanna to close her eyes again.
When they landed the Doctor ran to the door and flung it open, Clara at his heels and Hanna not far behind them. He had a pair of large sunglasses on that he had dug out from a chest in the console room. "Viva Las Vegas!" The Doctor shouted before the floor beneath his feet jolted violently and he was half thrown out of the TARDIS, almost colliding with a bank of controls and turning to look around. They were surrounded by people in uniforms and water was spraying from several directions at once.
"Not Vegas then!" Clara had to shout to make herself heard over the noise.
"No. No this is much better!" He glanced at his companions, "No, worse! Definitely worse."
"A sinking submarine?" Clara ventured, confused.
"A sinking soviet submarine!" He clarified, looking at Hanna, "Get back into the TARDIS."
"Not a chance!" Hanna called back at him, already soaking wet and looking pale, "I have to see this!"
"You promised me!" He replied, half annoyed.
"I know but please! I have to see this. Once I've seen what's making the sub sink then I'll go back!" Her eyes were wide, pleading.
"Oh... fine!" He relented, "But straight back! Agreed?"
"Agreed." She reached out and shook his hand as the sub jolted again. "Think you can do something about this though?"
The Doctor got out his sonic and pressed the button, "Ah! Sideways momentum!" He shouted at the man who looked to be in charge, "You've still got sideways momentum!"
"What?!" The man shouted.
"Your propellers work independently of the main turbines. You can't stop her going down but you can manoeuvre the sub laterally!" The Doctor explained as quickly as he could. "Do it!"
"Get these people off the bridge now!" Someone shouted.
"Do it or you'll sink and kill everyone in this sub!" Hanna snapped.
"Geographical anomaly to starboard – probably an underwater ridge!" The Doctor shouted, resisting against the men who were trying to drag him away.
"How do you know this?" The man in charge asked him.
"Look, we have just a chance to stop the descent if we settle on it. Do it!"
"600 metres! Sir! 610!" The voice of the technician who was monitoring the descent of the sub could just about be heard over the noise.
"Or this thing is going to implode!" The Doctor shouted.
"Just do it!" Hanna yelled.
Making a decision in that moment to trust the man who had appeared from nowhere the man shouted, "Lateral thrust to starboard – all propellers!"
"Sir?" The man at the controls started to question him.
"Now!"
"You're going to let this madman give the orders?" A man who looked to be second in command questioned his commander's judgement.
"Lateral thrust!" For now he ignored the second in command's doubts, unless this worked they were all going to be killed.
"Aye Sir! 660!" The technician kept counting down. Hanna gripped a metal bar to help with her balance while the Doctor kept waving his sonic around. "680!" There was a definite note of panic in the man's voice.
The whole sub jolted as it hit the ridge that the Doctor had been talking about and everyone was thrown to one side. The sub let out a pained groan of metal against rock before settling, allowing people to regain their footing. The Doctor put his sunglasses back on. Clara looked around the sub.
Hanna gripped the metal bar she was holding so tightly that her knuckles were white, her face pale. She felt like her legs could give way at any moment but she was determined not to show it.
"Descent arrested at 700 metres." The technician said shakily, looking at the dial.
"It seems we owe you our lives." The captain said to the Doctor and his friends before adding, "Whoever you are."
"I'll hold you to that. Might come in handy!" the Doctor quipped before looking over his shoulder, "Hanna, TARDIS."
"I told you, not yet," the girl replied through gritted teeth. "Not until I know what's going on here."
"Search them." One of the officers ordered, waiting a moment before adding, "Yes, I know, it's a couple of women. Now search them!"
Hanna growled softly but didn't resist or protest as the three of them were quickly searched. She was however, glad that she had decided to leave her phone and iPod inside the TARDIS; a decision that she had made on the spur of the moment just before they had landed. As it happened because of that she had no technology or anything that the Russians could be suspicious of, just the TARDIS key which they took from her. She ignored the Doctor and Clara talking, instead deciding to focus on trying not to faint or throw up. Both scenarios were embarrassing and undesirable at the best of time and she knew that if anything showed her to not be in a good enough condition to stay with them Clara and the Doctor would both frogmarch her back to the TARDIS before she would be able to convince them otherwise. She looked up suddenly as the submarine creaked worryingly and then jolted to one side before she could do anything to stop herself being thrown to the floor. She looked around, expecting to hear the wheezing and thrumming of the TARDIS taking off but the only sound was of the water inside the sub and the voices around her. Then water cascaded over her head. She forced herself to hold her breath, keep her eyes open and not panic. The not panicking was the most important part. It was also the most difficult. Her lungs were already starting to ache for air and before she could do anything blackness enveloped her and she lost consciousness, a stream of bubbles blossoming from her mouth and nose.
She woke up to hear the Doctor talking to the captain of the sub, trying to convince him of who they were. She opened her eyes and watched them, not bothering to get up yet.
"-No dissembling, no psychic paper, no pretending to be an Earth Ambassador. Doctor. Me, Clara and, Hanna are time travellers. You two okay?" He added, calling over to them, "Hanna?"
"I-I'm fine... I think... still got my limbs and I seem to be alive. Counting that as a win." Hanna smiled slightly at him.
"Clara, are you okay?" He glanced at the other girl.
"I think so..." Clara's voice was higher pitched than normal, sounding mildly scared and freaked out.
"Time travellers?" The captain wanted to get back to the main point.
"We arrived here out of thin air! You saw it happen." The Doctor tried to explain.
"Blue box thing." Hanna added, slowly getting to her feet, "Appeared from nowhere."
"Yes, blue box thing that Hanna is getting back inside as soon as possible." The Doctor's tone was somewhat commanding now. "Before she gets herself into any more trouble."
"No fun..." Hanna muttered but didn't protest or complain much more than that. If she was honest with herself she wanted to curl up in bed and sleep.
"We were sinking?" Clara asked, "What happened?"
"We sank." The Doctor answered before turning away from her, "Captain, breath's precious down here. Let's not waste it, eh?"
"You're right. Maybe I could save a little oxygen by having you all SHOT!"
"Uh..." The Doctor was momentarily set back a little.
"What does it matter how we arrived?" Clara stepped forward, "The important thing is to get-" She broke off as she heard a strange hissing, looking towards where she thought it had come from with wide eyes. "-out..."
Everyone was now looking towards the source of the noise. Hanna let out a soft squeak and a muttered, "Oh my God... I could never imagine..."
"Exactly!" The Doctor didn't seem to have noticed the noise, even though the captain had, "Number one priority, not suffocating."
"Doctor shut up." Hanna snapped, still staring at where the sound had come from. "Look at it. Look how gorgeous it is...!"
"Hanna what are you talking about?" The Doctor looked over at her as the captain stepped back, "Honestly if I didn't know any better I'd say this is something you already... know..." he trailed off as it clicked. She had wanted to see something on this sub and from the mixed expression of shock and glee on her pale face she had seen it.
"Okay, I've got to say that this sub really is massive." Hanna couldn't help but chuckle slightly, "I mean he's got to be well over seven foot tall and walking around just fine."
No one answered her. Finally the Doctor had heard the hissing noise, "What is that, gas? Could be gas."
"It's not gas." Hanna answered immediately, "It's an Ice Warrior. And it's beautiful."
The Doctor turned slowly, seeing the creature behind him for the first time, "Ah... it never rains... but it pours."
"We were drilling for oil under the ice." The professor explained, "I originally thought I'd found a mammoth..."
"That's not a mammoth...!" Hanna exclaimed.
"No... as Hanna said... it's an Ice Warrior." The Doctor kept his eyes on the huge creature in front of them, "A native of the planet Mars. And we go way back. WAY back. As Hanna will probably tell you later..."
"A Martian?" The captain snapped at him, "You can't be serious."
"I'm always serious." The Doctor replied. "With days off."
"Doctor." Clara chided.
"Just keeping it light, Clara. They're scared." The Doctor replied softly, so only Clara and Hanna could properly hear him.
"They're scared? I'm scared!" Clara replied.
"I'm not." Hanna grinned softly though she had to grip the Doctor's arm for balance.
"Yes, well you knew this was going to happen." The Doctor glanced at Hanna, "You need to get back to the TARDIS."
Before she could replied there was the sound of someone cocking a gun, quickly followed by the Ice Warrior powering up his weapon.
"No, no please." The Doctor moved to try to stop the two opposing sides, "Wait, there's no need for this, just hear me out." He turned to the Ice Warrior, "You're... You're confused, disorientated. And of course you are, you've been lying dormant in the ice for... for how long? How long, Professor?" He clicked his fingers a couple of times and pointed vaguely behind him at the professor.
"By my reckoning, 5,000 years." The man replied.
"5,000 years. That's a hell of a nap." The Doctor continued, "Can't blame you if you got out on the wrong side of bed. Look, nobody here wants to hurt you." He pushed the man's gun so it was no longer pointing at the Ice Warrior.
"Apart from the crazy Russians..." Hanna muttered under her breath, now gripping onto Clara's arm to keep herself upright.
"Please, just... why don't you tell us your name?" The Doctor finished.
"What are you talking about, name? It has a name?!" The Captain questioned him.
"Of course it has a name." Hanna snapped, "Why wouldn't he have a name? I can remember his name better than I can remember yours."
"Yes, thank you Hanna." The Doctor said quietly to her before continuing, "This is a soldier, and it deserves our respect."
"This is madness. That is a monster." The Captain argued.
"Skaldak." The Ice Warrior spoke for the first time.
The Doctor smiled slightly before his face fell again, recognising the name. He took a few steps towards Skaldak, "What did you said?"
"I am Grand Marshal Skaldak." The Ice Warrior repeated.
The Doctor was quiet for a moment before softly murmuring, "Oh no." half to himself.
Suddenly the Ice Warrior convulsed, hissing and growling in pain. The Doctor stepped back with wide eyes, "Clara, take Hanna and go back to the TARDIS. Now." He instructed, half turning to them, "I know you don't want to Hanna but you need to. Before things get worse."
"You mean before the HADS activates?" Hanna sighed, "Fine. Fine, I'll go. I just need my key back from the Russians."
In front of them Skaldak collapsed, revealing a man carrying a cattle prod.
"You idiot!" The Doctor shouted, "You idiot. Grand Marshal Skaldak."
"You know him?" Clara asked hesitantly, watching as the Doctor stepped forwards to stand over the Ice Warrior.
"Sovereign of the Tharsyssian caste." The Doctor replied, looking down at Skaldak, "Vanquisher of the Phobos heresy. The greatest hero the proud Martian race has ever produced."
"So what do we do now?" The captain asked.
"You give me back my key so I can go have a nap." Hanna replied before anyone else could.
"That's a good point. Give my friend her key. She needs to rest. And I mean actually rest." He added to Hanna.
"Hey, I'm the one who said I wanted a nap." She smiled at him. "All I need is my key. Then I can go."
The Captain hesitated, "I don't think that'd be a good idea."
"Yeah, well I don't think this stupid cold war was all that great of an idea." Hanna replied. "Yet here we are in the middle of it."
"For all we know you could be American spies." The Captain protested.
"Yeah, we could be." Hanna agreed. "Apart from the fact I'm Scottish, she's English and he's an Alien. But yeah, other than that we could totally be American spies. Because obviously American spies will have the technology to appear completely out of nowhere. All I want is to go back to my room and sleep. I'm exhausted and I feel sick. Unless you want me to just throw up here, which quite frankly I'm getting close to...!" Hanna was starting to sound hysterical.
"Look." Clara put a hand on Hanna's arm, "Just give her back the key and let her go rest. She's not had a good time of it recently."
The Captain continued to hesitate.
"I do not care one iota about your stupid war...!" Hanna half shouted, her voice rising in pitch, "We're in a submarine, underwater and we've already come close to drowning. I just want to get off this boat!" There were tears in her eyes.
The Captain relented and – despite protests from the second in command – fished the key out of his pocket and handed it to them.
Hanna took a deep breath as it was handed to her, putting it into her pocket, "Th-Thank you..." she looked at Clara before turning her gaze back to the captain, "And you know what, I don't think this stupid war is much to do with what originally started it any more. Your lot and the Americans are just too proud. I think that really If you think about it, the real winner is going to be who has the guts to apologise first." She smiled shakily at him before gripping Clara's arm and allowing the other girl to guide her into the control room, feeling rather than seeing the man who followed them to make sure they didn't do anything that could harm anyone.
Clara looked over at Hanna, "What you said then about apologising... wasn't that in some American TV show?" she asked softly so that the man couldn't hear her.
Hanna laughed, "Yeah. I got it from Scrubs. Thought it fitted so figured I'd say it if only to amuse myself."
"And... what's going to happen about Skaldak?"
"Hopefully the right thing. This is going to end in a stalemate between Skaldak and the Russians and I don't want anyone to have to die." Hanna looked at her sadly, "But I can't do anything to intervene. Even if I wanted to I just don't have the energy." The reached the TARDIS and Hanna got out her key.
"You want me to come with you?" Clara asked.
"Nah, I need you to look after him. You've got important stuff to do Clara. Just keep an eye on the Doctor and don't wander off. The TARDIS will look after me." She patted the wooden door frame affectionately before unlocking the door and stepping inside. "See you later."
Before Clara could reply the TARDIS door slammed shut and the ship started the dematerialisation program.
"Aww, were you waiting for me?" Hanna patted the console, "That's really sweet of you. If you could somehow work out a shortcut to my room as well then that would be grand." She grinned softly and pushed open her usual door, going down through the corridors and to her bedroom, going via the nearest kitchen so that she could get some toast and hot chocolate to take with her. Before long she was settled in bed, a DVD playing on the TV that sat on her desk. She was desperately tired but managed to finish her food and hot chocolate before sinking into a deep sleep. On the television screen the DVD she had put in played on, the figures of the Doctor and Clara carrying on the adventure aboard the Russian submarine.
Author's Note: Okay so this is late because frankly I forgot yesterday. Sorry about that. I got distracted by TV. Oops.
Question time! (Please send me questions. It's only Happy-Rea asking me anything and she's weeeeeeeeeeird)
1) When relaxing on the floor, do you sit crosslegged, fold your legs to one side, sit with your legs straight out in front of you, or recline? - Usually with legs folded to one side. Otherwise my feet fall asleep. And no one likes that.
2) What's one fashion trend you hope never comes back? Which ones have come back that you wish hadn't? - Fashion? What is this witchcraft of which you speak?
3) What food do you eat for comfort? - Chocolate. And lots of it. Or peanut butter out of the jar. The kitchens in the TARDIS are fully stocked with peanut butter for such an occasion.