chapter thirty seven– Return of the Doctor

Rattigan Academy, 2009

When Rixel got back to the academy, she hid the paper under her mattress, along with the small blue box she'd taken from the Doctor's office so many years ago. It wasn't the most perfect hiding spot, but it was the only place she could think to hide things. And this paper needed hiding. It was too dangerous and too...crazy...for anyone else to see. Yes, she'd managed to find the cure she needed to, but that didn't stop anything yet. The Sunstar virus, and the Requiem for that matter, were still several years away.

While Jessica pestered her for days about what she had been doing, Rixel only told her it was something for her cousin that ended in a big fight. That's why she ran away, and that's why she ignored Martha's calls. Martha even came up to the school one day, but thankfully Rixel had been in the basement lab with Luke.

Three days after the incident, Luke informed her that they would be taking the day off. It wasn't too soon, either. Rixel was exhausted. She loved working with Luke down in the lab, but they worked so hard she rarely could think for herself. She hadn't been staying up late to work on her own projects, but still the sleep she got wasn't enough. She was about to head back to her bedroom when Jessica stopped her.

"Come look at this?"

Rixel sighed. "Jess, I'm really tired."

"Just a sec, promise." Jessica pleased. "You're smarter than us. You can tell me what we are missing."

Rixel nodded her head. She couldn't help it. She liked being called smart, no matter how often she heard it.

The red headed girl sluggishly dragged her feet over toward the table Jessica and her group were working at. In the center of the table was a large biosphere. In the center of that was a patch of grass, along with what appeared to be a tiny ATMOS. The plastic coating around the outside of the biosphere was slightly opaque, making it hard to see everything inside.

"Where's Luke today?" Jessica asked.

"Can we just do this?" Rixel groaned. "I'm too tired."

"Okay, okay." Jessica replied, disappointed. "Well, you see how we have the-"

The girl was interrupted by a loud bag as the doors to the room slammed open.

"Oh, now... that's clever!"

Rixel felt her heart stop. She must have imagined that voice. There was no way possible that voice could be heard by her ever again. Especially not here.

"Single-molecule fabric! How thin is that? You could pack a tent in a thimble!"

She didn't even bother to look. She ducked down under the table. Her whole body trembled and her breath quickened. That was the Doctor's voice. She was sure of it. How did he get here!

"What are you doing?" Jessica knelt down.

Rixel hit the girl. "Ignore me!" She hissed.

"Terra-forming!"

Rixel saw those unmistakable red sneakers stop at the table she was under. His blue pinstriped pant legs. She found herself eager to reach out and touch him. To prove to herself that this couldn't be real.

"Rix, come on!" Jessica whispered. "What are you doing?"

"Jessica! Ignore me!" Rixel seethed out through her teeth.

It was too late. Jessica had drawn too much attention.

"Jessica? What are you doing?" Luke asked.

Jessica jumped up, her face red. "Oh, um. Sorry, sir. There was just um, something..."

She didn't get a chance to finished. Next thing Rixel knew, Luke was squatting down with a puzzled look on his face. "Rix, what are you doing down there?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but she was too scared and embarrassed to actually enunciate anything.

Then the unthinkable happened. Those blue pinstriped slacks moved downward. The Doctor's face appeared beneath the table, along with his black glasses.

Rixel tried to give him a smile, but she doubted her face even twitched.

The Doctor stared back at her, astonished. He blinked several times. "That's not possible." He said, his voice low and almost angry.

Rixel pulled herself up, standing behind the giant biosphere. The Doctor and Luke rose as well, looking at her from either side of the sphere across the table.

"You two know each other?" Luke asked.

Rixel couldn't tell, but it almost sounded like Luke was upset? She was about to give a horribly evasive answer when the Doctor spoke first.

"Nope." He shrugged. "Never seen her a day before in my life. Amazing work you've got here."

With that he turned and looked at another project. "Nano-tech steel construction! Haha, this is brilliant!"

Rixel felt her heart sink. He...didn't recognize her? How was that possible? No. She'd seen the way his face drained of all color when he saw her. He even said it wasn't possible. There was a reason he was ignoring her.

"If only that was possible." Luke said, replying to something the Doctor mentioned.

"If only that were possible." The Doctor said. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt. "Conditional clause."

Luke looked back at Rixel. "Rix, can you grab our project from the lab and meet me in my office?"

Rixel blinked.

"Oh, don't send one of your students to go get something." The Doctor scoffed. He avoided Rixel's stare. "I can just go with you and we can-"

"No." Luke held up a hand, silencing the Doctor. "Rixel?"

She nodded eagerly, then ran off towards the hallway. Though the main secret entrance was in the big lab, everyone else was still there, including the Doctor. Last week Luke had shown her the service entrance through the vents. It wasn't comfortable and she had to crawl, but it was secret.

What the hell was the Doctor doing here! Rixel's thoughts raced like crazy as she crawled down the to secret lab. He was here! At Rattigan Academy! Had he come to get her back? She shook her head. No. He pretended not to know her. He wasn't here for her. She was just an unfortunate accident. She wasn't suppose to be here. Martha sent her to some stupid girl's school. She should be there studying the periodic table and how to count electrodes.

Rixel dropped down into the lab with a thud. She raced over to the secondary ATMOS that her and Luke had been working on. It was beautiful, Rixel thought. She picked it up, holding it lightly in her hands. Deadly, too. But that was okay. Luke promised her it was safe. She smiled as she held it close to her. Luke was so amazing. He'd taught her so many things in the past few weeks. Things she'd never have learned if she was still with the Doctor. No. If he was dumb enough to even think about asking her back, she'd say no. She hated the Doctor. She crawled back up the ventilation tube. In fact, she was excited to show him this ATMOS. To show him she didn't need him. She was brilliant. And now she had Luke.

Rixel tucked the ATMOS into her jumper pocket and knocked on Luke's door. A moment later it opened.

In the center of the room stood the Doctor, Luke and some guard with a gun. In front of them was an...alien? That was the best way to describe it. It looked like a creepy mole Diglet thing.

All eyes turned to her.

"Rixel!" Luke called out to her.

"Ah, come on it. It's alright." The Doctor said. He gave no sign that he knew her.

The guard looked pale, like he was about to pass out any moment.

Rixel took a few steps into the room. Luke held out his arm, blocking her from the alien thing.

"Now, as I was saying." The Doctor turned back to the alien. "Sontarans only have one weakness-"

"Sontarans have no weakness!" The alien shouted back.

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

"For someone so clever, you're an idiot for provoking him!" Luke yelled at the Doctor.

The Doctor turned around and winked at Luke. Rixel felt a ripple of anger wash over her. How dare he ignore her after all these years! After forcing her to stay here, against her will, and now what? He just planned on waltzing around as if she didn't exist?

The Doctor flicked a ball up into the air and smacked it with a racket. The ball bounced off the strange video game-esk cube behind the alien, then hit it in the back of the neck.

"Out, out, out!" The Doctor turned, pushing the guard towards the door.

Luke took a step towards the alien. "What have you done?"

The Doctor jumped back and grabbed Rixel's hand, pulling her with him.

"What have you done!" Luke yelled again, looking over the alien.

The Doctor held onto Rixel's hand as they ran out of the school and down the steps to a vehicle parked just outside. He pulled open the backseat door, practically tossing her inside, then jumped in the passenger side.

"What are you doing?" Rixel asked as the guard started up the car.

The Doctor ignored her. He picked up the hand radio as the vehicle sped off the Rattigan Academy property. "Greyhound Forty to Trap One. Repeat: Can you hear me? Over."

"Why is it not working?" The guard asked.

"Must be the Sontarans." The Doctor replied.

"Doctor!" Rixel growled.

He turned around. "You shouldn't be here."

"You dragged me here." She folded her arms across her chest.

"Yeah, why'd you do that?" The guard asked.

The Doctor ignored him. "I left you in Martha's care. She knows this place is bad!"

"I left Martha years ago." Rixel narrowed her eyes. "I'm not your kid. You can't control me."

The Doctor looked stunned for a moment, then looked away.

"Wait, you know her?" The guard asked again.

"TURN LEFT." The ATMOS spoke with a feminine voice.

"Try going right." The Doctor said.

"It says left," the guard replied.

"I know." The Doctor rubbed his face. "So go right."

A moment later, the guard pulled his hands back from the wheel. "I've got no control. It's driving itself. It won't stop."

The Doctor tugged at the door, then pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Rixel never thought she'd see that thing again. "Argh! It's deadlocked!" The Doctor growled.

"We're headed for the river!" The guard cried as the vehicle turned towards the water.

"Doctor!" Rixel called out.

"ATMOS, are you programmed to contradict my order? Anything I say, you'll ignore it?"

"CONFIRMED." The ATMOS replied.

"Then drive into the river!" The Doctor yelled. He leaned back into his chair. "I order you to drive into the river!"

A moment later, the vehicle screeched to a halt, just before the water.

"Out, out!" The Doctor yelled.

They didn't need to be told twice. Rixel pulled at the handle and jumped out of the vehicle. She ran, going as fast as she could. She felt the Doctor's hand come up from behind her and pull her down to the ground. She landed there with a small cry of pain. The Doctor instantly put his arm over her head, shielding her.

A soft puff of a pop came from behind them. The Doctor slowly looked up.

"Oh," he frowned. "Is that it?"