CHAPTER 35

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PORTENTS OF THE FUTURE PART TWO

Uxmias continued to smile in triumph as he told Cassiopeia the exact location of the pyramid. He was finally going to be the most powerful of his race, and no one would ever be able to stand in the way of their freedom ever again after he toppled their corrupt government.

More importantly he would be able to see . . . her again.

I'll destroy the pyramid just don't hurt my Dad. Please. Cassiopeia said telepathically in a frightened voice.

Cydonia lightly stroked her head as she tried to calm the frightened child down. It was times like this that she realized that for all of her intelligence and maturity that she was still just a baby. She was a scared frightened baby who would do anything to save her family.

"Go then. Destroy it and your father will be safe. At least from me," Uxmias said with a wicked smile.

They all knew what he wasn't saying. The virus or even this mysterious Sutekh might still kill them all no matter what they did.

Cassiopeia had to believe that choosing to keep her father alive just a little bit longer was her best option though. She firmly believed what her father had told her once that wherever there was life there was hope.

"Let's go then," Cassiopeia said as she teleported herself and Cydonia to the pyramid's location.

"Isn't this only going to make things worse?" Charley asked Charlotte as she continued to eye the madly grinning Uxmias and his gun warily.

"Possibly," Charlotte said.

"What do you mean possibly? I bet you know exactly what's going to happen don't you?" Charley whispered while trying to keep the fact that Charlotte was a TARDIS from Uxmias.

"Sorry, Charley, but I can't tell you for fear of changing the future. I'll just say that you're probably better off not knowing," Charlotte said.

"Oh, thanks. That really makes me feel just wonderful," Charley said.

Charlotte smiled sympathetically at her but said nothing else to her which only added to Charley's uneasiness about the whole situation. What happened next really didn't help her much either.

Uxmias' eyes went up in his head, and he suddenly fell over flat on his face to reveal Arkytior standing behind him. She had a terrified expression on her face as she stood there glowing with the power of the Vortex. Then that terror turned to anger as she looked at Charley and Charlotte.

"Please tell me that she's not still insane. Please," Charley said.

"Sorry," Charlotte said.

"I won't let you put me away. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I will if you don't stay away. Leave me alone!" Arkytior screamed.

"Trust me. I definitely don't want to bother you," Charley said as she shook in terror.

While both Arkytior and Charley stared at each other in terror, Cassiopeia hesitated before the pyramid. She knew that this was wrong, but she didn't know what else to do.

"Don't do this. We'll find another way to save your Dad," Cydonia pleaded.

Cydonia's hearts broke for her as she could see the conflict between needing to save her family and knowing that she was about to do something that might make things even worse play out on her face. Then she saw a look of determination come across the young girl's face at last and knew that Cassiopeia had finally made a decision. She just hoped that it was the right one.

Cydonia's hearts fell as the pyramid exploded into a million pieces right in front of her.

"Did I do the wrong thing?" Cassiopeia asked in a guilty voice as she saw the look on Cydonia's face.

"I don't know. I hope not. I'm sure that your parents will be able to handle it no matter what happens," Cydonia said as she tried to comfort her.

"Since Mum's currently lost it, I'm not so sure about that this time," Cassiopeia said.

Back on Earth, Sutekh screamed in triumph as he finally stood up for the first time in ages and said, "Now let the Reign of Sutekh begin, and let this accursed place of my imprisonment burn!"

Then all thoughts about incinerating the Earth were immediately brought to a complete stop as he finally felt through his completely freed senses just how powerful the two beings that his agent on Mars had told him about actually were. He headed straight for Mars first as he decided to investigate them further personally.

The miserable mudball that he was currently standing on could always be incinerated later after all. Maybe by that time he would even have some help in doing it.

Back on Mars, Cassiopeia and Cydonia returned just in time to see Arkytior holding Charley up in the air by the neck as Charley said in a terrified voice, "I don't want to do anything to you. I came here to save this planet. I just wanted to save the Ice Warriors."

"You're lying. You want to kill me, but I won't let you," Arkytior said as she began to gesture at the frightened woman.

It was a gesture that made Cydonia gasp in horror because she instantly recognized it from seeing her in battle before. She was about to disintegrate her.

"Arkytior, no! She's innocent!" Cydonia screamed.

"Please, don't. I just wanted to help," Charley pleaded.

Arkytior hesitated as she looked between Cydonia and Charley with clear confusion in her eyes.

"Mum, please put her down. I need you sane again. I think I just made a huge mistake, and I'm really going to need your help in fixing it. Please. You need to fight this so that we can make it right together," Cassiopeia pleaded.

Arkytior looked right through her as if she didn't know her, and Cassiopeia began to cry. She didn't know her. Her mother didn't recognize her anymore.

"She doesn't remember me," Cassiopeia said in tears.

"Where am I?" Cydonia suddenly said.

"What?" Cassiopeia said as she looked at Cydonia in terror.

Cydonia didn't even notice her though as she said, "I don't know where I am. Where am I? What am I doing here? I don't want to be lost. I want to go home."

"Cy, not you too!" Cassiopeia said in a voice filled with fear as she looked up at the deluded woman who was somehow still holding her even though she was clearly no longer in control of her senses.

She loved Cydonia like a second mother. It was tearing her apart to see her like this and not to be able to do anything about it.

"Cassiopeia, teleport over to me," Charlotte said as she stretched out her hands to her.

Cassiopeia quickly did so and Charlotte held her tightly as she started to break down in her arms. Now she had lost all of the people that she depended on to keep her safe to madness, and she felt completely alone.

"It's going to be alright. I won't let anything happen to you, Cassiopeia," Charlotte reassured her.

"What about them? What about my family?" Cassiopeia cried out in despair.

Arkytior still hadn't attacked Charley yet. She hadn't been able to stop watching Cassiopeia since the little girl had called to her. There was something so familiar about her, but she didn't know what it was.

Charley didn't dare to speak for fear of attracting Arkytior's attention back to her once again. She just had to keep hoping that she eventually either regained her senses or decided to let her go.

"Ari?" Theta asked as he finally regained consciousness and saw her standing there holding Charley up in the air in a threatening manner. Luckily for her at this point she had already deactivated her powers after Cassiopeia had caused her to hesitate.

Arkytior looked at him with dim recognition in her eyes as she said, "Do you know me?"

"Oh, Ari. Not you too," Theta said in anguish.

"It gets worse, Dad," Cassiopeia said as she pointed to Cydonia who was now lying on her knees on the ground with her hands over her head screaming in terror.

"Cy," Theta said in a sad voice.

"Doctor . . . please . . . help," Charley managed to choke out in a throat almost closed in fear.

"Arkytior, let her down. She's not dangerous," Theta said in a calm but commanding voice.

Arkytior hesitated for a moment and then let Charley go. Charley began to shake in terror as soon as she was free, and then she started to scream as well.

"Great. Already being terrified must have accelerated the process," Theta said with a groan.

Suddenly Arkytior began to become extremely upset as she said, "Please don't hate me. No! Don't! I'm not a monster! I'm not!"

Theta just looked at her in complete confusion as he said, "I never said anything. Calm down, Ari. I know that you weren't in control of yourself or you never would have attacked her."

"I'm not a monster! I'm not! I couldn't live with myself if you hated me, Doctor! Please! Don't say that! No! No!" Arkytior screamed as she descended further and further into madness.

Theta's hearts were torn apart at hearing her like this, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him as he tried to calm her down. He knew that it was potentially extremely dangerous to be this close to her in this condition but at the moment he didn't care. She was in pain and that was all that mattered to him now.

He would have felt exactly the same way even if he had known about her powers.

"Where are the Viyrans? Why can't they get here and help us?" Cassiopeia said in despair.

"Charlotte, I want you to take my family and my new young friend here and stay in the Vortex with them. Keep them all locked up in separate rooms if you have to so that they'll be safe," Theta finally said when he couldn't take Arkytior's screams anymore.

"What about you?" Cassiopeia asked.

"I've got to finish the job and save them somehow. Maybe I can find a cure myself before the virus affects me too," Theta said bravely.

"No, you can't! I've already lost everyone else. I don't want to lose you too," Cassiopeia said in a blind panic.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I can't let these people die though. You'll see me again. I promise," Theta said as he kissed his daughter's forehead.

"Dad!" Cassiopeia shouted.

"Are you sure about this? You'll be all alone on a planet filled with madness," Charlotte said.

"Do it, Charlotte. I'll probably feel right at home anyway according to Ari," Theta said as he attempted to make a joke.

Just as Charlotte was about to do as he asked though, the Viyrans finally arrived at last. A ship that looked just like the one that had been destroyed before appeared on the horizon and immediately began to blanket the entire area in a spray of fine particles that Theta fervently hoped was the antidote.

"No!" a newly revived Uxmias shouted not knowing that Sutekh had already been freed and thinking that he had failed.

Then just as it seemed as if everything was finally going to be resolved at last, Sutekh finally arrived. With a wave of his hand, he stopped time for everyone on the planet except for himself and Uxmias.

"The baby succeeded then! You're free!" Uxmias said happily.

Sutekh looked at Cassiopeia with intense interest now as he said, "You're saying that the child freed me?"

"Yes, master. Both she and her mother have incredible power. It may even rival yours," Uxmias said.

"Intriguing. If I could gain them as allies, I would truly be unstoppable. If the two of them are as powerful as they seem to be, then no force in the universe would be able to stop me this time with them on my side," Sutekh said.

As Sutekh strode towards Arkytior and began to study her, Uxmias said, "Master, I must ask you something. Can I have my reward now?"

Sutekh looked at him with amusement as he said, "Oh, yes. You shall definitely have your reward."

His eyes glowed with power as Uxmias fell to his knees in agony. The Ice Warrior screamed in pain as Sutekh laughed.

"Stay silent from now on, and I may eventually give you what you seek. If you persist in interrupting me however, then I will give you nothing. Understood?" Sutekh said in a threatening voice.

"Y-yes, master," Uxmias said as he lay there in constant agony and couldn't move.

Sutekh ignored him and continued to stare at Arkytior with fascination as thoughts of what he could do with her by his side started to go through his head.

You're a real people person, aren't you? No wonder someone wanted you locked away so badly. A voice suddenly said in Sutekh's mind.

"Who dares to speak to Sutekh so?!" Sutekh asked in anger.

Wouldn't you like to know? The voice said in his head now.

"I will find you and when I do I'll destroy you! I will burn you into ashes!" Sutekh raged.

Oh, yeah? I really doubt that. You're never going to find me. Not before I stop you. The voice said.

Suddenly time restarted and the Viyrans' cure started to cover the entire planet once more just as it had before. Sutekh raged as he found that he couldn't stop it this time.

What's the matter? Not feeling quite up to snuff? The voice replied laughing.

"I will not be defeated. I am Sutekh and no one will stop me from destroying this world for its role in imprisoning me. If I can't destroy it one way then I will just have to destroy it in another!" Sutekh shouted as he began to glow with power.

"What's happening? Who is that?" Theta asked in complete confusion.

"This isn't supposed to be happening. Time is being altered on a grand scale," Charlotte said in alarm.

"We have to stop him whoever he is before he tears this world apart," Theta said in alarm.

"No power on this planet can stop him now I'm afraid," Charlotte said sadly.

"Master, you said that you would let me have this world to rule as my own. You said that you would give me my wife back and that we could rule the planet together as revenge for what the government did to her!" Uxmias protested.

"I lied," Sutekh said as his eyes flashed once again, and the Ice Warrior screamed in even more agony than before as this time Theta and Charlotte joined him.

Then the planet itself began to shake violently and massive cracks opened all over it while the screams of the mad Ice Warriors began to grow even louder at the very real danger now threatening them. The very skies of Mars now began to be ripped apart as the atmosphere was shredded and allowed in the dangerous rays of the sun that would quickly kill the cold-blooded Ice Warriors if they were exposed to it for too long.

No! The same voice in Sutekh's head as before screamed in protest.

"Oh, yes! This world is soon about to fall, and you will fall with it, child," Sutekh said as he teleported Cassiopeia from Charlotte's arms and into his own.

"Let me go!" Cassiopeia shouted in fear.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you. I'll let the lack of atmosphere and the deadly environment that this planet is soon about to develop do that for me. Did you really think that you could hide from me forever, child? Sooner or later Sutekh always wins! Always!" Sutekh boasted.

"Mum, please help me! Please!" Cassiopeia pleaded.

Arkytior had been completely lost to madness and was trapped in her own little world. She hadn't noticed anything happening around her at all. Suddenly as she heard her child screaming for her in fear, her head snapped up. Her eyes began to glow with power as she subconsciously used the power of the Vortex to start burning away the virus inside of her.

Sutekh automatically turned as he felt her gaze upon him and looked at her with great interest. Perhaps if he offered to save the child who she obviously cared about, he could persuade her to join his side.

"I will spare her life if you will join me. Join me and we will turn this universe into dust beneath our feet as we wander through it side by side," Sutekh offered.

Arkytior began to glow brighter and brighter now as she said, "They think that I'm a monster. They want to kill me."

"They always seek to destroy that which is different and that they don't understand, my dear. That's the way of things it seems. I promise you that no one will hurt you though with me at your side. I'll protect you from everyone," Sutekh said.

"Who's going to protect you though?" Arkytior replied as she glowed brighter and brighter.

"What?" Sutekh asked surprised.

"I realized something today. I'm not a monster even if my powers do sometimes go out of control. I may yet be thought of as one and I may yet be killed for being one. I'm not really one though. I know that now. I was so lost in madness thanks to you that I could have killed that poor Earth girl earlier but I didn't. Something inside of me stopped me even at my lowest point. That's because I'm not evil. I'm not a cold-blooded killer. I'm not a monster at all despite being afraid that I was one earlier. You are!" Arkytior shouted in fury.

She glowed brighter now than Cassiopeia had ever seen her do before and teleported the baby into her arms without even blinking an eye. She quickly checked her over to see that she was alright, and then she redirected her full attention to Sutekh even as she started to fix the damage that he was doing to the planet with a stray thought.

Sutekh looked at her in complete disbelief as he said, "What are you?"

She smiled then as she said, "I am the Bad Wolf."

She glowed brighter than a star now as she gestured at Sutekh, and this time the Osirian was the one to hit his knees in agony. He screamed in defiance as well as pain as Arkytior continued to fix the damage that he had done while he was kept from interfering.

"You think that you're powerful because you can cause pain and destruction. That isn't real power though. Anyone can destroy. You're no better than any other killer in the end despite what you think. I won't allow you to attack this world or any other. I was sent to protect this world, and that is what I'm going to do," Arkytior said.

Sutekh screamed in even greater agony now as Mars was completely restored back to normal, and its people were now being rapidly cured by the Viyrans who had stayed despite what had been happening on the planet below them. Arkytior then freed Uxmias, Theta, and Charlotte from Sutekh's attack, and the three of them collapsed in a state of near unconsciousness thanks to the enormous amount of pain that they had just experienced. Charlotte had been so affected in fact that she immediately turned back into her true form of a nondescript box in the very next moment.

"You can't do this to me. I am Sutekh the Destroyer. It once took all of my people combined to stop me. How can one woman possibly stop me so completely? How? Who are you?!" Sutekh protested.

"You don't listen very well, do you? I already told you. I am the Bad Wolf," Arkytior said as she began to slowly tear Sutekh apart molecule by molecule.

"No!" Sutekh screamed.

"Mum, don't," Cassiopeia pleaded.

Arkytior looked at her in surprise for a moment as she said, "He tried to kill you. He'd try to kill others if I let him go."

"I know but this isn't you. Don't sink to his level no matter how much he deserves it. There is another way," Cassiopeia said.

Arkytior smiled as she said, "You're right. I'll put him back where you found him. Anything else would be showing him mercy and for what he did to you he doesn't deserve any of that. His people were right. I think spending the rest of eternity trapped and unable to move is exactly what he deserves."

She rebuilt the pyramid on Mars from halfway across the planet and then sent Sutekh back to the pyramid that he been trapped in on Earth. The Osirian was still screaming in protest all the way back. Almost as an afterthought, Arkytior erased his memory of their entire meeting even as he went back to his prison.

She wouldn't allow anyone as dangerous as him to remember what she really was no matter how unlikely it was that they would ever return.

Arkytior stopped glowing just as Theta and the others regained their senses, and Theta looked at her in complete surprise as she stood there in triumph while holding the baby. Somehow he knew that she had just saved the day even if he had no idea how she had done it.

"You did it again, didn't you?" Theta asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about. The Viyrans cured the Ice Warriors. I had nothing to do with that," Arkytior said innocently.

"I'm talking about the alien that was just here. The one that was tearing apart the entire planet. He was killing all of us and was about to destroy everything. Then all of a sudden he's gone, and you're standing there all alone. It's just like before with the War Lords. How did you do it?" Theta asked.

He just had to ask even knowing that it might make her upset again. He had to know what was going on with her.

Arkytior smiled as she said, "I'm just that good, Doctor. A little murderous invasion by a mad alien set on universal conquest? That's child's play. You just have to know how to use your brains to stop them. I'm just following in your footsteps and using my intelligence and natural cleverness to solve my problems. That's all. You did it with the problems that we used to run into back at the Academy, and I'm doing it in my job. I guess I just learned from the best."

Theta smiled and she knew that she had shut him up by appealing to his ego. At least she had for now anyway.

"I'd say that you were better than me judging from the results. I still don't know what's going on, but as long as you're okay again I guess it doesn't really matter," Theta said.

"I'm sorry for being so on edge before. I was really upset about something before, but now I'm over it. This whole thing made me feel so much better about myself. You don't have to worry about me anymore, Doctor. I'm really okay now," Arkytior said.

Theta looked at her for a moment to see if she was telling the truth and then he nodded with a smile as he said, "Good. I was worried about you for a while there."

"So was I," Arkytior admitted.

So are you finally convinced that your powers don't make you a monster? Cassiopeia asked telepathically.

Yes, sweetie. I realize that even if I use them by accident sometimes that doesn't make me evil. It just means that I'm not skilled enough in using them. I need to only use them in extreme situations in order to avoid things like that happening again in the future. Arkytior responded.

You used them just fine this time though. You were able to maintain control of yourself. Cassiopeia pointed out.

You're not counting me almost killing that poor girl until you yelled at me. Arkytior answered with a frown.

You weren't yourself. That wasn't your fault, and you stopped yourself just in time. Cassiopeia replied.

I know but that just shows that I shouldn't use them even if I am getting better at it. I could still endanger others and myself by accident. Besides that I can endanger both of us just by others finding out about us. Braxiatel taught me that. No, the less I use them the better. They need to remain secret especially from your father. He . . . he must never know. Arkytior responded.

He'd understand. I know he would. Cassiopeia argued.

Arkytior shook her head. Part of her wanted to believe that, but she couldn't take that chance. If he ever looked at her with fear or hatred, she wouldn't be able to take that. She couldn't survive it.

Cassiopeia shook her head not understanding. A whole lifetime of living in fear due to covering up a dark secret had taken its toll on her mother's spirit. It wouldn't be until she was out from under that shadow as Rose Tyler that she would discover her true strength and overcome it at last.

Once the entire planet was cured, the Viyrans finally showed themselves at last. They wore large white suits and didn't speak at all except by mimicking their human companion's voice.

What they said to Arkytior and her family as soon as they arrived shocked them as one of them said in Charley's voice, "I'm afraid that you're going to have to be made to forget seeing us and our human assistant. We must wipe this entire incident from your mind."

"What?" Arkytior asked in alarm worried about going back into the depression that she had been in earlier if she forgot the lesson that she had learned about herself here today.

"Why? What right do you have to tamper with our memories?" Theta asked outraged.

"You're not supposed to meet us or the girl with us just yet, Doctor. You meet all of us in the far future for what to you must be the first time. We must remove your memories of us and allow you to think that the alien who attacked was responsible for the madness here and that his defeat stopped it just in time," A Viyran said.

Arkytior shook her head fearful of what forgetting the girl and how she had stopped herself from attacking her might do to her self-esteem.

The Viyrans seemed to somehow sense this as one of them said, "You will however remember the girl with us but not her face or anything specific about her. She will just be a human that came to Mars to help and left once the danger was over with."

"Why not erase her completely?" Theta asked suspiciously.

"Her presence here was necessary. She helped us all win a victory here today in a way that even she doesn't understand just yet," Another Viyran said as Charley looked at them in confusion.

Arkytior however looked at them in surprise. She couldn't help but wonder just how much that they knew about her if they were from the Doctor's future. Did they know as much as the War Lords had?

It didn't seem as if they planned on using that knowledge to harm her, but how could she be sure?

"Ari, I think that they're on our side, and I know that she is," Cydonia reassured her.

Arkytior knew then that this did all have to do with the future where Cydonia's other self traveled with the Doctor. She decided to trust that Cydonia knew what she was talking about and finally agreed to let the Viyrans change her memories.

"I'm still not sure about this," Theta said.

"Doctor, this is the way things are supposed to be. Believe me," Charlotte finally said.

Theta finally gave in then as he had no reason not to trust a TARDIS especially one that was Cliodna's.

"Goodbye, Doctor. One day we're going to be the best of friends I promise," Charley said to Theta.

Theta smiled as he said, "I'm sure we will. I already like you, and I barely know you."

Arkytior smiled as she realized that this was yet another person who would travel with Theta and the mysterious Jackie in the future. It seemed that even after she was gone that her Doctor would still have just as many friends as ever. She was glad of that and hoped that it would help him to move on from her.

"Goodbye, Time Lords, until we meet again," A Viyran said as it began to alter the Time Lords' memories.

Afterwards only Charlotte was left unaffected as she was a multi-dimensional being. She wasn't about to let the Viyrans know that however.

Or maybe they knew it already? It was hard to tell about what the enigmatic Viyrans did or didn't know even for her for some reason.

As soon as the Viyrans and Charley left, the Time Lords regained their senses to discover Uxmias being taken away by the very government forces that he had tried to overthrow. He continued to protest the death of his wife at their hands with such sadness that Arkytior couldn't help but ask what it had all been about.

She was told that his wife had died doing the same thing as he had attempted to do. She had tried to overthrow the government and take over the planet for herself. It seemed that Uxmias was only continuing her work. Both of them believed that the current government was too corrupt to be allowed to continue.

Arkytior couldn't help but wonder if they had been right. That was the original mission that the Time Lords had sent her to this time period to carry out after all. She was to investigate claims of corruption in the government and find out what was causing it.

She would ordinarily think that the affairs of the Ice Warriors were none of the Time Lords' business except for the fact that the High Council had told her that the corruption may just be the work of a renegade member of their own people. They had evidence that the government had been infiltrated by and was being slowly put under the control of another Time Lord!

Arkytior couldn't help but wonder if she might not wind up on Uxmias' side after all before everything was over.

Next: Arkytior and Theta discover a conspiracy to take over Mars and put it under the control of an old classmate of theirs. Who will it be and why? Also what part will Cliodna play in helping to stop it and just how far will she be willing to go? Let's just say that you'll see Cliodna in a way that you've never seen her before.