CHAPTER 50
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THE HIDDEN ENEMY PART 2
As Rose's knees started to buckle against the combined power of both Morgaine and the Dark Goddess, she knew that it wouldn't be much longer now before she was completely driven to her knees by them. What she couldn't understand is why the energies of other realities that they were currently using against her were affecting her in this way. Even if she wasn't able to completely control the laws of reality in Merlin's world or other universes, she was still a part of the Vortex which touched all realities so their energies shouldn't be doing this much damage to her.
She knew that she had to find an answer soon or she wouldn't last much longer against their devastating assault. More importantly to her, neither would her baby and she wasn't about to let her die before she was even born.
Do you need help? Should we try to do something? An unknown voice suddenly said in Rose's mind that completely surprised her.
"Wha? Who is that?" Rose asked as she looked around her in confusion.
"She's already going mad from the pain apparently," The Dark Goddess said with an evil laugh as she watched this.
"Shut up," Jenny said in a cold voice as she suddenly appeared next to her and fired a massive burst of energy straight into her face making her immediately cry in agony.
The Dark Goddess looked at her with a mixture of surprise and pain on her face now as she said, "You actually hurt me. They said that no one from your universe should be able to do that now. They told me that I was immune to the power of your reality."
"Maybe that's true for most of the people from my reality but I'm not an ordinary person. I'm the Guardian of the Multiverse so I suppose that means that I don't just draw power from my own universe but from all of them at once. Too bad for you," Jenny said with a smug smile as she continued to pummel her with one devastating attack after another.
"So you're here as well. I should have known that the two of you were mother and daughter. You have her inner fire," Morgaine said with an actual frightened look on her face now as she recognized Jenny from her last encounter with her.
Rose would have been amused (and somewhat proud) by the fact that it seemed as if Morgaine was far more afraid of Jenny than of her if she hadn't had other more pressing things on her mind at the moment. Namely she was worried about the source of that voice in her head. Who was that and where were they? She hadn't heard the voice speak again so she still had no idea about that.
She really hated unanswered questions like that especially in the middle of such a deadly battle because she still had to deal with Morgaine despite Jenny's distraction of the Dark Goddess. Luckily for her she was about to get some help with that as well.
"You know I always thought that you King Arthur types were supposed to be so pious and noble. Obviously I was completely wrong about that. Otherwise you wouldn't be attacking Rose of all people right now especially in her condition. That shows me exactly what kind of person that you really are. That makes me really glad right now that I'm apparently not a normal Guardian either and that I can hurt you just as much as you've hurt her," Christina said in an furious voice as she suddenly teleported right in front of Morgaine and took her by surprise with a powerful attack that actually sent her crashing right through one of the castle walls.
"Thanks, I needed that," Rose said with a relieved look on her face.
"Are you alright?" Christina asked as she looked at her with concern.
"I'll be fine, yeah? The baby's fine too. I'd know if she wasn't," Rose reassured her.
"Baby? You're with child?" Morgaine said in a horrified tone as she quickly rejoined them.
"Yeah, I'm not showing yet but I'm definitely pregnant. Not that that matters much to your new bosses apparently," Rose said in an angry voice.
Morgaine actually looked ashamed now and the Doctor was quick to take advantage of this as he said from behind her, "That's right, Morgaine. You just broke one of the cardinal rules of a true warrior: you attacked a pregnant woman. Does this finally show you exactly what kind of people that you're working for at last? Are these the kind of people that you can really feel good about working with now? Unlike you, they obviously have no sense of honor whatsoever."
Morgaine nodded as she said in an apologetic tone, "It's true. They had to have known that she was pregnant and yet they still asked me to attack her anyway. You're right, Doctor. I cannot in good conscience continue to help such a group of people despite what it will cost me in return to refuse them."
"You traitor!" The Dark Goddess shouted in anger from nearby where she continued to engage in a furious battle with Jenny.
"Maybe so but I'd rather be a traitor than to completely lose what's left of my honor. I won't do that. Not even for Arthur," Morgaine said in a sad voice.
"So that's what this was about. You made a deal with the Brethren to bring your version of King Arthur back to life again. They were going to alter your own history. They really must be confident of their ultimate victory to risk altering the timeline of another reality that much," The Doctor said in a troubled voice.
"So you did all of this for love then. I suppose I can understand that if anyone can," Rose said to Morgaine as she briefly looked at the Doctor.
"I'm truly sorry, Rose Tyler. You have my word of honor that neither I nor my knights will trouble you again this day. In fact, I'm going to recall them all right now from the field of battle. Farewell," Morgaine said as she raced to find the commanding officers of her forces in order to give them their new orders.
"Blimey! If I had known that was all that I needed to do in order to end this was to tell her that I was pregnant, I would have started off with that in the first place. I feel like a proper idiot now," Rose said with a groan as she watched her go.
"It's far from finished, Rose. The Dark Goddess is still more than willing to pick up where Morgaine left off, and I don't think that she really cares if you're pregnant again for the tenth time or not," River warned as she pointed to where Jenny and the Dark Goddess were still hammering each other nearby with blows so powerful that they shook the entire area.
"Oi! I have not been pregnant ten times," Rose said in an irritated tone.
"Well, maybe it only seems like it, dear, since every time I turn around you're having another baby lately. You and the Doctor are really starting to remind me of a pair of rabbits," River said with an evil smile.
"And there you all go teasing one another again while people are fighting for their lives nearby. What is wrong with you people?" Nimueh said in disbelief as she joined them.
"Hey! That's not really fair, Nimey, because you don't have all of the facts just yet. Rose just got Morgaine to call off the fight. She's about to order all of her boys to retreat. This should mostly be over with at any minute now," Clara said in a defensive tone.
"Nimey?" Nimueh said with a grin as her mood noticeably brightened at her words.
"Sorry. I like to give people cute little nickname sometimes. It's what I do," Clara said
"It's okay. That's what my best friend calls me too," Nimueh admitted as she briefly thought of Sophia who she really wished was there at that moment.
"I didn't think that it was possible. So you can actually smile after all," Christina said in amazement.
"Yes, when I'm given a reason to. I'll be smiling even more once you're gone. Hopefully that'll be very soon now," Nimueh said with a smirk.
"Well, I should have known that it was too good to be true," Christina said with a sigh.
"This whole thing feels too good to be true if you ask me. Since when do we ever win a battle this easily?" The Doctor said with a frown.
"We haven't won yet," Rose said with a faraway look in her eyes.
"Uh oh. I never like it when you have that look on your face, Bad Wolf Girl. It always means trouble. So what aren't you telling us now?" Clara asked in a worried voice.
That was when Merlin came running up to them with a huge smile on his face as he said in a jubilant tone, "Morgaine's troops are leaving."
Then he saw the somber expression on Rose and the Doctor's faces and immediately said, "So why isn't everyone happy about that?"
"They're not going to give up that easily, Merlin. Not by a long shot, yeah?" Rose said in a troubled tone.
"So what does that mean? That whoever is helping the Dark Goddess is going to be sending in someone else now?" Merlin asked as he looked around him for signs of a new invasion force.
"Why should they?" Rose said enigmatically as she pointed to Morgaine's retreating soldiers.
"You see exactly what's about to happen already, don't you?" The Doctor asked as he saw her staring intently at the soldiers as if she expected something to change at any moment now.
"Oh, yeah and I didn't see it a few minutes ago so that shows that whoever's behind all of this is constantly changing the future even as we speak," Rose said as she continued to watch the soldiers.
"That sounds like them alright if they are who I think that they are. Be ready for anything," The Doctor warned the others as he saw the expression of deep concern on Rose's face.
He had learned long ago to predict when something was going to happen just from the expression on her face or a sudden change in her mood. She didn't have to tell him when something bad was about to happen. He already knew because he knew her so well.
"Sorry," Rose said as she gave him a sad look because she knew that he could read her like a book.
"There's no need to apologize, Rose. I understand that you can't tell us anything or you'll risk altering the future. I truly wish that wasn't your burden to bear. It shouldn't be you who has to see such things," The Doctor said with regret.
"Don't worry, Doctor. It won't be. Not for much longer because she'll no longer be alive to have any visions . . . of the future or anything else," Several of the soldiers closest to them suddenly said in unison.
"And here we go," Clara said with a groan as all of Morgaine's soldiers immediately stopped in their tracks and turned around now at the exact same time as if guided by the same mind.
"What are you doing? I order you to stop," Morgaine said while she looked at her knights in shock as they disobeyed her.
"They're no longer yours to command anymore. We are taking command since you cannot keep your promises," The knights said in unison to her.
"You never told me that she was pregnant or I never would have agreed to your unholy bargain in the first place," Morgaine protested.
"We know and it's too bad really because we hate to waste such a promising new ally. We really can't continue to work with someone who we can't trust however," The knights said as they spoke with someone else's words.
Suddenly they all began to fire their guns at Morgaine at once taking her completely by surprise. She screamed in agony as they ruthlessly attacked her one after another.
"Your services are no longer required, Morgaine. They have now been officially terminated as have you," The knights said as they continued to fire on their former commander even after she fell to the ground in front of them.
"What's happening? It's almost as if someone is controlling all of them at once. Who could have that kind of power? The Dark Goddess?" Merlin asked as he watched them with a sickened look on his face.
"No, not her. It's the people that she's working with instead. They're a renegade group of my own people who call themselves the Brethren and they want to take over every reality everywhere. I just keep coming across them lately in one form or another, and I think that they've finally gotten tired of me. The feeling's more than mutual too, mate," Rose said as she began to glow with energy.
"They're going to be coming after us next, aren't they?" Clara realized in horror as the knights all turned to look Rose's way at once.
"Not you. Me," Rose said in a determined voice as she prepared to fight for her life.
"Same difference isn't it?" Clara said without hesitation as she too started to glow with energy now and stood beside her.
"The whole army of Camelot were about to fall to them a minute ago, and you think that you can take them on all by yourselves?" Merlin asked in disbelief.
"I've had worse odds," Rose said with a shrug.
"The odds are about to get even worse than that we're afraid," The knights said as one as they all began to glow with energy at once.
"I know," Rose said in a stoic tone.
"Great. They just transferred the power that they gave Morgaine to them," Christina said as she sensed this with her own power.
"There's an entire army of incredibly powerful people that are all about to attack us at once. Finally a real challenge," River said with a mad grin.
"Sometimes I really worry about you, Melody," Christina said with a groan.
"Only sometimes, dear? I must be becoming mellow. I'll have to work on that," River said with a chuckle as she started to fire on the knights with her gun even as they opened fire on her and the others from every direction.
Merlin and Nimueh now had to create a force field to protect themselves and their new friends as powerful blasts of energy that would have instantly killed all of them came at them from every angle. They could already feel their shield starting to buckle though from the massive bombardment and knew that it was only a matter of time before it collapsed on them.
"Did you all really think that turning Morgaine was going to make a difference in this? It was only a momentary distraction. Nothing more," The Dark Goddess said in a mocking tone as she and Jenny continued to battle one another to a standstill nearby.
"Then it's time for things to change isn't it? You have your army so it's high time that I brought in mine," Jenny said in a defiant tone.
"Bring in everyone that you like. It still won't make a bit of difference in the end. We will still win and then I will have this world and the Brethren will have all of the others. All of time and space will be theirs to control as they see fit at last. You know I'm really rather jealous," The Dark Goddess admitted with a malevolent smile.
"It must really hurt to be outclassed in the evil department. It was the only thing that you were ever any good at after all: being a complete monster. Now you're not even good at that anymore," Eris said as she joined Jenny in her attack against her.
"Well, it's not really much to be proud of from the start is it? 'Hey, I'm the best there is at being a total creep.' I think I'd actually welcome having that title taken away myself," Buffy said as she struck the Dark Goddess in the solar plexus with all of her strength making her instantly bend over in pain.
"That's not all that's about to be taken away," Mary Winchester said as she shot the evil being right in the chest with both of her Colts at once.
The Dark Goddess immediately cried out in pain but seemed to otherwise be unaffected by her attack as she glared at her in defiance.
"And I was so hoping to be the one to finally gank her too," Mary said in disappointment.
"You do realize that those really only work for sure back in our own world, don't you? In this reality, they're probably not any more effective than an ordinary gun would be," Jo Winchester warned as she prepared to use her power as an Angel to instantly strike the Dark Goddess down if she came anywhere near her daughter.
"Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't I've noticed, Mom. I always like to experiment because you never know, right?" Mary said with a mischievous grin.
"Perhaps I should do some experimenting with you instead," The Dark Goddess said as she flung Jenny, Buffy, and Eris away from her with a massive burst of energy that poured forth from her entire body and started towards Mary with a dangerous look in her eyes.
"You want an experiment? Okay. Here's one. Experiment Number One: I use my power on you and see what happens. What happens when a woman made out of plants is set on fire I wonder?" Jenny said as she suddenly appeared behind the Dark Goddess and placed her hand on top of her head as she took her completely by surprise.
A lethal amount of energy poured forth from her fingers straight into the evil being's skull now burning her alive from the inside out. She immediately began to fall apart and turn to ashes as Jenny stood over her in triumph.
"That experiment went exactly like I thought it would alright. Pretty good for someone who never went to school a day in her life, huh?" Jenny quipped.
"Too bad we didn't have her around before when she was causing so much trouble," Merlin said as he let out a whistle of appreciation.
"This changes nothing. We will alter time and bring her back just as easily as we did before. Right now all that matters is killing the Wolf," The knights said together as their attack on Rose and the others intensified.
"You can't kill her if you can't control your toy soldiers anymore though can you?" Andromeda said as she too joined the others now and held out a small device in her hands towards the knights.
As soon as it lit up and started to work, several of the knights held their hands to their heads and began crying out in pain. Andromeda smiled in triumph as she realized that the device she had just created from scratch on the way there was already working as more and more of the knights began to do the same thing all around her.
"It's a psychic dampener. Soon it'll cut you off from all of their minds completely, and they'll no longer be able to do anything for you anymore," Andromeda said happily.
"Your interference has already come far too late we're afraid," The vast bulk of still unaffected knights said together.
Merlin and Nimueh's shield suddenly crumbled before their assault without warning at that moment. As soon as it did, Rose, like Morgaine before her, was immediately hit from all directions at once by a series of devastating blasts of energy.
"Rose!" The Doctor screamed as the Brethren's blasts of energy hit her from so many places at once that he could no longer even see her anymore because they were completely blocking her from view.
"You have failed, Doctor. The Wolf will fall so that the Huntsman will live once again. Now watch as the only one who could have prevented the return of our master dies," The Brethren said through their pawns in a voice filled with fanatical glee.
Only Rose wasn't dying. In fact, she wasn't even so much as crying out in pain the Doctor now realized with a growing sense of relief as he saw her beginning to deflect the knights' own attacks back at them with an outstretched hand.
"What?! That's not possible. We calculated everything down to the last variable. The combined energy of so many other realities with such different laws of physics to them hitting her at once should have down three times more damage to her than usual. She should be dead now," The Brethren said in confusion through their pawns.
No one was more confused by this than Rose herself though. She had absolutely no idea where this sudden influx of new power had come from that had saved her at the last moment.
Three times more damage than usual? Good thing for you that you have four times more power than you would usually have then, right, Mum? The same voice that had spoken to Rose before said in her mind.
Rose began to smile from ear to ear as she cried out, "No wonder I suddenly feel like a million pounds. It's the baby, Doctor. She's helping me."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me in the slightest," The Doctor said with a relieved look.
"No, this isn't possible. We took the child's interference into account as well. Even she wouldn't have been able to provide you with enough power to do this," The Brethren said as their pawns struggled to fight back against a now seemingly unstoppable Rose.
I'm not the only one in here though. I had help. The baby replied to Rose.
"Help? No. You don't mean," Rose said as her smile started to become even wider now as she finally understood what was going on at last.
"Help? What do you mean that she had help?" The Doctor asked in confusion.
Then his jaw dropped as he said, "How many?"
Rose could feel them all now as they spoke to her in her mind. She had never even realized that they were there and more importantly neither had the Brethren.
"Three, Doctor. I'm having triplets. I have the power of four Vortex users at once now," Rose said as her face filled with joy.
"Triplets? This isn't possible unless . . . so this is when the twins Sarah and Peter Tyler appeared. We were never quite sure of their exact birthdays," The Brethren said through their pawns in stunned voices.
"You know neither was I until just now. Future me always kept that a closely guarded secret even from me and now I finally know why. If I didn't know it, then you wouldn't either. I am good," Rose said with a chuckle as she now began to amplify the power of Andromeda's device.
The effects of Andromeda's psychic dampener were now quadrupled in their intensity, and the knights were instantly cut off from the Brethren's control. They looked around them in complete bewilderment with no idea what had just happened as Rose finally sighed in relief at last.
She had finally won. For now.
She knew that this was only a single battle though. The war between them was far from over even with her having become temporarily far more powerful than usual. Even with this new development, the Brethren weren't about to give up now.
She knew that they would never give up until either she or they were dead. She had already seen it.
"So it's finally all over now?" Merlin asked hopefully.
"For you, yes. I guess we'll be getting out of your hair now, Merlin. Sorry for mucking about with your lives like that," Rose apologized.
"Wait a minute. What about the knights? What happens to them now especially without Morgaine around to lead them anymore? What if they decide to start attacking us again when you leave?" Nimueh asked in a wary voice.
"There's no need to worry about that. I said that I would keep my word and I have," Morgaine said as she suddenly emerged from behind a large group of her soldiers.
"I don't mean to be rude but aren't you dead?" Merlin asked in amazement.
"If she's not, she certainly should be," Nimueh said in astonishment.
"Perhaps I should but yet miraculously I still live. It was almost as if something or someone protected me from the worst of their attacks somehow," Morgaine said as she looked suspiciously at Rose.
"It wasn't me. I swear," Rose said with a genuinely confused look on her face.
That was when Paige, who had been missing from the fight until now, finally appeared at last as she said, "Actually that was the Power of Three. My sisters and I were casting a really, really long distance spell as we did our best to help because Phoebe had a premonition that we were going to have trouble if we didn't save Morgaine. Besides we weren't about to let anyone be cut down like that anyway especially since she showed that she wasn't nearly as bad as she seemed to be at first."
"That's debatable," Nimueh muttered with a frown.
"Keep quiet, Nimey, before she decides to change her mind," Clara warned her in an uncomfortable tone.
"No, it's quite alright. I completely understand her sentiments. In my zeal to recapture my past, I allowed myself to go much too far and nearly jeopardized my own future and that of my men as a result. That will never happen again I assure you. I will never set foot in this reality again from the day forward. You have my word on that," Morgaine promised.
"You'd better keep it too, Morgaine, because I'll be watching. This universe is under my protection. Just remember that," Jenny warned.
Morgaine briefly smiled at her as she saluted her. Then both she and her men all teleported away at once en masse. The battle was finally over with at last.
Merlin couldn't help but smile at that. He really enjoyed having Jenny as his own personal guardian angel at times. In her case, it was almost literal since she was a Guardian of Time and her nickname was Time's Angel.
"Don't get too full of yourself, Merlin. You'll start becoming just as bad as Arthur," Nimueh warned him with a small smile.
"That's not possible. Nobody could be that arrogant," Merlin protested.
"Clearly you've never met the Master," The Doctor said under his breath as he put his arms protectively around Rose.
"You just can't resist insulting someone especially when you're worried about something, can you?" Rose said with a sigh.
"The Brethren are only just getting started, Rose, and they're completely terrified of you for some reason. I have a right to be worried. People always try their best to destroy what they're afraid of after all. I just wish that I knew exactly what they're up to and what it has to do with you," The Doctor said in an anxious voice.
"So do I," Rose admitted as she looked down at her stomach protectively.
This time her babies had saved her but now that the element of surprise was gone she wouldn't always be able to count on them to bail her out of trouble in the future. That worried her far more than she was willing to admit right now especially to the Doctor.
He already had enough on his mind after all.
"Do you realize that we're going to have six small children running around the TARDIS at once now, Rose? Seven if you count Cassiopeia's boyfriend," The Doctor said with a frown.
"There you go again," Rose said with a grin as she kissed him.
Then she became serious as she said, "It won't be so bad. We have Clara, Dorothy, Victoria, and so many others to help us out if they get out of hand. They won't be too much of a problem I'm sure. I mean Jackie, Lily, and Michael haven't really been that bad, have they?"
"Not when compared to Ace maybe," The Doctor said with a small smile.
"You'll see. It'll be alright, Doctor. Besides you know you love kids. You always have," Rose said with a smile.
"Yes, but this is going a bit overboard, isn't it? We could start our own colony," The Doctor said as he did his best to hide a smile.
"Alright, that's enough out of you, Mister, or I'll suddenly decide to ask one of my mums to stay with us for a while to help take care of the children. I'm sure that they'd both love to do that too, yeah?" Rose said with a malicious smile.
The Doctor immediately shut up and didn't say another word. Mostly because he was too busy kissing Rose with joy afterwards.
He was going to be a father again . . . three times over. Even the Old Man could be happy about that.
Next: You'll notice that one character in the Alternaverse Gang didn't show up this time, and in the next chapter we'll find out exactly why Spider-Man was missing in action as he officially leaves the team. The Gang won't have long to miss him though as he'll immediately be replaced by Mary Winchester when she goes on her first adventure with the team (It's all timey wimey) as they all go up against the menace of the Reverse Flash.
