Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC.
The Doctor and Rose ram back to the car "He's going to choke!" Donna cried out at them. She banged at the car before turning her scared eyes on the pair of them. "Doctor! Rose!"
"It won't open!" he grunted.
"Rose! Please! Do something!"
"We're trying, Donna," she said in worry. "We won't let anything happen to him. Promise."
The Doctor ran around the back and tried sonicking something under the car. Nothing was working. Just then, Sylvia strode out towards them and slammed the bonnet shut. Only then did they see the big axe she was holding, and not a second later, she swung it down onto the windshield. It shattered and Wilf ducked and covered to avoid the rain of glass falling onto him. All of them were too shocked to speak.
"Well, don't just stand there! Get him out!" she ordered.
Quickly, they scrambled around to the front of the car and helped pull him out, trying to avoid him leaning on the glass. Donna fussed over him a second, trying to brush all the glass off him. But she, Wilf and Sylvia were coughing too much.
"You should get inside," Rose told them.
"What about you? Why aren't you choking?" Donna asked, her eyes starting to water.
"Um... something to do with our lungs. Respiratory bypass. It basically helps up hold our breath for a very long time, and filter out some smells and gases. We'll be fine. Let's get you guys in." She and the Doctor ducked under Wilf's arms and helped him back, Donna and Sylvia walking ahead.
"Thanks," he said.
"I can't believe you've got an axe!" Donna said to her mother.
"Burglars!" Sylvia defended her choice.
"Once you're in the house, just try and close off all the doors and widows. Anywhere the gas could get in," the Doctor told them. Behind him, Ross pulled up in a black cab.
"Doctor!" Ross called to the Doctor "This is all I could find that hasn't got ATMOS."
"Good!" he cried, grabbing Rose's hand and dashing towards the cab. "Donna, you coming or do you want to stay with your family?"
"Yeah," Donna replied.
Donna, Don't go!" Her mother cried "Look what happens every time those two appear. Stay with us, please."
"You go my darling!" Wilf said urging Donna to go with the Doctor and Rose.
"Dad!"
"Don't listen to her! You go with Rose and the Doctor! That's my girl!"
Donna gave a smile to him as she jumped in the cab. She felt horrible leaving them there, but she would be more help with the pair of them. If she went with her two time travellers, she'd not only be able to help her family, she'd be able to help stop this. And she wanted her family safe. She smiled even more when she saw her grandfather waving to them, before ducking into the gets into the cab, though feeling guilty to leave her family.
Ross drove fast, and with no one else on the roads it was easy to speed through to the factory. He sped up to the entrance at a speed that was probably a bit too dangerous, and they were already jumping out the second it stopped.
"Ross, look after yourself," the Doctor told Ross "get inside the building."
ROSS: "Will do," he replied He picked up the radio to report. "Greyhound 40 to Trap 1, I have just returned the Doctor to base safe and sound. Over."
The barrier arm went up and Ross drove away into the base. Donna gave a heaving cough, and Rose patted her on the back in concern.
"The air is disgusting!" she gasped.
"It's not so bad for us," the Doctor told her. "Go on, get inside the Tardis."
"Doctor, she doesn't have a key yet," she reminded him.
"Oh! I never gave you a key!" He pulled one from his pocket. "Keep that. Go on, that's yours. Quite a big moment really!"
"Maybe we should start carrying confetti for times like these," Rose joked.
"Yeah, maybe we can get sentimental after the world's finished choking to death."
"Good idea."
"Probably best." He grabbed her hand and they started to head towards the factory.
"Where are you going?" Donna asked them.
"To stop a war!" he called back. And with that, they ran in opposite directions
They burst into the head quarters with a bang of the doors, causing almost everyone to look up. There was an odd smell in the room that made Rose scrunch up her nose.
"Right then, here I am. Good," the Doctor said swiftly and firmly. "Whatever you do, Colonel mace, do not engage the Sontarans in battle. There is nothing they like better than a war. Just leave this to me."
"And what are you going to do?"
"I've got the Tardis, we're gonna get on board their ship."
"Doctor-" she said.
"Yeah, I know," he said to her. She watched as his eyes darted around the room to fall on Martha. 'Not a word about it aloud. Something is going on and don't tell anyone that the Martha that is with us is a clone.'
She nodded in reply, then they made their way over to their friend. The smell was stronger over here. The Doctor placed his hand on Martha's shoulder, making her whip around.
"Come on!" he said to her.
.
It didn't take them long to get to the alley where the Tardis was. But as they ran around the corner, it was nowhere in sight.
"But... where's the Tardis?" Martha said, looking around.
Rose squeezed the Doctor's hand as they went to the spot it was. As she breathed in, she tasted something strange that made her stick out her tongue.
"Taste that, in the air? Yecch! That sort of metal tang."
"Yeah," she replied.
"Teleport exchange. It's the Sontarans, they've taken it. I'm stuck on Earth... like and ordinary person. Like a human! How rubbish is that! Sorry, no offence. But come on!"
"So what do we do?" Martha asked.
"But, I don't get it," Rose said. "The Tardis has extrapolator shielding. How did they find it?"
"Eh?" Martha said in confusion.
"Special type of shielding I attached to it. Bit like an extension of the perception filter, but it works on machinery. They shouldn't have been able to detect it," he explained. He stared at her, and he realised something. Rose had a point. How did they find it. Someone would have had to know. Someone would have had to tell them... Someone who knew where it was. Martha had been acting strange a while now, and that smell around her.
"What?" Martha asked him as he was staring at her
"I'm just wondering, have you phoned your family and Tom?"
"No, what for?"
"To warn them," Rose said. "Tell them about the gas. Make sure they stay inside and block up anywhere air could get in. They may not know."
"'Course I will. Yeah," she said. "But what about the Tardis?"
"Oh, we'll find a way to get her back," Rose said. "We always do."
"Yep!" he said, popping the 'p' more than usual. "Right. So, avanti!" He nodded his head to the side, signalling them off. They began to run back to the base as the Doctor was holding Rose's hand.
As they entered the truck that held the base that UNIT was using they let go of each other's hands. "Change of plan!" The Doctor called to the UNIT personnel in the base.
"Good to have you fighting alongside us, Doctor," Colonel Mace said.
"I'm not fighting," he hold them. "I'm not-fighting. As in 'not' hyphen 'fighting', got it? Now, does anyone know what this gas is yet?"
"We're working on it," Martha said.
"It's harmful, but not lethal until it reaches 80% density," a woman spoke up from the next row. Rose and the Doctor went down towards her."We're having the first reports of deaths from the centre of Tokyo City."
"And who are you?" The Doctor asked her offhandedly.
The woman stood up and saluted. "Captain Marion Price, sir."
"Oh, Marion, that's the middle name of my human self," Rose said cheerfully. At the same time the Doctor began to grumble.
"Oh, put your hand down. Don't salute." he went back up by the Colonel, while Rose looked at the screens of the people by her.
"Jodrell Bank's traced a signal, Doctor, coming from 5000 miles above the Earth. We're guessing that's what triggered the cars." They could see a red blip a good distance from Earth.
"The Sontaran ship."
"NATO has gone Defcon One, we're preparing a strike."
"You can't do that, nuclear missiles won't even scratch the surface," he told them. "Let me talk to the Sontarans."
"You're not authorised to speak on behalf of the Earth."
Rose growled, and quicker that anyone was expecting, she was up by the Doctor's side. "Yes he does. He earned that authority a long time ago. He has saved this planet so many times that he has every right to defend it again.
"Yes, ma'am." He saluted her.
"As I said before," Rose said "I don't like salutes just like my husband, so don't give me a salute."
The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to connect the UNIT systems to the Sontaran ship. "Calling the Sontaran Command Ship under Jurisdiction Two of the Intergalactic Rules of Engagement. This is The Doctor."
General Staal appeared on screen. "Doctor, breathing your last?" He said.
"My God, they're like trolls," Colonel Mace said and then Rose rolled her eyes and the Doctor sighed
"Yeah, loving the diplomacy, thanks," the Doctor muttered to him. Picking up his voice, he turned back to the Sontarans. "So, tell me, General Staal, since when did you lot become Cowards?" He sat down on a chair and stuck his feet up on the desk. Rose stood behind him.
"How dare you!" General Staal said in outrage.
"Oh, that's diplomacy?" Colonel Mace said with sarcasm and a scoff.
"Doctor, you impugn my honour!"
"Yeah, I'm really glad you didn't say belittle, 'cause then I'd have a field day," the Doctor told staal.
Rose sniggered. "I don't know. He seems to be pretty short tempered."
"Nice one, Rose," he told his wife before turning back to the Sontaran "But poison gas? That's the weapon of a coward and you know it. Staal, you could blast this planet out of the sky, and yet you're sitting up above watching it die. Where's the fight in that? Where's the honour? Or, are you lot planning something else? 'Cause this isn't normal Sontaran warfare. What are you lot up to?"
"A general would be unwise to reveal his strategy to the opposing forces."
"Ah, the war's not going so well, then? Losing, are we?"
"Such a suggestion is impossible."
"What war?" Colonel Mace asked.
"The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans," the Doctor explained "It's been raging, far out in the stars for 50,000 years. 50,000 years of bloodshed, and for what?"
"For victory!" Staal cried. "Sontar-ha!" He began changing, swinging his weapon in an arch and smacking it down in his palm. All the other Sontarans joined in the chant.
"Give me a break," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes He pulls out his sonic screwdriver and changes the channel to the cartoon show 'Tommy Zoom' "Rose," the Doctor said to his wife "Look it's Tommy Zoom."
She scoffs, "Seriously, Doctor, we need to find a way to stop them."
"Doctor, your wife is correct," Colonel Mace said "So I would seriously recommend that this dialogue is handled by official Earth representation."
Ignoring Colonel Mace, the Doctor turned the channel back. "Finished?"
"You will not be so quick to ridicule when you see our prize. Behold!" He moved over slightly and the camera zoomed out to show the Tardis behind him. They weren't at all shocked. "We are the first Sontarans in history to capture a Tardis."
"Well, as prizes go, that's... noble." Rose grinned when she instantly realised what he was doing. Donna must be getting the transmission too. "As they say in Latin, Dona nobis pacem. Did you ever wonder about its design. It's a telephone box. It contains a phone. A telephonic device for communication. Sort of symbolic. Like if only we could communicate, you and I."
"All you have communicated is your distress, Doctor," General Staal told the Time Lord.
"Big mistake though," the Doctor responded "Showing it to me."
"Because me and my wife, Rose both got remote controls for it," the Doctor said as he and Rose shows the sontarans their screwdrivers.
"Cease transmission!"
"Oh, well," Colonel Mace said as the Doctor gets up.
"That's achieved nothing," Colonel Mace snipped at him.
"Oh, you'd be surprised." He grinned as he walked off, Rose following along behind.
Rose held up her cellphone for the Doctor to see. 'Theta, look at what I'm holding' Rose told her husband through their bond.
He stopped, staring at the phone. Then suddenly he slapped his palm to his forehead. Why hadn't he thought of that?
'We have to find out what is in that gas. I have a feeling that it's clone feed but if it's not that then, what is it for? ' Rose said to her husband through their bond.
'I have to agree with you, Arkytior on that. But we need to know what's in it to get rid of it safely. Ah, looks like Martha's got something.'
'Yeah, something she's trying to hide.'
He walked up to Martha and snatched a clipboard from her hands. He scanned over it.
"There's carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides but 10% unidentified," she told him. "Some sort of artificial heavy element we can't trace. You ever seen anything like it?"
The Doctor shook his head and passed the clipboard to Rose to look at. "Must be something the Sontarans invented. This isn't just poison, they need this gas for something else. What could that be?"
'Theta, now I definitely think that the gas is clone feed,' Rose told her husband through their bond.
'I agree with you, Arkytior,' he replied through their bond.
Then suddenly they heard the higher ranking UNIT officers giving orders.
"Launch grid online and active," Captain Price said loudly
"Positions ladies and gentlemen," Colonel Mace ordered "Defcon One initiatives in progress."
"What?!" The Doctor cried running over to him "I told you not to launch!"
"The gas is at 60% density, 80% and people start dying, Doctor. We've got no choice."
"Launching in 60, 59, 58, 57, 56..." Captain Price said counting down as, the Doctor ran his hands through his hair in panic "Worldwide nuclear grid now co-ordinating. 54, 53..."
"You're making a mistake, Colonel! For once, I hope the Sontarans are ahead of you."
"North America, online. United Kingdom, online. France, online..."
"We have to do something!" Rose cried. "We have to stop them!" 'Donna's up there!'
"I – I can't! There's nothing we can do!"
"India, online. Pakistan, online. China, online. North Korea, online. All systems locked and co-ordinated. Launching in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..."
"God save us," Colonel Mace muttered. The Doctor looked at the screen with gritted teeth and Rose hid her eyes in his shoulder.
"...4, 3, 2, 1...0."
The screen shuts off and Rose let out a sigh of relief.
"What is it?" Colonel Mace demanded "What happened? Did we launch? Well, did we?"
"Negative, sir," Price told him "The launch codes have been wiped, sir. It must be the Sontarans."
"Can we override it?"
"Trying it now, sir."
"You lot are useless!" Rose cried. "I thought you were supposed to protect the Earth, not put it in more danger. Everyone would be better off if you just stopped. The Doctor and I have handled worse alone."
"Excuse me, Rose," Colonel Mace said turning to the Time Lady "but I know perfectly well how to do my job."
"You fired missiles at a race of aliens who love nothing more than war! They've been fighting for centuries with better technology than you'll ever have!"
"She's right. Missiles wouldn't even dent that ship. So why are the Sontarans so keen to stop you?" As he said this, he'd walked over to Martha. "Any ideas?" He asked her.
"How should I know?
Suddenly the radio crackled, drawing everyone's attention. "Enemy within! At arms! Greyhound 40 declaring absolute emergency. Sontarans within factory grounds, east corridor grid six."
Mace walked closer to the radio and began giving out orders. "Absolute emergency, declaring Code Red. All troops, Code Red!"
The Doctor tuned to him with wide eyes. "Get them out of there!"
Mace ignored him. "All troops, open fire."
"No!" Rose cried. She charged towards the radio, as if to grab it and speak to them all. "Don't! You can't-" Hands grabbed at her and she was held back. "Get the hell off me!"
"The guns aren't working," Ross said over the radio. "Inform all troops, standard weapons do not work." The sound of multiple screams reached them and the sound of something hitting the ground. "Tell the Doctor it's that Cordolaine..." There was sudden silence across the radio, followed by cautious footsteps. "Hold on, sir, we have a civilian in the building. Hey! Ma'am. Excuse me, ma'am. You can't be here. This is a military operation. There are armed... offenders in this building. Let me escort you... um... what are you doing?" Everyone's brows creased in concern. Who was he talking to? There was no sound other than him, and there had been no reports of anyone entering the factory. "Wh-what is that? What are you doing? Ma'am, I have to-"
There was a bang and the radio cut out with deafening static.
"Greyhound 40, report. Over," Mace commanded. "Greyhound 40, report. Greyhound 40, report!"
"He wasn't Greyhound 40, his name was Ross," the Doctor hissed. "Now listen to me, and get them out of there!"
Mace stood with a grim face. "Trap One to all stations. Retreat. Order imperative. Immediate retreat!"
They could hear many shouts down the radio, and eventually someone replied. "We're out, sir. We don't know how many casualties. But they've sealed themselves in."
Mace sighed grimly. "They've taken the factory."
"Why? They don't need it. And would you two please let go of my wife before she hurts you." At his words two men cautiously let Rose go, and she roughly shrugged them away. He sighed as he walked around the front. "Times like this, I could do with the Brigadier. No offence."
"None taken," Colonel Mace said "Sir Alistair's a fine man, if not the best. Unfortunately he's stranded in Peru."
"Launch grid back online," Price informed them as she screen turned back on. But not a second later, it turned off again. "They're inside the system, sir. It's coming from within UNIT itself."
"Trace it," Colonel Mace ordered "Find out where it's coming from, and quickly. Gas levels?"
"66% in major population areas," Price answered "And rising."
Mace almost growled. "Doctor, Rose, with me, please."
Ten minutes later they were in a private room, discussing what they knew.
"Why are they defending the factory only after we were inside?" Mace asked.
"Well, there must be something in there they want to protect that wasn't in there before," Rose suggested.
"Yes!" the Doctor cried, gesturing at her. "They wanted UNIT here. You gave them something they needed. Something now hidden inside the factory. Something precious."
"Then we've got to recover it. This Cordolaine signal thing, how does it work?"
"The bullets. It causes expansion of the copper shell."
"Excellent. I'm on it." Without another word he got up and left.
"For the billionth time, you can't fight Sontarans!" the Doctor shouted after him.
Rose sighed and shook her head. "He's a lost cause, isn't he? Still, we have a better option." She held up her phone and waved it in front of him.
"Ooh, yes! Brilliant!" He went to grab it, but she snatched it back.
"Ah, ah... First... This was my idea, after you went through that ridiculous message. So what do you say...?"
He gave her an exasperated look. "I can sometimes be an absolute idiot," he dead-panned, then a smile grew on his face. "But you, Arkytior, are absolutely brilliant!"
"Now that's more like it!" She laughed. She handed the phone to him as he hugged her and leaned in to give her a kiss.
"I love you," he said as he dialled.
"I love you too, Theta." It didn't take long for the phone to be picked up.
"Rose?" Donna said as she answered.
"No, it's me."
"Doctor? What was with that rubbish message? I had no idea what you were on about!"
"Yeah... Sorry about that..."
"Where are you two?"
"We're still on Earth. But don't worry, we have a secret weapon."
"What's that?" she asked.
"You."
"Oh," she groaned. "Somehow that's not making me happy. Can't you just zap us down to Earth with that remote thing?"
"Yeah, I haven't got a remote, those were our sonic screwdrivers although. I really should. But I need you on that ship. That's why I made them move the Tardis. I'm sorry, but you've got to go outside."
"But there's Sonterruns," she said in fear.
"Sontarans," he corrected. "But they'll all be on battle stations right now. They don't walk around having coffee. I can talk you through it."
"But what if they find me?"
"I don't know, and I wouldn't ask, but there's nothing else I can do." He was starting to sound a little panicked and pleading himself. Rose bit her lip as she stood by listening. "The whole planet is choking, Donna."
Suddenly, Rose perked up when she realised there was some way she could help. She went over to the Doctor and took the phone from his hand. "Okay, Donna, listen to me. Sontarans have one weakness, and you're going to need a weapon to get to it."
"A weapon?!" the Doctor cried. Rose ignored him.
"I need you to go to the corral strut on the right of the door. At the base of it, there's a notch. It will just look like a bump in the coral, but I need you to pull it."
She heard Donna doing so. "A mallet?" she said in surprise. "Is that the Doctor's mallet?"
"Yep."
"What is it with The Doctor and mallets?!"
"The Tardis doesn't like them," Rose replied. "Way he bangs her about." She shot a glare at the Doctor and he rose his eyebrows, slightly taken aback. "But you'll probably need it. If you run into any Sontarans, you need to hit them with it. But um, not just hit them. There's a specific spot. A, um... a vent or something on the back of their neck. You need to hit that." Before she knew it, the phone was pulled from her fingers and was pressed back against the Doctor's ear.
"The probic vent," he said. "One firm hit will incapacitate the Sontaran."
"Okay... What do you need me to do?"
"The Sontarans are inside the factory, which means they've got a teleport link with the ship, but
they'll have it deadlocked. I need you to reopen the link."
"But I can't even mend a fuse!" she cried.
"Donna! Stop talking about yourself like that. You can do this. I promise. Rose and I will be right
here."
There was a creak and he guessed she was opening the door, a second squeak sounded like she closed it.. "There's a Sonterrun... a Sontaran," she reported, sounding a little scared.
"Did he see you?"
"No, he's got his back to me."
"Perfect. Did you see the vent? On the back of his neck, on the collar. Looks a bit like a plug, or a
hole. You need to hit that."
"But he's going to kill me."
"I'm sorry. I swear, I'm so sorry. But you've got to try." Rose worried her lip as she watched him run a hand over his face and through his hair. They both waited anxiously, small noises coming from the other end of the line.
"Back of the neck!" came Donna's triumphant voice after a moment.
"Ooh!" he said happily. "Now then, you've got to find the external junction feed to the teleport."
"Wh - What's it look like?"
"A circular panel on the wall. Big symbol on the front. Like a – like a letter T wit a horizontal line through it. Or two F's back to back."
"Well, there's a door."
"Should be a switch by the side."
"Yeah, there is. But it's Sontaran shaped. You need three fingers."
"You've got three fingers," he told her.
"Oh, yeah," she said, her voice still very panicked. "I'm through."
"Oh, you are brilliant, you are!" he told her, holding the phone at a weird angle.
"Whoo! Go Donna," Rose said just loud enough so she would hear.
"Shut up. Right. T with a line through it."
"Doctor!" Rose hissed. He looked in the direction she was nodding and saw Mace entering the base again.
"Got to go. Keep the line open!"
"Did you just hang up on her?" Rose said, aghast.
"Don't have much choice-"
"Counter-attack!" Mace ordered, and the Doctor rushed out. Rose sighed. Poor Donna. She was stuck up there and was currently without the protection of the Tardis. Clearly the Doctor needed people not to know about what he was doing, but she was too concerned for her friend. Friends. Both of them. If Martha had been replaced by a clone, then...
Martha! Something precious inside the factory. They were holding Martha! She rushed out to the Doctor's side to share the information.
"I said you don't stand a chance!" He shouted at Colonel Mace.
"Positions. That means everyone!" He threw a gas mask to each of them. Rose looked down at hers, moving it side to side. It really creeped her out, but just the thought brought a smile to her face at the memories.
She grabbed his hand. 'Doctor. It's Martha. They're holding Martha, I'm sure of it.'
'Yeah, I had a suspicion,' he replied.
'It's like the Autons with Mickey back when I was still chameleon-arched and you still had big ears and wore leather jackets. They needed him alive to keep the copy going, feed it the right information. They're keeping Martha alive to keep the clone alive.'
The Doctor looked at her, 'Arkytior, you are absolutely brilliant, no wonder I married you all those years ago back on Gallifrey!' He planted a kiss on her lips, then together they began to move off when they heard a voice from behind them.
"You're not going without me!" Martha demanded
"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied.
"Yeah, what would we do without you," Rose said. "You're my best friend."
Fun Fact: NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was created to combat the soviet union, the warsaw pact and the communist threat from the 1949 to 1991 during the Cold War, but now it is to combat the Russian Federation.
Please review and tell me if I'm making Rose sound like well... Rose. Because I don't know how to write her properly. And I still need a Beta-reader.
