And here's part two! I apologise that it's a day late, but it's been a rough weekend with an ill fiancé (don't worry, it's not the Coronavirus - she had a wisdom tooth removed and then got a bit of an infection).
Hopefully this makes up for it.
Chapter 29: The Zygon Inversion
Osgood looked out of the window of the plane, seeing the missile coming towards them. "Doctor?"
Ember closed her eyes and concentrated. Though she was sure that Clara would have thrown off her copy's aim to save them, she didn't want to chance it. She focused on the wind she could feel outside, forcing it to push against the plane. It didn't do much, but it allowed the plane to swerve just enough that the missile zoomed past the windows.
"Missed!" The Doctor cheered and grabbed Ember's arm when she stumbled from the strain, knowing that she'd just used a power she'd only recently gained access to. "Nice move, Ember!"
"We're not safe yet. She has another missile," the brunette replied, shaking her head to clear it. "We need to get out. Where are the parachutes?"
It was a quick scramble to find the parachutes. While the Doctor was helping Osgood put hers on, Ember walked over to the restrained Zygon.
"We can get you out too," she said. "There's enough parachutes for all of us."
The Zygon hissed at her. "I would die for my cause!"
Ember tilted her head. "You never told us your name. Please, tell me now."
The Zygon paused, seeing something sincere in the brunette. "Ash. It's short for my true name, which I will not give you."
"Then I'll remember you, Ash." Ember replied calmly, turning away. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry."
She was just returning to the end of the room when the Zygon hissed a reply. "So am I, Mother."
Ember sighed, choosing not to look back as she reached the Doctor and Osgood by the emergency exit. She shook her head when they both gave her questioning looks. "Let's go."
The next few minutes were a blur for Ember. They jumped out of the plane, plummeted for short amount of time, and then opened their chutes. At one point, she must have passed out, as she was suddenly waking up coughing up water. She'd landed not far from Osgood and the Doctor, but she'd also ended up partially in the ocean. As she coughed and shrugged off her parachute harness, the Doctor was soon at her side and helping her get away from the water. The beach they'd landed on was partially sand and partially rocky, and had bits of wreckage from the bombed plane littered around them.
"Doctor?" Osgood called. Her glasses had been broken by the fringe as she stumbled her way through the wreckage toward them. "Doctor!"
The Doctor, wearing his Sonic glasses, looked over at her once he was sure that Ember was alright. "Any questions?"
Osgood paused, looking at the parachute that the Doctor had already taken off. "Why do you have a Union Jack parachute?"
"Uh... camouflage."
"Camouflage?"
"Yes, we're in Britain. Oh, your specs are broken. I'll fix them." He took the two pieces of Osgood's glasses and handed her his. "You can wear mine. They're sonic."
"Sonic specs?"
"Yeah!"
"Isn't that a bit pointless? Like a visual hearing aid?"
The Doctor shrugged as he began to wonder away. "What's wrong with pointless? I once invented an invisible watch. Spot the design flaw."
"You're talking nonsense to distract me from being really scared." Osgood said with a smile as she put on the glasses. "It's one of your known character traits."
"Don't look at my browser history."
Osgood couldn't resist, activating the specs with a buzz. "Whoa!"
"Yeah, I said don't."
Ember tilted her head as Osgood's face lit up in a deep blush. "Should I be worried?"
Osgood opened her mouth, then closed it, and then tried again. "Maybe. There's lots of pictures of-"
The Doctor quickly ran back to their side, doing something on the specs. "Oi! Spoilers! And I told you not to look!"
"Quite the imagination there, Doctor," Osgood teased, her blush fading and replaced by a smirk.
"Shut up."
Ember shook her head with a smile as she and Osgood followed the Doctor to where a concrete path led off the beach. As curious as she was, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"Why didn't that Zygon blow us up with her big bazooka?" Osgood asked to break the silence.
"She did blow us up with her big bazooka." The Doctor corrected. "This is us being blown up with a big bazooka."
"But, I mean, she seems to know what she's doing. The first thing I'd do if I wanted to invade the world would be to kill you."
The Doctor gave her a flat look. "Thanks."
"I wouldn't even let you get talking, like you always do. Bullet between the eyes, first thing."
Ember shivered, pushing down that instinct that had begun to rear up at the discussion. She reminded herself that Osgood wasn't intending to kill the Doctor; she was just thinking logically.
"Again, thank you." The Doctor said dryly.
"Twelve times, if necessary." Osgood added.
"Ah, yes. Why limit yourself? You've really thought this through, haven't you?"
"I'm a big fan."
Ember moved so that she was walking between the Doctor and Osgood. She would claim later that it was so she could talk to them both, but it was also an attempt to soothe the instinct that wanted Osgood's 'threat' paid for. "She's right, though. Anyone who knows you that much would know not to give you even an inch of relay. They'd know that you can come back from the most impossible situations."
"But she gave you a chance to get out. She hesitated. If she had Clara's memory print, she'd know better than to give you even a second." Osgood added, pausing when the Doctor frowned. "You've gone quiet because I mentioned Clara. You think she might be dead."
"Yes."
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know. I'm still in the hope phase."
"How's that going?"
"Hell. Please talk about something else."
Ember took his hand. "Actually, I can help. Clara is alive. And she's not the only one."
Osgood wisely changed the subject as they reached an access road. "Why do they want to destroy the ceasefire?"
"Don't think of them as rational. They're different." The Doctor replied. "They don't care about human beings, they don't care about their own people. They think the rest of Zygonkind are traitors."
"Think of them as kids who don't know any better. The kind that thinks they're right even when they're wrong." Ember added. "By the way, we should get another ray of hope any moment now."
The Doctor was about to ask what she meant when his phone rang in his pocket, indicating a new text message. He took it out and looked at the screen, frowning when he saw that the message was from Clara's phone.
"Clara. Well, not Clara." Osgood corrected herself. "The Zygon who-"
"The Zygon who probably killed her." The Doctor held out the phone. "Read it."
Ember took the phone instead of Osgood, accessing the message. "It says 'I'm awake'."
"What does that mean? A political awakening? Why would she be sending me propaganda? She just blew me up with a big bazooka."
Osgood tilted her head. "Never really met Clara. Pretty strong, yeah?"
"She was amazing."
"Not was." Ember corrected. "Is."
Osgood suddenly caught on. "It's not from the Zygon. It's from Clara."
"How?"
"Like Ember said: She's not dead. She's in a pod somewhere. They need a live feed to the information in her brain. But she's fighting back. She's trying to take control, piece by piece."
"Texting?"
Osgood shrugged. "How much more human do you get? The Zygon probably doesn't even know it sent this, or why it misfired that bazooka."
The Doctor shook his head, though he felt a small bit of hope blossoming in his hearts. "You don't know. It's just a theory."
"Yes, it's just a theory, but how's that hope phase now?"
"Worse than ever."
"Then we've got a game."
Ember smiled. "You haven't lost her yet, Doctor."
She'd turned to continue walking, and thus didn't notice when the Doctor stared at her for a few moments, part concerned and part thoughtful of her choice of the words.
He caught up to her as they spotted a parked police car with two male officers in it. The Doctor quickly ran over and knocked on the window.
"Hello! Hi! Hello." He greeted, waiting until the officer rolled down his window before flashing the psychic paper at them. "Doctor John Disco. It was my plane. I had a big plane for purposes of, uh... poncing about."
The officers didn't react. They just stared at the trio rather eerily.
"It went off with a massive bang about half a mile that way?"
Ember moved forward, grabbing the Doctor's arm. "Oh, John, did you forget again? It was a paper plane, silly. Yes, a really big one, but it didn't go bang, did it? It crumpled because it was just paper."
The Doctor caught her eye, seeing her descreetly indicate the officers who were still just staring at them. "Actually, uh... yes, you're right, dear. It's fine. We're, we're fine, aren't we?"
Osgood nodded, catching on. "Yeah. Yeah."
"Yes, yes, yes, we're fine. Just... move along." The Doctor led them away from the car, careful not to look back. They could feel the eyes still staring at them.
Ember, still holding the Doctor's phone, held it up as she called Clara's mobile. After a few rings, it was answered, with the Zygon who looked like Clara shown on a video call. "Doctor?"
The Doctor took the phone from her. "Hello."
"You're dead." Clara's double said.
"Yes, well, I'm dead now, and I think I might be a bit more dead in a minute. What's your plan, Zygella?"
Ember glanced back at the sound of a car engine, to see that the police car had reversed to block their way back to the beach. Their staring was beginning to be unnerving.
"I don't have a plan."
"Come on, you don't invade planets without having a kind of plan." The Doctor argued. "That's why they're called planets, to remind you to plan it? Hey, hey! That's good! Pun-tastic. Doctor Pun-tastic! Oh, come on, that was a good one, Zygella!"
The policemen got out of their car and began to follow the trio. Ember took the Doctor's free hand and squeezed it twice to alert him.
"Don't call me Zygella. My name's Bonnie." The Zygon said. Then, unexpectedly, her left eye blinked.
"And you're winking at me." The Doctor pointed out.
"I am not winking at you. Where is the Osgood box?" Another wink.
"You do know what winking means? You're sending out some very mixed messages here. You know I'm over two thousand years old? I'm old enough to be your Messiah."
Ember glanced around again, seeing more police officers appearing.
"I am not winking at you. Where is the box?"
The Doctor glanced around for an escape route. "We need some wheels. The van!" He led Ember and Osgood to a van that was parked half on the pavement and half in double yellow lines. The brunette was surprised that there wasn't a parking ticket. The Doctor focused on the call again. "Okay. Non-verbal communication. I assume that you never bothered to learn Morse code."
Ember tapped Osgood's shoulder. "Setting 137 on the specs. Point and think."
Osgood used the Sonic to unlock the van doors, allowing them to get in - the Doctor and Osgood in the front with Ember in the backseat - as Bonnie demanded "Tell me!"
"Okay, we'll have to try something else. Twenty questions. Where's your pod? Is it in a tunnel? Is it in London?"
Bonnie's eyelids twitched, and she finally noticed, using her hand to cover one eye and then both of them.
"Thanks very much. Gotcha!" The Doctor grinned. "Stay where you are, Clara. We're coming to get you. And for God's sake, don't let her into your memories."
"Memories? What memories? What has she got?"
"Don't tell her where the Osgood box is, and above all, don't tell her what it is." The Doctor hung up the phone, tossing it to Osgood before he started the van and took off, getting away from the officers. The officers didn't even try to run after them, just watching.
"Obviously, the Zygon could hear that." Osgood said.
"Obviously."
"So she's going to poke around inside Clara's mind, looking for answers."
"The mind of Clara Oswald. She may never find her way out." The Doctor chuckled.
Osgood looked at him. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile before."
"Dazzling, isn't it?"
The phone in Osgood's hand beeped, making her look at it. "Oh. I got a ping on Clara's phone. It's the location Bonnie sent the text from. A shopping centre, south London."
"Ah, London. Perpetual city, cradle of culture, here we come! Clara, stay safe."
Ember took the phone from Osgood and messed with it, bringing up a news app. "And she's already posted it."
Osgood leaned over to look and the Doctor listened. On the screen was a video of an exposed Zygon running through the street as a female reporter spoke. "A video supposedly showing an alien in south London is posted across the internet."
"This is the same place Bonnie texted from." Osgood said. "We need to hurry."
It wasn't long until the trio in the stolen van reached the estate that was on the video of the Zygon. Along the way, the Doctor had fixed Osgood's glasses with duct tape and the young woman was tracking the location of the text and video using the phone. How, Ember could only guess.
"London!" The Doctor announced as he got out of the van. "What a dump."
"London's okay," Osgood said as she and Ember got out the other door.
"No, it's not, it's a dump."
"You spend an awful lot of time here, considering it's a dump."
"I spend an awful lot of time being kidnapped, tortured, shot at and exterminated. Doesn't mean I like it." The Doctor countered.
Osgood let it go, looking around. "Well, this is where the video was shot. Bonnie was here."
"And she left a mess," Ember added, walking off toward the shopping centre located in the estate. The Doctor and Osgood followed, puzzled and curious. Once they got inside, they found the place dark and quiet.
"There's electricity in the air." The Doctor noted. Ember nodded, feeling the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck standing up.
"It stinks. It smells like barbecues..." Osgood took a few steps further and then gasped, seeing why. "Oh."
Ember knelt beside one of several sizzling, hairy lumps on the ground. She didn't know if was Bonnie or the exposed Zygon that had killed them, but it was still a bad sight. "I'm sorry..."
The Doctor took out three flashlights from his coat, handing one each to the girls and keeping the last one for himself. He soon spoke after leading them away from the remains, addressing Osgood. "What's your name?"
"Osgood."
"No, no, no. Your first name?"
Osgood raised a brow at him. "What's your first name?"
"Basil."
"...Petronella."
"Let's just... stick with what we had. I need to ask you, because it's important, because it might matter."
"What's important?"
"Which one are you? Human or Zygon?"
Ember lightly hit him on the arm. "It doesn't matter. That's the point."
Before the Doctor could argue, a door nearby opened slightly, and they could hear a squelching sound from inside. Following the sound, they just caught sight of a familiar, blobby shape as it ran, going into a general store in an attempt to escape. Just as they caught up with it, it hid behind some shelves and began to change shape, morphing into a middle-aged man with dark hair that was receding. The transformation wasn't complete, though, as red suckers could be seen on the exposed parts of his body.
The Doctor held up his hands in what he hoped was a placent gesture. "We can help you."
"It wasn't me!" The Zygon rasped. "They attacked me. They saw me! I had to..."
He moaned painfully as there was another squelching sound. A few of the suckers disappeared, but not all of them, and a few new ones appeared.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay..." the Doctor tried to soothe.
"A commander came. She turned me back! Argh!" Another squelch and moan.
Osgood stepped forward. "We can help. We can help you. Doctor, we can help him, can't we?"
"I'm not sure..."
The Zygon held out its right hand, sending a jolt of electricity that made the Doctor stagger. It took advantage of the distraction and ran.
"Please! Come back! Come back!" The Doctor called after it, the trio following the alien into the storage room at the back of the store. "I can't help you just now, but-"
Another bolt of electricity was sent at them, and this time Ember pulled the Doctor back.
"Why?" The Zygon moaned. His skin was breaking out in red blotches. "I was happy like this. I was happy here..."
"I understand..."
"I can't change. I can't hide...!"
"Let us help you." Osgood tried.
The Zygon staggered back in fear. "No! You're Truth or Consequences!"
"We're not. We're really not!"
"I'm not part of your fight." The Zygon moaned as his skin turned more red. "I never wanted to fight anyone, I just wanted to live here. Why can't I just... live?"
The Doctor stepped closer, not realising that Ember was right behind him. "We're on your side."
"I'm not on anyone's side. This is my home."
"Listen, we are not them."
"I can't go back now... You've taken my life!" The Zygon raised its hand again, pointing its palm toward its own face.
The Doctor paled when he realised what it was going to do. "No, no, no! Stop! Stop! Stop!"
The Zygon hesitated. "...They will kill me." It raised its arm again, intending to finish it.
"No!" Ember cried, coming out from behind the Doctor. Before anyone could stop her, she dashed forward and grabbed the raised arm, intending to pull it down and away.
She didn't expect it to fire the electricity, and she saw too late that she would be caught in it.
"Ember!" The Doctor called, seeing both Ember and the Zygon get engulfed in electricity. He was expecting the both of them to be reduced to ash, but seconds went by and neither of them were dead, if the twitching and screaming was any indication.
A few seconds later, a sudden jolt forced the two apart, sending the Zygon back against the shelves and Ember against the opposite wall. She crumpled to the floor, and the Doctor ran to her side. The brunette looked dazed, but she was at least awake and moving, which made the Doctor's racing hearts calm a bit. Osgood kept her eyes and her torch on the other side.
"Ember, can you hear me? Speak to me!"
Ember shook her head, her vision swimming as she felt the need to throw up. "Ugh... remind me not to do that again..."
"It's gone..."
The Doctor turned to look where the voice had come from, to see the Zygon still leaning against the shelves it had been pushed against. To his surprise, all of the redness and suckers had vanished, leaving him looking completely normal.
"It's gone..." the Zygon muttered again, feeling his face. "The pain... it's gone... I've... got control..."
Ember blinked, trying to make her swimming vision focus. She knew that there weren't two Zygons there, after all. "What happened?"
The Zygon shook his head, moving to examine his arms next, looking shocked but nearly giggling in relief. "You fixed it. How did you...? What's this?"
The Doctor turned his torch to look, seeing that the Zygon was focused on something on his arm. There, on the back of his right forearm, was a burn that blackened the skin, but the skin around it was perfect and undamaged, almost like a tattoo. It was about the size of a 2p coin, and was no doubt an alien symbol, though it looked almost like a curved feather as well.
The Doctor was quick to realise that it was in the exact same place that Ember had grabbed the arm to stop the Zygon from killing itself.
"What is this?" The Zygon asked again. He felt no pain from the mark, though it looked like it really should have hurt.
Ember stood shakily, the Doctor allowing her to lean on him as the Time Lords moved closer to see the mark. Even Osgood was curious. The brunette tilted her head, finding the symbol familiar, but where...?
Then it clicked. She'd seen that symbol before, in an underground cavern on an impossible planet...
"Doctor," Osgood said, reaching out to touch the mark. It was slightly indented, like it had been made by a branding iron, but it was clean. "What is that?"
The Doctor pursed his lips. "Well, its a mark, isn't it?"
"It's the language of... my people," Ember murmured, making them all look at her. "But why is it there? How did it get there?"
"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" The Doctor said. "You gave it to him."
Ember blinked, looking up at him. She had to remind herself that there wasn't two Doctors either. "Me? How did I do that?"
The Doctor met her gaze, his brow furrowing at her confusion. "You've... never done this before, have you?"
"Not as far as I know."
"Well, there's a first time for everything," The Doctor said before he looked at the Zygon, who was poking the mark with his free hand. "Looks like you've struck it lucky. Do you know who she is? This is the Mother of Elements."
That made the Zygon's eyes shoot to the brunette, surprise and awe on his face. "Mother? Oh god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to attack you, I swear!"
Ember waved her hand, glad that the double vision was beginning to settle. "I was the one who grabbed you." She looked at the Doctor again. "You're not surprised. Why did I do that?"
"Well, may as well tell you all." The Doctor said. "Ember, what does this symbol mean? I know you can read it."
"... it says 'safe'." The brunette said after a moment.
"And that's why you did this. You've marked him as safe, like putting someone in protective custody."
Osgood tilted her head. "Like a guardian?"
The Doctor nodded, looking at the Zygon again. "Can you do a different form?"
The Zygon nodded. "I have... other options."
"Then consider yourself safe. When this is all over, find UNIT or Osgood. This mark means that you're under Ember's protection. Think of it like immunity, or asylum, or a right of passage. They'll help you reintegrate into society. A new life, but it's better than the alternative."
The Zygon nodded again, looking at Ember. He surprised her by pulling her into a hug. "Thank you, Mother! Thank you!"
The brunette awkwardly pat the Zygon's back. "Um, you're welcome. Now, just hide for now. Take a new form of you have to. But stay under the radar until this is over. We're on it."
With one more nod, the Zygon quickly left, leaving the trio to walk at a more sedate pace. Ember caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror, and frowned.
"The hell happened to my hair?" She cried. Her short hair, which had been pulled into a ponytail, was a mess; strands were sticking up like she was trying to imitate River's hairstyle. "I look like I just stuck a finger in a wall socket!"
The Doctor chuckled, searching through his pockets before handing her a brush. "Here."
The brunette grumbled, pulling out the band and brushing her hair down, cursing under her breath when she got the occasional static shock. Once she had it reasonably under control, she tied it back once more, and pocketed the brush at the Doctor's insistence.
Osgood tilted her head as they walked, heading out of the storeroom and back into the store. "Ember. Did you know that he was going to try to kill himself?"
"That's why I stopped him." Ember replied. "I didn't expect to brand him, though, or get electrocuted."
The Doctor took her hand. "Well, do you remember when you got shocked along with Skaldak on the sub? You've withstood electricity before. And you're getting stronger, able to control more."
Ember slowed down, making the Doctor do the same. "Wait... electricity... that's an element, isn't it?"
"It's more commonly referred to as thunder, but it's the same principle. And no, it isn't one of the Primary Elements. It's secondary."
Ember looked at the floor. "For crying out loud, I may as well be called Zeus at this point. I'm just nicking the names of Gods now." She shook her head. "I can't think about this right now, there's more important stuff to deal with. Like the Zygons."
Osgood spoke up as they left the store and into the main hallway that led out of the mall. "I agree. What I don't understand is why did Bonnie do that to the Zygon? It wasn't willing to fight."
"Unmask everyone, provoke fear, paranoia, provoke a war." The Doctor said.
"Doctor." The trio looked up at the new voice, surprised to see Kate Stewart approaching them with two UNIT soldiers.
"Kate! Are you all right?"
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
"It's just I'd heard otherwise."
"I'm fine. Doctor, we know where the Zygon command centre is. We know where Clara's pod is. We can take you there."
The Doctor tilted his head, catching Ember's eye. She subtly nodded. "Well, how very convenient, because that's just exactly what we're looking for."
It barely took an hour to get to the underground caverns that hid the Zygon pods under the city. Kate led the way, the Doctor, Ember and Osgood following, while the two soldiers brought up the rear. They soon reached the largest of the caverns, where the majority of the pods were covering the walls and ceiling.
"Well, they like a good cave, don't they?" The Doctor commented, shining his torch around. "How many of these pods are occupied?"
"We don't know." Kate replied.
"Which one is Clara's?"
Kate led them to the side, only to pause when she found a space where a pod had obviously been. "Well, that's strange. It was here before."
"Doctor..." Osgood murmured as Ember tensed. "I think they're Zygons."
The Doctor turned as the two girls moved to his side, just as the two soldiers transformed into Zygons before their eyes. "Oh, you cheeky little monkeys!"
Kate turned as the Zygons moved to flank her, lifting a red blob that turned out to be a communicator. "The Doctor is here."
"Don't kill him." Bonnie's voice could be heard. "We need him alive."
"What for?"
"Because I just found out why it's called an Osgood box. There's two of them."
The Doctor tilted his head as all eyes turned to him. "Two Osgoods, two boxes. Operation Double. What did you expect?"
"What's in them, Doctor? Tell me. Now!"
"One box normalises all the Zygons."
"And the other?"
"Destroys them."
"Which is which?"
"Ah, that would be telling."
There was a pause as the two exposed Zygons moved in front of Kate. Ember, being the only one who knew what was happening on the other end of the line, spoke up. "Here's a hint for you, Bonnie: Why do the Osgoods never tell which one is human and which is Zygon?"
"Which box normalises the Zygons, Doctor?" Bonnie asked, seemingly ignoring the brunette. "Tell me, or she dies."
The Doctor glanced at Ember, who mouthed Clara's name so that he knew. "No. This is war. You pull the trigger, you pay the price."
"Kill her."
Ember cut in again, knowing that she was taking the Doctor's line but not caring. "Alright, stop! It's the blue one, that's the one you want!"
There was another pause, and then Bonnie spoke again. "Are you lying? Are you lying to me, Mother?"
"No, she's not." The Doctor replied. "And when you open up the box, you'll see she's not lying."
Another pause, followed by a sound the Doctor and Ember recognised as one of the boxes being opened.
"Mother?" Bonnie demanded, followed by the sound of the second box opening. "Doctor!"
"Yeah, I know."
Ember smirked. "The reason why the Osgoods never told which is which: it doesn't matter."
"Bring them to me!" Bonnie demanded.
The Zygons advanced, making the Doctor attempt to stand between them and the girls. Ember grabbed his arm and shook her head, but before he could ask, there were two gunshots, and the Zygons dropped dead. Kate was stood behind them, her gun raised.
"Sorry, Doctor." She said. "Self-defence."
The Doctor glanced up at her from where he'd knelt by the bodies. "You're you."
"I'm me."
"How did you survive?"
"Five rounds, rapid," Kate replied as she dropped the Zygon communicator, hearing Bonnie shout in outrage before there was static. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I know you don't approve."
"Why does peacekeeping always involve killing?" The Doctor mused as Ember knelt by one of the bodies. Kate stomped on the communicator to break it. "Is this the lot?"
"No, there are plenty more of them. They were the nearest." Kate looked at Osgood. "You are you?"
"I'm me."
"But human or Zygon?"
Osgood tilted her head. "Me."
"I keep telling you lot; it doesn't matter which one she is." Ember murmured, her eyes focused on the bodies. "She's on the side of peace. That all that counts."
Kate looked at her for a long moment, and then sighed. "What are we dealing with?"
"Twenty million Zygons about to be unmasked." The Doctor said, casting a concerned glance at Ember. "You don't know whether they are human or not. And you can't fight them, not with soldiers."
"Which leads me to a very big question."
"Oh, I was really hoping that it wouldn't."
"The Zee-67, Sullivan's gas, the gas that kills the Zygons. You took it."
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, you know how it is. Daddy knows best."
"That's what's in the red box, yes?" Kate asked. "Of course it is. If I remember rightly, it causes a chain reaction in the atmosphere. Turns every Zygon on Earth inside out."
Ember growled, making them all look at her in surprise. "You think genocide is the answer? A few of them act out, so you think it's better to just kill them all? Most of them don't even want to fight!"
The Doctor stood, grabbing the brunette by the arm when she'd stood to stop her advancing on Kate. "Let me negotiate peace. You can't commit mass murder-"
"Then why did you leave the gas with us?" Kate cut him off.
"The boxes are safeguards for both species. You agreed to that."
"I never agreed to that."
"Yes, you did, then I wiped your memory. And you agreed to that, too. But that's why there were two Osgoods to police the ceasefire. One human and one Zygon, to keep the secrets and keep the peace."
Kate looked between the two Time Lords before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Doctor. Truly. But the peace is failing already." She turned away. "Come on."
The Doctor sighed, looking at Ember. "It's alright, Ember-"
"No, it isn't." The brunette cut him off this time. Her hands were clenched into fists and trembling. "Every time... Why do they find it so easy to resort to violence? Not just this species, the humans, but all of them? Why are the worst choices the easiest ones to make?"
The Doctor couldn't find it in himself to answer verbally, simply taking one of her hands in his as he led them to follow Kate.
Thanks to the tunnels stretching under London, it didn't take them long to reach their destination: the Black Archive. Thanks to the Zygons' earlier break in, it was quick and easy to get the main storage room where they found Clara, Bonnie and two exposed Zygons. There was a long table in the middle of the room, and there was a box at each end; one was cobolt blue, the other rust red. Both were open and revealed two buttons, one marked 'Truth' and the other marked 'consequences'.
"It's no good, Bonnie." Clara spoke just as the group of four got within hearing distance. "You can't win."
Bonnie looked at her from where she was stood at the centre of the table. "I don't care."
"Hi! Hello! Hello!" The Doctor called to announce their entrance. The two Zygons grabbed Clara before she could move. "Oh, hello! Hi. Hi. Stop this. Stop this, please." He moved to the other side of the table to face Bonnie. "Let me take both of these boxes away. We'll forgive, we'll forget. And the ceasefire will stand."
"No." Bonnie replied curtly.
Kate moved to the red box, prompting Bonnie to go to the blue box. "Doctor, which of these buttons do I press? Doctor, which one? Truth or consequences?"
"Truth or consequences?" Bonnie echoed.
"This is the moment we've all been waiting for. Make your mind up time!" The Doctor put on an American accent, sounding like a game show host as he addressed Kate first. "One of those buttons will destroy the Zygons, release the imbecile's gas. The other one detonates the nuclear warhead under the Black Archive. It'll destroy everyone in London." He then turned to Bonnie. "Bonnie. Bonnie, sweetheart! One of those buttons will unmask every Zygon in the world. The other one cancels their ability to change form. It'll make them human beings for ever." He dropped the accent. "There are safeguards beyond safeguards. I did this on a very important day for me and this ceasefire will stand."
Bonnie glared at him. "This is wrong."
"No, it's not."
"You are responsible for all the violence. All of the suffering."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes!" Bonnie snapped. "You engineered this situation, Doctor. This is your fault!"
"No, it's not. It's your fault."
Ember stepped forward, making sure she was still between the Zygons and Osgood in case they tried to attack her. "Don't put your actions on someone else."
"I had to do what I've done, Mother." Bonnie said to her.
The Doctor shrugged. "So did I."
Bonnie looked at him. "We've been treated like cattle..."
"So what?"
"We've been left to fend for ourselves..."
"So's everyone."
"It's not fair."
"Oh, it's not fair!" The Doctor chuckled. "Oh, I didn't realise that it was not fair! Well, you know what? My Tardis doesn't work properly and I don't have my own personal tailor."
Bonnie shook her head in disbelief. "The things don't equate."
"These things have happened, Zygella. They are facts. You just want cruelty to beget cruelty. You're not superior to people who were cruel to you. you're just a whole bunch of new cruel people. A whole bunch of new cruel people being cruel to some other people, who'll end up being cruel to you. The only way anyone can live in peace is if they're prepared to forgive. Why don't you break the cycle?"
"Why should we?"
The Doctor took a breath through his nose, silently asking for strength. "What is it that you actually want?"
There was a long pause as Bonnie looked at everyone before she answered. "War."
Ember shook her head. "That's it? Just war?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Ah. Ah, right. And when this war is over, when you have a homeland free from humans, what do you think it's going to be like? Do you know? Have you thought about it? Have you given it any consideration? Because you're very close to getting what you want. What's it going to be like? Paint me a picture. Are you going to live in houses? Do you want people to go to work? Will there be holidays? Oh! Will there be music? Do you think people will be allowed to play violins? Who's going to make the violins? Well?" He barely paused for a moment, knowing that she wouldn't deny it. "Oh, you don't actually know, do you? Because, like every other tantrumming child in history, Bonnie, you don't actually know what you want. So, let me ask you a question about this brave new world of yours. When you've killed all the bad guys, and when it's all perfect and just and fair, when you have finally got it exactly the way you want it, what are you going to do with the people like you? The troublemakers. How are you going to protect your glorious revolution from the next one?"
Bonnie smirked confidently. "We'll win."
"Oh, will you? Well, maybe, maybe you will win! But nobody wins for long. The wheel just keeps turning. So, come on. Break the cycle."
Ember felt her head throb slightly, wincing and rubbing her temple. The only one who noticed was Osgood. Then her vision went white...
Despite the Doctor's best attempts to change her mind, Bonnie attempted to press the button she'd chosen. When she realised it was a fake, she flew into a rage and killed all of the non-Zygons in the room. Then she proceeded to slaughter as many humans and 'traitor' Zygons as she could find...
Ember winced again as she came out of the vision, feeling her eyes tear up.
"Why are you still talking?" Bonnie asked, no one else in the room seeming to have noticed the brunette's behaviour.
"Because I want to get you to see, and I'm almost there!" The Doctor replied.
"Do you know what I see, Doctor? A box. A box with everything I need. A fifty percent chance."
"For us, too." Kate added, copying Bonnie and holding her hand over the red box.
The Doctor put on the American accent again. "And we're off! Fingers on buzzers! Are you feeling lucky? Are you ready to play the game? Who's going to be quickest? Who's going to be luckiest?"
"This is not a game!" Kate snapped.
"No, it's not a game, sweetheart, and I mean that most sincerely."
"Why are you doing this?" Bonnie asked.
Kate barely glanced at her. "Yes, I'd quite like to know that, too. You set this up. Why?"
The Doctor met her gaze evenly. "Because it's not a game, Kate. This is a scale model of war. Every war ever fought, right there in front of you. Because it's always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does until what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning. Sit down and TALK!" He'd raised his voice at the last sentence, having to take another breath to calm himself before looking at Bonnie again. "Listen to me. Listen, I just... I just want you to think. Do you know what thinking is? It's just a fancy word for changing your mind."
Bonnie shook her head. "I will not change my mind."
"Why?"
Everyone turned their eyes to Ember at the single word she'd spoken. She was still rubbing her temple, but to their surprise, tears were running down her face from her closed eyes.
"Ember...?" The Doctor murmured.
"Why?" Ember repeated, either not hearing him or simply ignoring him. Her eyes opened briefly, letting them glimpse liquid silver before she closed them again. "Why does this happen? You've got something so precious, so beautiful... but you're willing to destroy it... no one is meant to fight; not like this. Nothing comes out of it except... So much anger, so much pain... why?"
She dropped to her knees, almost sobbing. Osgood moved to her side, gently holding her by the shoulders.
"Just... walk away..." the brunette continued. It wasn't clear if she was aware that she was talking. "Why can't you just stop... and walk away..."
"I'm not stopping this, Mother." Bonnie said, though she found herself unable to look away. "I started it. I will not stop it. You think they'll let me go, after what I've done?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes again, reluctantly turning away from Ember. "You're all the same, you screaming kids. You know that? 'Look at me, I'm unforgivable.' Well, here's the unforeseeable. I forgive you. After all you've done, I forgive you."
"You don't understand. You will never understand."
At that, the Doctor chuckled, almost hysterically. "I don't understand? Are you kidding? Me? Of course I understand. I mean, do you call this a war? This funny little thing? This is not a war! I fought in a bigger war than you will ever know. I did worse things than you could ever imagine. And when I close my eyes!" He turned away, visibly shaking before he forced himself to continue. "I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count! And do you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight till it burns your hand, and you say this. No one else will ever have to live like this. No one else will have to feel this pain! Not on my watch!"
Everyone looked at him, except for Ember. The brunette had stopped sobbing, but tears were still streaming down her face as she watched the two women who could destroy everything with the touch of a button.
"Please..." she whispered, barely loud enough to be heard. "Don't do this... be the first... show mercy... forgive..."
There was a long, tense pause, and then Kate slowly moved her hand, taking the lid of her box and closing it before stepping back from the table.
The Doctor looked at her in relief. "Thank you. Thank you."
"I'm sorry..." she murmured.
"I know. I know. Thank you." The Doctor turned to Bonnie. "Well?"
There was another long pause as Bonnie looked at the Doctor, and then at Ember.
"Please," The brunette pleaded again. "No more..."
"...It's empty, isn't it?" Bonnie's reply made Kate look up in surprise. "Both boxes. There's nothing in them. Just buttons."
The Doctor gave her a small smile. "Of course. And do you know how you know that? Because you've started to think like me. It's hell, isn't it? No one should have to think like that. And no one will. Not on our watch." His smile widened as he saw the regret in Bonnie's eyes. "Gotcha."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because you have a disadvantage, Zygella. I know that face."
Ember glanced over at Clara, who furrowed her brow slightly in recognition.
"This is all very well, but we know the boxes are empty now." Kate pointed out. "We can't forget that."
The Doctor shrugged. "No. Well... you've said that the last fifteen times."
He put on his Sonic specs and looked up at the memory filter on the ceiling above them. It sparked violently, and then everything went white...
Osgood moved Kate's unconscious form to sit against one of the shelves. Next to her, the two exposed Zygons were also unconscious.
Bonnie, still looking like Clara, closed the lid of the blue box and looked at the Doctor. "You didn't wipe my memory."
"No. Just Kate's." The Doctor replied. "Oh, and your little friend's here, of course. When they wake up, they won't remember what you've done. It'll be our secret."
"You're going to protect me?"
"You're one of us now," Osgood said, "whether you like it, or not."
Bonnie looked at Ember, who was sat against the wall and holding her head. "If you knew the boxes were empty, why were you crying? Nothing would have happened if I pressed one of the buttons."
The brunette slowly raised her head to look at her. "You were angry. If you'd pressed a button and found it to be a trick, you'd have gotten more angry. You'd have killed us in blind fury and gone on to slaughter thousands more, human and Zygon alike. I wanted you to let go of that anger. Like I said: nothing comes out of fighting but pain, no matter if you're doing it for right or wrong reasons."
"So you were pretending to be upset?"
"No, that was real. I don't really know what brought it on. Just... it all suddenly came up."
The Doctor straightened. "I think I can explain that. Ember has been around for longer than even I have. She's seen so much, yet she can't remember most of it. But memories... they're never truly gone, nor are what we feel during those forgotten moments. Just buried or locked away until certain conditions set it off. Chances are, she's seen enough wars to know that there's only one thing guaranteed: people suffer."
Bonnie tilted her head curiously before she looked at the Doctor again. "I don't understand how you could just forgive me."
"Because I've been where you have. There was another box. I was going to press another button. I was going to wipe out all of my own kind, man, woman and child. I was so sure I was right."
"What happened?"
"The same thing that happened to you. I let Clara Oswald get inside my head. Trust me. She doesn't leave."
Ember pushed herself to her feet. "And that's why you didn't forget. Someone has to remember. Remember that pain and be the one who says 'no more'."
After Bonnie left them to call off the rebellion, the Doctor, Ember, Clara and Osgood made their way back to the children's park. Ember was surprised that she hadn't noticed the Tardis had been there the whole time.
Osgood smiled as she looked at the blue box. "The Tardis."
"The Tardis." The Doctor nodded.
"What does it stand for?"
That made the Doctor look at her in surprise. "What? You're kidding me? Surely you know that?"
"Well, I've heard a couple of different versions."
"I made it up from the initials. It stands for Totally And Radically Driving In Space." The Doctor smiled. "Do you want to come? All of the future, all of history, and all of the universe?"
Osgood pursed her lips. "More than anything. But I think I have to stay. I've got a couple of boxes to keep an eye on. And a world to keep safe."
"Fair enough." The Doctor nodded, turning to the girls next to him. "Clara, would you mind, uh..."
"Mind what?" Clara asked, not getting it.
"I'll see you in the Tardis, okay?"
Now it clicked. "Oh, uh, yeah, sure." She moved and hugged Osgood. "Take care, you."
"You take care of him." Osgood said. "Don't let him die or anything."
"What if he's really annoying?"
"Then fine."
"Got ya." Clara nodded to Ember as she stepped into the Tardis and closed the door.
The Doctor turned to Osgood again. "I need to know. Which one are you?"
"I'm Osgood."
"Human or Zygon?"
Osgood tilted her head with a smile. "I'll answer that question one day. Do you know when day that will be?"
"The day nobody cares about the answer." It was her voice, but a second Osgood appeared from behind the first one. She wore a duffel coat and scarf, and her glasses didn't have the duct tape in the middle. "Gotcha!"
"Oh, look at his face." The first Osgood said as the Doctor looked between them in shock.
"It's almost not fair."
"But I don't... I don't... How, how?" The Doctor stuttered.
The first Osgood raised a brow. "Oh, think it through, Doctor."
"Well, it wouldn't be right, would it?" The second Osgood added.
"To carry on using Clara's face-"
"-When there's a vacancy."
Now the Doctor got it. "Zygella?"
"Osgood!" One of them said.
"But which one of you-"
"Osgood!" They both said together before they took turns again. "It doesn't matter which of us is which."
"All that matters is that Osgood lives."
"And nothing's going to stop us!"
The Doctor smiled. "You're a credit to your species, Petronella Osgood."
"No, Basil." The first Osgood said.
"We're a credit to both of them." The second added.
"Oh, and you should know. I'm a very big fan." The Doctor moved to the Tardis door, Ember about to follow.
Ember paused when one of the Osgoods spoke again. "Actually, can we talk with you for a moment, Ember?"
"Um, ok..." the brunette nodded to the Doctor to get him to go into the Tardis, and then she turned to the twins. "What's up?"
"Well, for starters, Claudette says hello," The second Osgood replied. "And thank you for your help. She's more than willing to help make sure that the ceasefire stands."
Ember nodded. "That's good. I wish I could have saved both of them."
"You protected as many as you could, wether they're Zygon or human." The first Osgood said, glancing at her double and getting a nod. "And to show our appreciation... I want to tell you something."
She leaned forward so she could whisper something in Ember's ear. When she stepped back, the brunette stared at her in surprise.
"Why would you tell me that?" She asked.
Osgood smiled. "I said I'd answer that question when no one cares about the answer. The whole time, you were telling everyone else that it didn't matter if I was human or Zygon. If anyone should know, it's you."
Ember felt her eyes brim with tears, touched by the gesture. "Thank you."
She turned and stepped into the Tardis, and the blue box faded away with its trademark wheezing.
The first Osgood turned to her twin. "Ice creams?"
"Yes, ice creams." The second one replied. "Then back to work."
"What's today?"
"Oh, you know, same old, same old. Defending the Earth."
"Actually," a new voice made them turn to see someone stood leaning back against a nearby tree. The shade from the branches and unexplained shadows hid their idetinity, but the voice was female. "There's something to sort out first. There's one thing telling you two apart, and I'm here to rectify that."
The first Osgood blinked before she smiled. "So that's what you meant before, when you said-"
The unknown newcomer raised a finger to her lips. "Spoilers."
Back in the Tardis, Clara had decided that she needed to shower. She might not have been conscious for most of the time, but she felt the effects of being kept in a Zygon pod.
That left Ember and the Doctor in the console room. Things were quiet for a while, but the Doctor could sense that the brunette had something on her mind. "What are you thinking about?"
Ember glanced over at him from where she was on the upper galley, him being by the console. She debated avoiding it, but knew that it would only nag her until she let it out. "A couple of things, actually. First, the way I acted in the Black Archive. I knew it would be alright, that they'd stop, but... I suddenly felt this... crushing sadness at the thought of another war. Why?"
"Like I said earlier. You're older than me, which is a rarity in itself. You've probably seen much more than I can even imagine."
"You said something about memories. How they're not truly gone. Just locked away. Was I feeling something from my past?"
"Most likely," the Doctor walked up the steps to reach her side. "You were running on adrenaline, having not long gave your first mark to someone."
Ember looked up at him. "You weren't surprised to see that mark, but you were surprised when I told you I'd never done it before. Was that adrenaline too? How often have I done that?"
The Doctor sighed. "I don't know exactly how many you've marked. But you only mark those you believe deserve it. And they're not always the same. There's a pattern: the more feathers that are incorporated into the mark, the higher importance they are to you."
"What's the highest count?"
"One feather is, like I explained earlier, a right of passage. There's only one time you've given out a symbol that was more than four feathers."
Ember blinked. "What was that? And who did I give it to?"
The Doctor smiled, raising his right hand to pull down the collar of his shirt. Ember would have blushed at the sight of his bared skin if it wasn't for what else was there; a patch of blackened skin above his left heart that looked like an elegant wing or a sideways, stylised letter f...
With a start, Ember realised where she'd seen that mark: it was on the Tenth Doctor, when they'd slept together. Now, however, she recognised the symbol as part of the language she could now read. "I gave that to you?!"
"Yes. I can't tell you when or where." The Doctor let go of his shirt and took both of Ember's hands in his, making sure she was listening to him. "Ember, this is important. You've just found out that you're part Eternal. This has opened so many doors for the future, one of them your new ability to read your language. Another one of them is your limits. Your powers are going to appear more quickly now, and the ones you already have are going to get stronger. That's not all: your instincts are going to get stronger as well. It's not going to be easy, and there are going to be times that you'll be afraid. But I promise you, right now; you will never be alone. I wish you wouldn't have to face what's ahead, but I'll always be there for you."
Ember closed her eyes as he leaned down to kiss her, gladly taking the comfort. She wasn't given the chance to think over the words, as a familiar burning sensation began to build up within her.
The Doctor pulled back with a sad smile, knowing that she was leaving. "Be strong, Ember. The next one is going to be rough, but you can do it, and something wonderful will come after."
She jumped before she could ask what he meant.
And there we have it! Hope you enjoyed!
Um, slight side note: I looked back on the chapter 'Family of Blood', and I realised that I'd left out a detail that I thought I'd put in. I guess it hadn't saved when I thought it had. I've fixed it, so if you read that chapter before now (10/3/2020) it's now there. If you've read it after that date, don't worry, you already saw it.
You'll find it in the last scene of the chapter, but it basically points out the mark that the Doctor just showed Ember. I do intend to post drawings of the symbols for you to get a better idea of what they look like, but I'm not sure how long that'll take, so please bear with me.
Next Time: Ember takes a big leap in her powers to help the Doctor, and it almost costs her. Will it be worth it? Stay tuned!
