Chapter 19
Amy came running back into the room, the Ganger Doctor following. "Keep him away from me," she said, looking like she was about to cry.
"Did you sense it?" the Ganger Doctor asked.
"Briefly. Not as strong as you," the Doctor said.
"Amy, I'm sorry."
"No, you keep away. We can't trust you," Amy told him.
"It would appear I can connect to the Flesh."
Wait. Why would he phrase it that way if he was the Ganger?
"You are Flesh."
It finally dawned on Elise.
"I'm beginning to understand what it's been through, what it needs."
"What you want. You are it."
"It's much more powerful than we thought. The Flesh can grow, correct?"
"Its cells can divide," Cleaves said.
"Well, now it wants to do that at will. It wants revenge. It's in pain, angry. It wants revenge."
"I was right. You're not the Doctor. You can't ever be. You're just a copy," Amy said.
Elise looked at the redhead. Didn't she understand what was going on?
"Doctor, it might be best if you stayed over there for now, hmm?" Cleaves suggested.
"Hold on a minute, hold your horses. I thought I'd explained this. I'm him, he's me," said the Doctor sitting next to her.
"Doctor, we have no issue with you, but when it comes to your Ganger…"
"Don't be so absurd."
"Buzzer."
"Sure, boss," he said.
The Doctor in front of her straightened his bowtie.
"Take a seat, mate," Buzzer said.
He sat down on the barrel presented to him. "Nice barrel, very comfy. Why not? Is this really what you want?"
Elise walked over to him and sat on the floor next to him.
"Elise…" Amy said.
"No, Amy. It doesn't matter which one is the Ganger and which one is the Doctor. They're both the Doctor."
The Doctor sitting next to her stroked her hair, while the one over by Cleaves and Amy winked at her. Elise just hoped she was right.
A voice came over the console. "This is the shuttle. We're right above you, but we can't get low enough. Gamma static could fry our nav-controls. Sit tight. We'll get to you. Just…"
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and soniced Cleaves, who was rubbing her forehead.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" Jimmy asked the pilot.
"If I can't find Rory. I'm going out there," Amy told the Doctor.
He was examining the results on the screwdriver. "We could use the sonic to track him. Humans and Gangers give off slightly different signals. The sonic needs to tell the difference."
"Oh, so the sonic knows Gangers are different. The other Doctor is different," Amy said.
"He is the Doctor."
"Not to me. I can tell."
"Sure you're not prejudiced?"
"Nice try, but I know, okay? We've been through too much. You're my Doctor. End of."
Elise sighed. "She's not listening."
The Doctor petted her hair. "Well not everyone is as clever as you and I."
"Hey, there's a camera up. We've got a visual," Buzzer said.
"That's Rory and Jennifer," Amy said, looking at the screen.
"They're heading for the thermostatic room," Cleaves told them.
"Let's go get them," Amy said.
The Doctor tossed his screwdriver to the one sitting by Elise.
"Hang on," Amy said.
"We can't let him go. Are you crazy?" Cleaves asked.
"Am I crazy, Doctor?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, you did want to plumb your brain into the core of an entire planet just to halt its orbit and win a bet."
Elise snorted. She wanted to hear that story later.
"He can't go rescue them. I'm going," Amy said.
"Do you know, I want him to go," the Doctor said, standing up, "And I'm rather adamant."
"Well then, he'll need company. Right, boss? It's fine. I'll handle it," Buzzer said.
"Thank you, Buzzer. It'll be all right. I'll find him," the Doctor said. He knelt down in front of Elise and lightly tapped her forehead with his, transferring his plans to her.
Elise nodded in understanding.
"I'll be back before you know it." He kissed her forehead and left.
"Can't explain it to you now, but I need you to trust him. Can you do that for me, Amy?" the Doctor asked her.
"And what if you're wrong?"
"Do you think I'd let him interact with Elise if I thought he was going to harm her?"
Amy sighed. "No."
He tapped the underside of her chin with his knuckle. "Good."
The console started going off.
"These temperature gauges are rising. Jennifer and Rory must have shut off the underground cooling vents," Cleaves said.
"Why do that?" Dicken asked, "They'll kill us."
"There's a million gallons of boiling acid under our feet."
"And now it's heating up the whole island. How long till it blows?" the Doctor asked.
The room shook and Elise grabbed Amy's hand for comfort. She wondered how the other Doctor was. Was he okay? Should she have gone with him?
"Elise! Focus!" the Doctor yelled. He couldn't afford for her to get stuck in her head now.
"Gangers or no Gangers, we need to get the hell out of here," Dicken said.
"Shuttle, we need evac. Where are you?" Cleaves asked, "Can you hear me? Can you…?"
Cleaves doubled over, grabbing her head.
"Cleaves? Cleaves? Cleaves, sit down," the Doctor told her.
"I'm fine."
"You're sick."
So that's why he scanned her. Oh! He had also scanned her to give the screwdriver a way to tell humans and Gangers apart!
"I'm waiting for results, so let it go."
"It's a very deep parietal clot."
"How can you possibly…?"
The Doctor sighed.
"Inoperable?" Cleaves asked.
"On Earth, yes."
"Well, seeing as Earth's all that's on…offer."
"We could take you somewhere. Somewhere that could help. It doesn't have to be the end for you," Elise told her.
"I'm no healthy spring chicken, and you're no weatherman. Right?" Cleaves asked.
There was a big rumble and the whole building shook.
"Something just cracked. I heard it," Amy said.
"Yeah, we can't stay here. Let's go," the Doctor agreed.
"He's right. Let's shift," Jimmy told them.
"Cleaves to Shuttle. Respond. We need to move, and we can't be collected from the Evac tower."
"Give us the codeword." "The codeword is…"
There was more rumbling, then alarms started going off.
"Cleaves? Cleaves, it's dead. It's dead. We need to get out of here. We need to get back downstairs and get those vents back on. Come on," the Doctor told her. He grabbed her and they fled the evac tower.
"What about the Doctor?" Elise asked.
"I am the Doctor."
"No! The other one! I'm not leaving without him."
"We'll find him. I promise. Now come on!"
They came to a passageway where there were hundreds of eyes watching them from the wall.
"Ah. The eyes have it," the Doctor said.
"Why are they here?" Amy asked.
"To accuse us."
"Ignore them. It's not far," Cleaves told them.
They finally made it to the thermostatic room.
"It's a chemical chain reaction now. I can't stop it. This place is going to blow sky high," the Doctor said.
Elise's hearts started beating quickly in her chest.
Amy could sense the small Timelord was about to have a breakdown, so she knelt in front of her and rubbed her back. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay," she told her.
"Exactly how long have we got?" Cleaves asked.
"An hour? Five seconds? Er, somewhere in between."
Another alarm started going off.
"Out!" the Doctor yelled.
They all ran out and started back down the passageway where they ran into Rory.
"Thank God. All right?"
"Oh, Rory. Oh, Rory," Amy said, hugging him.
"There's a way out. Jennifer found it. A secret tunnel under the crypt."
"From the crypt? It's not on the schematics," Cleaves told him.
"It runs right out of the monastery. Maybe even under the TARDIS, Doctor. Follow me." Rory took off running and everyone followed him.
They entered a room with large vats of acid.
"We can't leave without Buzzer!" Jimmy insisted.
"I'll go back for him," Cleaves said.
"Er, Doctor, look. I'd better tell you. I haven't been quite straight with you," Rory said, before Jen appeared and closed the door.
They were locked in.
"Rory!" the Doctor yelled. He ran up to the door and saw him standing there with Jen. "Rory Pond, Roranicus Pondicus!"
"Rory, what the hell are you playing at?" Amy snapped.
"They've been throwing away old Flesh and leaving it to rot. Alive. I think the world should see that."
"Rory, there is no time. The factory's about to explode," the Doctor told them. He walked away from the door and Amy looked out at her husband.
"No!" she yelled and ran down the steps.
The Doctor scanned the vat of acid. "This is going to overheat and fill the room with acid, just as a point of interest," he said.
"And we can't stop it?"
"Just as a point of interest? No." He turned to look at Elise. "I'm so sorry."
She offered him a small smile and said, "You and me, no matter what. Remember?" If he was going down, then she was going down with him.
Dicken lowered the lid onto the vat in an effort to try and buy them more time.
"It'll never hold her," Jimmy said.
"If you have a better plan, I'm all ears," the Doctor told him, "In fact, if you have a better plan, I'll take you to a planet where everyone is all ears."
"The acid's eating through," Cleaves said.
The Doctor pulled her back before it could blow steam in her face.
Jimmy ran over to the vat of acid and tried holding it closed. The door opened as he was burnt by the acid.
Dicken and the Doctor rushed over to him.
"Let me through!" his Ganger yelled. He knelt by Jimmy's side and held him in his arms.
"There's nothing we can do. The acid's reached his heart," the Doctor told him.
"Hang in there, mate," Ganger Jimmy said.
"I'm quite handsome from this angle."
"I'm sorry. I'm the fake. Adam deserves his real dad."
"Shut up."
"What do you want me to do? Anything. Just say."
"The way things are, mate, it's up to you now. Be a dad. You remember how." Jimmy handed his Ganger his wedding ring and then took his last breath.
"Jimmy Wicks, you're a dad," the Doctor said.
They made their way to the dining hall.
Amy and Rory hugged while the two Cleaves just looked at each other.
There was a projection of a little boy. "Daddy, it's me," he said.
"Hey, sunshine. What are you up to?" Jimmy asked.
"Opening all my presents."
"Ha ha, good lad. You have fun today. And remember your dad, he loves you very, very much."
"When are you coming home?"
"Daddy's coming home today, Adam," the Doctor told him.
"Yay!" Adam said.
"Now we need to move," the Doctor told them.
They made it to the corridor leading to the crypt. At the end of the hallway, stood Jen's Ganger, but it was morphing into a monster.
"Run. Run. Run!" the Doctor yelled.
The growling of Jen could be heard as they ran into the crypt.
"Ooo, roof's going to give," the Doctor said as Dicken and his Ganger closed the door.
"We have to stop her. This door doesn't lock," Ganger Dicken said.
"No, but the far one does," Dicken told him.
Dicken ran out into the corridor.
Ganger Dicken and the Doctor slammed the door shut.
"Here she comes," the other Doctor said, looking at the ceiling.
The TARDIS crashed through.
"Oh, she does like to make an entrance," the Doctor said.
Elise had never been happier to see the blue box in her life.
The Doctor opened the door. "Everyone move," he said.
"Go. Go, go, go!"
Elise ran over to the TARDIS and looked back at Amy and the Ganger Doctor.
"Go inside," the Doctor told her.
Elise did as he said.
Finally, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory entered the TARDIS and they de-materialized before the factory blew up.
"The energy from the TARDIS will stabilize the Gangers for good. They're people now," the Doctor said.
"And what happens to me? I still have this," Cleaves said, pointing to her temple.
"Ah, that's not a problem. I have something for that. It's small and red and tastes like burnt onions. Ha. But it'll get rid of your blood clot." He tossed a small vial to her and then pulled out a red balloon. "Happy endings."
They dropped Jimmy off so he could spend his son's birthday with him and then they went by the headquarters of Morpeth Jetsan.
"You really want us to do this?" Cleaves asked.
"Your company's telling the world that the situation is over. You need to get in there and tell them that the situation's only just begun. Make them understand what they're doing to the Flesh. Make them stop. Dicken, remember, people are good. In their bones, truly good. Don't hate them, will you?"
"How can I hate them? I'm one of them now," he said.
"Yeah. And just remember, people died. Don't let that be in vain. Make what you say in that room count."
"Ready?" Cleaves asked.
Dicken joined her.
"Side by side," she said.
"You got it, boss."
They opened the door and stepped into the press conference.
"You okay?" Amy asked the Doctor.
"I said breathe, Pond. Remember? Well, breathe."
"Why?"
"Breathe."
Amy cried out and doubled over in pain.
"What's wrong with her?" Rory asked.
"Get her into the TARDIS," the Doctor said.
They went inside the TARDIS.
"Doctor! What is happening to her?" Rory asked.
"Contractions."
"Contractions?"
"She's going into labor."
"Did he say…? No. No, no," Amy said, starting to freak out, "Of course he didn't. Rory, I don't like this. Ow!"
"You're going to have to start explaining some of this to me, Doctor!" Rory yelled.
"What, the birds and the bees? She's having a baby. I needed to see the Flesh in its early days. That's why I scanned it. That's why we were there in the first place. I was going to drop you off for fish and chips first, but things happened and there was stuff and shenanigans. Beautiful word, shenanigans."
"It hurts," Amy whimpered.
"You'll be okay," Rory told her.
"Breathe. I needed enough information to block the signal to the Flesh," the Doctor said.
"What signal?"
"The signal to you."
"Doctor…Doctor…"
"Stand away from her, Rory."
"Why? No. And why?" Rory asked.
"Given what we've learned, I'll be as humane as I can, but I need to do this and you need to stand away!" the Doctor ordered.
Rory slowly stepped back from Amy.
"No. No. Doctor, I am frightened. I'm properly, properly scared," Amy told him.
"Don't be. Hold on. We're coming for you. I swear it. Whatever happens, however hard, however far, we will find you," he reassured her. He put his hand on her cheek and Amy held it there.
"I'm right here."
"No, you're not. You haven't been here for a long, long time." He pulled away from her and stepped back, aiming his screwdriver at her.
"Oh, no."
He pressed the button and Amy exploded into a pile of Flesh.