Nine
'10 Downing Street'
- aka Aliens of London (Part Two)

The pig was taken to an examination lab not long after its death. Some of the soldiers had helped to lift it despite the brooding glare that the Doctor sent their way as they worked. He supposed he shouldn't be too hard on them, they are humans after all, even if they did just murder a defenseless, scared animal. Though it was partly his fault. He shouldn't have scared the creature, making it run head first into trouble...to its death. He should've known that those soldiers were all hyped up and trigger happy, desperate to prove themselves. And that was a hard pill to swallow.

The scientist that had cowered in the corner of the room had regained some of her composure as she overlooked the creature, but the bandage wrapped over her hairline and the way her hands shook as she held the clipboard tight to her chest showed the Doctor that she was still apprehensive of the pig. But if she had believed it to be dead when it first arrived at the lab then he wouldn't be too surprised if she feared it was still alive. She was also finding it hard to believe that it wasn't an alien like they'd previously claimed.

"I just assumed that's what aliens looked like," The scientist said. "But you're saying it's an ordinary pig. From Earth."

"More like a mermaid," The Doctor answered, voice holding a rough edge to it, not too happy that he had to explain it again.

Ella seemed to have picked it up instantly, nodding in understanding and making a comment about how she thought there couldn't possibly be an alien race that was identical to a pig. The Doctor had been so tempted to correct her, tell her that she was wrong and that there were several that shared similar appearances to the animal, but had decided against it when he saw the way her eyes lit up. It almost hadn't seemed right to let his bad mood destroy that. For someone that had a limited memory she sure did want to know as much as possible.

"Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat, glueing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid," He continued on. "Now someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on. Then they've strapped it in that ship, made it dive bomb it."

"It must have been terrified," Ella cut in from beside him, voice somber, if a little shaky. She almost seemed as cut up about it as he was, except it wasn't her fault.

The Doctor cocked his head in the smallest of nods. "They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke."

"So it's a fake," The scientist said decidedly. "A pretend - like the mermaid. But the technology augmenting its brain, it's like nothing on Earth. It's alien. Aliens are faking aliens…."

Something clicked in his head then, and he reached out and grabbed at Ella's arm, pulling her past the doors before the lady could finish her sentence and notice their disappearance. He was grateful that Ella didn't seem to object to leaving - it made it easier for them to move past the soldiers standing guard in the hallway. She seemed to be deep in thought like him, hanging back as he unlocked the Tardis, making no move of her own to use her new key, the one that she'd stuck haphazardly into the pocket of her work skirt.

She remained silent when he put the Tardis into gear to take them back to Powell Estate, and when she did speak, her voice was certain.

"They set up the crash," She said. He stopped what he was doing, hand covering over one of the levers he was preparing to push to look over at her. "I mean you said it yourself earlier. Everything about the landing was too perfect. And the fake alien. It's almost like they wanted people to figure out it was a hoax."

He was impressed by her process of elimination, a small smile on his lips as he finally lowered the controls and allowed the Tardis to take off. "That's what I was thinking."

He found himself double checking the coordinates to make sure they were heading straight back to Powell Estate. The last thing he wanted was for Ella to make yet another comment about his driving skills. Honestly he could never be 100% certain that he had landed in the place he wanted to go, sometimes his Tardis loved to play little games on him and mess around with the flying, moving controls and what not to send him in the wrong direction. She especially loved to do it when he was trying his hardest to impress people.

A second after he pulled the ship into a landing, Rose Tyler ventured through those doors looking only just the tiniest bit put out, signalling that they couldn't have been gone for more than a few minutes - half an hour at the most. He shot a grin at Ella, pleased that he had managed to direct them to the right place, but she looked almost nervous that Rose had noticed their disappearance, looking just about ready to break out into unneeded apologies.

"Alright so I lied," The Doctor cut in before Ella could speak, throwing his hands up dramatically as Rose bounded up the strut to stand next to them. "We went and had a look. But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so - we thought so," He amended, nodding over at Ella. "It was just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben, come on. So I thought, let's go and have a look -"

"- My mum's here," Rose cut in after a second of his rambling in perfect timing with the opening and closing of his Tardis door. He didn't even have to turn around to know that there were two unwanted people in his Tardis.

"Oh that's just what I need," He complained, rolling his eyes and pointing a warning finger in her direction. "Don't you dare make this place domestic."

He had tried his hardest to tune out the newcomers, focusing on the screen to gather more information, but it was Rose's little boyfriend that just had to ruin his last slither of patience. He'd stepped forward, his feet dragging loudly on the grating of the floor as though he harboured absolutely no respect for the mans' ship, and he tried to put on his manliest voice. If that was his attempt at intimidation he would have to try harder.

"You ruined my life Doctor."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the words, turning to face the boy as he went on making a fool of himself.

"They thought theys was dead. I was a murder suspect 'cause of you," He puffed out his chest then, and pointed to Ella with a pout. "Even worse, they thought I was a kidnapper! I'd never even seen her before and apparently I'd sold 'em into sex trafficking. Yeah…" He said, brandishing his finger at her again. "...Yeah I read up on ya and there's no way I had anything to do with your 'disappearance'," He gestured air quotes, staring over at her with a huff.

Ella visibly tensed at that, and pity wormed its way into the Doctor's stomach. The woman didn't look angry, but her soft facial features were downtrodden and she was frowning. "Yeah," She muttered over at him a little bitterly. "Thanks for that."

"See what I mean," The Doctor said with a huff, turning back to the screen so he didn't have to look at the stupid boy any longer. "Domestic."

"I bet you don't even remember my name!" He said, interrogating the Doctor as he stepped closer to them.

"Ricky," The Doctor told him simply, spinning once again to face the boy.

"It's Mickey," He corrected with a scowl.

The Doctor shook his head, continuing to egg him on. "No it's Ricky."

"I think I know my own name."

"Oh," The Doctor said, tucking his hands behind his back and taking a step closer to the boy. "You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?"

It was that moment when Rose's mother decided to turn on her heel and run out the ship. Rose was distracted by her disappearance as she rushed past them to go after her, muttering something about not starting fights, but the Doctor couldn't care less. He had things to do and these people were distracting him. When he had decided all those months ago that he wanted to start travelling again he made certain that he was going to do it alone. There was no way that he wanted to drag someone into danger with him. But then Ella and Rose had managed to weasel their way in and he told himself he didn't need anyone else after that. Everyone else was just a distraction.

Rose rushed into the Tardis after the Doctor had turned back to the screens, tuning it so he could see the news. She stood next to Ella and peered over at the screen.

"That was a real spaceship," She said, stating the obvious as per usual.

"Yep," The Doctor stated dryly, not bothering to take his eyes off the screen to look at her.

"So it's all a pack of lies," She continued. "What is it then, are they invading?"

"Funny way to invade putting the world on red alert," Mickey said from behind them. He was still brooding, still unhappy about sharing the same space as the Doctor, but at least now he was contributing productively to the conversation.

"Good point," The Doctor affirmed, trying his hardest to be civil as he turned back to the screen to continue watching the news reports. "So, what're they up to?"

Ella piped up, seeming to find her voice again after Mickey the Idiot's complaining at her. "Something bad."

He clapped her on the back as he moved past, bending down to pull up a piece of grating under their feet. Slipping down under the grating, the Doctor grabbed at his sonic screwdriver from the chest pocket of his leather jacket and set to work on the wiring of the Tardis. He didn't bother explaining what he was doing, they wouldn't understand, and in this particular moment time was of the essence. It was important that he found out what exact alien had decided that it would be a good idea to strap an innocent animal into a spaceship for the sole purpose of gathering the public's attention. Of course Rose's idiot boyfriend had to ruin his concentration once again as he moved to peer at the Doctor from above him. What was even more annoying was that he still had that stupid scowl plastered on his face.

"What're you doing down there?" He asked.

The Doctor tried not to sigh at the boy. "Ricky-" He began, the sonic screwdriver he had wedged between his teeth subdued his voice though he still managed to get a reaction from the boy, who screwed his nose up at the fact that he mispronounced his name once again.

"Mickey," He corrected once more.

The Doctor let go of one of the wires he was holding for the sole purpose of retrieving his sonic screwdriver so he could be heard better. "Ricky," He insisted. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship would you even begin to understand?"

The idiot boy couldn't even meet his eyes. "Well I suppose not -"

"- Well shut up then,' The Doctor shot back sarcastically and he placed his screwdriver back into place effectively cutting off the communication between them.

He was focused on hanging up the controls, wires skillfully wrapped between his fingers. Of course the humans could never just be silent and soon the Tardis was filled with the soft voices of Rose and Mickey as they caught up. It would be a sweet moment between the two if they were actually alone without the listening ears of Ella and the Doctor. There were only a couple of wires that he needed to patch together and then he would be able to spy on the aircraft before it crashed into the Thames, and he was determined to get the job finished quickly so he wouldn't have to listen to this human dribble anymore. Seriously, it felt as though he was watching an episode of EastEnders at this point.

The wires snapped together with a resounding buzz as the electricity hummed along the metals. He grinned and pulled himself up from under the grating to stand on the ground floor.

"Got it," He proclaimed, equally pleased when he was met by silence.

Situated on the hop chair and looking down at her nails as though searching for a welcome distraction, Ella scrambled to her feet at the sound of his voice, moving to stand next to the Doctor and observe the screen. She shared a slightly awkward look at him like she was trying to tell him telepathically that she was glad he'd cut off the little reunion Rose was having with her boyfriend. He could only find it in himself to nod as Rose rushed over to look at the screen also.

"What'd you do?" Ella asked. The Doctor had thought he'd felt her trying to spy on his work while he was under the console, and she seemed eager enough to want to know what was happening, it was like the woman was a sponge for information, she wanted to know as much as she possibly could.

"Patched in the radar, looped it back - twelve hours - so it followed the flight of that spaceship," He explained, pointing at the monitor that was now alight with new footage that he had so cleverly been able to find. "Here we go, hold on," He smacked at the console with a hand when the graphic he'd managed to get up stalled in its movement.

The white ball that they were supposed to be following sprung to life again, it's movements marked by a soft beeping. His beautiful Tardis had traced the ship as it made its way to Earth, and had even gone as far as to capture the alien's stupidity. They had launched the spaceship from Earth...to crash back into Earth. It was calculated and purposeful and oh so interesting. He looked over to the two women beside him, Rose looked confused as she stared at the video, and Ella was trying her hardest to understand what was happening on the screen. It would probably take them ages to figure out what he understood, kind of like they were putting together a challenging puzzle, and he couldn't waste that type of time.

"That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see," The Doctor launched into his explanation, pointing at the screen. "Except...hold on," He said, waiting for the video to loop and get to the part he wanted to explain. "See, the spaceship did a slingshot around the Earth before it landed."

"So it was on Earth originally?" Ella asked, tucking a strand of her brunette hair behind her ear and squinting at the video as it continued to play. The Doctor couldn't help the smile that spread over his face at the fact that Ella was able to catch on and he nodded as he continued his explanation.

"Yep. It went up from Earth and came back down. Whoever those aliens are they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. So the question is, what've they been doing?"

The Doctor was quick to change the screen back to the news programs and he began flicking through the different stations from the comfort of his Tardis. It was much easier to channel surf without the annoying gossiping of Rose's family and friends and annoying little children that demanded attention every two seconds. Here he only had Mickey to contend with, and so far he seemed pretty interested in the fact that the Doctor had managed to rig up a TV system in his spaceship. As though that was the craziest thing that he had seen in his life.

"How many channels you get?" Mickey asked, leaning forward to examine the broadcast better.

The Doctor moved away so he could get in closer, figured that if the man was at least distracted he wouldn't be as annoying to him. "All the basic packages."

Mickey gave him a wide eyed almost excited look. "You get the sports channels?"

"Yes I get the football," He replied with an eyeroll, crossing his arms over his chest and focusing back on the screen as he caught sight of some familiar faces on the monitor. "Hold on I know that lot."

The people sauntered across the screen dressed in their stupid little uniforms, identical hats folded under the same arms. They looked like puppets but they thought they were superior, they thought that they knew it all. It wasn't until the journalist tacked on something about how the government was bringing in trained professionals to deal with the potential alien threat that he realised who they were.

"UNIT," The Doctor identified, pointing at their moving figures. "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people," He tacked onto the end.

"How'd you know 'em?" Asked Rose.

Mickey rounded the console, staring at the Doctor and answered before he could. "'Cause he's worked for 'em. Oh yeah, don't think I only searched up on Ella and then sat on my backside for twelve months," He said, completely missing the way that she tensed up at the mention of her name. "I read up on you too. You look deep enough on the internet, or in the history books and there's his name - followed by the list of the dead."

"That's nice," The Doctor said as lightly as possible despite the way his chest ached at Mickey's words. The Time War still had a way of creeping up on him even when he tried to bury it. "Good boy Ricky."

"If you know 'em why don't you go and help," Rose asked genuinely.

"Wouldn't recognise me. I've changed a lot since the old days," He said evasively, moving away from the screen to work at a few of the controls.

"But hold up," Ella said. He noticed the way she immediately clutched onto the sides of the console, preparing herself for the bumpy ride in his Tardis that she thought was going to come. "You said before you were 900 years old. I mean you really don't look it, but surely they'd recognise you right. How much could you have changed?"

Oh you have no idea, thought the Doctor as he swivelled one of the dials. He couldn't be bothered to delve into the whole regeneration introduction, especially when Rose's little boyfriend was on board, so he was going to have to wait for another time. "A lot," He answered. "Besides," He continued on, flipping up switches to stabilise his ship when he circled around the console. "The world's on a knife edge. There's aliens out there, and fake aliens want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover. And, uh, I better keep the Tardis out of sight. Ricky," He exclaimed as he moved past the boy towards the doors. "You've got a car, you can do some driving."

Mickey scrambled after him and the Doctor could only imagine the horrified look on his face. The Doctor couldn't think of anything worse than being cramped up in a car with this bitter little boy but he had limited options. "Where to?" He called out hopelessly.

The Doctor reached for the doors and pulled one open before sparing a look in the direction of the bumbling idiot. "The roads are clearing," He explained slowly like he was talking to a five year old. "Let's go have a look at that spaceship."

He had pranced outside of his ship, completely ignoring the sounds of helicopters hovering overhead. Well, that was until a bright spotlight shone down on them, so bright that he could barely see any of his surroundings. It seemed as though someone had been looking for him. Sirens wailed from a few streets down as they rushed to catch up to them and they pulled to a stop, surrounding the four of them.

"Do not move!" A voice called down over a speakerphone from the chopper, loud and authoritative but the least bit intimidating to him. "Step away from the box, raise your hands above your head. You are under arrest."

Armed soldiers spilled from the cars and raced towards them, the Doctor kept perfectly still. He had to show that he wasn't affected to not freak out Ella and Rose who would surely be a little unnerved by the whole experience. Mickey took his moment and made a run for it, something that the Doctor was secretly glad about, he'd have one less thing to worry about. To make matters all the more worse, Jackie Tyler burst from her apartment and tried to make a run for it to her daughter only to be held back by soldiers. Rose was rightfully a little spooked by the sight, but the Doctor noticed that Ella had a hand on the girl's arm to keep her in place, probably worried that she would rush out in front of the soldiers and their guns. Neither of them wanted a repeat of what happened earlier.

"Put your hands on your heads," The soldier called out over the loudspeaker once again. "You are under arrest."

The Doctor raised his hands, Ella and Rose reluctantly doing the same. The Doctor could only grin at how comical the whole situation was. "Take me to your leader!" He crowed, delighted.

"Take me to your leader," Ella mocked as she slid into the plush backseat of their escort vehicle after him. "I know you're an alien and all but I thought you'd at least try and stay away from the cliches."

She moved over closer to the Doctor to make more room for Rose who ducked in next, but her gaze was focused on the Doctor, her mind ticking through all of the possible ways she could make fun of him. He didn't seem all that affected by her snideness and settled on keeping the grin on his face as the door closed behind Rose, sealing them away from the outside world.

Rose didn't seem to care about making fun of him, which the Doctor thought was a refreshing change from Ella's gaze. The blonde was too busy taking in the upholstery of the car. You'd think they were in a limo with a few bottles of champagne the way she was looking around.

"Well this is cosy," She declared, sinking into the seat when the car pulled into drive. "If I knew it was going to be like this being arrested I would've done it years ago."

"We're not being arrested," Corrected the Doctor. "We're being escorted."

"Where to?"

"Where do you think?" He wasted no time in answering before either could take a guess, far too excited about the entire situation. "Downing Street," He declared before letting out a whooping laugh at the thought of it.

Rose laughed along too. "You're kidding."

"I'm not," He insisted, his laugh getting louder in volume once he saw Rose's surprised expression.

"10 Downing Street?"

"That's the one," The Doctor affirmed.

Rose glanced out the window in excitement. "No way. Oh my god. I'm going to 10 Downing Street!"

The Doctor noticed how Ella was staring straight ahead, face completely void of any happiness or interest. She almost looked bored as though they were getting hyped up over nothing. "Oh come on," Rose exclaimed, having also caught onto the brunette's lack of excitement. "How could you not be happy about this? We're going to 10 Downing Street, Ella, everyone wants to go there."

"Not me," Ella said decidedly. "Politics is boring. A whole bunch of people having petty arguments about why they shouldn't have to do the right thing, why they don't have to take responsibility for their actions. It's a stupid system," She said, murmuring the last part under her breath a little bitterly.

Rose wasn't too bothered by Ella's little rant, her excitement still painted on her face as she turned to the Doctor and pinned him with yet another question. "How come? I mean, why'd they want us?"

"I hate to say it but Mickey was right," The Doctor confessed. "Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times and I've been uh - noticed," He said with a little smug grin, secretly happy that people have been keeping tabs on him for bragging rights.

"And now they need you," Ella stated, looking over at the Doctor.

"Like it said on the news they're gathering experts in alien knowledge, and who's the biggest expert of the lot," He shot her a cheesy grin, slightly disappointed at Rose's intentional diss.

"Patrick Moore?"

"Apart from him."

Ella pinned him with a blank face. "Bet you're wishing she'd said you, huh," Amusement was flickering in her chestnut brown eyes.

"Ohhh," Rose cooed from beside her, sending him a huge grin. "Don't you just love it."

"Oh I'm telling you, Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table! Who's the Prime Minister now?"

"How should we know?" Ella cut in, amusement still clear in her eyes, her tone holding no heat to it as she pinned the blame on the Doctor once more. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to let his little slip up go anytime soon. "We missed a year."

The Doctor merely shrugged at that, too excited to reply once he saw what street the car had turned down. Photographers and journalists for all sorts of news stations were hovering behind the police enforced barriers on the street, just waiting for any type of activity to report on...and the Doctor was going to be one of them. He was going to make it onto TV! He grinned wide and waved once the car pulled to a stop and the door opened for him. The people had no idea who he was, but, like they did with everyone else that had crossed the threshold into 10 Downing Street since the crash landing, they rushed to take his photo and blurt out random questions.

Rose looked mystified by the whole experience, standing by the door of the car and watching the Doctor as he basked in the glory of attention. It was Ella who had kept her head down and crossed to the door quickly, trying to get away from the photographers and attention as though it was the worst thing that could happen to her. The door didn't open when she stood in front of them, and the Doctor felt slightly bad for her at that moment, cutting his celebration short to get to the door and let them in.

They were led to a room filled with important executives and government leaders. The whole situation reminded him of parliament in the '80s, though they were all much less uptight then the people he was forced to mingle with on this occasion. Some of them even looked as though they didn't know how to socialise properly, which was a bit rubbish of them if they were to lead the country through this alien encounter. The whole situation felt stiff and not in a formal way.

"Ladies and Gentleman, can we convene?" A voice called out above the dull chatter in the room. "Quick as we can. This way on the right, and can I remind you, I.D cards," He said, holding one up in the air. "Are to be worn at all times."

The Doctor shrugged and motioned for Ella and Rose to move into the room. No one blinked an eye at their appearance, and the Doctor thought they would be let through without a fuss for once, until the assistant who was just talking brandished the I.D card in his face, stopping them from walking.

"Here's your I.D card. I'm sorry your companions don't have clearance."

He offered the man a blank stare, slipping the lanyard over his head and flipping the card so it was visible against his chest. "Don't go anywhere without them."

"You're the Code Nine, not them," The man answered slightly impatiently. "I'm sorry, Doctor, it is the Doctor isn't it? They'll have to stay outside."

"They're staying with me," He said firmly. There was no point arguing with him, the Doctor was a stubborn man when he wanted to be.

" -Look even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let them in and that's a fact."

"It's alright," Rose cut in softly. "You go."

It was at that time when a conservatively dressed politician crept towards them and made her presence known. He had seen her flitter around the room spying on everyone a few minutes earlier, and judging by the look of annoyance that pinched the assistants face at her appearance, she was a regular snooping politician trying to climb the ranks.

"Excuse me," She said. "Are you the Doctor?"

"Not now!" The man complained but the Doctor didn't have any time to waste talking to them, not when the meeting was about to begin. He turned to Rose and Ella and asked them if they were sure they were fine with being left outside.

"Sure," Ella said with a non-committal nod of her head.

"They're the experts," Rose added in. "You should hear what they have to say."

He flicked his eyes back to the squabbling people in front of them and dragged at Ella and Rose's shoulders slightly to move them away from them as though that would somehow make the situation easier for them. "Alright," He agreed finally. "'Spose so. Don't get in any trouble."

The Doctor filed into the room after all of the politicians and army officials, taking a seat in the far back corner and grabbing at one of the program books and reading through it quickly as the rest of them gazed at the front few pages.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to have your attention please," The General called, silencing the room as he held up the booklet. "You can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant-"

The Doctor cut in impatient, wanting to question the information that he had just read. " - Now the really interesting bit happened three days ago, See," He said, standing from his seat. "Files away under any other business. The North Sea, the satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation at one hundred fathoms, like there was something down there. You were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens - spaceships, pigs - massive diversion...from what?"

He was at the front of the room by then, intentionally taking over the meeting. "If aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot what do they get?" He stopped in realisation, frowning as he pieced it all together. "Us. They get us. It's not a diversion. It's a trap."

"This is all about us," He continued on. "Alien experts, the only people with knowledge on how to fight them, gathered together in one room."

Someone farted behind him. Now he knew that humans could be disgusting creatures sometimes but surely they could keep it to themselves when he was in the middle of his speech. It was insulting. The Doctor turned to one of the men up the front, a big bloke who was practically sweating in his suit, it had probably taken some work for him to get into it judging by the look of him. He raised his eyebrows at the man. He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he had farted, usually humans became somewhat embarrassed after being caught out.

"Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?"

The man leant forward in his seat. "Would you rather silent but deadly?" He asked as though it was a joke.

The General standing behind him let out a snort of amusement at the comment. He then removed his hat and reached for a zip planted on his forehead. Blue light spilled from his head as he pulled at the zip. The other man beside him fell into laughter as everyone in the room looked on horrified. The alien that had disguised itself as the General had stepped out of the skinsuit, the electricity flickering around the room as he did so. The Doctor could only watch on in wonder as the big green alien stepped forward.

It wielded huge claw-like nails on the ends of its stretched fingers with a bulbous round neck, a pair of glassy black eyes stuck on the front of its face, disproportionate to its small mouth and nose. What the Doctor found most interesting about its appearance was the collar strapped around the folded skin of its neck. It could be a translator device or perhaps a size compressor to help them fit into human skin.

The lights returned back to normal as the thing rose to its natural height, towering above all of them.

"We are the Slitheen," The green alien declared with an owlish blink of its eyes.

Beside him, his other disguised alien friend stood from his seat and pulled something out of the dress pocket of his suit. "Thank you for wearing your ID cards," He popped a button up on the remote and held his thumb over it and smiled. "They'll help to identify the bodies," He said with a sneer as he pressed down on the button.

Electricity coursed through the Doctor's body before he could rip the card from around his neck and he found himself falling to his knees from the pain of it all. His muscles clenched and spasmed, the shock spreading over every nerve ending like wildfire. There was barely any time for him to breathe, to make any sound other than the painful grunts that ripped from his mouth. It was controlling him and he hated being controlled.

And then he found the strength through the wavering pain to lift up his arm and make a snatch for the chain. There was a sudden reprieve from the roiling electricity and he could breathe then, lungs back in working order, hearts pumping away despite the strain. The power of that electricity could've sent him into another regeneration cycle if he had left it any longer. When his ears stopped ringing the sounds of the dying screams from the innocent humans around him filled the void.

For a second he imagined the desperate screams of Ella and Rose and he could see them flailing on the floor to their deaths with his very own eyes. It gave him the strength to stand, to look his attempted murderers in their cold, unflinching eyes. It gave him the strength to speak.

"Deadly to humans maybe," His voice shook, arms did too at the slight tremors that ran through his nerves when he grabbed hold of the shimmering card on the floor and moved towards the aliens with unbalanced stutters of steps.

In that moment the Oncoming Storm was back, and he had no problem pressing the electricity into the aliens body. He watched unwavering as the electrical pulses spread over not only the green aliens body, but his friend. They were connected and were both squealing in pain.