The Doctor glanced down at Hayley's hands as the patients drew closer. Seeing the golden glow start to appear, he knew he think of something quickly as he didn't want Jack Harkness to know about this 'ability' of hers. The Doctor looked up at the patients and an idea came to him. I hope this works he thought before saying firmly "Go to your room". The patients stop in their tracks "Go to your room!" the Doctor commanded again. They watched all the patients tilt their heads in unison "I mean it! I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross! Go… to… your… room!" the Doctor shouted, pointing in no particular direction. They all relaxed when the patients hung their heads and moved away from them, back to their respective beds.
"I'm really glad that worked", the Doctor said relieved noting how the golden glow faded from Hayley's hands now that the danger was passed.
"Yeah, those would've been terrible last words", Hayley commented.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked sitting down by one of the beds.
"They're not. Those masks are flesh and bone", Jack said settling down in a chair.
"How was your con supposed to work?" the Doctor asked.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk…let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con"
"Yeah. Perfect", the Doctor said sarcastically.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day" Jack laughed at his own joke. Both the Doctor and Hayley looked at him clearly not impressed. "Getting a hint of disapproval"
"Take a look around the room. This is what your 'harmless piece of space-junk' did", the Doctor said.
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter, it was empty", Jack insisted. The Doctor looked at him darkly before taking Hayley's hand and walked out of the ward. Rose hurried after the pair. "I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it", Jack called following after them.
The Doctor stopped and turn to him "I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. Its volcano day".
A siren went off in the distance "What's that?" Rose asked looking up.
"The All Clear", Jack replied.
"I wish", the Doctor muttered.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken", the Doctor told Jack when they reached room 802.
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out" the Doctor replied "Get it open".
Jack grinned and pointed his blaster at the door when the trio moved back. "What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?" Hayley asked the Time Lord quietly.
"Nothing", the Doctor replied watching Jack fire his blaster at the lock, making a perfect square shaped hole around it. "Sonic blaster, fifty first century" the Doctor said making Jack look at him in surprise "Weapon Factories of Villengard?"
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked.
The Doctor took the blaster from Jack to have a look at it "Once", he replied.
"Well, they gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot", Jack explained.
The Doctor gave the blaster back "Like I said, once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good" he smiled pleasantly at the man and walked into the room, Hayley following him in. He flicked on the light to reveal a vandalized room. Filing cabinets tipped over, electronic equipment broken. The observation window across the room was smashed.
"Looks like something got out", Hayley commented as Jack and Rose joined them in the room "something powerful and angry".
Jack entered through the open door that lead to the room behind the broken observation window. The walls and floors were covered with child's drawings. "A child? That explains 'mummy'", he remarked looking at the drawings.
"How could a child do this?" Rose asked entering the small room as well. The Doctor turned on a tape machine and a recording started to play.
"Do you know where you are?" Constantine asked
"Are you my mummy?" the little boy asked.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?" Constantine questioned.
"Are you my mummy?" the boy repeated.
"What do you want? Do you know…"
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor, I've heard this voice before", Rose said recognising it.
"So have Hayley and I", the Doctor agreed.
"Mummy?"
"Always 'are you my mummy?' Like he doesn't know", Rose added.
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?" Rose asked.
"Are you there, mummy? Mummy?"
"Not everyone knows who their mother is Rose", Hayley said quietly "I don't". The Doctor took her hand knowing she was talking about her real mother. As she'd been dropped off at the orphanage when she was a baby, she didn't know who her real mother was. Just like the little boy.
The recording continued with the child still asking for its mummy. "Can you sense it?" the Doctor asked who was now pacing around the child's room.
"Sense what?" Jack asked.
"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?"
"Mummy?"
The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at Rose, Hayley and Jack "funny little human brains, how do you get around in those things?"
Hayley rolled her eyes. She knew he was stressed hence why he was insulting humans. She went out into the other room where the tape recorder was. Hayley stood in front of it and looked down at the tape reels spinning.
"Mummy, please?"
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" the Doctor asked making Hayley look up.
"It was a med-ship. It was harmless", Jack insisted.
"Yes, you keep saying 'harmless'. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?" the Doctor questioned.
"Altered how?" Rose asked.
A crackling noise caught Hayley's attention and she glanced down the tape had ended. Her eyes widened when she noticed her hands start to glow. She spun around and saw the boy inches away from her! She quickly raised her hands, time vortex bursting from them as she did so, knocking the boy back. "I'm sorry", Hayley said as she lowered her hands. She hadn't wanted to attack the boy but she knew that if she didn't, he would've touched her and made her like him. Hayley was broken out of her thoughts when the Doctor grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the small room as the boy started to get up.
"You ok Hales?" Rose asked looking her sister over worriedly.
"I'm fine Rosie", Hayley assured her as the boy started to walk towards the room.
"On my signal make for the door. Now!" Jack shouted before violently producing a banana from his belt, pointing it at the child like a weapon. The Doctor grins and pulled the sonic blaster from his own belt. He uses it on the wall and ushered Hayley and Rose through.
"Don't drop the banana!" the Doctor said to Jack as he hopped though.
"Why not?!" Jack questioned as he followed the Time Lord.
"Good source of potassium!"
Jack snatched his blaster back from the Doctor and repaired the wall. "Digital rewind" he explained tossing the banana at the Doctor, who caught it "Nice switch".
"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate", the Doctor said.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" Jack asked.
"Bananas are good" the Doctor stated.
"How did you knock the boy back?" Jack asked Hayley. Neither of them had seen what she did, they only heard the sound of the little boy hitting the floor.
Before Hayley could come up with an answer that didn't involve the words time vortex, the child thumped on the wall on the other side, making it crack.
The group ran along the corridor and down a flight of stairs. The four of them didn't make it very far until they encountered gas-masked patients bursting out of the ward calling mummy. The quartet hastily backtracked but they find another group of gas-masked patients. Jack, Hayley, Rose and the Doctor found themselves back at the wall where the child was trying to break through. "It's keeping us here till it can get at us"
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked pointing his blaster at every direction.
"It is them", the Doctor corrected him "It's every living thing in this hospital"
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?"
The Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket "I've got a sonic, er… Oh, never mind", he said.
"What?" Jack asked.
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that" the Doctor said turning to face the second group of gas-masked people turning his sonic on and pointing it at them.
"Disrupter? Cannon? What?" Jack questioned.
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!"
"A sonic what?!"
"Screwdriver!" the Doctor shouted.
Jack turned to him as the child breaks through the wall. Rose grabbed Jack's wrist and makes him point his blaster at the floor. "Going down!" she warns before firing the weapon.
The four fell through the hole and landed in a messy heap. Jack quickly got to his feet and used his sonic blaster to repair the ceiling. "Doctor, are you okay?" Rose asked standing up.
"Could've used a warning", the Doctor grumbled getting up. He turned to Hayley and helped her up "you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, fine", she replied ignoring the pain in her left ankle. She must've twisted it when she landed.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked.
"I do"
"Lights", Rose said looking around for a light switch in the ward they'd fallen into.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'ooo, this could be a little more sonic?'"
"What, you've never been bored?" the Doctor said indignantly.
Hey don't diss the sonic", Hayley said "the sonic is cool"
"Thank you Hales", the Doctor said glad she was defending the sonic. He was watching Hayley stand there avoiding putting too much weight on her left foot. "Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yep fine", she lied. The Doctor used his sonic and scanned her.
"You've twisted it", he said reading the results. "Why didn't you say something?" he asked putting his arm around her waist to support her.
"I didn't want to make a fuss", Hayley replied. And if she had to be honest a twisted ankle was nothing to what she felt after her fight with the Centipede Soldier. She felt like a walking bruise after that. Rose managed to find the light switch and turned the lights on. The patients is the beds sat up and started calling mummy.
"Door", Jack said and he and Rose rushed towards it while the Doctor helped Hayley along. The American tried to blast the door open but the weapon doesn't work. He moved back to allow the Doctor to open the door with his sonic. Hayley leaned against the wall while he worked on getting the door open.
"It's the special features. They really drain the battery", Jack explained.
"The battery?!" Rose said surprised. The gun wasn't so cool to her after all. The Doctor got the door open and helped Hayley in the room. "That's so lame!"
The Doctor slams the door shut after Jack and Rose entered. "I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory", Jack said running to the barred window.
"Oh, I know. First day I met him, he blew up the building Rosie and I worked in" Hayley said sitting down in the wheelchair "That's practically how he communicates".
"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit", the Doctor said after he'd locked the door with his sonic.
"The door? The wall didn't stop it!" Jack exclaimed.
"It's got to find us first", Hayley pointed out.
"Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!" the Doctor urged.
"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves", Jack said leaning on the wall "and Hales has got a gun that doesn't seem to work".
"One: don't call me Hales and two: it may not work on those gas masked people but it'll work perfectly fine on you", Hayley said giving him a look.
"Window", the Doctor said going to it.
"Barred, Sheer drop outside. Seven stories", Jack replied.
"And no other exits", the Doctor said having quick look around the room.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack commented. The Doctor turns and eyes him for a moment, then looks at Rose.
"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" the Doctor asked.
"Doctor…" Rose said warningly.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance", Jack said. Rose stood there looking rather uncomfortable. Hayley rolled her eyes.
"Oh please", she muttered.
"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here" the Doctor stated "Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?"
"Yeah Jack just disappeared", Hayley replied. The Doctor spun around to see that the American was no longer there.
The Time Lord knelt in front of Hayley, checking her ankle. "Does this hurt?" he asked.
"Nope", Hayley replied truthfully. The pain in her left ankle was gone. She could only guess that the Time vortex had healed it while they were talking.
"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked unsure of whether she was lying to stop him worrying.
"Yes I'm sure", Hayley answered. To prove it, she stood up and raised her right foot putting all her weight on her left. "See?" she said putting her right foot down "perfectly fine".
"Amazing", the Doctor remarked. He knew that the time vortex made an appearance to protect Hayley whenever she was in danger but he didn't know it could heal her too. Though that would explain how the Yautja's warrior mark had disappeared from her face.
"What's amazing?" Rose asked as the Doctor moved over to the barred window "what are you guys talking about?"
"Oh just… stuff", Hayley replied vaguely. She felt bad for not telling Rose about the time vortex within her especially since she'd seen it in action. She just didn't know how she'd react to it. So for now she was keeping it between herself and the Doctor.
"Like that's not vague or anything", Rose muttered. As she wasn't going to get any answers from her sister or the Doctor, she'd just change topic. "Ok, so Jack's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that Hales?" she asked.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted", the Doctor spoke up from where he was working at the window.
"You shouldn't be Doctor. You are better looking than Jack", Hayley said making the Time Lord stop what he was doing and turn to her.
"How much better?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh…" Hayley gave him a quick kiss "1,000%". The Doctor grinned, very pleased and gave her a longer, deeper kiss.
An old radio in the room suddenly crackled to life and Jack's voice sounded "Rose? Hayley ? Doctor? Can you hear me?" the trio went over to it, the Doctor picking it up "I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you" the Time Lord stared in confusion at the torn wires of the radio "It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there"
"How are you speaking to us?" Hayley asked also looking at the wires confused. It shouldn't be possible for him to talk to them through the radio. The wires weren't even connected.
"Om-Com" Jack replied "I can call anything with a speaker grill".
"Now there's a coincidence", the Doctor said "The child can Om-Com, too".
"He can?" Rose asked surprised.
"That's how he spoke through the TARDIS phone earlier", the Doctor told Hayley.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiind you", the child spoke in a sing song voice through the radio.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked.
"Loud and clear", the Doctor replied.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do", Jack said.
"Coming to find you, mummy!" the child cheered.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack asked. A moment later, Moonlight Serenade started to play through the radio.
"Our song", Rose said quietly embarrassed. Both the Doctor and Hayley looked at her questioningly.
A little later, Rose is relaxing in a wheelchair while Hayley leant against the wall checking over her ICER, again. "You've already checked that over twice", Rose stated as Hayley slid the magazine back into her gun "no need to do it again".
"It's better thorough when checking your weapon than not at all", Hayley told Rose "at least that's what Ward always says". She slid her ICER back into her holster and looked over at the Doctor who was doing something to the window "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars", the Doctor replied.
"You don't think he's coming back, do ya?" Rose asked with a frown.
"Wouldn't bet my life", the Doctor muttered not looking away from what he was doing.
"Why don't you trust him?" Rose asked the Time Lord.
"Well he is a con man Rosie", Hayley pointed out.
"Why do you?" the Doctor asked glancing back at the blonde.
"He saved my life" Rose replied "Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing" she received nothing but silence "I trust him because he's like you. Except with dating and dancing…" the Doctor shot Rose a look "What?"
"You just assume I'm…" the Doctor trailed off not wanting to finish that sentence.
"What?" Rose persisted.
"You just assume that I don't…dance"
"What, are you telling me you do…dance?" Rose said grinning.
"Nine hundred years old, me…"
"You're nine hundred?!" Hayley said gaping at him. Never in a million years would she have guessed that he was nine hundred years old.
"Yep"
"I never would've guessed", she said shaking her head "you're full of surprises Doctor".
"Anyway, I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced", the Doctor said continuing on from what he was saying before Hayley interrupted.
Rose raised her eyebrows "You?" she said sceptically.
"Problem?"
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you…dance?" Rose teased.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast", the Doctor said.
Rose went over to radio and turned the volume up. The Doctor looked around completely wrong footed. Hayley watched Rose walk up to the Doctor and hold out her hand "You've got the moves? Show me your moves", she challenged.
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete", the Doctor said focusing on trying to loosen the bars with his sonic
"Jack will be back. He'll get us out. So come on. The world doesn't end 'cos the Doctor dances"
The Doctor turns off his sonic, pockets it and turned to her. "Barrage balloon?" he asked looking at her hand. Her skin was unmarked by injuries.
"What?"
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon", the Doctor repeated taking her hand and looking it over. Rose didn't have any cuts or bruises. Unlike her sister, she didn't have the time vortex in her to heal her injuries. So how are her hands fine? "You were hanging from a rope thousands feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise"
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up", Rose replied as Hayley came over to have a look at her sister's hands.
"You're calling him Captain Jack now?" Hayley asked.
"Well, his name's Jack and he is a Captain Hales", Rose answered.
"He's not really a Captain, Rose", the Doctor told her.
"Do you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain Envy" Rose said "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them" the blonde girl tried to get the Doctor to dance but he just stood there.
"If ever he was a Captain, he's been defrocked", the Time Lord muttered.
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock", Jack said catching their attention. Without even realising it, they'd been teleported on board Jack's ship. "Sorry about the delay", Jack apologised "I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security".
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?" the Doctor asked raising his eyebrows "Maybe you should remember whose ship it is"
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in 5 minutes" Jack ducked into a compartment under the console.
"This is a Chula ship", the Doctor said looking around.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous", Jack called from the compartment. The Doctor snaps his fingers and the golden glow envelopes one of his hands.
"They're what fixed my hands up!" Rose exclaimed "Jack called them um…"
"Nanobots?" the Doctor supplied "nanogenes".
"Nanogenes! Yeah" Rose nodded.
Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now" the Doctor explained "They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws". The Doctor waved his hand and the nanogenes disappeared. He then turned to Jack "Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk".
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online", Jack said as if he was being nagged "Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing".
"We were talking about dancing", the Doctor said as Hayley sat down on the bed, pulling out her ICER to check it over, again.
"It didn't look like talking", Jack countered as the Doctor went to sit next to Hayley.
"It didn't feel like dancing", Rose muttered.
Minutes later the quartet had arrived at the crash site. Jack spotted Algy pacing up and down "Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important", he said.
"We've got to get past him", the Doctor said.
"Are the words 'distract the guard' heading in our general direction?" Rose asked.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea", Jack said.
"Don't worry I think Hales and I can handle it", Rose assured him "isn't that right Hayley ?" she turned to her sister but she was gone! "Where did she go?" Rose asked.
"Found her", the Doctor said noticing the brunette casually strolling towards Algy.
"Hey you! You're not supposed to be here!" a soldier shouted having spotted her.
"Who? Me?" Hayley said innocently turning towards the man.
"This is a restricted area", the solider said.
"Is it? Hadn't noticed"
"You're going to have to come with us miss", one of the soldiers said.
"I'm not going anywhere", Hayley said firmly.
"We'll see about that", a soldier said stepping forward and grasped her wrist.
"Big mistake", Hayley said before she slammed her other fist into his face. He stumbled back, clutching his nose. That's when the other two soldiers decided to step in. Hayley easily flipped one onto his back, quickly pulling out her ICER and shot the other one. The first soldier joined the other two on the floor. "Told you I'm not going anywhere", she said before shooting Algy in the chest. The Doctor, Rose and Jack watched the fight from where they stood, the latter two gaping at what they were witnessing. The Time Lord just smirked. He knew how good she was, fighting skills wise.
"Your sister is a badass", Jack commented to Rose.
After freeing Nancy from where she was being held, the group went over to where the 'bomb' was. "You see? Just an ambulance", Jack said as he and the Doctor pulled the tarp off of it.
"That's an ambulance?" Nancy asked eyeing it. It didn't look like any ambulances she'd ever seen.
"It's hard to explain…" Rose began.
"It's from another world Nancy", Hayley said bluntly. She then noticed some writing on the side of the ambulance, partially obscured by some dirt. She moved closer to it, reached out and wiped away the dirt. Her eyes widened when the words Schlechter Wolf was revealed. "Bad Wolf", she said under her breath so that no one else heard her. This was the fourth time it's popped up, that she's noticed at least. What is it with those two words? First it's a graffiti tag on the TARDIS in 2006. Then it's heard over the tannoy in the alien museum in 2012. The third time it was a TV channel in the year 200,000. Now it's popped up again in 1941, this time on the side of a Chula ambulance. If she didn't know any better, she'd say it was almost like those two words were following them wherever they went through time and space. But how? What did it even mean?
Jack's voice broke through her thoughts. "They've been trying to get in", he said looking at the controls, noting the scratches on it.
"Of course they have", the Doctor said rolling his eyes. They weren't exactly going to leave it alone where they? "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon…." Jack started pressing buttons on the keypad "What're you doing?" he asked the man.
"The sooner you see this thing is empty" Jack said, still pressing buttons "the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it" the controls explode with sparks and they all jump backwards. "Didn't happen last time", he said.
"It hadn't crashed last time. They're the emergency protocols", the Doctor told him as an alarm blared.
"I'm guessing that's what the flashing red light is for", Hayley said nodding to it, hand still on her ICER. She'd automatically went for it the moment the alarm went off.
"Doctor!" Rose cried as the gates at the far end started shaking.
"Captain, secure those gates!" the Time Lord ordered.
"Why?" Jack asked.
"Just do it!" the Doctor shouted. Jack nodded, clambered down from the ambulance and ran over to the open gates.
"I'll help him", Hayley said before she ran off, the Doctor grabbed her lightly by the arm.
"You be careful", he said.
"I will", Hayley promised. The Doctor let go of her arm and she ran over to where Jack was. The pair slammed the gates shut. "We need something to keep these closed", she said to Jack keeping both hands pressed against the gates, to keep them shut. The former Time Agent looked around and found a length of chain nearby. He picked it up and wound it through the gate, binding them together the best he could.
"Ok, you can let go now", he said to Hayley and she did so.
"That's not going to hold them for long", she remarked.
"I know but it's the best I can do", Jack told her. They turned and walked back to the Chula ambulance "by the way, those were some pretty impressive moves you did on those soldiers", Jack said as they walked "Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"Thanks. Ward taught me", Hayley replied "He's my SO. I'm a SHIELD Agent. Well… a part time one", she added pulling her badge out of her pocket and showing it to Jack.
"SHIELD? I've heard of that organisation. Got some pretty notable members, almost legendary", Jack recalled. While working at the Time Agency, he had worked closely with a few SHIELD agents. They were good people. Come to think of it Hayley did look an awful lot like one of those 'almost legendary' members. But he couldn't quite remember which one. It'll probably come to me later he thought.
"Really? I don't suppose you could tell me who these almost legendary members are?" Hayley asked curious.
"Sorry Hales", Jack said apologetically "I can't tell you. I'm from the future"
"Oh", Hayley said. She was disappointed by his answer but understood his reason why he couldn't say. Being from the future, he would have knowledge about events that for her, had yet come to pass. Telling her anything about the future, could inevitably alter it. As the Doctor has mentioned a couple of times, time can be rewritten. Nothing is set in stone, especially not the future. Hence why Jack can't say a word about who those 'almost legendary' members of SHIELD were. "Where's Rose and Nancy?" Hayley asked the Doctor when she and Jack reached the ambulance and found the two girls absent.
"They're securing the place Nancy came through", the Doctor replied. He and Hayley watched as Jack continued to type into the key pad. "It's empty. Look at it", he said when the hatch on the ambulance slid open.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" the Doctor asked as Rose and Nancy joined them.
"This is a wild guess but is it….nanogenes?" Hayley said.
"Got it in one Hales", the Doctor turned to Jack "It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species".
Jack paled, rather shaken by that fact. It really was all his fault "Oh, God".
"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world" the Doctor explained "But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask".
"And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Rose asked.
"What's life?" the Doctor asked "Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest…"
"They're going to make every single person on the planet like the little boy", Hayley added "a little boy who's just looking for his mother".
"And there's nothing in the world can stop it!" the Doctor said looking at Jack angrily.
"I didn't know", Jack said defiantly although his was still rather shaken.
"Can I shoot him?" Hayley asked half hoping she could. This entire thing was his fault. Her sister was in danger because of Jack bloody Harkness.
"No. Unfortunately we need him conscious", the Doctor replied glaring at the shaken up man.
"Can I punch him then?" Hayley asked really, really hoping that the Doctor would say yes.
The Doctor looked at her and seeing the anger in her eyes he said "Yes you can". Hayley smiled at him before going over to Jack and punching him hard in the face. Jack stumbled back a couple of steps, clutching his nose but didn't say anything in protest because he'd definitely deserved it.
The Time Lord didn't bother to hide his pleased expression as he turned back to the ambulance. He also knew that Jack deserved it. And knowing that Hayley had one hell of a punch, he was definitely going to avoid being on her bad side.
"Rose!" Nancy suddenly cried, seeing the gas masked people stumble towards them over the rail track. Rose and Hayley run to her side, eyes widening when they saw this too.
"Doctor those patients are coming", Hayley warned him.
"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol", the Doctor explained looking up from his work.
"But…the gas mask people aren't troops…" Rose said quietly.
"They are now" the Doctor corrected her "This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you…"
"That's why the child's so strong. Why it could Om-Com", Hayley finished, her fingers itching to pull out her ICER. But there was no point as it was useless against the gas masked people.
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes" the Doctor nodded "All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them".
The gasmask people surround the fence. "Why don't they attack?" Jack asked eyeing them.
"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander", the Doctor replied.
"The child?" Jack asked.
"Jamie", Nancy corrected him.
"So how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked Jack.
"Any second", he answered looking up worriedly.
"What's the matter, Captain?" the Doctor looked at Jack "A bit close to the volcano for you?"
"He's just a little boy", Nancy breathed.
"I know", the Doctor said softly.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy", Nancy said tearing up. Hayley put an arm around her.
"There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy…" the Doctor began.
"And this little boy can", Hayley finished. If she was in the child's place, she would do the exact same thing. She'd tear the world apart to save Jackie. She'd do it for anyone she cared about. Rose, Skye and even her team. If they were in danger, there was nothing she wouldn't do to save them.
"So what're we going to do?" Rose asked really hoping that the Doctor had a plan to save the day. He always saved the day. He always came through.
"I don't know", the Doctor replied. It was true he had no idea what to do. How to stop this.
"It's my fault", Nancy said quietly. She sounded to Hayley like she was on the verge of tears.
"No" the Doctor shook his head.
"It's you", Hayley said when it hit her. She knew why Nancy was so upset. The little boy wasn't her brother, it was her son. She was the one the child was looking for "you're Jamie's mother aren't you?" Hayley asked and Nancy nodded in confirmation.
"Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds", Jack warned as bombs landed nearby.
"You can teleport us out", Rose said turning to Jack.
He shook his head "Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols".
"So it's volcano day" the Doctor stated "Do what you've got to do". The former Time Agent vanished.
The gate opens and Jamie stands there "Are you my mummy?" he asked.
"He's going to keep asking, Nancy. He's never going to stop", the Doctor said.
"Mummy?" Jamie asked again.
"Tell him Nancy", Hayley said "trust me".
Nancy nodded and walked forward as does Jamie. "Are you my mummy?"
"Yes, I am your mummy", Nancy told him.
"Mummy?"
"I'm here", Nancy said stopping.
"Are you my mummy?"
"I'm here", she repeated kneeling down in front of Jamie.
"Are you my mummy?"
"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry", Nancy said sincerely, tears in her eyes. The young woman then took the boy into his arms and a cloud of Nanogenes surround them.
The Doctor watched what was happening excited. Hayley and Rose looked equally happy "Come on, please. Come on, you clever little Nanogenes. Figure it out!" he urged "The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out".
Nancy fell away from Jamie as the nanogenes disappeared. The trio hurry over to them "Oh, come on. Give me a day like this", the Doctor said hardly daring to hope "Give me this one". He removes Jamie's gas mask, revealing a little boy underneath. He laughed ecstatically picking the boy up "Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it".
"What happened?" Nancy asked looking at her son in wonder.
"The Nanogenes recognised the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them!" the Doctor explained, still grinning.
"Mother knows best", Hayley said with a big smile on her face.
"Oh, Jamie", Nancy said happily as the Doctor set him down on the ground. She hugged him again. A bomb fell nearby bringing them back to reality.
"Doctor, that bomb…" Rose said.
"Taken care of it", the Doctor assured her.
"How?" she asked.
"Psychology", he replied gesturing at Nancy and Jamie.
The bomb hurtles towards them and is suddenly stopped when it got caught by a blue force field. A moment later, Jack appeared sitting astride the bomb. "Doctor!" he called down to him.
"Good lad!"
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long", Jack explained.
"Change of plan. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?" the Doctor asked.
Jack nodded and bid the sisters farewell. The remaining humans and time lord watched Jack's ship fly away. "What are you doing?" Hayley asked as the Doctor summoned the nanogenes.
"Software patch. Going to email the upgrade" the Doctor replied "you want moves? I'll give you moves" The Doctor threw the nanogenes away, towards the gas mask people. He grinned as they all fell to the ground, nanogenes surrounding them. "Everybody lives! Just this once, everybody lives!" he said ecstatically. Hayley could help but laugh at the big grin on his face. He looked so happy at the prospect that they were all going to live.
The sisters hang back with Nancy and Jamie while the Doctor spoke briefly to Constantine. He walked back to them, climbing on top of the Chula ambulance "Right, you lot. Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!" the Doctor said loudly to Doctor Constantine who smiles. The Time Lord jumped down and went to work on the control panel. "Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"
"You're usually the first one in line", Hayley pointed out.
When the trio entered the TARDIS, the Doctor was still in his very good mood. "The Nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!" he said happily.
Hayley and Rose smiled at his enthusiasm "Look at you beaming away like a kid at Christmas", the brunette Tyler said.
The Doctor threw out his arms "And everybody lives! Everybody lives! I need more days like this!"
"Doctor…" Rose began but the Doctor continued as though he hadn't hurt her. Which was probably the case.
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire!"
"What about Jack?" Rose asked, the Doctor's grin faded.
"What about him?"
"Shouldn't we save him?" Hayley asked "He did put his life on the line stopping the bomb".
Jack was surprised to hear Moonlight Serenade playing behind him. He spins his chair around to see Rose and the Doctor in a rather awkward position. "Oi Harkness! Get in here!" Hayley shouted at him. Jack leaps to his feet and runs out of his ship and into the TARDIS.
"Right and turn", Rose instructed. The Doctor spins her around, getting her arm all twisted. Hayley shook her head at them with a smile on her face. "Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time don't get my arm up my back!" the Doctor looked sheepish at that "No extra points for a half-nelson".
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff", the Doctor said rather put out. He turned his attention to Jack "Close the door, will you. Your ship's about to blow up, there's gonna be a draft", he said.
"I got it", Hayley said quickly going over to the door and closing it.
The Doctor flicks a switch and the engines start up. "Welcome to the TARDIS", he said as Hayley walked over.
"Much bigger on the inside…" Jack remarked as he looked around.
"You'd better be"
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is… you may cut in", Rose said taking Jack's hand, ready to start the next dance.
"I've just remembered!" the Doctor suddenly shouted.
"What?" Rose asked.
The music changes to In the Mood, playing out on all the speakers around the console room. The Doctor dances on the spot to it, snapping his fingers.
"I can dance!" he said happily.
"Wanna show me those moves?" Hayley asked holding out her hands. The Doctor grinned, took her hands and spun her around perfectly. It was almost as if, he'd only been pretending that couldn't dance. Jack watched them for a moment before taking Rose's hands and danced with her.
The Doctor suddenly dipped Hayley earning a laugh of delight from her. He grinned as he pulled her up and continued with their dance.