Chapter 61
Porter shouted and dove out of the way as rubble came falling at him. He pointed up and blasted a few pieces piece.
"What?" Nora asked, as Pride smacked down between them.
Good thing he'd missed the rubble. That could've been worse. As it was, Pride still had to stumble to his feet, rubbing his back. No wonder humans always looked like idiots when saving each other. This stuff was a mess.
"You!" Porter snapped. The room was getting warm, and Porter's face was looking red, but not as much as Pride had hoped, or needed.
"Me," Pride confirmed.
He clapped and turned a piece of rubble into dust, obscuring everyone's vision. Hopefully Porter wouldn't move. Pride took a quiet step closer and used alchemy again, planning to bring the floor up around Porter's legs.
"Target located."
That was Porter's echoing robot voice. Uh oh. Pride ran as another blast hit the floor. It technically missed, but it knocked Pride off his feet. His legs hurt a lot, and weren't responding well. He wasn't sure getting up was an option. He turned around. There was more dust now that Porter had blasted the floor, but Pride could see his robot glowing eye. And he could definitely see Pride. Porter fired.
Pride closed his eyes. But nothing hit. He opened his eyes again, looking around in confusion. By the door he could see two figures. One of them was shaped like a dalek. He could tell, that was distinct. The other? Well, she was speaking.
"Nice trick, isn't it?" the Doctor asked. "I've given Nate the ability to move his shield over anyone he wants, and being a dalek shield, it'll take you a while to do any damage against that." She walked into the room, spinning as more dust cleared. "So Porter-Porter you're burning."
"What?" He looked down. A fair amount of his skin was turning red from heat, but it was clear that the skin right next to his metal parts was going to be permanently damaged if he kept this up. "That is impossible. I have a coolant."
He grabbed the patch on his shoulder, which squished a lot more than it should have.
"Looking for this?" Pride said, lifting up the coolant. "I swapped it out when you grabbed me. That's just cloth."
It was satisfying to pull this off. Pride pulled his vest down on one side to reveal a large area of missing fabric from his shirt. Using alchemy, he'd been able to make something that felt similar enough to Porter's coolant he would assume it was still there. So this whole time Porter had been getting closer to his limit, and he hadn't event known it.
"Nice," Nate said. His voice sounded human again.
"Good job Pride," the Doctor said. The words came out a little rushed, but they were sincere. Then she redirected her attention to Porter. "You've lost. Give it up."
"No! Never!" Porter shouted. He was started to sweat, and his clothes were burning. It wasn't a great smell. "I'm not going back with you! And I'm destroying the intern! She has at last been found."
In his defense, he clearly knew shooting wouldn't do any good this time. But, he should've known when to stop. Porter launched forward, swinging his fist towards Nora instead.
Nate fired one of his stun shots. Porter's flesh side went limp. His metal side was still standing, but not moving.
"Did it work?" Nate asked.
"I'd say so," the Doctor said, walking closer and investigating Porter. Honestly, between the burning and the bleeding Pride wasn't sure Porter was going to live, but it didn't matter either way he supposed. "Well, I don't think I can keep him with me anymore. I take it you don't want him."
"God no," Nate confirmed.
The Doctor nodded. "Then I'll take him to be imprisoned somewhere more appropriate."
Pride sighed and tipped his head back, sagging slightly. Still, he felt his lips twitch up. That had not been easy, but the fight was over, and they'd won.
"Thank you," Nora said to Pride, offering him a hand. "We can have someone look at your legs."
Unfortunately, as much as he didn't want to accept her offer, if he wanted to get to the hospital, he would need help. He grudgingly took her hand and let her carry him on her back, grabbing his legs. At least she'd thanked him. He had always soaked up appreciation and compliments.
They started walking away, Nora telling the Doctor where they were going. A few people were going with them. Turns out dropping to the floor after turning off the anti-gravity could hurt.
"You're the intern who helped mess Porter up?" he asked.
Nora's grip slackened. She almost dropped him. "Yes," she said, voice heavy. She smiled in a way that didn't match her eyes as they moved forward. "I don't seem the type, do I?"
Pride thought about the Ishvalan War, and how many people who had a problem with it ended up important to Father's demise. "Actually, Nora, that makes perfect sense."
The Doctor stood in the hospital. Lilly and Pride were both being looked at, but they'd been fine in no time. Nora and Nate were wandering around and checking up on people, helping if they could. The Doctor noticed Nora would go anywhere, while Nate was far more hesitant, probably only visiting people who'd already met him in person. He seemed to be getting along with Lilly and Pride. Now there was a combination. Most people would never guess which two out of three were the humans.
With some difficulty, she looked away from them and towards Nora. She'd never met the intern in person. The mystery woman had helped defeat Porter the first time, but they'd never seen each other. Still, the Doctor wished she'd recognized the voice.
"Sorry. About all the trouble."
Pride stared. The Doctor didn't usually apologize to people. Not in that way, of genuinely putting herself in the wrong. She didn't sound happy about it, but she'd still just done so.
They'd just finished a very hectic hospital trip. At least it was very brief, advanced technology and all that. Nate had tried to high five him. Pride was in a good enough mood to humor him, but it had gone about as well as expected, seeing as Nate had no hands.
They had then gone back to the main building, seeing as the TARDIS was still in the courtyard, and the Doctor made her apology.
"You insulted most of the people here and were stupid enough to free Porter," Nora pointed out bluntly. "But, whether you had been here or not, the Creator would've shown up. You helped against them and fixed Nate's voice. So we'll call it even."
It didn't sound even. So what was it? Pride strained to think about what could make Nora happy, or at least accepting, of this outcome. Porter. She'd gotten some sort of closure on Porter. Of course.
Nora went to shake the Doctor's hand, but the Doctor weaseled out of it by spinning around and clapping her hands. "Right. On with the show. I've got my TARDIS. We should get going."
She headed for the courtyard. Pride and Lilly started to follow, but Pride slowed and looked back. Nora and Nate were still at the building entrance, discussing something. It was amazing how much he didn't want to move. He'd grown a little tired of the TARDIS over the months, that was nothing new. But usually the places they left no longer had anything appealing to them either. One adventure was enough.
"Wait," Pride said. All eyes turned back to him. Well, no time to show doubts then. "I'd like to stay here."
[I had a hard time making it obvious Pride was going to stay here, but I think it was pretty clear this fic was going to be ending soon, so close enough.]
