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A/N: I know that I said this was likely the last chapter, buuuuut... you know how Muses are. Finkle creatures, Muses are. So on that note, One more episode before this season of Doctor Who Re Do is over. Will the Doctor regenerate or will Rose change a fixed point in time?
At this time I would like to say thank you for everyone who has stuck with me this far. Over a year since I started and we are still here. Thank you so much for your continuing support. I would like to welcome and thank Zombistyle, Alliebelikov21, Chiara Polairix Edelstein, Lyinginthedark, anna3311234, lovergirl732, timespacedoor, twistintimeinwonderland, Washawaycloud, and Locondra Timbernova for favoriting and following this story. It means a lot.
Equally, thank you to Anna3311234 (More is coming! Second Season is already being scripted and there will be a Christmas Scramble!), Diving In (Sorry that the story started off confusing for you. Hopefully you kept reading and it made more sense!), vampgirliegirl (Thank you, thank you!), my lady LadyHopeofGallifrey (Always a pleasure to see your reviews!) for taking the time to review and comment the story!
Now, without further ado, on with the show!
Much Love!
Once More With Feeling
Chapter 48: Evil Plan to Save the World
As the TARDIS rematerialized in the Control Room of the Game Station, formerly known as Satellite Nine, the Beast turned from where he was instructing the ten security guards how to handle the weapons he loaned to them. He was a vision of seriousness as these people had no true idea of what it was that was coming at them, even as they snickered a bit here and there at his directions. That stopped when he mentioned the death of the Manager, Matani, at the hands of the blue domed creature. It was about then that reality of the situation began to sink into the ape brains and they started to take it seriously.
Never in the Beast's long lifetimes had he ever been grateful to a Dalek, until now.
Turning from his impromptu troops, he and Pavel both walked over to greet the group returning. Pavel reacted like most mortals did who had never truly seen the wonders of Time Lord Technology. The human stood there, his eyes wide and mouth agape as the beautiful, if not slightly worn, blue police box came into focus. The Beast, having seen it a thousand times, just stood there, hands behind his back as the solider he was while the winds of re-entry died down around them. As the door opened, he allowed himself to show his smug smirk as first Jack then Lynda emerged from the box. Thorn glided out, grumbling under his breath, followed by the sight of a beautiful blonde hybrid with dazzling brown eyes and the overly serious, grumpy face of the Doctor.
"I trust it went well?" the Beast had to ask, just to watch the Doctor glare at him. "We heard everything that was being said, you should know. My fleet is moving into positions as we speak."
"Why are you still here, Pavel?" Jack asked, confused. Looking around, he noted that the staff had decreased by half, but the eight from Ninja Warrior and Strood were still there. In addition, he noted ten security guards, all armed with high powered Venusian rifles. "I thought you were going to evacuate the station."
"We did," Pavel sighed heavily. "Well, we tried. Also attempted to warn the planet below of the impending attack. They… shut down our broadcasts and suspended our license. We have no way to warn them now. As for the evacuation, we sent out as many as we had ships for. Sadly, there are roughly two hundred people on level Zero who were unable to go. The rest here all opted to stay. Said they wanted to help out."
"They are all going to die unless we can stop the Daleks before they get here," the Doctor said as he ran a hand over his head.
The Beast gave a small smile, smug as it was, and started to speak before his vision blacked out a moment. In that fraction of a timeless second, it felt like to him, he saw thousands of brightly colored tapestries, all golden and silver in their weave of time lines. Thousands of them circling on that shone brighter than all others. But, that one was not finished. To his horror, he watched as the others began to blink out, like someone just snuffed out a candle. Minute lines of silvers and gold that were left over from the now gone tapestries floated to the unfinished one, weaving themselves in.
As he went in to investigate what he was seeing, he was thrown back to the moment, the sound of a wolf howling ringing in his ears.
Snapping his eyes open, he realized that all happened in the time it took to blink.
"Well," he stated suddenly in a voice much too happy, "my work here is done. I must be off! Tra!"
"But," Jack frown, more confused by the smug Time Lord's actions, "you just got here."
"Beast," the Doctor stepped forward, missing the pass of worry in Rose's mind, "you can't go. I need you to help me save these people."
The Beast stopped and turned back to the people who stared at him with fear, worry, confusion and a hint of betrayal. "No, Theta," he sighed. "You don't. And I can't help."
"You said a Paradox point was forming on a massive, world ending scale," Lynda pointed out.
"I did, young one," the Beast agreed. "But this is a fixed point. I cannot help. I'm not supposed to even be here. There is too much influencing this moment."
Rose blinked and for a moment her mind flashed to another life, another part Time Lord telling her about a fixed point in time that he should have never been a part of. Of what his actions of trying to change that point resulted in: the death of a brilliant woman by her own hand to maintain the timelines.
Time will do as time demands, Rose head the TARDIS whisper to her.
"What do you mean?" Jack was asking the Beast now. "How could you know that you aren't supposed to be here when you are? You're a Time Lord, aren't you?"
There was silence as the Doctor was growling at the time that was being wasted.
"When we Time Lords are still very young," the Beast started to explain as if he was talking to an idiot, "we are taken to look into a crack in time and space, called the Untempered Schism. Some, when they look into it, see clearly for the first time. Some," he glanced at the Doctor, "run away and never stop running. And some, like a dear friend of mine, lose their minds. Hear things, like the sound of drums."
He paused a moment. "When I looked into it, I saw time, not as a line or an ocean as some would. I saw a tapestry. How all time weaves together and how each moment effects another. That is why I was placed in charge of dealing with problems in the weave of time, because I can see them. And what I see now, I cannot be a part of. This is someone else's play to star in. If this fails, which it could, then reality will start to unwind. And there is nothing I can do about that. I'm sorry, Theta. I have to leave. Mirage."
Before anyone could get a word in edgewise, the image of the interfacing of the Series 900 TARDIS that belonged to the Beast materialized behind him. Her inhuman, Fae-like features flicked over everyone gathered before she wrapped her willow thin arms around her pilot. And like that, the two were gone.
Silence rang throughout the control room.
"Well," Jack breathed as he looked around. "First thing we need to do is come up with some kind of pl-"
He was cut off when Rose placed her hand over her mouth. She soundlessly motioned for silence then nodding towards the TARDIS. Motioning for the guards and other fighters to follow she led the group into the TARDIS, much to the Doctor's cringe. The only people outside were the ones working at the computers, still attempting to contact Earth below.
"You want to explain what that was all about?" was the first thing out of the Doctor's mouth.
"He could hear us out there," Rose breathed, rubbing the back of her neck. They were speaking quietly while the others did the routine 'bigger on the inside' dance. "The lines are still open. The Emperor can hear us. He knows about the humans on the base level now. He will attack them first."
"Rosie…" Jack and Lynda turned their attention to her. "You've… seen this before?"
"I have," the woman sighed. "And what I saw, it didn't end well for anyone. I know what can be done to help, but I can't… we can't stop the deaths from happening. Not all of them. But we can stop some. Hopefully."
Lynda looked confused. Strood, finally over his shock, came to stand at his friend's side. "What happened?"
Rose looked around at the people. Last time, she barely saw any of their faces. The only one she really remembered was Lynda and that was purely because of jealousy. The rest of these people, and the ones on Level Zero, were faceless to her, no names. When she was nineteen, she pushed it from her mind, moved on with his life. Now, she was mentally much older, and used to taking in the faces of people around her in dangerous situations. In her other world, she was teasingly called the Lady Doctor by Torchwood. It annoyed John to no end. After all, he was the Doctor.
"I was in a situation like this… " Rose begin, turning to look at her mate. "Daleks everywhere, barely had a plan. Everything rested on luck and hope. Only myself and one other survived the attack. It was… the stuff of nightmares."
Thorn glided over to nudge Rose gently. She reached out and laid her hand on his top. "Our every defense, the Daleks got around. Everyone died. For a long time I pretended it never happened, but the nightmares never really stop." Lifting her eyes to the group, she let them see the age and wisdom in her gaze. "I learned a lot since then. And I know we are facing back odds. But… between me, the Doctor, and Jack. And Thorn," she added with a little laugh when he yelled 'OI!' at her. "We know the Daleks. Trust us, listen to us. And we will get as many of you out of here as we can."
"Why don't we just pick everyone up with this… ship… and leave?" Bumpei asked. The lanky Japanese man was trying hard to just accept all this.
"Won't work," the Doctor's Northern accent broke in. "Fixed point in time. Once the TARDIS landed, we became part of the events. So, no leaving."
The console room went silent as everyone tried to accept the situation.
"I HAVE AN IDEA," Thorn offered. If Daleks could grin, this one would be.
The Doctor just rolled his eyes and let his head fall back with a theatrical groan.
"This better be better than that time you thought singing to the Crystal Priestess a love song would break the curse."
"OF COURSE IT IS," Thorn huffed.
"How?"
"THIS PLAN WITH WORK."
Jack Harkness wanted to shoot the man that kept spouting out things, claiming he was the smartest person there because he won "Weakest Link".
"Listen!" he was shouting when Jack and the small armed group with him entered Level Zero. "Listen to me! I won that game! My name is Rodrick! I won! That means I'm more clever than you! I am not leaving without my money!"
Bumpei looked over at Jack with raised brows, a question in his eyes.
"No," Nagano answered, looking at the masses in the room, "you cannot shoot him."
Jack just chuckled and clapped the Japanese man on the shoulder before leaping up onto a pallet full of boxes. Without a word, the former Time Agent lifted the gun he swiped from the guards at jail break and pulled the trigger.
One, two, three, burst.
The room went silent and all eyes turned to him and his crew.
"Good, now that I have your attention," Jack quipped, his blue eyes dark as he took in the people before him. "You all have been left behind and given a chance to protect the people around you, and your planet from an incoming attack. The Daleks are about to invade and they will kill every last one of you. So you get to pick, stand and fight, or hide and hopefully not die?"
Pavel looked up at Jack's little speech and blinked. How much more American can this man be, he wondered. That was his idea of a pep talk?
A group of people looked between each other before stepping forward with their hands raised. Jack did not know where they came from, nor did he overly care. The plan was the only thing he could offer at this time. He had to have faith in the Doctor and Rose that everything would be fine. Lynda smiled at the people who joined them, Strood simply staring ahead at the staff members who stayed behind to let the contestants get out of the station.
Jack waited a few more moments before speaking again. "Those who do not want to fight, who do not want to try to survive and be more than this, do not have too. But just remember. While you are hiding, remembering to stay silent, and when you hear up, above you. Dying for you, then it will be too late to help."
"We need anyone and everyone's help to stop the Dalek plan from coming real," Lynda stepped forward, eyes begging. "This is the only defense we will get against a much older and better prepared army. Help us."
Another group separated from the crowds, Jack noted a number where members of staff. The look in their eyes was one of both desperation and desire for redemption. Ah, so not everyone who worked here was as much a monster as Matani had been. Good to know.
"One last time," Jack called out. "Anyone else?"
This time, mouthy Rodrick stepped forward.
"You're a bloody nutter!" he yelled at Jack, turning to the rest of the crowd. "There are no Daleks! They aren't real! They disappeared thousands of years ago, and that's even if they existed at all!"
Rodrick looked at Jack, daring him to say otherwise, daring him to speak against him.
"They are real," Strood stated, bringing eyes to him. "Real and on their way here, right this moment, mate. So either shut up or put up, yeah?"
"You're all as crazy as him!" Rodrick exploded, rage at his being denied his winning, a lack of remorse for the lives he took by throwing people to the Ann Droid, and now someone unknown man coming and making him look stupid. "There aren't such a thing as Daleks! Everyone knows that! You're just-"
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" suddenly burst into the room as the door slid open.
The armed militia all turned at once, guns up ready to fire as the room behind them erupted in screams.
The bright blue Dalek went right around them and glided towards the group of terrified people, repeating the Dalek battle cry. It went straight towards a now screaming Rodrick who was waving his arms wildly, shouting how it can't be real. The Dalek came to a stop before the now cornered man.
"DALEKS ARE MORE REAL THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE, APE," Thorn intoned, almost sounding insulted. "WE ARE REAL. AND THEY ARE COMING TO EXTERMINATE ALL OF YOU. WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE TO DO?"
Jack jumped down with a grin and walked up next to Thorn with a wicked grins. "Ladies and Gentlemen, believers and non," here he looked dead at the quivering Rodrick, "I introduce proof. This is Dalek Thorn. He is on our side, but he is only one. The incoming force is much bigger. Last chance to try to do something great."
The room was silent as three more, standing on shaky legs with white face, joined the fighters.
"GREAT," Thorn hummed. "NOW THE REST OF YOU USELESS LUMPS, FOLLOW ME."
"Wha… what?" Rodrick squeaked as the other people followed the Dalek from Level Zero.
"Doc, Rosie," Jack's voice filled the now empty control room. "All non fighters accounted for. They are down in Level Zero, as per the plan. Sitting tight and silent as a mouse. How's it going on your end?"
"It's doing," Rose grumbled as she pulled the wire casings off the now gutted control panels. "Forgot how sharp these buggers are."
"Bit of shush if you don't mind," the Doctor's voice was muffled from his place under the console.
"Jack," Rose called, rolling her eyes at her mate, "How is the other defense plans going?"
"Beautiful," Jack grinned.
"Theta," the voice of the Beast interrupted the conversation. Looking up, Rose saw his handsome face on the main monitor, the smile missing from his face. "The whole of the fleet has mobilized. My people have cut the forces down, but the main group will still be your problem."
The Doctor pulled himself back out from his place under the panel and looked up as well.
"Thought you said you couldn't help," the older Time Lord pointed out with a frown.
The Beast's laughter rang out. "I said I couldn't be there, dear Theta. Not that I cannot even the playing field. Poor manners, that is."
Rose just grinned cheekily and nodded her thanks to the Beast as his image winked out. Silence descended upon the pair once more as they turned back to work, a little bit of hope in their hearts now. Rose kept all her attention on the task at hand, happy that everyone was able to come up with a plan based on her ideas. She knew for a fact that this could not change. Some things just could not be. The loss of this Doctor for the one that hurt her so badly, the changing into Bad Wolf, Jack dying, none of that could be changed. It hurt to know this was the last time she would see this face on her mate, but at least he would live through this. But it was just something she was already prepared for.
She just was trying to figure out how to get to the TARDIS and open the Heart without him trying to send her away again. She knew his tricks now. It won't work this time.
"Suppose…" Rose started then stopped with a shake of her head. "Nevermind."
"What?" the Doctor called back, looking over at her from where he was using his screwdriver to attach wires together.
"S'nothing," Rose smiled at him, blocking her worry over the situation.
"Rose," pulling out, the Doctor sat up and pinned her with a look. "You said something. What is it? What's going on in that clever mind of yours?"
"Thought you said I had a silly little ape's mind?" she grinned her tongue touched grin at him, making him smile back. "I was just thinking, I know the plan and all, but… why don't we, I dunno, go into the Vortex to build the controls and whatnot needed, then just come back a second later?"
The silence returned.
"Best I can think," she continued after a moment, not looking at him, "is that because we are a part of the timeline and events, we can't do that without risking a paradox, yeah? Sides, you said that already once when Bumpei-san asked you about leaving with the TARDIS."
"Rose," the Doctor sighed before running his hand over the short bristles of his hair. Absent mindedly he realized it was getting longer. "You know… we could always-"
"Don't say leave," she interrupted him, moving over to deposit her load of stripped wires for him. "You and I both know we couldn't just up and leave. Let history do its thing. For better or worse, we're here."
"Said it before, did I?"
"Yep!" she beamed at her lover, granting him another tongue touched grin. "Sides, this is going to work. I think it did last time?" She tossed over her shoulder as she moved to work on the calculations in the make shift controller. "Maybe?"
The look she got from those brilliantly bright blue eyes told her the Doctor was not buying that for a moment. He just didn't want to ask. To be honest, he was afraid. The whole station seemed to shudder a moment and the light dimmed. Rose had to close her eyes, she remembered this part. It felt like her heart dropped to her stomach. "It's starting to build now. And the extrapolator is holding strong as well."
"Fantastic!" the Doctor grinned, never moving from his place, scanning the readings from there. "Oh."
"Even with my help," she sighed and asked in a little voice, "it's still going to take too long?"
The Doctor smiled at her that brilliant and goofy smile when he figured out a plan, the math just clicks. "Not at all, Rose Tyler! We've halved the time, so we will have everything ready to go in about ten minutes."
Another shudder shook the stations, making Rose look up. "They're here…"
Jack finished the last of the defensive measures as he headed back up to Floor 500 when the stronger shudder hit the station. Lynda's voice from the observation desk he left her at called over the comms, letting him know the Daleks had arrived and were currently boarding the station. With his heart thundering in his chest, the human from the 52nd century took off running for the lift, calling out last minute orders to his make shift soldiers.
Stepping on the lift, he prayed to any deity out there that was listening that the Daleks not find the remaining humans they hide in the games.
Thorn looked at the group.
"THE DALEKS CANNOT SEE INTO THE SHEILDING GAMES," he told the group. "WE TAKE THE USELESS HUMANS WHO WILL NOT FIGHT. WE PUT THEM IN THE BIG BROTHER HOUSES. TURN THE GAMES ON."
"Thorn," the Doctor started to say, "they can't broadcast, there's no point."
"Yes there is!" Rose grinned, happy she saw this before he did. "The station still works, regardless if the cameras are on or not! They can hide in the different houses, plenty of room for them and the beams will act as a point of protection if the Daleks try to go in."
"Rosie," Jack points out now, "those are just transmat beams. Not real disintegration rays."
"Oh that is brilliant," the Doctor grinned at the blonde hybrid. "It won't kill them, but it will send them back to the beginning-"
"-without their ships-" Jack lit up, getting it now.
"-so it would take them forever to get back to the battle!" the Doctor crowed. "Fantastic!"
Back on Floor 500, Rose and the Doctor heard from Lynda that the Daleks were starting to enter the Station on the lower levels, being unable to just zap themselves over. The pair started moving double time, minds racing but shutting off from the other to concentrate on their tasks.
Yes, the Delta Wave was building faster than it would have if the Doctor had been at this solo, but it would still take more time than the Time Lord would have liked to be strong enough to do what they wanted it to do. They just needed a bit more time. Never in his lives, could the Doctor ever remember hating the passage of Time as much as he did right now. Rose was at his side, reading off numbers to him as he tried to wire the control console to be able to instruct the Wave to avoid humans and only affect Daleks. Thorn was warned to move to the top Floor, as the TARDIS shielding would protect him from the Delta Wave.
They hoped.
"I HAVE ARRIVED, DOCTOR," Thorn quipped as he glided into the room. "ROSE TYLER. I WANT TO STAY HERE. I WILL PROTECT THE DOCTOR, PROTECT ROSE TYLER. I WILL PROTECT. MUST PROTECT. PROTECT!"
Rose looked at Thorn with a soft smile. It was not often anymore he got so agitated that he would revert to the classic Dalek speech mannerism.
"No," the Doctor popped out. "Thorn, I need you to go into the Old Girl. Get her to show you to the weapons cache. Get Rose something to use against them while we work on this part."
"ROGER, ROGER," Thorn intoned before going inside the TARDIS.
"I swear," Rose chuckled, trying to let some tension go, "we should have never let him see Star Wars."
"It was you who suggested it," the Doctor accused before returning under the panel and cursed. "Damnit, Rose. I need something from you. In the console room, the grate before the jump seat, there is a black box with bronze trim. I need it. Hurry up and grab it for me."
Narrowing her eyes, Rose put her hands on her hips. "And you can't just grab it why?"
"Because I am currently holding the main cabling for the Van Cassidyne wave that is building," the Doctor lectured like she dribbled on her shirt again. "If I let this go, then everything is pointless because the control coupling I need to hold it in place is not here and it will just set the wave off now, killing everyone, Dalek and Human, and Time Lord. So, scoot! Box, jump seat, go."
Rose simply growled as she stalked over to the TARDIS and threw the doors open. She left them open as she hurried over to the grating he told her to go to. She could see the box clear as day. Squatting down to lift with her legs, Rose Tyler grabbed the grate with both hands and lifted. Metal scratched against metal as she moved it to the side. Once it was clear enough, she reached in and grabbed the tool box, hauling it out.
At the same time she was doing that, Thorn came back into the room from the third hallway.
"THE DRAGON IS WANTING TO KNOW WHEN IS DINNER," the formerly homicidal alien asked.
Standing up, Rose turned to Thorn to answer just as the doors of the TARDIS slammed shut and the engines started up.
It had been less than two minutes.
"No," Rose breathed, dropping the box and sprinting to the door. "He can't, he can't!"
The sound of her shoes slamming against the grating as she ran to the door, knowing somewhere in the back of her mind it would be locked, trying to yank it open. She could feel the TARDIS trying to comfort her as she beat her fists against the door, screaming for the Doctor to stop, to let her out. Nothing registered in the mist of the blind panic she was feeling. She could also feel the Doctor, partially hidden from her mind, feel his grief, his love, and regret. He thought this was the end of them, no matter what she told him. Thorn stood silently beside the TARDIS consol, watching his ward break down as the dematerialization sequence was active and completed.
"BUGGER," Thorn breathed out softly as he started to go to Rose, stopping when the image of the Doctor flickered to life, facing the door.
"This is Emergency Program One," the recording started.
"I KNOW WHAT IT IS!" roared Rose at the projection, rushing past it, ignoring the words as she circled the console. She started hitting switches and buttons. "You forgot I know how to fly her too, you stupid bloody git!"
Thorn watched as nothing worked.
"By know you've tried to override the program," the recording continued, "but you can't. I disabled that part when I made Emergency Program One. So stop your fussing and listen, Rose."
"No!" Rose raged, spinning to glare at the image, eyes sparking gold. "I will NOT let you do this to me again, Doctor!"
Thorn actually could feel his heart breaking for the woman as she argued pointlessly with the recording.
"I know what you told me, and what you haven't, brilliant me," the Doctor continued, "but this is a situation that even you couldn't predict, love. So this is what you are going to do. You are going to let the TARDIS take you home. Then walk away. You've had enough, Rose. Let it go."
Rose stood, staring at the image with hot tears pouring over her cheeks. "You don't understand," she murmured, closing her eyes.
"And if you want do something for me," the image smiled lovingly, "there is one thing you can do. One thing. Have a fantastic life."
"Oh I will kill you myself," Rose sobbed as she dropped onto the grating, her back against the console. The image flickered out as the engines stopped. Rose did not bother to get up, instead she allowed the darkness of lost and hurt, a betrayal long since done in another lifetime, wrap around her. It was happening all over again, the first time he abandoned her. Even if she went back and she would because the timelines demanded it, he would start to drift from her all over again. Bond and mates be damned, he was going to become that kind of man.
One who chased other skirts.
One who lied, and broke promises.
One who would abandon her to be trapped with a copy of himself to escape the consequences of his actions.
One who would … destroy her. All over again.
Rose never heard the doors open or Thorn speaking quietly to Mickey and her mother who walked in. If she had, she might have wondered what her mother was doing her. But to her mind, as the darkness she kept at bay over the last of her lifetime, seemed to get thicker.
"Rose, sweetheart," it was her mum's voice that made her look up. "C'mon, sweetheart. Let's get you something to eat. And talk. Right, Micks?"
"Right," Mickey nodded, helping Rose to stand.
Carefully they lead the dazed younger woman outside. A squeal of delight and the brush of a bright mind against hers, reminded Rose that she still had Jenny. Eyes focusing, she smiled a little, ignoring her red, puffy eyes as she took her overjoyed little one from a concerned Martha.
"You okay?" Martha asked softly.
Rose nodded only, hugging her daughter tightly to her chest.
"Thorn says to bring him some chips when we get back," Mickey called out as he closed the TARDIS doors, acting for all the world like everything was fine. Martha merely glared at him. The handsome black man just smiled winningly at his girlfriend, taking her arm and leading her down the street. Jackie watched her daughter for a moment before taking her and Jenny, following behind.
"Oh," Mickey called out with a smug grin, "Rose, do you think we will need to tear that hole in the console or d'you think you can just open?"
The other women just stared at him a moment before the light returned to Rose's eyes.
"OH, YES," Thorn called out from the reopened door. "SUPER SAIYIN?"
"Oh, yeah," Rose admitted sheepishly, "super-Saiyan."
A little squeal of joy in her arms drew their attention, "SUPER SAIYAN!"
Everyone was left staring at Rose and Jenny, trying to figure out what that even meant.
Lynda winced as she could hear the sounds coming from comms around the station.
She could hear the humans on board putting up a brilliant resistance towards the murderous hordes of Daleks. Every time someone went down, she would wince. Jack has her watching the system, her eyes darting as she tracked the movements of the ancient enemy of her Father's people. How would he take what she learned in the last couple hours? Knowing now that they were the ones who likely took her mother, killed her first if she was lucky before turning her into … possibly a Dalek herself. With the fact her father was an agent of Chaos on his good days, she could only imagine what the man once called the Master would do.
The station shuddered as more Daleks board.
She called it out to the defense teams.
Thus far, the people were holding the Daleks off and keeping them from getting higher than floor 328 but the casualties were starting to mount up. Thankfully, the Daleks had yet to figure out about the people hidden in the Big Brother houses. The shielding was holding there. Thank Rassilion, Lynda breathed.
Something out of the corner of her eye drew her attention from the map of the station to the window looking down at the Earth below. She couldn't stop the scream that ripped from her lips before her hands covered her mouth.
"Lynda!?" Jack and the Doctor's voices overlapped.
"They… they are attacking the Earth!" she cried out, watching as the landscape was being changed. The weather patterns were shifting even as she watched. "Whole continents are being wiped out!"
"We got it," the deadly soft voice of the Beast broke into the transmission. "Lynda, close the blast doors. Don't think about it. Focus on your task."
Lynda Saxon was nodding dumbly as tears raced over her round cheeks. "…yeah… okay… yeah."
Turning her back on the destruction being rained down on her planet might have been the hardest thing she had ever done. With the push of a button, the blast doors slide into place. Locking her in to the room securely, the lights kicked on in the ancient and forgotten room. Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention back to the movements.
"Jack," she whispered, "Floor 325 defenses as gone now."
Outside her door, she could hear the sounds of Daleks approaching.
Looking at the door, she swallowed the lump in her throat. "Doctor, Jack. They found me."
Jack spent most of his time racing from floor to floor.
His only consolation was that both Rosie and the TARDIS were gone now.
The Doctor nearly had the wave at full functionality.
He didn't mind the fact that with the flipping of the switch it would mean the end of his life, as well as everyone else, Dalek and Human. Looking down at his wrist, he pressed down the fear and dread at the sound of Lynda's voice announcing she had been located. He called out to his defense teams, their numbers now dropping at an alarming rate. The Daleks were not sending in only two or three now. Squads of five to seven were now choking the halls, steadily moving their ways up towards where the Doctor was with the switch.
Jack hoped, even prayed which was something he never did, that the shielding on the Big Brother houses would protect the people in there. Or at the least, let the deaths be swift and painless. Jack Harkness had lived his whole life, minus a couple years of non memory, knowing his death would be either a blaze of glory or long and painful. Since joining up with the Doctor and Rose, his view of the universe and time had expanded in ways that he never thought for a moment was possible.
Here he was, a conman, a man who spent his earlier years conning one person after another to earn his living, working hard to get into the Time Agency. From there, he used his charms on countless other, a 52nd Century Spy. Seducing, neutralizing or even outright killing who he was told to. Reconning entire families to keep criminals from ever having a chance to get revenge or pass on their deeds to others. From one end of time to another, whoring his way as he want. And all it took was a pair of soulful deep honey brown eyes and a pair of ice blue that spoke of times long pass to turn his world upside down.
"Wouldn't change a moment," he grinned as he moved pass a barricade manned by the Ninja Warrior all-stars and Pavel. He offered them all encouraging smiles. "Well, folks, we are it. Last line of defense. Stay with me. We got to get the Doctor more time."
The group nodded as each grinned back at him.
With expert ease, Jack clicked his safety off.
"See you in Hell," he murmured with his trademark grin, leveling his sight on the first Dalek coming.
"Rose, will you please rethink this?" Jackie Tyler was nearly begging her daughter as the small group sat eating chips at Rose's favorite chippy. "Lord knows I don't like that man for stealing you from me-"
"He didn't steal me!" Rose snapped only to have her mother continue as if she never said anything.
"But right now I love him," Jackie continues. "Do you know why? Because he sent you home like he should! He sent you back to me, like he promised."
"And now he is out there, dying, alone," Rose almost snarled back but stopped herself as Jenny looked up at her curiously. The toddler was content to sit on her mother's lap, letting their bond vibrate between them.
"Because that is what he does, sweetheart," Jackie reasoned.
Mickey sat at the end of the table, watching the pair ping pong back and forth. He already knew how this would end, this time he would do all he could to help her. Things between him and Rose were ancient history to him. Jackie, on the other hand, seemed to be clinging to it, despite knowing and liking his girlfriend, Martha. Leaning back in his seat, he turned his attention back to the little angel and fed her more chips.
Jenny, for her part, was merely listening actively and watching her mum and her nan going back and forth about her father. Best the mini Time Lady could get, something was happening to Daddy and he sent Mummy here with Sexy. Nan wanted Mummy to stay here, but Mummy already had a plan that would take her away until about Christmas. Mummy already knew what was going to happen, Jenny could see it since Mummy wasn't shielding her thoughts. Uncle Mickey seemed very amused at all this, like when Nan tried to get him to fight Daddy for Mummy. Silly Nan, Jenny thought with an indulgent smile. Uncle Mickey was human, he didn't have the right to challenge Mummy anyway.
"And he doesn't have to," Rose returned, trying to not growl. "Do you really want to see the father of your granddaughter and son-in-law die, Mum? Seriously?"
"That is not what I said," Jackie snapped back. For a bit, to Mickey it was like looking at the Jackie Tyler from the beginning of this madness. "I barely know my own daughter anymore! Since that man came into our lives, its been nothing but madness! You gone for months at times! Leaving me to raise your kid because you went and got knocked up! And where are you? No job, no money, not even properly married!"
"One," Rose's eyes flashed gold for a moment, startling Jackie out of her harsh ranting. Mickey sat up quickly, ready to stop this now. "I am back every five days to spend them with Jenny since you refuse to let her on the TARDIS. That is the only reason you are 'raising' my daughter without me. Two. I was never 'knocked up'. And we are not discussing that. Now or ever. And last, where am I? I'm an out there, living a better life, free of the Estates, being what my Dad was. I am bonded to the man I love."
"Jackie," Mickey broke in now, taking Jenny from Rose as he stood up. "The Doctor shows people how much more out there, there is. How much better it is. How to be better, live better. It's what he does, yeah, but he doesn't have to. He teaches that someone has to do it. Even if he has to be the only one to do it. Just stand up when something is wrong."
Rose pushed her chair back from the table and looked down at her silent mother. In that moment, she reflected her years and experience. "Mum, I'm not asking you to stand up with us, or even help. But I'm going to help the Doctor. It's what Dad would have encourage me to do. And before you say its not, let me tell you, I met Dad. I was there, holding his hand when he died. I know better than you think what kind of a man my Daddy was. And he would help me."
Without another word, silently fuming and keeping her incomplete abilities as the Wolf of Time in check, Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith walked out of the chippy with a grinning Jenny.
"Time to save Daddy?" she asked out loud, looking up at her uncle.
"Yup, squirt," Mickey gave a mischievous smirk. "Let's go save your dad. This time, without the hole in the console. Thanks."
