A/N: Disclaimer: This chapter's plotline is from Doctor Who's comic stories. Most of the dialogue is directly written from the comic. The plot is NOT mine.
'I'm Goruda! I'm your friend!' Drink the brain tonic, one, two three! And let's learn together!'
"These commercials are everywhere," Avalon tilted her head in a mixture of awe and weariness at the bright-colored soda commercial she'd seen at least five times since they started walking the Japanese streets. It had the oddest little cartoons and an eery gold glow to it.
"Who cares. They probably say the same thing about our McDonald's ads," said her cousin—brother—Gavin Reynolds. The sixteen year old was less than impressed with what he'd seen of present day Japan so far.
"That's America," Avalon shot him a sharp look.
"And this is a pointless conversation," Gavin quipped. "C'mon Avalon, you said the Doctor would take us somewhere for my birthday!"
"He said it, not me," Avalon raised her hands in neutrality. "I told him I wanted no part in a 16 year old boy's parties."
"How is that your husband is nicer to me than you—my practical sister—actually is?" Gavin crossed her arms.
"Because if I do something like this—" Avalon ruffled Gavin's brunette locks, "—you get mad at me."
"Look, Japan is nice and all, but where's the action?" Gavin nearly threw his hands in the air.
"You want action, Gavin Reynolds, then I've got it," the Doctor appeared behind Avalon. As soon as his wife caught sight of his face she knew their supposed calm trip would come to an end. "I've got a call...from UNIT…"
"UNIT?" Avalon and Gavin repeated, the latter's face already lighting up with ideas of 'action'.
"Martha Jones phoned in. Lovely to chat with her again, mentioned something about 'Shining Dawn Corporation' and 'Goruda' and since she asked for my help…"
"You said yes!" Gavin cheered.
"You said yes," Avalon glumly repeated.
"I said yes," the Doctor nodded, relishing in the vastly different reactions he was receiving from the two cousins.
"Awesome!" Gavin punched a fist into the air. "I'll beat you both to the TARDIS!" And he ran off in the direction of the blue box.
Avalon watched him go before jabbing a manicured finger at the Doctor. "If my brother gets blown up, I'm killing you."
"And if he doesn't?" the Doctor remained totally at ease but did eagerly await to hear his reward.
"You pick your reward," Avalon left it to his imagination and dragged him by the arm towards the TARDIS.
He definitely had some ideas brewing in that dusty head of his.
~ 0 ~
After getting briefed in by UNIT, they had found themselves in a full blown investigation over the popular 'Goruda' drinks in Japan. Major Hiraki of UNIT explained the odd disappearance of one of their own agents who was sent to investigate the soda company. Knowing that the agent must have gotten close to the truth and was therefore disposed, indicated that the company wasn't afraid to get their hands dirty.
Deciding that they would take the next crack at the investigation, the Doctor, Avalon and Gavin got themselves into a single mother's home with a potential victim.
"I'm sorry, who are you? It's quite late," the mother tried closing the door on them but she had never met the Doctor before.
"We're from the BBC. Making a...documentary," the Doctor flashed the psychic paper in her face. Behind him, Avalon shot him a look. He did just say documentary right? He had to because the mother let them in on the spot after hearing the poor excuse.
Avalon crinkled her nose when the first thing they heard upon entering the house was the Goruda drink's motto being sung on the television.
'Drink the brain tonic, one, two, three, and lets learn together!'
A small child, Kaito, was sitting right in front of the screen intently watching the commercial.
"Out of curiosity, does that actually work?" Gavin asked the mother - Cho - from the threshold.
"Yes!" Cho excitedly answered. "I had my doubts in the beginning but I kept hearing from the rest of the parents in Kaito's grade that it worked wonders. I decided to give it a try and now Kaito's exam scores have risen."
"Just from that drink?" the Doctor inquired, glancing at the small, silent boy on the floor.
"Yes! Well, that and the little snippets of shows the Goruda sometimes air for their tonic. It's all educational."
"So this drink...it just...makes them smarter?" Avalon had heard many things before but this one seemed plain ridiculous.
The Doctor, on the other hand, was quite familiar with unusual foods altering brainwaves in children. "Do you mind if I ask your son some questions?" he asked the mother. "I'd like...to see for myself…"
Cho understood and was happy to give them the proof they wanted. "Kaito?" she called to her son. The boy glanced back from the television, looking a bit irritated that he was asked to step away. "Come here, please." Without a word, the boy got up from the floor and walked over to the three. Cho set her hands on his shoulders and smiled. "Now these are nice people trying to make a documentary on our culture. They want to know about the Goruda tonic."
"We just want to see how it works," the Doctor clarified for the boy. "For example, could you tell me what is the square root of 998?"
Within the second, Kaito had given the response. Both Avalon and Gavin gaped behind the Doctor. The Time Lord merely gave a look.
"And what about the circumference of the oval office?"
Once more, Kaito proved to be knowledgeable.
The Doctor stared long and hard at the boy, and Avalon knew he was doing more than simply 'looking'. He was seeing something alright and she would like to know what it was.
"Last question, Kaito, I promise," the Doctor raised a hand. "Could you tell me the name of Mozart's cat?"
There, Kaito could not answer.
"Don't worry about it. Many people miss it," the Doctor gave the boy a pat on his head. "He named it Fluffy, can you believe?" he chuckled.
The boy wasn't finding it funny and so Avalon suggested they get to meeting other families instead. Last thing they needed was to have an angry mother calling the cops on them for harassing her son. From Kaito, they went on to visit seven more houses with children all knowing their fair share of knowledge. The Doctor had asked them the same questions as Kaito, always ending the session by asking for Mozart's pet cat. Seeing as every child after Kaito had gotten the answer right (Fluffy!) Avalon was a little more inclined to believe in Goruda.
As they returned to UNIT headquarters in Japan city, the three discussed their findings.
"I've never heard of Goruda in our history books," Gavin said. Since he and his father had moved back to New Earth for Lena, he had much more advanced knowledge of Earth.
"You wouldn't," the Doctor agreed with the teenager.
"But you always say Time is in flux," Avalon pointed at him. "Meaning that perhaps this is something new to the books."
"You think it works, then?" Gavin shot his sister a surprised glance.
"Well, I just saw a bunch of kids answer questions I could only dream of answering myself!" the ginger huffed. "Maybe that Goruda tonic really does work and it's helping the kids."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," the Doctor hummed, making both siblings desist from their argument to look at the Time Lord. "I've seen something like this before - a long time ago - in an English primary school."
"Hang on, is this one of your trips from like your last face or something?" Avalon mimicked a new face. "The one with the suits?"
"Yeah. Turns out aliens had added a special ingredient in the children's school chips to enhance their learning."
"And what was it really meant for?" Gavin raised an eyebrow.
"They wanted to crack the code of the universe."
"You can do that!?" both siblings exclaimed.
"Quite possible, yes. But this stuff doesn't seem to be from Krillitanes, no. There's something else going on."
"You want to share it then?" Avalon asked.
"I need to study it first," the Doctor said and to that they went for.
They returned to Japan's UNIT headquarters- which was still a place of awe for Avalon and Gavin - and went directly for the testing labs. Major Hiraki joined them a couple minutes later and of course asked over their investigation.
"They're like freaky geniuses," Gavin seemed like he couldn't help his response. "And I'm from the future so that's saying something."
Avalon jabbed her elbow in Gavin's ribs then spoke herself. "What he means to say is that...the knowledge these children have...it's beyond that of any human child...even prodigy children."
Major Hiraki simply nodded her head, indicating they hadn't been the first to say something like that. "The public research says that the tonic forces links between neurons to rise."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," the Doctor hummed. His attention was drawn by a scientist currently testing a sample of the tonic across them.
"We really aren't," Major Hiraki assured. "But until we can prove otherwise, UNIT can't interfere."
The Doctor turned around with a common smile. "But there is something else to that tonic. I asked the children we visited a series of questions - same ones to all of them - and I ended the questionnaire with one special question."
"It's a weird one too," Avalon mumbled.
"I asked the first child of he knew the name of Mozart's cat and he said 'no'. I then told him that the cat was named 'Fluffy' and suddenly all the other children gave me that answer: Fluffy."
No one yet could understand his implication.
"Not to defend this weird tonic…" Gavin began slowly, "...but isn't it possible that the other children just knew what the answer was?"
"Not in this case, Gavin," the Doctor wagged a finger at him. "You see, I've met Mozart, and he absolutely detested cats. Couldn't stand them!"
"So...Mozart never owned a cat?" Avalon was now more confused.
"Nope!"
"So then why did the other children answer Fluffy?"
"Because I implanted that answer in Kaito…"
Major Hiraki's face lit up with a new realization. "Are you implying there's some sort of telepathic connection between the drinkers of Goruda?"
"I think we're on the good side of 'yes'," the Doctor clapped his hands together. "Now we just need to prove it."
"But we've tested it before and the results say it's just H20…" Major Hiraki glanced at the scientists of the room.
"Well if it's done by aliens then who's to say they didn't just camouflage it?" Avalon raised an eyebrow. "That would be the obvious thing to do."
"Exactly," the Doctor strolled down the lab tables and promptly snatched a vial of Goruda from a scientist. "Which is why I will be testing it in my TARDIS. I can take this right?" he asked the scientist.
Avalon groaned. "You ask and then take it? Seriously?"
"Oh please, that's rich coming from you," Gavin snorted behind her. Avalon scowled and jabbed her elbow even harder in his side. "Ow!" Gavin exclaimed and quickly turned on her. "That hurt!" He purposely towered over Avalon. At his sixteen years he had surpassed both his sisters in height.
Avalon raised her head high, as if to equalize their heights. "And?"
Gavin pursed his lips together.
"The wife and the family, huh?" the Doctor awkwardly laughed and hurried back to the two Reynolds. "We'll be heading to the TARDIS now, Ava! Gavin, you want to stay and explore things with Major Hiraki? Lovely woman she is!"
"Sure…?" Gavin barely had time to process when the Doctor pulled Avalon out of the room.
"I am this close to kicking his ass!" Avalon grumbled all the way to the TARDIS.
The Doctor hid his smile well. He allowed her to complain about Gavin even while he performed the right sort of exams in the TARDIS.
She had a lot to say.
"I feel sorry for my uncle who has to deal with him every day! Two hours with me and I'm ready to kill Gavin!" Avalon crossed her arms and leaned back on an empty table.
The Doctor let the computers take over the last bit of exams and turned to face his temperament wife. "Are we finished, lovely?"
Avalon grumbled. "I forgot what having Gavin around felt like. I mean, Lena never gives me these problems. Never did. Must be a boy thing." The Doctor walked up to her, smiling adoringly at her, and slid his arms around her waist. "Why must you guys be so difficult?" she ran her hands up his arms.
"We're just...different…" the Doctor humored her.
"Natural disasters, you mean," Avalon mumbled. The Doctor had to laugh at that one. "And I'm pretty sure alien boys are worse."
"Oh! Really?"
"Yes! I can only imagine what your little boy version was up to in your time," Avalon jabbed a finger on his chest. "You're always so high and mighty about your people—"
"I am not!" the Doctor acted offended, which only made Avalon laugh.
"Yes you are! You're already so pompous and conceited I can only imagine what your teenage self was like with all those raging hormones!"
"You wound me, Ava," the Doctor tried turning away but Avalon gripped his arms to keep him in place. "I was nothing but a calm young man—"
Avalon burst into laughter. "Now that was the joke of the century!" she let her head rest on his chest. The Doctor could feel her vibrating body with each of her laughs.
"Laugh it up, Ava, laugh it up," the Doctor sighed lightly. He kissed her ginger locks and tightened his hold on her. He much preferred her laughing (even at him) than being all temperamental.
~0~
A young girl who couldn't be more than ten years old sat calmly in the chair of the Mr. Kin—the head of the Shining Dawn Corporation—and attentively listened to the grown men's discussion from the connected meeting room. However, her dark eyes were glued to the multiple laptops sitting on the desk. Each of them gave view of different locations throughout the city. Her eyes stopped when she caught site of a blue box sitting in one street.
Leaning forwards, she examined it as best as possible from different angles the security cameras had to offer.
"Let it begin," her soft voice said after a minute. She hopped off her chair and took one of the laptops with her into the meeting room. The meeting ceased the moment the girl walked in. "Mr. Kin we are going to have to up our plans."
Kin looked at the rest of the men questionably. "And why is that?"
"Because we have visitors," the girl opened up the laptop to give a clear view of the TARDIS. "The owners of these people can stop you if they figure it out. We have to start the conversions now, Mr. Kin."
~0~
Gavin was brought to Major Hiraki's home as a protective strategy. Apparently UNIT might not be as safe as they thought since they had discovered one of their workers had been an alien in disguise and not a good one. While he was brought down (and turned into nothing but goo), they had to be on maximum alert.
As soon as Gavin walked into Hiraki's home, his ears heard the Goruda theme motto from the living room. It was Hiraki's daughter, Takara, who was watching television on the couch.
"I'm no genius but should you really be letting her watch that?" Gavin quietly asked Hiraki.
"Absolutely not!" Major Hiraki growled and stormed into the living room.
Gavin inwardly groaned. It was never fun to be witness of a parent scolding their child in front of 'friends'. Thankfully, his phone went off in his pocket and eager for the distraction he answered it straight away.
"Gavin!" the Doctor exclaimed, bright and cheery as usual. "Listen I just tried getting through to UNIT but they're having problems so I'm going to give you a message for Major Hiraki."
"Uh...sure…" Gavin glanced into the living room to see Hiraki still going off on her daughter. "But she's a little busy right now…"
The Doctor just went on with his explanation. "The tonic has a sort of chameleon feature that hides its actual properties."
"Like camouflage? Hm, Avalon was right then," Gavin said, sounding mighty surprise.
"Yes, well, the Goruda becomes stronger every time it's swallowed which means-"
"Danger. Got it," Gavin spotted an orange bottle left in the foyer. He picked it up and turned it over to see 'Goruda' brightly written across it. "Oh boy…"
"Drink the brain tonic, one, two, three, and place your hands against the screen!"
"Takara? Takara? What are you doing!?" Major Hiraki's loud voice drifted over.
Gavin rushed into the living room and saw that Takara had gone up to the television and planted her hands on the screen. "Uh, Doctor," Gavin pulled the phone back to his ear, "I think something's happening."
"What? What is it!?"
"Well, there's this new saying that Goruda commercial just introduced and now Major Hiraki's daughter is in some sort of trance."
The girl was mumbling the new motto under her breath, unaware that her mother was right beside her shaking her. A faint golden glow began wrapping around her body.
"Oh my God!" Gavin stumbled back when the glow flashed strongly, turning the girl's skin golden.
"Gavin!?" The Doctor's sharp voice filled his ears. "What's going on!?"
"Uh - sh-she's...she's….turning gold!"
Major Hiraki screamed when her daughter turned around and revealed wide, creepy bug eyes.
"That Goruda thing—can it change physiology?" Gavin was frozen to his spot now. "Because this girl is gold!"
"We are golden! We are golden!" Takara began to chant endlessly.
"Gavin, listen to me, get out of there!" It was now Avalon on the other line. The Doctor had gone back to the testing tables. "I don't care what it takes—throw stuff, break things, burn things—just get out!"
"Gonna have to call you back, sis!" Gavin hung up and ran back into the living room for Major Hiraki.
"GAVIN!" Avalon was left to shout in vain. She put away her cellphone and ran for the Doctor. "What is out there? What is happening!?"
"I don't know! I don't know!" the Doctor growled, running his hands through his air. "I don't understand what it is! Let's see! Goruda causes them to become gold but why?"
Avalon decided to let him pace and work it out however he could. The quicker he did that, the quicker he found a solution.
"They get smarter, they get smarter! To do that they have to connect links in the brain—neurons! They have to connect neurons and—oh," the Doctor had finally come to a stop, eyes wide with realization.
"What?" Avalon urgently motioned him to get a move on.
"The tonic increases links between neurons but what are those links called?"
"I don't know! I hate anatomy!"
"Axons!
"What are Ax—AH!" Avalon was yanked out of the room by the Doctor.
They ran right out of the TARDIS to see a human barricade of UNIT employees who were taking aim at golden children storming down the streets.
"What...the hell?" Avalon gasped at the sight. How long were they gone? The children had already taken down public pieces such as benches and parking meters. Shop display windowed were shattered.
"No! No! No! Don't fire!" the Doctor went for the Captain of the UNIT barricade. "Don't you dare!"
"Doctor, step away!" Captain Yoshida ordered.
"You can't shoot them, Captain!" the Doctor extended his arms to his sides like that would be able to stop every single bullet. "These are Axons! They are inside these children's bodies and if you shoot them, the child dies too! Not to mention the fact they're almost indestructible!"
With that new information, Yoshida had no choice but to draw back.
"We should instead focus on getting the non-affected people to safe haven," the Doctor added on.
"Doctor, Gavin…" Avalon feebly walked over. "She was with Major Hiraki when we spoke…"
"They headed for the Major's residence," Yoshida informed and soon dispatched part of his soldiers to retrieve the two. "Doctor we need to return you to UNIT under our supervision."
"God knows he hates that," Avalon mumbled.
"Our TARDIS…"
"We will retrieve it as well," Yoshida started ushering the two towards his employees, "But you are our first priority now. Please just follow."
The Doctor agreed under the circumstances. He took Avalon by the hand and followed after the soldiers.
At UNIT, there was already growing panic at the amount of dead soldiers and collateral damages they were suffering. Already the children/Axons were wrecking havoc in the city and no one had a doubt that they would be spreading to the next city...and the next...and the next...unless something was done.
"Explain to me what the hell are Axons," Avalon's order shook with both anger and fear; fear for Gavin who had yet to make contact with her.
The Doctor was leading her towards the communication rooms in the UNIT building. The entire place was a mess without Major Hiraki to coordinate the people. With all the commotion going on, the Doctor barely heard his wife's words.
"You've met them before, haven't you?" Avalon made him stop in the middle of the hallway. The rest of the soldiers went on past them. "Th-those Axon things...you've met them right? Cos you knew their names...and the...the…" she swallowed hard, "...the host-th-the-children things."
"I've dealt with them before…" the Doctor said briefly. "They're horrid creatures and I've stopped them before, so…"
"But what do they do? What do they want?" Avalon's question was soft and now full of fear. "They're after children...and Gavin…"
"Axons can appear as golden humanoid creatures with covered eyes. But they can turn into these monsters that can...lash out with tentacles…"
"For what…?" Avalon dreaded to know about. The Doctor hesitated to answer, knowing that the basis of her questions were meant to have an idea of what the Axons could do to her brother. "Doctor?" Avalon gained a sharpened edge in her tone.
"They use the tentacles to shock...disintegrate people at their command...when they don't absorb their victims anyways."
Avalon gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Gavin!"
The Doctor hugged her tight, wishing that he could promise her Gavin was alright. The fact that neither he nor Hiraki had made contact with them wasn't boding well. Still, he would like to believe that Gavin had some of Avalon's resilience and gotten himself (and Hiraki) out of the situation in time.
"Doctor?" one of the female operatives called from the end of the hallway. "We need you in."
"Yes," the Doctor nodded. He pulled away from Avalon, cupping her face. "Let's go try and get in contact with Gavin, yeah?"
Avalon didn't think twice before agreeing. The two hurried into the communications room where various operatives were bustling with their individual tasks. An electronic map of the city had already been pulled up into one of the larger screens on the wall.
"What's our status?" the Doctor asked the nearest operative - a petite blonde woman.
"We estimate around 50,000 to 70,000 children have been affected by the Goruda tonic. A good portion of them are making their way for our building."
"Of course they would be," the Doctor mumbled.
"What are we going to do?" Avalon felt like pulling at her hair because of how helpless it all seemed at the moment.
"We need to cancel out that telepathic connection, for starters," the Doctor began to pace. "If we can cancel out the psychic wavelength the Axons are using to control the children…"
"How do we do that?"
The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at the open doorway. "With incredibly ability. I will be in the lab!" he declared with a finger raised in the air.
"I-I'm going to stay and try to get through to Gavin," Avalon reminded of their other plan.
"Of course you are," the Doctor gave her a short kiss. "Stay safe, alright?"
"Not much of a choice in here," Avalon tried to be funny, much to his dismay. As soon as the Doctor was gone she pulled out her cellphone and began dialing for Gavin's number. "Do you think one of you could try to hack into my brother's phone?"
"Of course ma'am," the same blonde man started right away on the task.
"Wow, didn't even need a reason, then?" Avalon once more tried to be funny in the dark solace moments.
"Well, you and the Doctor are basically in charge right now, so…"
"Me?" Avalon pointed at herself, genuinely surprised. "Why would I be in charge?"
The man took Avalon's cellphone to begin the tracking. "You're the current companion—"
"Wife," Avalon pointed at the man. "And the 'current' should be avoided because I like to punch things when I get jealous."
The blonde man smiled a little as he took a seat in front of the computers. "Yes, ma'am."
"What's your name, by the way?"
"Malaki, ma'am."
"Don't do the ma'am thing—makes me sound old. Avalon, please."
"Right, sorry m—Avalon. Alright, I'm into the cellphone wavelengths and…"
"Major Hiraki," another operative's gasp made everyone in the room freeze in their spots.
Hiraki and Gavin - both non-injured - stood at the doorway surrounded by their other UNIT operatives.
"Gavin!" Avalon breathed a sigh of relief. She ran to her little brother and encased him in a tight hug. "Oh my God! I'm so glad you're okay! What happened out there!?"
Gavin chuckled and pulled away from his sister. "Tough gig but we made it out in time."
Hiraki wasn't as cheery as Gavin. "My daughter is one of the affected. I didn't know she started taking Goruda."
"We're going to save them, okay?" Avalon promised her. "The Doctor is already working on it." She sincerely hoped her Fairy Tale man had something up his sleeve.
~ 0 ~
An hour had passed by and the Axon children had reached the area of the building. It was tricky trying to fight them without hurting the children nor the Axons. Things didn't get easier when the Axons/children started fighting back profusely until they ended up injuring or killing some of the UNIT operatives.
"Please tell me you've got something now!" Avalon ran into the testing lab room with Gavin and Hiraki behind her.
The Doctor had created some sort of hat-looking device over a metal table. Several of the scientists were around helping in whatever they could, but many of them seemed lost on what they were actually helping build.
"Doctor, the Axons are almost up to our floor—what is that?" Avalon stopped at the sight of the creation.
"My creation of course!" the Doctor cheerfully responded.
"I can see that," Avalon rolled her eyes. "What is it meant to do, exactly?"
"It will hopefully tune into the Axos psychic wavelength and put an end to it," the Doctor picked the hat up. "Haven't created a name for it yet so I'm just settling for 'Axon frequency hat' but I plan to—"
"Who cares!" Avalon exclaimed. "Just tell me what to do!"
The Doctor pulled out a metal cord from the hat, like that of an electricity outlet. "Find me an outlet!"
Everyone scrambled around looking for a right outlet until one of the scientists, frustrated, yanked the plug of a lamp and tossed it beside. "Over here!"
The Doctor came bustling through and was about to plug his creation in...when the light flickered off and they were left in the dark.
"What...just happened?" Avalon's whisper filled the dark, silent room.
"I'm going to go ahead and assume the Axons absorbed the electricity," the Doctor said, sounding like he was having trouble swallowing.
"Where to know, then?"
"The roof," Major Hiraki ordered and took lead out of the room. The remaining scientists, as well as the operatives, followed her up the endless stair case - since the elevators were off - and hoped to God they wouldn't find any Axons yet.
"Who's bright idea was it to make it need a plug!?" Avalon was raging all the way up. "You've never done that!"
"I worked with what I had!" argued the Doctor.
Up on the roof, a UNIT soldier was waiting for the survivors courtesy of Major Hiraki. Yoshida had joined the escape fleet and was ushering everyone else in first, but before the first one - being Avalon - could get in, the helicopter shot at them. Avalon fell back against a UNIT soldier. Everyone else ducked to avoid getting hit.
"Yoshida, tell me you have a grappling hook?" the Doctor hopefully turned to the man.
UNIT was always prepared for the worst situations. Yoshida handed the grappling hook over, and the Doctor handed his hat creation to Avalon.
"You're never been that good at aiming…" Avalon said but was promptly proved wrong when the Doctor shot the grappling hook into the nearest building. "Wow, okay," she sucked in a breath, "You just got three times hotter."
"Three times hotter?" the Doctor looked at her with a frown. "Only three?" Avalon rolled her eyes. "Alright, down you go! Go!" the Doctor helped her go first, despite her protests that Gavin should go first being the youngest in the group.
Still, she went first...and screaming.
"Gavin! Go!" the Doctor and Yoshida then helped the teenager go next. Little by little the UNIT operatives went down the grappling hook, until only the Doctor was left. When it came to his turn, he almost didn't make it due to the Axon/children making it up to the roof. "Not today!" the Doctor took hold of the grappling hook and went down shouting his usual 'Geronimo!'.
He landed on his stomach on the floor of a new office room. The hat creation was, thankfully, safe in his possession, but unfortunately…
His wife was not.
"I-I th-think this isn't my brother!" Avalon stammered as an Axon who had posed as Gavin held her by the neck. The other UNIT operatives were being held hostage by the other Axon.
The Doctor was face to face with a stringy looking Axon, its older version instead of the golden one. "Where are Gavin Reynolds and Major Hiraki!?" He demanded from the two stringy-Axons.
"He just turned into one of these beasts!" Avalon shrieked with frustration. "Where's my brother you stupid piece of—"
"Doctor, do not waste time!" Yoshida was focused on the prime objective. "The hat! They want the hat! Get it working!"
The Doctor's eyes narrowed on the Axons holding them. "I don't know where you're keeping my friends but we're going to get them back. We are going to—" The entire building shook with new golden Axons entering in.
"Doctor, just go!" Avalon ordered. "It won't matter if you stay. Other people will die."
"Avalon—"
"GO!"
"Yes, leave the humans with us…" the Axon holding Avalon hissed, "...choose the woman or the soldiers, Doctor."
"Oh screw off!" Avalon started fighting, and seeing her Yoshida followed through. The Doctor took the distraction to examine the room and find a source of power.
"Stop him!" the Axon holding Yoshida commanded the golden Axons that were beginning to fill the room.
The UNIT soldiers prepared a barricade for the Doctor to give him some time. They couldn't shoot the children but they could at least hold them back for some minutes. The Doctor ripped off a black wire from an outlet on the wall and stuck his hat's plug in as fast as possible. With it on, he started working on the little buttons on its side and just as the Axons took down one UNIT soldier, there was a screeching sound before the children collapsed on the floor.
"Let go of my wife right now!" the Doctor then turned on the two remaining Axons holding Avalon and Yoshida.
But before either Axon could response with an obvious 'never', one of the television screens in the room came to life. Mr. Kin appeared, sitting at his desk with his hands together. "Doctor, you will reverse and re-ignite our psychic link if you want those children to survive."
"Excuse me?" the Doctor scowled.
"The children, Doctor, we understand you're so fond of them in general. It would be a pity to have them all dying at your hands." Mr. Kin leaned forwards on his desk with a straight face. "Apart from that, I would think that you would prize your friends' lives." The screen flickered to a camera footage of a cell where they could clearly see Gavin, Major Hiraki and another UNIT soldier being held.
"Gavin!" Avalon called like the teenager would likely hear her.
The screen flickered back to Mr. Kin. "Unless you turn the psychic link on, the children and your friends will die. It's your decision, Doctor."
"Yes, yes it is, isn't it?" the Doctor mumbled under his breath, his eyes meeting with a nerve-wrecked Avalon.
~ 0 ~
"We have to get out of here," Gavin lightly tapped his head against the stone wall. Hiraki and the other soldier - which was the actual version of the man who had attacked UNIT earlier - sat on a stone bench. Gavin was irked that neither of them were trying to hatch a plan to get them out. He pulled himself off the wall and went up to the bars. "We need to get out and find my sister and the Doctor."
"To do that we'd have to get through a lot of aliens," the man, Machi, gruffed from his seat. "Doubt you have some powers."
"I do actually," Gavin glanced back at the man. "Just not the kind that turn me into Superman. Look, we can't stay here, alright? Don't you see what they're doing?"
"Using as bait and/or hostages to fulfill the Axons' plans?" Hiraki emotionlessly inquired. "You may be from the future but I'm the one that leads UNIT. This isn't the first time some of us get into situations like this."
"Okay, then that means you know how to get out of it, right?" Gavin walked back to the two adults.
"My soldiers can't harm nor kill children, Mr. Reynolds. There isn't much we can do."
"Blah, blah, blah!" Gavin swayed his head and turned back to the bar cell. "I am not staying here so that they can use me against my sister. And if I have to punch some stringy Axon then I will."
Just as he reached the bars, a dark brunette girl appeared. It was the same girl who had been up in Mr. Kin's office.
"I don't suppose you want to let us go," Gavin gave her a brief study. She looked perfectly ordinary and not golden like the rest of the children.
The girl smiled up at him. "Okay." She waved a hand at the lock on the cell and unlocked it, just like magic.
"Woah…" Gavin stepped back. Hiraki and Machi immediately got up from their seats and hurried up beside him. "I didn't think that would actually work."
The girl just smiled again. "You're going to have to be quick if you want to get out."
"Thanks," Gavin exchanged looks with the adults, all three of them confused.
"How have you not been affected by the tonic?" Machi stared at the girl like at any moment she would turn golden.
"More importantly, how did you get in here?" Hiraki asked.
"That is why you're the leader, huh?" Gavin smiled at the woman.
"My name's Chiyoko," the girl replied dutifully. "And I can stay here and explain or we can go back to your friends. It's your choice really."
"I pick my sister, let's go!" Gavin said, rushing out of the cell first.
~ 0 ~
Avalon would never cease to be surprised by her husband's thinking. Yes, the Doctor ultimately decided to turn the Axon psychic wavelength back on (because the children were to be protected at all costs) and yes, that basically left them surrounded by two versions of Axons, but he still managed to get them out in one piece. Using the hat itself, the Doctor had stunned the axons in the room, thus giving the remaining UNIT soldiers, Avalon and himself the perfect chance to escape. He then used Avalon's cellphone to call the Tokyo City Hall, directly to the mayor, to warn them of their 'visit' as well as to instruct them to barricade themselves against the incoming Axons.
They made it without a scratch.
"Give me the blue prints for the Shining Dawn Corporation," the Doctor didn't bother with the introductions once they were in the mayor's office.
"Please just give it to him," Avalon said in between her pants. They quite literally ran and hid all the way to the office and it was not an easy job to do.
The mayor scrambled to obey the instruction.
"What exactly is this plan of yours now?" Avalon decided to ask when the mayor left the room. "And will it somehow involve getting my brother back?"
"You know it," the Doctor winked at her. "The Axons had to arrive here by some means and I'm betting that its underneath their silly little corporation. If we can find it then we can use it to our advantage."
"We can force them to leave, you mean," Yoshida said coldly. "Those aliens are an outright threat. Tell me the spaceship can do that?"
"Make them leave? Yes," the Doctor confidently said. "To save the children we need to cut the connection at its core - the ship."
"H-here we are," the mayor returned holding a rolled up paper. "I don't quite understand what you need with it...much less who you are…"
"Doesn't matter," the Doctor snatched the rolled up blue print and walked out of the office. "Don't interrupt me!" he warned the rest. "Of course not you, my Ava—"
"Yeah, yeah, just go!" Avalon pulled out her cellphone and tried getting in contact with her real brother. Were the Axons stupid enough not to take the cellphone off him? Well, she was about to find out. She too left the office, and because the Axons were coming for the building, the remaining UNIT soldiers headed to the doorways to protect.
The mayor, a clumsy man, was left alone in his office.
~ 0 ~
Gavin, Hiraki and Machi were following Chiyoko the girl closely behind on a street. The golden children were a terrible sight to see when they were destroying everything in their paths. Chiyoko, however, couldn't be less bothered by it.
"I don't get it, why are you helping us?" Gavin was right behind the little girl. "And how are you managing to do it?"
"With incredible—" Chiyoko raised a hand to stop a street pole from falling over them, "—difficulty." The three humans jumped from the scare but Chiyoko merely walked over the pole like nothing.
"That girl isn't human," Hiraki muttered to Gavin.
"Yeah, I think I noticed," Gavin muttered right back. Chiyoko wasn't human according to her strength and telekinetic powers (and God knew what else abilities she had) but so far she was only trying to protect them.
"You might want to answer your cellphone," Chiyoko called to Gavin just a second before his cellphone went off.
"What?" Gavin pulled out his phone from his pocket. "But the Axons broke it?" He pulled it out and, to his surprise, he found his phone was intact again. Takara had broken it with her foot when they were trying to fight her off.
"I fixed it," Chiyoko said simply.
"A-Avalon?" Gavin asked, his eyes glued to the little girl who was beguiling them all more by the second.
"Gavin!? Is it really you!?" Avalon's relieved voice rang in his ears.
"As real as it gets. I guess you discovered that Axon thingy replicated me, then?"
"In the worst way possible! But where are you? In that cell thing?"
"No, there was this...this girl…" Gavin said, eyeing Chiyoko who had just thrown back another of the Axons. "She...she's helping us get through."
"Girl? What girl!?" Avalon doubted the story, and Gavin honestly couldn't blame her.
"Never mind that, just tell us where you are!"
"Mayor's office."
"Where's the mayor's office?" Gavin then asked Hiraki.
"Across the city," the woman shook her head dejectedly. "We'll get killed before we can reach them."
"It's okay, we can wait for them at a building," Chiyoko called from ahead. "I think a nice helicopter can do it."
"O-okay," Gavin looked at the two adults who just went with it. "We'll...we'll try to get to a rooftop and then...we can call you from there, okay?"
"Okay, but Gavin, please...be careful," Avalon begged.
"I'm a sixteen year old boy...how much trouble can I get into?"
Both the adults and Avalon groaned around him.
~ 0 ~
"Doctor! I talked to Gavin and he's okay!" Avalon found the Time Lord at one of the secretary tables. "He says they'll find some rooftop so we can find them and—what's going on?" she noticed the Doctor's troubled face.
"I was trying to look at the blueprints for the corporation but there's nothing here!" the Doctor turned the blue prints around for Avalon to see. The pages were completely blank!
Avalon snatched them to see for herself and frowned. "But why wouldn't they be? What does—wait, that means—"
"Means there was never a building to begin with," the Doctor crossed his arms, rethinking his strategies. "And if there was never a building to begin with…"
But before he could finish that thought, the building began to shake violently as if an earthquake was hitting them.
"Are the Axons here!?" Avalon fell onto the Doctor. Her eyes were trained on the front doors but the UNIT soldiers were still barricading against nothing.
"Doctor!" Yoshida ran out from the mayor's office. "The mayor! He's-he's done something!"
The Doctor ran into the office with Avalon at his side. The mayor was cornered at his desk by two of Yoshida's soldiers.
"I-I don't understand! I only did what I thought was right!" the mayor nervously had his hands raised in the air.
"And what exactly was that?" Avalon feared for the answer.
"Th-they s-said they only...needed power for their sp-spaceship! So that they could l-leave! I had th-the local p-power plant do the tr-transfer."
"And you believed them?" the Doctor rubbed his forehead. "Humans! Gullible the lot of you!"
"Now wait a second," Yoshida calmed the area down, but still had his soldiers on the mayor, "Where is that power going to, exactly?"
"The Shining Dawn Corporation, isn't it obvious?" the Doctor let his hand drop on the side. "Because the spaceship isn't underneath them, no, it is the building."
"We've seen that before," Avalon groaned as she remembered Craig's home. "Well, that's a recurring theme isn't it?"
"Never mind that, we need to get to that power plant now!" the Doctor started out the office.
"What are we going to do there?" Yoshida was right on his trail.
"Well that's their main power source now, don't you see? I'm going to hi-jack it."
"Just like that?" Avalon stopped him by the secretary table where he left the old hat creation. "Hi-jack it?"
"Yeah," the Doctor's eyes flickered to the side.
"And then what?"
"Well, if I can't break the connection then...the children will have to."
"There it is," Avalon crossed her arms. "There's the 'almost impossible' part of your plans."
"They're great, aren't they?" the Doctor planted a kiss on her then ordered the rest to get on an escaping plan again.
~ 0 ~
With a helicopter still controlled by UNIT (thank God), getting to the local power plant was a little easier than coming down to the mayor's office. The Doctor didn't bother waiting for anyone and ran straight for the machinery room where all power was controlled.
In the meanwhile, Avalon had another talk with Gavin and told him, if possible, to get to the power plant instead. It seemed doable - at least that's what Hiraki had said - and so that plan was set.
"Axons won't be long," Yoshida warned the Doctor once they found the Time Lord inside. He was busy trying to set the telepathic hat into the machinery wires.
"Maybe some of us should be looking out the windows?" Avalon suggested. Yoshida agreed and dispatched some of his men to guard the doors and windows.
"I'm working! I'm working!" the man grumbled.
"It should start working...now!" the Doctor raised his hands from the hat as if to let the energy start flowing without his interruption. He straightened and turned to Yoshida. "Well?"
Yoshida walked to the threshold and called out to the soldiers.
"Sir, the Axons are...creating something…" one of the soldiers responded.
"What did you do now?" Avalon gave her husband a crazed look before running out the room to see for herself. She pressed her face on a clean window and saw that the Axon/children had stopped in their spots and were indeed creating something out of thin air. "What is this? Transformers!? Oh great, now I sound like Gavin."
It was the Goruda mascot being created telepathically by the children.
"How is a freaking mascot supposed to help us!? DOCTOR!" Avalon stormed back into the machinery room.
"By attacking the Axos who remained in their forms of course," the Doctor shrugged. "That's all in the meanwhile I try to reverse the power plant's feed to their spaceship."
"Oh...carry on, then," Avalon innocently smiled and watched him begin to work on the machinery around. She knew it wasn't working out very well when he started growling and cursing under his breath. "Okay, what is now?"
"It's on automatic, basically," he looked around. "All their power is being sucked out from here."
"But...but is this place still hooked up to every other building this city?" Avalon began to examine the machinery herself.
"Well, yes. The Axons didn't take anything. The energy is just being used by their spaceship."
"So then that would mean we could - in theory - divert the power back to the people?"
"I suppose we co—" the Doctor stopped and slowly pointed at her. "Have I mentioned how much I love you?"
"Not today but you could fix that later tonight."
The Doctor laughed, kissed her, and took her cellphone right out of her back pocket. She didn't even question it and instead watched him hack her phone so that it would be able to call every last home in the city with one dial.
"Major plan update," she grinned. "I'm keeping it."
The Doctor playfully rolled his eyes. "Yes! Hello!" He began, despite no one physically answering him. The idea was to leave messages everywhere. "You're going to want to listen to me very carefully if you want your children to return! Turn on everything you can that is powered by electricity! And when I say 'everything' I mean everything! That includes microwaves, televisions, lamps, hair dryers, DVD players, radios - anything! Just turn them on!"
Avalon hurried back out to the windows where the soldiers were keenly watching. The Goruda had been stomping its way back - presumably - towards the Axos' spaceship. With the energy being diverted from the spaceship, the Goruda would be able to destroy it easily.
"How we doing, Avalon!?"
"Goruda's going off! And the energy!?"
"Being diverted quite nicely!"
Avalon laughed, delightfully, and hugged the soldier next to her on a whim.
~ 0 ~
On the ruins of the Axos spaceship/building, Mr. Kin was on the floor doing his best to stay alive despite the energy depleting around them. From under his eyelids he could see two familiar small-sized shoes walking towards him.
"You-you betrayed us!" He groaned and turned flat on his back. Chiyoko came to stand beside him with no visible emotion on her face. "You promised my kind a world to feed on."
"Yes, I did, didn't I?" Her voice was completely at ease despite the flames currently engulfing the building. Her eyes scanned the tarnished room. "But it was necessary for things to go this way."
"You're going to die with us, Chiyoko."
"No, I don't think so," Chiyoko turned away. "I only came to see how things were going—as they should be going—and now I can go."
"You promised us you traitor!"
"You were merely a means to an end, Mr. Kin. You were necessary for a new life to begin, you see."
Mr. Kin growled with fury and of pain while Chiyoko walked away without a care in the world. Her plans had been enacted and that was all she cared about.
~ 0 ~
With the city returned to normal, the Doctor decided it was time to call it a day and bring his Reynolds back to the TARDIS.
"You should have seen this girl, Doctor. She was beyond our world," Gavin was telling the Doctor and Avalon about Chiyoko who managed to bring him back to the power plant without so much of a scratch.
"Probably an ally of the Axos," the Doctor shrugged it off. "And a powerful one too. They can travel, really, although I do wonder how they managed to get out of the time loop I put them on."
"You put them where?" Avalon raised an eyebrow.
"Doesn't matter. Point is they're gone now and everyone's okay."
"Yeah, well thanks for the birthday trip. It was awesome!" Gavin laughed and soon received sharp looks from Avalon. "What?"
"You actually thought that was fun? Gavin Reynolds I was going out of my frikin mind worrying over you and you think it was fun? Let me tell you something—"
"Ah, why don't we just call it a day, hm?" the Doctor quickly set the TARDIS into motion then went over to Avalon. "I'm sure Gavin will want to rest before we bring him back home."
"Yeah…" Gavin was staring at Avalon who was glaring his way. "I think...I'll go do that now."
"Gavin, wait…" Avalon shook the Doctor off him and walked up to her brother. "Happy birthday. You're crazy and...you're my cousin/brother, so…"
"You're not gonna go all mushy on me, are you?" Gavin had a look of disgust on his face that brought back all of Avalon's earlier irritation.
"You're impossible!" she cried.
"Go!" the Doctor motioned to Gavin who heeded the words and ran off into the corridors.
"He's impossible! No, wait, he's a boy!" Avalon gestured after Gavin. "So ungrateful! You're all useless!"
The Doctor, more than used to her rages, calmly slid his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his chest. "We're not completely useless," he kissed her temple.
"Right now I'm finding it hard to believe," she crossed her arms, huffing.
"Please allow me to remind you then," he kissed her cheek then her jawline.
"That's not going to—" But she gasped when he'd kissed her neck then slightly lower. She rolled her eyes but admittedly was falling under his charms.
Eventually, she just gave in.
"Right, so..maybe Time Lords can be pretty useful…" she smirked.
A/N:
And there we have the first chapter that starts the main arc! So excited for this one! Plus, I never really got to write Gavin Reynolds in and I thought since I brought Lena in the last episode, it was Gavin's time to shine! Hope you guys liked him and his relationship with Avalon!
I also realized that 11's first episode aired today exactly 11 years ago? So yay to him and all the stories he gave us!
As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"
For the review: You'll eventually see who Lena went on a date with! I like him! ;)