"So, if all this is a TV show in your world, why can't you just tell us what happens and solve the problem before things get out of hand?" Jack asked me as we were all walking toward the crash site.

"I don't think that's how it really works," I shrugged, gesturing to the Doctor, "When I asked him, I got a load of technobabble in which I remember 'fixed point' and 'temporal disturbance', but the last time I tried to change things, we were stuck in a time loop. Although, time was already disintegrating then,"

"Don't even think about it," The Doctor muttered from beside me, "We don't know what are and what aren't fixed points with respect to your show, meaning we don't know what can and can't be changed. Minor dialogue things, maybe, but not major events."

"Well, minor dialogue changes are bound to happen or I'll be like an NPC, or an observer of events or something, which is boring,"

"Do not compare my life to a video game. Ever."

"I mean, there are a bunch of video games about your life in my world-" I turned to Rose, who looked like she was holding in her laughter. She turned to the Doctor and smirked, "This is fun to watch. He looks like an angry cat."

I turned to look up at him, and his scowl deepened. I laughed, turning back to Rose, "Nah, I've seen angry cats, this is the Oncoming Storm when his cookies get stolen."

"I told you not to touch them!"

"Doc, you're a professional rule breaker. You can't expect others to listen to you, that would be hypocrisy."

He grumbled and turned away from me as we walked forward. Rose and I were laughing at him while Jack was looking at us as if we were insane. Which we probably were.

As we walked toward the crash site near the tracks, we all walked toward a bunch of crates and hid behind them. "There it is. They've got Algy on duty. Must be important." Jack said.

"We've got to get past him." The Doctor said.

"We really don't," I muttered, but only the Doctor seemed to hear me. He looked down and frowned at me and I mouthed, "Spoilers. For now. I'll tell you in a minute."

He nodded and turned to Rose, who asked, "Are the words 'distract the guard' heading in my general direction?"

"Definitely not," I said, but was interrupted by Jack. "Yeah, I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him."

"No, you will not."

He turned around and raised an eyebrow, "And why's that, Little Miss Know It All?"

"Because the mutation thing is airborne now and poor Algy's affected by it. So, unless you want a gas mask for a face and your vocabulary to be that of a scared child looking for his mother in the middle of an air raid, I would advise against 'distracting' him."

"You've got to be kidding."

"Nope."

"Really," The Doctor turned to Jack, "One, she's using her 'listen to me or everything that could possibly go wrong will go wrong' tone and two, if the effect's gone airborne, that' means nobody'll be safe anymore."

"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked.

"Nothing,"

"Then what's the point? If we're not safe anyway, why can't I go and distract Algy while we get in and solve the problem?" Jack scowled at me. I glared at him and rolled my eyes. "Oh, ok then, go there. But don't blame me if you end up having a gas mask for a face."

This was getting tiring quickly, and we had to solve the problem before the bomb would fall on the crash site. And we were all wasting time talking, when we could just get Nancy and get the whole damn situation over with.

I looked up to see what was happening with Algy. He bent over, choking. He'd turn into a gas masked thing any time now, and we'd have to go and get Nancy after that. But it took quite a while with Doctor Constantine, and we couldn't afford to waste time like that.

I took a deep breath and walked out from behind the crates, ignoring everyone's expressions. "I'll be back in a moment," I muttered, as I walked toward the general direction of the place where Nancy was supposed to be, and the Doctor came running behind me, "What the hell are you doing? We could be seen!"

"Not really," I muttered, as I could faintly hear Algy choking as a gas mask probably protruded out of his mouth. "They're all gonna be distracted by that,"

"By what?"

"Algy."

"And where are you going?"

"To get the only person who can fix all this."

"Who?"

"Nancy."

"Nancy?"

"Nancy."

He'd caught up to me by then. "Are you gonna tell me what you're doing or am I supposed to figure it out myself?"

"I just told you what I was doing."

"Not clearly you didn't,"

"That's because that's for you to figure out yourself."

"What's happened to you? One moment you were calm, and now you've become bossy and secretive again!"

"That's me. Bossy and secretive." I shrugged, and he grabbed my wrist, pulling me back. "Liza, you're gonna have to tell me what's going on so I can help!"

I was about to open my mouth and say something, but he wasn't finished yet. "And don't you dare answer with 'spoilers' because that's not a valid answer anymore."

I took a deep breath and sighed, "Doctor, please, we don't have time for this,"

"Of course we have time for this! We have all the time in the world!"

I gestured to the sky, "If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of an air raid and a bomb is gonna fall down on this crash site any minute, so no, we don't have all the time in the world! In fact, I'd be surprised if we had more than an hour!"

"An hour's a long time, and I'm not doing anything until you tell me what the hell's going on and why you're acting like this."

"Acting like what?"

"All erratic and mood swing-y!"

"I don't know, okay? I have absolutely no idea why I'm acting like this but I am and there's things to be done, and-" I took a deep breath and looked up at him, running a hand through my hair. "Just forget it. This isn't even relevant to what's happening."

"But-"

"Doctor, please,"

He sighed and slipped his hand into mine. "Alright, but you're gonna have to give me a hint about what's happening here, alright? Because I'm already confused about whatever's happening, thanks to the abundance of pieces to the puzzle, and I have no clue as to how Nancy comes into all of this."

"Well, all I can say is that there's something in the ambulance that edits the genetic code of people."

"I already know that, genius,"

"I know you know that, but what does it imply? It's an ambulance, Doc, what could be there in an ambulance that alters someone's genetic code?"

"And why would it even do such a thing in the first place?"

I smiled at him as we walked forward, "Now you're getting it. Wait," I looked behind us, frowning, "Where's Rose and Jack?"

"Now she asks." He muttered, and I scowled at him. "I told them to keep everyone away from Algy and go to find the ambulance."

We'd reached the building Nancy was kept in. The faint notes of her singing were heard, and the Doctor slowly poked his head inside, gesturing for me to stay out until he freed Nancy.

By the time we'd reached the site with the ambulance in it, Jack and Rose had uncovered and Jack looked at us, "You see? Just an ambulance."

"That's an ambulance?" Nancy said from beside me and Rose.

"It's a space ambulance." I said, and she looked at me incredulously. "Space as in-"

"Yup." I nodded, "And no, we aren't from space- well, they are," I gestured to the Doctor and Jack, "But Rose and I are from Earth. Or, well, a version of it anyway."

"What are you doing?" The Doctor looked at Jack, who was pressing a few buttons on the ambulance.

"The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it."

"You can't just call something empty just because you can't see anything inside," He looked up and frowned at me. "What are you talking about?"

"There's something inside," The Doctor said as Jack continued to work on opening the ambulance, "Something that's been causing this entire fiasco."

"I'm telling you, I'll open it and everything will be fine. It's empty." The lock of the ambulance exploded and an alarm started ringing.

"Well done, Harkness! You jinxed it!"

"It didn't happen last time," He scowled at me, and the Doctor said, "It didn't crash last time. There'll be emergency protocols."

"Doctor, what is that?" Rose pointed at the alarms.

"It's sending a signal all over to everyone who's been affected." Rose looked at me, her eyes wide, "What?"

"All the patients, all the affected, every single one of them-" There was a banging sound coming from behind the gates of the hospital.

"Doctor!" Rose exclaimed, and I put a hand on her arm. She looked at me and I said, "Everything is gonna be alright, calm down,"

She frowned, but nodded as the Doctor was frantically ordering Jack to go and secure the gates. "Nancy, you need to secure the fence," I muttered, and turned to the Doctor, "Doc, sonic!"

"For what?"

"Nancy came in here using wire cutters!"

He tossed the sonic to Rose. "Setting 2428 D."

"What?"

"Reattaches barbed wire. Go! And Liza, I need you to help me out here." I nodded and walked towards him as Rose and Nancy ran toward the fences.

"What is it?"

"You asked me a question some time ago. About what could be in an ambulance that can alter one's genetic code."

I nodded. He looked at me. "It's an ambulance. It's bound to have things that can heal and cure diseases, but it's a war ambulance. Needs to get the soldiers back into fighting shape as soon as possible. Quick methods of healing."

"It's also something that's never actually seen a human before. It thinks what it's doing is right."

He nodded. "Back in Jack's ship, my burnt hand got healed in moments, and Rose mentioned that three layers of her skin got repaired." He looked at me again, "It's nanogenes."

It wasn't a question. Like he didn't even doubt it. "Yeah," I said, and he gave me a grim smile. "Then that means there's no going back. They're gonna convert the entire human race into those things in the name of healing."

"They're smart, they recognise DNA patterns."

He frowned, "And?"

"That's where Nancy comes in."

His frown deepened, and he looked back at the ambulance. Jack walked back to us. "I've sealed the gates. How come you've not opened it up yet?"

"Thought we'd give you the honours." I said.

He rolled his eyes and opened the ambulance. "It's empty. Look at it."

"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" The Doctor folded his hands and stared at Jack, a blank expression on his face. "Bandages? Cough drops?" He turned to Rose, who had just come back with Nancy. "Rose?"

"I don't know."

"You do," I gestured to her hands and she looked down at them. She looked up again, her eyes wide. "Nanogenes!"

"Exactly. It wasn't empty, Captain. There's enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."

"Oh God, you were right." He looked at me and I shrugged. "You should've listened to me in the first place."

"Haven't you noticed? He's an idiot," The Doctor muttered under his breath as he turned to Jack. "When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gas mask."

"And they brought him back to life?" Rose gasped, "They can do that?"

" What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!"

I cleared my throat softly, and he looked down at me, frowning. "What?"

"You're wrong. Not fully, you're right about the nanogenes, but that last part- wrong." His frown deepened. "Remember what I told you? About them changing DNA patterns?"

"Yes?"

"I told you something else as well."

"Yeah you said that's where- oh."

I shook my head, closing my eyes. "How you can be so clever and so stupid at the same time, I'll never know."

"Oh? Oh what? What did you tell him?" Jack turned to me.

"Nancy," The Doctor turned to her, "You were there the whole time. Asking me not to answer the phone, telling me to meet Constantine, who said that you know more than you let on."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do know what I'm talking about, Nancy. This whole thing's a puzzle, and we're missing an important piece. According to Liza, anyway."

"What, and you believe her? You trust her that much?"

"I trust her with my life," He shrugged. My eyes widened and I gasped. "Wait, what?"

"Doctor!" Jack yelled, pointing to the smoke.

"They're here," I mumbled in a sing-songy voice as a group of gas masked people walked toward us, slowly becoming visible. The group didn't take a while to become larger, and that was what was visible to us. If the entire hospital was infected, and if the thing had become airborne, there were probably enough people to form an army.

They all stopped behind the barbed wire. "Why are they all here? Did they find their mummy or something?" Rose walked toward the Doctor, standing behind him.

"Well, I can't answer that, but they're here to defend the ship."

"Why?"

"Standard protocol. The ship thinks it's under attack, summons the troops to protect it."

"But the gas masked people aren't troops!"

"Rose," She spun around, "The nanogenes are programmed to heal soldiers and warriors. Chula warriors."

"They think we're some form of Chula warrior." Jack turned to me. "That means they have the abilities of one."

"Precisely."

"That's why the child's so strong, that's why it can do the phoning thing."

"All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them."

The entire army of them stopped behind the barbed wire fences, calling for their mummy in unison. "Why don't they attack?"

"They're waiting for Jamie," I whispered, and Nancy frowned at me. "Why would they do that?"

"He's their commander. They're soldiers and they're waiting for orders."

"But he's just a little boy! He's just a little boy who wants his mummy!"

"Exactly." I nodded, folding my hands as Nancy started to cry. All the gas masked people started calling louder, and the Doctor kept spinning around, looking at everyone frantically (which would've been quite comical if we weren't in a place where a bomb was gonna fall any minute while being surrounded by gas masked people looking for their mummy).

"Nancy, what age are you?" He turned back to Nancy again, as a bomb dropped a little way away from us.

"Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds."

"You can teleport us out." Rose said.

"He can't."

"She's right, the nav comm's back online. It'll take forever to override the security protocols. And I left my vortex manipulator back on the ship."

"What kind of a rubbish Time Agent are you?" I threw my hands up in the air as the Doctor continued to talk to Nancy.

"It's not my fault I ran out of time particles to charge it!"

"Charge it?! That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"We are about to die because of a bomb that's gonna fall in seconds and you're yelling at me about how rubbish I am?!"

"That pretty much sums her up, yeah." The Doctor turned away from Nancy for a moment. "So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do."

He nodded at the Doctor solemnly and turned to me and Rose. "Good luck, Jack," I murmured, and he nodded.

"Liza what's going on?"

Jack teleported away, and Rose looked at me in alarm. "Did he just leave us?"

"Don't worry," I assured her, "It'll all be okay soon. It may not seem like it now, but it will be, I promise."

"But how?!"

"Rose, trust me, everything will be fine," I moved closer to her, placing a hand on her arm. She moved closer to me as well.

A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, I've just not been motivated to do absolutely anything for the past week or smth. I hope I get it back, tho, writer's block can get really annoying (and the fact that I came up with a new story idea in the middle of math class last week did NOT help matters lol). I'm hoping the next chapter will be the last one in this two parter so that I can move on to an original adventure I have planned out- one that I'm really excited to write. Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you liked this chapter!

Replies to reviews:

NeoMulder: Haha I feel like older Jack would've been a whole other problem to deal with, especially after series 2 of Torchwood (or even after the Doctor abandoned him, maybe). It honestly surprises me to see how much growth he's had judging by how immature he is in this two-parter lol

oXGrayDragonXo: Aw, I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far! I agree, Christopher Eccleston was wonderful as the Doctor and Nine was criminally underrated- I really wish we could've had more of him