Sadly I don't own Doctor Who. If I did then the series would be mine to play with.
Please let me know what you think. This one-shot was inspired by Phillipe363's 'Doctor you are not a God' where Harriet and Martha both confront the Tenth Doctor who is one of the more arrogant incarnations we've seen.
Arrogance of Ten.
When he registered the destruction of the Sycorax ship which hadn't even been out of Earth's gravitational pull, the Doctor barely heard Rose's questions about what was happening. He lowered his gaze and his eyes met those of Harriet Jones. The Prime Minister's expression said it all.
The Doctor slowly walked over to her. For a moment he hoped she would say something, but she didn't.
"That was murder!" He snapped.
"That was defence," Harriet countered unflinchingly, "it's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth 10 years ago."
"But they were leaving!" The Doctor hissed as he referred to the dead Sycorax he had just fought and told to take a message to the stars about Earth, its people and its potential along with the warning it was defended - there were moments where he sometimes asked himself how his actions were viewed by other aliens in the universe considering his automatic habit of defending humanity from aggressors whenever Earth was at risk. Aside from the ones who knew of him of old, did some races view him as someone who had gotten to Earth first or something and believed he was simply marking and defending his territory? Usually, he tried to push those thoughts aside, but the Doctor believed in this context it was the perfect defence of Earth at this time given how vicious the Sycorax were, and now it had been ruined by some human - but all the time he wondered about her little statement of the alien ship which fell to Earth a decade ago.
Who were they?
Had they been shot down?
Who had reverse-engineered the weapons to create something as powerful as what he and his friends had just seen?
"You said it yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mr Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me as you were sleeping. In which case, we have to defend ourselves," Harriet justified herself firmly.
But the Doctor stared at her in disgust. In his previous self, reeling and still dealing with the aftermath of the Time War and the knowledge of how the universe and time had changed without the Time Lords to maintain the Laws of Time, the Doctor had needed time to recall the importance of Harriet Jones' history and how she would transform Britain and bring about a Golden Age of economic stability and scientific and technological growth.
It was history, and as his original incarnation had claimed "You can't rewrite history, not one line!" Although it was mostly due to his original self's desire to go unnoticed by the Time Lords, and not make their job in finding him and Susan even easier, right now he didn't care.
He was Lord of Time!
He had the right to change history, and he was going to use that power to ensure Harriet was punished.
"Britain's Golden Age?" The Doctor sneered with disgusted revulsion.
"It comes with a price, Doctor. You might think you have the right to judge us mere mortals, but you don't! I've had a chance to learn a great deal about you during my time in office. You come and go whenever you please but you have always helped in the defence of Earth. But one thing caught my notice; you come and go as you please and you never stay for long periods. We need to defend ourselves and we can't rely on you forever. You've just proven that."
"I was in the middle of a traumatic experience, Harriet. Whenever I die and change my appearance it's a painful time that needs time for me to recover from. But you didn't need to do this!" The Doctor shouted.
Harriet raised an eyebrow, looking distinctly unimpressed with the Doctor's attitude while everyone watched. "Doctor, I was willing to give you a chance to do something miraculous, but at the same time, I am realistic enough to know we can't put our eggs in one basket. We needed a way to fight the Sycorax. They were planning on selling our people into slavery, and take everything from us! Don't tell me we should have let them do that!"
"Of course not-!"
"I did what was needed to defend the human race, and besides you didn't seem to care when you had him," Harriet jabbed a finger at the startled Mickey, who was surprised to be dragged into this, "fire that missile towards the Slitheen the last time we met. So my question to you, Doctor, is it one rule for you and one rule for everyone else?"
The Doctor looked momentarily startled at the question but he quickly recovered. "I gave them the wrong warning," he said, ignoring the question and the implications behind it - that was one thought process he truly did not want to think about right now. "I should have told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race!"
Harriet couldn't believe it. And judging from Kleins' face as well as the older blonde woman standing near Rose and the dark-skinned boy, whom she knew were Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith, they could not believe it either if judging by the looks they were sending the Doctor were anything to go by.
"You're seriously calling us monsters, after everything you've seen and defended us from? The Silurians? The Axons? The Daleks? Oh, yes, I've read about them, but you're seriously calling us monsters?"
"It's what you are!" The Doctor glared back at her angrily, but Harriet couldn't help but dismiss him for a moment and she turned her gaze to Rose, Mickey, and Jackie. She knew who they were; thanks to her position of Prime Minister, she had found it easy to discover who the Doctor's companions were, and since the old Doctor and Rose had spoken to them on a mobile getting the records directed to Downing Street was easy.
"I hope you're listening to this, Rose," Harriet didn't know if the girl, who'd shown a strong dependency on the Doctor the last time they'd met, but what worried her the most was how Rose didn't seem to realise how the Doctor had referred to the human race as monsters for aliens to be afraid of whereas her mother and Mickey were both looking at the time travelling alien with disbelief and more than a little resentment. "And as for the Sycorax…they attacked this planet, Doctor. They controlled hundreds of people through the blood; you might be right when you said there was no way they could jump, but the Sycorax could have made them injure themselves in some other manner. Those people are those I represent, and I would do it again, with anyone who tries to come to Earth. Perhaps the destruction of their ship," Harriet's eyes flickered upwards to indicate the still glowing ball of light in the sky from the destroyed Sycorax asteroid-ship, "will send a message after all; Leave us alone or we will destroy you. I can't think of anything better, can you?"
The Doctor's expression became one of total disgust. "Then I should have stopped you."
Harriet stiffened. "Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you! You waltz around, taking charge of disasters but when it comes down to it you don't care about death and destruction unless you cause it! You come and go as you please, and yet you expect us all to stand back and do nothing. Who are you, a God who thinks it's his damn right to tell us how to live, just because you're some alien genius? What I am so angry about is how you have the arrogance to claim we're the monsters? Have you forgotten how many times Earth has been attacked over the centuries?"
"Harriet, stop it!" Rose tried to defend the Doctor, but Harriet ignored her. She had come to the conclusion Rose was either too stupid to realise the Doctor was insulting them all, or she worshipped him too much.
"Earth was nearly enslaved, Doctor," Harriet went on.
"Harriet-!"
"I'm not done! The Sycorax leader tried to kill you while your back was turned, what makes you think they would have honoured your terms? Be realistic, Doctor; you might think it's okay to look at the universe through rose-tinted glasses, but I won't. Don't come back, Doctor; go off in your…ship, and wander around in your holier than thou way!" Harriet stalked off angrily, Alex following her. She glanced over her shoulder and she shook her head in disgust when she saw the Doctor standing back there, looking like a stroppy teenager.
How pathetic.