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Chapter 18 - Emergency Return

Tony Stark walked to the transporter room on the Doctor's ship. He wore a pair of black trousers and a dark jumper over a grey shirt. He pressed a few buttons on the transport panel, then went to stand on the platform.

The transporter activated and he saw bright, yellow spots in front of him as the image of the transporter room was replaced with the view of his New York penthouse. He saw Pepper standing behind the bar sipping some coffee and looking at a file. Soler and the adult Genie sitting at the table. As soon as the room became clear in his sight, he clapped his hands together. "Hey! Hey! It's me!"

Pepper looked up and smiled. She was wearing a pants suit. "There you are! Where have you been all morning?"

Soler ran to him and jumped in his arms. "Tony!"

He caught the little boy and held him. "I had to help Timon with something. And, I'm completely stumped."

Pepper grinned, "Stumped? You?"

He shook his head. "It was bound to happen. At least it's something Timon can't seem to figure out either."

Soler smiled at him as he sat him down. He took Tony's hand. "And come see what I'm doing!"

Pepper smiled proudly, "He's been working on that all morning."

Soler climbed back into his chair at the table and pointed at his maths book. "I know how to do this now! Genie showed me!"

Tony pulled the book to him and looked at the little boy's work. "This is….multiplication."

Genie smiled, "I remember you had a problem teaching him that. Uncle Tony, everyone doesn't learn maths the way you did."

He looked confused. "What are you talking about, Gene?"

"Well, you. You hear it once, and you always remember it."

Tony took a deep breath and crossed his arms.

"Most people, no matter where they are from, have to hear it seven times."

Tony looked surprised. "Seven times?"

Samuel walked into the room rubbing his hands together. "I'd believe her. She's …The Headmistress." He wiggled his fingers at her.

Genie rolled her eyes. "Sammy."

Tony chuckled, "Headmistress, huh? I bet I can guess where."

Genie smiled, "I bet you can. A place you're very familiar with. It will be interesting to see it before it was a school. I've always been curious about that."

"Who is going with you?"

"Legate and Exton." Pepper told him.

Tony looked around. "Where are the others?"

Sam sat down at the table. "They are downstairs playing basketball. Arles is beating the hell out of Legate. Tony needed a few minutes, so I came up here. He went over to check on the TARDIS."

Genie looked concerned, "He's alright?"

"He said he's fine. Just needed some hush."

Soler smiled, "So, what do you think?"

Tony looked down at the maths book. "This is good stuff, man."

Genie smiled proudly at Soler. "For a young man who has only just seen numbers, I find it remarkable."

Tony agreed. "Yes. Sparky, hell of a job. Keep up the great work."

Soler beamed as he looked back at Genie.

Tony pointed at Genie. "And, thank you. Headmistress."

She groaned, "Sam."

Sam rose his hands and grinned.

Tony pointed at the math book. "Mathematics gives us hope that every problem has a solution."

Genie looked impressed. "Huh. I should have that written on the wall at the school."

"Quote me on that. No one knows who said it first. Maybe it was me!"

Genie laughed. "Perhaps."

Pepper walked over to him and kissed Tony's lips quickly. He looked her up and down. "You look nice. Very nice."

"I had a few meetings this morning." Pepper told him.

"Can I get on that schedule?"

She smiled at him. "I have some time blocked off. Maybe you should check your calendar."

Sam groaned, "Gross. Uncle Tony and Aunt Pepper talking sweet in my presence."

Tony rose his eyebrows, "Well, you could always go to the island. You know…where your parents are-"

"Nope! Never mind my complaining. I apologize. Forgive me. Be gross. Whatever."

Genie smiled at her brother. "When is Papa coming to get you?"

Sam sat in the chair and groaned, "I don't know. He just said when they woke up. Had tea. He wanted to go for a run. I think he's making me sweat on purpose."

Tony rose his eyebrows. "Want me to go with you?"

"Protect me from Dad? If he decides to kill me, there's nothing you're going to be able to do to stop him."

Tony groaned, "John is not going to kill you-"

"Just…cause me to regenerate. You know, Gene. This might not be so bad. He put a note in that file that is rather encouraging."

"What file?" Tony asked.

Sam looked back up at him. "You'll have to ask Dad if you can see it before I can show it to you. I don't want to mess this up."

Genie asked, "Well, may I see it?"

Sam shook his head. "No way. Genie, you don't want to see that. Just….trust me on this."

She smiled at their grandfather's famous quote. "Okay, Sammy. I trust you."

Pepper pat Tony's chest. "We're about to leave to go to the place upstate. The one you and John are turning into a school."

Sam smiled proudly, "Yes. Genie's school. For social misfits and booga aliens."

Genie groaned, "Sam. I really….ugh…."

Tony smiled at Sam teasing his sister.

Sam crossed his arms and sat back, "Do you have any students yet?"

Tony nodded his head. "One kid, I really want there. He's here in New York and is going to kill himself swinging around like Tarzan."

Tony stopped explaining at the look on Genie and Sam's faces. "You know this kid?"

Sam groaned. "Oh, yes. I know Parker."

"Yeah?" Tony asked.

Genie grinned back at Sam. "Sam almost flunked his class."

Sam sighed and shook his head. "He's tough. And I'm good at chemistry!"

Tony laughed at this information.

Pepper kissed Tony's cheek. He looked back at her. "So, our appointment?"

"You have to check your own schedule. You know, I hear an assistant is good at helping with that." Pepper teased.

"Ugh." Tony complained.

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The Doctor stood in the kitchen of his island home, making tea. He sighed from his exhaustion. He wasn't sure why he was so tired. He had slept well last night. Rose told him that it was because of the party. She was still upstairs playing with Samuel, curled up in the warm bed.

Outside of the window, it looked like it might start raining at any moment. It wasn't helping him wake up. He yawned again as he poured his tea. Young Genie skipped into the room with him.

"And hello, Daddy!" She smiled.

He smiled at her. "Hello, my Sara Gene! You appear to be a bundle of energy." He picked her up, kissed her cheek, and sat her on the cabinet. "What are you up to today?"

She tapped her lips, "I haven't decided. I thought about swimming, but it's rainy."

He looked out of the window. "Well, it hasn't started raining yet."

"Close enough, Daddy. I don't know."

He blew his tea as he stood in front of her. "I've been thinking, that we need to get an indoor pool for you children."

Genie smiled and clapped her hands excitedly. "YES!"

He laughed at her, "I'll ask the guys to get that sorted. We have room for that, next to the playroom."

She spread her hands out, "We could have a huge pool!"

"Huge." He agreed and sipped his tea.

"Even a slide!"

"Yes, a slide." He agreed.

"But, we'll have to keep Legate from trying to surf in there."

He laughed, "A wave pool might be just what he needs so he can learn to surf."

She sighed. "Daddy. Have you seen him? I worry he's going to hurt himself."

"He's not a quitter. He says he loves it."

She crossed her arms. "I really don't like it. Can you make him stop?"

He shook his head. "I can. But, I won't. He wears a personal force field and Genie, he'll be fine. If you are so concerned about this, talk to him."

"I'm a child!"

"You are his friend. You have every right to say something."

She nodded her head. "Alright, Daddy. I'll talk to him. So, we can't have a pool today."

"It will take a bit to get together."

"Maybe, I'll go to the playroom." She sighed, "I wish Lenox didn't have to go home so quickly."

"He has a lot to take care of. I was surprised to see him there."

"That would have been fun! All of his children here!"

"Here's a thought. You could work on your….maths."

She groaned. "School lessons?"

"It has to be done."

"Okay. Well, maybe a bit of maths….but then something fun."

He sipped his tea, "And what's that?"

"Well, I think Tony is here."

He yawned and sipped his tea. "Tony Tyler? Is he?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "He was here last night. Maybe he's still sleeping."

"Friday. What is Tony Tyler's location?"

Friday replied, "Tony Tyler is in the workshop, Doctor."

Genie looked back at her Daddy. "Uh-oh."

"Why would he go in there?" He asked Genie as he helped her off of the cabinet.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

"You two, aren't playing some game, are you?"

"Daddy. You said we're not allowed in there, unless you are with us. So, no. I don't know what he's doing. If I had to guess. I would say, swearing."

He laughed and sat his tea on the cabinet. "Alright. Go get started on your maths. I'll go see what he's up to."

He walked out of the house and looked up at the sky. The dark clouds were rolling in and the thunder rumbled. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets. What was Tony Tyler doing in his workshop? He walked along the path as he thought about what he had in the workshop that would even interest the young boy. He looked around and noticed that he didn't even see any of the Quauhtin out running. It looked like it might start raining at anytime. Surely they had all taken shelter already in their flats.

He reached the door just as the wind picked up. It was still locked. Maybe Friday had been mistaken. The thunder cracked again. He scratched his head and took out his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door. He stopped before he unlocked it, and put the screwdriver back in his pocket. Opening the door would make a noise. He would rather use his bracelet and take Tony by surprise. He typed in some numbers, and popped inside of the workshop.

The lights were dimmed and he was surprised to see a man sitting at the desk, drawing a plan. He looked like Pete with the bright light from the lamp shining in his face. Friday must have misunderstood the request. He remembered that he had told Pete to just pop there whenever he wanted, if he needed some peace and quiet.

"Oh, hey. There you are. Working on something?" He said with relief in his voice.

The figure nodded his head. "I knew you would come, John. I just needed a quiet place to think."

The voice sounded like Pete's, but different. Was Pete getting sick? Was that the reason he sounded different?

He walked slowly to the desk, trying to focus his eyes on the face. He could tell he was drawing something on a huge pad of paper. The light from the lamp still obscured his face.

"You alright?"

The figure sighed, "Everyone keeps asking me that."

"You sound….odd."

"Maybe I'm still….whatever you called it. I don't even remember." He said without looking up.

Something about this wasn't right. The Doctor walked over and moved the lamp to see the figure's face. It was familiar, but not Pete. Who was this?

"Still what?" He asked.

The young, ginger man sighed and looked up at the Doctor. "John, I just don't even want to think about it anymore. If it's done….it's just done."

The Doctor was confused. This young man was very familiar. "Sometimes things can be changed."

"That's what Sammy says. But, he's also the one that was so quick to tell us not to come to you when we crashed."

"But, you're here now."

"Because I just wanted to get away from Tony's." He sighed and continued to draw his plans on the paper. "I knew you would come to get us. I told Genie you would."

He covered his mouth in realization that this was Tony Tyler from the future.

Tony still didn't look up and continued to draw, "I'm alright, John. I know you said this would be hard to deal with-"

"Well, yeah. But-"

"And I know you are there for me. I just wanted some time alone. Everything at Tony and Pepper's is so loud. Arles and Legate were playing basketball. I tried to draw these there, but I couldn't think. I told them I would pop back to just see if the TARDIS had healed enough to let anyone in yet."

Did he say TARDIS? The Doctor looked around, "Yeah. It's always quiet in here."

"And it's so strange seeing Soler as such a skinny ass kid."

The Doctor laughed. "Yeah. He was skinny then. Probably skinnier than me."

Tony smiled. "Amazing how much he changed, huh?"

The Doctor nodded, "Yes, it is."

Tony changed the pencil he was using and started to draw in a different area of the paper. "Dad and I were-" He completely broke down and started to cry.

The Doctor rushed over to the young man and held him tightly. "Shhh…..It's alright."

Tony sobbed and held onto him tightly.

"Brother, it is a very hard thing to deal with. But, you are strong."

"I'm not strong enough for this, John."

"Then you have me. I'll be strong enough for us both. It's alright."

He could feel that whatever had happened had devastated his ginger brother. He had pretended to be alright for so long, that he just couldn't anymore. He was overwhelmed, frightened and so completely angry.

They continued to hold one another until Tony stopped crying. After he had collected himself, the Doctor sat on the stool next to him at the desk. He took his hand and wiped his tears with a tissue that the Doctor handed him, "I told Sam he was being stupid. I knew you would come and get us back."

The Doctor grinned at the little boy that he saw, that had grown into such a handsome man. He still had the ginger hair, and looked so much like Pete. "You know me so well."

"I'm surprised you're not cross-"

"Well. We'll get everything sorted. There's time later, to be cross. I'm just glad you are alright. So, Genie, Sammy and Arles are back at Tony and Pepper's?"

Tony nodded his head. "Yeah."

"That's all that came?"

He took a deep breath and sat up on the stool straighter. "Yes. We went to Lance's first, and Jack took him back to tell you and Papa. He brought back Legate."

"Yeah, I know." He lied. "He wanted to make sure you lot were all safe."

Tony rubbed his head. "I feel….like I'm losing my mind."

"Why?"

"Last night. After the Vesuos got into the flat, we all worked together, but Soli was the one who finally defeated it."

The Doctor tried to hide his surprise. "Well, it's Soli after all."

"Yeah, but young Soli. I've heard the stories, but…wow. Anyway. He was lying there, at my feet. The Vesuos."

"Yeah?"

"And John, I didn't even think. I was just filled with rage. I reached up and twisted his neck. I killed him. Before I even knew what I was doing. I was determined that he wasn't going to hurt anyone else."

Tony looked at the Doctor's stunned face.

"Do you think less of me for that?"

He smiled warmly and pat his back. "No. I don't."

"I just can't lose anyone else. Not now." Tony told him, wiping tears from his eyes. "And I can't say anything to Sam or Arles about this-"

"Well, why not?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Well, I just feel like they….well…..I could talk to them…..I just don't want to."

The Doctor nodded. "I'm here for you. I'm your brother. You can always talk to me."

Tony sighed. "As soon as we got here, I wanted to come here, first. Sam insisted it would mess everything up. "

"I'm always here for you. Always your brother, no matter what time it is. No matter what's happened."

Tony smiled painfully back at him, "Thanks, John."

The Doctor stood up and sighed. "Oh wow. This is not what I had expected to do today." He looked around the room and spotted a large toolbox sitting next to his other large toolbox. He reached out and touched it. He smiled as he felt the familiar hum in his head. He snapped his fingers and the door opened. He grinned and stepped inside.

"Sure, she opens the door for you." Tony complained and got off of the stool.

The Doctor looked around the inside of the TARDIS and couldn't help the huge smile that spread across his face. He couldn't believe how happy he was. "Oh, you beautiful thing you."

Even if it was untidy and had obliviously had been in a crash, he felt like he had returned home. The familiar hum in his head that had long since been absent. The smell of metal, smoke and that odd scent that the vortex always had, filled his lungs. He wanted to shout in his excitement that he was finally, after nearly a year of it being absent in his life, he was finally….back inside of his TARDIS. Grown from his beloved companion for such a long part of his life. The hum even sounded like his old TARDIS, in his head.

He walked up to the control panel, looking around at everything. Smoke boiled out of places throughout the room. He pulled the display over to himself and looked over the list of what was broken.

Tony Tyler walked in. "She's been healing herself since we crashed."

"Time is messed up for me. How long has that been?" He asked as he covered his mouth and read over this list. He didn't want Tony to realize it was the first time he was seeing his TARDIS. He still hadn't discovered that he wasn't the Doctor from the future. There to save them.

Tony stood next to him. "We crashed…ummm…yesterday morning. I think that's right. Everything is really a blur."

He looked back at him. "Did you hit your head?"

"No." Tony grinned. "We're all alright. Well, except Genie broke her wrist when we landed."

"She did? Is she alr-"

"Sam is with us. He healed her straight away. She didn't even have time to cry."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh. Yeah…"

Tony turned and pointed at the ceiling where it was still smoking, wires and hoses where hanging down. "That seems to be the worst of it. But, this is the first time she's let anyone in since we crashed. The display will probably give us a good readout of what we need to repair in order to get home."

"This is showing….well….wow. That's interesting."

"I really hate it when you say that, John."

The Doctor pointed at the screen. "This….. she will have to heal herself, but this other….well, we can work around it. I'll have to give some of this a think. I want to be confident sending it back to the moment you left."

"Well, Genie would probably be helpful. Genie had to talk her into even letting us pilot her."

The Doctor nodded as he walked around and looked at the TARDIS. The story was coming together for him, very clearly. "Right."

"So, you've came back to bring back your TARDIS. Rose let you do that?"

The Doctor looked back at Tony and shook his head. "No."

"So, you just came anyway? Rose will be livid."

"Nah. Rose is already here."

Tony groaned, "Not that Rose. And there are two of you here now."

He put his hands in his pockets and shook his head, "Nope. I found out a long time ago, that I can only be in one place at a time."

"Because you can't get along with yourself, mate!" Tony grinned.

The Doctor laughed. "Yes. That's a big reason."

Tony crossed his arms. "Well, if you are the only one here…."

The Doctor watched as Tony worked it out.

"Shit. You're the other John. The one from then."

He popped, "Yep."

"And I've just told you…everything-"

"Oh, yes."

"And I'm in deep shit."

"Up to your big, round eyes. You're not alone in that. Tony and Lance have known you were here for how long?"

Tony dropped his head dramatically. "Oh, this sucks."

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Lance popped into Jane's flat. He danced as he looked around. "Right. She said….they were in the dresser."

He walked into her bedroom and opened the dresser drawer. There he found the box of condoms that he had came for. He picked up her pillow and dropped the box into the pillowcase.

Just as he did that, he heard a noise come from the studio. Had someone came for an appointment? He tucked the pillow under his arm and closed the dresser drawer.

He quietly walked to the studio's door and peaked inside. There was a large man, wearing a long, black coat, with pale skin and tall black boots. He was walking around, looking at the room. Lance sighed and sat the pillow down next to the door.

"Hey!" Lance shouted.

The man looked up at him and Lance noticed the tattoo that identified him as another Vesuos. The pale Vesuos' face spread into a smile. "There is someone here."

Lance put his hands on his hips. "No. There's only me. What are you doing here?"

He walked towards Lance. "I'm looking for the girl. The one that was with the man who has the Khrele."

Lance shook his head. "You've came to the wrong place, man. I don't know what you're talking about."

The Vesuos nodded his head. "Perhaps, I can just take you back to my buyer. I'm sure you know where the boy is. The son of Mageer."

Lance shook his head. "The son of Mageer, died. He's not here. Go back and tell your buyer that."

The Vesuos grabbed Lance's arm, "You can tell my buyer that."

Lance kicked the Vesuos to push him away. The Vesuos let him go and took off his long coat.

"So, you want to fight?"

Lance shook his head. "You won't take me any other way."

The Vesuos groaned. He took out a gun and shot Lance in the shoulder several times before Lance could get out of the way. The sudden pain caused his eyes to fill with tears and even more anger. He charged the Vesuos and grabbed him around the waist. With his good arm, he hit the Vesuos. He got in several good strikes, and then the Vesuos punched him in his injured shoulder. Lance shouted and collapsed on the floor, holding his shoulder.

The Vesuos stood up and pulled out a transport trigger. "I like it when they fight. You are a worthy opponent."

Lance knew he was about to be taken. He had to think fast. His bracelet was on his uninjured arm, but because of the injury to his shoulder, he couldn't make his other hand and arm, move. It was completely paralyzed.

He grunted in pain as the Vesuos picked him up by the neck. Through his pain, he managed to say, "You're. Not. Taking. Me."

The Vesuos looked back at him and grinned. "Oh, yes I am."

Lance used the fist of his good arm, and punched the Vesuos in the throat. The Vesuos coughed and dropped to one knee. Lance fell to the ground and coughed.

"Friday! Takeover. Emergency Return 7." Lance said quickly and disappeared just as the Vesuos reached out to grab him.

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