The Apprentice
Chapter 5: Revelation

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the characters involved except Guardian T. Time

The Doctor looked from Time to where Rory had indicated where Mrs. Smith had been. He walked across the street and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, it buzzed as he waved it through the air.

"What are you looking for?" Time asked.

"A signature," The Doctor replied absently as he continued to scan the area.

"A signature of what? Prisoner Zero?" Time asked.

"Yes… if he was here, he's likely to leave a trail behind. If Rory is correct then we can track him down to where he's been hiding and reveal his disguises."

He stopped and looked at his screwdriver before nodding. He tucked it away into his jacket pocket before purposefully walking down the street.

"Where are you going now?" Amy asked as she and Rory caught up to him.

"To Prisoner Zero," The Doctor called back over his shoulder.

The pair looked to Time who shrugged.

"Best we follow him, in case something happens," Time told them.

They looked after the Doctor while Time began to follow. After a few seconds, Rory and Amy joined him. The Doctor led them through the streets and eventually arrived at the hospital.

"The Hospital? What's it doing here?" Rory asked as they approached.

"Likely looking for a new disguise," The Doctor explained as he pushed open the front door.

He continued to lead the way through the hallways, getting strange glances from patients and medical staff, until he stopped at a T-junction. He looked left, then spun to look behind him, a curious look came over his face as he walked down the hallway.

Time, Rory, and Amy rushed to catch up with him as they entered a large ward of the building. Multiple people were laid out in beds, not moving.

"What is this place?" Time asked looking at some of the patients.

"This is the ward where I've been assigned, these people have all come in with similar symptoms, they're in some kind of coma and won't wake up," Rory explained.

"They aren't in a coma…" The Doctor said as he examined one of the patients.

"Prisoner Zero," Time said as he looked at another.

"What?" Rory asked.

"When Prisoner Zero takes on another form, he leaves the original in a vegetative state to avoid confusing the locals," The Doctor explained.

"So he's here then? Looking for another form to take on?" Amy asked, looking around as if expecting Prisoner Zero to emerge from the shadows.

"Not anymore, I'm not sensing anything," Time said.

"You're right, Prisoner Zero would've moved on long ago," The Doctor told them, "He knows we're on his trail, he's going to keep moving, keep changing forms until he finds a way to escape again,"

"So how do we stop him?" Time asked.

The Doctor stopped and thought for a moment, "Apprentice… can you do a bit of time shifting?" The Doctor looked at him as he asked.

"I… well, yes. But what do you need me to shift?" Time asked.

"The date, today. I need you to send a message and make an event. Something, anything," The Doctor said as he approached Time.

Time was still confused, "What are you-?"

His eyes widened as he realized what the Doctor had planned. A grin spread across his face.

"Give me a second," Time said as he spun his staff from his back.

He planted it firmly on the floor of the ward, the wooden clack echoing through the room. A gust of wind whipped up around him as the hand on his staff began to turn, getting faster and faster until it stopped once more at twelve.

"I recommend you stand back," Time said to the Doctor, his voice echoing with power.

The Doctor smiled as he waited for Time to do as he asked, he didn't move.

Suddenly, Time's staff head began to spin again, and in a flash, he was gone.

"What? Where'd he go?" Amy asked.

"He's doing me a favor," The Doctor answered as he looked to the sky.

He stopped as a thought occurred to him. "Rory, do you have your phone on you?" He asked.

Rory was startled at the sudden change in topic, "Uh, yeah, why?"

"And you have pictures of them? Pictures of these patients?" He continued.

"Yeah, but I can't just let you have them-"

"I don't need them, I just need your phone," The Doctor said.

Rory was still confused as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor began to frantically type into it. While he was doing that Amy looked up and gasped as she saw a woman and two girls standing in the door of the ward.

"Doctor," She said, not taking her eyes off the woman.

"Just a second Amy,"

"Doctor, you really should see this," She said.

The Doctor paused in his typing and looked up to see the woman and two girls. His eyes darted to his left where the same woman and girls were lying in beds in the ward.

"Prisoner Zero…" he said as he slowly turned his eyes back on the trio.

"Doctor," The woman said.

"Well well, this is quite a change of events," He said as he walked towards her.

"Oh I'm sure you saw this coming already," Prisoner Zero told him.

"In a way, but tell me: Why come out of hiding now?" he asked.

"I have a message for you, Doctor… The Pandorica will open, and Silence will fall."

Amy had backed up toward Rory and the two exchanged a confused glance. In the silence of the room, the two groups stared each other down, when a clack echoed.

The Doctor's eyes looked up behind Prisoner Zero and a smile slowly crept across his face.

Prisoner Zero's face contorted in annoyance, "What are you smiling about?" It asked.

"And we're off," The Doctor said, ignoring it.

He pointed up behind Prisoner Zero, which caused it to turn. Rory and Amy followed his pointing finger to see that the analog clock above the door had changed to read zero.

"Look at that," The Doctor said, his grin widening, "Is my apprentice good or what?" He asked.

Prisoner Zero turned back to him, "What?"

"I asked him to do me a favor, he knew what I wanted. He wanted me to have him leave a message in time, a historical event that would take place right, now."

Everyone turned to look at him, "The world is aware of it, he's been working on it for a while, little hints I imagine. He's not a novice, he knew what he was about," The Doctor explained.

"And now, the world is spreading the word quantum fast. The whole world is talking about it. Do you know what the word is?" He asked, looking at Prisoner Zero.

Its face became a death glare as he answered; "Zero."

"Now, if I were a giant warship hanging in the sky and monitoring all communications on Earth I'd say that was a pretty clear hint to something, wouldn't you?" He asked. "And do you know what else I would do if I were them? I'd be tracking to see where such a signal would be coming from if any. And it just so happens that I managed to coordinate with my apprentice to have the signal originate from… this."

The Doctor pulled out Rory's phone, and as he did a light began to shine in from the windows, almost blinding everyone in the room. An Atraxi ship was hovering outside the hospital, emitting light into the building as patients and medical staff rushed out the doors.

Prisoner Zero's face slowly crept back into a smile, "They can't track me, I'll just change forms again," It said.

"Oh no, no, no, you can't do that. It takes months to form a psychic link that strong," The Doctor told it.

"Well, it's a good thing I've had years," Prisoner Zero answered as it began to glow.

At the same time, Amy's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dropped to the floor. Rory immediately dropped to his knees, tending to her.

"Amy? Amy!?" He asked as he checked her pulse.

The Doctor turned and rushed back to her. "Amy, c'mon now, wake up. Don't fall asleep Amy," He said as he lightly slapped her face.

Rory looked up from Amy towards Prisoner Zero and gasped before tapping The Doctor on the shoulder.

"Doctor," he said.

The Doctor looked up from Amy to see himself standing in the doorway.

"Who's that?" he asked.

"That's you," Rory answered.

"That's me?"

"You don't know?"

The Doctor stood up and slowly walked around Amy, "Busy day," he replied.

He approached Prisoner Zero so they were only a few feet away.

"What good does changing into me do you?" He asked.

The figure didn't respond, but a young voice from behind it did. A young Amy Pond stepped out from behind the clone Doctor.

"Poor Amy Pond. Such a child, believing her hero The Raggedy Doctor will come to save her," Prisoner Zero said condescendingly.

"No…" The Doctor began.

"Face it, Doctor, this time you've lost," Prisoner Zero told him.

"No, no, no," The Doctor said as he turned back to Amy.

"Uh, Doctor?" Rory asked.

"When Prisoner Zero links with one of its victims it forms a psychic link, that link allows it to take on the appearance of whatever the individual is dreaming about in their vegetative state. It didn't transform into Amy and Me because that's what it wanted, it's because that's what Amy's dreaming about. And if she's dreaming about me, it's because she can hear me."

The Doctor dropped to his knees and cupped Amy's face in his hands.

"Amy, listen to me, do you remember the extra room in your house? The one Prisoner Zero attacked us out of? You've been in that room before, try to remember what you saw in that room. Remember exactly what you saw," The Doctor said to her.

Prisoner Zero shook young Amy's head, "It's no use Doctor, she won't be able to," It said.

"Really? And you're sure about that?" Time asked as he stepped around the corner of the hallway leading to the ward.

Prisoner Zero spun around, "You! Where did you come from?" It asked.

Time smiled as he planted his staff firmly on the floor. "Just got back from running an errand, I take it I missed something?" he asked.

As he said that, Prisoner Zero began to glow again.

"What?" It asked, looking down at his hands.

Amy began to toss and turn on the floor, her eyes never opening.

"Yes Amy, that's it, remember what it was that you saw. Remember what it looked like!" The Doctor called to her.

Time watched as Prisoner Zero's form finished changing, it was now a long, serpentine figure that seemed to extend from the ceiling, but its head resembled that of a fish with razor-sharp teeth.

"Prisoner Zero identified," A voice echoed from the Atraxi ship.

Prisoner Zero began to convulse as the light focused on it.

"You may have won this time Doctor, but remember my warning. Silence, will, fall," it said before being teleported aboard the Atraxi ship.

The light dimmed and returned to normal levels, and things went quiet for a moment. Amy came to, her eyes shooting open and looking around.

"Well done Amy," The Doctor said as he stood up. He pulled out Rory's phone and began typing again as he walked up to Time.

"We're not done yet," he said.

"I assumed," Time replied as he followed The Doctor out of the ward.

The pair made their way to the roof, but not before stopping in at a closet so The Doctor could change clothes.

The Doctor pushed the door open as an Atraxi ship came down towards the roof again.

"Hello there!" The Doctor called up to it, "I believe we have some unfinished business!" he called.

A large, eyeball-like device came down from the ship and landed in front of The Doctor and Time. It began to scan them as Amy and Rory emerged from inside.

"You, are not of this world," The voice said after it finished the scan.

"No, but I've put some work into it," The Doctor answered.

"Is this world important?" the voice asked.

"Important? What does that mean? Important? Six billion people live here," The Doctor answered.

Time grinned as he leaned on his staff.

"And I'm not the only one who put work into it," The Doctor said as he pointed at Time.

"We are aware of the Guardian's presence," The Atraxi responded.

"Then you should know it'd be a good idea to listen to what my friend has to say," Time called to the ship.

"Take a look at this planet, you're linked to the whole world, after all, tell me if it's a threat to the Atraxi?" The Doctor asked.

The eye emitted a holographic image of a rapid series of events throughout history. "No."

"Ok, next question: Has anyone on this world committed a crime by the law of the Atraxi?" The Doctor asked.

More images flashed. "No."

"Good, last one: Has this world been threatened before?"

More images flashed. "Yes."

The Doctor nodded, turning to Time with a brief grin before turning back to the eye, "So then. I feel like you should be the one asking this: 'What happened to them?"

More images flashed, this time of the Doctor's various incarnations. At the end, The Doctor stepped through the hologram and smiled at the eye.

"Hello, I'm The Doctor. And that means, basically. Run,"

The eye stared at him for a few seconds before quickly retreating to the ship. The ship sped off into the sky, and the whole fleet that had been orbiting Earth was quick to follow.

"What did you just do?" Rory asked.

"Ensured they'd never come back here, that's for sure. And he sent a message to anyone who might try to," Time answered.

"What's that?" Amy asked.

Time chuckled, "That it's a bad idea to mess with Earth."

The Doctor turned to his three companions.

"Well, now that that's settled. Amy, I believe I owe you a trip?" He asked.

She smiled and nodded.

"Apprentice, are you ready to depart?" The Doctor asked turning to Time.

Time hesitated, "Actually Doctor… I think it best if we end this apprenticeship now," Time said to him.

"Really? Just going to call it quits like that?" The Doctor asked him.

"No, It's just… you handle things in a drastically different way than we Guardians do. And while I'm sure I could learn many things from you, I'm afraid my interference would only cause you greater strife," Time explained.

The Doctor nodded, "Well, if you're sure. I won't force you," The Doctor told him.

Time nodded, "I'm sure. I thank you for the opportunity Doctor, but at this point, I'm afraid that I'll only cause more problems,"

The Doctor nodded, "Well said, and well recognized. We might make something of you yet. Well, if you ever get bored, or have a day off, feel free to stop by the Tardis anytime," The Doctor told him.

Time smiled at the invitation, "Count on it."

He extended a hand and the Doctor took it, the two shook before Time stepped back. He lifted his staff above his head and a portal of energy appeared.

"Well, back to work. We Guardians never rest, something I'm sure you can relate to," Time said to The Doctor who smiled and gave an informal salute.

The portal came down and swallowed Time, then it closed, leaving the trio on the roof.

"Well, I'm sure you've got some things to pack?" The Doctor asked, turning back to Amy.

"Oh! Yes!" She said excitedly. She turned and began to rush off the roof. The Doctor followed after her.

As he entered the doorway to the roof access he turned and nodded toward Rory.

"Almost forgot," he said as he tossed Rory's phone back to him.

Rory fumbled it before managing to get a grip on it. He watched as The Doctor disappeared down the stairs and shook his head in disbelief.

"What a day."