"That hurt," Amber said, standing up, gun still trained on Nadir as she shook out her twisted arm.
He looked round frantically, but there were no exits available to him, and everyone had seen and heard him declare his plan. He was trapped.
"I should probably warn you that this gun would blow your head into so many pieces it wouldn't be worth attempting to put it back with your body, and I'm a very good shot," Amber said coolly.
"And if she misses, I wont," Jack said, stepping forwards with the Doctor, Rose, Lola and Adair.
"Thanks for the backup, Jack," Amber said dryly.
"Your game is up, Nadir," Lola said, "Don't try anything clever!"
"I thought you lot had left after failing to discover our thief, which is not me!" Nadir said loudly to the gathered crowd.
"No, that would be me," Lola said, "but I did it to try and bring you down!"
"We figured that one out," the Doctor said, "and came up with a better plan to bring you down, all thanks to my genius of course."
"Nothing to do with me distracting Mali so you could nosey round the kitchens…" Rose said teasingly.
"That to," the Doctor conceded.
"Just what exactly is going on here?" an Elder asked.
Amber turned round to face him, but Nadir, sensing her momentary distraction, lashed out with his wings, knocking her off her feet. Her gun skidded out of her hands and across the floor.
"Amber!" Jack called out as she dashed her head against the floor. He stepped towards her, giving Nadir the space to take off into the air, grabbing Rose as he did, holding her like a shield in front of him.
"Oh you idiot Harkness!" Amber snapped, jumping to her feet, "Why didn't you just shoot him?"
Lola looked up at Rose who was dangling helplessly in the air.
"This is bad," she said.
"Rose will know what to do," the Doctor said confidently.
Rose felt the arms sweep round her waist and pluck her off the floor. Nadir was using her like a shield, protecting himself as he tried to escape. Rose looked down towards the ground. Pretty pitiful really, she had been dangling higher off the ground in Blitz London, and that time she couldn't be sure she wouldn't fall (did fall in the end). At least now she knew Nadir wasn't going to let go of her in a hurry, that left him open to be shot by Jack or Amber.
Swinging her feet she tried to think of what to do. Not easy when you were being swung through the air…
Down below, everyone was running around in a blind panic as Nadir threatened to drop her if they didn't get out of the way. Rose sought out the Doctor in the crowd but couldn't see him. In the rush of wings and bodies it was hard to pick out his dark brown jacket, but Amber's blue hair stood out a mile. Rose caught her eye briefly, and was certain for a second that Amber was trying to speak to her telepathically, but what little connection they had was broken when Amber was struck by the wing of a panicking elder.
"Don't move or I'll drop her!" Nadir shouted to a bunch of police officers who had moved to block his path to the doorway. They all skidded to a hasty halt, looking up at Rose sadly.
"I'm sick of being the damsel in distress!" Rose said to herself and elbowed Nadir hard in the stomach.
He gasped and stumbled in midair, dropping Rose and massaging his sore chest. He let out an aggravated cry as he realised he was no longer protected, and an open shot for the at least two people armed with guns. He plummeted towards the police officers, successfully scattering them, but crashed to the floor in an ungainly tumble as he was shot from the sky, not by Amber or Jack, but by Adair.
"Take that sucker," the boy commented, looking smug and pleased with himself.
Rose fell into the Doctor's open arms.
"You ok?" he asked her.
Rose looked up at him, snuggling into his cozy jacket.
"Peachy," she replied.
It took some convincing and explaining to get the Elders to understand what on Sertia was going on. After accounts from Lola, Adair, Mali and the Doctor, they finally got their heads round it.
"Basically, he was not a very nice bloke," the Doctor said.
"I just can't believe he got away with this for so long," one elder said.
"He would have got away with it completely if Lola hadn't stopped him!" Adair said.
"Yes, any doubts I've had about your ability to lead, dear child, have been based on flaws you apparently do not possess," the elder said, turning to Lola.
"Well, that's probably a bit generous," Lola said with a giggle.
Amber was not participating in this conversation. She was watching as the police dragged the stunned Nadir to the cell where he would spend the rest of his life.
"I'm not still married to him am I?" she asked.
"I pronounce the union Null and Void, on the grounds neither of you were who you said you were," the Elder said, smiling benignly.
"Good," Jack said, "That means you're still available for me!"
He put his arm round her shoulder and Amber rolled her eyes.
"You never give up, do you?" she asked, but she didn't tell him to remove his arm.
"But if the marriage was Null and Void, that must mean the coronation was as well," another Elder pointed out.
"Yes of course!" said another.
"Well, I think there is still enough time to perform a coronation now…" the main Elder said, taking the crown from Amber's head and holding it out towards Lola.
"May I present to you, the new Queen of Corfeil, Lolanedia, or Lola!" the Elder announced with a small smile to a cheering crowd, placing the crown on Lola's head.
Dressed in a pair of trousers, a t-shirt and a bandana to keep her hair under control, she hardly looked the part of a queen, but the crowds continued to cheer and applaud for a further ten minutes as tears of pure happiness poured from Lola's eyes.
In the background Adair smiled to himself, happy that Lola had finally got what she deserved and wanted, her birthright, the rule of Corfeil, and no old, insane man there to ruin it for her.
He was sad though, sad that he wouldn't be able to see her as often, that she would have to go away, visiting other cities, other royal families. He was back off to the kitchens to peel a few more potatoes.
He turned away to walk out but suddenly someone had pounced on him. He turned round to see Lola grinning goofishly, holding out her arms for a hug.
"You helped make this happen," she said to him, "I'm never going to forget that!"
She kissed him swiftly on the cheek and he blushed beet red as the crowd cheered even louder.
"Not a bad two days work really," the Doctor said as the TARDIS crew headed back to their ship and home.
"Not a brilliant holiday though," Rose said, hands on hip, "why is it that everywhere we go turns into disaster?"
"I can't help it!" the Doctor complained, "I'm just a trouble magnet!"
"Well, we can try again, I'm sure we can find somewhere relatively safe!" Jack said, still beaming after being allowed to put his arm round Amber's shoulders.
"I just want some sun, sea and surf!" Rose said, "Just for once."
Thought she complained, she was grinning widely, and everyone knew she wouldn't change the way things were for the world (especially when falling through the air landed you in the Doctor's warm arms).
"Sun, sea and surf is good, but we should got to a theme park, much more exciting!" Jack said.
"You mean you'd turn down the opportunity to stare at people in their swimsuits?" Amber asked with mock incredulity.
"Good point," Jack said.
They arrived at the TARDIS and gazed at the old blue ship fondly.
"Let's see then, where to next?" the Doctor said.
"Wait!" a voice called. They all turned round to see Lola running towards them. She skidded to a halt and caught her breath.
"I just wanted to thank you guys," she said, "You saved my life in a way. You saved my kingdom, you saved my world! I have no idea how I can possibly thank you enough for everything you've done for me and my people, but here goes! If you ever find yourself in Corfeil again you can have top class service, even more top class than normal. And if there's ever anything I can help you with I'd be more than happy to do what I can for you, because, you know, that's what friends do and all that. And are you sure you have to leave right now? You can stay for a bit if you like – there are plenty of rooms in the palace and…"
"Lola!" the Doctor, Rose, Jack and Amber all said together.
"Yeah, I know, shut up!" the girl said sheepishly.
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