"How?" Rehprom breathed, shocked.
"Tyran," Acro said, his voice hollow. "Diluted blood. Three drops each."
Rehprom started to cry again. The male Rican guard chuckled. The sound seemed to seep into Rehprom's soul as she wiped her tears away. Her face became stony and she took a deep breath. Slowly, she turned and walked towards the door of her cell.
"I have only one thing to say to you," she said calmly to the male Rican.
"Yeah, and what's that?" he said with a smirk.
"Meega nala queesta vu pitte merd."
At these alien words the guard blanched then began to turn red, Xaler gasped, Acro smirked, and Aci tried in vain to hide a small smile.The Doctor's eyebrows zoomed up. Rose and Captain Jack didn't understand Rehprom and so reacted with confusion.
"You shut up, or I'll burn your tongue out," the male Rican hissed, but the threat sounded empty. He turned to Aci. "You guard 'em. I'm going out." He exited through the door and flew away.
"Where did you learn that?" Xaler asked his mate, his voice a mixture of awe and horror.
"Don't ask," she said. Acro smirked again like it was a hidden joke.
"What did it mean?" Rose asked.
"You don't want to know," the Doctor told her.
"No, come on!" Jack insisted. "What does it mean?" The Doctor rolled his eyes and whispered first in his ear, then in Rose's. Jack's jaw dropped. "Whoa. I hope you won't speak like that around your kids." Rose had a similar reaction.
"Hush," Aci said. She stepped up to the Doctor's cell. "How did you get here?" she demanded.
"By my ship," he replied casually.
"Is it that blue box outside?'
"Maybe," the Doctor said, guarded.
"What's your name?" the Rican asked.
"I'm called the Doctor."
Aci's eyes widened. "The Doctor? I thought you were just a myth."
Rose winced slightly, but the Time Lord grinned. "Heard of me? Well, I'm real." He spread his arms as proof.
"Yes." Acinom looked at all the others. "I'm Aci. Tyran is my older brother." She produced a set of keys.
"What are you doing?" Rehprom asked. Aci was sorting through the keys.
"I hate my brother just as much as you do. I'm going to get you out."
"But you'll be punished too," Xaler said.
"No I won't. You'll knock me out. It'll look like I tried to stop you."
"But what if the other one comes back?" Rose asked.
"He won't. He's lazy. When he says he's going out, he won't be coming back... Damn!"
"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked.
"These aren't the right keys," Aci said, frustrated.
"No problem," the Doctor said. He reached into his pocket and took out his sonic screwdriver. A few seconds later both cell doors were open and Rehprom and Acro's tails were released of their belts. "I need to get down to my ship," the Doctor told Aci. "Could you fly me there?"
"I think so," she said. They went up onto the roof, Rehprom leading Acro so he wouldn't bump into anything. Xaler stretched his crippled wings out fully. Even with the trimmed feathers, he still had an impressive wingspan.
"I hated that cell," he muttered.
"Yeah, Ricans love the wide, open spaces, don't they?" the Doctor said, looking at the sky. He turned to Aci. "Let's go."
She spread her wings and motioned for the Doctor to get onto her back. Rose found herself adverting her eyes, though she forced herself to watch them and they took off and glided down to the TARDIS. She told herself she needed at watch them to make sure the Doctor was safe.
As soon as they landed, the Doctor hopped off with a quick "thanks." He opened the doors and disappeared inside the TARDIS. Acinom took to the air again as the blue box began to screech and whirr as it faded away.
As Aci flew, she spotted something below her. She cursed and flapped onto the roof. "Tyran is down there," she said. "He didn't see me, but he'll be on his way up any second."
"We'd better give you your alibi then," Jack said. He walked up to her and smiled his most winning smile. "Thanks for helping us, Aci." Then, before she could react, he kissed her on the lips, then punched her on the head. Aci collapsed in his arms. Rose and the others looked shocked. "She'll be fine," Jack said, checking Aci's pulse and breathing. "That's not the first time I've had to do that. She'll have a headache when she wakes up though."
"What, from you hitting her or from the kiss?" Rose teased. Jack gave her a brief dark look and carried Aci back down into the room with the cells.
"Look out!" Xaler suddenly cried as Jack came back out into the open. He pointed at the sky, just as Tyran swooped down at them. Everyone ducked, causing Tyran to miss them all. He growled, and flapped hard to gain more altitude. It started to rain. Huge drops fell and gusts of wind lashed at them.
Suddenly, there was a new noise, a grinding and whooshing of a great engine coming to life, then dying. Again and again, louder and louder. For those who knew what it was, it was music to their ears. Slowly, the TARDIS materialised on the roof. As soon as it was solid, Rose and Jack rushed to open its doors.
Tyran appeared again with a sickening speed. He landed on the roof, catching Rehprom and holding his injured hand near her belly. The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and into the wind and rain. He saw Rehprom and Tyran and froze.
"No one move!" Tyran shouted. They obeyed him. The Rican's eyes flickered to each of them. "Right. Now do as I say, or I'll touch her. Apparently…" he looked at Acro. "Rican blood is very painful."
"So, what do you want?" the Doctor asked.
"I want…" He seemed uncertain, but only for a moment. "I want…well, first of all, I want you killed," Tyran said.
"Wouldn't be the first," the Doctor remarked. He noticed, but didn't reveal Acro slowly moving closer to Tyran, as well as Rehprom's tail beginning to creep upwards. "Why did you take over this planet?" The Doctor asked, attempting to distract Tyran.
"Why?" Tyran scoffed. "Why should you care?"
"Just curious. Was it for the water, or the slaves?"
"This planet has so many natural resources," Tyran said. "Water, land, minerals, and these idiots were just sitting there. They weren't even using all of them! Ricans need these resources, so we're taking them."
"You only think you need them," the Doctor said. "The Canads had the right idea. They only took what they really needed. You're just greedy."
Tyran would have responded, but at that moment there was a whip crack. Acro's tail lashed around Tyran's wrist, pulling the bloody hand away from Rehprom. At almost the same time, Rehprom's tail snaked its way around Tyran's throat and started to choke him. The Rican gasped for breath, flapping his wings. Xaler jumped on his back to prevent him taking off. Rose, the Doctor and Jack did the same, holding the Rican down. Tyran struggled and fought. He managed to twist his hand around and grabbed onto Acro's tail. Rehprom's brother screamed as raw Rican blood began to burn through his skin, forcing him to let go.
"Acro!" Rehprom tightened her grip on Tyran's throat. The bloody hand flailed, and suddenly went limp. When the others realised, they got up, brushing themselves off. The Doctor went to Acro's tail and examined it. Xaler pressed his fingers to Tyran's bruised, red neck, checking for a pulse.
"Is he…?" Rehprom asked.
"No," Xaler said. It was hard to tell from his voice if he was disappointed or not. "He's alive, just."
Rehprom turned to her brother. "Acro?"
"This is a bad burn," the Doctor said. "But we'll be able to treat him in the TARDIS." He looked up at the blind Canad's face. "How did you know where he was?"
Acro winced. "I heard him and judged the distance."
"It was a very lucky shot," Jack remarked.
Acro shrugged. "I always had excellent accuracy."
"He's right," Rehprom said. She could remember he always bested her in target practice, even with their eyes closed. She never thought it would be of much use until then.
"Good for you," the Doctor muttered. He turned to go. "Right. No use hanging around here any more. Might catch a cold in this rain."
"Okay," Rehprom said. "Just one second." She walked up to Tyran's body and grabbed one of his wings. She tugged on him, trying to drag him towards to edge on the roof. Xaler started to help her.
"Wait,"Jack said. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" Rehprom said, pausing to brush some of her wet hair out of her eyes. "We're going to tip him off the edge." Acro followed the sound of her voice and found one of Tyran's legs. He picked it up and began to help drag him.
"But, you can't," Rose protested.
"Look what he's done to us," Xaler said. He stretched his wings, exposing the cut feathers. He gestured to Acro's deformed face. "This is nothing less then what this bastard deserves." The three of them moved around so that they themselves wouldn't fall off the roof.
"You'll be no better then he is," the Doctor said.
Rehprom, Xaler and Acro stopped. Tyran's body was teetering on the edge. One good push and he would fall. There was a long, silent pause. The rain continued to fall, though not as hard as before.
"Just come on. I know you won't be able to forget him, but you'll regret it if you kill him like this," the Doctor said, taking a few steps towards them. "You shouldn't gloat over the death of your enemies."
Rehprom turned to him, her features hard. "How would you know?"
"I know," he said. "I've had enemies more terrible then your wildest imagination. Enemies who would exterminate anything that was different to them. I destroyed just about everything that was important to me to kill them, and I've never forgiven myself for that. Just walk away this time. Come back with me and my companions and we'll get you out of here for good. You'll never have to worry about him again."
"But this way we also wouldn't have to worry about him," Xaler pointed out, gesturing to the ground far below.
"But this way," the Doctor jabbed a thumb back at the TARDIS, "means you won't have any blood on your hands, so to speak. Being a killer isn't all it's cracked up to be. Trust me."
Rehprom looked once more at Tyran's prone form. Xaler took her hand and squeezed it. Her eyes rose to meet Xaler's. There was a long moment of quiet, with only the sound of the rain in the background. Somewhere inside Rehprom's womb, a baby kicked. She sighed. "Okay." Xaler nodded, not saying a word. They both moved away from Tyran and towards the TARDIS. Acro gave Tyran one last kick, but not hard enough to push him over the edge, then followed them. He seemed to move better as he became more used to being blind. Even still, Rehprom gave him her tail to guide him along.
Rose and Jack smiled and entered the TARDIS. Xaler paused uncertainly at the door. "How can we all fit inside?"
Rehprom smiled. "It's bigger on the inside."
"You sure?"
"Yep." the Doctor grinned and stepped into his ship. "Don't dawdle. She doesn't like getting wet on the inside."
Xaler and Rehprom walked inside, Xaler gaping at the interior. Acro was the last one in. Rehprom freed her tail from his grasp for a moment to use it to close the door.
Imminently, the Doctor started pressing buttons and switches on the console and within a few moments they were in flight. Rehprom smiled. Xaler copied her. It was infectious, and soon they all were smiling.
"We're free," Rehprom said. Xaler wrapped her in a hug. The smiles in the room turned into grins.
"Now then, let's go dry off and see what we can do about that tail of yours, Acro," the Doctor said. Then he stopped, wincing at his choice of words. "Maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'see.' Sorry."
"Don't worry," Acro said, heaving a sigh. "I'll have to get used to it. Just lead the way."
They didn't get more then two steps before Rehprom doubled over with a sudden gasp of pain. "Rehprom?" her worried mate said. "What's wrong?"
"I think…" She gasped as another wave of pain hit. "I think it's time."
"Like, the time?"
Rehprom nodded.
The Doctor's face split in another grin. "Fantastic! You can follow me to the infirmary too."
AN/ References for this chapter:
Rehprom's language towards the Rican guard is a mixture of Stitch's "naughty" words towards the alien counsel in Lilo and Stitch and modified French words for "you little shit".
You all should know what enemies the Doctor is talking about in the last chapter as well. If you don't, then you really need to be educated a little more about the realm of Doctor Who.