Chapter 5 – Escape Plan
"What a day this is" Lincoln said wiping the sweat off of his brow
Abraham Lincoln and Rose Tyler were sitting on the main steps outside the White House in the Spring early afternoon sun; they were talking quietly while only a few blocks away the two Doctor's were trying to save history.
"Do they frequently leave you with the president?" Lincoln asked with a sarcastic laugh
"No, I just let them do that; they two might never meet each other again… so I've got to let them have a talk together at least, let them do their own thing, you know" Rose reasoned with a smile
"I hope they save that poor actor, if they do I'm going to personally invite him for dinner at the White House, as soon as possible, this afternoon in fact" Lincoln said determined
"I'd leave that until tomorrow, Abe" Rose replied with a tear in her eye. If only he knew.
"So you're just going to shoot him then?" The Ninth Doctor said in a cold tone moving closer towards the cloaked assassin clutching the now terrified Booth "well there's one thing you've forgot" The Ninth Doctor now began to yell "HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE! THERE'S NO WAY OUT! IF YOU TRY TO ESCAPE WE WILL CATCH YOU! YOU HAVE NO ESCAPE PLAN!"
As the cloaked assassin had a moment lapse of concentration The Tenth Doctor ran towards the assassin and jumped towards him with force sending the pistol flying out of his hands and Booth flying towards the wall. The cloaked assassin fell to the ground with a thud. The Tenth Doctor reached inside his pocket and suddenly they disappeared. The Tenth Doctor and the cloaked assassin had vanished!
"Teleportation" The Ninth Doctor mumbled to himself before he swiftly brought out his sonic screwdriver. He pushed some buttons on the sonic screwdriver a few times but nothing happened.
"Guess he did have an escape plan after all" The Doctor figured
Booth suddenly stood up. He was badly shaken with fear.
"I'm sorry!" Booth suddenly raised his voice "you know my plans; I'm not going through with it"
The Ninth Doctor gave a laugh. "You think I'm here to stop you?"
"Of course you are, you're trying to frighten me with illusions, witchcraft, stories of the impossible, all of you" Booth spoke with a wheeze
"I just saved your life" The Ninth Doctor answered "the reason being because I think you're a great actor, you looking so fearful of that assassin, so go through with your plans, the South were always the better side" The Ninth Doctor lied
"Really?" Booth questioned in confusion
"Yeah, in fact, I have a hideout you could use, there's a disused barn in Caroline County, Virginia, hide there for around a month, nobody will find you" The Ninth Doctor lied again "but run away from here just now, that assassin could come back, and don't go to a place you go regularly, be original"
Booth suddenly ran away with haste, down the stairs and into the crowd of people waiting around the entrance of the theatre. The Ninth Doctor picked up the cloaked assassin's Deringer and stuck it inside his leather jacket pocket. He was now in confusion of what to do, was he to wait here to see if the Tenth Doctor could teleport back from wherever he had teleported or go and meet with the Tenth Doctor's blonde companion first. He chose to stay where he was.
The Tenth Doctor and the cloaked assassin had teleported straight into the black 1938 Volkswagen Beetle that was covered with a large grey cloth, lying outside the White House. Rose was only metres away. The Tenth Doctor pulled his hand from the assassin's pocket.
"You think that's going to stop me!" the cloaked assassin asked laughing manically at the Tenth Doctor teleporting them. He suddenly grabbed for the Tenth Doctor's pocket and snatched his sonic screwdriver.
"What's this then, another weapon I can add to my collection?" the cloaked assassin mumbled pushing it into his pocket. He then pulled out a pair of handcuffs and swiftly handcuffed the Tenth Doctor's hands to the steering wheel.
"Tell me something, do you have any keys to this time machine?"
"No" The Tenth Doctor replied
"Didn't think so" the cloaked assassin said "and don't try to attract any attention, one of my modifications to this car was to make it completely soundproof"
In an instant the cloaked assassin had vanished. What the cloaked assassin didn't know however was that the Tenth Doctor had changed the timing of his teleportation device slightly.
The cloaked assassin teleported straight back into the Ford's theatre swiftly, he was greeted by the Ninth Doctor aiming a Deringer towards his direction; Booth was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he! He can't have got away that fast!" The cloaked assassin barked in rage
"That was ten minutes ago" The Ninth Doctor replied to him calmly
The cloaked assassin pulled out the small long silver teleportation device, looked at it, gave an angered snarl and threw it to the ground smashing it to pieces.
"You've failed" The Ninth Doctor said to the assassin who was now in complete rage "if it makes any difference…" The Doctor stumbled on his words "I thought he was part of the disease"
"Well why stop me then?" the assassin asked still angered
"Because time is a precious thing" The Doctor lowered his weapon into his jacket pocket "and I'm the only one left to protect it"
The cloaked assassin had now calmed down. His eyes gazed to the floor.
"What can I do? I tried to protect the world and I get shot down in flames" the assassin said gruffly
"Nobody said you can't travel through time" The Doctor answered honestly
"I suppose" the cloaked assassin began to walk away "still lacks purpose though"
"What's your name?" The Doctor questioned him with a final question
The assassin looked back at him startled but then answered "I've never had a name, never saw much need in having one" the assassin then pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and handed it to the Ninth Doctor.
"We have more in common than I thought" The Doctor replied sadly
"Better give this back to your friend" the assassin added "he's in my time machine"
"Would you like to travel in my coach?" The Doctor asked with a small friendly smile
The horses pulled up towards the white front steps of the White House. Rose and Lincoln jumped up at the moment and ran towards them.
"Did you stop the assassin?" Rose asked franticly as The Ninth Doctor and the mysterious new face stepped out of the coach
"Who's this?" Rose asked confused "Where's the Doctor?"
"I stopped the assassin" the Ninth Doctor gave a grin "this is him here"
The cloaked assassin then walked to the Volkswagen Beetle and grabbed the grey cloth from the vehicle's hood and threw it to the ground. He then pulled out a single gold key from his pocket, unlocked it and pulled open the door. He then took the handcuffs off of the Tenth Doctor.
"How did he get in there?" Lincoln asked in surprise
The Ninth Doctor then explained the entire situation to The Tenth Doctor, Rose and Abraham Lincoln.
"So what's happening now?" Lincoln asked in amazement at the complicated story
"This cloaked traveller is going to continuing travelling, aren't you?" The Ninth Doctor said to the scarred traveller
"Yeah" he replied giving his first smile
He sat down inside the Volkswagen Beetle and shut the door lightly. The engine of the car revved up and he manoeuvred the car off of the grass and onto the road outside. He suddenly pressed down onto the accelerator and in an instant the time machine had vanished.
"He's ready to start a new life" The Ninth Doctor thought out loud with a smile
"Sorry for getting in the way" The Tenth Doctor replied
"Nonsense, it wouldn't have succeeded without your help, without your help I probably would have had to dress myself up in a Roman tunic" The Ninth Doctor replied
"So that actor's life is saved?" Lincoln asked still confused
"Yeah" The Tenth Doctor replied
"Listen, I'd like to invite all of you to join me tonight, I was going to see a play tonight with my wife and a few of my friends, I'd like you to all come with me" Lincoln said cheerfully
"Sorry, I've got to go right away" The Ninth Doctor replied to Lincoln's proposition "there's something in Barcelona I've been putting off for a long time"
"I like Spain" Lincoln replied
"Oh not the city of Barcelona, the planet of Barcelona, did you know they have dogs with no noses?" The Ninth Doctor replied knowingly
"Well how about you two?" Lincoln asked Rose and The Tenth Doctor
"I'd love to… but I just… can't" The Tenth Doctor replied
"How about you Rose?" Lincoln asked her "you've got to come; this play will be exactly your type of play"
"Okay, I'll meet you tonight" Rose replied sadly
"Are you alright?" Lincoln asked her
The two Doctor's and Rose walked back to the two TARDIS's in the garden of the small white wooden house.
"Well, got to go, I'd love to stay and all that" The Ninth Doctor began "but I've got to move on, I didn't get to speak to you that much… is it Rose"
"Yeah" Rose answered
"I can't wait to meet you and get to know you, I hope it's soon" The Ninth Doctor said
"When you do meet me, don't say that you've met me already" Rose answered
"Why not?" The Ninth Doctor asked in confusion
"Well… it wouldn't half spoil the fun" Rose answered grinning
The Ninth Doctor gave back a grin and said "I just hope Barcelona has a mirror, I still haven't got a clue what I look like"
"There's a mirror in my house, you're welcome to use that" Rose answered jokingly "bye Doctor"
"Bye Rose" The Ninth Doctor replied before stepping inside the TARDIS
Within a minute the TARDIS de-materialised and The Ninth Doctor was travelling away through time.