"Go to your room!" the Doctor ordered the patients, and Victoria flinched at how his voice boomed.
The patients were surrounding the group, but their pace seemed to slow a bit. "Go to your room!" the Doctor demanded again. Victoria watched, surprised to see them tilt their heads to the side as if contemplating his words.
"I mean it! I am very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Now go. To. Your. Room." he commanded, pointing harshly to another part of the hospital.
Victoria basically drooped with relief as the patients began to walk slowly back to their beds. The Doctor turned towards the group with a bright smile and said "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words!"
Victoria grinned back, though not near as happy as the Doctor. She looked around and sat down hesitantly on an empty bed.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked, sitting down in the bed next to Victoria.
"They're not. They're made out of flesh and bone," Jack explained, taking a seat as well. The Doctor was quiet for a moment, looking between Jack and Victoria, who was shifting under his gaze.
"How was your con supposed to work?" he questioned.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk... let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front - oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroying it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for. Never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
Victoria knew that she didn't' actively do anything to help Jack, having just been in ship like a sitting duck for a month, but when she saw the Doctor's eyes harden, she felt properly guilty.
"Yeah, perfect," he muttered.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day," Jack laughed, but none of the others followed suit. "I'm getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space junk did," the Doctor sneered.
"It was a burnt-out medical transport. I was empty," Jack tried to reason, but the Doctor sent him a dark glare. He turned to Victoria, and it made her stomach churn slightly. Over the past year, she'd seen the Doctor give multiple aliens and people that look, but she had never been on the receiving end of it. And she never wanted to again.
"Rose," the Doctor called out.
"We getting out of here?" she questioned, looking towards him.
"We're going upstairs."
Jack got up from his seat and raced after the pair. "I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no one! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it."
"I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day," the Doctor glared yet again.
Victoria opened her mouth to defend Jack, but an alarm sounded in the distance.
"What is that?" Rose asked.
"It's the all-clear," Jack explained, but the Doctor shook his head and said, "I wish". He walked away, and the three of them quickly followed.
They all tried to stay close to the Doctor, but somehow they split into groups, Rose and Jack together and the Doctor and Victoria in the other. "I don't really believe you when you say that you had nothing to do with this," the Doctor spoke as he began walking up a flight of stairs that led them to a large door.
"Why is that?" Victoria asked, trying to sound casual as we looked around, but began fiddling with the cuffs on her jacket.
"First off, you're not exactly dressed for the 1940s," he said, nodding at her outfit. She thought back on the Doctor and Rose's looks when she showed them her outfit all those weeks ago. "I'm assuming you were staying with Jack in his spaceship right? How do I know you didn't help him plant the Chula ship?"
He stopped halfway up the stairs for a moment to look back at her as she spoke. "I'm from the future, and I found my way here thanks to a friend. When I arrived, I showed up in Jack's ship with a gun pointed to my head. We figured out our problem, and he explained that he had just lured you guys in with the ship. He semi-joked that I had to earn my pay, so he had me stay on the ship and watch for any abnormal data. I didn't have any actual hand in what happened," she glanced over at him "But if it's any consolation, he really didn't mean any harm. I know what he did wasn't right, but he didn't mean to hurt anyone."
He stared at her, his look softening as he looked at her face, searching for a lie. "I believe you," he told her after a moment.
She instantly felt relieved, but when she saw the look on his face stop the tears from welling in her eyes. It was the first time he'd looked at her like that in a long time. "What's wrong? Why are you cry-" he was cut off by Rose and Jack calling out for him.
They watched as they ran past them, and the Doctor walked the rest of the way down the stairs and popped his head around the banister. "Have you got a blaster?"
He turned back to look at Victoria and his look told her that they would finish their conversation later. He turned back around to see the pair running back to the stairs. "Sure," Jack called out. They ran up the stairs and stood with the Doctor and Victoria in front of the door.
"The night your space junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken," he said, turning to look at Jack.
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out," he said before nodding at Jack. "Get it open."
The Doctor, Rose, and Victoria stood back as Jack pointed his blaster at the door. She could barely hear Rose whispering to the Doctor, asking him what was wrong with his sonic screwdriver, and it made her smile ever so slightly.
What threw Victoria off was when Jack aimed his blaster at the wall and pulled the trigger, creating a perfect square in the wall. Well, that was a first.
"Sonic blaster, 51st century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?" the Doctor asked, and Victoria tilted her head, trying to figure out why that name sounded so familiar.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked, looking back at the Doctor in surprise.
"Once," he said vaguely, having grabbed the blaster to look it over.
"Well, they're gone now. Destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vapourized the lot."
"Like I said, once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good," he said with a bright smile, and Victoria couldn't help but gasp a little at the realization of where she knew the name. It was the Doctor's favorite place to get bananas, and he had taken ber there a few times while Rose was visiting her mum.
The Doctor took that moment to walk into the room, and she followed behind, noticing that Rose stayed behind to flirt with Jack. She shook her head with a grimace and walked into the room.
The Doctor flipped the light switch to show a room that looked ransacked. "What do you think?"
"Something got out of here," Jack responded, looking around the room.
"Yeah and?"
"It's powerful. And angry," Victoria added absentmindedly, walking through a door. Inside, the room was covered in children's drawings and overall had an eerie feel to it. And, not to mention, it almost felt like there was something in the walls.
"A child? I suppose this explains 'mummy'," Jack muttered.
"How could a child do this?" Rose asked softly, looking at the pictures closely.
Victoria heard the Doctor push a button and turned to see him standing by a large tape recording. She stayed back towards the wall, watching as the Doctor paced around the room. The longer they were there, she began feeling an odd tension in her stomach, most likely from the walls.
"Can you sense it?" the Doctor asked, and she looked over at him.
"Sense what?" Jack asked at the same time as she answered with "Yes."
Everyone looked at Victoria, and she closed her eyes, silently berating herself. She gripped the pocket watch in her pocket tightly, somewhat cursing it at the moment.
"Coming out of the wall, you can feel it?" The Doctor asked again, a cautious look growing in his eyes as she nodded slowly.
"Mummy," a voice called out.
"Funny little human brains, how do you get around in those things?" the Doctor remarked, somewhat rudely.
"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," Rose explained, presumably to Jack.
"Rose, I'm thinking", the Doctor scolded.
"Cuts himself shaving, does half an hour in life forms he's cleverer than…" Rose said again, and Victoria couldn't stop her from nodding in agreement. Even in her time, he cut himself shaving. A lot.
"There are these children living rough around the bomb site. They come out during air-raids looking for food."
"Mummy please."
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" the Doctor mused aloud.
"It was a med-ship. It was harmless," Jack tried to stress again.
"Yes, you keep saying. 'Harmless'. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?" the Time Lord questioned.
"How could they be altered?" Victoria asked suddenly, somewhat startling Rose by how quiet she had been.
"I'm here."
"It's afraid. Terribly afraid, and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will," the Doctor let out a humorless laugh. "It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room." The realization hit Victoria as he said those words. We were standing in the child's room, and he got sent to his room.
A loud, crackling noise filled the air, signifying the end of the tape, but it seems like the only other person to notice was the Doctor. "Doctor…" Rose trailed off, obviously scared.
"I'm here, can't you see me?" the child's voice echoed in the room. Victoria turned slowly to look behind the Doctor, slowly tensing in fear.
"What's that noise?" she asked, looking up to the Doctor.
"The tape ran out about 30 seconds ago. And he sent the child to it's room. This is it's room," Victoria stressed, gesturing to the tape player behind the Doctor. The others spun around to come face to face with the child.
"Are you my mummy?" he asked, turning his head towards Victoria. "Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Rose called out, terrified.
"On my count, make for the door." Jack said, staring at the child. "Now!" he called out, pulling a banana out of his pocket. Victoria looked over at the Doctor to see him holding Jack's blaster and blasting a square into the wall.
"Go! Don't drop the banana!" the Doctor called out, and she couldn't help but laugh. It really wasn't the time, but boy did he know how to make a dark situation just a little bit brighter. "What are you laughing at?" he called after her as she jumped through the hole, making her laugh more.
"Why can't I drop it?" Jack asked, stopping to look at the Doctor.
"Good source of potassium!"
Victoria looked back through the hole to see the child approaching. "Give me that," Jack demanded, pulling the gun from the Doctor's hands to close the gap. "Digital rewind," he said, tossing the Doctor the banana back. "Nice switch."
"It's from the Groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate," he sent a cheeky grin back to Jack.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?"
"Bananas are good," the Doctor told him simply, and Victoria couldn't help but add her opinion. "The bananas from the Groves of Villengard… I mean, they really are good. Best bananas I've ever had." The Doctor shot her a surprised yet wide grin, and she sent him one back. For the first time, she was fully feeling comfortable around this Doctor, but she wasn't sure how long that'd last.
However, at the sound of a thumping coming from the other side of the wall, her smile turned into a grimace. Rose called out for the Doctor, urging him to move. Thankfully, it worked, and soon they were all running down a flight of stairs and a corridor. The Doctor took a left turn, causing them to almost run into a group of patients walking their way. They tried to turn around but found that they were coming from all directions.
"Damn it," Victoria muttered, fearing beginning to climb up her spine.
"It's keeping us here so it can get at us," the Doctor explained.
Jack pointed at a group of patients with his blaster and asked if "it" was controlling them.
"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital", the Doctor corrected.
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor. Doc, what you got?" Jack asked after admiring his blaster. Victoria watched with a small grin as the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, but hid it from Jack.
"A sonic, er… oh, nevermind."
"What?"
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that."
"Disrupter?" Jack guessed. "Cannon? What?"
"It's definitely sonic. I am sonic-ed up."
"A sonic what?" Jack urged, his voice sharp with irritation, not looking at him but at a group of patients approaching.
"Screwdriver!" the Doctor exclaimed, and Victoria snorted as Jack turned around immediately, a dumbfounded look on his face. A loud crunch sounded behind them, and she looked over to see the child walking through a fresh hole in the wall.
"Going down!" Rose called out.
As Victoria went to turn and ask her what she meant, the floor disappeared from beneath their feet. A string of curse words flew out of her mouth as they fell down to the next level. She landed on her back, and felt all the air in her body escape me. She closed her eyes in pain as she struggled to catch her breath.
She could hear the others talking, but she didn't bother to try and listen to what they were saying. There was a lot of shuffling, and she could tell that someone had found the light switch.
Victoria vaguely noticed Rose gasping, and the next thing she knew the three were kneeling next to her. "Up and at 'em," Jack said
"You okay?" Rose asked and she nodded slowly.
"Landing on your back from about a fourteen foot fall really freaking sucks," she muttered, beginning to sit up. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at her, checking the damage the fall had.
"It looks like it's just a bruised back, it doesn't seem like you broke anything. I can give you something for that afterwards if you'd like," he said, offering his hand. Victoria took it and let him pull her.
"Mummy," she heard from behind. She saw the look on the group's faces as they looked behind her.
"Run," the Doctor muttered, and they all raced to the door, which just so happened to be locked.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Rose asked from beside her as the Doctor and Jack argued.
"I'll definitely be feeling this for a few days. But I've been through worse," she told her with a grateful smile.
Rose, however, got distracted by Jack's blaster and its inability to hold a charge. As the Doctor soniced the door open, Rose shook her head in disappointment, making Victoria laugh. "That's so lame."
They ran into the next room, and after they all were inside, the Doctor slammed the door shut and soniced it locked. "I was gonna send for another one but somerone blew up the factory," Jack threw the Doctor a dirty look from his spot by a window.
"Oh, I know, the first day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates," Rose pointed over at the Doctor, a teasing grin on her face.
"Okay, the door should hold for a bit," the Doctor said, moving away from the door, ignoring the jab.
"The door? The wall couldn't even stop it!" Jack mentioned.
"Well, it's gotta find us first! Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!"
"Well, I've got a banana, and at a pinch you could put up some shelves," Jack responded, his sarcasm scalding.
Victoria stood against the wall with Rose, watching Jack and the Doctor walk around. The Doctor ran up to the window to inspect the bars when Jack told him that it was seven stories off the ground.
"And no other exits," Rose muttered.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?"
"So, where'd you pick these two up, then?" the Doctor asked Rose, gesturing at Jack and Victoria.
She crossed her arms and glared at him, not appreciating how he was treating her and Jack. Well, she unfortunately understood his problem with Jack. But she hadn't done anything.
"Doctor…" Rose trailed off with a glare.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance," Jack called out, and Victoria rolled her eyes. She knew he was a flirt, but this is disgusting.
"Okay, one, we want to get out of here," the Doctor began to list but Victoria's attention was on Jack. Or rather, the lack of him. "Is there anything I'm missing?"
"Yeah, Jack's gone," she grumbled. She can't believe he just left her like that. The Doctor looked over at Jack's empty seat in surprise before grumbling like her. He shook his head before sitting down.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" Rose asked, not noticing the frown that showed up on the Doctor's face.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted," the Doctor retorted, looking up at the blonde. Victoria couldn't fight the small bit of jealousy gnawing at her. In the moment, she finally understood Rose's anger towards the Doctor and her when she found out that he told her all about his past. She never truly understood how close they were before she arrived, but she could see it now.
"I mean… men," Rose waved her hand dismissively.
"Okay, thanks. That really helped," the Doctor smiled at her sarcastically.
"Victoria? Rose? Doctor? Can you hear me?" Jack's voice called out, albeit somewhat staticy. "I'm back on my ship."
"Some warning would have been nice," Victoria snapped at him, somewhat hurt that he left her behind.
"Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you," he apologized. She rolled her eyes, but stayed silent. "It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it, hang in there."
"How are you talking to us?" the Doctor asked, moving the ripped out wires from the radio he was speaking through.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grille."
"Now there's a coincidence," the Doctor commented.
"What?"
"The child can Om-Com too."
"Really?" Victoria asked, looking over at him.
"Anything with a speaker grille. Even the TARDIS phone," he said, and she assumed that meant the child had called him earlier through that phone.
"What, you mean the Child can phone us?" Rose asked, and Victoria could hear a small hint of hysterics in her voice.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiiind you," the Child took over the com, and she felt chills run up her arms.
"Doctor, can you hear that?"
"Loud and clear."
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do," he told them.
"Remember this one, Rose?" he asked, causing Victoria and the Doctor to look over at Rose with raised eyebrows.
'Moonlight Serenade' by Glenn Miller began filling the air, and Victoria wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh at Rose's blush or grimace at the thought of what the two had done together.
"Our Song," she smiled, somewhat embarrassed. The Doctor nodded his head, but he was obviously not pleased by that. After a moment of silence, he walked over to the window that Victoria was standing by.
"Is there any way to loosen the bars?" she asked, watching him study the information coming from his sonic.
"I might be able to set up a resonation pattern, but I'm not certain it'll work."
"So even you don't think Jack will be back?" Rose asked as she swiveled around in a wheelchair, obviously bored.
Victoria shook her head as she pulled her jacket tighter around herself. "I never said that. But who knows how long it'll take. It doesn't hurt to try instead of waiting around."
"Well," the Doctor began, looking back to Rose for a moment. "I wouldn't bet my life on him coming back."
"Why don't you trust him?" Rose asked, causing him to stop again.
"Why do you?" he retorted.
"Saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing," she trailed off, waiting for the Doctor to respond.
"I trust him 'cos he's like you. Except with dating and dancing," Rose added after a moment.
Victoria smiled wistfully to herself, knowing how wrong she was. He didn't date often, but he loved every companion, perhaps some in more ways than one, herself included. Okay, so maybe he doesn't dance, but he at least dates.
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked, breaking her from her thoughts.
"Of course. Why do you ask?" she responded, tilting her head to the side as she looked at him.
"That look on your face says otherwise. Add on your little episode back in the hospital, and I'd say that you aren't," he told her.
She tried to respond, she really did. But every time she opened my mouth, nothing came out. She was sure that she looked just like a fish out of water.
After a moment, she felt like she found the words she was looking for. "I miss my family is really all it is. We… learned some life changing news recently and it's been hard on all of us. We all agreed that we needed to spend some time apart, which is why I ended up with Jack." she told him, tugging at the zipper on her jacket.
He placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure everything will be alright. Right, Rose?" he asked, turning to look at the blonde. She smiled and nodded.
"Of course!"
Victoria smiled gratefully at him, reaching up and patting his hand that was on her shoulder. "Thank you."
With that, she removed his hand and walked over to where Jack had sat earlier, taking a seat and closing her eyes, tuning in and out of the pair's conversation. From what she gathered, the Doctor wanted to know how and why her hands were okay after falling from a barrage balloon. All on top of that, they were dancing together around the room.
She was shocked when she sudden loss of her seat, especially when she landed straight on her butt. "Oh come on. Can't I just get a break?" she cried out, rubbing her butt briefly from the pain. She glanced around and saw Jack laughing at her a few feet away.
"Where are Rose and the Doctor?" she asked, looking around.
"I almost got 'em. I just wanted to get you first," he smiled at her, holding out a hand to help her up.
"Thanks for that. The flirting, it's way too much," she grumbled, moving to sit in the co-pilot seat as Jack got back to work.
"I think someone's jealous," he said with a sing-song voice, causing her to roll her eyes.
"I think not. I just don't want to be a third wheel."
"Sure, that's what's the problem," he teased, and in that moment she wished that she had something to throw at him.
"Oh, just get them already," she glared, only partially annoyed. She snapped her fingers, letting the nanogenes in the ship take care of her bruised butt and back while Jack got to work. It was silent for a moment before there was a small popping noise that filled the air as the Doctor and Rose were teleported to the ship.
"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked," he told Rose, standing incredibly close together, swaying slightly as they danced.
"Yeah?" she smiled. "Shame I missed that."
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock," Jack butted in, startling the pair. "Most people notice when they've been teleported. But anyway, sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security,"
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is," the Doctor remarked, looking at Jack distastefully.
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous," he smirked, causing Rose to smile. "Like I told her, 'Be back in five minutes'." Victoria grimaced as he ducked into a compartment under the console and the Doctor began inspecting the ship.
"This is a chula ship," he commented after a moment. From his spot under the console, Jack responded with "Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only, this one is dangerous."
The Doctor then snapped his fingers, causing nanogenes to surround his hand. "They're what fixed up my hand! Jack called 'em…" Rose trailed off, trying to remember.
"Nanogenes," Victora supplied, and was on the receiving end of an appreciative smile.
"Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed, all better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws," the Doctor added, waving his hand to get rid of the nanogenes. "Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk," he told Jack who had come back from under the console.
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online," Jack began. "Make yourself comfortable. I'd say carry on with what you were doing, but I don't particularly want to see that."
"We were talking about dancing," the Doctor defended himself.
"It didn't look like talking," Jack responded, throwing Victoria a not so subtle glance that had her wanting to face palm.
"Didn't feel like dancing," Rose muttered, giving the Doctor a look who returned the look.
He shook his head and nodded at Victoria, telling her it was time for their little chat. She sighed and walked over to him, letting Rose take her seat next to Jack.
"Back in the Child's room, how could you sense it?" he questioned, a cold, cautious look in his eyes.
"That's pretty personal, don't you think?" Victoria questioned sharply, pulling her jacket tight to her body. Of course she felt guilty for how she was responding, but this was the only way around him finding out prematurely.
He opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off. "I don't know you, so I don't see why I should tell you something that personal." He snapped his mouth shut and his face set into a frown. She didn't like seeing him look so… sad and pouty.
"Maybe if you buy me a pint later, I tell you a bit more about myself," she added with a small joking smile so hopefully he wouldn't be so grumpy now. Her grin grew wider as she saw a small grin pull at his lips. "Maybe."
His gaze then moved from her over to Rose and Jack, signaling the end of our conversation, and Victoria's smile quickly dropped.
"Your friend over there doesn't trust me. And for all I know... he's right not to. But Victoria, she trusts me too much," Jack said, nodding in Victoria's direction without looking.
"Okay, we're good to go," Jack told the Doctor as a beep came from the console, causing him to sit up straighter. "Crash site?"
The Doctor walked over and stood by Jack and talked to him quietly as he flew the ship to the site. Victoria stood up and started getting all of her belongings together, which wasn't a lot. Thanks to the Doctor and the bigger on the inside bag, Victoria was able to keep her few pairs of clothes, vortex manipulator, and her journal with her at all times.
Thank god Jack was from the fifty-first century since he had a quick and easy way of washing clothes. She couldn't help curse her dad for holding out on her as she grew up, hiding all the cool inventions he knew from home. There was no way he wouldn't be hearing about this when she got back.
"Whatcha doing?" Rose asked, startling her.
"Oh, I'm getting my bag together."
"Wait, you're leaving?" Rose asked, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise at the blonde's interest.
"I already told you guys, I'm heading home once this is all over, so I was getting my things together." she told them, lifting up her small bag to show the Doctor and Jack who had been watching from the side.
With that, she pulled the strings of the bag and closed it tightly before pushing it into her pocket. Once she was sure it was deep in there, she turned to the others to see Rose watching with wide eyes.
"How'd it fit in there?" she asked, and Victoria noticed how the Doctor gazed at her pocket.
"Oh, you know…" she said, picking at her thumb nail slightly. "The pocket's bigger than it looks."
When no one said anything after that, Victoria sighed and walked to the door. "Shall we?"
Jack took the lead while Victoria stayed back near Rose, trying their best to stay as quiet as possible.
"There it is," he told them. His face grew worried as he noticed a man pacing the platform. "Ay, they've got Algy on duty. Must be important."
"We gotta get past," the Doctor said, scanning the area.
"The words 'distract the guard' head in my general direction," Rose said, causing Jack to shake his head.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea."
"I can handle it," Rose told him.
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me. You're not his type. I'll distract him," Jack replied, walking away from them. "Don't wait up!"
"Jack," Victoria hissed, moving to run after him, but was shocked to have the Doctor grab her arm, stopping her in her place.
"He'll be fine," the Doctor reassured before looking over at Rose. "He's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."
"How flexible?" Rose asked with a grin.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy."
"Meaning?"
"So many species, so little time," the Doctor grinned suggestively.
Victoria turned away from the two and pretended to throw up. No one wants to hear about how much her dad gets laid, and that felt "What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and... and…" Rose struggled to find the right word.
"Dance," the Doctor finished for her.
"You guys, now isn't the time," Victoria moaned, watching Jack intently.
"Oh, come on, Victoria. Surely you've danced a bit?" Rose asked with a teasing grin.
She couldn't stop the head from rushing to her cheeks at Rose's words. "W-What? I… uh… No I haven't. I haven't actually, you know, danced," she stuttered, refusing to look at the two.
"No way! So you have a boyfriend but you haven't...?" she pressed on.
"Well, that's the thing. It's quite complicated, Rose. We're just…" Victoria trailed off, the humor in her voice fading as she watched Algy's face turn into a gas mask in horror.
The three of them rushed over to Jack and Algy, who was now lying on the ground, not breathing.
"It's airborne now, and it's excellerating. There's nothing we can do to keep us safe," the Doctor said.
"The raid should be starting any minute now," Victoria said, looking up at the sky to see planes moving in. Just then, the sirens began going off, and people rushed out of their houses.
"Did you say a bomb was going to land here?" Rose asked slowly in horror, looking at Jack who simply nodded.
"Never mind about that. If the contaminants are air-borne now, there's hours left," the Doctor told Rose.
In the distance, just barely, Victoria could hear a woman singing. It seemed to be coming from a shed somewhere nearby. "For what?" Jack asked.
"'Til nothing. 'Til forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" the Doctor asked, looking between the three of them. Victoria nodded, and pointed in the direction of the singing.
The Doctor listened for a moment before walking towards the noise. Rose, Jack, and Victoria stayed back in the doorway as the Doctor slipped inside. Handcuffed to a table was a girl, probably Rose's age, singing 'Rock-A-Bye-Baby'.
Across the table from her was a soldier that had grown a mask, fast asleep. The Doctor worked quickly, and as quietly as possible, to get the girl out of the handcuffs. Upon them falling, he ushered her out of the shed and they continued on our way to the crash site.
They all walked in silence, the impending doom lingering over them. When they got to the site, Jack and the Doctor walked up to the ship that was covered by a tarp and pulled it off. "You see, just an ambulance," Jack said, gesturing to the ship.
"That's an ambulance?" the girl asked. Rose put her arm around her shoulder and gently explained how it was from another planet.
"They've been trying to get in," Jack said, looking inside.
"What do you mean?" "Of course they have," the Doctor and Victoria spoke at the same time. Jack shook his head as he began punching numbers into the controls.
"They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, the sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll see I had nothing to do with it," Jack muttered as he worked with the controls. As he punched in the last number, the console exploded with sparks, causing an alarm to go off. "That didn't happen last time," Jack said, looking back at the Doctor.
"It hadn't crashed last time. They're the emergency protocols," the Doctor explained, his face growing somewhat cold.
"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked, her voice full of tension. "Doctor!" Rose called out again after not getting a reply.
"What's that noise?" Victoria asked, looking around, having begun to hear some sort of rattling.
"Captain, secure those gates!" the Doctor ordered, ignoring the girls' questions.
"Why?" he asked, his face scrunching up in confusion.
"Just do it!"
"Now Nancy, how'd you get in?" the Doctor asked.
"I cut the wire."
"Show Rose," he said, tossing his sonic to her. "Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D."
"What?"
"It reattaches barbed wire. Now go," Victoria said off handedly, moving to look closer at the ambulance, but that alarmed the Doctor. He reached out and grabbed her arm. "How'd you know that?
"You're not the only person I know with a sonic screwdriver, Doctor," Victoria snapped, pulling her arm out of his grip. Without waiting for an answer, she moved forward and kept looking.
The Doctor was all over the place, it was beginning to drive her slightly crazy. One minute he's all nice to her and the next he's cold and bitter. She'd witness him act like this to others, but hadn't given it much thought due to how he treated her and Rose.
It didn't take long for Jack to close the gates and to return to the ship. He looked between the Doctor and Victoria, neither of them having spoken since he questioned her, before shaking his head. He moved forward and opened the door to the ship."It's empty. Look at it," he said, gesturing into the empty compartment.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose?" the Doctor said, looking at Rose expectantly.
A pit began to form in Victoria's stomach as she looked at the ship longer. "Oh no," she whispered in horror.
"I dunno," she told him.
"Yes, you do," he said, snapping his finger, causing nanogenes to surround his hand.
"Nanogenes!"
Victoria looked over at Jack, the dread and horror in her eyes making him flinch. "It wasn't empty, Jack, there were nanogenes inside waiting to fix someone up."
"There was enough to rebuild a species," the Doctor added, his voice becoming deeper.
"Oh, god," was all Jack could muster as they looked at him.
The Doctor shook his head with a humorless laugh. "Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night and wearing a gasmask."
"And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Rose questioned.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though - these nanogenes - they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do, they patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly - off they go, work to be done. 'Cos you see now they think they know what people should look like and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire Human Race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!" the Doctor explained, progressively getting louder and more aggressive, to the point of almost yelling.
"I didn't know," Jack told him apologetically. However, all the Doctor did was send him a dark, cold glare.
Victoria had moved back to Rose, not wanting to pull the Doctor's attention to herself again. She looked over at Nancy, who was standing a bit away from them, who looked terrified.
"Rose," the girl called out in terror, causing Rose to run over to her immediately. She followed behind, wondering what was happening, to see the patients making their way towards the group.
As Rose went to tell the Doctor, Victoria moved closer to Nancy and wrapped an arm around her, hoping to calm her down.
"Come on, let's see if we can help," Victoria said, and together they walked closer to the ship.
As they approached, they heard the Doctor explaining exactly what was happening.
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old that's looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them."
"Why aren't they attacking," Victoria asked, looking at all the patients surrounding the fences.
"Good little soldiers. Waiting for their commander."
"The Child?" Jack asked, which irritated Nancy.
"Jamie. His name is Jamie, not 'The Child'," she snapped at him.
"So, how long until the bomb drops?" Rose asked, fear obvious in her voice.
"Any second."
The Doctor turned his gaze from Nancy to Jack, becoming annoyed with the man again. "What's the matter, Captain? Bit close to the volcano for you? "
"He's just a little boy," Nancy spoke softly, pain drenching her words.
"I know," the Doctor told her empathetically.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy," she spoke again, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
"I know. There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can," the Doctor said, looking at Nancy intently.
"So what're we gonna do?" Rose called out, drawing the Doctor's attention for a moment.
"I don't know."
"It's my fault," Nancy voiced, the tears beginning to fall.
Victoria shook her head and grabbed her hand comfortingly. "No it's not."
"It is. It's all my fault," she spoke, her voice cracking.
"How can it be your-" the Doctor cut himself off, looking between the patients and Nancy. "Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?" the Doctor asked, causing Victoria to gasp.
Nancy was Jamie's mother, she realized. He wanted her, he wanted his mummy. A loud explosion came from behind them, causing Victoriato flinch. "Doctor, the bomb is gonna drop. We have seconds," Jack tried to tell the Doctor. Victoria let go of Nancy, finding that she'd probably be more helpful to Jack and Rose.
"You can teleport us out," Rose said to Jack with a nod.
He shook his head, his face growing pained. "Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Gonna take too long to override the protocols."
Victoria's eyes widened with horror as Jack looked down at his vortex manipulator. "Jack, no please," she cried out, rushing towards him. "I came here to help you, not to let you kill yourself!"
"So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do," the Doctor told Jack, barely any emotion in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Victoria, but I need to make up for this," he said, grabbing my shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll see you soon."
"Not if you die!" she cried, not wanting him to go. If he died, none of it would ever happen, him raising her, her meeting the Doctor. She would lose her dad for good.
"Thanks for all your help this past month. I don't know if you noticed, but it made a difference," he smiled at her before taking his hand off her shoulder and activating his teleport.
She wouldn't cry, she told herself, but felt strong panic when she realized that her hand was ever so slightly translucent. She reached up and felt a few tears tracking down her face, but she was feeling numb.
She watched as Nancy kneeled down in front of Jamie, crying. "I'm your mummy," she told him repeatedly.
"He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left," the Doctor told the two girls, having walked over as Nancy spoke with the boy.
"Wait, Doctor. Look," Rose said, pointing at the nanogenes beginning to surround Nancy and Jamie as she hugged her child.
"Doctor, it's changing her, we should-" "Rose, shush."
"Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes - figure it out! The mother. She's the mother! There's gotta be enough information, figure it out!" the Doctor spoke to himself, excitement radiating off of him.
"What's happening?" Rose asked again.
"See? Recognizing the same DNA."
They watched as the nanogenes slowly disappeared, leaving the mother and child hugging. They raced over, the Doctor taking the lead, and stared at the two. "Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one". He reached forward and pulled the mask off of Jamie, showing the face of a four year old boy. The Doctor jumps up, laughing ecstatically. "Ah-ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years 'til pop music - you're gonna love it!" the Doctor beamed while pulling Jamie in for a hug.
"What happened?" Nancy asked.
"The nanogenes recognised the superior information - the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Haha!" he laughed again, placing Jamie in front of Nancy. "Mother knows best!"
"Doctor, the bomb," Rose spoke up, hearing a bomb fall somewhere nearby.
"It's been taken care of," the Doctor said with a grin.
"How?"
"Psychology!" he said, gesturing towards Nancy and Jamie. A whirring noise sounded above them, and Victoria looked up to see the bomb falling straight for them. However, before it reached the ground, a bright blue beam shot out of Jack's ship and caught it mid-air. After a moment, Jack popped into the beam as well to look down at them.
"Doctor!"
"Good lad!" the Doctor grinned.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long," Jack explained.
"Change of plan - don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it? As safely as you can?" the Doctor asked, and Jack nodded.
"Victoria?" he called out.
"Yeah?" Victoria asked, the tears welling in her eyes again.
"Thank you for everything. Goodbye," he said before disappearing back into his ship. "Oh, and Rose," he said, reappearing for a moment. "Love the t-shirt. Goodbye." He disappeared once again, and his ship flew away, carrying the bomb. The Doctor then walked a few feet ahead of us and stared intently at his hands. With the snap of a finger, nanogenes flew to his hand, flying around it.
"What are you doing?" Rose asked, moving closer to him.
"Software patch. Gonna email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves," he smiled before throwing his hands out in front of him, causing the nanogenes to fly towards all the patients. Although overwhelmed with sadness and panic, Victoria couldn't help but smile. Here the Doctor was, saving hundreds of lives. She couldn't be prouder of the Doctor for saving everyone.
"Everyone lives, Rose! Everyone lives, Victoria! Just this once, everybody lives!" he smiled brightly, watching as everyone turned back to normal. Rose and Victoria hung back as the Doctor went and talked to a few people in the mix, sharing a smile at the happy ending. "Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?" the Doctor smiled at the two of them as he tinkered with the controls of the ambulance.
"Usually you're the first," Rose grinned. Together, the three of them walked to the TARDIS. On the way, the two had talked about how at the moment the Doctor was beaming like Father Christmas. The Doctor paused right as he was about to push the doors open. He looked back at Victoria with a smile and asked, "Are you ready?"
She simply nodded, smiling lightly as he pushed the doors open for me to see the TARDIS. It looked the same as it did with her Doctor, but perhaps it was just a bit darker.
"She's beautiful," she said, looking over at him with a small smile.
He smiled back before moving to the console, putting in the coordinates for the vortex it seems."Doctor?" Rose asked after a moment.
"Go on, ask me anything! I'm on fire!"
"What about Jack?" she asked softly. "Why'd he say goodbye?"
"Because he was sacrificing himself. He wanted to make up for what he caused. And now he's gone. He's… gone," Victoria's voice cracked, trying to hide how her whole hand was almost completely transparent.
"We can save him! Right, Doctor? We can save Jack?" Rose asked, staring at the Doctor.
"Please, Doctor. He's practically my family. I can't lose him. Not like this," Victoria pleaded. "Please". The Doctor stared at the console, trying to make up his mind.
"Fine," he said quietly after a moment.
"Oh, thank you, Doctor! " she smiled, watching as The Doctor moved around the console, hitting buttons and pulling levers.
Rose stood next to her, watching the Doctor silently. "Thank you," she whispered to her, causing her to grin.
"You're welcome."
Upon arriving at Jack's ship, the Doctor turned on 'Moonlight Serenade' and pulled Rose in for a dance. Victoria got up and rushed to the doors and pulled them open. "Jack," she said, a grin growing on her face. "Come on!" she smiled. He jumped out of his seat and into the TARDIS where she pulled him into a hug. "I'm so glad you're not dead."
"Thanks, Victoria. Me too."
"Close the door, will you? Your ship's about to blow up, there's gonna be a draft," the Doctor called out as he danced, horribly she might add, with Rose around the room. After Jack closed the door, the Doctor and Rose stopped dancing, her going to stand against a pillar and the Doctor to fiddle with the console."Welcome to the TARDIS," the Doctor grinned.
"Much bigger on the inside," Jack said, glancing around the room in awe.
"You'd better be," the Doctor said, patting the console lovingly.
"I think what the Doctor's TRYING to say is... you may cut in," Rose grinned slyly at Jack, holding out a hand for Jack to take.
"Rose, I just remembered!" the Doctor called out.
"What?"
Suddenly, 'In the Mood' begins playing through the speakers, causing the Doctor to snap his fingers along with the beat. "I can dance!"
"Actually, Doctor... I thought Jack might like this dance," Rose told him, but he didn't even react.
"I'm sure Victoria wouldn't mind dancing with him," the Doctor suggested, causing Victoriaand Jack to look at each other. She couldn't help but blanch as they shared a look, and apparently neither could Jack. Obviously the Doctor had feelings for Rose, it was clear as day by the way they looked at each other. And she was guessing the Doctor was jealous and didn't want Rose to 'dance' with Jack.
"You know what," Victoria said, slipping towards the hallway. "I think I'm good for the night. I need to head out tomorrow, so if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna sleep," she said, barely waiting for a response.
The Doctor looked over at her for a moment, telling her that if she asked the TARDIS, she'd show her to a room, but she had barely stayed long enough to hear him speak. She led Victoria to her room, the same one as in her time. "Thank you, Sexy," she smiled, placing a hand on the wall.
The lights in her room glowed brighter and Victoria could hear a hum radiating from the walls. "Good night," she said as she got into bed, not bothering to change into her pjs. Another hum radiated through the air, lulling her to sleep.