Here I am again! Yes, it's been a while, I apologize-this chapter's been a pain to write, and of course COVID is a thing. However, the good news is that from here, the story will start to pick up, and most of the rest of Season 1 is already finished. Enjoy!
One note: In case anyone is upset that Barry is currently dating someone other than Iris, bear in mind that at this point, Iris still sees him as her adoptive brother (he started dating Kara in part because he wanted to try and move on from her). Will she ever awaken to her feelings for him? Well, that's for me to know and you to find out.
"Hiya," the Doctor greeted Barry as he walked into the console room, fresh from a shower and a nap.
"Hey."
Barry watched his friend tinkering with the console for a few seconds before his curiosity took over.
"So how does this work? What does all that stuff do?"
"Those are the telepathic circuits, that's the scanner, there's the conceptual geometer, that's the fast return switch…those are the doors, that's a chair with a panda on it. Poetry! Now stop badgering me, will ya?"
"Sorry."
The Doctor made a few more adjustments, slammed a lever, sonicked the console, and slipped the screwdriver into his pocket.
"Right! There we go, just a bit o'basic maintenance. Where to now?"
As if on cue, Barry's phone dinged, and he pulled it out. It was a text from his girlfriend.
Did you see the spaceship going into Big Ben?
Wide-eyed, he held it out to the Doctor, who looked back up at him, then grinned. "Fantastic!"
Moments later (relatively speaking), a quiet spot behind the physics building at Central City University was quiet no longer as a wind picked up and a wheezing, groaning noise emanated seemingly from nowhere, along with the transparent shape of a box, which rapidly solidified into existence, frightening a pigeon into startled flight. Barely had the sound of the engines died away when Barry popped his head out.
"Looks like October 2005," he shrugged, and the Doctor, following, shot him a look of mock-hurt.
"Barry Allen, would I land you in the wrong time?"
"Well, seeing as you literally just did that…I mean, you said Naples in 1860, not Cardiff in 1869!"
"What's wrong with Cardiff?" the Doctor asked, pulling the doors closed behind him. "Thought you had fun meetin' Charles Dickens and all."
"Well, yeah, aside from being locked in a dungeon and nearly murdered by psychotic alien ghosts!"
"Occupational hazard," the Doctor shrugged, still grinning. He sniffed and looked around.
"So, who's this girlfriend of yours?"
"Her name's Kara," Barry said as he led the way towards the student dorms. "We've been friends since high school. Actually, she was pretty much my only friend outside of Iris. Everyone else thinks I'm the son of a murderer. And…hey!"
A young woman hurried around the corner, and Barry jumped into her arms. They shared a deep snog before he came up for air.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"Hey! Doctor, this is Kara. Kara, this is…"
"Oh my goodness," she breathed, her eyes going from Barry to the TARDIS. "You're the Doctor?"
"Yup. That's me."
"You've been traveling with the Doctor?'" Kara demanded, swatting his arm. "And you didn't tell me?"
"Well, no, I just started, I mean, we met...uh, yesterday, I guess from my point of view. And, uh, what's the date today?"
"October 14th, 2005," she told him.
"A week ago, linear time. Huh."
"See!" the Doctor said. "Told ya I got the date right."
Kara raised her eyebrows, and Barry explained about their previous trip.
"Cardiff's not that bad," Kara said thoughtfully. "Sarah Jane brought me there a couple years ago when I visited to meet a friend of hers."
"Sarah Jane?" the Doctor asked. "Did you say Sarah Jane?"
"Yeah. She misses you, you know," Kara said, folding her arms under her breasts. "Said you dropped her off and never came back."
For the first time in their acquaintance, Barry saw an emotion quite like shame cross the Doctor's face.
"Well, I always meant to…"
"In Aberdeen."
"Aberdeen? Well, nothing wrong with that, is there? Lovely place."
"Doctor, she lived in Croydon."
"Right. Well, that's next to Aberdeen, isn't it?"
Kara facepalmed. "Is he usually like this?" she asked Barry.
"More or less."
"I thought she'd be happier," the Doctor broke in. "Had her own life on Earth."
"So is that what happens?" Barry asked. "We just get dumped back here after a while?"
"No," the Doctor promised. "I couldn't…my planet didn't allow humans then. And she had her own life to live."
Kara looked at him, but didn't say anything further.
"So, uh, you mentioned a spaceship going into Big Ben?" Barry asked.
"Yeah, it was all over the news."
"Show me," the Doctor ordered.
Barry sucked in his breath as he leaned over Kara's shoulder, watching the shaky YouTube video of a spaceship diving and weaving throughout the city, narrowly avoiding several buildings. It did not, however, quite manage to avoid Big Ben, and he winced as the edge clipped the tower, sending masonry tumbling down.
"Poor old Big Ben," the Doctor muttered.
"Technically, it's St. Stephen's Tower," Barry piped up. "Big Ben is actually the bell itself, not the tower, and…"
He trailed off under the Doctor's raised eyebrow. "Sorry."
"Nerd," Kara snorted.
"Oh, right, like you're not just as nerdy as I am," Barry shot back.
"Barry, no one is as nerdy as you are," she smiled.
"Thank you."
He bowed, and she giggled.
"Right!" the Doctor interrupted. "We need to find out more about that spaceship."
"Did you know this was going to happen?" Barry asked him.
"Nope."
"Do you recognize the ship?"
"Nope."
"Do you know why it crashed?"
"Nope!"
"Real goldmine of information you are," Barry rolled his eyes.
"This is what I travel for!" the Doctor exclaimed. "To see history happening right in front of us."
"Okay, well, let's go then! Grab the TARDIS and take a look!" Barry exclaimed. The Doctor, however, warned against it, pointing out that with the world on alert, even the TARDIS wouldn't be as inconspicuous as usual.
"Well then," Kara smiled. "I think I have just the thing."
Moments later, the TARDIS materialized at 13 Bannerman Road, Ealing, and the two teenagers hurried out.
"Right place and time twice in a row!" Barry exclaimed, mock-congratulatory. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"So how'd you know Sarah Jane, then?"
Barry and Kara traded a look.
"I'm an alien," she stated matter-of-factly. "From Krypton. My cousin and I…we're the last. Our world burned."
"I know the feeling," the Doctor said quietly, as Barry thought of standing on Platform One, watching the Earth be enveloped by fire.
"My cousin, he got to Earth first. He landed in Sarah Jane's back garden. She said she'd met my uncle Jor-El. I landed in the States about a dozen years later, but she was busy with her own adventures, so I've been living with the Danvers family. We moved to Central City, and, well…"
"That's how we met," Barry said, smiling at his girlfriend. "We went to high school together. One night I was looking out through my telescope, and I saw her flying."
Kara smiled back.
"Then, a little later, I happened to see our sheriff smuggling drugs across the border. He kidnapped me, was going to kill me. Kara saved me."
"And you got together."
"Yup!"
"Sarah Jane was like another mom to me," Kara confided. "She inspired me and Clark to study journalism. That's where he is now, up at St. Luke's in Bristol."
"Kara?" a woman's voice called. "What…"
She came around the corner then, leather jacket thrown casually over one arm. The women hugged one another before Sarah Jane turned around.
"Hi, Barry. Who's this?"
"Sarah Jane, this is…this is the Doctor."
"Hello, Sarah Jane," the Time Lord said quietly, his gaze intense. She gasped.
"It's you. Oh my God, it's you. It's really you."
She moved forward, hesitantly, and put a hand on his arm. "You've regenerated," she added with a shaky smile.
"Almost half a dozen times, yeah," he nodded.
"You look…fantastic," she breathed. "Well, apart from the ears."
"Oi!" the Doctor protested. "What's wrong with the ears?"
"They make you look like Dumbo," Kara muttered sotto voce, but neither of the adults paid any attention, while Barry had a sudden coughing fit.
"So do you," the Doctor smiled in response to Sarah Jane's last comment.
"I got old," she sniffed. "What are you doing here?"
"Aliens crashing into Big Ben? How could I resist?"
"You never change, do you?" she asked, shaking her head. "All those regenerations, you're still always sticking your nose into trouble."
"Like you can talk," the Doctor shot back, and they both grinned again, before Sarah Jane sobered.
"I thought you'd died! I waited for you, and I thought you would've come back, and I thought you must've died!"
"I lived," the Doctor told her quietly. "Everyone else died."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone died, Sarah."
"What do you mean?"
Barry's heart clenched. I'm a Time Lord, the Doctor's voice echoed in his memory. I'm the last of the Time Lords.
"Never mind," Sarah Jane shook her head. "Right, come on in, both of you. So you're his new companion?" she asked Barry.
"Yeah."
"Good for you."
"Wow," Barry breathed as he looked around Sarah Jane's attic. Memorabilia, alien artifacts, books, and knickknacks cluttered the shelves, and a grandfather clock stood against one wall.
"Fantastic!" the Doctor said, looking around.
"Well, I learned from the best," she smiled back.
"Where's K9?" he asked, looking around.
"Oh," she nodded towards a panel on one wall. "He's behind there, sealing off a black hole. I get to see him every once in a while. Anyway! Mr. Smith, I need you!"
For a second, Barry thought someone's cell phone had gone off, but then realized that the musical tone was coming from the brick wall on his right, which folded out with a hiss of steam to reveal an alien-looking supercomputer, colorful tessellations folding into one another on the screen. Barry had to restrain himself from jumping up and down.
"Dude, you have a steampunk super-computer in your wall? That is so awesome!"
"I am not steampunk," the computer said in an affronted tone. "I am a Xylok."
"Anyway," Sarah Jane put in, as the Doctor's eyes narrowed for a moment, then returned to a blank expression. "Mr. Smith, this is the Doctor, and Kara's boyfriend Barry Allen."
"Hey," Barry waved.
"A pleasure," the computer answered.
"Do you recognize the ship that came down?" she asked. "What species it came from?"
"It is unclear. Many of the ship's elements can be found on a variety of planets. Most likely it was cobbled together from acquired parts. I have also traced its trajectory, and found something interesting."
"Go on," Sarah Jane ordered.
"The ship did not come from outside of Earth. It left the planet earlier today, performed a slingshot maneuver, and then came back in."
"What does that mean?" Barry asked. The others shared a look.
"It means they were already here," Kara said quietly. "Which means…"
"This wasn't an accidental crash landing," the Doctor breathed. "It was deliberate! Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?"
"Mr. Smith picked up a satellite signal three days ago," Sarah Jane told them. "The North Sea, a hundred fathoms down. We were going to investigate…"
"Of course," the Doctor put in. "It's a diversion, a massive diversion. But for what?"
"News reports indicate that there is a gathering of alien experts at 10 Downing Street," Mr. Smith told them. "Would you like to see?"
"It's being televised?" Barry asked.
"No, but there should be a security camera in the room. It would be highly encrypted and very difficult to hack into."
Wait for it, Kara mouthed to Barry, as Sarah Jane rolled her eyes.
"I'm in."
"Nice going!" the Doctor exclaimed, as a picture spun into life on the computer's screen. It showed a woman in a military uniform, with a nameplate reading Muriel Frost, addressing about a dozen other soldiers, scientists, and a guy in a suit.
"Joseph Green, MP," Sarah Jane whispered.
"…it was discovered that the so-called alien was only a normal pig with a little alien technology in its brain."
"Hoaxed alien, deliberate crash-landing…" the Doctor muttered.
"Clearly, they want to draw attention to themselves," Sarah Jane remarked. "Which is not how you usually do an alien invasion."
"Could it be a diversion for something else, something bigger?" Barry asked.
"It would help if we knew more about the spaceship," Kara put in. "Mr. Smith, what happened to it?"
"It is currently in UNIT custody."
"Whose?" Barry asked.
"UNIT," the Doctor told him absent-mindedly as he watched the alien experts bicker. "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people. I used to work with them, back in the day."
"Too many guns for my taste," Sarah Jane put in, and the Doctor smiled at her. On the screens, another general, this one a man whose girth stretched his uniform, let out an enormous fart. Barry sniggered.
"I have to thank you all for coming," he announced. "It's ever so convenient, having you all in one place."
He reached up to his forehead.
"What is he doing?" the Doctor asked, frowning.
The general unzipped his own skin, and a huge green alien began to wriggle out as the room filled with blue light and the laughter of the guy in the suit.
"We are the Slitheen," it purred. "Thank you all for wearing your ID cards. They'll help to identify the bodies."
The man in the suit held up a remote activation switch, and every other human in the room screamed as an electrical pulse from their badges washed over them. Barry clenched his teeth and looked away. Kara grabbed his hand and squeezed hard enough to hurt, and he squeezed back as they clung to each other.
Mercifully, it was over quickly, and after a few seconds, the only sound in the room was the man and the alien cackling together. As they watched, the man reached up to his forehead, and another alien emerged from inside his skin with the same crackle of blue light.
"How goes the plan?" the Slitheen asked the human.
"Excellently. All we need is for the United Nations to turn the codes over to us, and we'll be rolling."
"Should I send the signal?"
"Yes," the one who had been Joseph Green smirked. "Let the galaxy know that the family Slitheen are open for business again! I'll make the announcement on TV, and then we'll gather in my office."
"What is it the humans say? Ashes to ashes, dust to dust?"
They both collapsed into giggles. Barry discretely massaged his hand.
"Turn it off," Sarah Jane ordered, and Mr. Smith complied.
"Oh," the Doctor breathed. "Of course."
"What?" Barry asked.
"If aliens fake an alien invasion, what do they get?"
"Total panic," Sarah Jane said quietly.
"Exactly," the Doctor nodded. "Mr. Smith, can you get a handle on that signal they said they're sending? It'll tell us exactly what they're planning."
"One moment."
"I love working with him," the Doctor said to Sarah Jane, who grinned.
"He's great, isn't he?"
"Where'd you get him?"
"Oh, an archaeologist friend of mine dug him up. I built the computer itself, though."
"Fantastic!"
He turned to face the others. "I've heard of the Slitheen before, never met them, though."
"Me too!" Kara exclaimed. "Mom mentioned them to me. She said they were rogues, interstellar scoundrels who steal and murder from other species after they got kicked off their own planet. It was called something funny."
"Raxacoricofallapatorius," the Xylok computer chimed in.
"Gesundheit," Barry said. Kara giggled.
"No, that's the name of the planet."
"Oh. Right. I knew that."
"'Scuse me," the Doctor broke in. "Would you mind not flirtin' while I'm trying to save the world?"
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
"Right. Where were we? Oh, yes. Now. Mr. Smith?"
The supercomputer spoke up. "As a family, the Slitheen have a long history of theft, murder, larceny, and other crimes."
"And they've set their sights on Earth," the Doctor summed up.
"Doctor?" Kara piped up. "What codes were they talking about?"
"The UN has authority over the different countries' nuclear weapons," he explained. "Can only be released to a country in case of emergency."
"I have decoded the signal," Mr. Smith announced. "They are offering radioactive material at premium prices."
"Oh no," Sarah Jane gasped.
"Nuclear war," the Doctor nodded, his eyes chips of cold blue ice. "They'll get the codes, pretend to launch the missiles at some alien threat, and instead launch 'em at every other nation. You lot, you're on edge anyway. They'll retaliate, and boom, World War Three."
Barry summed up the situation in language that would've made Joe wash out his mouth with soap.
"Is there any way we can expose them?" Kara asked, but the Doctor shook his head.
"There are a couple of tell-tale signs," Mr. Smith put in. "There will be a zipper in the forehead, and they will be overweight. The exchange is also unstable."
"Meaning what?"
"Lots of gas," the Doctor said succinctly. Barry sniggered, and Kara punched his arm.
"UNIT also have some handheld alien scanners," Sarah Jane told them. "They should be able to detect that kind of thing."
"What, flatulence?" Barry asked innocently, and the two women rolled their eyes.
"So what do we do?" Kara asked. The Doctor looked around at the computer.
"Mr. Smith, I need you to place a call to the PM's office. We give them one chance."
"Very well."
Unsurprisingly, it was fruitless, and the small group turned to one another once the Slitheen hung up on them.
"Fine," the Doctor said grimly. "Mr. Smith, hack into the Royal Navy. Use the password buffalo."
"Buffalo?"
The Doctor looked very slightly sheepish. "I was a bit bored one night at UNIT."
"So you decided to hack into the Royal Navy?" Sarah Jane asked, raising her eyebrows.
"And this is the guy you say is a good role model?" Kara put in.
"He has his moments."
"Look, you never know when you might need to use your friend's alien supercomputer to avert an alien invasion!" the Doctor insisted. "It happens more often than you'd think."
"I am in," Mr. Smith announced.
"Right. Select a missile."
They watched Mr. Smith's computer representation of a submarine launching a sub-harpoon missile.
"You're going to blow up Downing Street?"
"Doctor, there's a lot of innocents in there!"
"UNIT will get everyone else out," the Doctor shook his head. "I'll call them and let them know what to expect. Mr. Smith, it'll be showin' up on radar any minute now. Keep them from neutralizing it."
"Done."
They watched the graphic representation of the missile on Mr. Smith's screen soar over the countryside, swoop over London, dive in…and detonate. The Doctor walked in from the other room, switching off Barry's mobile and tossing it back to him.
"UNIT had already evacuated the building. They've told the United Nations what's happenin', and they'll work with the government, get things settled."
"Good," Sarah Jane smiled. "Crisis over."
"What's for dinner?" Barry asked. Everyone turned to look at him.
"What? I'm a growing boy."
"Oh, you've redecorated," Sarah Jane smiled as she looked around the inside of the TARDIS.
"Do you like it?" the Doctor asked, leaning over the console.
"Oh, I, I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but er, yeah. It'll do."
"I've reprogrammed Mr. Smith," the Doctor told them. "Xyloks are a nasty race. Infamous for their cunning. You don't hear about them much since they don't get to do a whole lot, being crystals an' all, but once in a while one'll get into a robot body or something and start wreakin' havoc. Ace and I went up against one a while back."
"She sends her love," Sarah Jane told him, and the Doctor smiled fondly.
"Another old companion?" Barry asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, that's all taken care of. Now his mission's to protect the Earth. Oh, and I left you a couple of gifts with him, too."
Sarah Jane embraced him. "Barry, Kara, could we have a minute alone?"
"Sure."
Barry squeezed her hand, and they headed outside, leaning against the outside wall of the TARDIS. She put her head on his shoulder, and for a few minutes, they simply enjoyed each other's presence; two lonely children who had, against all odds, found one another.
"You could come with us," Barry offered tentatively. "Out, you know, into time and space."
Kara was silent a moment, but then she shook her head without lifting it from his shoulder.
"I'd love to," she told him. "But Earth needs someone to take care of it when you're out there. America gets aliens too. You remember that Naltorian poet we helped send home last year?"
"Yeah."
"Sarah Jane always says life on Earth can be an adventure too. And…yeah, I want to go into space more than anything. But I was a Kryptonian, and now I'm living on Earth…and I think it's time I put down some roots. You keep me rooted, Barry. You, and Clark, and the Danvers...you keep me rooted."
She turned to face him, taking his hands in hers. "You, though, Barry, you're always searching. Ever since we first met, you've been looking for the impossible, for what happened the night your mom was killed, all that stuff. So go out into space and time, and explore. Find yourself. And when you're ready…come home to me."
"I will," he promised. "Always."
"I'll be waiting."
And their lips found one another's, as the sun shone down and the wind blew and the Earth, still in one piece, turned beneath them. Far above, the stars waited, but for now, for those two, all that mattered was each other.
Yes, Barry took the place of Kenny from the Supergirl episode "Midvale." Plus, those two just have so much chemistry, it's so easy to write. If it seems like there's too many contrived coincidences...trust me, there is an in-universe reason, though that won't be apparent for a while.
Now, honestly: Real reason Kara won't be traveling with them? She's just too OP. Once Barry gets his speed, that's enough of a story-breaker as it is; adding someone who's bulletproof, super-strong, etc is just going to ruin things.
And for anyone who's curious, Croydon is a few hundred miles from Aberdeen. Whoops.
As always, please let me know what you liked, what you didn't, etc, and let me know if you want to beta. Stay safe, everyone! See you soon.
