Accepting the Monks offer was not an option, so finding out what was happening was the best way forward. They didn't have much time left, so Danni let her husband pace through the room, watching the way his brain ticked over every possibility he could think of as she sat back and thought over everything that didn't feel right.
That had always been their strategy. He'd rush in and see the bigger picture and she would always point out the one thing he was missing that she had noticed all along. If it wasn't war that was going to end the planet, it had to be something else. The Monks themselves weren't going to interfere unless given 'consent' so that meant it wasn't them either. Was it another alien invasion? They seemed rather powerful so maybe they were there to stop someone else invading? Even that didn't feel right. The Monks wanted love, not war, so engaging in a battle for another planet didn't seem to fit their profile at all.
Was it the fact that they were all still in some sort of simulation, and Doomsday was the moment they turned it off? Was it all a massive trick to get them to agree so that when they all woke up in the real world then they'd have agreed to the control they wanted? But that wasn't proper consent either, and they'd burnt up the Secretary-General for less, so that didn't feel right either.
The thought of invasions, and captivity, and simulations kept pulling her mind back to the Vault underneath the university. It was very predictable, and at the point both exasperating and boring, but Danni couldn't keep her mind from wandering back to Missy any more than she normally could. Did the Monks factor her into their simulations? Would the Vault have even allowed them to know that she was there? How long, under Monk control, could they ensure that she never escaped? Was there a chance that the Monks would let her out? It wasn't as if Missy didn't have a backup plan at all times, after all.
And then there was the Master, who had emailed her to say that he was trying to help. Maybe that was Missy's backup plan. Maybe she was getting her younger self to break her free by tricking her former captive into helping him. He'd never helped anyone but himself, after all. Except, of course, for when he'd saved the universe from the Time Lords. And the time he'd saved her from Rassilon by shoving her back into the universe…
With a shake of her head, she desperately tried to focus on what the Doctor was saying. Ultimately it was the humans who were the most danger to themselves, they'd probably managed to breed some sort of deadly virus that would wipe out the planet, or something. They didn't need the likes of the Master, or Missy, to do it for them. They were very capable all on their own.
"The trick with misdirection, don't look where the arrow is pointing, look where it's pointing away from," the Doctor was saying and she realised she'd missed the beginning of the conversation by falling into her head. He hadn't seemed to notice, nor complained about her letting him run the show despite giving her the President of the World title. "So, what's already on our radar that we should be worried about right now? Forget about war. What else could end the world?"
Nardole shot out his chair in the quickest move Danni thought she'd ever seen him make. "Bacteria!" he cried and the Doctor nodded.
"I like the sound of that."
"New strain of flu? Plague?" Xiaolian offered up. Danni had to keep a little smile to herself. It seemed she might have stumbled on the problem without even realising it. She was so smart sometimes.
"People can be immune. And whatever it is will kill all life on Earth, not just humans," the Doctor replied and she deflated somewhat. Well, she had been part way there. "Plague discriminates. So this isn't a plan, it's a mistake. Somebody, somewhere, is doing something that's about to blow up in everybody's face." He started walking around the room, using the sonic sunglasses on each of the monitors in the room.
"What are you doing?" Ilya asked him.
"The distraction tells us that whatever's coming is already on a watchlist. I just put all the top-secret intelligence documents in the world online in searchable format."
"What!" Brabbit exclaimed, alarmed.
"Sit down and google," the Doctor replied. Bill rushed over to a computer, very happy that the Doctor might be on the way to finding a different solution that saying 'yes' to the Monks. Danni pulled out her phone and began searching away as well. It was a bit strange, really, that she was the President of the World and yet it was the Doctor giving out orders to everyone. Maybe it was just a trophy title and the Doctor was really the one in charge.
Bill shook her head to herself. She would have never bet, not in a million years, that she would be sat in a UN pop-up office pondering the legitimacy of the title President of the World. Her life was completely bonkers.
The Doctor appeared at Danni's side, looking over at her phone to pretend that he could see what was on the screen. "Anything, Madam President?" he asked her.
She shook her head. "You've given us a lot of material to go through, but nothing yet," she replied. "There's hundreds of thousands of people working on anything bacteria related all across the globe. Got anything to narrow it down in that big old brain of yours?"
"That's what I was hoping your brain could do, my Pet," he replied, placing a kiss on her hair. One day he'd be able to see her face again, to see the looks she would send him when she was slightly exasperated.
"No pressure, then," she murmured.
"Ah, well, we both work well under pressure," he declared. "Keep going. Follow that gut of yours."
Unfortunately for him, her gut just wanted to jump in the TARDIS and run away. It wasn't that she didn't want to help, of course she did she was rather fond of the planet in general, but she just wanted to help from a safe distance. Maybe in Bristol, under the university, where she could keep an eye on the other danger to the world whilst fighting this one.
"Doctor, listen," Brabbit started and the Doctor looked over at him.
"What?"
"Isn't it worth at least just considering doing the deal?"
"No," Danni replied without looking up from her phone.
"All we have to do is consent," he argued.
"Yeah, that's worked great so far," she retorted. "If you fancy getting burnt to a crisp, be my guest. We'll all just work here actually finding a solution."
"He was afraid. I'm not being afraid, I'm being smart," he protested.
"Yeah, being smart is not giving away your planet," the Doctor replied, ending the conversation before anyone gave it too much thought. He couldn't understand why anyone was entertaining the idea but he knew it had to be extinguished before they did something foolish. "So, an accident, leading to irrevocable consequences. I like bacteria. They can spread. Once they're out, you can't put them away again. What could they do? What do you depend on?"
"Air, water, food, beer," Nardole spoke up as he continued to search for anything that he could find that might be an imminent catastrophe.
"Air, water and food. Let's say something's going to change, something is going to be released. Something new, something fast."
"Something biochemical," Danni added onto the end. "There's about a hundred thousand biochemical trials going on right now, but they're the most likely to be looking into the speed and efficiency."
He nodded, pointed in her general direction. "I like that. Look into any specifically related to GM bacteria."
"Er, six thousand?" Nardole offered for him.
"How many have reached stage two?" he continued before turning back to Brabbit. "You cannot accept their offer."
"Why not?" Ilya asked, also standing up.
"Because whatever the price is, it's too high."
"Four hundred and twenty eight," Nardole stated, having narrowed down his search.
"It's too many, and we don't even know if you're right," Xiaolian pointed out.
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, I probably am."
"Probably isn't good enough!" Brabbit exclaimed.
Bill stood up, walking over to the Doctor. "Doctor, is it just possible that they're right?" she asked because she had hoped that he could find a solution, but if he was just throwing ideas then maybe he wasn't as close as she'd first thought.
"Being right is easy. We need to win," he insisted.
"All these soldiers in the room, and you're the only one still fighting."
"Would you make the deal?" he asked her. "Even not knowing what's going to happen?"
"Those guys have modelled every event in human history to find our weak spot," she exclaimed. "Are you going to do the same in a couple of minutes?"
"Would you make the deal?"
"No," she replied firmly. "Not if I had a choice. But we don't, do we?"
"It's your world," he pleaded.
"Not anymore," Brabbit replied. "Okay, back to the pyramid and negotiate our surrender."
The soldiers all began to leave and Bill looked between them and the Doctor. He wasn't moving, but he looked panicked. She didn't want to leave him behind but she felt compelled to follow the rest of the humans out to the pyramid. She really just hoped that he had something else up his sleeve. "Doctor? What are you going to do?"
"Leave them to it," Danni replied for him, standing up and pocketing her phone. He turned to her, surprised, and she shrugged. "Look, I don't want them to give up the planet, but what can we do? It is their planet, if they're stupid enough to fall under alien rule despite our help then it's on them. We have bigger things to worry about. We should get moving the Vault before it's too late and we have an even worse monster upon us."
The Doctor opened his mouth to protest. No one was listening to him, were they? He couldn't understand why no one wanted to fight the good fight. It was never easy, doing the right thing, but the alternative was so much worse. He wished he could see Danni's face so he could judge where her dismissiveness was coming from all the better. Was it because she truly thought that they'd – and by extension he – had lost, or was it because she being blinded by her fear of Missy?
His hand raised to his sonic sunglasses, an idea popping straight to mind. Blind.
"We can blind them," he declared. "That's how we do it. We blind them!"
"Blind who?" Bill asked. "The Monks?"
"Bill, go to the pyramid. Keep an eye on them all," he instructed, reaching out and grabbing Danni's hand. "Nardole, with us. To the TARDIS."
Nardole followed the pair out of the office and towards the TARDIS. "Have you got a plan?" Bill called after them.
"You'll be hearing from me," the Doctor called back. He couldn't help but grin. A new plan, a more workable plan, had quickly formed in his head and all it had taken was one word from his Danielle. Even when she wasn't trying she always seemed to nudge him in the right direction.
Of course, he couldn't exactly take her into a laboratory that was full of bacteria that, at any moment, was going to cause the end of the world. She was still part human despite the Time Lord side coming through more with every regeneration. It was going to wipe out all life on the planet then it definitely would be harmful to her.
Danni, on the other hand, was still very much back at the Vault, wondering how they could get it out without letting Missy out into the universe. They couldn't risk the Monks getting hold of it or her. Maybe she could find a Jack that could help her defend it. They had a few friends that she could round up to form a little army, all of which would know the dangers of letting Missy out. Maybe Kate could get them some help as well. She would need to call her, though, and she was sure UNIT would already know what was happening.
"I need to go back to the Vault."
"I need you to go back to the Vault."
They both stared at each other, surprised not only that they'd spoken at the same time, but they'd both pretty much had the same idea.
Danni eyed him suspiciously. "You want me to go back to the Vault?" she asked. "When the world is about to end?"
"Our issue isn't the world ending. The world ends all the time, I'll fix that," he dismissed. "Our issue is the Monks. Even if they don't take up the pudding brains and their offer, I suspect that they're not going to take us spoiling their plans lightly. I can handle the fallout; someone needs to make sure they don't get into the Vault."
Of course, the Doctor was lying heavily, but he needed her to be safe. Nardole was coming with him so that if he needed a pair of eyes then he could borrow his, but he couldn't have Danni finding out he was blind in the middle of an invasion. He swore to himself that when this was all over then he would just put on his big boy pants and tell her the truth, but causing that panic wasn't going to help either of them at this point in time. So, regrettably, playing into her own fears was the best way to ensure everyone's safety.
"Do you think they'll try and do that?" she asked. "Do you think that they even know it's there?"
"They've run simulations of the Earth countless times before. They knew we were here, I'm sure they know why. And if they need a hand…"
"Missy is the best place to get it," she finished for him. "I thought you said she was getting better?"
"She is, she really is. But she's not ready to be out yet. And I know that you're the best person to keep the universe safe." He pulled her close, cupping her face so he could tip it to place a kiss on her forehead. "I'll handle the humans making a mess, and you go handle the actually important part. We can meet up afterwards and share stories."
Danni really didn't feel right about leaving him. Even though his idea matched her own, the fact that he'd decided to do the same thing on his own just didn't sit right. However, the TARDIS landed and every part of her wanted to run out and check that Missy was exactly where she should be.
"Plus, I'm not convinced the bacteria wouldn't kill you the moment it touched your skin," he continued as she still seemed rather hesitant to leave him. "It kills of the planet, and you still have some of the roaming inside you."
"We don't know that it won't kill you either," she pointed out but he waved the concern away with one hand.
"Your Earth bacteria doesn't harm me. Ever wondered why I've never been ill?" he pointed out.
"You have, though, remember…"
"On Earth," he quickly clarified before she could remind him of that awful two weeks where he'd been convinced that he was going to die. Even she'd become exasperated with him and his complaining, and she was normally the one who could tolerate him the most.
She stared at him for a moment, trying to see if she could work out if he was lying or not. She couldn't feel any lies coming from him, nor did his body language or tone suggest he was hiding anything from her either. She chewed her lip for a moment. She didn't want to die from something stupid the humans had managed to concoct.
"I want to be kept in the loop for everything," she warned him. "Phone me the moment you land."
He crossed over both his hearts in a move that reminded them both of her first body before landing them underneath the university, in the basement that no one seemed to know about or care about but them. She nodded once, agreeing to the plan, then she headed out. The first thing she did was pull out her phone as the TARDIS dematerialised in front of her. She shuffled from foot to foot. She should have been happy that the Doctor was thinking the same as her, so why did she suddenly feel like she was being left out of something important? It hadn't felt like that on the TARDIS, but now she'd been left behind she couldn't help the old worry of being left alone beginning to climb up.
She was just about to turn to the Vault door and check on it when her phone rang. She immediately answered, putting it on speaker phone and leaving it on top of the controls. "That took too long," she scolded lightly.
"Sorry, I was getting Bill on the call as well," the Doctor replied and Danni scowled. She really wasn't happy that Bill was going to have to share the line, even though in every way it made sense to keep them all talking and sharing information. "How's the Vault?"
Danni tapped on the keys. "So far so good," she replied. "Have you figured out which lab it is, yet?"
"Yeah, we're about to land in Yorkshire," Nardole replied. She nodded along with him.
"That's good. Keep him safe, Nardole, or I'm coming for you."
"Noted, Ma'am."
His voice sounded dry, and a little resigned and she couldn't help but smile to herself. She really did like Nardole and it really did make absolutely no sense. She knew she could trust him to keep her husband safe.
She didn't take her eyes off the readouts for the Vault, her hearts hammering in her chest at the thought of being so close to Missy. "The Vault is secure as it's going to be," she said to both the Doctor and herself, hoping the reminder would keep her from falling into her panic too much.
Then, all she could do was wait. Through the phone she could hear both Bill's and the Doctor's side of the events happening. As expected, the Monks didn't accept the surrender as true consent and all of the soldiers were fried. The Doctor, on the other hand, was having a lot more success. They'd landed at the right lab and there was, indeed, a strain of bacteria that had been created that was destroying anything it touched. Which meant, as they had suspected, the humans were really causing their own downfall again.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
Danni jumped away from the Vault door like it had burnt her, staring at it, wide eyed. How did Missy even know anyone was outside? It took Danni a moment to realise that she had always been able to hear through the door, after all she'd communicated with her a couple times that way. Still, it didn't make her feel any more comfortable and suddenly she was wishing that she'd just gone with the Doctor, Monks and killer bacteria be damned.
She pointed shakily at the door. "Don't-Don't be doing that," she warned with the hope that she sounded firmer that she felt. "No knocking. No one is coming in to see you. Just-Just go back to whatever you were doing."
"Danielle?" the Doctor asked through the phone, concerned. She picked it up and moved further away from the metal door, to the other side of the room.
"It's fine, everything's fine. What's the plan?" she asked to distract herself.
"Basically, I'm going to blow up the labs," he replied. "I know bombs are more your expertise, but I think I can cobble one together."
She smiled at the joke in his tone. He was trying to reassure her and, while it wasn't the statement itself the calmed her nerves slightly, it was the fact that he was taking time to do so. That meant that not only was he thinking of her, but he had time to focus on something else. Once again, his last minute plans were going to save them all.
"What about you, Bill?" she asked over the call. "What's happening with the Monks?"
"Doctor, honest answer. You going to do it?" the other woman asked.
"Course I'm going to do it," he replied, almost sounding insulted.
"Because they're still offering a deal, and I'm the only one left."
"Tell them no," Danni said for her husband. "Trust me, Bill, nothing is worth the captivity. Hold firm, say no, and the Doctor will be done soon."
"What does consent mean?" Bill asked. Her voice was now further away, as if she'd moved away from the phone.
"You must ask for our help, and want it, and know you will then be ours. Only then can the link be formed."
"What link?" she pressed but the Monks obviously weren't keen on giving away the intricacies of their plans.
"Do you consent?"
"No," Danni snapped through the phone. "Bill, listen to us. It's tempting, I know it's tempting, but don't give in. Keep fighting. Don't let them win."
"I'm giving us two minutes," the Doctor was saying as he placed the bomb. A moment later and his tone was much more jovial. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, saving the world with my eyes shut."
Danni giggled. "You're such a dork," she told him as she watched the clock on her phone tick backwards. Her grin grew wider. Not only had he saved the world from the bacteria and the Monks, he'd saved them all from Missy as well. Someone who really could have ended the world in a couple of minutes if she tried. She really loved him; he was just fantastic. Maybe she needed to tell him about the Master. He could help, she knew he could.
"Doctor, the clock's going back. Have you done it?" Bill asked, amazed.
"Yes, I have! President of Earth?"
"Yeah?" Danni replied.
"Two planes!" he replied and she laughed outright.
"Sure, why not?" she said.
"Say hello to the folks at home, Erica, and let me through the door," he continued. "Bill, get the hell out of that pyramid!"
"I can't open it. It's under emergency protocol," Erica, the scientist that was helping the Doctor, said from what sounded like a speaker. "You need to use the combination lock. Set it to 3614."
"Ah," the Doctor replied. "You're going to have to guide me."
"I can't see it from here," Erica pointed. "You can see it, right?"
"How long have I got?"
"One minute forty. 3614," she repeated.
Danni hadn't realised she'd started pacing as she waited for the Doctor to escape the bomb he'd put in place, but his words had made her stop. "Doctor, what are you doing?" she asked him. "What's wrong? Why aren't you leaving?"
"Sorry, slight hitch. Working on it."
"Slight hitch?" she asked. "What do you mean 'slight hitch'?"
"I need to open the door, but I can't er, see the numbers."
"I don't understand the problem," Bill spoke up.
"I do," Danni said for him. Her hand clenched at the phone tightly. All the little signs she'd thought were just him being his own quirky self suddenly locked into place. "You're still blind, aren't you?"
"I'm sorry," he said and she took a deep breath, steadying her nerves.
"Get Nardole to help you," she commanded. Getting angry wasn't going to save his life. That could wait until they were face to face. "He can read it."
"Nardole! Nardole! Nardole, I need you to do a visual on the lab. There's a camera in here." There was no response. "Nardole? Nardole, can you hear me?"
Nardole didn't reply, which meant that he either wasn't inside the TARDIS or he'd been exposed to the toxic air filled with bacteria too long. Either way, at that moment, he wasn't going to be able to help the Doctor. Danni turned on the spot, looking for something she could use to help, but all she had was a Vault that was completely cut off from everything and a basement filled with very boring, very old junk.
"I- I can't get to a computer in time to hack anything!" she cried. "Theta, you need to get out of there!"
"There's nothing I can do," he replied softly. "There's a combination lock with numbers, and I can't see them."
"You're an idiot. You are the stupidest idiot ever!" Bill exclaimed, sentiments that Danni echoed entirely through her fear that her husband was about to blow up. "But I'm not going to let you die."
"No. You have to," the Doctor insisted. Always the bloody martyr, even to the end. "There's no choice. No-one else can help me now."
"The Monks," she replied with complete certainty. "The Monks can help you."
"No!" he cried. "Bill, no, don't do that. I made a mistake. I have to face that. But do not ask the Monks for help," he begged. "Bill!"
"Doctor. This planet needs you, so I'm making an executive decision. I'm keeping you alive."
"Bill, listen to me, please. I don't know what consenting allows them to do to you. You don't know what you're agreeing to!"
Bill had already gone, leaving the Doctor trapped in a lab on his own, Danni trapped in a basement on her own, and no way to stop her. Not that Danni particularly wanted to stop her. They'd been in tougher situations than being under the thumb of the Monks and, if they really could save the Doctor, she was happy to give the Earth over to them. She'd happily sacrifice the universe to save the Doctor and even though she wasn't in the position to do so she had to give credit to Bill for doing that for them.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked the Doctor instead. "I could have helped! Maybe some of my regeneration energy could have fixed it."
"You already have less time than me," he replied. "I didn't want you wasting it on me."
"Wasting it on…" she growled, frustrated and becoming more and more scared by the moment. The air was shifting, somehow the atmosphere was changing around her and it was shoving her right to the edge of what her nerves could handle. "Theta, we don't do this. We don't do things like this alone anymore!"
"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to be scared," he offered. "I just…" He trailed off again for a moment. "Bill, what did you do?!"
"I'll tell you what, old man. You'd better get my planet back!" Bill's voice replied, trembling. It had worked. The change Danni was feeling was the Monks changing the Earth around them. Bill had given them her consent and they'd accepted it. The Doctor could see again. The Earth was theirs.
Danni spun again on the spot, becoming more and more agitated. What did she do? Outside was Monk controlled now. They were going to take the Earth not by force, but by consent. What manipulations did that even mean? After all they'd admitted themselves that they couldn't rule with fear. They were going to have to convince everyone to obey them, and that was convincing Danni didn't want to be a part of.
She looked at the Vault, eyes wide as her options were quickly being narrowed down. She only had one choice, didn't she? The one choice she didn't want to make. The TARDIS was the safest place in the universe, but she couldn't get to her. There was only one place that came close and she was looking right at it. She dropped her phone as she darted over to the door, unlocking it and running inside before closing it behind her with a bang. She panted and turned around to find Missy stood up in her glass box, hands clasped in front of her.
Danni pressed herself up against the door as Missy smiled. "Danielle, what a surprise," she greeted. "I wasn't expecting this."
~0~0~0~
Sorry for another delayed chapter, and another short chapter. I just wanted to start the new year right :)
I feel like I owe you all a little explanation why I've been so bad this year with chapters. I was diagnosed some mental health issues that I'm now getting help with, so hopefully it's just going to get better from here. I miss writing terribly but it's only starting to become less scary to actually sit down and do some.
So, I hope you can all bear with me and I'll be back as soon as I can :)