"Hello?"
Rieka's head snapped up in the direction a male was calling from outside the ward; her eyes narrowing when she realised that the owner was American. The red head immediately stood up, wanting to kick herself for not having made certain that the jacket-wearing man had come alone.
"Hello?"
A female's voice followed after the first, and Rieka turned her head towards the Doctor, cocking an eyebrow as if silently asking him if these were some of his friends. But seeing the man's confused expression, Rieka figured that he was just as unsure what to make of the newcomers as she was.
"Hello?" the male's voice repeated and Rieka frowned, giving her mentor one last look before she followed the Doctor of the ward and towards the voices.
"Good evening," a man that was dressed in an officer's uniform greeted the confused duo; a young blonde female standing behind him. "I hope I'm not interrupting," the American continued, looking between the Doctor and Rieka with a grin before he approached Rieka.
He held out his hand, intending to shake the red head's, but the Doctor was quick to step in front of Rieka and intercepted the man's hand with his own. The Time Lord's actions earned himself a curious look from the American, but the man otherwise stayed silent about the Doctor's peculiar actions.
"Jack Harkness," the American introduced himself, the grin still playing on his lips, "I've been hearing all about you on the way over..." His eyes drifted to the red head behind the Doctor, "But I wasn't told that you had company."
Rieka just raised an eyebrow at the man, crossing her arms against her chest before her eyes drifted to the American's companion. She blinked, rather surprised to find that the blonde was glaring at her; though the blonde's expression was quick to change to something more neutral the moment she realised she had been spotted and turned her attention back to the Doctor.
"He knows," she explained, "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents."
"Time Agents?" Rieka muttered quietly to herself as she turned her gaze back to the Doctor.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock," Jack said before he managed to skirt passed the man, stopping in front of the red head. "And who might you be?" he enquired with what he thought was a charming smile.
Rieka opened her mouth to reply, but once more found that the Doctor stepped in between them as he smoothly cut in with, "None of your concern," his eyes narrowing in warning.
Jack just raised an eyebrow and shrugged before winking at a very confused Rieka as he passed; heading towards the ward that the Doctor and Rieka had come out off. The red head looked to the Doctor, unsure as to what had just happened, along with why the man felt as though she couldn't speak for herself before her mind registered what Jack had said. "Mister Spock?" she questioned the Doctor, her eyebrows creased slightly in confusion. The red head was certain that Star Trek didn't come out until the late sixties. But their comment about being Time Agents had her pausing as she looked suspiciously between the pair.
"What was I supposed to say?" the blonde remarked, frowning slightly as she glanced at Rieka. "You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of 'Doctor'? Doctor who?" she continued, though her questions only had the red head's suspicion turn to curiosity. Rieka couldn't help it though, finding that the name Doctor was quite-
"Strange..." the red head frowned, her eyebrows knitting further together.
The Time Lord glanced at his Nesdra with a questioning look before he shrugged, turning back to his companion, "Nine centuries in, I'm coping," he said, perking Rieka's interest. The red head was unsure as to whether she should take his comment seriously or not, although she found that she really couldn't talk, having just turned sixty-six herself while not looking a day over twenty-one.
"Where've you been?" the Doctor continued, and it wasn't had for Rieka to see that the pair knew each other, "We're in the middle of the London Blitz. It's no time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling?" the blonde retorted, sounding rather unphased as to what was happening around her, "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air-raid."
"What?!" the Doctor balked, all the while Rieka watched on silently, raising an eyebrow at the blonde having not missed the shirt she was wearing. The comment the blonde had made about Time Agents had intrigued the red head, and as she spared a glace to Jack who was in the ward examining one of the patients, she wondered if all three of them were time travellers.
"Listen," the blonde continued, brushing away his concern, "What's a Chula warship?" she enquired.
"Chula?" Rieka and the Doctor questioned together; the former glancing to the latter. Rieka was starting to suspect that she had stumbled across something far bigger than just a man enquiring about a bomb. The way these people were talking; the words they were using... Rieka shook her head. But time travel couldn't be possible, she told herself, even though she had read books that clearly told a different story.
The red head turned back to the ward, needing to think over what she was hearing. Rieka had time travelled herself quite a lot back at Hogwarts, turning back days to spend time with her father and study with Amelia, but in this universe... it should be impossible.
Hogwarts, the Ministry, the magic... it didn't exist here.
She had checked.
But as Rieka observed Jack scanning one of the patients in a similar way the Doctor had – but with a device strapped to his wrist – she had to admit that time travel may not have been as impossible as she had once believed in this universe. The technology both men had were definitely not from the twentieth century, and that thought had Rieka pausing as something occurred to her.
Why are they here, then? she questioned herself as her silver-grey eyes narrowed on Jack before she glanced back to the Doctor and his companion as they entered the ward, And what did he mean by 'nine centuries'?
"This just isn't possible," Jack stated as he looked up from the patient he had just scanned. "How did this happen?" he asked, directing the question at Rieka.
Once again, the Doctor cut in before Rieka could answer the man. "What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Time Lord demanded, surprising not only Rieka, but his companion with his tone. Though Rieka could admit that if there really was a Chula ship here, it really wasn't good. Time travel was dangerous enough, and to bring something from the future and leave it in the past...
"What?" Jack asked in surprise. He, quite like the others, hadn't been expecting the question, nor the tone of how the Doctor had asked.
"He said it was a warship," the blonde behind the Doctor explained, "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."
Rieka frowned as she tried to piece together what she was hearing; trying to understand why there seemed to be three time travellers in the hospital where she worked during the Second World War of all times. And although it wasn't hard to gather that Jack was a conman, Rieka was still rather confused as to why the Doctor was so interested in what type of warship Jack had brought with him.
"What kind of warship?" the Time Lord demanded again as he eyed the conman.
Jack looked up from the patient, irritation clear in his expression. "Does it matter?" he asked, "It's got nothing to do with this," he stated, denying any involvement in the patients around him.
"This started at the bomb site," the Doctor told the American, his eyes narrowing. He knew that somehow Jack was behind whatever was going on with his Nesdra. "It's got everything to do with it," he added with a glare.
Time seemed to freeze around Rieka as her eyes snapped to Jack, the pieces of the puzzle in her mind slowly falling into place, although some parts were still missing. "That's not a German bomb, is it?" Her voice was quiet – cold – but sliced through the air like a knife as she realised why those British soldiers were so interested in the bomb. It hadn't been a bomb at all, but a fifty-first century spaceship.
"This virus, whatever it is," the red head continued to seethe one of her hands balled into a fist at her side, "It has nothing to do with them, does it?" She took a step towards Jack and caused the man's eyes to widen in alarmed when her own flashed red at the knowledge that what had happened to Jamie; to Constantine and the others had nothing to do with the war, but everything to do with this conman... this utter dunderhead. That he was the reason for everything that she had witnessed and lived through over the last few weeks.
Magic curled around Rieka, whipping up a breeze that encircled around her as her agitation manifested itself into a physical force. Though in her anger, Rieka didn't even register that the scar on the back of her hand had started to itch again as it took on a faint red glow under her glove.
"You utter dunderhead," Rieka hissed as she took another step towards the American, and the device on his wrist started beeping wildly. The red head took no notice, however, as she gestured angrily around the room, "All these people... you and your stupid con is responsible for all their deaths," she told him harshly before she stopped short when she caught sight of a slight glow coming from under her glove. Her anger faded as she just stared at her hand for a moment, and the Doctor unknowingly took a step towards his Nesdra, wanting to comfort her as her expression became lost and unsure as she looked back to Jack.
"What did you do?" Rieka asked the conman, needing to know. If it wasn't a virus from the German's, but something from the future, the red head had no idea how to stop it. Or even if she could.
The Doctor frowned as he watched his Nesdra's shoulders drop in defeat. Instinct had him wanting to comfort his Nesdra, never having seen her look so down before, but he knew he couldn't. His blue eyes shifted to land on Jack and they narrowed. All because of him, he thought angrily, knowing that it was because of Jack that his past, and his Nesdra's future was now at risk. But the Time Lord wasn't going to just stand by and let that happen. He couldn't lose her, not now.
"What kind of warship?" he demanded.
Jack looked between the three, finally managing to tear his eyes away from Rieka. He needed to get them to see that none of what was happening was his fault. "It was an ambulance!" he told them, lifting up his wrist and revealing his vortex manipulator; silencing the beeping as he did so. He could figure out later what it was trying to tell him. "Look," Jack brought up a hologram of the ship that the Doctor had followed through the vortex, the American glancing curiously at Rieka as he did so.
Silver-grey eyes swept over the hologram, looking the ship over. It was something that Rieka had only studied in books, and she knew that the ship held a very basic flight computer compared to other Chula warships. But as she continued to look at the hologram, Rieka frowned, realising that even if Jack had left a fifty-first Chula ambulance in the middle of London, it wouldn't explain why people where dying – changing – because of some unknown virus.
"That's what you chased through the Time Vortex," the conman continued to explain to the Doctor, "It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle," that had Rieka looking to the Doctor rather surprised, "Love the retro look by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait-"
"Bait?" the blonde standing near the Doctor cut in, sounding rather confused. Though her comment had Rieka rolling her eyes, wondering how she hadn't caught on that Jack was a conman. It really hadn't been that hard to piece together, although Rieka did hold the advantage of having learnt how to read people from her father. And Severus Snape was a man of few words; a lot of what he conveyed, he did so with expressions or gestures, not words.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found it was junk," Jack continued, drawing Rieka back to the conversation.
"You said it was a warship," the blonde stated with a frown, crossing her arms over her chest.
"They have ambulances in wars," Rieka spoke up as she looked up from the hologram and to Jack with nothing but disgust, missing the blonde shoot her a glare. "He's just a charlatan," she spat before she turned away and walked towards the chair where Constantine was still slumped in and away from the others. The red head knew that she had to keep a lid on her temper, knowing that trying to think while angry was just going to lead to her gaining a headache. She needed to be calm to try and figure out what Jack had done, as well as work out if there was a way to stop it before what had occurred here happened to no-one else.
Jack watched Rieka walk away, a confused expression on his face. There was something about the way the red head had yelled at him that seemed familiar to the conman, and as he looked down to his manipulator to read the what had sent it wild when Rieka had somehow produced that odd wind, the man found that he wasn't as surprised as he felt he should have been at seeing what the device was telling him. Looking up from his manipulator, Jack suddenly found himself looking into the blue eyes of a glaring Doctor while Rose was frowning.
"I was conning you," he finally relented, though silently wondered what the Doctor's problem was. The man had been shooting him looks ever since he had tried to shake the red head's hand. "She's right, I'm a conman. I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?" he asked.
The blonde shrugged unabashedly. "Just a couple of freelancers," she admitted.
The American couldn't help but groan when he heard that. "Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour. At least she fits in," he said, gesturing to Rieka and causing her to look at him in surprise. "Even with her high energy readings," he muttered more to himself and glanced at his wrist before refocusing on the two time travellers in front of him. He really wasn't too certain where the red head fit in, but she certainly hadn't been as surprised as he had expected her to be by everything she was seeing and hearing.
"But you two," Jack continued, gesturing to the blonde as he got his mind back on the right track, "I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-boat Captain?" He shook his head, "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship." "What is happening here, Doctor?" the blonde questioned.
The Doctor looked away from his Nesdra as he replied, shooting another glare at the conman, "Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot." His companion just looked at him in confusion, not understanding. "What do you mean?" she asked.
The Doctor sighed, glancing to his Nesdra as she moved her mentor to try and make him more comfortable. "I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things," he gestured around the room, "But why? What's the point?" he questioned aloud.
"Does there need to be?" Rieka asked as she straightened, looking at the three.
Before anyone could answer her, Rieka let out a hiss and grabbed the wrist of her scarred hand as it suddenly started to burn. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the Doctor had taken a step towards her and was quick to take one away from him, shaking her head. "No," she told him, her eyes dropping to her glove hand. She didn't want to possibly infect anyone else, but as she stared at her hand, Rieka's eyebrows furrowed.
It had never burned before.
Suddenly, all the patients sat up in their beds, causing Rieka to stumble away from Constantine as he too stood up. "Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" they all repeated, their voices all coming out rather child-like and it caused Rieka to shiver as she backed away – wide-eyed – from her mentor as he turned his head in her direction.
"What's happening?" Rose questioned as she moved closer to the Doctor, startled by their sudden movements.
The Time Lord's eyes darted between his Nesdra and the patients. "I don't know," he admitted, fighting the urge to make sure his Nesdra was okay. Whatever was happening to the patients, it was affecting her as well. But the Doctor noted that it wasn't affecting her like it was the others, and as much as he wanted to figure out what was so different about his Nesdra; what set her apart from the average human, the Doctor wasn't happy seeing her in pain again.
The patients all moved to stand beside their beds – Doctor Constantine beside the chair he had been sitting in – as they continued to chant the word, 'Mummy'.
Doctor Constantine turned his head away from Rieka as she continued to clutch her hand and started to head towards the Doctor, Rose, and Jack, causing the red head's eyes to widen in alarm as the other patients did the same thing.
"Don't let them touch you!" she warned the trio as she tried to control her breathing as the pain in her hand grew. She ripped off the glove and stared at the scar, startled that it was pulsing with red energy. The same red energy that Rieka had seen when her father had send her from the Shack. The same energy that, ever since that day, had been present whenever she used her magic.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked as the trio backed away from the approaching patients, unknowingly cornering themselves against a wall.
"You're looking at it," the Doctor stated as he tore his gaze from his Nesdra and back to the patients.
"Help me, mummy."
Rieka watched on helplessly as the Doctor, Jack, and Rose finally realised they were cornered; their backs pressed up against the wall behind them.
"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" the patients chanted as they each raised an arm, reaching out to the trio.
The Doctor's head snapped in Rieka's direction when he heard her let out a whimper in pain and he knew that he had to do something. He turned his attention back to the approaching patients and took a confident step forwards. "Go to your room!" he bellowed, not quite unlike an angry parent would to a child.
Much to everyone's relief, and surprise, the patients all stopped, dropping their outstretched arms as they tilted their heads at the Time Lord.
Seeing that his actions had gotten the required response, the Doctor continued, "Go to your room. I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I'm very, very cross," he pointed in a random direction, "Go to your room!"
Rieka watched on in disbelief as the patients all hung their heads, as if ashamed of their actions, before they shuffled back to their beds. The burning sensation in her hand stopped and she looked to it, finding that the scar wasn't pulsing red anymore. Letting out a relieved breath, she only raised her head when the Doctor spoke.
"I'm really glad that worked," the Time Lord chuckled, "Those would have been terrible last words," he added before quickly sobering as he looked to his Nesdra. He quickly walked over to her and knelt down in front of her, though he made sure not to get too close. "Are you okay," he asked, looking to the mark on the back of her hand and confirming that his Nesdra had been infected before he met her silver-grey eyes.
Rieka swallowed as she moved her hand from his sight. "I...I'm not sure," she admitted with a frown as she looked back down to her hand, uncovering it with her other as she remembered how it had been glowing. She knew that being a witch meant that she wasn't truly a normal human, but she had never had anything like that happen before and wondered if it was why the virus was affecting her differently to the others. She had seen the energy before, of course, but had never put much thought into what it could be; having assumed that it had been just some residual magic from the spell that her father had used to send her here that appeared when she used her own magic.
But now Rieka was getting the feeling that there was far more to the energy than she had first thought.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose questioned, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. She wasn't happy at how the Doctor's attention had immediately focused on Rieka the moment the red head had appeared, which Rose still had no idea how she kept doing that. It just seemed that the moment they had met her, the red head hadn't been able to leave them alone. And it was even worse that Rose had found out during their last adventure that she had never truly left her alone; having learnt that it was her who was the aunt that Mickey always spoke of, but had never seen.
"They're not," Jack replied as he warily looked at each patient, "Those masks are flesh and bone."
As he watched Rieka replace the glove back onto her hand, the Doctor found himself fighting the need to grab it and give it a reassuring squeeze and tell her that everything was going to be alright. He forced himself to his feet, telling himself that as much as he wanted to comfort his Nesdra, she didn't know him, and that would just lead to trouble. The many times he had thought that she had needed help, she had surprised him each time, and the Doctor knew that he had to gain her trust before he could even think of comforting her. But he also knew that it wasn't help that she needed, but support.
He had seen the way her mind worked – being able to separate emotions from logical thinking – not letting how she felt sway her judgment. It was something the Doctor admired about her. But the Doctor had also unfortunately seen during their encounters that his Nesdra was not one who expected to have someone at her side and it made him question what her life must have been like before she had moved to England.
"How was your con supposed to work?" Rieka spoke up as she stood, breaking the Doctor from his thoughts.
"Simply enough, really," the American stated with a small frown, not having missed how the Doctor hadn't gotten close to the red head. If she had been infected, it could explain some of the strains readings he had gotten off her, but it didn't explain the abnormal spike in energy that she had produced. "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," he continued, "When he puts fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever."
Rieka listened attentively as the man spoke, not at all surprised to hear that this hadn't been the first time he had done a con like this before. Begrudgingly, she could admit that it was well thought through... but Jack had missed something this time. Something that was turning healthy people into the walking, talking, gasmask-wearing dead.
"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, we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah, perfect," the Doctor scoffed sarcastically.
Jack shrugged, "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..." He trailed off when he noticed the Doctor was once again glaring at him, along with the dark look that was on Rieka's face. He would never admit it – even under torture – that at that moment, he was far more scared of the red head than the Doctor. Something deep down inside telling him that despite her petite size, she was far more dangerous than the man standing beside her; and he still hadn't even gotten her name.
"Getting the hint of disapproval."
Rieka took a step towards the American. "Over sixteen thousand people died when Vesuvius erupted and another thirty-two thousand died during this Blitz," she hissed, "Disapproval is the last thing I'm hinting at. Take a-" She was cut off when the Doctor once again stepped in front of her and Rieka frowned.
"Take a look around the room," the Doctor glared at Jack, unable to believe that the man was trying to play off that he had nothing to do with what was happening to these people – to his Nesdra! "This is what your harmless piece of space junk did," the Time Lord continued.
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty!" the American exclaimed as Rieka's frown deepened when something caught her eye.
"Eight oh two," the red head muttered as her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she continued to stare at the bed her mentor was now laying in. Rieka knew that it was Jamie's old room, but couldn't figure out why Constantine would want her to check it out. She hadn't been able to step inside that room since this whole mess had started as Constantine was quite adamant that he didn't want her witnessing what was happening to the young boy. She had fought against him at first, having believed that having seen what she had seen, she could handle it.
But Rieka was rather grateful that her mentor had been rather stubborn.
She didn't think she would have been able to anymore.
But it still brought up the question as to why Constantine wanted her to go there now. Had he known something that she hadn't?
"Rose," the Doctor called to his companion as he followed his Nesdra, having heard her comment.
"Are we getting out of here?"
Rieka paused in the doorway and turned back to the blonde. "You can if you want," her eyes slid to Jack and narrowed, "But I'm going upstairs to figure out what you did," she added before continuing on her way.
For some reason, Constantine had wanted her to look at the room, and despite the feelings that were swirling in her gut, Rieka was going to honour his last wish.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living," Jack continued to try and get them to see that he had nothing to do with whatever was happening as he watched the pair leave; Rose hesitating before following.
Much like Rieka, the Doctor stopped walking and turned back to the man the moment he noticed his Nesdra stiffen. "I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day," he told the man.
As if agreeing to his words, a siren sounded in the distance.
"What's that?" Rose questioned as she looked around.
"The all clear,." Rieka replied as she turned away from the Doctor and Jack, a little confused as to why the Doctor was getting so upset over what was happening. As she continued to head down the corridor, Rieka couldn't stop herself from remembering the level of concern she had noticed in the Time Lord's eyes when he had seen her scar, and it made the red head feel a little discomforted. Although she was rather surprised to find that it had been rather... nice, as well.
"I wish," the Time Lord remarked as he turned away from Jack and continued to follow his Nesdra. He didn't notice the frown that appeared on Rieka's lips, unable to help but agree with his words.
There was something seriously wrong happening here, and it all started in the room eight oh two.
"How long?"
Rieka glanced to the Doctor as they walked up the flight of stairs that led to Jamie's room, her lips tugging downwards slightly when he nodded towards her scarred hand. Neither knew where Rose and Jack had gone, though both didn't really care. For the Doctor, this was the first time in so long that he had a chance to speak with his Nesdra without Rose interrupting them, or the red head up and disappearing on him.
Though he found that he really couldn't blame his Nesdra, however. He knew that what had happened during the 'incident' with Rose's father that his Nesdra had no control of where she had gone. And whoever the pair he had met before his Nesdra had returned...well, the Time Lord really wanted to run into them again. How she could travel in time, let alone travel through what had looked to be a portal or wormhole that he knew full well should have been impossible...
It was something the Doctor was still trying to figure out.
"I was one of the first," Rieka's quite voice broke the Doctor from his thoughts.
He turned to look at her with a small frown, not quite able to believe that she was telling him the truth. Though he knew that Aries, or Eris, or whatever she called herself, his Nesdra had never once lied to him. Sure, there had been many questioned left unanswered, but she had yet to tell him a lie.
"How?" he questioned and it occurred to the Doctor that this was one of the questions that his Nesdra had never answered. He still had no idea who, or what she was, and something in the way she avoided his gaze told him that it wouldn't be the last time he would be asking her.
"How am I not one of them?" Rieka replied with a question of her own, not needing to clarify who 'them' were. Her eyebrows knitted together slightly as she paused on the steps, the Doctor doing the same as he watched her closely. "I'm not entirely certain," she admitted after a moment, her eyes flickering to the Doctor and away before the crease between her brows grew.
"But you have a theory."
It wasn't a question, the Doctor knowing that if his Nesdra had been one of the first infected, she had almost a month since then to figure out what was wrong with not only herself, but the patients of the hospital. She'd have far more than just a theory. He really did marvel at how her mind worked, and knew that it was one of the first things – aside from the whole soulmates thing – that had drawn him really to her. To be able to speak to someone and not have to dumb himself down or repeat things over and over again was rather refreshing.
Rieka nodded, "I do," she agreed, her lips turning down at the corners. It looked as though she was going to say something else, but the red head just shook her head before she continued up the stairs.
"And?" the Doctor pressed as he followed, causing Rieka to pause once again on the steps. Her expression was confused when she finally turned to look at him, unsure as to what his intentions could be. "Maybe I can help," he offered, trying to figure out a way to get her to open up a little. Since meeting his Nesdra in two thousand and six – two thousand and five if he counted Eris – the Doctor had learnt next to nothing about her apart from the fact she had some rather odd abilities, hadn't seemed to age in sixty years, kept some very unusual company, and also held knowledge of things that no human from the twenty-first century should know thanks to a library that his Nesdra somehow had access to.
She was a mystery in so many ways...
An eyebrow raised at the Doctor's fishing, though no matter how much Rieka found the man a little odd, there was something about him that she felt she could trust. But that only had her growing wary of the man and she fell back into an attitude that seemed to have been ingrain into her very DNA. Her lip quirked upwards at the corner and it had the Doctor sighing mutely as he realised she wasn't going to answer him. "How does one live to be over nine centuries?" she enquired. She was the daughter of Severus Snape and wouldn't be giving away her secrets for nothing. No matter how trusting the man seemed to be.
Though her other eyebrow rose when the Time Lord suddenly turned serious; straightening his posture as he met her gaze. "I moisturize," he deadpanned.
Rieka blinked.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and it wasn't until she noticed his lip quirk did Rieka realise that he was joking. Maybe I'm a little out of practice, the red head mused, unsure as to how she was supposed to respond to his joke. She really did feel a little off-kilter around the man and wasn't too certain as to why.
Her continued silence had the Doctor's eyebrow lowering; the slight quirk of his lip turning downwards. It was his turn to blink at her, unsure as to why she hadn't responded in the way he had expected until he remembered that this, if he was still correct with his assumption, was the first time his Nesdra had ever met him.
"Mister Spock?!"
Jack's voice came from a lower level, thankfully breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over Rieka and the Time Lord. The pair turned almost as one and leaned over the side of the stairs to see Rose and Jack run passed as the blonde called, "Doctor?"
"Have you got a blaster?" the Doctor called as they passed, and it had Rieka growing confused as to why he wanted a gun for.
The duo turned back when they heard the Doctor, the American shouting that he did. They eventually met Rieka and the Time Lord outside a secure metal door.
"The night your space junk landed, someone was hurt," the Doctor explained to Jack as the man pulled out his blaster, "This is where they were taken."
Rieka found that she couldn't stop the frown from forming on her face, nor the quickening pace of her heart as she stared at the metal door, all the while making sure that she was a good distance away from the others. Even though she was wearing her coat and gloves, the red head wasn't going to risk touching anyone and possibly passing the virus onto them. Though the churning in her gut caused her to feel rather apprehensive about entering the room before them. There was something about the room that had the hairs on the back of her neck raising, though she didn't know why.
"What happened?" Rose asked the Time Lord.
"Let's find out," the Doctor replied, gesturing to Jack to open the door, "Get it open."
"What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?" Rose asked the Doctor quietly as they moved away from the door, allowing Jack to do his thing. Though the name had Rieka glancing at them questionably.
"Nothing," the Doctor grinned as Jack disintegrated to lock on the door, leaving a square hole where it should have been. "Sonic blaster, fifty-first century. Weapons Factories of Villengard?" he asked the American knowingly, though paused when he noticed that Rieka was studying Jack's work from a distance with a frown.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack replied to the man's question with one of his own.
The Doctor smirked at the man as he responded almost casually, "Once."
"Well, they're gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot."
Rieka finally looked away from the door and to Jack and the Doctor, an eyebrow raising minutely at what she was hearing. Catching her eye, the Doctor's smirk seemed to grow as he said, "Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there now." Though he shrugged shamelessly when all his Nesdra did was continue to look at him in confusion.
"You blew up a weapons factory..." Rieka's eyebrows were still furrowed in confusion and her words were spoken slowly as she tried to accept what she was hearing, "To plant a banana grove?" The red head may have never seen the factories on Villengard, but she had a hard time placing the man before her in a position where he would have blown it up to grow bananas.
The Doctor shrugged, ignoring the look he was getting from Jack as he replied, "I like banana's. Bananas are good."
"Uh huh." Rieka tilted her head, finding the Doctor to be quite the character. She still couldn't place what made him seem so... trusting, and shook her head as she turned away from the Time Lord and entered Jamie's room, feeling a shiver trickle down her spine as she did so. It had her shoulders tensing and ears alert.
Jack rolled his eyes as the Doctor passed, the man glaring at him as he did so, though Jack couldn't stop himself from looking passed the Doctor and to the red head that was already in the room. He couldn't shake off his early sense that she was familiar to him, and he wanted to know why.
"Nice blast pattern."
"Digital," Jack replied with a shrug, not missing a beat as he turned his gaze on the blonde next to him.
"Squareness gun?" Rose continued, trying to keep her mind off the fact that the Doctor's attention had once again focused solely on the red head.
"Yeah," the American said, frowning slightly as a way of unease swept over him at the way Rose was still trying to flirt with him.
"I like it," Rose said with a smile before she entered the room after the Doctor and Rieka.
Jack stood there for a moment, wondering what had happened. He had been perfectly fine with flirting with the blonde earlier, but now it was as if it made his skin crawl.
Shaking his head, the man stepped into the room.
