A/N: Hello everyone. I genuinely apologize for the agonizing wait. I finished my undergrad and will be graduating with my diploma soon. It took me a while to get all of that sorted and it has been very stressful, pushing my work behind schedule drastically. But I found some free time to come back to this story. Thank you for everyone's support and love. I'll try my best to post more frequently!
Chapter 32: The Stolen Earth
Iris got out of Jack's arms, feeling a wave of confusion overwhelm her as she stepped back. It was as if she had gotten a sense of dread flow through her. But she shook it off as she looked up at Jack, who smirked at her with amusement. Not sure what had been happening, Iris smiled back as he leaned down to give a short kiss on her lips.
As Jack got off the bed to get ready, Iris pulled the sheets to cover her body as she continued to feel overwhelmed by everything. What had happened? As she looked around herself, she wasn't sure what she seemed to be missing as she looked at the clock. But that was when she saw something on her phone.
A text message had gotten through and the following words were sent to her:
"Bad Wolf"
Iris swallowed thickly as anxiety got to her. If that was true, then it meant that this was… but then why had she felt so confused and overwhelmed? What had happened in the parallel world when Donna had not turned left?
As she got up from the bed, she winced as she felt something from where she had previously been stabbed by the incident with Abaddon, and looked down, to not see anything. What had that been? She was thinking on this when Jack came out from the bathroom as he saw her standing there deep in thought.
"Iris, you alright?"
This question immediately brought her out of her thoughts as she put on a smile on her face and responded with,
"I'm fine. Just thinking…"
Jack walked up to her, wrapping an arm around her as he asked, "What about?"
Iris shook her head as she said, "Nothing… it's nothing."
With that, she gave a peck on Jack's lips before walking out of his arms and heading towards the bathroom to wash up. Once she was done, she stepped out in the usual longer grey blazer with white blouse, and navy-blue dress pants with her black heels. It took her a while to pull Jack to his senses as he tried to brighten her mood by flirting with her nonstop, but they both managed to arrive at work on time.
Ianto welcomed them as he handed both Owen and Tosh their coffee. The couple had stayed overnight to study one of the artifacts that had come through the Rift recently. When Iris had walked in, the couple rolled their eyes as they heard Jack try to get her and Ianto to get on a date. Iris was blushing, but walking in front of Jack, whilst Ianto blushed as well upon hearing what Jack had said.
Owen finally got fed up with Jack's antics when he yelled out, "Get a room you three!"
Toshiko hit him on the shoulder lightly as Gwen then walked in. Once every one of Torchwood had settled in, nothing much happened. Toshiko was working on the artifact with Owen whilst Iris was looking at some of the blood samples of one of the new visitors that had recently walked through the Rift.
But it was not too long when a tremor shook the furniture and caused Iris to fall down as she was holding some of her test results that she had just printed. Paper flew out of her hands as she tried to regain her balance. When the tremor finally ended, Iris huffed as her thoughts went back to the text message she had gotten. She immediately ran up to the rest of the team as Jack came out of his office and yelled out,
"Whoa, what happened? Was it the Rift? Iris? Ianto? Gwen? Owen? Tosh? You okay?"
Iris threw him a thumbs up whilst saying, "That wasn't the Rift. It's something much worse."
Owen groaned out, "What could be worse than the Rift?"
Iris grimaced as she looked towards Jack and stated, "Daleks."
Jack froze as he looked down at her and then the team when Ianto answered Jack's earlier question with,
"No broken bones. Slight loss of dignity. No change there then."
Gwen rolled her eyes before stating, "The whole of the city must've felt that. The whole of South Wales."
Jack looked at everyone, decidedly grabbing his coat as he walked out, stating, "I'm going to take a look outside."
Ianto then looked at the screen as all humor left him as he said, "A little bigger than South Wales."
Toshiko immediately looked at what he was looking at and her face became pale as she said, "Guys… I think the Earth was moved."
Owen and Gwen looked at her incredulously before turning on the news on the TV as they all heard,
"The United Nations has issued an edict, asking the citizens of the world not to panic. So far, there has been no explanation of the 26 planets which have appeared in the sky."
Owen sighed as muttered, "Not panic? The whole planet has been moved from the solar system and not panic?!"
Iris put a hand on his shoulder as she tried to comfort him with, "It's going to be rough, but as long as you guys are in this building, it should be fine."
Owen nodded, walking towards Toshiko with worry written all over his face as they all heard a man on the TV state,
"But it's an empirical fact. The planets didn't come to us, we came to them. Just look at the stars. We're in a completely different region of space. We've travelled."
Another man was heard stating,
"-do you know what, I look up and there's all these moons and things. Have you seen them? Did you see them?"
It wasn't too long when Ianto laughed at something from what was said on the TV, but when Jack walked in and scolded him with, "Ianto. Time and a place", the man immediately quieted down, noticing how serious this issue was.
Jack then looked towards Iris as he asked her, "You said this was Daleks. Episode?"
Iris nodded grimly as she looked for anything she could use. She started preparing her hand gun, answering him with,
"We're going to get an important message soon. Watch out for one. This is a serious issue and have nobody leave their homes and remain hidden from sight. Lock doors."
Immediately, everyone in the team moved around to call their loved ones with the warning, not about to question Iris' knowledge of the events that were taking place. Jack told Iris,
"They've established an artificial atmospheric shell, keeping the air and holding in the heat."
Ianto had finished his call and whispered in response, "They currently want the human race alive. That's a plus. 27 planets…. Including the Earth."
Iris shook her head as she said,
"No. They don't need us alive. They just need a handful as test subjects."
Everyone grew quiet, when Toshiko spoke up in dread,
"Guys… I think that's their ship."
With that, everyone crowded around her screen as they looked at the Dalek ship in horror."
But as they were looking at it, Jack's phone rang. He quickly picked up with,
"Martha Jones, voice of a nightingale. Tell me you put something in my drink."
Iris heard Martha's voice as the woman said, "No such luck. Have you heard from the Doctor?"
Jack looked towards Iris, who shook her head and said, "He and Donna just figured out Earth was moved. They can't quite get to us right now."
They heard Martha sigh as Jack asked, "Where are you?"
Martha immediately responded with, "New York."
Jack chuckled warily as he said, "Oooh, nice for some."
Martha laughed in a similar manner as she said, "I've been promoted. Medical Director on Project Indigo."
Jack's eyes narrowed as he asked, "Did you get that thing working?"
Iris grabbed Jack's arm in worry as they all heard the woman on the phone say, "Indigo's top secret. No one's supposed to know about it."
Jack chuckled as he looked towards Iris, who just shrugged with a slightly guilty look in her eyes when Martha realized what the reaction meant. She sighed as she said,
"Of course… Iris knows and told you."
But all fun was cut off when Toshiko stated, "15 hundred miles and accelerating. They're almost here."
As everyone were understanding what that meant, a Dalek's voice rang out and everyone froze upon hearing, "Exterminate".
Jack immediately grabbed onto Ianto and Iris' hands as he quietly muttered, "Oh no."
Iris tightened her grip on his hand, trying to comfort him as the Daleks' voice continued to repeat the word that chilled the teams' blood.
Owen asked, "Jack, Iris, what do we do?"
Iris sighed as she responded, "Stay inside. Toshiko and l made a program. We finished it, not too long ago and it should work."
Toshiko's eyes widened upon hearing that as she said, "What does that mean? You're not going out there!"
Iris grimaced as Jack and Ianto immediately glared at her and said, "No, no way. You're not going outside Iris Kim!"
Iris glared back at them as she argued, "You can't stop me from going out there. I have to be there."
Jack looked lost as he said, "If you go outside, you could die again."
Iris smiled and lightheartedly responded with, "At least I'm a Time Lady now and could regenerate."
Jack grabbed onto her shoulders as he yelled out, "I'm not letting you regenerate again. Not now. You just regenerated not too long ago and finally got used to this version of you. We can't have you going through that again."
Ianto added, "We'll tie you down if we have to."
Iris sighed and said, "I'm sorry guys, but I have to go."
Jack looked into her eyes to see if she was serious about it. Upon seeing the look in her eyes, Jack sighed and knew that he could do nothing to stop her. With that, Jack ordered Toshiko to connect to UNIT's Valiant communications and to keep track of them. Owen to make sure to keep track of the Daleks and be aware of what they were doing.
Ianto was tasked with the world news while Gwen was communicating with the local police. Iris prepared for her departure when everyone froze upon hearing Jack's panicked voice state,
"Martha, get out of there."
They all heard her yell, "I can't Jack. I've got a job to do."
Jack sounded desperate as he said, "They're targeting military bases. And you're next on the list."
But they heard what was going on at UNIT when Jack warned Martha with, "Martha, I'm telling you."
They all heard a man state, "You take your orders from UNIT, Doctor Jones. Not from Torchwood."
Martha then asked her commanding officer, "But why me?"
The Torchwood team all heard the man grimly say, "You're our only hope of finding the Doctor. But failing that, if no help is coming, then with the power invested in me by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, I authorize you to take this. The Osterhagen Key.'
Jack and Iris tensed upon hearing the word as they all heard Martha panic and respond with,
"I can't take that sir."
The man sternly responded with, "You know what to do, for the sake of the human race."
Martha breathed shakily as she heard the man say his goodbyes and then said to the team,
"Bye, Jack."
With that, Jack yelled out, "Martha, don't do it!"
But they heard the technology rip through her. Though Iris knew that she safely teleported, Jack yelled out, "Don't!"
Iris saw Jack look at her desperately, asking if Martha was alright. Iris nodded and hugged him, when Ianto asked,
"What's Project Indigo?"
Jack answered him with, "Experimental teleport salvaged form the Sontarans. But they haven't got coordinates, or stabilization."
Gwen asked, "So where is she?"
Iris answered them with, "The place she thought of where she wanted to be."
Owen asked, "Where's that then?"
Iris smiled at them, telling them, "Home."
They then started to think of a plan for situations that Iris might not be aware of when Gwen stated,
"Someone's trying to get in tough."
Jack, still upset with Iris, irritably responded with, "The whole world's crying out. Just leave it."
However, Iris shook her head as she said, "No, put it on. This is important."
A woman's voice rang out as she said, "Captain Jack Harkness, shame on you. You should listen to your girlfriend more. Now stand to attention."
Iris' eyes widened at the fact that the woman knew she was, as Jack wondered,
"What? Who is that?"
Harriet Jones offered a tight smile and held up her ID as she said, "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."
Iris smirked as she retorted, "Yeah, we know who you are."
That was when more connections formed for the communication of the Doctor's companions. Harriet Jones called out for Sarah, who immediately responded. Eventually, Martha joined the conversation as she said, "Hello?"
Jack laughed cheerfully, his irritation fading a little as he said, "Ha ha! Martha Jones! Where are you?"
Martha looked at Iris, noticing that the woman had a bit of a smug look as she responded to the man, "I guess Project Indigo was more clever. Than we thought. One second, I was in Manhattan, next second. Maybe Indigo tapped into my mind, because I ended up in the one place that I wanted to be. But then all of a sudden, it's like the laptop turned itself on."
Harriet responded quickly with, "It did. That was me. Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."
Martha held the urge to roll her eyes as she said, "Yes, I know who you are."
Harriet Jones ignored the comment as she said, "I thought it was about time we all met. Given the current crisis. Torchwood, this is Sarah Jane Smith."
Sarah looked at the team in curiosity, as Jack said, "I've been following your work per my girlfriend's request. Nice job with the Slitheen."
Sarah blushed a little whilst stating, "Yeah, well. I've been staying away from you lot. Too many guns."
Iris nodded when Jack said, "All the same, might I say looking good, ma'am?"
Sarah blushed even more, but Iris gave a side glance with a raised eyebrow at him. Jack winked back at her, noticing the slight hint of jealousy in her eyes. Harriet noticed their interaction and sighed as she stated,
"Not now, Captain. And Martha Jones. Former companion to the Doctor."
Martha looked at the screen with slight worry as she asked, "But how did you find me?"
Harriet then began explaining about her Subwave Network. Harriet looked at Iris, as she said,
"This, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Subwave Network. A sentient piece of software programmed to seek out anyone and everyone who can help to contact the Doctor. Iris helped develop this."
All Torchwood members looked at the Time Lady with a raised eyebrow, as if asking her when she had the time to do so, but she just blushed and shrugged whilst Martha brought their attention back with,
"What if the Daleks can hear us?"
Harriet shook her head as she said, "No, that's the beauty of the Subwave. It's undetectable."
Sarah Jane then asked, "So you two invented it?"
Harriet smiled as she shook heads as she said, "No, Iris and I only developed it. But ultimately, it was created by the Mister Copper Foundation."
Jack chuckled warily as relief somewhat started to hit him again, as he said, "Yeah, but what we need right now is a weapon. Martha, back there at UNIT, what did they give you? What was that key thing?"
Martha eyed Iris, who had a knowing look on her features as the UNIT doctor hesitantly answered with, "The Osterhagen key."
Upon hearing the response, Harriet said, "That key is not to be used, Doctor Jones. Not under any circumstances."
Jack looked towards Iris, asking "But what is an Osterhagen key?"
Iris shook her head whilst Harriet responded with, "Forget about the key, and that's an order. All we need is the Doctor."
But not too long after, her history was being discussed and Iris tuned it out as she said,
"We don't have time for this. We need to use the Subwave to call the Doctor."
Harriet nodded as she said, "Combine forces. The Doctor's secret army."
Iris shook her head as she immediately responded with, "Not an army. Just a group of companions."
Ianto grasped Iris' shoulder tightly, knowing how Iris hated to be referred as a soldier as Jack's head was thinking when Toshiko intercepted with,
"We can boost the signal by transmitting the telephone number through Torchwood using the power of the Rift. It should be strong enough to get to the TARDIS."
Luke smiled excitedly as he added, "And we've got Mister Smith. He can link up with every telephone exchange on the Earth. He can get the whole world to call the same number, all at the same time. Billions of phones, calling out all at once."
Iris smiled and winked at Luke, causing the boy to blush and Jack flirtingly ask Sarah,
"Brilliant. Who's the kid?"
Sarah chastised the duo with, "That's my son."
Ianto pushed the two back as a hint of jealousy and irritation showed in his eyes as he said,
"Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry. Hello. Ianto Jones. Er, if we start transmitting, then this Subwave Network is going to become visible. I mean, to the Daleks."
Iris grabbed his hand as Harriet answered the statement with, "Yes, and they'll trace it back to me. But my life doesn't matter. Not if it saves the Earth."
Jack saluted her and Harriet gave everyone a sad smile as she said, "Thank you, Captain. But there are people out there dying on the streets"
Everyone took a moment to let that sink in when Harriet seemed to somewhat energize them with, "Now, enough of words. Let's begin."
The Torchwood team immediately started moving around the Hub as Toshiko started the programming whilst Iris prepared for the Daleks' onslaught as Jack said,
"Rift power activated."
Gwen called out, "All terminals coordinated."
Ianto plugged in a power cable as he said, "National grid online."
Owen then stated, "Giving you everything we've got. Let's get this show on the road."
Tosh rolled her eyes at Owen's sarcasm whilst Sarah said,
"Connecting you to Mister Smith."
Luke piped up with, "All telephone networks combined."
Martha added in, "Sending you the number now."
Harriet started to finish her own typing as she said, "Opening Subwave Network to maximum."
Sarah let out a big breath as she said, "Mister Smith, make that call."
Everyone heard a machine start calling the Doctor, and Toshiko gave everyone an adrenaline-filled, excited smile as she pressed enter, stating,
"And sending."
With that, everyone in Torchwood saw the pulses of energy leave the center, as they all desperately hoped the contact would reach the Doctor. But they trusted Iris enough to know that it would reach him, whatever the cost.
Iris then closed her eyes as she tried to reach the Doctor mentally, calling out to him with,
"Doctor! Follow the signal! We're the ones sending it. We don't have that much time."
And for a moment, she heard a surprised yelp from the Doctor, before grunts of pain as if he had hit his knee on something. But not much afterwards. As she tried focusing harder, a spark erupted near her, causing Ianto to pull her away from it quickly before putting a kiss on top of her head. Iris looked up at him to find a look of passion in his eyes as things seemed to get more and more frantic in the Hub when Jack called out to everyone,
"I think we've got a fix."
They then heard Sarah yell out, "Mister Smith now at 200%."
Gwen then whispered out with dread as she said, "Harriet, a saucer's locked onto your location. They've found you."
Harriet smiled wistfully at them as she said, "I know. I'm using the network to mask your transmission. Keep going."
Iris ran over to the screen as she hurriedly said to the woman, "Harriet. Thank you. And I'm so sorry."
The woman nodded and gave her a grateful look as she continued to transfer the files before stating,
"Iris, I'm transferring the Subwave Network to Torchwood. You're in charge now. And tell the Doctor from me that he chose his companions well…. It's been an honor."
Iris saw Daleks barge in last minute before the screen that had been showing Harriet blacked out. The Time Lady sighed as she knew what had happened. Jack and Ianto both saw the despair weigh her shoulders down, despite the woman trying to hide her sadness from the team. But before they could comfort her, the blackened portion of the screen lit up again to show the Doctor and Donna.
Jack immediately walked over and yelled out with irritation, "Where the hell have you two been?"
The Doctor winced at that but frowned upon seeing the sad look in Iris' eyes. Ianto looked at Iris, noticing the interaction, but didn't say anything as Jack stated,
"Doctor, it's the Daleks."
This was supported by Sarah, who said, "It's the Daleks. They're taking people to their spaceship."
Martha followed up with, "It's not just Dalek Caan."
The crew started conversing much when Iris was starting frown upon hearing a noise. But she wasn't sure what it was, as it was too hard to discern what it was. But she was brought back to the screen as she heard the Doctor mutter,
"Everyone except Rose."
Iris winced at that, which did not go unnoticed by Owen and Tosh. But before they could comment on it, a strange voice rang out through their screen as it said,
"Your voice is different, and yet its arrogance is unchanged."
The Time Lady automatically looked back to the Doctor, who she knew was the reason Davros was who he was at the moment. Sadness reflected in her eyes at the truth, but nobody seemed to pay attention as Sarah whispered out in fear,
"No. But he's dead."
Iris' hand clenched into a fist as Davros menacingly welcomed them with, "Welcome to my new Empire. Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race."
Donna looked up hesitantly at the Time Lord as she whispered out, "Doctor?"
Davros almost seemed to smirk, if he really could, as he smugly asked, "Have you nothing to say?"
The Doctor could not hear what Donna was saying to him, as his mind was reeling at the situation as he said,
"But you were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium. I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you."
Davros seemed to take even greater satisfaction at that as he said, "But it took one stronger than you. Dalek Caan himself."
Iris eyed Donna on the screen as Caan stated, "I flew into the wild and fire. I danced and died a thousand times."
Davros sighed as if truly worried about the Dalek as he said, "Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself."
The Doctor shook his head in disbelief at that as he said, "But that's impossible. The entire War is timelocked."
Davros once again sounded terribly pleased whilst saying,
"Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine. A single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"
Everyone could see how the Daleks were clearly making the Doctor more and more angry. Iris looked to Ianto, who was now seemingly distracted with a different screen, trying to make sure that the Daleks were not too close. When something popped up on his screen that caught his attention, he looked towards Gwen and said,
"Gwen, Dalek saucer heading for the Bay. They've found us."
Jack immediately bolted from the screen as he said,
"Martha, open that Indigo device. Now listen to me. Lift the central panel. There's a string of numbers that keep changing. But the fourth number keeps oscillating between two different digits. Tell me what they are."
Martha did as asked, finding the numbers as she read them, "It's a four and a nine. We could never work out what that was."
Iris immediately walked up to Jack, making sure to grab onto him as he prepared himself while replying to the woman,
"Yeah, that's the teleport base code. And that's all I need, to get this thing working again."
Iris smiled back warily to Jack, who had an even wider smile with the excitement getting to him as he said,
"Oscillating four and nine. Thank you, Martha Jones."
Owen handed Jack a large gun as Iris told the group,
"We have to go. We'll find the Doctor and come back."
The group looked at them with a raised eyebrow, when Iris said, "We promise."
With that, the Torchwood team nodded and smiled at them as Tosh said,
"Don't worry about us. Just go."
Ianto ran up quickly and gave Iris a solid kiss on her forehead as he whispered to her,
"We'll be fine. Plus, we have to make up for the tension in here."
Iris blushed brightly, her face turning red at the insinuation the man was making, which caused Jack to laugh before responding with,
"You'd better be."
With a wink to his team, the duo vanished from the hub. When they finally arrived at the street, Iris and Jack immediately ran over to the Time Lord, seeing that he had fallen. Iris noticed the panicked look on Rose's face as she said,
"Oh, my God. Don't die. Oh my god, don't die."
Iris put a hand on Donna's shoulder and directed her to the TARDIS before going to help Jack move the Doctor into the TARDIS. When they set him down, Donna looked at Iris as she asked rapidly,
"What, what do we do? There must be some medicine or something."
Iris shook her head, though she did eye the container that held the Doctor's hand. Jack helped bring Rose back towards where Donna was, as he whispered to her,
"Just step back. Rose, do as I say, and get back. He's dying and you know what happens next."
Donna looked towards Iris as she asked, "Like how you changed?"
Rose finally glanced at Iris for the first time, confused with Donna's question. But before Iris could explain, everyone turned to see that the Doctor's hand had started to glow brightly. The Doctor looked up to Iris as he groaned out, "It's starting."
Jack muttered, "Here we go. Good luck, Doctor."
Donna held onto Iris tightly as the Doctor then turned to Rose and said,
"I'm sorry… it's too late. I'm regenerating."
Iris then saw the look in the Doctor's eyes, as if he was giving up. That shocked her Time Lady mind. That wasn't supposed to happen. As she noticed the glow getting brighter rapidly, she yelled into his mind via their bond,
"Doctor! Your hand!"
As if he understood what she said, his eyes widened before the full regeneration cycle started. But it was not too long before he managed to redirect his body and release the energy towards the hand. When the glow died down and he still appeared the same, Jack, Rose and Donna froze upon seeing that he had not changed.
The Doctor smacked his lips as if testing something out, before saying, "Now then. Where are we?"
Iris sighed as she went up to him and smacked him over the top of his head. "You idiot!"
The Doctor groaned out a little and looked at her with a "What did I do?" face. Iris sighed upon seeing his expression, but turned to go to his hand and blow away the remaining regeneration energy as he explained to his still frozen companions,
"You see? Used the regeneration to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me. So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand. Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?"
Rose walked up to the Doctor, which made the bond between the Doctor and Iris flinch very slightly, which went unnoticed by everyone else, as the two Time Lords realized what this was. The Doctor, this regeneration, still felt love for Rose Tyler. And having that was not good for the bond that they had shared. The unease that Iris felt was also noticed by the Doctor.
Though Iris did not love the Doctor, the bond that the two Time Lords shared caused the sense of unease to grow as Rose asked,
"You're still you?"
The Doctor nodded while sadly saying, "I'm still me."
The two hugged, and Iris went to Jack, who whispered to her, "Is that supposed to-"
Iris nodded and hugged him, burying her face into his chest as she felt a want for comfort. He hugged her back, knowing what was happening. He wished that this wasn't something she had to go through, but it had happened and all he could do was love her as much as he could. Donna looked a little lost, but she did see the unexplainable emotions running through Iris' eyes when Rose had hugged the Doctor.
But everyone tensed and grew quiet when the power in the TARDIS went out. The Doctor whispered to the group,
"They've got us. Power's gone. Some kind of chronon loop."
Iris then looked to Rose, who was already looking at her curiously, as Jack had wrapped his hand around her own. The man was stating,
"There's a massive Dalek ship at the center of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination."
Donna then looked at the two Time Lords as she asked, "You said these planets are like an engine. But what for?"
Iris, sighed and said, "Something deadly."
The Doctor nodded and looked towards Rose, who he asked, "Rose, you've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?"
Rose glanced towards Iris for a quick second before answering, "It's the darkness."
Donna muttered, "The stars were going out."
Rose nodded and continued, "One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this, er, this travel machine, this… this er, dimension cannon, so I could… Well… so I could…"
The Doctor dreaded the answer, and still asked, "What?"
Rose answered with a sigh, "So I could come back. Shut up. Anyway, suddenly, it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything."
Donna looked apprehensively at the blonde girl, who seemed to stick close to the Doctor's side, as she said,
"In that parallel world, you said something about me."
Rose nodded as she eyed the Doctor warily as she responded with, "The dimension cannon would measure timelines, and it's… it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you."
Everyone but Iris had a bewildered look as Donna sputtered out,
"But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick."
But before Iris could say anything, the group in the TARDIS all heard a beeping noise, causing the Doctor's glance towards them turn solemn as he said,
"The Dalek Crucible. All aboard."
Iris grasped Jack's hand tighter upon hearing him further say,
"We'll have to go out. Because if we don't, they'll get in."
Rose looked worried as she responded with, "You told me nothing could get through those doors."
Jack nodded as he added, "You've got extrapolator shielding."
Iris sighed as she could feel the Doctor's dread and worry through their bond as he said,
"Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledge Dalek Empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood."
Whilst he was describing this, Iris quickly noticed Donna's eyes zone out, as if she was in a trance. Iris frowned as she witnessed the woman not pay attention to the conversation that was unfolding as Jack questioned the blonde with,
"What about your dimension jump?"
Rose seemed to have lost patience and had panic settle in as she answered, "It needs another 20 minutes. And anyway, I'm not leaving."
The Doctor looked at the couple instead, asking them, "What about your teleport?"
Iris shook her head as she joined back into the conversation with, "It unfortunately went down with power loss."
The Doctor sighed, barely forcing a smile onto his facial features as he tried to state,
"Right then. All of us together. Yeah."
But he instantly felt worry sink in when both he and Iris turned to Donna, who looked like she was in a trance as he called out to her. But the woman continued to stare at nothing until Iris went up to her and put a hand on her shoulder before saying,
"Donna?"
Donna tensed at the surprise as she whispered out, "Yeah?"
The Doctor gave her an apologetic glance as he stated, "I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do."
Iris saw the sad look in Donna's eyes as she muttered, "No… I know."
But it wasn't long before the Dalek's voices reached their ears and Rose took a nervous swallow as she whispered out, "Daleks."
Jack looked towards Iris, terror settling in as he wasn't sure what Iris would do when things turned for the worse. The Doctor, on the other hand, sensed the sadness in Iris through their bond, as she looked at him. She gave him a shaky smile, in which his hearts broke a little at that sight. But he just returned the same smile as he quietly said,
"It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did."
He then looked towards Donna as he said, "You were brilliant."
Then looked towards Jack and Iris, who he said, "You two were brilliant."
And then to Rose, he took in a shaky breath as he said, "And you were brilliant."
Tears threatened to spill as he looked away slightly and awkwardly whispered, "Blimey."
Everyone in the TARDIS nodded, eyeing each other with a weak smile. Jack held Iris' hand before heading towards the door. Iris turned around and walked over to Donna, who now had a slightly distant look. Iris knew what this meant and stayed with her. It wasn't too long when they both heard the Doctor state, "Donna! You're no safer in there."
But when Donna was coming out of her reverie, the door of the TARDIS slammed shut, causing Iris to hug Donna, as she asked her,
"What happened?!"
Iris whispered to her, "It's the timelines… they're converging on you Donna."
Donna shook her head in refusal as she argued, "But I'm nobody!"
Iris hugged Donna tightly as she whispered, "No! You're special. You are never a nobody Donna! Remember that!"
Donna whimpered in fear as she was not sure what to think of the situation. They both heard the Doctor pound at the door in fear as he yelled out, "Donna! Iris!"
Jack was yelling at the Daleks, "What did you all do! Open that door!"
But all the Time Lord and the 51st century man heard as a response was the red dalek answer them with, "This is not of Dalek origin."
The Doctor pleaded as tears finally fell, in fear for his friends and the Time Lady,
"Stop it! She's my friend. Now open the door and let her out."
And fate was cruel as the Red Dalek refused stating, "This is Time Lord treachery."
Jack was trying the door yelling out to Iris. Iris ran over to the door, yelling out to the man,
"Jack! Both of us will be fine! But know this, I love you!"
Upon hearing that, Jack fought even harder to open the door as he yelled out, "Iris! I'm going to get you out of there! Just wait!"
As the conversation happened, Rose started tugging Jack off the door, making him struggle to get out of her grasp as he cried out for Iris. As this was happening, a trap door opened beneath the TARDIS making it drop down.
Iris fell towards the ground while Donna was holding onto the railing for her life. Both women screamed in fear, as Donna hoped that Iris knew what she was doing. What the two women did not know was the Time Lord and the 51st century man finally break upon seeing the TARDIS fall. The Doctor tried to focus on his bond with Iris, hoping that it would help with his knowledge of her survival. But it did not help that he could also feel her fear. He trembled in heartbreak as Jack knelt on the ground, crying.
Rose wasn't sure how to react at the sight of the TARDIS falling to its death, bobbling in the molten core. Meanwhile on the TARDIS, Iris had finally managed to find a railing to hold onto, but her body was being thrown around terribly, making her think how bad the bruising would be. But it wasn't until a few seconds later she spotted the Doctor's hand on the ground. That caused her to quickly look over to Donna. Donna looked mesmerized by it, when Iris ran over to her despite the sparks flying everywhere. Iris' hair was disheveled, and her clothes were covered in blood and soot from everything. The moment Donna touched the regeneration energy around the hand, Iris' own hand grabbed onto Donna's shoulder.
Iris' eyes glowed with the same regeneration energy immediately and her head was thrown back as her mind went blank for a second. That was when Iris heard a voice, a familiar one, call out to her, and say,
"I will help you."
With that, Iris felt an overwhelming pressure in her mind before she stumbled back from Donna. Donna blinked several times as she stopped shaking, only to see a naked Doctor sit up quite quickly. When she turned around to look at Iris, she found the Time Lady had paled greatly before her eyes rolled upwards and started to fall. Donna quickly grabbed her before looking back at the man in front of her as she exclaimed in fear and shock,
"It's you!"
The Doctor in front of her exclaimed, "Oh, yes!"
Donna couldn't help but shake Iris a little, only to find her unresponsive. Donna almost cried out in fear but held it back as she looked up at the man again as she finally saw him, and choked out, "You're naked."
The Doctor smirked and said, "Oh, yes."
Donna then gently set Iris down on the ground before shoving the Doctor towards the closet and ordering him to find something decent to wear. Afterwards, she rushed out to the console to find Iris still there, unconscious. She sighed and whispered to her,
"Iris… I'm scared. I don't know what to do…"
It did not take long for the Doctor to come back in a blue suit and start repairing things. He took a glance at Iris, sighing at the sight, slight guilt taking over his features, before hiding the emotion.
Once he was done, he leaped off the chair, and yelled out, "All repaired. Lovely. Shush. No one knows we're here. Got to keep quiet. Silent running, like on submarines when you can't even drop a spanner. Don't drop a spanner! I like blue. What do you think?"
Donna was still holding onto Iris when she could only mutter out, "You are bonkers."
The Doctor looked offended at that and looked down at his clothing, asking in confusion,
"Why? What's wrong with blue?"
Donna was finally fed up with him as she stood up again after setting Iris down gently, and said,
"Is that what Time Lords do? Lop a bit off, grow another one? You're like worms."
The Doctor finally realized what she was talking about as he responded with,
"No, no, no, no. I'm unique. Never been another like me. Because all that regeneration energy went into the hand. Look at my hand. I love that hand. But then you touched it and Iris touched you. Wham!"
Donna jumped at the sudden shoving of his hand towards her and almost screamed. But he stopped her as he quickly said,
"Shush. Instantaneous biological metacrisis. I grew out of you and Iris. Still, could be worse."
Donna looked insulted at that statement as she hissed, "Oi, watch it, spaceman."
The Doctor sassed her back with, "Oi, watch it, Earth girl."
His eyes widened right after though, as he realized out loud,
"Ooh… I sound like you. I sound all… all sort of rough."
Donna looked even more insulted, if that was possible, as she yelled out incredulously,
"Oi!"
The new Doctor retaliated the same way, until he made the woman in front of him jump as he yelled out,
"Spanners! Shush…" He paused for a bit before glancing back at Iris and then to Donna as he muttered,
"I must have picked up a bit of your voice, that's all. Is it? Did I? No."
Donna couldn't help but look at the Doctor as if he had finally lost his mind, as he was processing something in his mind. But it turned to hurt as the man in front of her looked back at her disgustedly as he said,
"Oh, you are kidding me. No way. One heart. I've only got one heart. This body has got only one heart."
Donna stopped panicking as she came to a realization, whispering out, "What, like you're human?"
The Doctor frowned even further, as he groaned out, "Oh, that's disgusting."
Whilst they were holding their conversation, they did not notice a slight twitch in Iris' eyes.
~~ ….. ~~
Iris opened her eyes to come across a familiar sight. Red grass strewn everywhere, when she finally heard footsteps coming near her. She turned around to face someone she had not been expecting. The person in front of her provided her a smirk as they said,
"Soon, you will be me. You cannot fight this forever."
Iris shook her head, not able to say anything. That was when she noticed that she was in a white dress, standing bare feet, not feeling the cold of the snow. She looked around as she finally spotted something in horror. The snow that had been gently falling had come to a standstill, but she nor the person in front of her had stopped. The person once more told her,
"Remember. You cannot stop this from happening."
And with that, the man faded, and time seemed to resume as she turned around to face the citadel, which was burning in the back and there was a trail of blood leading to her feet, and a sword covered in blood in her hand.
That was the last thing she remember seeing before she was thrown back into the darkness.