The Lazarus Experiment: You're Here?

It was with a celebratory mood that Lady Thaw sipped away at her scotch while she and Lazarus sat in his office, looking out at the lights of London glistening in the darkness. The day was nearly over and tomorrow would start with the world changed, thanks to them.

"I grew up over there," Lazarus nodded towards the window, pointing slightly with his glass, "Tiny flat above a butcher's shop."

"It'll have a blue plaque soon," Thaw smiled at him, "'Richard Lazarus lived here.'"

"It's gone," he sighed, shaking his head, "Destroyed in the war. The bombing."

"Of course."

"1940," he mused, "D'you remember? Night after night. Explosions. Guns. Firestorm."

"My parents had sent me to the country by then," she shrugged, not sounding at all concerned for what HE had gone through during that time, when he had just been a young boy.

"When the sirens went, we'd go to the cathedral there," he pointed to another area, "We used to shelter in the crypt…the living cowering among the dead."

"But look at what you've built here, now," she tried to keep him in the present, though a part of her was growing weary with all his talk of the war. She much preferred to live in the now, "You've laid the foundations for an empire. An empire we can rule together," she reached out and tugged him closer, pressing a kiss to his lips…

Only to have him yank himself away with a hiss.

"Well, what's wrong?"

Lazarus just grimaced at her, wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand before laughing darkly. He reached out, gently taking her chin in his hands, but then tightening his grip and turning her head sharply, making her look at the window, at her reflection in it, making her take in the wrinkles and gray hair.

"Look at yourself, woman," he sneered at her.

She shot him a glare and shoved his hand away.

~8~

The Doctor frowned in his brainy specs as he eyed the results of the DNA scan he and Martha had run on Lazarus's sample. They'd found an empty lab, one that was far too easy to access what with all the attention back in reception instead of the halls, and quickly got to work putting the computers to use. He'd had to run the scan twice as he'd gotten distracted, looking towards the door before forcing himself to focus.

"Amazing," he muttered, eyeing the results.

Even though he'd said that, his expression was decidedly less amazed and more concerned, his brow furrowed. It was to be expected though, the niggle that had become an itch was now a slight pressure in his head. He kept trying to push it away, to bury it, to focus on what was happening with Lazarus, but it was getting harder to ignore.

"What?" Martha glanced at him, not seeing anything truly amazing before her. It was a simple DNA strand.

"Lazarus's DNA."

"I can't see anything different."

"Look at it!" the Doctor quickly pointed to the screen as he spoke, just as what appeared to be a glitch struck the screen, making the strand flicker and warp.

"Oh, my God!" she blinked, "Did that just change? But it can't have!"

"But it did," he nodded, rubbing his ear, his eyes flickering to the door that led to the hall, the hall that led to reception. He shook his head, putting his gaze back on the screen, watching as it warped again.

"It's impossible."

"And that's two impossible things we've seen tonight," he agreed, smiling, though he couldn't help but feel like it was forced, "Don't you love it when that happens?"

"That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns."

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure, then a mutagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands," he mumbled, feeling his eyes turn back to the door. He didn't know how long he stared at it in his distraction till he could almost feel Martha's own eyes boring a hole into the side of his face. He glanced at her, seeing a confused expression on her face, "Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate," he simplified for her.

"But they're still mutating now," Martha pointed at the screen which was starting to warp at an alarming pace now.

"Cos he missed something," the Doctor murmured, pulling his brainy specs off his face. He couldn't help but feel like HE was missing something as well, something staring him right in the face yet…was just too far out of his grasp, "Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilize. Something that's trying to change him."

Martha hesitated, not sure if she wanted to know the answer to her question, "Change him into what?"

"I dunno," he frowned, nodding to himself, "But I think we need to find out."

"That woman said they were going upstairs…"

He stood quickly, "Let's go!" he turned to lead her out of the lab, through a door on the other side of the room that led to a more employee-only hall that would give them more cover.

Only moments after they exited the room, the main door opened and the blonde girl poked her head in.

"Hello?" she called tentatively, looking around, but there was no one there. She frowned, she could have sworn that the man was there. She'd been wandering the labs, trying to find him and his friend and her feet had led her to the laboratory halls. They were all dark, save for one with a light coming from beneath the door.

That had had to be the one that they were in, yet the room was empty.

She glanced around, not sure if the two might return, before she stepped further into the room and wandered around it. There had to be something there that they'd needed or been doing before she'd gotten there and they'd left, some clue about where they had gone now. And, given there was one computer still on with a scan running, it was fairly easy to find.

She moved over to the computer and sat down before it, tilting her head as she looked at, what appeared to be, a very mutated DNA strand. But then again, maybe it wasn't. Maybe that was just what human DNA looked like, she wasn't sure. She blinked, gasping when the screen flickered and the mutation got worse, now sure that, even if she didn't know what it was meant to look like she was sure that it wasn't meant to change. Her eyes scanned the screen for any sort of clue what was going on and felt the breath leave her when she saw a name attached to the scan. It was automated, the scan identified the source of the DNA.

It was Professor Lazarus!

She glanced at the door to the hall for only a moment before getting up and hurrying out there, she had been right in her fears, something truly had gone wrong…

And now Lazarus was paying the price

And so might everyone else.

She didn't know much about science, she'd been truthful in that, she wasn't a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but even she knew that when DNA mutated, it was never a good thing.

~8~

The mood in Lazarus's office had gone from celebratory to tense within in moments as Lady Thaw paced behind her partner angrily while he just irritatingly calmly looked out the window still, "It's me who made this all possible!" she snapped at him, still spurned by his rejection of her kiss, "This is my triumph, and I will not be denied, not by you, not after everything I've done here!"

"You backed me because you saw a profit," he muttered, "Your concern was financial."

"Well! You want the money as much as I do. We had a plan!" she turned her back on him, not seeing him close his eyes as his entire body cracked instead of just his neck this time, "When the device is ready, I'll be rejuvenated, too. We could be rich and young and together!"

"You think I'd water another lifetime on you?" he spat, standing and turning to face her.

"Did that process make you even more cruel?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, my love. That I learnt from you. You have a gift for it."

"Then you know that I'll protect my involvement in the project," she lifted her chin, "I'm sure Mr. Saxon's representative will be interested…" she cut off suddenly when Lazarus nearly buckled to the floor, groaning as his body tensed in pain, "What's going on?"

Lazarus could barely gasp out an answer, "It must just be…ah!" his body twisted in a spasm.

"What is it?" she took a single step towards him, hesitating to touch him or get too near after their last spat.

"I'll be fine in a moment," he waved her off, "It's probably just a cramp," he offered her a single smile that quickly warped into a grimace of pain as he collapsed to the floor.

"Oh! Richard!" she rushed to his side, wanting to help, but the man was twisting and seizing too much for her to be able to touch him, "Is it some sort of seizure? What should I do? I don't understand what's happening!"

She jumped back in horror as he screamed, his bones starting to crack and his skin ripple as his body twisted and transformed, his suit tearing as his entire body tore apart as well, leaving nothing but a monster in its wake with a razor sharp tail that shot out at her…

~8~

A young blonde woman entered reception and wandered about, looking to see if Professor Lazarus had returned from where it was he'd gone with Lady Thaw, but it didn't appear that he was there. She had had to choose between following her gut as it told her to go through the employee-only doorway or return to reception and she'd chosen reception, hoping she might be able to find Lazarus first...now though it seemed she'd missed the opportunity to find him as well as the man from her dream too. She let out a small huff of breath, looking around one last time, about to head off and try to ask one of the men that had escorted her there for help…when she overheard someone asking over another pair that had disappeared.

"Have you seen Martha and that Doctor anywhere?" an older woman was asking a young girl that was vaguely familiar to her.

"Not since the demonstration," the girl shook her head.

"Do you know anything about him? Has she ever mentioned him before?"

"Not to me."

"The way she followed him…"

"She's a doctor," the girl shrugged, "She was just doing her job."

"She's not a doctor yet. Never will be, if she doesn't stay focused!"

"Look," a young man cut into the argument, "She's found a bloke. So what?"

"There's something going on, Leo, I can feel it," the woman huffed.

The blonde woman hesitated a moment longer, feeling bad for eavesdropping, but hoping one of them might have mentioned where…Martha, was it? Martha and the man had gone. She could only guess and hope that they'd gone to find Lazarus as well but their paths had led them to separate locations.

She shook her head, turning to head out of the room, she would give the lab one more walk through for Lazarus before asking for help from someone.

Ironically, only moments after she had stepped out of the room in search of Lazarus, the man himself entered, stepping out of a lift in a different suit. He cracked his neck and grinned, making his way over to Tish, who had stepped away from her mother to speak to some guests, and placing his hand on her shoulder, "Leticia Jones. I'd recognize the smell of that soap anywhere."

Quite unlike the last time he'd touched her, Tish smiled and blushed as she saw him behind her, "Professor."

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, you'll have to excuse me while I take care of Leticia here," he smiled at his guests, "I've been neglecting her," he trailed his hand down her arm to her hand and led her away as she willingly went.

~8~

Martha stepped out of a lift and into Lazarus's office, glancing at the Doctor as he flicked on the lights, revealing the room to be empty but clearly an office, "This is his office, alright."

"So, where is he?" the Doctor wondered, glancing around.

Martha sighed at that, "Dunno," and the lab was enormous, quite a few floors of test areas and research computers and offices…finding Lazarus might take them all night if they weren't careful. And Lazarus would have access to the security cameras that were scattered around, that would give the man the advantage if he realized he was being sought to avoid them. She shook her head and gave the room one more glance, "Let's try back at the…reception…" her breath left her as she spotted something that was most certainly NOT office equipment lying behind a desk.

A skeleton.

A skeleton in high heels.

She and the Doctor hurried over to see it wasn't quite a skeleton, but more a desiccated body, one so dried out it was nearly skeletal in appearance.

"Is that Lady Thaw?" Martha stared in horror.

"Used to be," the Doctor nodded, recognizing the clothing as being the same that the woman was wearing before, "Now it's just a shell. Had all the life energy drained out. Like squeezing the juice out of an orange."

"Lazarus."

The Doctor glanced up at her, his gaze flickering to the lift before he forced his attention back to her, "Could be."

"So he's changed already."

"Not necessarily," he rubbed his head, that pressure in the back of his mind was getting firmer now, more pressing, "You saw the DNA. It was fluctuating. The process must demand energy. This might not have been enough."

"So he might do this again?" Martha was horrified at the prospect.

All the answer she needed to that question was the Doctor straightening and running to the lift to head back down to reception as she'd suggested they do before.

Just as their lift door closed, another opened, and out stepped none other than Lazarus and Tish, the man still leading her along by the hand, "You seem very young to have such a responsible position," he remarked, "Have you much experience?"

"Not really," Tish smiled at him, her gaze so focused on him that she didn't even see the body lying across the room, "But the interview panel thought I had all the necessary attributes."

"How perceptive of them."

She blushed, "So where are you taking me?" she blinked flirtatiously.

"Up to the roof. It's a lovely evening. I thought I'd show you the view. It's extraordinary."

"Like a lot of things around here, then," she gave him a pointed look.

The man grinned, rather pleased with that, before he turned and gestured for her to walk ahead, his hand resting on the small of her back as he nudged her on, cracking his neck as he followed her.

Yet again, the moment the doors to the roof closed behind them, the doors to a second lift opened and the blonde woman stepped out.

She paused, glancing around the room, her eye falling on the roof doorway and slowly drifting up higher towards the ceiling as she frowned. She shook her head and stepped further into the room, looking around for a moment…before she stiffened.

She slowly turned, looking over her shoulder at something she'd caught in the corner of her eye, the remains lying on the floor, "Oh no," she murmured, making her way over to the woman and kneeling beside her, "Oh I'm sorry, Lady Thaw," she frowned at the body, noting that the face was frozen in an expression of terror, its eyes wide and eyelids too dry to close, "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

She looked around, trying to find something that could be of help when she spotted a coat rack to the side. She stood and made her way to it, pulling the largest one she could find off of it and bringing it back with her to Lady Thaw. She crouched down once more, gently lying the coat over her body as a sign of respect.

"I won't let him do this to anyone else," she promised the woman's spirit.

She stood, glancing up at the ceiling once more, her face morphing into an expression of reluctance, before she glanced at the lift, weighing something in her mind but then hurrying over to the device, taking it back down.

Perhaps this time she would be fast enough…

~8~

Martha and the Doctor nearly bolted out of the lift and back into reception, looking around for Lazarus, but it appeared the man wasn't there either, which made no sense to them as he had appeared to be quite in love with the attention the crowd had been giving him before. They couldn't think of another place he might be or a reason why he wasn't there.

"I can't see him," Martha muttered.

"He can't be far," the Doctor reasoned, giving her a glance before hurrying off, calling, "Keep looking!" over his shoulder as he disappeared into the crowd.

Martha sighed at that, assuming that they'd be splitting up anyway to find the man but it would have been nice for him to say it.

"Hey, you alright, Marth?" she heard her brother call as she turned to see him approaching her, "I think Mum wants to talk to you…"

"Have you see Lazarus anywhere?" she cut in, too concerned with what Lazarus might do to the people there, to her FAMILY that was there, if he wasn't stopped soon.

"Yeah. He was getting cozy with Tish a couple of minutes ago."

"With Tish!?" she almost screeched, loud enough for the Doctor to hear and make his way over to her just a moment before her mother appeared.

"Ah, Doctor…" Mrs. Jones began, but the Doctor completely disregarded her to focus on Leo.

"Where did they go?"

"Upstairs I think...why?" Leo frowned, seeing the Doctor and Martha exchanging concerned glances and feeling like he was missing something.

"Doctor," Mrs. Jones tried once more, "Doc…" but he was already off, half-shoving past her and causing her to spill her drink all over herself in the process, "I'm speaking to you! "

"Not now, Mum!" Martha snapped, dashing after him.

Mrs. Jones huffed at that, turning to another table to find a napkin, not caring to follow Martha or that blasted Doctor to the lift as it opened for them.

The second lift doors opened and the blonde women stepped out, moving a little farther into the room, only to tense when she heard a pair of lift doors starting to shut behind her. She turned just in time to see the man from her dream and the girl, Martha, inside one a moment before the doors shut completely.

"Oh this is getting ridiculous," she muttered, managing to slide into her own lift just as the doors were shutting. She turned, pressing a button to follow the other lift and looked out at the reception room once more.

She frowned, turning to lean to the side, following the door as it shut in order to look out longer when she spotted one of her escorts approaching Martha's other with a napkin and speaking to her…

~8~

The Doctor and Martha rushed out of the lift, hurrying into the middle of Lazarus's office, Martha half spinning around in an attempt to spot her sister or Lazarus but with no luck, "Where are they!?"

The Doctor quickly whipped out the sonic, flicking it on and scanning around, "Fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature. I might be able to pick it up, find out where he is and…"

"He's on the roof," a voice said behind them, causing both the Doctor and Martha to jump and spin around only to see a young woman who appeared to be around their age in a white dress with a lacy blue sheath over it step out of the second lift, looking at them with wide green eyes, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders in light curls.

"Sorry, what?" Martha asked, trying to play it off for why they'd be there, talking about DNA signatures with a dead body not ten feet away.

The Doctor however, just stared at the woman, his arm still half raised, the sonic still whirring as he just…stared.

The girl blinked, "Professor Lazarus," she answered, "He's on the roof."

"I don't think he's…" Martha began, but the Doctor merely pointed the sonic straight up, causing it to beep loudly, indicating that Lazarus was above them and, with that being the top floor, the roof was all that was left.

"How did you know?" the Doctor asked, lowering his arm, but still staring.

It should have been unnerving, Martha pondered, the intensity of the stare he was giving the girl, but the blonde just gave a soft smile, not seeming perturbed.

"I know because…" she sighed, "Because I don't want to go on the roof."

"Why not?"

"Because he's there."

"But how do you KNOW?"

"Because he feels wrong," the girl said, "Can't you feel it? You're a Time Lord, can't you feel how wrong he is?" she shook her head, glancing up at the ceiling, "I can feel it from here," and back at him to see his eyes had grown even wider.

"How do you know I'm a Time Lord?"

"The same way you know that I am too," she answered calmly, gesturing to the back of her head, "There's a niggle in the back of your head, you sense me here," she tilted her head, eyeing him, "I think you've been ignoring it, because it hurts. But I AM here, I really am," she smiled a bit, "You are not alone."

The Doctor almost dropped the sonic at that, at hearing the familiar words that the Face of Boe had told him echoing back. He actually stumbled back as if her words had physically hit him.

"But how…"

"Doctor," Martha cut in, "I know, I KNOW this is a really big thing for you, you told me about the war, about losing your family and your people and yeah, this is monumental that there's a…what do you call a female Time Lord?" she glanced at the girl, asking, but held up her hand just as the girl opened her mouth to answer, cutting her off, "Never mind," she faced the Doctor again, "I get it, I do, this is big, but, Doctor, my sister, MY family is up on a roof with a human whose DNA is mutating into something and I need to get her to safety, right now."

"She's right," the girl spoke, pulling the Doctor's attention to her, "Family should always come first. Sisters especially."

There was something in her voice that told him she had once had a sister, much like he'd had a brother, but neither existed any longer. He swallowed hard, a terrible thought hitting him, a question of whether this girl, this Time Lady, knew the role he'd played in that, in taking their family and friends and planet from them. But he shook it off, it would come up again, he was sure, but right now…right now there was a Time Lady before him, another one of his people standing right there, and, for just this moment, they could pretend he hadn't done anything and help save a young human girl.

Maybe if the Time Lady saw him save a human, saw him being 'the Doctor,' she'd be able to hold onto that, to see that was who he truly was, not his actions during the war.

"Right," he nodded, "To the roof."

~8~

Tish smiled as she looked out at the lights of London from the roof, the stars sparkling above her, Lazarus close beside her. She couldn't help but let out a happy sigh at the beautiful sight, "That clock tower's beautiful all lit up like that."

"It's Southwark Cathedral," Lazarus explained, "One of the oldest churches in London. Been around longer than I have."

"Well, you're looking pretty good for your age," she joked.

"Thank you."

"Can I…" she gestured at his face.

"Of course," he bowed his head slightly, leaning in to allow her to touch his face, closing his eyes and turning his head so that he could feel her skin on his more firmly.

"Still can't take it in," she murmured, looking at him intently.

"I'm still adjusting myself," he laughed lightly, "I've been working toward it for too many years, it's hard to believe the moment's finally arrived."

"And is it like you expected?"

"I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect. There's always something to surprise you. 'Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act…'"

"'Falls the shadow,'" a different voice than Lazarus's finished.

Tish gasped as she jumped, the two of them turning to see Martha approaching with the Doctor and another woman with blonde hair beside them. Tish's eyes widened at the sight, more so for the woman that had joined her sister than the fact that her sister had snuck up on her. She had to ask her later, she made a note, how Martha had run into her or if she knew her. SHE knew who the woman was, of course she did, she had sent out all the invitations and made the guest list, she knew nearly everyone that was there, save the Doctor that Martha brought as a date…but still. Did Martha know the woman too? If so, her sister had been holding out far more of a social life than she'd let on! Rude.

"So the mysterious Doctor knows his Eliot," Lazarus chuckled, not seeming at all uneasy with their sudden appearance, in fact, he seemed a bit TOO confident, "I'm impressed."

"Me too," the blonde woman, the Time Lady, agreed, not seeming to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.

Tish, however, seemed far from impressed, turning to glare at her sister for the interruption now that the shock of seeing the three of them had worn off, "Martha, what are youdoing here?"

"Tish," Martha tensed, watching as Lazarus smirked, almost as though he were amused to see what she'd say, "Get away from him."

And, of course, a direct order from a sibling garnered nothing but refusal, "What? Don't tell me what to do."

"Eliot is poetry, yes?" the Time Lady asked, glancing around before focusing on Lazarus, "Wouldn't it have been better to spend more time on that box of yours than to learn a poem? If you had, it might have worked better."

"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus," the Doctor agreed, "What with you being busy defying the laws of nature and all."

"You're right," Lazarus let out a breath, "One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more would I get done in two or three or four?"

"The span of a life isn't what defines it," the Time Lady frowned, "I've done hardly anything in almost 8 centuries except for work on boxes…" the Doctor's gaze turned to her for that, for how easily she spoke of her being an alien to a human, she revealed it far too easily, almost as though she wasn't used to hiding it.

Tish, though, seemed to think she was a nutter...yet she was keeping her lips pressed together to not say anything rude about it, the last thing they needed was the girl to report back to the ones that sent her that she'd been insulted.

Though that act of silence was a bit confusing, Martha had to note, Tish hardly ever held her tongue.

"And I've seen humans live a fraction of that and do extraordinary things," the Time Lady frowned, as though working something out, "It's about the person, not the time."

"Ah," Lazarus nodded, "But if it's the right person, what a gift that would be."

"Or what a curse," the Doctor countered.

The Time Lady looked to the Doctor for a moment at that, her frown deepening at his remark, "Or a blessing," she gave him a look, "Depending on the person, I think it could be just…" she tried to find the word to describe it and went with the first one that popped into her head, "Fantastic."

The Doctor blinked at that word.

But the Time Lady had already turned her attention back to Lazarus, "I don't think you having more time would change anything."

The Doctor shook his head, focusing back on the situation at hand, "Look at what you've done to yourself."

Both their remarks seemed to get to Lazarus as the man's expression morphed from a smile to a sneer, "Who are you to judgeme?"

"Over here, Tish," Martha held out her hands to her sister, beckoning her over to her.

Tish gave a roll of her eyes but started to walk away from Lazarus, much to Martha's relief, she could even ignore Tish's next remarks at the fact that with each word Tish was farther and farther away from the man, "You have to spoil everything, don't you? Every time I find someone nice, you have to go and find fault."

However the relief quickly faded when, right behind Tish's back, Lazarus dropped to his knees, another attack striking him.

"Tish, he's a monster!" Martha gasped out, her eyes fixed on Lazarus.

"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones…" Tish trailed off as she heard Lazarus starting to growl behind her, something else in his voice, a deep, animalistic tone to it. She froze, turning to look over her shoulder at the man…the man who was NOT a man any longer but a monster, a giant, skeleton-scorpion mutant of sorts.

She screamed as Lazarus lunged at her, only to be pulled back by the Time Lady, "Run!" the woman shouted, turning to pull Tish back towards the door to the labs, Martha and the Doctor rushing behind her.

She shoved the doors open, the Doctor slamming them closed behind them, using his sonic screwdriver to seal them shut, trying to give them more time to get away from Lazarus though he doubted the doors would keep the man out for long.

"Are you ok?" Martha called to her sister as they reached the lifts, trying to press the button to bring one up to them.

The Doctor looked over, seeing the Time Lady was shifting nervously, glancing at the numbers above the lift doors to the stairs behind her, biting her lip.

"I was gonna snog him," was all Tish could work out to say.

"I thought humans preferred attachments nearer to their age?" the Time Lady frowned, seeming distracted for a moment from her nerves, "Isn't he quite a few decades older than you?"

"Some people just…go for that," the Doctor mumbled, suddenly blushing as he recalled a kiss or two he'd shared with a human girl or younger alien here and there. It seemed that they took physical appearance more so than actual age, "They're very visually oriented. So long as they look near enough, it's fine for them."

"Oh," the Time Lady nodded, as though JUST realizing something else and making a connection, "Yes, that does make sense…"

She glanced to the side just a moment before a bang sounded in that direction, so near to the noise that, had the Doctor not been looking at her, he would have thought she'd flinched towards the sound, but it had been a split second before it.

It was Lazarus, trying to break his way through the door, setting off the security system of the labs in the process, "Security breach," came the automated response, "Security breach. Security beach."

"What's happening?" Martha gasped.

The Time Lady blinked, "Well, I think there's a breach in security happening."

Martha was quite sure she would have been quite angry and irritated at the Time Lady's words, had they been mocking or sarcastic instead of genuine. The Time Lady truly seemed to think she was actually asking a real question about why the alarms were going off.

Tish, though, had an actual answer about the situation, "Uh, an intrusion. It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts. Seals the exits."

"He must be breaking through that door," the Doctor mumbled, glancing at the lifts and knowing that they wouldn't be working in such a situation, "The stairs, come on!" he reached out and quickly ushered the girls down ahead of him, noting briefly that the Time Lady was wearing flat shoes, something odd considering all the heels he'd seen every other woman in the reception area wearing. Even Martha was wearing heels…which were probably quite hard to run in…

They had only just made it down the stairs when there was a loud crash above them, the sound of metal warping and slapping against walls, which could only mean one thing to Martha, "He's inside!"

"He crashed through a door," the Time Lady remarked, "Doors are notoriously easy to open."

"Haven't got much time!" the Doctor cut in, pushing them on towards reception, not even stopping or slowing as they burst through the doors, just shouting orders and questions as he went, "Tish! Is there another way out of here?"

"There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now," Tish answered promptly.

The Doctor had only just reached into his pocket for his sonic when the Time Lady spoke, "Here," she called, pulling a small card out of her clutch purse, "Use this," she handed it to Tish, giving the Doctor a glance at the sonic, "You may need that for later."

"What's that?" the Doctor frowned at the card, but Tish had already rushed off with Martha to get the doors open, knowing that the chaos would soon cause everyone to panic.

"Security card," she said simply, "Overrides the systems."

"How did you get that?" he gave her a curious look.

"I thought all the guests had one?" she frowned, "To get into the lab for the experiment."

The Doctor opened his mouth but promptly closed it with a snap, he really didn't know. He and Martha had gotten in a different way and apparently the Time Lady had been invited for some reason. Well, it made sense, Martha's sister was there, that was a personal invitation, and he had the psychic paper…perhaps all the other guests did have security cards. But then why had she been invited? Why was she there?

No, no, that was a question for another day when they weren't being chased by a psychotic scorpion.

"Right," he muttered, before shaking his head and looking around the room, hopping on top of a small platform before the white box that Lazarus had created, "Listen to me!" he shouted, trying to speak above the din of the guests, "You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"

"Don't be ridiculous," a rather wealthy looking blonde woman sneered, "The biggest danger here is choking on an olive."

"That is…a very large olive," the Time Lady murmured from beside the Doctor when a crash sounded above them and glass rained down on them, Lazarus, in all his skeletal-scorpioned glory, fell down before them, roaring.

It only took a split second before the crowd sprang into a panic and herded towards the doors.

The Time Lady looked between the fleeing crowd to the rather rude woman to the young black man that had been talking to Martha before, "Mum, get back!" Leo shouted.

"Get down!" she called to the man who turned to see who was shouting and gasped as he saw a table flying right for him. He quickly dropped down, his mother crying out for him, just barely missing being hit by the table as it sailed over him, leaving him scrambling towards his mother and the exit.

"Over here!" Martha was yelling to the guests, she and Tish managing to get one of the doors open despite the crowd behind them trying to push their way out, "This way! Everyone downstairs now! Hurry!"

"No!" the Doctor's voice cut through the Time Lady's watching of the guests flooding out of the room and pulled her gaze to the rude woman who had frozen in shock, Lazarus approaching her, "Get away from her!"

She tried to step forward, to run to the woman and pull her back, but the Doctor reached out and grabbed her, holding her back because it was too late, Lazarus had already impaled the woman with his tail and was sucking the life energy out of her within moments, leaving her lifeless husk to fall to the ground.

"Oi!" the Time Lady called as Lazarus grinned at the dried corpse on the ground and started to make his way after the crowd, "Leave them alone!"

"What's the point if you can't control it?" the Doctor added, stepping away from the Time Lady in his arms, moving slightly before her to speak to Lazarus directly, "The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool, a vain old man who thought he could defy Nature. Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!"

"Why would you…" the Time Lady began to ask, not sure why the Doctor would start try to infuriate Lazarus so, but he didn't even let her finish speaking before he took her hand and ran out of the room, pulling her behind him as Lazarus roared and charged after them, ignoring the other guests, "Oh."

~8~

"What's the Doctor doing?!" Tish cried as she looked back, making sure that the guests were all getting out safe, just in time to see him run off with the blonde woman.

Martha glanced over, her eyes widening at the sight of Lazarus chasing them, and realized what he'd done, "He's trying to buy us some time. Let's not waste it. Come on everyone!" she shouted to the crowd, "Hurry, come on! Faster, get out of the labs!" the moment that the crowd had passed her, she turned to her sister, "Tish, move!" she pushed the girl on, "We need to get out of here!"

Tish tried to glance back, dread on her face as she saw the Doctor and the woman disappear out of the room. Oh that was not good, not good at all. They were so going to be sued for this if anything happened to that woman...

~8~

The Doctor panted as he and the Time Lady came to a stop in the middle of a service hall, pipes lining the wall, the lights out above them. He spun around when he heard a hissing noise that was most certainly NOT the pipes.

"It's no good, Doctor," Lazarus's voice echoed above them, "You can't stop me."

"Is that the same arrogance you had when you swore nothing had gone wrong with your device?" the Doctor challenged.

"The arrogance is yours. You can't stand in the way of progress."

"Murdering humans is not progress!" the Time Lady frowned.

"It is a necessary sacrifice."

"Sacrifice means saving lives not ending them," the Time Lady argued, "And it is NOT your decision to make who dies and when. Only a monster would think that."

"Well," Lazarus hissed, "If you have missed the memo, my dear, I AM a monster now!"

~8~

"No!" Martha gasped as they ran into the doors of the main entrance, only to find them entirely locked due to the security shut down, "They're locked, we're trapped!"

"No, no, here," Tish passed Martha the card the woman had given her, "Use this."

Martha frowned, not quite sure she believed it would be useful, but swiped it across a security reader, her eyes widening when the doors opened, allowing the party goers out, "It worked?"

"Course it did," Tish pushed Martha out after her, "She's one of the lab founder's representatives!" she told her, "Of all the guests, she'd have the security clearance to override the system. Now go!"

~8~

The Doctor and the Time Lady looked up when the lights suddenly flickered on, revealing them to Lazarus who was hanging off the ceiling above them, "Peek-a-boo."

"Oh, hello," the Doctor gave a small wave.

The Time Lady just grabbed his hand and pulled him off down the hallway, trying to keep ahead of Lazarus as he roared and followed.

~8~

Martha gave the guests a quick look as she reached the main outer stairs of the lab, making sure they were all out and all safe and heading away from the labs, before turning to her family, reassured they were safe as well, "I've got to go back."

"You can't!" her mother sounded utterly appalled that she would say that, "You saw what that thing did. It'll kill you."

But Martha remained firm, shaking her head, "I don't care. I have to go."

"It's that Doctor, isn't it?" her mother sneered, angry, "That's what's happened to you. That's why you've changed."

"He was buying us time, Martha," her sister tried to remind her, "Time for you to get out, too."

"I'm not leaving him," Martha argued.

"Martha!" her mother hissed.

But Martha had already turned to leave, running back into the lab, frantically searching for the Doctor and the mysterious woman who might very well be the only other Time Lord left.

She almost felt angry, at how the Doctor had sent her off with her sister and taken the other woman with him to lure Lazarus away. But she could understand, after a moment or two to calm down, she understood. That girl, if she really was a Time Lord female, the Doctor would never ever risk losing her in the crowd or letting her away from him till he got answers. He would keep the Time...Lady closer than he would her, especially considering she'd made such a big thing about finding her sister and keeping her family safe. She would have gone with them anyway, wanted to make sure they got out alright. Still, it did sting a bit that he had automatically turned to the Time Lady he'd just met instead of the one-time companion that had been around longer than one-time.

~8~

The Doctor frowned as they ran down the hall, not for the fact that Lazarus was still chasing them, but for the fact that he wasn't the one doing the leading at the moment. The Time Lady was still leading him down a hall, not quite sure where she was going. He wasn't sure if she even knew where they were going either, but she was leading them somewhere.

"Where are we…" he began to ask when she opened a door and tugged him into it. He blinked as he looked around, seeing that it was one of the more scientific labs, complete with gas pipes and bunsin burners. He set his face in a determined expression and pulled the sonic out, this time taking the lead himself as he pulled her through the lab, flicking the sonic on and causing all the pipes to start leaking gas.

He hurried to a light fixture on the wall just beside a door on the other end of the room, using the sonic to pull the panel off it and began pulling wires out.

"He's coming," the Time Lady whispered to him in warning.

He glanced over towards the back door, able to hear Lazarus stomping about just outside it moments later. He reached out and took her hand once more, guiding her back behind him and more into the doorway as he faced down the opposite door moments before Lazarus burst in.

He didn't say a word, merely made eye contact with Lazarus, before he turned and pushed the Time Lady into the hall, the two of them starting to run down it as he flicked the sonic on over his shoulder, knowing Lazarus was likely halfway across the room by now, right in place. The lights activated, the wires he'd broken sparking and causing a massive explosion in the room.

"You ok?" he looked at the Time Lady as she winced and stumbled at the force of the explosion.

"Yeah," she nodded, "Just…my ears are ringing."

"Sorry," he grimaced, knowing he hadn't made the best impression. He opened his mouth to say more when they reached a corner and someone ran into them, none other than Martha Jones, "What are you doing here!?"

"I heard the explosion," Martha panted, "Guessed it was you. Thought you might need some help. What happened?"

"I blasted Lazarus," he stated.

"Did you kill him?"

"If he did, he's come back to life," the Time Lady mumbled when they heard a crashing noise behind them along with an agonized growl and roar from what could only be Lazarus escaping the room.

"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say," the Doctor countered, before turning to lead them off down the hall, his mind racing with theories and plans and hopes of how he could get them all out of this mess.

Because he'd only just found another Time Lord, what could very well be the last Time Lady, and he was not about to let something like Lazarus injure either one of them or take her from him, not now, not when he was finally not the last of his kind.

~8~

Just outside the labs, Mrs. Jones was sitting dejectedly and angrily beside her son while Tish stood before them, trying to reassure her mother, "She'll be alright. The Doctor and her, they'll look out for each other."

"She turned her back on us, went in there with that thing for him," Mrs. Jones spat.

Tish glanced at her brother for that remark and then back to the lab entrance. A majority of the crowd had left by now but their mother refused to do so without her daughter. She shifted as she looked at the crowd, she could see some men still lingering and knew what they were waiting for, or should she say WHO they were waiting for. That girl, the blonde girl, it had been very, very clear when the RSVP had been returned that the girl's presence was to be kept on the lowest of downs, no big fuss, no cameras, no hounding. It was why she had escorts with her.

She wasn't sure if the men even knew she was still in the building or if they were searching the crowds for her, if they assumed she'd gotten out or something else. She couldn't work out why they wouldn't be rushing in there to get the girl out, but at the same time, she also didn't want to bring it up. SHE had organized all of this, well…she hadn't organized Lazarus turning into a monster and attacking people, but everything else would be on her. She was responsible for the guests and the quieter she was about the girl's whereabouts, the better her job security was.

And the girl was relatively safe, she had to be, she was with that Doctor bloke and Martha would be with her soon enough.

"He must be some guy," Leo tried to lighten the mood.

"Maybe she loves him," Tish jumped on that idea, hoping that it might be true. Surely their mother couldn't have that much of an issue if it was love.

"She just met him!"

Alright, apparently their mother could.

"Is your daughter still in there with the Doctor?" a voice asked.

Mrs. Jones looked up to see a man that had offered her a napkin earlier standing there and stood to face him, "Do you know him?"

The man nodded, solemn, "He's dangerous," he glanced around, lowering his voice, "There are things you should know."

Leo and Tish glanced at each other for that, wary of the man, but Mrs. Jones didn't seem perturbed at all as she stepped closer to the man, leading him off a few steps with a hand on his arm, "What things?"

The man leaned in to whisper in her ear just how dangerous that Doctor could be…

~8~

"What now?" Martha gasped as they dashed back into reception, "We've just gone 'round in a circle!" she cried, seeing where they'd ended up.

She shot a small glare at the Time Lady for that one. They'd been running one way when they'd reached a cross section of halls, the girl hadn't even stopped to consider what way would be best before she took off down one, leaving the Doctor to follow and her to take up the rear. And now they were just back where they started and no safer at all.

The Doctor turned in a circle, trying to find something that could help them when his gaze landed on Lazarus's machine. He glanced at the Time Lady a moment and back at the box, opening his mouth to ask her something, something rather important if the plan forming in his mind had a chance of working, but before he could even utter a sound Lazarus threw himself into the room.

"We can't lead him outside," he muttered, ushering the two women towards the box, "Come on, get in!"

The Time Lady tripped, falling to her knees as they scrambled into the box, forcing her to sit on the bottom of it while he and Martha crowded the upper half, just barely managing to get the door to the machine closed and sealed with the sonic.

"Are we hiding?" Martha panted, awkwardly smushed against the Doctor while also trying not to crush or step on the woman at her feet.

"I hope not," the Time Lady remarked, "I'm rubbish at Hide and Seek."

The Doctor blinked at that, feeling a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, but he shook his head, "No, he knows we're here. But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."

"But we're trapped!" Martha cried.

"Well, yeah, that's a slight problem."

"You mean you don't have a plan?" Martha shot him a look.

"Yes, the plan was to get inside here!"

"Then what?!"

"Well…then I'd hope that my assumption is right and I haven't made an arse of myself," he muttered.

"What?"

"You," he looked down at the Time Lady, "Er…um, sorry what's your name?"

"Oh, um, well, in the Naming Ceremony I chose the Angel," the Time Lady stated.

"Well," he blinked, "That's fitting," he smiled at her, "Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but I really, really hope I'm not, but the boxes, the ones you worked on for near 800 years…those wouldn't happen to be TARDISes would they?"

The Time Lady, Angel, blinked up at him, "Yes…"

"Brilliant," he beamed, utterly relieved. He wiggled slightly and managed to get his arm unsmushed to toss the sonic down to her…though it ended up becoming more like a drop than a toss, the sonic landing next to her, "Sorry," he apologized, glancing at the door when he heard Lazarus starting to shuffle around the machine, "But um, pop open the panel," he nodded at the floor where a panel was hiding the controls and wiring.

"What're you gonna do?" Martha asked as Angel did as she was told.

"I'd like to know that too," Angel agreed, looking up at him.

"Can you set this thing to reflect energy instead of receive it?" the Doctor inquired, "It should be easier than setting a TARDIS to do the same, but they should have the same principles and structure..."

"I...I think so," Angel murmured, examining the wires and set up a moment, turning to start pulling and tugging at the wires.

Martha sighed as Angel got to work, "I still don't understand where that thing came from. Is it alien?"

"No, for once it's strictly human in origin," the Doctor answered, shuffling to give Angel more room.

"Human? How can it be human?"

"Probably some dormant genes in Lazarus's DNA. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. And it looks like they're becoming dominant."

"So it's a throwback."

"Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there, locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake."

"I wish he'd been a fish," Angel murmured, sounding, for some reason, like she was recalling a past conversation instead of just making a remark, "Gills and air…he'd have slowed down at least. Fish are usually nice. They make some rather taste treats after them. Fish 'n' chips, Swedish fish, fish fingers those are lovely with a bit of custard..."

"Um," the Doctor glanced up, hearing the machine starting to power up, "How's it going down there?"

"Just one more mo…" Angel whispered, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth as she focused...

When a blue light began to fill the machine.

The Doctor let out a breath at that, just the barest tremble of fear in his voice, "Lazarus has switched the machine on."

A/N: OMG! You guys! I was completely blown away by the response to the story! :') I can say that I will definitely be continuing the story ;) So this will be updated every other Saturday with Rewritten posted on the off weekends between ;) It might seem a little hard at times, because it'll take about a month and a half to get through an episode, but I think it might be better than the alternative, not getting a story at all or waiting till Rewritten has finished a series before doing a series of this story (as it would take, for a general series, 44 weeks to get through one series and that's a bit long to make others wait for an update of Rewritten). It's mostly just for this year while I try to catch up to things and get other stories ready to post. I plan to, next year, do this story every Sunday with Rewritten every Saturday, but for now it'll be every other Saturday ;)

I really am so happy that you guys are excited for this story, I can't wait to get to it! And I want to say thank you for your well wishes for my father, we're very happy and relieved he's doing better again too :) I'm SO happy I can get back to posting stories more regularly too :)

There were two main questions that came up in reviews that I want to answer or bring up here though before I actually answer any other notes ;)

1. Is Harry the Master or Harry Sullivan? - The next chapter is where we'll find out exactly who Harry is so I won't be saying which guesses about his identity are correct just yet ;)

2. Will the Doctor forget Angel in this AU? - Even though this might count as a spoiler for anyone that's kept away from my tumblr, it's been posted there for a while that I have 2 AUs planned for Angel. THIS AU, however, will NOT be the AU where the Doctor remembers her :( So there is a very big threat of him forgetting Angel as he did in the main series, however I can say she will not be alone during it, she'll have more support, and it'll also depend on where she and the Doctor are in their relationship for how much it'll affect her or even why the Silence might have needed the Doctor to forget her also ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Rose and River...very tricky lol :) I can say that, as Rose developed feelings for the Doctor like in the show, she'll very much not want to like Angel, but Angel's a nice person and she can see that Angel makes the Doctor happy, so she won't be cruel or harsh to her, River though...well, River might still see Angel in a very negative light, though there may be a fair bit more jealousy going on than in the original series}:)

We'll have to wait and see if Angel and the Doctor become pregnant later than in the main series. There may be quite a few things happening that push them together, but we'll have to see what they might be or how the Time Lords feel about it ;)

I can say there won't be any long drawn out triangles here nope :) Even when River starts to play a part in the story, there may be a rather large force of nature keeping her back from the Doctor ;)