A/N: I am SO sorry it's taken so long to get this story updated :( I can't believe it's been 4 and a half years :'(
I won't go into all the details, the things that happened that kept me trying to update and get back online and then falling off again :/ Life is basically what it boils down to. A lot of things happening and changing, beyond the obvious thing that happened the last year :/ Each time I felt like I got to a good place to get back and posting, something else would come up and just knock me down again :/
But early last year I got to a point where things seemed to be stabilizing and getting into something of a routine and I felt like I could really try to come back again. I've learned my lesson from other attempts, started very, very slow by posting only 2x a week and focusing on the stories I had left unfinished during that time, putting all other stories on pause, like this one. Then moved into trying to catch up/complete some series in the last few months of 2020. My Lord of the Rings series is now complete, as is Sherlock and Leena (for now), and I introduced a new DW OC The Detective/Sigma for anyone interested.
Since things kept relatively smooth and on schedule last year, I tried to slowly bump up my posting to 3x a week this year. AND I'm trying to get the side stories (Spin-offs, Sequels, and AUs) back up and running.
But, again, it will be VERY slow going to start.
So what I will be doing with the side stories is I am going to post A chapter for 2 stories in a month. There are/will be 12 side stories, so 2 stories will have a new chapter each month and I'll rotate through them. I started with J and River and picked Angel's AU for the second posting of January! :D
I posted on tumblr the order of what stories I'll be updating each month. I'll be aiming to post a chapter around the 15th and 30th of a month (14th/28th for February). I spaced them out so we're not getting stories from just 1 series in a month and tried to alternate between a shorter spin-off type story and a longer AUs chapter also.
I know it may seem very slow, because it would mean this story will only be updated 1 more time this year after this chapter, but after being on pause 4.5 years, something is better than nothing, right? And if I can keep up the 2 updates a month, I may bump it up to 3 a month once I get through the 12 side stories ;)
For now, we've got a new chapter of 'Déjà Vu' but check out my tumblr's Upcoming Stories page for more of a schedule for the other ones ;)
Onto the chapter!
~8~
42: Breaking Down
The Doctor was beaming.
It almost would have worried Martha, how wide his smile was, if she didn't have a good guess for why the man seemed to be about to burst with joy. She was happy for him, she really was. He'd told her, in New New York about his people, about how they were gone, what he'd had to do to save the Universe. She had heard it in his voice, seen it on his face, read it in his eyes, the devastation and the loneliness he felt, to be the very last person left of his people. She had tried to imagine it, what it would feel like to be that alone, without a home, she'd broken down in tears just attempting it, she couldn't begin to say how strong he was to keep going despite it all. She had resolved to keep travelling with him, no matter what, because no one deserved to be alone. So she really was so relieved and happy that he'd found one, that he'd found a Time Lady, that one of his people had survived.
He was not alone, just like the Face of Boe had told him.
The Angel. Part of her, a small part, wanted to say that it was a bit of a haughty name, an arrogant one, but the girl attached to it? She was sweet. Granted she'd only met Angel a few hours ago, she could still tell that the girl was very sweet, very humble, and a genuinely good person. She'd risked her life to keep her safe when she didn't have to, a complete stranger to her, and that told her all she needed to know about the girl.
The Doctor had been absolutely giddy and she was...words couldn't express how pleased she was for him. Seriously, hearing him talk about his planet, his people, the raw pain and regret, the longing she heard in his voice, him being able to have even a fraction of that back was wonderful.
Angel had asked permission to wander off, to explore the TARDIS and get a better idea of its layout, apparently very familiar with the different types of TARDISes (who knew there were different types?) and the Doctor had desperately needed something to distract him otherwise Martha was sure he would have followed the girl. Probably would have defended it as 'giving a tour' but she got the feeling that Angel herself had needed a moment alone to absorb the fact that she, too, had some part of her home returned to her in finding the Doctor. So she'd asked the Doctor if there was some way to connect her mobile to her answerphone at her home incase her mother called her, so she wouldn't lose track or end up saying something to her mother that hadn't happened yet.
It had led him into a tangent about communication devices and how the TARDIS worked with them, and now he'd finally seemed to think to just give her mobile an upgrade so she could use it whenever she needed.
"There we go!" he cheered, finishing the work he was doing with the sonic, "Universal Roaming. Never have to worry about a signal again."
Martha tried to hide her smirk as he tossed her mobile back to her. In the span of those few words, he'd looked over towards pathway to the room Angel had left through no less than 3 times. But her attention was quickly pulled back when she saw 'Universal Roaming Activated' on the screen, "No way! But it's...too mad! You're telling me I can call anyone, anywhere in Space and Time on my mobile?!"
"Long as you know the area code," he nodded, grinning at her stunned look, "Frequent Fliers' privilege."
"That's brilliant," Martha smiled down at her phone.
The Doctor opened his mouth like he wanted to say something more, but cut off and abruptly turned when he seemed to sense something a moment before Angel entered the room, "What do you think?" he asked her.
She just gave him a soft smile and walked over to him, hugging him tightly.
Martha had to bite her lip at the startled expression on his face, before he slowly lowered his arms to return the hug, the man even subtly turning this way and that as he did so in a light rocking motion.
"Thank you," Angel murmured as she took a breath and pulled away, Martha had to look away at the sight of tears prickling the corner of Angel's eyes.
"For what?" the Doctor asked, soft in everything he directed at her, his words, his gaze, his expression.
Angel's smile grew bittersweet, "I never thought I'd see a TARDIS again," she admitted, quickly wiping under her eye, her smile turning more nostalgic now, "My family would grow them," she explained to him, "Harvest and adapt them, repair them whenever someone needed them. I've…it's like I've spent my entire life in them and then…" she swallowed hard, "Then they were gone," her voice cracked with the same devastated emotion Martha had heard in the Doctor's voice so often, and Angel looked over at the rotor, taking a breath to recover, "It's been nearly 50 years since I last saw one…"
"I'm glad I could give one back to yo…hold on," the Doctor blinked, her words catching up to him, "50 years?" he looked at her, "Is that how long you've been on Earth?"
He should have known, he should have. The second he set down on Earth in the last 50 years he should have known, sensed her, found her, something…but…the war had also been over for little more than 100 for him so…why 50 for her?
Angel nodded, "I um…I grabbed onto a Dalek when it emergency temporal shifted away," she told him, and there was something in her tone, a pain he couldn't place entirely, before she continued on, "We crashed into earth about 50 years ago, somewhere called the Ascension Islands, and got caught, auctioned off here and there," she looked away, crossing her arms in discomfort, "Eventually got freed and…"
"Hold on," the Doctor frowned, something about that, about the crashing, the Dalek, the Ascension Islands, the 50 years, the auctions resonating with him, "A man called Van Statten wasn't one of those auctioners was he?"
Angel frowned, thinking, "No, I don't think he..." she shook her head, "Actually, yeah, he was," she recalled, "Or he almost was, he won the Dalek. I was auctioned to another group that was working to find trapped aliens and free them. They saved me."
The Doctor swallowed hard at that revelation, at how near he'd come to having met her so many years ago and in the future if Van Statten had managed to obtain her, too. He and Rose had landed in the man's museum, he was quite pleased with his 'Metaltron' but hadn't mentioned anything about a second alien. Though, looking back on it, the man probably wouldn't have admitted to losing another specimen to study. He was glad she had escaped that, been helped, been rescued. He would never have wanted her to end up there, knowing what the man had done to the Dalek, the torture he had inflicted to get his answers and make it talk. He was glad, because he was sure he would have destroyed the man if he'd done the same to Angel, to any of his people.
"They've been helping me adapt to life on Earth," she added, but her attention was drawn to the rotor again, feeling like she needed to change the topic and soon. She could almost feel the Doctor's curiosity about who had saved her and how they'd helped her, and...it was private, it was her family, and even if the Doctor was a good man, like she thought he might be, she had spent too long protecting her little family to feel comfortable telling him about all they'd done. Looking at the rotor, she felt like there was one thing that might get him off track from what she'd just revealed, "Couldn't help but think about the life I lost though…"
The Doctor's expression morphed into one of joy again, that he could give her this, "Well, we've met at the best time," he told her, "This old box," he let out a breath, "I've tried to maintain her, but I know more about piloting than I do repairs…"
Angel turned to him with a frown, "It should all be in the manual…"
"There's a manual?" Martha had to speak, hating to interrupt their conversation but the fact that there was a MANUAL to a box as incredible as this one was throwing her off.
Angel nodded, "My family helped write them, they were standard issue in every TARDIS and we had records to fall back on to provide replacement copies whenever they were lost or damaged."
"Yeah, about that," the Doctor began to tug on his ear, "Funny story…"
Martha crossed her arms, knowing what that was, having seen her brother do that very thing, use that very explanation too many times before, "What did you do to it, Doctor?"
"Why do you assume it was something I did and not something that happened to it?" he frowned.
Martha just gave him a pointed look.
"Yeah, yeah, alright, fair enough," he huffed, before scratching at his neck, "I…may have thrown it in a supernova?"
Angel's face scrunched, "Why would you do that?"
"Because I disagreed with it."
She blinked, "Oh."
"Not that there was anything wrong with the manual!" he hurried to explain, not wanting her to be upset he'd basically destroyed something her family had a hand in making, "I just…like I said, I'm not great at repairs and I got frustrated and…"
"It's alright," Angel said lightly, "It can be complicated."
Martha barely managed to refrain from snorting. The girl had, just hours ago, complained that earth tech was more complicated to her than the TARDIS was. Clearly she was just trying to make the Doctor feel better about his failures.
"I can work on rewriting it," Angel offered, perking up, "Explain it to you. Maybe you could help me make it easier for humans to understand."
"Why would humans need to understand it?" the Doctor asked, not seeming to realize how rude that might sound to his human Companion standing right there.
"If they're going to be travelling in your TARDIS, they should know how to fly her, how to care for her, help you with her, shouldn't they?" Angel said simply.
"Wait," Martha blinked, "You can teach me how to pilot?"
Angel nodded, "I'd be happy to," before she glanced at the Doctor, "If that's alright…"
"Yes!" the Doctor said quickly, sounding far, FAR too excited and eager for that to Martha's ears, his enthusiasm seeming to even startle Angel as the girl jumped a bit at the proclamation. But this was…oh this would be Christmas! He had a vague recollection of how long it took the manuals to be drafted up for a new TARDIS, it wasn't something that would happen over night, which meant Angel would be there for a while yet. She'd STAY. And that she wanted to teach Martha? That would also take a good long while, she as going to be with him for a very long time now and…anything she wanted that would keep her around, he'd agree to, "I mean, yeah, that…that'd be great. Big help."
"Brilliant," Angel beamed, "Right, so, very first thing to learn," she led Martha over to the console, trying to think of the best way to start with a human, what they would really need to know, "Scanners," she began to push a few buttons, "It's what will let you know what's around you, if there's any danger or if anyone is in danger," she moved to another part and twisted a knob, "Distress signals like…"
The Doctor nearly jumped out of his skin when the TARDIS suddenly jolted, throwing him to the ground. He quickly looked over to make sure Angel and Martha were alright, but it appeared Angel had managed to grab the console and Martha to keep them balanced, the monitor next to her was flashing red.
He picked himself up and hurried over to her side, not even realizing when he put his hand on the small of her back, to help keep her steady of course, and began to tap commands into the monitor, "Distress signal!" he blinked, the irony striking him that that had been what Angel had just been teaching Martha, but there was no time to consider it more, "Locking on!" he tried to reach out with his foot to activate a switch, but Angel just brushed his shoe aside and hit it herself, "Might be a bit of..." he tried to warn when another jolt sent them all to the ground again, "Turbulence."
"There shouldn't be," Angel frowned, looking over at him almost accusingly.
He winced even though, technically, it wasn't his fault...beyond the general lack of maintenance that could have made it a bit more bumpy, "Sorry!" he added quickly, turning to help them to their feet and led them to the doors, "Let's take a look!"
The two women hurried after him, dashing through the doors and into what looked like an engine room, one that was glowing red it was so hot, it was sweltering really.
"Whoa!" the Doctor let out a breath, "Now that is hot!" he quickly began to pull his long jacket off, turning to toss it into the TARDIS, Martha following along with her own red jacket.
"It's like a sauna in here!" Martha agreed.
Angel looked down at her outfit, still her attire from Lazarus's party, which was for the best she supposed. It was a dress with a lacey top over it, so it was very light and airy, it shouldn't make her too uncomfortable in the heat. She shook her head and looked around, "Are the venting systems working?" she wasn't as familiar with ships like this compared to TARDISes, but the same principle must be there, that any ship would need a venting system to regulate heat.
"At full pelt," the Doctor confirmed.
"So it should be cooler instead of feeling like we're flying into the sun…" she frowned at the system.
"Huh," the Doctor tried to get an idea of the ship with the architecture, but it was a standard one, could be flying anywhere, "Wherever it is we are, well, if you can't stand the heat…"
He turned and headed towards a heavy door, pushing it open with all his weight and allowing the women through to the hall beyond.
"Area 30," Angel read off a sign above the door.
"Cooler out here," Martha let out a breath, it was but not by much.
"That's better," the Doctor agreed with a wide grin.
They looked over when they heard stomping sounds, to see a woman and two men racing down the hall, all looking like they had been suffering the heat far longer than they should have.
"Oi!" one of the men glared, "You three!"
"Get out of there!" the woman ordered.
"Seal that door! Now!"
They just stood there, confused and a bit alarmed at how frantic the three people seemed, but the two men just surged past them to shove the door shut themselves.
"Who are you?" the woman demanded, "What are you doing on my ship?"
"Oh, you're the captain!" Angel identified, "Nice to meet you! I'm Angel, and this is the Doctor and Martha Jones."
"Are you police?" the first man glared.
"That's rude," Angel frowned at him, "We introduced ourselves…" she let the rest hang open.
The man rolled his eyes, "Riley," before point at the woman, "Captain McDonnell," and then to the other man, "And Scannell."
"Right, yes," the Doctor nodded, though he seemed both concerned at their assumption they were police and not a rescue party, and also quite amused at Angel's desire for a polite introduction, "Why would we be police?"
"We got your distress signal," Martha added, not wanting them to think they were stowaways and lock them away.
"Are your engines alright?" Angel cut in, frowning, "I can't hear them…unless you've got silent ones?"
"It went dead four minutes ago," McDonnell scoffed.
"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to engineering," Scannell deadpanned, a bit scathingly, clearly not at all pleased with this delay. Though he did add, "Captain," at the end, for respect.
"Secure closure active," a computer stated above them.
"What?!" McDonnell's eyes widened, a loud clanging sounding behind her that caused her to spin around, deeply alarmed.
"The ship's gone mad!" Scannell groused, half a warning to the trio.
"How's it gone mad?" Angel frowned, "It's a ship, it's not a TARDIS. Or…at least I don't think…" she moved over to the side, near a window to try and see outside to the exterior of the ship for a better idea.
The Doctor tried to cover up his snort with a cough, she…she really DIDN'T know much besides TARDISes did she if she compared this ship to one? TARDISes could be cross, they were sentient in their own way, sharing a telepathic connection to their pilots. This ship was nothing of the sort, mechanical to a T. It was…it was sort of cute how she seemed to genuinely think they meant it had actually gone mad.
There was another bang and a woman came running around the corner, down the corridor towards them, doors slamming shut just behind her, just barely keeping ahead of them as she went.
"Who activated secure closure?!" the woman gasped as she reached them, "I nearly got locked in to area 27!" just as she said that the door behind her sealed shut, locking them in the area. But then she seemed to notice the three of them standing there, "Who are you?"
"He's the Doctor, she's the Angel, and I'm Martha," Martha stated, her eyes wide, her tone distracted, as she made her way over to Angel's side where the woman was staring out the window looking both awed, alarmed, and deeply uncomfortable, "Hello."
"Impact projection," the computer called out, "42 minutes."
"We'll get out of this," McDonnell turned to her crew, "I promise."
"Doctor…" Martha called out weakly.
But he was more focused on the 'get out of this' and the '42 minutes to impact' part of it, "42 minutes 'til what?"
"Doctor!" Martha tried again, more firmly this time, "Look!"
The Doctor frowned, moving over to the two women, coming to a stop between them and staring out the window, only to see a bright, burning star blazing in the darkness of space…and growing closer and closer as the ship obviously flew right towards it.
"42 minutes until we crash into the sun," McDonnell sighed.
"What have you done?" Angel breathed, shaking her head and turning to look at McDonnell.
"We haven't done anything."
"You're hurtling towards the sun," she repeated, absently rubbing the center of her chest between her hearts, "You've done something to cause this."
"The ship's gone mad," Scannell defended, "The crew's doing its best to…"
That seemed to jar the Doctor out of his thoughts, turning to look at them, "How many crew members onboard?" for a brief moment he thought that the man was talking about just the people in that section of corridor, but it was clear in his voice that there were more than just them.
"Seven, including us," McDonnell stated.
"We transport cargo across the galaxy," Scannell continued to defend, "Everything's automated. We just keep the ship…"
"Call the others," the Doctor called out, turning and dashing across the room, back to the door they'd come through, "I'll get you out!"
"What's he doing!?" Riley bolted after him, he and Scannell rushing to try and stop the man as he began to try and open it.
"No!" Scannell tried to yank him back, "Don't!"
They weren't fast enough, the door opened and a flare of heat blasted out into the area, so powerful that it knocked the Doctor backwards, nearly sending him to the ground but Angel had rushed over and grabbed him just in time. Martha hurried to her side to help stabilize him while one of the crew, now with a breathing apparatus strapped over their face, ran to the door to try and shut it again.
"But my ship's in there!" the Doctor tried to lunge forward again, but the two men now held him back.
"In the vent chamber?" Riley shoved him.
It was the other crew member, the woman who had run to them, that finally managed to shut the door and pull the apparatus off, turning quickly to the gauges.
"It's our lifeboat!" the Doctor struggled.
"It's lava," Scannell scoffed.
"The temperature's going mad in there!" the woman called, "Up 3000 degrees in ten seconds, and still rising."
"Well, that's alright then," Angel tried to reassure the Doctor, but only succeeded in earning an odd look from the other humans, "TARDISes can withstand far hotter temperatures than that," she reached out to take the Doctor's hand, "She'll be fine, Doctor."
The Doctor took a breath at that, squeezing her hand tightly in thanks. He hadn't known her long, didn't know her at all really, but he trusted her when she said she knew TARDISes, raised them, if she said his ship would be ok…he'd believe her. Perhaps part of it also was...he had to, he had to believe that because if anything happened to the box he didn't know what he'd do.
"Hope that holds up," Riley muttered, "That room is channeling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's gonna get."
"She'll be fine," Angel nodded, firm, "Type-40 TARDISes, among the most sturdy and resistant we've ever had."
It had been one reason the High Council had thought to try and adapt them into WAR TARDISes. Something in her hearts had dropped when her father had told her that, so early in the war that it was only a thought and not a plan. Eventually it HAD changed, no Type 40s, but the newer ones, they thought they'd be easier to adapt than trying to retrofit the older versions.
"She'll be fine, but we won't be," Martha huffed, "We're stuck here."
"So?" the Doctor perked up, able to think a little clearer now that his fear for the TARDIS was minimized, "We fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the Sun! Simple! Engineering down here, is it?!" he called, pointing down the only open corridor before dashing down it, not seeming to even realize he was still holding Angel's hand, tugging her along.
"Impact in 40.26," the computer reported as the crew and Martha ran after him.
~8~
"Oh," Angel gasped when she and the Doctor came to a stop in the doorway of the engineering room, her eyes wide at the sight beyond.
"Blimey!" the Doctor agreed, startled at the state of the room, "Do you always leave things in such a mess?"
The rest of the crew reached them a moment later, and McDonnel seemed horrified, "Oh my god!"
"What the hell happened?!" Scannell gaped.
The entire room looked like it was a warzone. Everything was torn apart, wires were ripped out everywhere, papers strewn about, there were sparks going off, alarms beeping. It looked like a few panels had been torn off of coverings.
And the engine, sitting in the middle of the room, was completely and utterly destroyed.
"Oh, it's wrecked," Riley breathed.
"Pretty efficiently too," the Doctor agreed, stepping in after the crew pushed their way past him.
"He knew what he was doing," Angel murmured, crouching down to pick up a handful of wires from the ground.
"Hmm?" the Doctor glanced over at her, "What?"
She glanced up at him, "Someone knew what they were doing."
"Noticed that too," he nodded, glancing over at some of the computers, which were also torn apart, disabling the security footage. They had to know they'd be seen and took it out first.
"Where's Korwin?" McDonnell asked after a moment when the shock wore off, "Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"
"No," Scannell said shortly, moving over to the engine and trying to see if it could be salvaged.
"You mean someone did this on purpose?" Martha murmured to the Time Lords, Angel could only nod in response.
"Korwin?" McDonnell called, moving over to a comm., "Ashton? Where are you? Korwin, can you answer?!" she huffed, shoving away from the comm., "Where the hell is he? He should be up here!"
The Doctor managed to get one of the computers working, a ship's data records, not quite security or visual, but at least a log of what they were doing and where they'd been, where they were going. Angel watched the crew rushing around, both trying to get things working but also to contact the rest of the crew.
"Oh!" the Doctor beamed, putting some black rimmed specs on, "We're in the Torajji system! Lovely!" he looked over at Angel, grinning, as though he expected her to be just as thrilled.
Angel blinked, "I…I'm not very familiar with the systems," she admitted quietly to him, "I wasn't very studious, at the Academy."
"Oh," he blinked, his smile was a little smaller, but softer though, "That's alright," he assured her, "It's a brilliant system. I can…I can tell you about it, if you like?"
She smiled at that, "I would," she nodded.
"Maybe later though?" Martha cut in a bit, animus with how frantic the crew was, "We're sort of in a crisis here."
"Right, yes!" the Doctor shook himself out of it, "Sorry. It's just you're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away."
"Yeah," Martha muttered under her breath, "Feels it."
"It does?" Angel blinked at her, "I thought this was sort of like with Professor Lazarus and…"
"I um…I was being sarcastic," Martha told her, a little surprised she'd taken her literally. It really was like Lazarus, with everyone frantic and running about and things destroyed. But, even if it hadn't been, it was sort of like the hospital, what she imagined it would be in an emergency.
"Oh, right," Angel nodded, turning to look back at the crew as the Doctor spoke.
"And, you're still using energy scoops for fusion?" the Doctor asked the crew, turning to lean on the computer station, "Hasn't that been outlawed yet?"
The crew tensed and looked at each other.
"They look very guilty," Angel whispered to the Doctor, a little too loud for they all heard it.
"I think so, too," the Doctor agreed.
McDonnell huffed, "We're due to upgrade next docking," she waved it off, turning to stalk away, calling out to her crew, barking orders, "Scannell, engine report."
"She's lying," Angel told the Doctor, this time quietly enough.
"Yes, she is," the Doctor agreed, the guilt they didn't deny on top of the quick defense, it was clear to him this was a lie.
Scannell moved over to the computer terminal, the Doctor pushing off it to allow him space, moving over to look at the engine while Scannell worked on the computer, running a scan, "No response," Scannell reported when it beeped several times. He scoffed in anger and moved over to the engine to try and look at it himself, hoping that the scan might just be faulty with all the destruction to the room, maybe he could get it to work with his own eyes on the subject.
"What?!" McDonnell snapped.
"They're burnt out," Scannell held up a part of the wires from the engine to show her it wasn't his fault, "The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."
"Oh come on!" the Doctor whipped his glasses off, "Auxiliary engines! Every craft's got auxiliaries!"
"We don't have access from here," McDonnell shook her head, "The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."
"Yeah, with 29 password sealed doors between us and them," Scannell reminded, "You'll never get there in time."
"Can't you override the doors?" Martha asked.
"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed."
"So a sonic screwdriver's no use…" the Doctor muttered.
"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance."
"There has to be something," Angel tried to boost them.
"Yeah!" the Doctor latched onto that, "Listen to you! Defeated before you've even started! Where's your Dunkirk spirit?!" he turned to McDonnell, "Who's got the door passwords?"
"They're randomly generated," Riley interrupted lightly, "Reckon I know most of 'em."
"Then what're you waiting for?" the Doctor grinned, "Get on it."
"Well, it's a two-person job," Riley explained, moving to pick up a very large backpack, slinging it onto his back, before he grabbed another huge magnetic clamp, "One, it takes to answer the questions, and the other to carry this," he gestured at the pack and clamp, "The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh captain?"
"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh Riley?" McDonnell tried to joke, but it fell a bit flat.
"Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice!"
"I'll help you," Martha offered, moving to pick up the clamp, "Make myself useful."
"It's remotely controlled by computer panel. That's why it needs two."
"What about three?" Angel asked.
"Hmm?" Riley glanced at her, he and Martha having been about to step out.
"I could help," she added, "You said you know most of the questions, which means you don't know all of them. I'm very good at guessing."
"We need more than a guess," he shook his head, "One wrong answer and it's gonna lock."
Angel just gave him a smile, "Trust me. Lucy would take me to pub quizzes all the time and I'd guess the answers. They thought we were cheating and using her mobile once."
Riley glanced over at McDonnell, waiting till the woman nodded her head before he sighed, "Alright, come on," he jerked his head towards the door for Angel to follow. He didn't think she'd actually be helpful so much as the captain probably wanted less of these strangers hanging around the important equipment.
"Oi!" the Doctor called as she hurried after them, "Be careful."
"You too," Angel turned to look at him as she went, "Keep together," she added, "There's strength in numbers after all."
The Doctor sighed as she disappeared with them, not fully sure how he felt about it. Being separated. It was strange to say, he knew that, they'd only just met but…he just…he didn't want her to be that far away without him there to help her. He'd been alone for more than 100 years, her for near 50, and it was just…it was hard to watch her go.
For a moment it felt like he'd imagined her, made her up in his head, some way to cope with what he'd done to Gallifrey…
Oh dear lord, he was going to have to tell her what he did to their planet…
Just as he was about to spiral into the crushing guilt that accompanied any thoughts of his planet, a voice crackled over the intercom, another man calling out, "McDonnell? It's Ashton."
McDonnell ran right over to the panel, "Where are you? Is Korwin with you?"
"Get up to the med-center NOW!" Ashton demanded.
McDonnell didn't even wait a moment before she was out the room. The Doctor took off after her, passing Martha, Angel, and Riley as they were setting up at the first door.
"Impact in 34.31," the computer warned.
~8~
There were screams coming from the med-center, audible even from the hallway before the Doctor and McDonnell even reached the doorway to it. Once inside, it was clear something was wrong. There was a man on a bed attached to a very larger MRI-like scanner. He was groaning and squirming, thrashing about, in obvious pain. Another man and a woman were on either side of him, each trying to restrain him, to hold him down so he wouldn't hurt himself further.
"Argh!" the ailing man was groaning, "Stop it!"
"Korwin!" the woman was trying her hardest to keep him still, "It's Abi! Open your eyes, I need to take a look at you!"
"Korwin!" McDonnell gasped, rushing right to his side, replacing Abi as she tried to help Ashton, "What's happened?! Is he ok?!"
"Oh God!" Korwin nearly screamed, "Help me! It's burning me!"
The Doctor made his way over to the foot of the bed, "How long's he been like this?!" he asked, trying to scan the man with his sonic.
"Ashton just brought him in," Abi stated.
The Doctor grit his teeth…then it was fast acting.
"What are you doing?!" McDonnell demanded, noticing the sonic as the man gave another cry of agony.
"Don't get too close," the Doctor warned her.
"Don't be so stupid, that's my husband!"
"And he's just sabotaged our ship!" Ashton snapped.
McDonnell paled considerably, rounding on the man in shock, "What?!"
"He went mad. He set the ship to secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."
The Doctor faltered in his scanning, glancing at Korwin to Ashton and back down, a frown on his face, something about that niggling him…
He knew what he was doing…
Angel had said that, he thought she had, but when he'd asked she'd said 'someone' knew. He didn't even think she realized she'd said HE at first.
But she HAD said he…
"No way!" McDonnell's snapping voice cut through his thoughts, "He wouldn't do that!"
"I saw it happen, Captain," Ashton told her, serious.
The Doctor shook his head, finishing the scan and turning to Korwin himself, needing to focus, "Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me a second."
"I can't!" the man said, his voice nearly a growl.
"Yeah, course you can. Go on."
"Don't make me look at you! Please!"
The Doctor let out a hard breath, the man was in too much pain and he didn't want to exacerbate it, "Alright, alright, alright," he reassured the man, looking around till he saw a dart gun lying on tray, "Just relax," he reached out and picked it up, looking to Abi, "Sedative?"
"Yes," Abi confirmed.
He nodded, leaning forward to press the gun to Korwin's neck, injecting him with it. It took a moment longer for it to kick in, the man giving a loud shout before he all but collapsed on the bed, still, out for the count.
The Doctor put the gun back on the tray and crossed his arms, looking down at the man and thinking about the readings the sonic had given him, "Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings…" he glanced at the scanner behind the man, "Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber. Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature," he glanced at Abi, giving her the medical orders as she was clearly their medical officer. She seemed hesitant but got moving to do as requested, "And, just for fun, run a bio-scan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail."
"Just doing them now," Abi muttered.
"Oh, you're good. Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"
"Not so far."
"Well, that's something," he nodded, relieved to hear it. It really did appear to be fast acting though so if whatever was wrong with Korwin was contagious, it would have shown up by now.
"Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?!" McDonnell demanded, still at her husband's side.
"Some sort of infection," the Doctor stated, "We'll know more after the test results. Now, Allons-y, back downstairs. Eh! See about those engines. Go!" he urged Ashton on, the man heading for the door but McDonnell absolutely refused, "Oi! Go," he repeated, giving her a firm look, not backing down till she left as well. He nodded and looked over at Abi, "Call us if there's news!" he ordered, moving to follow the other two out, "Any questions?"
Abi scoffed, she had so many questions, but the first one coming to mind was, "Yeah, who are you?"
The Doctor, who had just stepped past the plastic curtain that made up the doorway of the room, popped his head back through it to smile out an "I'm the Doctor!" before continuing on his way after McDonnell and Ashton.
Abi shook her head at the man, turning to run more scans on Korwin, not noticing his hands twitch as he lay at the entrance of the stasis chamber…
~8~
"Heat shields failing," the computer system warned, pulling Angel's attention upwards for a moment, "At 25 percent. Impact in 32.50."
She shook her head and focused back on what she was doing, holding Riley's backpack, so he'd be more comfortable while he typed something on a keypad, Martha standing there with the clamp waiting for the order to place it on the door.
"Hurry up, will you?" Martha huffed, it…HAD been taking quite a while to get this going.
"Alright," Riley nodded, done with the typing, "Fix the clamp on!"
Martha hurried to do that, wincing as it firmly stuck itself to the door, but she held it there, wanting to make sure it wouldn't fall off since it was so old, "What are you typing now?" she asked when Riley resumed typing again.
"Each door's trip code is the answer to a random question set by the crew," Riley said, "Nine tours back, we got drunk, thought 'em up. Reckoning was if we're hijacked, we're the only ones who know all the answers."
Angel nodded as though that made complete sense, "The right answer opens the door. Like that story!" she grinned, "Open Cece!"
Martha snorted, amused, "That's 'Open Sesame.'"
"Oh," Angel frowned, "Are you sure? I thought he was telling the person inside to open it and her name was Cece."
Martha shook her head at it.
"Right," Angel winced now, "Learn something new every day," she grinned brightly.
"Ok," Riley cut in, "So, just setting this up so this…" he absently reached out to pat the pack in Angel's arms, "Sends an unlock pulse to the clamp. But we only get one chance per door. Get it wrong, the whole system freezes."
"Better not get it wrong then," Martha agreed.
"Ok," Riley grinned, actually sounding quite excited about this, moving over to a small screen on the side of the door, "Date of SS Pentallian's first flight? That's alright!" he added when Angel opened her mouth to guess, but he already knew that one and began to type it in, "Go!" he ordered Martha.
She quickly pressed the trigger on the clamp, which beeped a few times, before the lights on top turned green and the door slid open.
"Brilliant!" Angel laughed, clapping her hands.
"Yes!" Martha cheered.
Riley gave them a winning smile as he rushed through the door with them, "Only 28 more to go!"
~8~
Abi frowned as she tried to read through Korwin's scans, her face pinched with confusion. None of it made sense, things were off the charts in some areas, far too low in others, and just completely impossible in a few more.
"Abi," the Doctor's voice called over a comm., "How's Korwin doing? Any results from the bio-scan?"
"He's under heavy sedation," Abi reported, "I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."
Behind her, Korwin twitched again, his head and arms moving this time…
~8~
Angel, Martha, and Riley had just reached the next door when the Doctor checked in with them as well, his voice calling over a comm., "Martha? Angel? Riley? How're you doing?"
"We've just got to Area 29," Angel reported, hefting the pack up as Riley got to work on the next panel.
"At the door to 28," Martha added.
"You've gotta move faster!" the Doctor called.
"We're doing our best!"
"Find the next number in the sequence," Riley read out the next question, "313, 331, 367…what?"
"379," Angel said.
"What?" Riley looked at her, that was awfully quick, "Really?"
Angel blinked, "I dunno," she shrugged, "Sounds right though, doesn't it?"
"HOW does that sound right?"
Angel could only shrug again.
"You don't know?" Martha gaped at the man, "I thought you said the crew knew all the answers."
"The crew's changed since we set the questions," Riley huffed.
"379!" the Doctor's voice cut in, over the comm..
"What?!" Martha shook her head.
"Angel was right."
"I was?" Angel seemed shocked by that.
"It's a…it's a sequence of happy primes," the Doctor said, though he sounded a little confused as to why Angel didn't know that, she had given the right number but hadn't known why it was right, it was odd, "379."
"Happy what?" Martha frowned.
"Might want to just enter it," Angel whispered to Riley.
But Riley hesitated, "Are you sure?" he asked, more to the Doctor, "We only get one chance!"
The breath the Doctor let out was full of annoyance, "Any number which reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number," he spoke, so rapidly Angel had to blink, not sure she could understand a word of it, "Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number which is both happy and prime, now type it in!"
Riley huffed, but turned to do that.
"I dunno, talk about dumbing down," the Doctor muttered, "Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?"
"Um, Doctor," Angel called, "We can still hear you."
"Oh, right, sorry."
Riley rolled his eyes, nodding at Martha to press the trigger of the clamp, which turned green and beeped, the door opening.
"We're through!" Martha cheered.
"Keep moving," the Doctor called, "Fast as you can," but then his voice dropped, quiet and serious, "And…be careful. There may be something else onboard this ship."
"Any time you wanna unnerve me, feel free!"
"That didn't unnerve you?" Angel frowned at her, before smiling, "You're much braver than me."
"I…no, I was…never mind," Martha shook her head, starting to get the feeling that Angel might not be quite as skilled at picking up on cues like sarcasm and rhetorical things than most others were.
"Impact in 30. 50," the computer cut in.
"We should go," Angel nodded, and they grabbed their equipment, rushing to the next door and getting everything set up.
"I can't believe our lives depend on some stupid pub quiz!" Martha huffed, glancing over at Riley when he fell silent, "Is that the next one?" she gaped, spotting the question on the screen.
"Oh, this is a nightmare!" Riley moaned, "Classical music. Who had the most pre-download number ones, Elv-is Pre-sley or The Be-atles? How're we supposed to know that?"
"Elvis," Angel declared.
"Another guess?" Riley nearly huffed.
Angel could only give an apologetic shrug.
~8~
The Doctor frowned as he looked at one of the many broken pieces of equipment scattered around the engine room, the crew had seemed to give up and were just standing there, watching him, "We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time. Come on! Think! Resources, what have we got?!"
Before any of them could answer, Martha's voice called over the comm., "Doctor?"
"What is it now?"
"That was rude," Angel's voice chastised him.
Martha didn't let him get a word in, continuing what she had contacted him for, "Who had the most number ones, Elvis, or the Beatles. That's pre-download."
"Elvis," he said, "No! The Beatles! No! Wait! Um…um…" he tried to think, tried to remember, willing himself to think faster, even smacking the back of his head to try and get it to work, "What was that remix? Um…I don't know!" and then a thought struck him, "What did Angel say?"
"I said Elvis," Angel answered, not sounding sure of why he was asking that.
"Then go with Elvis," he called, before clicking off the comm. and turning to the crew, "Now, where was I? Here comes the sun. No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that…"
"Use the generator to jump-start the ship?" McDonnell guessed.
"Exactly! At the very least, it'll buy us some more time."
"That…is brilliant."
"I know! See! Tiny glimmer of hope!" he beamed at them earning a small smile in return from the crew, who now appeared to be feeling that true bit of hope that they might have a way out of this mess.
"If it works," Scannell muttered.
McDonnell smirked at him, "Oh, believe me. You're gonna make it work."
Scannell shook his head, turning to walk off, clearly not sure he could actually do this but knowing that this would be all on him and if he couldn't make it work…his entire crew's fate would be in his hands.
The Doctor grinned, eyeing McDonnell with a little more respect, "That told him!"
And the computer chose that moment to remind them all, "Impact in 29.46."
A/N: It took Angel quite a bit of time to trust her feelings and be open about what she felt in the original story, to have confidence in her abilities or even notice when she said something that could be meaningful later on. She also had the Vortex within her twice by this point which gave a significant boost to her Visionary abilities. So, in this AU, at this point, she's not quite at that level where she's seeing the future :(
That said...she is a little further ahead than she was when she first met the Doctor in the main series. She's been with the Master for 18 months on Earth, and, given the point of time he comes from and things he learns in Utopia, he's very aware of Angel's precog abilities by then (he may have even created a paradox where he's the one who informs her of her abilities lol), so I felt he'd be encouraging of her exploring that, supporting her, helping her test them during those months. He would 'notice' her slips and talk to her about them, help her feel more confident in them, likely not completely selflessly because if she can come to know the future he could use that to his advantage.
Here, Angel's a little more confident in her gifts, she's more aware she has them, she's more aware her feelings are not to be ignored and her gut instincts should be trusted. She's been practicing them, noticing her dreams, allowing herself to feel her sensations, but...she's also a little more intent to cover them up at first. Again, she's been on Earth 18 months, around humans, having to pass for one of them, and being careful what she said so she doesn't sound barmy to them or earn their suspicion when things she says end up happening later. The Doctor might pick up on her abilities and confront her on them sooner than Martha would, and Angel is still not a great liar so she WOULD talk to him about it. But even then she may not give the whole truth, because the Master has been her 'brother' for over a year and, as his sister, she may want to protect him a little bit and keep his secrets ;) She won't outright tell Martha about her abilities, if Martha notices and asks she might talk more about it, but she won't just be announcing to anyone what she can do ;)
But aww, the Doctor already wants to keep her close and worries about her :) And Angel's just so sweet, she's so happy to be around a TARDIS again :)
I have to say, I'm actually giggling a bit thinking about Human Nature and all that, because we last had them in the middle of the Mating process and a married couple, but here they aren't at that point. A lot of Time Lord feelings on things might get mixed up and mixed around when we have a human Doctor (and a human Angel?) ;)
Some notes on reviews...
Just want to start by saying again how sorry I am this took so long to get back to :/ And it will take a while till the next chapter comes up, but I don't want to do what I did last time and plan for too many stories at once and not be able to keep up :( I'm strongly considering ending the main DW stories with 12 which would mean I could then focus on the AUs after so it would pick up then, but it'll be a while :( Still, slow and steady win the race ;)
And yup! You all called it! The Master is Angel's 'brother' O.O
I think that too, we saw glimpses of the vulnerable side of the Master, and I feel like a lot of what he did was just the pain he's been in and the way no one else believes him about the noise he hears in his head :( I have a scene written out for the Sound of Drums episode where we get more of an idea of just how much Angel has been able to change him in the 18 months she's been 'his sister' :) But that sounds awesome for your story, I could see JRM fitting in very well with DW :) I wish you the best with your story! :)
Oh the reactions of the Doctor, Martha, and Jack are going to be quite something. I can say one of them has sort of been piecing together who Angel's brother is from small things she'll say so it won't be a complete surprise to them, but not to the others ;) Angel will be more confident in this one, yup, and a bit less open about things too. She's learned to be cautious and careful, having to blend in with humans, but she's also learned to trust her feelings more and she will speak up and be more confident in her decisions as it goes ;)
I'm glad you're enjoying the AUs, and I'm actually glad it took a bit for the surprise of Harry being the master to come up, I really tried to make it very subtle so I'm glad it wasn't a giant reveal in the first hint ;) So far I am leaning towards Angel's incarnations being the same actresses along with the Doctor being MS and so on. I only say that (tentatively, so far) because the way it plays out in my head is sort of like the same/similar Angel with a different support system. In this AU, we would see how she'd be if her 'brother' survives in the end and is there with her when the Doctor forgets, how would her story play out? In the other AU, it would be 11 remembering her and how would that be if she had him with her through all of that. I also lean towards keeping it the same because the second AU would pick up with 11 and Angel being the same position as the main story, only he remembers. So I sort of felt it would be a good parallel to see this AU as the 'same' Angel in a different situation sort of thing. That's still tentatively though. When Angel gets to her regeneration she may come out different than I initially planned ;) I'm glad you enjoyed the new Proffy and 10 in her AU :) They were sort of my test run in creating a genuinely different AU set of characters for the Time Lords, so as that story goes on and I can see the reaction to them being different, I may feel more confident in changing things around in this AU. So it's still up in the air, I'm just leaning more one way at the moment ;)
No offense take at all, I agree :) It's taken me a while to get to a place where I can step back and go 'I don't have to write so much or update so many things. It's ok to do it one at a time' :) I put a lot of pressure on myself to keep things to a set schedule and if I miss one day of writing or posting I feel like I have to make up for it and it snowballs from there. But I've really worked on that during the times I was off line and I feel like I'm at a better place to not feel that pressure and to feel like it's ok to go slow so long as it goes ;)
We'll find out more about her time on Earth with the Master yes :) She'll talk about it much more than she did in this chapter ;) The Doctor will have questions, Martha will have questions, Angel will have memories she wants to share :) We got a glimpse into how Angel got free in this chapter 'someone' who wanted to 'free aliens' managed to get to the auction before she could be sold to Van Statten ;) But that doesn't erase how she was sold many times before then or her experiences with that :( But we will hear more about what life was like on Earth for her yup ;)
River, in this AU, will have a very different reaction to Angel. There will be times where she might come across like she hates Angel, but it will be a very big misunderstanding/communication and when she realizes it she works hard to make up for that treatment ;) I've thought of a Jack Sparrow story in the sense that I'm open to an OC popping up for him if one forms, but one hasn't jumped out at me yet. I don't really look at a movie or show and go 'I'm going to add an OC to it' it's more just one jumping up and going 'I choose this one!' and spilling their lives and plans to me lol :) So if one popped out one day I'd be very happy to write a story for Jack, just hasn't happened yet ;)
I have something along those lines in mind for if I continue Proffy's story into 13's run. Or, I should say, I have it as one of many options for the TLs if I go into 13 for them ;) I'm still debating whether to do the stories with 13, I've had trouble getting into the show since near the middle of 11's run so 12 was hard and I haven't even made it completely through his time yet :/ I haven't heard great things about 13 either so I'm not hopeful, but open and hoping I'm wrong. So we my see a genderswapping one day, you never know ;)
Yup, this is the AU where the Master survives and is there for Angel when 11 goes through a rough patch :) I'm actually very much looking forward to that part of the story too ;) The Doctor and the Master are going to have a tough time when their confrontations and reactions come around, both do/will care about Angel by that point and not want to hurt her but be so mad at each other and want to hurt each other but that would upset Angel and it's a big old vicious cycle lol :) I can say there may be something else Angel knows that will shock the Doctor more than that she knew who the Master was }:)
I can say this story will have a different take on Series 4. Something significant happens with the TARDIS that didn't happen in the main series, so we get a very different Series 4 out of it, a lighter one ;) Series 5 and 6 will be somewhat hard, a certain event still happens, BUT (and I've hinted at this on tumblr so I feel I can say here) the Master survives and is with her through those seasons, so she has her brother at her side at all times to be there for her and protect her and support her so it's not quite AS hard as the original series ;) I completely understand the hesitation to read the main series. It killed me to write parts of it so I can only imagine how much it hurts to read it and not know what's coming, fully get it ;) I tried very hard to keep it from being a true love triangle, where it gets very close at times, but never fully makes it there, or stops before it gets to that point, but it really was one of the things I hated even skimming close to so I understand not wanting to read it ;) I can say nothing like that in this AU, or if there is it's more a misunderstanding or assumptions occurring than anything actually happening ;)
I'm glad you're enjoying the AU! I'm very excited for the one where 11 remembers Angel too :) The fluff! CAN YOU IMAGINE THE FLUFF?! O.O 11, with a pregnant Angel, omg I might literally give myself a mouth full of cavities it'll be so sweet ;)
It did drop off a little :( But I'm back and very intent to keep it going ;) It'll be much slower than it would have been, but I'd rather slow and continuous than too fast and end up delayed :) I hope you enjoy what's still to come! :)
