The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 6
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I did, I'd be the Doctor's permanent companion.
A/N: Here's the second part of Cold War! I'm glad everyone liked Rhea's part in the previous chapter, so I hope I did justice in this one as well.
Italics – Rhea's thoughts
Cold War: Daughter
"Is he that dangerous?" Rhea asked, frowning.
"This one is." The Doctor murmured and the room fell silent.
They could hear the beeping from the transmitter through the professor's Walkman headphones. He slipped them on his head and the Doctor and Rhea noticed.
"Why are we listening to this nonsense, Captain? These people are clearly enemy agents." The second-in-command argued.
"Eh?" Clara made a sound of bewilderment.
"Spies, captain!" The man shouted again.
"Pretty bad spies, mate." Clara said in a confused tone. "Don't even speak Russian!"
The Doctor frantically tried to shush her but failed. Rhea reached out a hand to warn Clara but the second-in-command turned to look at her.
"What?" He asked.
"I don't…" Clara paused and turned to the Doctor. "Am I speaking Russian? How come I'm speaking Russian?"
"Now? We have to do this now?" The Doctor asked and then gave a smile to the second-in-command.
"I've been wondering that myself, actually." Rhea chimed in, looking at the Doctor, crossing her arms.
"Are they speaking Russian?" Clara asked.
"Seriously? Now?!" The Doctor sighed. "It's the TARDIS translation matrix."
"The what?" Rhea asked.
"It's a telepathic field that gets inside of your head and translates." The Doctor muttered.
"Inside of my head?" Rhea hissed, her eyes widening.
"It's a good thing!"
"Inside of my head, without my permission!"
"You like the TARDIS!"
"That is so not the point!" Rhea almost screamed. "You could have asked first."
"I'm sorry that the TARDIS doesn't ask everyone whether she can get inside of their head so they don't end up with a language barrier on every alien planet and almost every place on Earth where people don't speak English!"
The second-in-command cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the arguing couple. He turned back to the captain.
"In my opinion, Comrade Captain, this creature is a Western weapon."
"Are they speaking Russian?" Clara asked again.
"Yes! They're Russian!" The Doctor hissed.
"A weapon?" The captain clarified.
"Survival suit. What is the alternative? The little green man from Mars?" The man scoffed.
"Correction. It is a big green man from Mars." The professor said, making the captain chuckle.
"I do not appreciate your levity, Professor." The man said, barely giving the older man a glance.
"Why does that not surprise me? Maybe they're telling the truth." The professor said.
"The truth?"
"Yes. A revolutionary concept, I know." The professor said, sarcastically.
The officer ignored the professor and focused his attention on the captain. "It's essential that we inform Moscow of what we have found!"
"The radio's out of action, in case you hadn't noticed, Stepashin." The captain replied.
"They have our last position. They will find us. When they do..." Stepashin started.
"Yes?"
"Well, the cold war won't stay cold forever, captain."
"For God's sake, Stepashin, you're like a stuck record!" Stepashin turned and walked up to the Doctor and just stared. "We have other priorities right now. I want you back on repairs immediately," The Doctor wiped water from the top of his eyebrow. "We need to keep this ship alive. Dismissed."
"Sir?" Stepashin asked, looking back at the captain.
The captain stood. "Dismissed, Stepashin!"
Stepashin left the room, knocking Rhea's shoulder as he walked past. The Doctor stepped forward and stood face-to-face with the captain and brushed the captain's uniform at the man's shoulder with his hand.
"All we needed to do was let Skaldak go and he'd have forgotten us. But you've attacked him. You declared war. "Harm one of us and you harm us all." That's the ancient Martian code." The Doctor said, lowly.
The beeping from the headphones became pronounced.
"You hear that?" The Doctor asked, pointing to the professor's headphones. "Skaldak's sent out a distress call. He'll bring down the fires of hell just for laying a glove on him!"
"Unless you talk to it?" The captain asked.
"I'm the only one who can."
"No. Out of the question. We're not losing you. I'll do it."
"What?" The Doctor asked.
"You can talk to it through me." The captain said.
"Skaldak won't talk to you! You're an enemy soldier!"
"How would he know that?" The captain asked, confused.
"A soldier knows another soldier. He'll smell it on you! Smell it on you a mile off."
"And he wouldn't smell it on you, Doctor?"
The Doctor froze and Rhea moved closer to him.
"Just let me in there before it's too late. It can't be you or any of your men."
"Well, it can't be you." The captain argued.
Clara cleared her throat and the Doctor, Rhea and the captain turned to face her.
"Well, there really is only one choice, isn't there? I don't smell of anything... To my knowledge." Clara said, her nose scrunching up.
The Doctor smiled but then realised what Clara had just said and his smile fell straight off his face. Rhea's hand went to her temples and rubbed. Oh, this is going to be wonderful.
"You? No! No! No way. You're not going in there alone, Clara. Absolutely not! No, no. Never!" The Doctor refused.
"Then, why don't I go in with her?" Rhea jumped into the conversation.
"No!" The Doctor shouted even louder, unable to even think of what would happen if he let Rhea inside with an Ice Warrior.
"Why not?" Rhea asked, folding her arms. "I'm not a soldier, but I'm not defenseless and Clara won't be going alone. It's a win-win situation."
"No, it's not!" The Doctor retorted.
"You haven't given me a reason why I shouldn't." Rhea said, narrowing her eyes.
He grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her to the side. "You aren't going in there, you or Clara."
"We don't have another option." She hissed.
"What if Skaldak breaks loose? He could kill you."
"So, he could break loose right now and still kill us all, it's not exactly impossible."
"No, you're not going and that's final." The Doctor said, stubbornly, his tone definite.
Rhea opened the hatch to the torpedo room, grabbing Clara's hand with one hand and holding the lantern with another. The two girls wore matching headphones with microphones around their necks. Rhea peered in and saw Skaldak standing still, chained up to an iron bar. They stepped inside and Rhea closed the door, making sure that her headset was on correctly. They inched into the room and Rhea gave another one of the lamps to Clara, who turned it on and smiled.
The Doctor, watching their entrance through the screen from a distance, let out a low sound of annoyance. He walked up so that he was behind the captain, who was in front of the microphone.
"With your permission?" The Doctor murmured, tapping the captain on the shoulder, with as much patience as he could muster through the tension in his body.
The captain stood. "Be my guest."
The Doctor sat where the captain had been moments ago and tapped the microphone.
"Ready, Rhea? Clara?"
"Yeah." They both said, breathing heavily as they got closer to the Ice Warrior.
"Okay." The Doctor's voice came over the headset.
"Grand Marshal Skaldak." Rhea said in a low and certain voice.
"The salute." The Doctor reminded. "Do the salute just like I showed you."
Rhea placed her lamp on the ground in front of her and Clara held hers between her legs. They saluted Skaldak by putting their right fists to their left shoulders. They heard Skaldak hiss and they picked up their lamps again.
Rhea held hers out as she walked closer.
"Was that okay?" Rhea asked.
"Good. Good. Now, like we rehearsed. 'Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste...'"
"Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste. By the moons, I honour thee." Clara said, her voice slightly trembling but still steady. She moved so that she was right next to Rhea.
"Good. It's okay, both of you. Go closer."
They walked slowly towards Skaldak.
"Grand Marshal, I'm… we're sorry about this." Rhea apologised in a low and soothing sound.
"It's not what you deserve." The Doctor said into the microphone.
"It isn't what you deserve." Clara said.
Just then, the power went out throughout the entire submarine.
"Oh! Oh, great!" Clara said in a high-pitched voice. Rhea reached behind her and gripped Clara's hand, who took it gratefully.
"Hey, it's okay. Keep going." The Doctor appeased.
Rhea put down her lamp and pulled out a flashlight, turning it on and pointing it at Skaldak.
"You're a long way from home." Rhea said to him.
"5000 years." The Doctor said.
"And 5000 years adrift in time. Please, let us help you. You're not our enemy." Rhea murmured.
"And yet, I am in chains." Skaldak said in a loud growl.
Rhea paused, uncertain. She didn't want to say the wrong thing and get all of them killed. "Doctor, any ideas? What do I say?"
"Yes, Doctor. What should she say?" Skaldak rumbled.
"I think he wants to speak to the organ-grinder, not to the monkey." Rhea heard the professor's comment through the headpiece.
"Watch it." She warned.
"You're restrained until we can trust each other, Skaldak. You would do exactly the same in my position and don't even think about using that sonic weapon." The Doctor's voice was a low growl at the end of his sentence. "Not in the torpedo room."
"I was fleet commander of the Nix Tharsis. My daughter stood by me... It was her first taste of action. We sang the songs of the old times. The songs of the red snow." The Doctor closed his eyes in sympathy. "5,000 years, now my daughter will be... dust! Only dust." Skaldak growled angrily.
"No, no, no, listen. Your people live on, Skaldak! Scattered all across the universe. And Mars will rise again, I promise you. Just, let me help you."
Rhea started to step closer to Skaldak, Clara following in her wake.
"I require no help. There will be no help!"
The Doctor watched as Rhea and Clara approached Skaldak. "Be careful, Rhea, Clara." He warned, clenching the top of the table with his fists.
"We're okay." Clara said.
"No, listen, Rhea, don't get too close."
"I'm okay!" Rhea growled. "Listen, Doctor, something's wrong."
"What?"
"Something's…"
Rhea reached out and touched Skaldak's helmet. It fell backwards to reveal an empty suit of armour. Rhea recoiled and Clara backed away with loud gasps, pressing themselves against the row of bars on the opposite side of Skaldak's empty armour.
"It's not there! It's gone!" Clara shouted into her mouthpiece.
The front of the armour slid open by itself to show the hollow inside, despite the chains holding it together.
"Gone? Gone? Gone, what do you mean, gone?!" The Doctor said, his voice rising, and he tapped on the glass monitor.
"She means, gone! Like, not there anymore!" Rhea hissed into her mouthpiece.
"It is time I learned the measure of my enemies. And what this vessel is capable of."
Rhea and Clara backed away from the iron bars and stood still, looking around nervously and desperately in the dim light.
"No, no, no, Skaldak!" The Doctor tried to reason.
"Harm one of us and you harm us all! By the moons, this I swear!"
"Rhea! Get out of there! Get out!" The Doctor shouted.
The Doctor got up from his chair and made to leave for the torpedo room, rushing for the door, when the captain pulled out his gun and aimed for the Doctor's forehead.
The Doctor held his hands out, barely keeping himself still. "I've never seen one do this before! Actually, I've never seen one out of its armour before."
The captain lowered his gun and the Doctor ran for the door.
"Won't it be more vulnerable out of its shell?" The professor asked.
The Doctor paused in the doorway. "No, it will be more dangerous." He said, running off.
Rhea and Clara spun around, the flashlight clasped tightly in Rhea's hand, as they tried to pinpoint Skaldak's exact location in the torpedo room. All they could hear was frantic hissing and the sound of metal as the Ice Warrior hit the walls.
The Doctor ran for the torpedo room.
"Rhea! Clara!"
Rhea heard Skaldak and her eyes widened. She saw the hatchway through which they had entered and ran over to try and open it, dragging Clara along with her.
"Come on!" Rhea said, through gritted teeth, as she tried to shove it open. She pushed with her hands, then her feet and she heard Clara grunt as the girl tried to help her. It opened finally and Rhea and Clara breathed a sigh of relief. The hissing grew louder and Rhea and Clara turned to face the torpedo room, sinking down to the floor, as Skaldak streaked past them out into the corridor.
Skaldak rushed past the Doctor, the captain and the professor. The Doctor hurried to the hatchway.
"Rhea! Rhea! Clara! Rhea!" The Doctor shouted, pulling Rhea out and then Clara.
He wrapped his arms around Rhea tightly. He pushed himself back to look at her properly, gripping her shoulders tightly with his hands. "Are you all right?" He asked, worriedly, wiping a damp curl away from her face and then cupping her cheek.
"I'm fine. I'm fine!" Rhea said, breathing heavily from the panic and the exertion.
He hugged her again, just as tightly, this time kissing her forehead and resting his head on the top of hers.
The Doctor turned to Clara, who was leaning against the hatchway with her eyes shut.
He went over to her and asked her the same question.
"I'm okay." Clara laughed. "I'm ok, I'm ok! Where did he go?" She looked at the Doctor. "How did I do? Was I okay?" Clara asked, seeking for approval.
"This wasn't a test, Clara." The Doctor said, sternly, looking around for any evidence of Skaldak.
"I know but…" The Doctor walked back over to her.
"You were great. Yeah."
"Really?"
"Yeah." The Doctor said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Rhea made a sound. "Whoa! What a rush!" She said and then started laughing madly.
"Doctor, the signal, it's stopped." The professor said.
The Doctor and Rhea hurried over to the professor and listened in.
"Skaldak got no answer from his Martian brothers. Now he's given up hope." The Doctor muttered, walking through the length of the corridor.
"Hope of what?" The captain asked.
"Being rescued. He thinks he's been abandoned." The Doctor's face was dark. "He's got nothing left to lose."
"But what can he do stuck down here like the rest of us? How bad can it be?" The captain asked, desperately.
The Doctor bristled and stalked over to the captain. "This sub's stuffed with nuclear missiles, Zhukov. It's fat with them! What do you think Skaldak's going to do when he finds that out?" He turned away. "'How bad can it be? How bad can it be?' It couldn't be any worse." He muttered.
Something hit the submarine from above, jostling everyone in the corridor about. One of the hatches between the hulls opens and water started to flood the entire corridor.
"Okay, spoke to soon." Rhea heard the Doctor mutter amidst the large volumes of water that were pouring into the corridor around them. I bet he does that a lot.
"Comrades, you know our situation. The reactor is drowned, we are totally reliant on battery power and our air is running out. Rescue is unlikely but we still have a mission to fulfill. If the Doctor is right, then we are all that stands between this creature and the destruction of the world. Control of one missile is all he needs. We are expendable, comrades, our world is not. I know I can rely on every one of you to do his duty without fail. That is all." The captain addressed his crew with a low and solemn tone.
The Doctor was sitting at one of the control banks with Rhea standing on one side beside him and Clara on the other side, facing the room.
"Even if a missile did get launched, that wouldn't be... it, would it?" Clara asked, tentatively.
"It?" The Doctor clarified.
"End of the world. Game over. I mean, what if they fired one by accident, what would happen then?" Clara asked.
"I told you, Clara. Earth is like a storm waiting to break, right now. Both sides baring their teeth, talking up war. It would only take one tiny spark." The Doctor said.
"But the world didn't end in 1983, did it? Or I wouldn't be here."
Rhea closed her eyes. "I'm sensing bad news here."
"New. History's in flux. It can be changed. Re-written." The Doctor stood up and walked over to the captain, standing beside him. "How many of us are left?"
"Twelve – and we can't find Stepashin." The captain muttered to the Doctor.
"We split up and comb the sub. One team stays here to guard the bridge."
"That's it? That's the plan?" The captain asked, doubtful.
"Well, it's either that or we stay here and wait for him to kill us."
"Okay." The captain agreed and walked away.
"Is it true you've never seen one outside of its armour?" Rhea asked the Doctor, walking up to him.
"Rhea, for an Ice Warrior to leave its armour is the gravest dishonour. Skaldak is desperate, he is deadly and we have got to find him." The Doctor murmured to her.
"Will this help?" The professor asked, suddenly, holding up the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
"Ah! You saved it!" The Doctor said, taking the screwdriver from the professor.
"No, no, it was on the floor with this." The professor held up the Barbie doll.
"Ah!" He took the doll and kissed it. "Ah, professor, I could kiss you!"
"If you insist." The professor said, dryly.
The Doctor paused. "Later." He said, using the sonic with a boyish grin on his face.
The Doctor scanned the room with the sonic.
"So, why have you got a cattle prod on a submarine?" Clara asked the professor.
"Polar bears." The professor replied.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause that makes so much sense."
"We run across them when we're drilling. Can be quite nasty, you know?" The professor explained.
"I'd swap one for an Ice Warrior any day. Cuddlier!" Clara said.
"Courage, my dear."
Rhea walked up to the Doctor, who flicked a switch and an alarm started blaring. He frantically tried to shut it off and Rhea smacked her forehead with her palm.
"Good job." She said, sarcastically.
"I always sing a song." The professor was saying to Clara.
"What?"
"To keep my spirits up."
"Yes, that would work…if this was Pinnochio." Clara muttered the last bit.
The Doctor was still trying to stop the alarm.
"D'you know Hungry like the Wolf?" The professor asked Clara suddenly.
Clara stopped and turned to look at him, bewilderment clear on her face. "What?"
"Duran Duran - one of my favourites. Come on!"
"I'm not singing a song!" Clara said, vehemently.
The Doctor opened a hatch on the wall, which released a rush of air. He stuck his head into the hatch and used the screwdriver. The sound of eerie groaning filled the air making the four of them freeze. The Doctor quickly withdrew his head and looked up.
"What was that?" Clara asked, slowly.
"Pressure. Just pressure. We're seven hundred metres down, remember." The Doctor tried to appease Clara.
"Don't worry about it. Think of something else." He started singing. "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da I am hungry like the wolf."
"I'm not singing!" Clara hissed.
"Don't you know it?" Rhea asked Clara, playfully, wondering how the feisty girl was going to get out of this one.
"'Course I know it. We do it at karaoke. The odd hen night."
"'Karaoke'? 'Hen night'?" The professor looked confused. "You speak excellent Russian, my dear, but sometimes I don't understand a word you're talking about."
Rhea watched as Clara smiled and smirked and they continued on.
Suddenly, snarls and growls and high-pitched screams were heard. The Doctor and Rhea ran towards the sounds and the others followed. The Doctor was the first to find the two bodies and knelt beside one of them. Rhea swallowed hard when she saw the state of the two bodies and her pained look was mirrored on the Doctor's face. Clara and the professor joined them, not having been too far behind. Clara was shocked and her face was paler than usual. Rhea reached out and pulled her close, trying to offer some sort of comfort.
"Good God! Torn apart. It's a monster. A savage!" The professor hissed.
"No, Professor. Not savage, forensic. Well, he's... dismantled them. Skaldak's learning. Learning all about you. Your strengths... Your weaknesses..." The Doctor scanned the ceiling with the screwdriver and stood. "Come on!" He shouted, dashing from the room and pulling Rhea along with him.
The professor followed the Doctor but Clara couldn't seem to look away. The professor noticed her frozen state and took her arm, pulling her away. The Doctor and Rhea hurried down another corridor, the screwdriver held in front of them. They stopped.
"Stay here." The Doctor said to Clara.
"Okay." Clara agreed.
"Stay here! Don't argue!" He ordered before starting up the ladder, Rhea right behind him.
"I'm not!" Clara shouted.
The Doctor paused and Rhea grinned. "Right. Good!" The Doctor said before continuinh up the ladder.
"That's doesn't happen to you a lot, does it?" Rhea asked him.
"What? A companion who doesn't follow me into life-threatening danger?" He looked down at her and shook his head. "No. You're proof enough as it is."
"Yeah, but I'd punch you in the face if you suggested I'd wait for you while you went traipsing around a submarine with a homicidal Martian on the loose."
She heard the Doctor winced, as if he remembered something painful, and smiled, looking forward to an event in her future. "Don't I know it."
"And don't you forget it." Rhea warned.
"Don't plan to."
They climbed up the ladder until they reached a door, which the Doctor pushed open and climbed off the ladder. He held a hand out to Rhea, who took it, and pulled hard and she was shoved into his arms. They would have fallen to the floor, with Rhea on top of the Doctor, had he not steadied them quickly.
"Okay?" He murmured into her hair.
"Yeah." She whispered back, looking up at him and noticing the lack of space between them. She could see the water droplets all over his face and sticking to the locks of his hair. She wiped a few on his forehead with the backs of her fingers.
"You've gotten really wet." She said, absentmindedly. "You still look hot, though."
He smirked and she shoved past him, realising what she had just said. Stupid alien.
She suddenly skid to a stop when she saw a body.
"Doctor!" She shouted.
The Doctor ran up to her and saw the body. He pulled Rhea behind him. He knelt down and picked up a wallet lying on the floor. He opened the inside to find a photo of a woman and an ID card, which was smeared in blood. Rhea closed and rubbed her eyes with the tips of her fingers.
"Oh, Stepashin." The Doctor murmured.
They heard metal rattling and retreating steps coming from the ceiling and the Doctor looked up and scanned with the sonic screwdriver. They ran along the corridor, the whole time staring at the ceiling with the screwdriver whirring in the background.
"Oh... oh... oh! Fast. He's fast..." The Doctor muttered to himself, before they continued on their way.
Suddenly, they heard a gunshot and they both froze.
"Clara." Rhea whispered and ran back to the ladder which had brought them here. She climbed down as quickly as she could and ran back to the corridor in which they had left Clara, the Doctor right at her heels.
They ran up to Clara who was standing in front of the professor. The professor was being gripped around the face with long green fingers and held suspended in the air.
"No please, don't hurt him. Please!" Clara begged.
The Doctor and Rhea looked up into the darkness in the ceiling and only glowing red eyes were visible.
"You attacked me! Martian law decree's that the people of this planet are forfeit. I now have all the information I require. It will take only one missile to begin the process. To end this cold war." Skaldak's voice was a dark growl.
"Grand Marshal, there is no need for this. Listen to me..." The Doctor tried to convince the Ice Warrior in vain.
"My distress call has not been answered. It will never be answered. My people are dead. They are dust. There is nothing left for me except my revenge." He growled and a beeping sounded.
"There is something left for you, Skaldak. Mercy." The Doctor said.
"Mercy?"
The Captain and a few officers ran up and the Captain pointed his rifle at the glowing red eyes.
"You must wear that armour for a reason, my friend. Let's see, shall we?" The captain said quickly.
The Doctor grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it down. "Captain, no, wait!"
But the captain stood steadfast. "I will do whatever it takes to defend my world, Doctor."
The Doctor held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Yes, great, fine, good, but we're getting somewhere here." He turned back to Skaldak. "We're negotiating," He tried to pacify the alien. "'Jaw-jaw not war-war'."
"Churchill?" The professor questioned, incredulously, still trapped in the grip of the Ice Warrior.
The Doctor pointed at the professor. "Churchill."
"Very well, we'll negotiate but from a position of strength." The captain agreed before aiming his rifle at Skaldak again.
"Excellent tactical thinking. My congratulations, Captain." Skaldak praised.
"Thank you."
"Unfortunately, your position is not, perhaps, as strong as you might hope."
There was a low growl and the Doctor looked around.
"What do you mean?" Rhea asked the Ice Warrior.
Suddenly, the Ice Warrior's armour was in the hatchway, chains still trailing from its ankles and wrapped around its torso. Skaldak streaked across the ceiling, releasing the professor, who fell to the ground on his feet, and over to the suit and it closed around him with a bang of finality.
"He summoned the armour." The Doctor murmured.
"How did it do that?" Clara asked, fearfully.
"Sonic tech, Clara. The song of the Ice Warrior!" The Doctor explained.
A young office pushed past the three time-travellers and started shooting at Skaldak, who simply turned around and walked away, not at all bothered by the gunfire.
"Are you insane?" Rhea shouted at the crewman. "You could kill us all." She was particularly disturbed by the fact that the bullets seemed to bounce off the armour and ricochet onto the walls. If the bullets bounced off the walls as well, they could be in a lot of danger, and not just from nuclear missiles.
The Doctor, understanding her train of thought, pulled the crewman back and stopped him from shooting any further.
"My world is dead but now there will be a second red planet! Red with the blood of humanity!" Skaldak growled as he walked away and stepped through the hatchway.
"Skaldak! Skaldak! Wait!" The Doctor shouted after the Ice Warrior, running after him, with Rhea, the captain and the crewmen following him.
The Doctor rushed into the control room of the submarine, followed by Rhea and the captain.
"No! Skaldak! Wait! Wait! Wait!" The Doctor shouted, frantically, getting as close as he possibly could to the Ice Warrior, his sonic screwdriver in one hand.
The captain aimed the gun at Skaldak. "He's arming the warheads."
"Where is the honour in condemning billions of innocents to death? 5,000 years ago Mars was the centre of a vast empire. The jewel of this solar system. The people of earth had only just begun to leave their caves. Five thousand years isn't such a long time, they're still just frightened children. Still primitive. Who are you to judge them?" The Doctor said, still anxiously trying to reason with Skaldak.
The wires from the Ice Warrior's hand retracted and Skaldak turned to face the Doctor.
"I am Skaldak! This planet is forfeit under Martian law." Skaldak intoned.
"Then teach them! Teach them, Grand Marshal!" The Doctor insisted. "Show them another way! Show them there is honour in mercy. Is this how you want history to remember you?" The Doctor stepped forward. "Grand Marshal Skaldak - Destroyer of Earth?"
Clara rushed into the room.
"Because that's what you'll be if you send those missiles. Not a soldier, a murderer. Five billion lives extinguished."
Skaldak grunted, ignored the Doctor and turned around. His hand hovered above the launch button.
"No chance for goodbyes. A world snuffed out like a candle flame!" Skaldak stood, unmoved by the Doctor's words. "All right, all right," The Doctor voice was far from soothing and now he roared. "Skaldak, you leave me no choice. I'm a Time Lord, Skaldak. I know a bit about sonic technology myself." The Doctor pointed the glowing green tip of his sonic screwdriver at Skaldak's back.
"A threat? You threaten me, Doctor?" Skaldak asked, practically insulted that the Doctor would dare threaten him.
"No. No, not you..." He swallowed hard. Rhea reached out between them and grasped his hand tightly, realising that this decision was hard for him to make. She rested her head on his shoulder when he squeezed back, just as tight. "All of us." He said, his lips pursed. "I will blow this sub up before you can even reach that button, Grand Marshal. Blow us all to oblivion."
"You would sacrifice yourself?" Skaldak asked, incredulously.
"In a heartbeat." The Doctor said, without missing a beat, and held the sonic up, turned it on and it glowed red instead of green.
Skaldak's red eyes turned to Rhea. "Your woman as well?"
She ignored the possessive pronoun. "You're going to kill us all, anyway, what better way to go out than by saving the Earth." Rhea said.
The Doctor looked at her. Something seemed to pass between them and Rhea nodded, accepting what he was willing to do to protect the Earth.
"Mutually assured destruction!" Skaldak said.
"Look into my eye, Skaldak. Look into my eyes and tell me you're capable of doing this. Huh? Can you do that? Dare you do that? Look into my eyes, Skaldak, come on! Face-to-face." The Doctor shouted.
Skaldak turned around. "Well, Doctor," The helmet opened and the Ice Warrior's face was visible. "Which of us will blink first?"
Rhea tried not to let the alien's appearance shock her too much. She could see the stunned look on the Doctor's face as he caught his first glimpse of an Ice Warrior without their armour.
"Why did you hesitate? Back there, in the dark. You were going to kill this man, remember? I begged you not to and you listened. Why show compassion then, Skaldak, and not now?" Clara asked, stepping forward, confidence rising in her. "The Doctor's right. Billions will die... Mothers, sons, fathers... daughters. Remember that last battle, Skaldak? Your daughter... You sang the songs..."
"Of the red snows." Skaldak finished.
"Clara and I, we're daughters as well. We have parents. Mothers and fathers who would hurt as much as you do if they knew we were dead." Rhea tensed, but pushed on, trying her hardest to get through to him. "If your daughter was here, could you do it? Would you really wish your pain on any other father or mother?" Rhea asked.
There was a crashing sound and the submarine lurched, sending everyone in completely different directions. Everyone made a sound of shock and tried their hardest to grab onto something as the water flow inside the room slightly increased.
"What's happening?" Clara shouted.
"My people live! They have come for me!" Skaldak growled, the pleasure evident in his voice.
The captain watched the depth gauge with surprise. "We're rising. We're rising!" He shouted, gleefully.
"Six hundred metres… five hundred and fifty…" The professor murmured, watching the meter as well.
After a while, the people in the control room felt the submarine break through the ice directly above them.
"We've surfaced. Your people have saved us." The Doctor murmured.
"Saved me, not you." Skaldak corrected.
"Just go, Skaldak, please. Please... go in peace." The Doctor said, practically pleading.
There was a bright white, wispy light and Skaldak was teleported back onto his ship.
"We did it! We did it!" Clara exclaimed.
The Doctor went to the controls, quickly. "No. No, no, no, no, no! It's still armed. A single pulse from that ship... I'll destroy us if I have to." Rhea could hear the Doctor trying to reassure himself and went up to him, curling her hand around bicep and he rested his head against hers, welcoming the contact. He held the sonic against his forehead. "I will destroy us if I have to. Show mercy, Skaldak. Come on, show mercy." He whispered furiously.
"Da-da-da-dah I'm lost and I'm found and I'm hungry like the wolf." Clara sang, nervously.
A klaxon sounded as the key ports switched back to vertical and the lights turned green from an angry red.
The Doctor shut off the sonic and wiped a hand across his forehead. "Now, we're safe." He looked at Rhea at his side and pulled back close, hugging her tightly and kissing her forehead and Rhea rested her head on his collarbone, turning around in his embrace, and breathed heavily.
Clara walked over to them both and hugged them tightly, Rhea exclaiming slightly as she was squished in between the two. Clara ended the hug and cleared her throat to get rid of the awkwardness.
"Saved the world then?" Clara asked in a nonchalant tone.
"Yeah." The Doctor agreed.
"That's what we do." Clara said with a small smile on her face at the end.
"Yeah." The Doctor said.
Rhea grinned.
The hatch at the top of the submarine opened and the captain stepped out onto the tower followed by the Doctor, Rhea, Clara and the professor. They looked up at the massive white crystal ship, hovering above them. The Doctor whistled in appreciation.
"The TARDIS! Where's the TARDIS? You never explained." Clara suddenly asked the Doctor.
The Doctor had a look of embarrassment on his face as he rested his elbows on the tower. "Oh, well, don't worry about that." The Doctor tried to change the subject and purposefully tried to not to look at the two girls.
"Stop saying that." Clara said.
"Where is it?" Rhea asked, turning to him.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't to know, was I?" The Doctor threw his hands out, saying the words that people who were guilty of doing something incredibly stupid usually said.
"Know what?" Clara asked.
"I've been tinkering... breaking her in." He looked at them. "I'm allowed." He said, defensively.
"Oh my god, what did you do?" Rhea asked, dreading what he was about to say next.
"IresettheHADS." He mumbled, turning away from them.
"Huh?" Clara asked.
"I reset…" He shouted and then mumbled the rest. "The HADS."
"The what?" Rhea asked.
"The HADS! The Hostile Action Displacement System! If the TARDIS comes under attack - gunfire, time-winds, the...sea - it... relocates."
"Relocates to where?" Rhea asked, slowly, closing her eyes in exasperation.
"Haven't used it in donkey's years. Seemed like a good idea at the time." His fingers moved about in the air. "Well, never mind, it's bound to turn up somewhere!" The sonic screwdriver hummed. "Ooh!" He made a sound and reached for the screwdriver in his coat pocket. Ha, see, right on cue! Brilliant!"
Rhea smiled at the use of the word.
"Brilliant!" Clara repeated less enthusiastically.
"The TARDIS is at the Pole!" The Doctor said.
"Not far then." Clara said, taking her hands off the hatch, and started to walked away.
"The South Pole." The Doctor said, grimacing.
Clara stopped. "Ah."
"Oh, Doctor." Rhea groaned, hanging her head.
"Could we have a lift?" The Doctor asked the captain.
The captain and Clara laughed and the professor gave a smile as they went back inside the submarine. The Doctor mocked their laughter by making a face. After they went away, the two watched the spaceship. The Doctor gave a salute and the ship flew away.
"Sweetie," Rhea started, drawing the Doctor's attention as he turned to face her. "You are such a bad driver."
"I am not!"
She reached up to straight his bow-tie, which had become loose after their underwater adventure. "You crashed into the Titanic."
"The Titanic crashed into me!"
She grinned. "You aimed for Las Vegas in 2013 and hit a Soviet submarine in the 80's. Sweetie, you're a bad driver." She said, patting him on the shoulder.
The Doctor couldn't say anything, his face sulky and his lips formed into a pout.
Suddenly, she swore when she tried to move her fingers. They had frozen right to the knuckle and Rhea groaned. "Why is it so cold up here?"
"Serves you right for wearing those shorts." The Doctor said, eyeing her up and down, staring just a bit too long at her long toned legs, uncovered in the middle of the snow.
"If you're done ogling me, alien boy…." Rhea said, playfully.
The Doctor grunted and pulled off his overcoat and placed it over her shoulders. Rhea wrapped it tight around her, reveling in the languorous warmth that seemed to spread through her entire body. She gripped the Doctor's hand tightly, entwining their arms and followed the others back into the submarine.
A/N: I hoped you all liked my rendition of Cold War and my characterisation of the Doctor and Rhea and Clara. I also hope you liked the little flirting scene between the Doctor and Rhea at the end and the little hints in the chapters about the Doctor's feelings for Rhea. And I just wanted to let you know that Rhea won't be calling the Doctor "sweetie" a lot because I really like it when River says it, Rhea will be mainly calling him "honey", because I see her as a "honey" kind of girl. In a future chapter, the Doctor will explain why Rhea calls him and others "sweetie" (there is actually a reason behind it).
I did have a question for you all though. I would like to hear people's opinions on Rose and River as I know a lot of people have problems with Rose and a lot of people have problems with River as well. I wanted to know what you think they should be like in this story.
Anyways, Read and Review!