Hi everyone!

So, I know it's been a long time since I've last updated, but I've been super busy. I've got classes and work. Not only that, but I hate the Slitheen so much it deters me from writing these chapters. I think I should finish World War 3 next chapter or the chapter after, though.

Anyway, I'm not going to keep you any longer.

Happy reading!

Chapter 16

World War 3 part 1

June ran at the Slitheen, Rose shouting after her. She raised her baseball bat brought it down hard on the large green monster's arm. "Let him go!" she shouted. Her arms quickly began to feel sore as she refused to stop hitting it until it let the young man go.

The Slitheen looked down at her and without a word, lowered its arm, the young man still tightly grasped and going limp between its talons, and elbowed June right in the forehead. She fell right over and smacked the back of her head against the carpeted floor. Rose screamed at her and attempted to move to help her friend stand, but Harriet Jones had a tight grip on her arm.

June sat up, and the world spun around her. She was going to have one hell of a headache. She grabbed her baseball bat again, but the second she looked up, she realized she didn't have to go after the monster anymore. The young man fell to the floor, unconscious… or worse… as the Slitheen glitched and jolted, bright electricity jumping through its body. It screamed a high pitched, crackling scream. June stared up at it, completely dazed, wondering what on Earth had happened to it.

Rose quickly grabbed June's arm and heaved her off of the floor. She dragged June and Harriet out of the cabinet room before the monster could get over whatever was happening to it. June kept glancing over her shoulder at the flashing blue light that pulsed in the cabinet room. She repeatedly swore to herself and did her best to keep up with Rose and Harriet.

They sprinted through the hall and the second they turned a corner, Harriet stopped them in their tracks. "No, wait. They're still in there!" she exclaimed. "The emergency protocols! We need them!" June sighed, but knew she was right. It was better that they had them than the Slitheen.

They ran back around the corner to the Cabinet room, but the Slitheen, now fully recovered, charged at them. June's loud swearing was drowned out by Harriet's screaming. They turned and ran down wood paneled corridors, slamming large doors shut behind them. The Slitheen managed to break through them all with no effort at all.

They ran around a corner, past an elevator, and slammed right into a closed door. Rose struggled with the handle and June pounded her fists against the wood, trying to get it open somehow. The Slitheen chased right after them. And then the elevator dinged and it suddenly didn't care about them anymore.

June turned around at the sound. In the elevator stood the Doctor. June gaped at him. Harriet gaped at him. The Slitheen gaped at him. Rose didn't even notice. The Doctor grinned widely. "Hello."

"Where the hell have you been?" June shouted at him.

"I'll tell you later," he said.

Even though Rose grabbed her arm and pulled her along through another corridor, June watched the elevator doors close until they were out of sight. The Slitheen didn't notice them disappear.

They ducked into an empty sitting room, Rose slamming the door behind them. She tried the other door in the room, but it was locked. "Hide!" she shouted. Everyone ran to the nearest hiding place.

June scanned the room and quickly decided on flattening herself and hiding under a couch. The area underneath was narrow and dark, claustrophobic. However, the Slitheen wouldn't be able to look down and see her. It couldn't fold itself in half to purposely look under the couch and it was too big to sit on it. A lot of other stupid things could happen to her, but she figured it was the best spot.

And all was quiet… for a minute. Then, the door creaked open. June made herself stop breathing. She could hear the Slitheen's muddled laugh. "Oh, such fun," it giggled. "Little human children—" June's heart stopped as its large green feet appeared in front of the couch she hid under. She closed her eyes tight and cowered against the back of the cabinet, as far away as possible. She could hear Rose's ragged breathing from the other side. "—where are you?" the Slitheen taunted. "Sweet little humeykins, come to me." Rose's breathing was gone, but there was no screaming or maniacal laughter. She had to have moved. June felt more on edge without the familiar breathing so close. "Let me kiss you better. Kiss you with my big, green lips."

The Slitheen pattered around for a few more moments before turning and saying, "My brothers," with an obvious sickly-sweet smile. June's heart plummeted. There were more?

"Happy hunting?" a deeper, yet similarly gargling, voice asked.

"It's wonderful," the female Slitheen sighed. "The more you prolong it, the more they stink."

"Sweat and fear," a third voice said.

"I smell an old girl," the second Slitheen said. "Stale bird and brittle bones."

"And two ripe youngsters," the female Slitheen added, "all hormones and adrenalin. Fresh enough to bend before they snap." And then Rose screamed.

June immediately rolled out from under her hiding space, pulling her baseball bat with her. She stood and pointed it at the female Slitheen, pretending not to notice, yet keeping aware, of the other two. "Don't you touch her!"

At the same time, Harriet Jones ran out from her hiding spot and shouted, "No! Take me first! Take me!"

The Slitheen all turned and surrounded June and Harriet, ignoring was technically what June had wanted, but she still hated the outcome. Now, all she had to do was distract the Slitheen from Harriet, who didn't deserve to be caught up in the mess, and somehow save the day. Simple enough.

But then the Doctor burst into the room, armed with a fire extinguisher. June grinned and let out a shaky sigh of relief. He sprayed the two brothers with CO2 and shouted, "Out, with me!"

They all ran towards him, Rose pulling a curtain down on the female Slitheen's head in the process. June dodged the Slitheen and the furniture and stood by him, happy to be by his side again. She found it was much easier to not be separated from him.

The Doctor frowned at Harriet Jones when she appeared at his side. "Who the hell are you?" he asked.

"Ooo," June hummed as she slid her baseball bat into her backpack. "He swears."

"Harriet Jones," Harriet Jones said, "MP for Flydale North."

"Nice to meet you," the Doctor said.

"Likewise," Harriet agreed.

"And June," the Doctor said. June looked up at him. "It'd like to stay here so you could be impressed with me, but we don't have all day to waste." June rolled her eyes.

The Doctor emptied the fire extinguisher battling back the Slitheen, threw it aside, and they all sprinted out of the room.

~*O*~

They ran down yet another corridor. "We need to head to the Cabinet Room!" the Doctor shouted.

"The Emergency Protocols are in there!" Harriet agreed. "They give instructions for aliens!"

"Harriet Jones, I like you!" the Doctor said.

"And I like you too!"

"We're still being chased by giant monster aliens!" June reminded them.

"Hurry up, then!" the Doctor called back, taking her hand in his and pulling her along faster down the corridor.

~*O*~

They ran into the Cabinet Room. The Doctor flung open a second entrance and was greeted with the three Slitheen charging towards them. He grabbed a decanter from a side table and held it up for the Slitheen to see, pointing the sonic screwdriver at it. June stood by him, watching the encounter over his shoulder. "One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off." June tried her best to look tough and glare at the Slitheen, although something told her that the Doctor's threat was complete bull. But the Slitheen didn't notice anything wrong because they backed up. "Right then," the Doctor said. "Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens," Harriet said.

"Yes, I got that, thanks," the Doctor smiled.

"Who are you, if not human?" one of the Slitheen asked.

"Who's not human?" Harriet asked.

"Him," June pointed at the Doctor.

"He's not human," Rose chorused.

"He's not human?" Harriet asked.

The Doctor glanced at the three of them over his shoulder. "Can I have a bit of hush?"

"Sorry," Harriet said.

"Not sorry," June countered.

"So, what's the plan?" the Doctor asked the Slitheen.

"But he's got a Northern accent," Harriet said.

"So?" June asked.

"Lots of planets have a north," Rose told her.

"I said hush," the Doctor repeated. June rolled her eyes. "Come on." He held the bottle of alcohol higher, reminding the Slitheen of his threat. "You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?"

"Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?" one of the Slitheen asked. June frowned. She felt a little offended. If they thought Earth was such a God-forsaken rock then they could just screw off.

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here," the Doctor said. "What is it?"

"The Slitheen race?" the same one asked.

"Slitheen is not our species," the other Slitheen said. "Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service."

The Doctor smiled bitterly. "So, you're family."

"A family business," the Slitheen confirmed.

"Then you're out to make a profit." The Doctor smiled, clearly happy to have solved one more piece of the puzzle. "How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock?"

"Not a God-forsaken rock," June muttered.

There was a moment of hesitation. "Ah, excuse me. Your device will do what?' the other male Slitheen asked. "Triplicate the flammability?"

"Is that what I said?" the Doctor asked. June shook her head. It hadn't been his best lie.

"You're making it up," the Slitheen said.

"Ah, well. Nice try," the Doctor sighed. He held the drink back to Harriet. "Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it."

"You pass it to the left first," Harriet said.

"Sorry." He held it back to June and Rose.

June took the drink from his hand. "Don't mind if I do," she muttered. She quickly took a swig of the alcohol.

"Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter," the Slitheen grinned. They started to click their talons together.

June, meanwhile, cringed as the alcohol ran down her throat. She coughed and spluttered. She passed the drink over to Rose, coughing out, "Nope. Too strong." The Doctor gave her a concerned look. She held up a thumbs-up.

"Don't you think we should run?" Rose asked upon noticing the Doctor's hesitation to move.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street," he said, both ignoring and answering her question. "Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken. He was a nice man."

June took the moment the Doctor used to sigh to ask, "Is this really the time for a history lesson?"

"Yes, it is," he said. "Now, 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson." He flipped open a panel on the wall, pressed a few buttons, and large metal walls sealed shut over the windows and doors. The Doctor grinned at the three women. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."

"And how do we get out?" Rose asked.

The Doctor froze for a moment. "Ah." June face palmed.

~*O*~

The Doctor dragged the body of the young Indian man across the room, laying him down in the closet next to the body of the Prime Minster. June watched from across the room, silent. She knew not being able to save him wasn't her fault, not fully, but it still felt completely horrible to let things get so messed up to the point where she couldn't save him. Between her attack with the baseball bat having absolutely no effect and the electrocution of the Slitheen via the Doctor, there was no way that she could've saved him.

"What was his name?" the Doctor asked.

"Who?" Harriet asked as she looked through the Emergency Protocols.

"This one," the Doctor said. "The secretary or whatever he was called."

Harriet walked over and looked into the closet. "I don't know," she admitted. "I talked to him. I brought him a cup of coffee." She wandered away, shaking her head. "I never asked his name."

The Doctor walked across the room, sonic screwdriver in hand, passing Rose who was still looking around for any technology. "Right, what have we got?" he asked. "Any terminals, anything?" he began to sonic the steel that blocked the window.

"No," Rose sighed. "This place is antique."

"Again," June said, "they wouldn't have any technology in here. They're not exactly dumb. They've managed to take over the government after all. Why would they just leave technology around in a high security room?"

The Doctor glanced at her. "Alright. You've got a point."

"Yeah, I guess that makes a little sense," Rose said. "But, what I don't get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?"

"He's too slim," the Doctor said. "They're big old beasts." He walked over to the next window and began to scan it. "They need to fit inside big human beings."

"But Slitheen are about eight feet," Rose said. "How do they fit inside?"

"That's the device around their necks. Compression fields." He walked across the room to the window June sat beside. He gave her a small smile. "Literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas. It's a big exchange."

"Wish I had a compression field," Rose muttered. "I could fit a size smaller."

June snickered. "Do you think there's one that works in reverse?"

"Excuse me, people are dead," Harriet said. She had the same, stern, disappointed tone that moms usually used on their misbehaving children. June supposed that to Harriet, she and Rose were misbehaving children. "This is not the time for making jokes."

"Sorry," Rose said. "You get used to this stuff when you're friends with him." She pointed at the Doctor.

Harriet frowned and glanced between Rose, June, and the Doctor. "Well, that's a strange friendship."

June snickered. "Honestly, you have no idea."

"Harriet Jones," the Doctor wondered to himself. He stood by the fireplace and furrowed his eyebrows at the woman. "I've heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?"

Harriet laughed. "Oh, hardly."

"Rings a bell. Harriet Jones?" He looked over at June. "How about you?"

June frowned at him. "Do I need to tattoo 'American' on my forehead to get you to understand that I don't know shit about England?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, quit the sass. I was just wondering. Because I've heard that name before."

"Lifelong backbencher I'm afraid," Harriet sighed. The Doctor frowned down at her as he walked by to scan something else. "And a fat lot of use I'm being now. The Protocols are redundant. They list the people who could help and they're all dead downstairs."

"Hasn't it got, like defense codes and things?" Rose asked, glancing inside of the briefcase. "Couldn't we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?" June paused. Something had exploded.

Harriet frowned at Rose. "You're a very violent young woman."

The seriousness in Harriet's voice made June laugh. Rose frowned. "I'm serious. We could." She glanced back at June. "And you stop laughing. You're the one who just loves to go after things your baseball bat."

"It's called self-defense," June said.

"Well, there's nothing like that in here," Harriet said. "The defense codes, I mean. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations."

The Doctor frowned and joined the group around the Protocols. "Say that again," he said.

"What, about the codes?" Harriet asked.

"Anything," the Doctor said. "All of it."

"Well, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN," Harriet explained.

Rose scoffed. "Like that's ever stopped them."

"Exactly, given our past record," Harriet nodded. "And I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is it important?"

"Everything's important," the Doctor said.

"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted," Harriet sighed. "Listen to me. I'm saying Slitheen as if it's normal."

"I feel that every day, Harriet," June muttered.

"What do they want, though?" Rose asked.

"Money," June said. "Isn't that what they said. It's a family business. Business equals money."

The Doctor smiled at her. "Someone's been paying attention." June shrugged. "She's right." He wandered around the room. "They're just one family, so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen World. They're out to make money. That means they want to use something. Something here on Earth. Some kind of asset."

"Like what, gold?" Harriet asked. "Oil? Water?"

The Doctor smiled. "You're very good at this."

Harriet smiled, too. "Thank you."

"Harriet Jones. Why do I know that name?" the Doctor asked.

"We can eliminate technology, though, right?" June asked. "Between the fake crash landing and the fact that this is 2006, we can assume that they don't need any."

The Doctor nodded. "There are better places in the universe to get technology."

There was a beep and Rose quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Oh, that's me."

"But we're sealed off," Harriet said. "How did you get a signal?"

"He zapped it," Rose explained. She walked around the table glancing down at her old, early 2000s cellphone. "Super phone. You should see June's."

"You have one too?" Harriet asked.

June pulled her phone out of her pocket and held it up. "Yeah."

Harriet gaped at it. "That's not a phone," she said. "What is that?"

"Oh, yeah," June muttered. "Right. It is a phone. I'm just from the future."

Harriet blinked at her. "He's not human," she nodded at the Doctor, "and now you're from the future?"

June nodded. "Yep."

Harriet turned away, deciding that there wasn't much time to dwell on the oddities. "Then we can phone for help," she said. "You must have contacts."

"Dead downstairs, yeah," the Doctor nodded.

June sighed. "That can't be it, right?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You have to know more people." He shrugged, not exactly sure what to tell her.

"It's Mickey," Rose said, still looking down at her phone.

"Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy," the Doctor sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Be nice," June scolded lightly. He frowned at her.

"Yeah, he's not so stupid after all." She handed the Doctor her phone. June walked over and glanced over the Doctor's shoulder at the ridiculously tiny phone screen. On it was a picture of a Slitheen in the midst of that electrocution midst. They had gone after Mickey too.

Rose quickly got on the phone, walking away so she could talk to Mickey. It was easy to piece together the situation. Mickey had saved Jackie from one of the Slitheen and now they were hiding in Mickey's apartment. June stood next to the Doctor, watching Rose talk quietly. "So, they're after us then," she guessed.

"Maybe," the Doctor shrugged.

"Why, though?" June asked. "I get trying to go after you, me, Rose, and Harriet. We've been sticking our noses into their business, but Mickey and Jackie…"

"They don't want any witnesses," the Doctor said.

"But they didn't witness anything."

"They're close enough to the action."

June crossed her arms. "That's awful." She wondered how many people the Slitheen would plow through without a single thought just to get what they wanted.

"I know," he said. The Doctor then walked over to Rose and yanked her phone out of her hand, pressing it up to his own ear. June gaped after him. He forgot his manners all too often. "Is that Ricky?" he asked. "Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer." There was a moment of silence and then the Doctor sighed. "Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but… er… I need you."

June thought that it was incredible that she could laugh, even while in the thick of danger.

So, I know the chapter was short and not fantastic... but it's still a chapter and the only reason I didn't like the chapter is because I'm not fond of fast paced writing like the action in this chapter. It gives less time for the characters to be personal and develop. But I really do hope you guys like it!

I should be back next week. I've already started writing part 2, so I'll be back whenever it's done.

Reviews, follows, and favorites are very much appreciated.

Until next time,

~ C.C.