Hello everyone!
So sorry! I don't know what happened. Some how chapter 26 repeated and copied over this one. Sorry again. I made certain to fix it all up now. Hopefully, that doesn't happen again. There might be a few editing flaws in this as I did not save that last edit I did of the previous chapter 25. I learned my lesson from now on. :(
Please, enjoy!
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Chapter 25: Cloning Mistake
The clothes . . . they felt . . . itchy. But yet, comforting. Normal. Her clothes. Yet, other her clothes as well. Emerald eyes blinked as they stared at the sleeping Wanderer next to the unconscious Martha Jones. However, the new Martha Jones stood beside her, standing at attention besides the two human men in uniform. And she . . . was the new Wanderer. Or Wanda, as her new memories wished to correct her. The Wanderer's friends liked to call her Wanda. So, she would be called Wanda as well. But she really did not like this name. It did not feel like something that suited her. Perhaps she could have her own name? Maybe not now, but she could pick one in the future if she decided to.
The clone of Wanda stared down at her hands, observing the light, fair skin with freckles lining up her arms. Hands that felt and looked so small, especially compared to the men's beside her. But the clone of Martha seemed to have small hands as well. Maybe it was just a female thing? The Wanda clone ran her hands along the yellow tunic that she had been wearing. The maroon overcoat was not on her as she knew the Wanderer had left it behind in an office earlier while helping Martha Jones on some documents. The clone would like to get the coat back, though. It felt really cold to her in the physical world.
"Clone!"
The clone snapped her hands down to her sides, straightening up and standing at attention. She gulped as she watched Commander Skorr glaring at her.
"Pay attention!" he barked harshly at her.
"Y-yes, sir," the Wanda clone replied, giving the Sontaran a small salute. The alien merely sneered at her as he turned to address the small group standing before him.
"Ready and waiting to advance the great Sontaran cause, sir," said the clone of Martha Jones, standing at attention to her commanding officer.
"Then get to work," Skorr responded. "You both know what your duties are." He gave the Wanda clone a side glance as if wondering if she would actually be of any use. He seemed to be doubting her creation entirely now.
The blonde clone shifted uncomfortably on the spot, turning quickly when seeing the others leaving without her and followed after them. She jogged to keep up, finding it difficult as the others seemed to be marching at such a fast pace. Why were they going so fast anyway? What was the hurry? They had plenty of time . . . for . . . Dang, what was she supposed to do again? She swiftly walked up beside the Martha clone, staring sheepishly at her.
"Um, sorry, but . . . what am I supposed to do again?" she asked nervously. The new Martha halted in her steps, staring at new Wanda in disbelief. The two Privates stopped as well, though did not stare at the short blonde as they merely continued to stare blankly as always.
"You're kidding, right?" the Martha clone barked at the blonde girl. "Our objective is programmed into our minds. How can you not know?" The Wanda cloned gulped, smiling and letting out a nervous laugh.
"Only joking. Just thought I'd lighten the mood," she laughed awkwardly. The Martha clone scoffed, marching on forward again. Behind her and the two Privates, the blonde clone shifted on her feet nervously again. What was wrong with her? Why can't she think of anything to do? Had the system process to implant her mission gone wrong? In fact . . . why was she working for the Sontarans anyway? She felt like she really did not belong here.
Not only that, but the memories from the Wanderer felt all . . . off, too. Like . . . it was only basic book data. She knew just names and faces, some small details of the relationships between the Wanderer and her friends. Like with Martha Jones, they were pretty close friends who really liked shopping together. Though, it seemed this friendship did not carry onto the Martha clone. The clone Wanda grumbled in disgruntlement, shaking her head as she trailed on after the three in front. But what else was there to the Wanderer's friendships and such? The clone really did not know any more than that with Martha Jones. Just . . . shopping buddies. There had to be more than that, right?
Then there were the memories of the Doctor, someone who was very, very important in the Wanderer's life. But there it happened again. The clone only knew that he was important. Why or how he was important, she had no idea. She was not even sure who exactly he was. Just that he was an important figure to the Wanderer and the human race. Was that her primary objective? Find out more about the Doctor? That could be it, but . . . it did not feel like that was what she had been created to do. What was she supposed to do?! Gah! It did not even help matters at all as her head began steadily growing this strange headache. Or that the fact the stupid factory was too noisy. Why was everyone all shouting about? Could they not just hush up for two seconds?
The blonde girl rubbed at her ear, trying to get the strange ringing to leave. Maybe everything just seemed loud from the world still being so new to her. Suddenly, a loud ringing erupted from her left pocket on her pants, making her let out a startled cry. She slapped a hand over her mouth as she stared at her pocket in alarm for a moment before realizing what the noise meant. Oh, right, it was those mobile phones that the humans liked to carry around. Duh. How silly was she? She laughed, shaking her head at her being so jumpy and pulled out the mobile, pressing it to her ear.
"Hello?" she responded to the call. But it continued ringing, not telling her anything at all. She frowned in confusion. "Hello?" She blinked as she pulled the phone away, staring at it in bewilderment. Then she saw she needed to hit the answer button to get it to stop. Right, that made sense. She tried again in pressing it against her ear. "Yes, hello? Is it working this time?"
"Is what working?" came a woman's voice from the other end. The clone frowned, trying to place the voice with a memory.
"Oh! You're Donna Noble! I remember your red hair!" the giggling Wanda clone exclaimed. She bounced over, sitting down on a nearby shelf of where factory parts used to be placed. "I like red hair . . . I think."
"Um . . . okay. Glad you like my hair. Anyway, hold on, he's here," Donna replied, sounding uncertain by Wanda's random and strange response. The clone heard someone taking the phone away as there was muffled and crackling noises on the other end of the line.
"Wanda, tell Martha and Colonel Mace it is the Sontarans," the clone heard the new voice speaking. A male's voice. It took her a moment to let the memory pop into place. She realized with a strange skip in her heartbeat that it was the Doctor speaking. "They're in the file. Code Red Sontarans. But if they're inside the factory, tell him not to start shooting. UNIT will get massacred. I'll get back as soon as I can. You got that?"
"But the Sontarans are already here," the Wanda clone responded.
"What? Where?" she heard the Doctor ask tensely. She snapped her mouth shut, feeling dread as she realized she probably should not have said that.
"I shouldn't have said that," she said out loud. "I don't think I was supposed to tell anyone that. Oh, I'm going to get into trouble now."
"It's all right to give a spoiler away once and a while," the Doctor replied, sounding soothing as if not wishing for her to blame herself for messing up. Oh, he sounded nice. She liked him. But . . . he was the enemy. Right? Oh, she had absolutely no clue by this point. Her mind was a muddled mess. And that damn ringing. The rising noise level was not helping at all.
"Spoilers? What are spoilers? I don't remember those," she muttered as she tried focusing her mind on speaking on the phone and trying to ignore the increasing headache. It was getting worse now.
"What are you talking about? You're the one who practically invented the term," the Doctor responded, sounding baffled now.
The clone blinked, realizing she had spoken out loud again. "Oh, no, I was just . . . it's nothing. I just got a headache."
"Really? How bad?" Now he really sounded concerned.
"Pretty bad." She began rubbing at her head, wishing it would go away. "And the ringing won't stop. Everyone's just so loud. Why are they so loud? It's like they're talking all at once."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line as it seemed the Doctor was taking in this statement. When he spoke again, he sounded very worried this time, his tone almost urgent. "Wanda, I think you need to get back to the TARDIS. Now. Do you understand? You need to get away from there and find somewhere more peaceful to be. The TARDIS will help with your headache. I know she'll keep you comfortable and safe."
"TARDIS? What's a TARDIS?" She frowned, trying to put that term to a memory, but none would come up. "I can't . . . remember."
"Wanda . . . what's wrong? What's happening?" The Doctor sounded even more urgent and anxious now.
"I don't know. I think things went all wrong. I don't even think I'm supposed to be here talking to you." Her brows furrowed, trying to keep her mind straight and focused. What was happening to her? It was like the more she sat there, the more her mind slowly seemed to be unravelling and falling apart. Was she dying?
"Wanda, please, just get to the TARDIS. It's parked right outside the factory. Just go there. Please. You need to get yourself somewhere safe."
The blonde girl bit her lip as she felt nervous by how worried the Doctor sounded now. Did he know what she really was? Who she really was? Did he wish to help her feel better? She hoped so. "I don't think I can. I'm supposed to stay here and finish my primary objective. But I can't even remember what it is now." She sucked in a breath, trying to keep herself steady. "Please, Doctor, can you just get here? I want to see you. I really want to meet you. Please. I hope you'll like me. I know you won't at first, but . . ." She snapped her mouth shut as she knew she was talking too much. Something was seriously wrong with her. Why was she being so weird? Why could she not keep her mouth shut?
"Wanda? What—what are you talking about?" Instead of sounding worried, now he sounded confused, suspicious.
Oh, crap. She had tipped him off about her. She was in trouble now. Glancing up, she saw the Martha clone stomping towards her. "I'm sorry, I've got to go. But please get here soon. Okay, Doctor?" She hung up before the man could say anything else, stuffing the device into her pocket.
"What are you doing?" the Martha clone demanded in question, staring at the blonde clone crossly. "You're supposed to be doing your job. Not just standing around like an idiot. You're going to get us caught at this rate."
"Sorry. The Doctor called," the Wanda clone replied, biting at her lip as she looked around the area surrounding her. Everyone seemed too busy with their own issues to be paying her any attention, so really she felt like new Martha was just coming over just to scold her.
"Well, get to work. It's about to start," the fake doctor ordered her, marching away with the two Privates following after her. A strand of ash blonde hair fell into clone Wanda's face as she stared at the backs of the retreating trio. She puffed the stray out her face, shaking her head to follow after them.
"Sorry, what's about to start?" she asked the new Martha once she had managed to check up with them. "What are the bosses' big plans anyway? I didn't keep up with all that information they pushed into my brain."
"Are you just brainless?" new Martha scoffed, giving the other clone a look of disbelief.
"I don't know. How am I supposed to know if I don't have a brain or not? I can't exactly see into my own head." The blonde girl rolled her eyes, shaking her head at such a silly question.
The fake doctor gritted her teeth in irritation. "You wouldn't be alive if you didn't have a brain."
The Wanda clone blinked in surprise. "Oh, right. Well, then, I guess I'm not brainless after all. Why did you even ask that question to begin with if I'm not really brainless?" She walked ahead, not noticing the Martha clone behind slapping at her own forehead in frustration.
Soon, they began hearing the different men yelling in alarm up towards the entrance to the factory, just outside to the main road. Colonel Mace was heard yelling at his men to shoot at something, make something or another stop working. Bells of warning blared loudly in the air as an alert of sorts. The blonde clone was not what exactly was going on until they got closer to the chaos. The first thing that hit her was the nasty smoke in the air. She began coughing, covering her mouth at the toxic fumes sweeping throughout the entire area. She watched as the uniformed men were shooting at the back ends of different jeeps and vehicles around them from where the gas was coming from. She hoped that they managed to get the smoke to stop soon. The stuff was rancid and made her feel sick. It definitely did not help with her headache at all. In fact, she thinks it just made it worse. And was that just the bells blaring, or were her ears ringing even more? One thing for sure, the noise level of everyone had increased tenfold, making it almost impossible for her to actually hear anyone.
"Now we begin," new Martha said next to her as they observed the scene. She shot the blonde a side glance. "Let's get to work."
"I agree. We need to figure out how to get these cars to stop producing gas," new Wanda replied, looking around for answers to the solution in stopping the obvious deadly weapons. "Maybe if we produce a massive wave of electrical interference it might stop it? Or we could just find a way to bypass the system and order the smoke to stop all together." Glancing over at the fake doctor, seeing the look of uttered disbelief and mistrust, new Wanda smiled awkwardly. "Ha. Just kidding. Just kidding. As if we'd really want to breathe clean air anyway." She took a deep breath, grinning brightly.
The clone of Martha rolled her eyes and marched on forward. After her and the Privates passed by and were some ways away, the clone of Wanda gagged as she exhaled, coughing out the toxic fumes she had sucked in. Gosh, that was disgusting. Why the heck was this a part of the plan anyway? Sure, let's make some human clones who can die from the gas that was going to be released on Earth. Just bloody brilliant on the Sontarans' part.
She stomped onwards, trying to follow along after the other clone and her minions. New Wanda knew she needed to stick with them . . . for some reason. Dang, she really could not remember what she was supposed to do or why exactly she was following them around. Her most recent memories seemed to be failing her. And that damn headache just kept building and building up to more painful levels. What was happening to her mind? It was just getting worse.
The pain finally started to become too intense as she reached just outside of the UNIT mobile headquarters. She had been following after the Martha clone who had gone inside, but . . . she could not remember anything. At all. Her mind was in a state of chaos now as she felt like . . . something . . . was trying to get out. Was that even possible? It sure felt like it at the way her head pounded in agony. She stumbled against the side of the black trailer as she gripped her head harshly, hoping that maybe she could hold in the pain that way. Sliding down to her knees on the ground, she let out a sob. God, it hurt. It hurt so much! Why did it have to hurt? Why was the pain not going away? And why was everything so loud?!
She gazed up, staring at her surroundings through watery eyes. It shocked her to see that there was no one around her. Absolutely no one. In fact, the close area around the UNIT mobile headquarters was rather empty. Then why did it sound like a million voices were all screaming out all at once? And that ringing. The constant ringing. She was beginning to think it was from whatever noise she was hearing. Her stomach churned as the world around her seemed to tilt suddenly. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute, pounding against her rib cage. She let out a whimper, closing her eyes tightly and wishing that she could just disappear into nothing. She wished the Doctor was here.
"What are you doing? Get up this instant," she heard the angry voice of fake Martha behind her. A harsh hand grabbed her arm, roughly yanking her up to stand again. But still, she kept her hands gripped at her head in pain.
"Please . . . just make it stop," the blonde clone pleaded to the fake doctor. "It just hurts so much."
"What hurts?" the Martha clone asked, suspicion laced her voice as she stared harshly at the blonde girl.
"My head. It's killing me." New Wanda began crying, tears streaming down her face as the pain began reaching its peak. "And those voices. Like everyone's talking all at once. They just keep screaming and they won't shut up. Please, just make them shut up." She sobbed as the agony went through her mind.
"Looks like you're defective," the Martha clone muttered in disgust. She glanced around, realizing this was not the best place to take care of a cloning mistake. Too many witnesses. Stuffing the mobile phone with the chip of the UNIT data she had stolen, the clone grabbed the crying blonde's hand and jerked her into walking away from the headquarters. The clone of Wanda followed weakly along as tears streamed down her face, sobbing as she continued to grip at her head.
"Make it stop, please," the blonde girl begged, pleading for mercy. "It hurts. It hurts so much."
"Oh, don't worry, I plan to get rid of all your pain. Permanently," the fake doctor said, happy to finally get rid of the stupid blonde. Fake Martha marched them right past the different UNIT taskforce squads. All of which ignored the two passing females completely. All were too busy in trying not to breathe in the gas to pay attention to anything else.
Clone Martha pushed the crying blonde into the small room where the factory's toilets were, secluding them away from everything else. Clone Wanda stumbled into one of the stalls, crying as she fell to her knees and gripped her head. The pain . . . it was too much. She could not take it. She only prayed for death now. Just let her die. It would be so much better than this misery. And then, she felt it. Something . . . something was coming. She was coming. The wolf was arriving. Behind her, the Martha clone slowly pulled out the pistol from her belt, aiming it at the blonde.
"Can't say that I'm going to regret this," the fake doctor spoke, setting closer to the crying clone. She pushed the gun right into the blonde's head. "You really were annoying. At least you dying will do us all a favour. You won't be in pain anymore, and you won't be a pain in my arse." She clicked the gun, ready to fire.
Suddenly, without warning, a hand shot away from the blonde's head and grabbed the other clone's hand, twisting it around so that she would drop the gun. The Martha clone cried in pain, yanking on her arm to make the blonde girl let go. She gritted her teeth at the smaller female.
"Let me go. Let me go right now," Clone Martha barked in command, yanking on her arm again.
"Give her back."
Fake Martha froze at those words. The small hairs on the back of her neck slowly stood on end. A cold chill washed over her and her heart skipped a beat in fright. Deep seeded fear seemed to surface within as she stared at the small blonde, knowing that something was very, very wrong with her. The fake doctor swallowed, keeping her expression and voice even so that she did not show her fear. There was nothing to be frightened of in the first place. She was just feeling nervous by the strange way the other clone spoke those words. Like a growling angered voice that spoke for fury to burn. Burn anyone and anything thing in its path. But that was just silly in thinking like that.
"Look, do you want to stop your headache or not?" the Martha clone stated, trying to get the blonde clone to release her hand. The young woman had actually managed to grab her wrist in just the right place, making a horrible pressure point and causing great pain to shoot up her arm.
"Give her back," repeated the Wanderer's clone. Her voice still dark and haunting, with a strange vibration of power with each word she spoke.
The Martha clone was struggling now, her fears rising and the pain in her arm was building. She yanked on her arm, trying to get her hand out of the death grip that held it. "What's the hell's wrong with you? Just let me go, all right. I have a job to do." She pulled out her mobile from her pocket, trying to tell the other clone what her mission meant.
But the device was slapped away by the blonde's other hand, falling onto the floor in a clatter. The now terrified fake doctor was jerked forward, coming face to face with a menacing blonde. Teeth were bared in a snarl and the eyes . . . they were glowing. They were pure white in the irises with their strange glow, and they seemed in pierce right into ones very soul as they gazed onto anyone. The fake Martha especially felt this as pure terror washed over her. The only thing she could think of as staring at those eyes was that they were like a wolf's eyes, glowing in the night.
"Give. Her. Back," the blonde clone snarled, her grip tightening even more onto the other clone's hand.
Clone Martha began to whimper, trying to pry the hand off as the pain became agony on her arm. Then . . . she gazed down at her hand and saw in utter horror what was happening to her arm. She breathed in and out in a panic, then let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Two UNIT men happened to be walking close by when they heard this scream. They halted in their steps, looking at the room from which the sound had come from. Gripping their guns more securely in their grasp, they swiftly marched forward. One kicked the door in, aiming his gun in. He blinked in surprise when seeing a blonde girl standing there. He recognized her to be the Wanderer, one of the Doctor's more famous companions as Colonel Mace had debriefed them on. She was staring down at the floor with her hair hanging in her face so that he could not see her features. She seemed to be staring intently at something on the floor, unnoticing to the two men who now stood in the doorway of the room.
"Ma'am, are you all right?" the one man asked, stepping more into the area. He wondered why she had screamed, and if perhaps something horrible had happened in here. Then, his team membered pointed it out.
"What's that on the floor?" asked the other man, nodding towards what lay at the blonde's feet. They both looked down, shocked to disbelief at the sight of strange gray dust that was spread out in a pile on the tiled floor. But what truly caught their attention was the white doctor's coat that was mixed in with the pile of dust. Even itself was seen slowly turning to dust as well. They instantly recognized this coat, as they had both seen it many times on Dr. Jones. They hurriedly aimed their weapons at the blonde girl, glaring at her.
"Hands in the air, now!" barked the one man. The other pressed a hand into his earpiece, calling to Colonel Mace.
"Sir, it's Dr. Jones. I think she's been killed," spoke the second man, keeping his gun trained on the girl in front of them.
"What?" exclaimed Colonel Mace from the radio. "Are you certain about this?"
"Positive," confirmed the armed man. "She's . . . it looks like she's been turned into dust, sir. We have the suspect now with us. Should we bring her in?"
"Give her back," hissed the blonde suddenly, causing both men to stiffen greatly in alarm at the dark voice of the girl. "Give her back." She took an aggressive step towards them. The two men tightened their grips on their weapons and aimed them firmly at her.
"Stay where you are and don't move," commanded the one man.
"Pierson, report," ordered Colonel Mace from the earpiece. The one man, Pierson, pressed into his radio to speak.
"Sir, how do you wish for us to proceed?" he questioned the Colonel.
"Pierson, I think we should get back up," said the other man who continued to shift edgily on his feet as he pointed the weapon at the blonde in front of them. "I don't like this. Something doesn't feel right."
"We stay here until the Colonel tells us otherwise, Wilcox," Pierson instructed, keeping his voice curt and stern. Though, truthfully, he felt the same uneasiness. The girl in front of them lifted a finger, pointing in accusation at them. Still, her hair stayed in front of her face, not letting them see her eyes.
"Give her back," the female growled, her voice twisted that made it sound almost as if multiple voices were speaking together. A mixture of deep and high voices. The two men, Pierson and Wilcox, stiffened in their posture, feeling a chill go down their spines. Then, slowly, the blonde lifted her head to look at them directly, her hair parting to show glowing white eyes. "GIVE HER BACK!" Her eyes flashed with her last word.
Then, the two men were screaming.
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The Doctor's leg bounced rapidly within the car as they drove closer and closer to the ATMOS factory. Ross steered the vehicle the best he could while Donna sat in the back behind the Time Lord. The smoke was a haze in the air as they drove down the road, making it almost impossible to see clearly what was happening at the factory. Nothing good, that was certain. The Doctor gripped tighter to the mobile that was in his hands. The phone which had not left his hands since Wanda had hung up earlier. All he felt since speaking with her was high anxiety. Something was wrong with her. The way she had been talking, and saying that she could not remember things . . . he could only hope that it was nothing serious. That it was not what he thought it was. Or better yet, who he feared it might be at work in messing with Wanda's mind.
But why? Why was she acting up now? Of all times, why now? There had to be a reason. Something terrible must have happened, and the Doctor knew he must get there to correct it and make certain that Wanda would not be hurt in the process.
They pulled up to the gate of the compound, stopping just at the front near UNIT mobile headquarters. The Doctor hopped out of the car immediately. Donna exited the vehicle just as quickly. The Time Lord turned to the young man still behind the wheel.
"Ross, look after yourself. Get inside the building," the Doctor instructed to the UNIT worker. Ross nodded, driving off once all doors to the old car were shut. The Doctor raced over to the UNIT trailer, not even noticing how much Donna coughed hoarsely from the smoke. He was too focused on finding his Wanderer to pay attention to anything else.
Walking up the steps of the trailer, he swiftly marched inside, hoping to find Wanda within the room. Maybe even Martha, hoping that the doctor would help him find his Wanderer. But neither of them were in sight. Were they still in the factory? He spotted Colonel Mace, seeing the man yelling into his radio.
"Report! Pierson, report! What's going on?" the Colonel demanded to whoever was on the other end. The Doctor swiftly walked up to the man as Donna trailed right behind the Time Lord.
"Colonel Mace, have you seen Wanda?" he asked hurriedly. "The Wanderer, my friend, have you seen her? She should have been in here to tell you about the Sontarans, so where is she?"
"Sontarans?" the Colonel questioned, frowning in confusion.
"Yes, Code Red Sontarans. I told her to tell you," the Doctor responded, feeling a spike of worry go through him as he realized Wanda had never even made it back to tell the Colonel the warning of the Sontarans. "They're the ones who are behind all of this." The Colonel nodded, announcing this over his radio briefly before trying to contact someone else to report in. The Doctor bounced on his feet in impatience, wanting to hurry to his Wanderer. "Well, have you seen her?"
"The last I've seen of her is when she was with Dr. Jones," Colonel Mace explained to the Time Lord. "Though Dr. Jones did arrive back without her only a while ago, and now I've just been told they have found Dr. Jones dead." Donna behind the Doctor gasped in alarm while the Time Lord's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What? Martha? She can't be dead," Donna spoke up, completely horrified by this statement. "Wanda would have warned us and Martha if that was going to happen, right, Doctor?" The Doctor did not reply to this, knowing that the red head would not like the answer.
"Colonel, are you certain?" the Doctor asked the man sternly, hoping that it was indeed untrue. Just a simple mistake.
"I'm trying to confirm that now," explained the Colonel. "It was reported in by Pierson, but he isn't responding. Something must have happened." Colonel Mace pressed his earpiece firmly, trying to hear the other end. "Pierson, report. Do you copy, over?" The only response he received was static.
"What did they say when they found Martha?" the Doctor asked carefully.
"Pierson reported that her body had been reduced to dust."
Eyes widening in fear as a wave of dread washed over him, the Doctor actually took a step back as the news seemed to physically hurt him. "No. How could she?" he breathed quietly.
"Doctor, what is it? What's wrong?" Donna questioned, placing a hand on his arm as a show of support. She felt worried by the strange horrified demeanour that had crossed over him. Before either her or the Doctor could say anything else, a sudden urgent call came over UNIT communications, speaking loudly within the headquarters.
"Colonel Mace, sir, we're under attack! I repeat, we are under attack," shouted a male's voice.
"What's your status? Who's attacking?" Colonel Mace responded immediately.
"It's . . . It's that girl who came with the Doctor, sir," came the reply over the radio. "It's the Wanderer. She's gone insane. She's already killed a number of our men, and she just keeps shouting. We can't reason with her and our weapons are ineffective." Before the Colonel could reply, the Doctor rushed forward closer to the radio to communicate with the man.
"Don't shoot! Whatever you do, do not shoot!" the Doctor ordered the men, his voice hard and strict as he spoke. "Guns will only anger her more. You and your men need to back down and just get out of there. Place the factory on lockdown. Do you understand?"
"But, sir—," the man over the radio began to argue.
"Just do it! Get out of there now!" the Doctor shouted. He backed away from the radio when hearing the order being given and the men retreating. He turned sharply, beginning to march to the door. "Colonel Mace, keep your men far away from the factory. Just stay away until I've got the situation under control."
"Doctor, stop! You will tell me what the hell is going on!" Colonel Mace exclaimed angrily, stomping up to the Time Lord. The Doctor turned, facing the man as the Colonel gritted his teeth in anger. "What is the Wanderer doing in killing my men? Has your friend turned traitor on us, Doctor?"
"It's not her killing your men. It's someone else," the Doctor responded curtly. "Just keep your men away, Colonel. I'll stop her from hurting anyone else. Donna, stay here and don't leave." The Doctor pointed at the red head when saying this.
"I'm not staying. I'm coming with you," Donna scoffed, shaking her head. She felt bewildered by all this talk of Wanda being a killer. That was ridiculous. Wanda would never hurt anyone. She would not even hurt a single hair on their heads. Why were they saying the Time Lady was hurting UNIT's men?
"Donna, you will do as I say," the Doctor ordered her, giving her a hard gaze. "Stay here and don't leave for anything."
"I said I'm not—," Donna began to argue crossly.
"Do as I say, Donna!" barked the Time Lord. Even taking a step towards her in making certain she knew he meant business. Donna stared heatedly at him for a moment, then took a step back and looked away, knowing that he had won. The Doctor looked back at the Colonel. "If I'm not out of there in an hour, leave. I don't want anyone else getting killed today."
With that said, the Doctor, in a swift motion, turned back around and stormed out of the mobile unit. He saw different UNIT taskforce men had already been evacuated from the factory, with their guns still drawn and aimed at the building. At least they had listened to him about getting outside. And they had closed down the factory, shutting the large metal doors. Good. He marched up to one of the closet UNIT men by the factory, glad in seeing that it was Ross. At least the young man had made it out all right in the end.
"Ross, I need you to open the doors for me," the Doctor instructed the young man. "As soon as I'm in, close it behind me."
"But, sir—," Ross began to argue, looking uncertain by this.
"Just do it, Ross," the Doctor grounded in a hard tone. The young man nodded, walking up to press a button on the side of the building that made one of the metal doors slide up. It made it halfway up when the Doctor ducked underneath and walked inside. The door closed immediately behind him, leaving him trapped within the empty factory.
There was dead silence. Nothing moved. No sound shifted. It created an eerie feeling within the place. It gave the Doctor an uneasy sensation in the pit of his stomach. He shook this off, marching onwards as he knew he needed to hurry and get to Wanda. He walked past many crates, large shelves, tools, equipment, and piles of gray dust, but saw no sign of Wanda. His nerves began to stand on edge as he worried over her safety. But then, he spotted her crouching down by a massive stack of boxes, hunched over as she rocked back and forth while holding something tightly in her hands. He saw that it was a mobile phone. Martha's phone. It seemed the Time Lady kept pressing something every few minutes, determined in her task.
"Wanda?" the Doctor called to her, keeping a safe distance away from her as he knew that it might not be her. The Time Lady's head snapped up, glaring at him with her glowing white eyes. She bared her teeth, growling in the back of her throat. He kept his expression even and calm, knowing that he needed to be careful now. The wolf had arrived.
"Alpha," he spoke evenly. He received no reply as she only continued to glare at him. "What are you doing? There is absolutely no reason for you to be active and killing these men." Still, no answer. He took a cautious step forward, eyeing her carefully. "Is it true? Did you kill Martha? She was Wanda's friend. Mine as well. Why did you kill her?" The girl before him said nothing, only keeping the dark glare she sent him. Though, she did glance back down to the mobile, pressing on something briefly before looking back at him.
He raised a brow to this action, wondering why she felt the need to keep checking over Martha's mobile. But he would focus on that in a moment. For now, he needed to see if he could possibly get Alpha to leave again. However, when he took another cautious step forward, he caught the strange smell in the air. A rather nasty smell that made him scrunch his nose in disgust. Sniffing, he realized the smell was coming from the girl in front of him. He recognized that smell. It was the chemical compounds of Sontaran cloning liquid used to incubate the clone until the moment of birth. She . . . she was a clone.
"Give her back," the blonde hissed at him. "Give her back." He placed his hands in his pockets, eyes studying her in a careful manner.
"You're not really Wanda," he spoke, keeping his voice quiet.
"Give her back," she seemed to retort at his response.
"Which means you're not really Alpha, either." He hummed in thought. "Is that all you can say? 'Give her back'?"
"Give her back!"
He let out a small puff of air. "Right. Okay." One hand left a pocket, running through his hair as he continued to stare at her. "The Sontarans wouldn't have been able to replicate Wanda completely. Their machines wouldn't have been able to handle her DNA. Not even the DNA of a Time Lord's. So . . . that means you're only a small piece of Wanda and Alpha. You're not a complete copy. That's why you've only been able to kill people and not anything more. And why you're acting purely on animal instinct. Though," he ran the hand down his face before dropping his arm at his side, "not that Alpha doesn't already run on animal instinct."
"Give her back!" barked the sitting clone.
"Yeah, I heard you the first time," he retorted bitterly. Staring at her for a moment, he tried to think of a solution. He began muttering out loud to himself. "If you only have Alpha's instinctive side, then . . . the first instinct running through you is getting the real Wanda back. But you don't have Wanda's logic or stable mind to balance you, so your second instinct is to just keep killing until you find her again."
"Give her back," the clone seemed to agree, glancing down to check something on Martha's mobile again. Slowly, he crouched down beside her, being as cautious as possible around her as he knew just how unstable she was. Alpha was unstable already on her own and now throw in an uncompleted clone of her . . . The clone might snap at any moment and just kill him off as well.
"Let me see," he said, holding out his hand tensely for her to give him the mobile. Snapping her eyes up away from the phone, she glared at him again. He kept his face even. "If you give me the phone I can get Wanda back sooner." The clone seemed to ponder this for a second before finally slapping the phone into his awaiting hand.
He stared curiously at the mobile, seeing a stream of codes running across the screen. He recognized them immediately as launch codes for a nuclear strike. Whipping out his sonic, he scanned the phone briefly, and from the readings, saw that it was attached to the internal systems of UNIT. Able to cancel any commands they make or scramble any incoming information. He watched as the screen changed, showing a command 'launch,' and two choices: Yes or No. He pressed 'No,' instantly canceling the command. Damn idiots. They wanted to start a nuclear war with the Sontarans. A suicide decision on their part. Staring at the mobile phone for a moment longer, he looked back at the clone, seeing her still glaring at him with her glowing eyes.
"You've been stopping UNIT from going Defcon One," he spoke quietly, thoughtfully to her. His brows furrowed for a moment. "Why? What do you care if Earth goes nuclear or starts a war? You could care less about any of that." The clone's only reply was to snatch the mobile back from his hand, pressing 'No' once again. He merely shook his head, bewildered by this action of hers. Alpha was never shown to have any care for a planet's doing. Why would a small clone of her wish to stop a war? Unless . . . "I guess maybe more of Wanda actually exists in you than I thought."
Marching footsteps were heard coming from the back, making their way closer and closer to where the Doctor and the Wanda/Alpha clone were. The Time Lord stood quickly, facing the army of Sontarans that had marched into the factory, aiming their weapons at him directly. The clone at his feet did not even bother looking up as she continued pressing 'No' every time it popped up on the mobile's screen. The Doctor, watching the Sontarans with caution, saw one Sontaran, who had his round, blue helmet off, step forward to address the Time Lord directly.
"Doctor," barked the Sontaran. "Prepare to meet your end."
"Well, before I do 'meet my end,' I'd like to know who's about to kill me," the Doctor retorted, eyeing the Sontaran coolly.
"Commander Skorr of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. Known as Skorr the Bloodbringer," replied Skorr, grinning proudly at the nickname given to him. A name that meant nothing but death. The Doctor felt disgust by this name and how proud Skorr was in it, but he pressed on to speak before any of the soldiers had a chance to shoot.
"Why exactly did you come here from your ship?" questioned the Doctor, placing his hands in his pockets as he acted casual and relaxed. "I know you lot didn't come down just to kill me or the others, so why?"
"I do not give such information away to the enemy," snapped Skorr, looking irritated that the Doctor would quiz him right before the Time Lord's seeming death.
"No, you know what, I don't need you to tell me 'cause I already have it figured out," bit back the Doctor, glaring darkly at the Sontaran, the Oncoming Storm coming forth as his anger rose. "You decided that you needed someone on the inside. Someone who had high power within UNIT or possibly someone that UNIT would trust. So, thinking that you're all so clever, you lot decide to kidnap Wanda because of the files UNIT has on her, telling them that she is a good ally. But you wouldn't have just taken her away. No, you needed someone else who actually worked for UNIT. So I'm guessing," under his breath, "hopefully," speaking loudly again, "that you took Martha Jones as well. Cloning them both, using their clones as operatives, and are now protecting the actual Martha and Wanda in the back since they're keeping the clones alive."
Skorr gritted his teeth, glaring heatedly at the Doctor. The Time Lord, on the other hand, smirked.
"I am right, aren't I? Not that I'm ever really wrong in the first place," the Doctor stated casually.
"Execute him!" commanded Skorr to the rest of the Sontarans. They all aimed their weapons, ready to fire. The Doctor remained calm, staring at them coolly.
"I really wouldn't do that if I were you," he told them. In the corner of his eye, he saw the blonde clone next to him suddenly whip her head up, growling darkly as she glared at the weapons.
"Fire!" ordered Skorr in a loud cry. The weapons fired, shooting their red deadly lasers right at the Time Lord. In a flash, the Wanda/Alpha clone was next to the Doctor, baring her teeth in a snarl. The lasers stopped in midair, hovering millimeters away from the Doctor and her. Then, the beams disappeared into thin air.
"What are you doing, clone?!" shouted Skorr, angered by the sudden halt in the execution of the Doctor. "Stand down this instant!"
"Give her back!" the blonde girl returned the shout, continuing the death glare she sent at them.
"Seems your little operative doesn't take orders from you anymore," the Doctor stated, suppressing the smirk which he wanted to give the Sontaran soldiers. "You see, you really couldn't have ever made a clone of Wanda. One: her DNA is far too complicated. Two: I'm guessing you've substituted human genetics to make up for the system's inabilities to replicate her, making the clone unstable from the moment she awoke. And three: it wasn't just Wanda that you cloned."
"What are you babbling about?" snapped Skorr, clearly agitated by the Doctor's know-it-all and smug rambling.
"Oh, I'm sure you lot have heard of the stories." The Doctor strolled around the clone next to him, being careful as he edged away from her and leaned against a stack of boxes as he eyed the Sontarans. "There were many legends that came after the Time War. And there's one, just one, that tends to blend into the mix, making most not even pay attention to it. Even I didn't listen to the rumors at first, believing that they're just a warning not to let another war like that happen again. But, ooh, this legend, it's real all right."
Skorr gritted his teeth once more. "What are you talking about?!"
"But I know that some believe in it. Maybe as a cautious precaution. Or maybe even to believe that they might be able to find such a legend and control it for themselves. To control the Universe's Weapon." He stared Skorr down, seeing the sudden wary expression on the Sontaran's face. "That's what you all were really after. You couldn't care less if Wanda could get inside of UNIT for you. No, you thought you could make a clone of her, or even keep her captured and use her for later in the war of yours against the Rutans. And your plan might have worked if it wasn't for one thing, the big mistake you made. Well, two mistakes, actually." He paused briefly, pleased in seeing the irked look on Skorr's face. "There is only one creature, in the whole universe, that can ever control such a power. And, well," he glanced at the clone, seeing her eyes growing brighter and brighter in their white glow, "you don't ever point a gun at Alpha."
He turned his head away as the blonde clone snarl loudly 'give her back!' and the Sontarans began shooting again. Keeping his eyes locked on the far wall, he waited until the screams of terror and agony from the Sontarans turned into silence, and the only sound left was the clone tapping away at Martha's mobile again. He looked back at where the Sontarans had once stood, seeing only scattered piles of dust. One Sontaran blue helmet remained, rolling on the floor away from the scene of death. The Doctor then looked at the clone, seeing how completely unfazed she was by having just killed so many. He did not say anything for a moment, choosing to remain in their silence as he merely felt remorse for what she had done. For what she most likely did not even realize she had done since her mind was so warped in disarray.
"You killed them all, didn't you?" he asked quietly. "Not just them, but the whole battle fleet. You sent the command for them all to die." She turned her attention away from the mobile, gazing evenly at him.
"Give her back," she bit back, seeming to say that they all deserved it. She then took an aggressive step towards him. "Give her back."
"Right. Fine. I want her back, too," he sighed, shaking his head in remorse as he pulled out his sonic. He regretted in the entire Sontaran fleet dying without earning at least a chance to retreat and stop the ATMOS gas. But at the same time, they had taken his Wanderer away, his friend Martha, threatened both of their lives as well as all the lives on Earth, and planned on keeping Wanda for themselves for their war. And for that, the Doctor did not pity them for the demise they had met.
He stepped over the different piles of dust, holding out his screwdriver as he followed the source of alien tech the sonic was picking up. Not once giving the dust a second glance. He heard the clone following close behind him as they walked swiftly through the factory, going into the lower levels of the building. As they made their way closer and closer to their destination, the more anxious the clone seemed to get. The Doctor felt the emotion coming off the blonde girl in waves as she sped up, rushing around him as she ran up to the laboratory door of the factory. Going up to the door's panel, it beeped once he sonicked it, allowing the door to slide open for them. The clone did not even wait for the door to fully open as she ran inside. The Doctor hurriedly made his way after her. Just as anxious in finding Wanda again and having her safe by his side.
He spotted the three of them right away. Letting out a sigh of relief, he was glad about his theory of the Martha clone had been correct as he saw the real Martha Jones lying on a metal bed, deep asleep. So that meant the blonde clone had killed the other clone. Not surprising as the Martha clone would be the first one Alpha would go after. He gazed at Wanda, his Wanderer, lying on her own metal bed, fast asleep as well. And the blonde clone stood over the Time Lady, gently petting Wanda's head. The clone looked up, glaring at the Doctor with her glowing eyes as he walked closer to Wanda. Before she could say 'give her back' like he knew she would, he reached over and pulled the headset off of Wanda's head. The one thing keeping the clone alive had been disconnected.
Wanda gasped in alarm while the clone behind her fell back, clutching at her chest as she laid on the floor. Her eyes no longer glowed, merely gazing now with normal emerald eyes that stared at the Doctor in shock. He eyed her coolly before looking over Wanda who began rambling in fear.
"Doctor! I'm sorry, the Sontarans got me," Wanda said in rapid pace as he swiftly began unstrapping her from the metal trolley. "I didn't think they would want me. Really didn't see that one coming. Did everything turn out all right? My clone didn't cause too much damage, did she?" She let out a gasp as the Doctor pulled her up and slammed their lips together. Blinking, she let her fingertips trail light touches against his cheek as they kissed. When he pulled away from her, she felt breathless. He then shrugged off his overcoat, placing it carefully around her. She hugged it close to herself, feeling almost buried in it as it was far too big for her. Then, the Doctor pulled her close once more.
"I'm sorry," he whispered with lips pressed lightly against her forehead.
"Sorry? About what?" she wondered, blinking at him as he moved around to wake Martha up. Getting up from the metal bed, Wanda looked at the Doctor and Martha, seeing how the female doctor had gasped awake and trying to tell the Time Lord of what had happened as he searched for a lab coat for the companion to wear. Then, something, or rather someone, caught Wanda's attention. Her eyes widened as she stared down at herself. The clone that she knew the Sontarans had made of her. The other blonde girl lay on the floor, clutching at her chest and shaking, staring with wide frightened eyes at Wanda.
The Time Lady walked over swiftly, pulling the blonde girl's head up to lie in her lap as she sat kneeled on the ground. At least this way her head would not be lying directly on the cold floor. She stroked the clone's head, gently hushing away any moans of pain or fright. Wanda knew the clone must have been ordered to do terrible things, and might have acted upon these orders as well. But . . . she pitied the poor girl. Really, it was not the girl's fault in being created to do wrong and be a weapon of sorts for the Sontarans. She had no choice or say in the matter. And really, Wanda simply wished that she could have given the clone a better life than this. No one, not even a clone, deserved to simply be born into chaos and then die soon after, never knowing what true wonder lay out there for them and not earning a life of their own.
"Hey, it's okay. I've got you," Wanda whispered, smiling kindly down at the clone as the girl lay staring up at her in amazement. Almost as if the clone could not believe Wanda would ever act so kind to her. Then, the blonde clone grew a small smile.
"Thank you," she whispered in a rasping breath. Wanda knew it would be getting hard for the girl to breathe as her heart slowed down with each breath.
"You're very welcome," Wanda replied softly, continuing to stroke the girl's head.
"Wanda, leave her," came the harsh order from the Doctor. Wanda looked up at him in surprise, shocked by how severely he glared down at the clone. He reached down, grabbing Martha's mobile that now laid on the floor next to the clone, pressing 'No' when he saw it pop up. "She's dying so there's no point. Just leave her there."
"No," Wanda retorted crossly, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm not leaving her to die alone." Then, she blinked in realizing that another clone was missing. "Wait . . . where's Martha's clone? Shouldn't she be here?"
"The soldiers killed her," the Doctor lied, keeping his gaze firmly on the blonde clone as he conveyed his anger in what she had done to the other clone and soldiers. The blonde girl's lips trembled as the tears began to leak down her face. The memories of what she had done haunted her as the images played through her mind.
"I'm sorry," the clone in Wanda's arms cried, staring up at the Doctor in deep remorse. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah. You should be," he retorted, stomping away and not looking back as he began working with the teleport the Sontarans had placed within the factory. Wanda shook her head in disbelief, not understanding why he would treat the clone so harshly. Eleven had been rather kind to Ganger Wanderer. Why would this clone be any different? Though, then again, something must have happened to make Ten so angry.
"I'm sorry," the clone repeated again, shaking in Wanda's arms. The Time Lady gently hushed her.
"It's all right. For whatever you did, you're forgiven," Wanda assured the girl, giving her a kind smile. The clone smiled back weakly.
"Thank you. That . . . that means a lot to me," whispered the dying girl. She gave a shaky smile. "I was hoping . . . hoping that you would like me. That we could be friends."
"Of course," Wanda nodded, smiling. "We can be great friends, going on adventures, exploring the universe. We could even go to Valgen. Remember that planet? It was always so beautiful with all those flowers."
"I . . . I can't remember. I'm sorry."
Wanda frowned, curious as to why the clone did not remember such a simple memory. But she pressed on, wishing to ease the girl in her death. "Well, it's a beautiful place. With fields like an ocean of flowers, all of different kinds. And at night, they light up in a brilliant glow, releasing pollen buds that float around and shed off peaceful lights that glitter as they sway with the breeze."
The clone in her arms let out a soft sigh, smiling in peace. "That sounds so nice."
Wanda glanced over, seeing Martha coming up beside the two of them. The doctor gently held the dying girl's hand, thumbing it soothingly. Wanda looked back at the clone, nodding. "It is nice. We'll have to go there sometime." She gave a wavering smile, sadly knowing that they could never do anything such as that together.
"Wanda, have her tell us about the gas," the Doctor suddenly called over to them from the large teleport. He stepped away from the machine, coming closer to them. "I need to know what it really is."
"It's—it's clonefeed. Caesofine concentrate," answered the clone. "It's one part Bosteen, two parts Pro—Probic five."
"Clonefeed!" the Doctor exclaimed, hitting himself over the head in how thick he had been in not realizing what the gas was from the very beginning.
"What's clonefeed?" Martha questioned, wondering what this meant for Earth if it was not directly poison.
"Like amniotic fluid for Sontarans," the Doctor explained rapidly. "That's why they're not invading. They're converting the atmosphere, changing the planet into a clone world. Earth becomes a very big hatchery 'cause the Sontarans are clones. That's how they reproduce. Give them a planet this big, they'll create billions of new soldiers. The gas isn't poison, it's food!" He turned on his heel, running back to the teleport in a rush. "Martha, Wanda, quick! I need someone to help me with the wires!" Martha stood up, running over to help him. Wanda, on the other hand, remained by the dying clone's side, keeping the girl comfortable until the very end.
"My heart is growing slower now," said the clone within Wanda's arms. The blonde girl had this strange smile of peace on her face as she stared at the Time Lady. "I'll be dead soon."
"Hey, hey, don't talk like that. Just hang on, okay?" Wanda replied, shaking her head in denial. "There . . . there might be some way we can help you stay alive." The clone shook her head, still having the strange smile of peace and elation.
"No. I want to die. It means . . . I won't be in pain any more. My head . . . This universe . . . It's just too much for me to bear," the girl spoke in a whispery breath. "Besides . . . I think the universe can only handle one Wanderer at a time." She laughed weakly. Then, suddenly, she gripped at the tan coat Wanda wore, pulling the Time Lady down closely so that only she could hear the next words spoken. "It's growing inside of you. Can't you feel it?" Wanda felt the girl press briefly into her stomach before the hand fell away. The clone slumped in her arms, unmoving, unbreathing. Her life now gone before it had even just begun.
Wanda leaned down, giving the girl a kiss on the forehead and placing her carefully onto the floor to lay in rest. Holding the Doctor's coat close to her body, Wanda walked as quickly as she could over to the Time Lord and Martha, not wishing to dwell on her sadness over her clone's poor short life.
The Doctor, once seeing both Wanda and Martha were together with him in the teleport, hurriedly fixed the machine's console together, placing the last wires in the correct order. The machine whirled to life and they were instantly transported to another large teleporter. Martha and Wanda gazed around in interest, seeing that they had arrived to a large rec room/office of the Rattigan Academy. And right in front of them, pointing at them with a gun in shaking hands, was Luke Rattigan, teenager genius himself. They could see the desperation in the young man's face as he stormed towards them with the pistol. His eyes still red and puffy from crying.
"Don't tell anyone what I did. It wasn't my fault," the teenager pleaded to the Doctor. "The Sontarans lied to me. They—." The Doctor's eyes flashed in anger and he ripped the gun right out of the boy's hands.
"If I see one more gun . . .," he grumbled in disgust, walking around Luke and tossed the gun aside.
Luke stood there, looking ready to cry again and in shock from all of today's events. Wanda felt her left eye beginning to twitch as she knew he was the main reason why all of this was happening. If the boy had just been a little less selfish, or even gave others a chance to be a part of his life instead of wanting to rule over them all . . . then maybe none of this would be happening in the first place and no one would have had to die. So, with her temper flaring, Wanda stormed forward and slapped the teenager sharply across the face.
"That's for being the world's biggest prat," she snapped, pointing an angry finger at him. "Next time, think a little less about your own stupid selfish desires and actually use that brain of yours to help people, you twat!" Luke sniffled, looking ready to bawl again like he had been when he first found out his plans were in ruins. Wanda sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh . . . just get over it you moron." She lightly punched him in the arm out of pity rather than anger before walking around to follow after the Doctor and Martha and help them set up the device that would save the Earth.
Wanda helped the Doctor best she could in putting together the atmospheric converter from the different equipment around Luke's academy laboratory. She mostly just helped him gather the parts as he put the device together. He rambled on rapidly in explanation to why the Sontarans did not want the nuclear missiles from going off as it would have led to the gas in the atmosphere igniting. And every few seconds as the Doctor explained all of this, he had Martha hold her mobile and press 'No' every time it popped up on the screen. Once the converter had been finished in being made, the Doctor grabbed it and ran outside. Martha, Luke, and Wanda both followed close behind, watching the Doctor as he set up the large device on the front lawn of the Rattigan Academy.
Getting the converter to the right setting, he stepped back and pressed the button, activating the machine to launch a red ball of light straight into the sky. The light climbed higher and higher, disappearing within the thick, gray fog above. They all held their breath, waiting and praying for it to work. The Doctor even gripped on Wanda's hand, both of them squeezing their palms together as they waited in anticipation. Then, finally, the gas ignited into a fiery mass, exploding as the entire sky was engulfed with flames. Soon, after many anxious minutes of waiting, the flames dispersed and only clear blue skies were left. The three of them laughed and cheered.
"He's a genius," Luke stated in disbelief, staring at the Doctor in astonishment.
"Just brilliant," Martha added in, smiling proudly at the Doctor. Wanda nodded in agreement before her eyes widened in alarm in remembering what would happen next.
"Quick! We need to hurry now," she told them, grabbing the converter and beginning to rush back to the building behind them. "The Sontarans will attack us now that their plans have been ruined."
"Wanda, wait, there's no need," the Doctor called to her, making her halt in her tracks and stare back at him in confusion. "The Sontarans are gone."
"What do you mean?" she questioned, blinking in bewilderment. "They wouldn't have just left without a fight."
"No, you're right, they wouldn't," said the Doctor, holding his hands in his pockets as he strolled back over to her. He stared at her with an expression she could not read. Only his eyes allowed her to see a forlorn gaze. "They were killed earlier. Every single one of them. Even the ones orbiting above Earth."
Wanda's eyes widened in shock, she even dropped the converter onto the ground as she felt completely stunned by this news. "W-what? How?"
"Someone . . . just destroyed them." The Doctor averted his eyes, staring up at the sky in thought. "And we don't have to worry about that ship of theirs. When all Sontarans on board are sensed to be dead, the ship will automatically self-destruct so that enemies won't be able to get their hands on Sontaran technology or battle plans."
"B-but . . . how? Why?" She looked at Martha and Luke as if maybe they would know. But each seemed just as bewildered as she was. "Doctor . . . who killed them?" Her only reply was the solemn gaze from the Doctor. He stepped around her, picking up the converter and began walking back to the academy. Wanda grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Please, Doctor, tell me. Who killed them?" He did not even meet her gaze, keeping his head down as he chose to stare at the machine in his arms instead. Beside him, Wanda felt her hearts clench in fear, her voice coming out wavered as she had a sinking feeling who had been the one to kill them all. "Doctor . . . were they even given choice?"
Finally, the Doctor looked at her, staring at her in remorse. "No. I'm sorry. They didn't even see it coming."
XxXxXxXx
Thank you again to everyone for your patience and understanding with this mistake. I hope it doesn't happen again in the future. Goodbye and take care! Until next time! Have the most brilliant of days. :)