Fun Fact! Vanessa's theme songs are Novocaine, and Uma Thurman. Both of which are, ironically, by Fall Out Boy. I didn't mean to do that, I really didn't.
The lyrics really just fit her badass nature.
PS: The reasons behind why she acts in this chapter will be revealed more in depth later...for now you have to speculate!
A few hours later.
Vanessa had quickly awoken from her brief state of unconsciousness and teleported after the Doctor. "You get around pretty fast for a person without teleportation, don't you Doctor."
"Ah, you're awake. I knew you wouldn't be out for long." He smirked and she shrugged.
"Wanted to give you a head start-" She threw her arm over his shoulder and teleported into the throne room, and sat on one of the arm rests while he sat on the throne himself, "-But, it seems you still need to me to give you the dramatic appearance."
"I didn't need you to do that, you volunteered." He remarked and she laughed into her palm.
"Naturally. Signora is in the corridor right now, act dramatic." She said and did just that by shadowing her eyes with her long hair.
Signora walked into the room and the Doctor wolf-whistled her, "Long way from Saturnyne, aren't you... Sister of the Water?" He stated and Vanessa looked up in her own dramatic fashion.
"No, let me guess. The owner of the psychic paper. Then I take it you two are refugees, like me?" She asked, figuring out that the orangette was someone who knew the Doctor.
Vanessa grinned wildly, "Wouldn't you like to know."
"I'll make you a deal. An answer for an answer. You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank... hence no reflection." The Doctor said and Vanessa looked at Signora in interest.
"Your question?" Signora stated and Vanessa smirked.
"Why can we see your big teeth?" Vanessa asked, the Doctor glancing at her in mild annoyance at the fact that she stole his dramatic moment.
Signora laughed at her question, "Self-preservation over-rides the mirage. The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain."
"Where's Isabella?" The Doctor asked, and Vanessa inwardly snickered at his victorious look.
He sure liked to be in charge.
"My turn. Where are you two from?" She asked, looking over the two as she tried to figure it out.
"Gallifrey." The Doctor and Vanessa answered in sync.
"You should be in a museum. Or in a mausoleum." She said, and Vanessa closed her eyes and smirked.
"Should is the key term here, no?" She asked, her quip caused Signora to narrow her eyes.
"Why are you here?" The Doctor asked, a smile on his face.
"We ran from the silence. Why are you here?" Signora responded, causing Vanessa to tilt her head.
"Wedding Present." The Doctor answered and Vanessa smirked ever-so slightly at his answer.
"What is the silence?" The orangette asked, her face taking on one of confusion.
"There were cracks. Some were tiny... some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence... and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us... and Saturnyne was lost." Signora said, causing Vanessa to narrow her eyes.
"Dimensional cracks." She said, barely loud enough for the Doctor to hear.
"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark II?" The Doctor asked after hearing what Vanessa mumbled.
"And you two can help me. We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?" Signora watched as the Doctor got up and approached her, while Vanessa hung back and watched quietly.
"Hmm. Where's Isabella?" He asked, voice barely above a whisper.
"Isabella?" She repeated, slightly stunned that he would be asking that.
"The girl who saved my friend." He said as he turned around.
Signora smiled, "Oh, deserters must be executed. Any general will tell you that. I need an answer, Doctor. A partnership. Any which way you choose."
"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you? I'm a Time Lord. You're a big fish. Think of the children." He stated quietly and she frowned at his answer before turning around.
"Carlo!" At this Vanessa got up and went to the Doctor's side as Carlo came into the room. Signora looked at the Doctor and her, "You're right. We're nothing alike. I will bend the heavens to save my race, while YOU philosophise."
"This ends today, Signora. The Doctor and I will tear this place down." Vanessa stated, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the woman.
Carlo put his hands on the two and the Doctor looked him in the eyes, "Take your hands off me, Carlo." He looked back at Signora as the two walked to the door, "And you know why we will tear this place down? You didn't know Isabella's name." He opened the door for Vanessa who exited, "You didn't know Isabella's name." He repeated as he exited himself.
"Open the gates." Carlo said and the two strided out while Vanessa had an amused look on her face.
"You just had to have the dramatic exit to yourself, didn't ya?" She stated as they began heading to Guido's house.
"You had the entrance." He said, clearly in thought about what to do.
"Fair point." She shrugged as she looked over his features.
He was definitely thinking everything over.
Vanessa watched him pace back and forth in thought before he shouted in frustration, "I need to think. Come on brain, think, think. Think!" He sat down at the table and she was quick to join his side, "Think!" He said and she inwardly chuckled at his rather vocal attempt to brainstorm some ideas.
"If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun." Amy said, talking around the piece of candy that the Doctor had shoved in her mouth.
"Hush." Vanessa whispered while putting her finger on the girl's mouth, "He's thinking." She said while jabbing her thumb at him.
"It's the school thing I don't understand." Rory said, but the Doctor placed his hand over the man's mouth.
"Stop talking. Brain thinking." He said and Guido looked at him.
"I say we take the fight to them." Guido said.
"Ah-Ah-Ah!" The Doctor said and nodded at Rory who promptly put his hand over Guido's mouth.
"Ah! Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time, and end up here, then she closes off the city and, one by one, changes people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it. Then what?" The Doctor looked at Vanessa, who promptly nodded as she understood where he was going with this.
"They come from the sea, they can't survive forever on land, so what's she going to do? Unless she's going to do something to the environment to make the city habitable... She said, "I shall bend the heavens to save my race." Vanessa stated and the Doctor forced Rory's head to nod while Amy blinked at the explanation. One look from Vanessa, however, had her nodding as well.
"Bend the heavens... Bend... the heavens... She's going to sink Venice." The Doctor said and Vanessa folded her arms.
"She's...She's going to sink Venice?" Guido said and Vanessa narrowed her eyes.
"She'll repopulate it with the girls she's transformed." Vanessa stated, glancing at the Doctor who nodded.
"You can't repopulate somewhere with just women. You need... blokes." Rory said causing Amy to look at him.
"She's got blokes." Amy said and the Doctor looked at her.
"Where?" He asked and Vanessa peered at her as well.
"In the canal. She said to me, "There are 10,000 husbands waiting in the water." Amy said, and Vanessa looked at the Doctor.
"Only the males survived the journey here." She said almost breathlessly, not entirely believing her own words.
"She's got 10,000 children swimming in the canals, waiting for Mum to make them some compatible girlfriends. Ew. I mean, I've been around a bit, but, really, that's... that's... Ew." The Doctor said and Vanessa raised an eyebrow at the last part.
A loud clattering sounded from the floor above and everyone looked up. "The people upstairs are very noisy."
"There aren't any people upstairs…" Guido said and Vanessa tilted her head.
"I knew you were going to say that. Did anyone else know he was going to say that?" The Doctor asked and Vanessa raised her hand without a second to spare.
"Yeah. The space fish are up there. They'll probably be coming through the windows." She mumbled as the wood above them creaked ominously.
There was a loud thump and a window shattered as the converted girls entered the room. "Ah, I knew it." She said as her gear flickered to life and a green light pulsed from her fingers.
She quietly walked forward and raised her hand, the Doctor widened his eyes as a beeping sound reached his ears. "Get them outta here, Doctor. I'll hold them up and I'll teleport when I can. Go!"
He nodded, almost hesitantly and ushered them out of the room.
Vanessa eyes locked with one of the girls and she smirked, "I bet you've never seen this trick before."
With the others.
"Did you really just leave her with the vampires?!" Rory exclaimed.
"She'll be fine." As soon as the Doctor said this, an explosion rocked the air and they looked back to see a few of the houses trapped within a gravity field.
A blue light zapped around the air and a few smaller explosions sounded around the ball of light. A sickening crack sounded and a tear in the sky opened up.
"It's just like the ones from before." Amy said in shock, looking back at the Doctor in silent awe.
"Vanessa can make those and close them." The Doctor said, observing the beautiful blue light flicker around.
Vanessa reappeared with what appeared to be see-through hammer, and smacked all the girls into the crack. Said crack closed with a ding and Vanessa descended from the sky as the houses reformed.
"Let's keep moving, she'll be here in a second." The Doctor said with a smirk as his two companions looked at him incredulously.
That is until a blue light flashed beside them, and from it emerged Vanessa. "Well, that was fun!" She exclaimed, and Rory jawdropped at her 'unexpected' arrival.
"Where did that crack lead?" The Doctor asked and she smiled.
"A dungeon within the school. It will take them a few hours to figure out what happened to their little minions. We will have that time to tear this place down." Vanessa explained as she skidded around the corner.
Two blades formed under her feet and she wiggled her fingers as she took off skating. Her gear began glowing green again and she jumped into the air as several chunks of rocks floated under her feet.
"She's been humoring us." The Doctor stated with a smirk as the woman navigated the building from the air, "If she wanted to, she could finish this in a minute."
Amy looked on in amazement, "Then why hasn't she done it yet?" She turned to him and found him frowning.
"That would attract their attention. They would open a crack and drag her back to their lab. She is avoiding them, because they could kill her." He said, remembering what she told him in her semi-conscious state.
Flashback!
Her eyes were open, but they were glazed. Almost as if something were possessing her. "You don't understand...do you?" She whispered, causing him to look at her in surprise.
"Understand what?" He asked, already pulling out his sonic screwdriver.
"The scientists...I know what they are doing. If they can make a hybrid, they will program it into a war device...to control the universe and the multiverse. They were doing it long before I awoke...Doctor. I am a ticking time bomb if they succeed. Doctor, you...you must not let them get me. Not only will I die, but there will be no future." She mumbled, her hand grabbing onto his.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He whispered and she looked him directly in the eye.
"They would have sent someone to kill me...they believe I am asleep, Doctor. I will not remember telling you this of course and I will not repeat my words…" She said softly, eyes searching his for something, almost desperately.
"Are you sure about everything you've said? That it's correct and not something of your half-asleep mind that-" His rambling was cut off as her finger touched his forehead.
A blue light stream flowed throughout her body and her veins glowed a neon blue. His eyes widened upon realizing what she was doing. She was doing a Memory Transfer.
"How are you doing this? ...It's amazing." He said as her memories began entering his mind.
"I can do many things, Doctor...Many things they have told me not to show...or else my demise is imminent." She stated, slightly frowning.
"Then they must have an eye on you constantly. But, if that's the case, what's stopping them from killing you right now?" He asked, and her finger fell as the light began to die down.
"Where's the morality in killing an innocent woman in her sleep? On any planet of any universe, that would be seen not only as suspicious, but they would lose their place in society. All because they were watching a woman in her sleep." She said, her eyes finally closing and her breathing slowing into a calmer beat.
Flashback End!
"Kill her?!" Amy exclaimed, eyes wide in shock.
"I can explain it later, for now we have to keep moving." He said as the orangette got swamped off to the side.
Vanessa clicked her tongue and pointed to the left, causing the girl fish aliens to going flying into a building. The blades on her shoes faded and she landed gracefully next to the Doctor. She deactivated the energy field and glanced at the Doctor.
"How many are there?" He asked, and she shook her head.
"Not many. I managed to get rid of a few of 'em back there." She said, her eyes filled with worry. "Where did Guido go?"
"What do you-oh no." He began before blinking in realization, "They got him, the space fish did."
Vanessa's eyes widened, before she frowned, "Oh my God...If I was only watching him a little closer, I could've kept an eye on him! How could I be so-!" She was cut off as he slammed his hand over her mouth. She looked at him in confusion as they stopped momentarily.
"Hush." He leaned in closer so that she was looking directly at him, "It is not your fault. You were trying to keep them away and...I should've paid more attention. Don't do this to yourself." She nodded slowly as a small tear rolled from her eyelids.
"Thank you." She whispered telepathically as he brushed away the tear and removed his hand.
"Your welcome." He responded with a smile.
Thunder sounded and Vanessa looked up towards the sky in alarm, "Shit. She's already begun the final phase."
"We need to stop her!" Amy said and began running, but the Doctor stopped her.
"No, no. Get back to the Tardis. Vanessa and I are the only ones that won't die in a second out here." He said and Vanessa nodded.
"He is right, Amy it isn't safe out here. I can teleport only one other person and if you get into trouble...it could be catastrophic. Please...go back." Vanessa insisted and Amy's eyes widened.
She had never seen Vanessa look so serious about what she was saying. Maybe she's right… Amy looked Vanessa in the eye before nodding slowly.
"Alright…" She took off running and Rory muttered a 'thanks' before following her.
"How'd you manage to do that?" The Doctor asked in amazement.
"I'm normally badass, to be begging means I'm serious." She responded while drawing a pistol.
"Then you must be pretty serious." He smirked and she shot him a wry grin.
"Very much so." She took off running towards the school and he shook his head before going after her.
In the throne room.
Vanessa went straight to the throne and threw off one of the panels, "Knew it." She murmured while pulling out her screwdriver.
The Doctor ran in behind her and joined her to look at the throne, when Signora walked into the room with bemused smile, "You're too late. Such determination... just to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and ash. Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom." Signora said to the Doctor while Vanessa narrowed her eyes dangerously at the woman.
"The girls are gone." Vanessa stated while still giving the woman a heated glare.
"You're lying." Signora said, looking at the Doctor for his answer.
"Believe me, she's telling the truth." Signora began to walk away at that, "Rosanna, please, help me. There are 200,000 people in this city."
"Then save them." Signora said and left the room.
Vanessa sighed and got up from her position at the throne, "Well, you heard the fish."
He spared her a smirk and ran out onto the balcony with her in tow. "Great, they're panicking, what are we gonna do?" She asked as a bell tolled and the clouds rolled in, "What is up with that bell?"
The Doctor looked at the bell then looked at her and ran back into the building, Vanessa looked around for another second before following him back into the building.
Amy and Rory entered from the side door causing Vanessa to sigh, "Why did I think you were going to listen to me?" She rushed over to the throne as the Doctor tried figure how to stabilise the storm.
"Get out! We need to stabilise the storm." The Doctor stated as Vanessa began working on the throne.
"We're not going to leave you two." Rory said and Amy nodded along with him.
The ground rumbled and a chunk of the ceiling almost hit them, but Vanessa caught it with her anti-gravity gear. "So, you're gonna stay and just wait for a chunk of rock to crush you?" She stated as she glared at the two lightly.
"What was that?" Rory asked as he got up off the ground.
The Doctor also got up, while Vanessa had no problem staying standing despite the tremors, "Nothing. Bit of an earthquake." He answered while he went to go check on Vanessa's progress.
"An earthquake?" Amy asked, looking at what the two were doing.
"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes. But don't worry about them." Vanessa replied, glancing at Amy for a second.
"No?" Rory said and looked at the woman as if she were kidding.
"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake. Right, Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program, so tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything. We need it to shut down and re-route control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator." The Doctor said and Vanessa grinned.
"I can do that quite easily." She said and pulled out a rather interesting device.
It looked like a laser pointer, well a high-tech laser pointer. As soon as she hit the button, however, a real green light came out of it. She began going crazy and drawing out little designs with her pointer, after that it began to spark wildly and Vanessa laughed in success.
"Here comes the best part." She snapped her finger and the throne fell over and shuddered with a few explosions. After that, the insides were stained black thanks to Vanessa's 'hard work'.
"Hmm, you're quick." He observed and she nodded.
"Well, Doctor, it's not like we have a lot of time." She remarked as another tremor rocked the building.
She activated her anti-gravity setting and grabbed the Doctor, "All that's left is the bell tower I believe. Once we get that bad boy, we should be able to redirect."
She teleported to the bell tower and dropped him off at the device while she slid a pair of headphones over her ears. "Use telepathy, Doctor. It's pretty loud up here and I don't wanna lose my hearing 'cause of an obnoxious school bell."
"Think you can stop that ringing?" He asked and she gave him a thumbs up.
She flew up to the clapper on one of the bells and held it still until it finally stopped sounding. "Alrighty, it's quiet now."
She slid off her headphones and looked at him, "Need to get up there?"
"Yeah, today isn't the day where I try to climb up using a bunch of wires. Save that for another day." He smirked as she grabbed him and flew outside the building and onto the roof of the bell tower.
She set down one of her energy fields and the Doctor found himself floating ever-so slightly, "And today isn't the day where ya slide off a wet roof." She said and flew over to the device and carefully pulled a panel off.
The Doctor floated up to it and looked inside it, "Now how do we shut this off." He said to himself.
Vanessa pointed to a switch with a grin, "Try the toggle switch."
He flipped it and almost immediately the rain began to slow and the clouds cleared as the birds began chirping once more. Vanessa laughed in realisation, "They made a flip switch the off button...for a stinking doomsday device! Ah, they aren't as smart as they thought!"
She closed the lid and deactivated her energy field while grabbing the Doctor by the arm. "Going down." She teleported off of the room and onto the ground where Amy and Rory were hugging.
"Go find Rosanna...I'm gonna hang around for a bit." She said telepathically with a smile.
"Alright. I'll tell you when we're leaving." He walked away and she smiled before replacing it with a frown.
She ran into an alleyway of some sort with a look of panic in her eyes, she looked at her wrist and a high tech watch was glowing an ominous red. Slowly looking up, she saw the crack in front of her opening.
"Dammit." She muttered and teleported onto a rooftop behind her.
"Doctor...they're coming. Do not engage, I repeat do not engage!" She said, drawing her gun in warning at the two cloaked people in front of her.
"You know that won't work Vanessa." One of them said and she shoved the gun away.
"I know what you are up to! And you'll just have to catch me first!" She yelled before disappearing in a blue flash.
She blinked around wildly as the two shadowed figure followed her erratic nature across the city. She suddenly hit someone and one strong arm held her to their chest. She looked up in surprise and saw the troubled look of the Doctor looking back at her.
"Who's here?" He asked and she shuddered.
"The scientists, Doctor...They're coming, and they're gonna drag me back." She whispered, her only fear teleporting in front of the two.
"Hand her over now, Time Lord. Otherwise we will use violence." The two cloaked figures said, both brandishing guns.
"What are you planning on doing with her?" He asked, narrowing his eyes dangerously at the two.
The two looked at each other before looking back at him, "That's classified information, now, hand her over."
"When I say go, teleport us to the Tardis." He said and the woman nodded quietly.
The two agents lifted their guns at the Doctor's head, "Now." They stated, fingers already on the triggers.
"Go!" The scared woman teleported them out of there in an instant and right by the Tardis. "Alright, you're safe." He said as he helped her in, her fear making her latch to him as if he were her lifeline.
"What happened out there?" Amy asked as the Doctor finally got the scared woman off.
"Remember when I told you that there were people coming to kill her?" At their nods, he looked at Vanessa, "They're out there right now, and they can do everything she can."
"No way…" Rory mumbled, eyes widened in shock.
Vanessa sat on the floor with a traumatized look on her face, "They always told me what would happen if I ever tried to avoid my appointments...But, I never thought they would send agents out of my own department to drag me back!"
"You'll be safe, I'll make sure of it." The Doctor said, finding himself wanting to protect the woman. He didn't know why exactly, maybe it was because she was the only other one of his kind, or perhaps it was just the whole woman in distress thing.
"Are you sure?" She whispered, a look of fear in those eyes, but a small glimmer of hope in them as well.
"Yes."