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The Age of Paradox 2.5: Miracle Day
By the time the sun rose the next morning, Natalie was finally satisfied that they were all safe. A car driven by Gwen had caught up with the truck a few minutes after they let the mansion car park, and with no sign of anyone following them, the group had settled into a less frantic pace as they drove along the motorways. Natalie had been concerned about her father's condition, but she had accepted that her father could be safe enough in the TARDIS with Amy to look over his wound, and she could even be sure that it hadn't been a serious injury, but it was still hard to be so close and yet so far from her father at the same time…
"It's morning in America," the radio said. "It's morning across the western world and the banks are closing down. It's a disaster of almost biblical proportions."
"Hardly," Jack muttered to himself, recalling some of the threats he'd heard the Doctor talk about in their brief time together; compared to something like a planet's moon crashing into its planet after an asteroid strike, this economic collapse might be a problem, but it was still relatively low-key.
"Some say the concept of money itself is under threat. The euro has exacerbated the financial crisis, encouraging some countries to behave as recklessly as the banks themselves-"
Jack turned off the radio.
"Shouldn't we-?" Esther asked.
"Right now all we need to know is that things are getting worse out there; we're not going to get more done if we know just how screwed the world's becoming," Jack cut her off firmly before he glanced around the road and turned into a convenient side road. "We're in a quiet spot now; we have to take time out and plan our next move."
"Good call," Natalie nodded at the immortal captain before she turned back to give Esther a reassuring one-armed hug. "Don't worry; you're… well, we'll keep an eye on you."
It was a weak promise, but when there were so many things they still didn't understand about this mess, it was the best Natalie could offer her new friend. They drove along the road for a short distance until the group finally came to a halt, nothing but fields and a few distant forests around them. Esther joined Jack and Natalie as they got out of the truck, the Doctor and Amy climbing out of the back as Gwen's car stopped behind the truck.
"Everyone all right?" Gwen asked as she got out of the car, even as she moved to the back to take K9 out of the vehicle.
"Took a shot, but I'm already fine," the Doctor grinned, Natalie's father rubbing his upper arm where he had been shot even if he was now wearing an undamaged copy of his jacket. "Is everyone else all right?"
"Fine…" Esther said, shaking slightly even as she seemed to become more relaxed as she took in the group of people around her.
"Affirmative," K9 said as Gwen placed him on the ground, the robot dog rolling over to join the others.
"How's the TARDIS?" Jack looked at the Doctor and Amy.
"Oh, she's fine," the Doctor grinned at his old companion. "Took a knock or two during transport, but it's all cosmetic at best; it's not like anyone could get inside her, after all."
"Uh… what are you talking about?" Esther asked.
"Something to explain in more detail when we're in a secure location," the Doctor said, before he looked around the rest of the group. "But if we're doing this, I should tell you all that when I was analysing the null field device before our final talk, I was able to use its energies to initiate a telepathic assessment of the temporal environment."
"…You did what?" Esther asked.
"It's complicated to explain what I did or even how it works, but that's not important right now," the Doctor waved a hand before he continued. "What is important is that, while I was doing that, I was able to confirm a… particular theory."
"A theory?" Amy repeated.
"I spoke with the Grandfather."
"The Grandfather?" Gwen and Esther repeated in confusion.
"The Grandfather?" Jack said with a greater sense of apprehension.
"The Grandfather?" Amy finished in shock. "As in… of the Faction?"
"The Faction?" Esther looked at the younger woman in shock. "That- you mean that's real?"
"Oh, they're real all right, Esther Drummond," the Doctor nodded solemnly at her. "So real that I essentially created them."
"You what?" Gwen and Esther looked at him incredulously.
"Alternate timelines are involved," Jack cut in.
"Affirmative," K9 said. "The Doctor-Master was infected by a biodata virus that corrupted him into a member of the Faction in a now-defunct timeline, but the paradoxical nature of this infection means that the Grandfather endures even though the Doctor-Master will now never become him."
"I- the Grandfather?" Esther looked at the Doctor with greater incredulity and just a bit of fear. "But isn't he-?"
"Their creator," the Doctor nodded. "In their usual sick disregard for the timelines, the Faction essentially created themselves by infecting me, and they don't even have the decency to just be wiped out once I managed to cure myself…"
"Right…" Esther nodded uncertainly at him.
"So… can I just go over this?" Gwen raised her hand. "The Faction infected you with something that made you into their creator, you did… something… that stopped you actually becoming the Grandfather, but they made such a mess of time that the Grandfather still exists?"
"A simple summation of a very temporally complex situation," the Doctor nodded at Gwen.
"And one the Doctor would really love to sort out, but it's… complicated… and we have bigger things to deal with right now," Amy put in with a firm look at Gwen.
"Yeah, I get that…" Gwen nodded back at the younger woman, before she turned back to the Doctor. "OK, so if you spoke to the Grandfather… what did he have to say about all this?"
"He confirmed that the Faction at least assisted in causing this situation, but there's no way to know how much of a role they have in things as they stand," the Doctor said grimly. "On the one hand they wouldn't like getting that invested in the fate of one planet when their main goal is just to cause chaos, but at the same time it's not impossible that they could decide this situation is worth a longer-term investment…"
"In other words, it gives us some interesting context about this mess but doesn't tell us anything useful about how to stop it?"
"That is… essentially correct," the Doctor nodded at her.
"OK then," Amy looked around at the rest of the group. "We know a bit more about what we're dealing with now, but since knowing about the Faction doesn't exactly help us find these Families… what's our next move?"
For a moment there was silence as the group looked at each other, all considering their best options in such a twisted situation, before one of them spoke up.
"Uh… Oswald Danes?"
"Danes?" Gwen looked at Esther in surprise. "Why Danes?"
"Just before we left, I checked the computer records of Danes' activities- the agency were already monitoring him on our suggestion- and apparently he ran out of his hotel and basically ditched his publicist."
"He ditched his publicist?" Gwen repeated.
"And abandoned all his upcoming meetings and there's a warrant being issued for his arrest," Esther continued.
"…Wasn't he a big-league celebrity just a few days ago?" Natalie asked. "What could he have done to make them want to arrest him now?"
"All it takes is one bad day to turn that kind of reputation around," Amy pointed out. "Trust me, once you've read Harry Potter you'll get it…"
"Harry Potter?" Natalie repeated.
"The fifth book in particular; the government basically turns on Harry so they don't have to accept how bad things might be-"
"Much as I enjoy that series, I agree with Esther that the priority right now is tracking down Danes," the Doctor noted. "If we're going to find out more about the Miracle, it's possible that he could have some… inside knowledge that might be of use to us."
"Danes?" Amy asked. "We're talking about a psychopath who killed a kid and joked about it, and now we're meant to-"
"I don't like it any more than you do, but we have to recognise that he's not a foolish man, and he was in a good position until just now," the Doctor said. "Danes spent the last few days essentially acting as the public face of the Miracle; if he didn't find something interesting, I'd be very surprised."
"And how are we going to find the guy?" Jack asked.
"Because Dad had me plant a tracker on Oswald when you and I made contact," Natalie put in with a grin at the former immortal.
"You did?" Amy and Gwen looked at the Doctor and Jack respectively in surprise.
"How did- that shoulder-touch, right?" Jack looked at Natalie in new understanding before he looked more quizzically at the girl. "I thought that seemed like an odd move… but wouldn't that have just have been on his clothes?"
"No, I gave her a subtle multi-dimensional particle specifically keyed to the sonic," the Doctor explained with a subtle grin. "It would completely bond itself to Danes' physiology and be undetectable to anyone unless they already knew exactly what I was tracking and had access to equipment on this level in the first place."
"So… we can find him and nobody else can?" Amy asked.
"And you put together something like that without the TARDIS?" Jack put in.
"Let's just say these trackers are more extensive than you might believe," the Doctor smiled. "When dealing with the Faction, I wanted to be prepared for the possibility that I might get a chance to track one of their agents back to source."
"Impressive," the ex-Time Agent grinned at the Doctor. "So what now?"
"We find somewhere secure, set ourselves up for some research, and find Danes before anyone else does."
When her father spoke with such confidence, Natalie could truly allow herself to believe that they were going to pull this off.