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Chapter Four-
Steel grey eyes closed in annoyance and pinched the bridge of his nose as he fought back the urge to pull out his gun and shoot the man in front of him. It wasn't as if the man would stay dead for long if he did shoot the man, but he had promised Mimi that he wouldn't kill the man any more, no matter how fun killing the man could be at times. And, if he was being honest with himself, the man was very useful at hunting the Doctor down.
A giggle he knew by heart caused him to smile. She knew what he was thinking. She always did. He opened his eyes and looked past Jack to find her watching him. She knew he found their trips to visit the man both amusing and very frustrating. Especially when Jack be flirt with him. There were times when he would flirt back, and then there were times when he wanted to shoot the man.
"Jack, I would be grateful if you would allow us to borrow your hand." He told the man, purposefully wording it that way. Jack blinked at him in shock not used to his changing moods since this was technically the first time Jack was meeting them.
"I'm sure that the rest of me would just as useful to you than just my hand." Jack told him with a wink.
"But we don't need your body, Jack, we just need your hand." He told the man as she skipped over to the desk where a large jar stood with a hand inside it. The second She touched the jar he pulled out his gun and pointed it at Jack the same time Jack pointed his gun at her.
"What possible use could you two have with my hand?" Jack asked glaring at her while still smiling. A trait that he knew the man had picked up while traveling with the Doctor.
"Oh, plenty of things, I can assure you." He told Jack as the man turned his glare towards him. "But right now we need to use it the same way you do." He smiled widely at the man when he saw Jack's eyes harden. He knew exactly what the man thought they were going to do, and though he could easily tell him what was going to happen, he wouldn't. Not because it would disrupt the time lines, but because he knew it would be much more fun to watch the man squirm as he tried to figure out who they were and what they wanted. What made this whole situation funnier is that Jack had sent them here.
"Well, sorry to disappoint you both, but my hand leaves a lot the be desired in that aspect." Jack told them.
"Oh, Captain, just because you don't know how to use your hand, doesn't mean I won't." He told the man.
"He'll stop you." Jack growled at them, all pretense gone. "Whatever it is you two are planning on doing, he'll find you and stop you. He always does."
"Why are you so sure we need to be stopped? What makes you think we're doing something that needs to be stopped?" She asked him innocently as she held the jar gently.
"We're not the bad guys here, Captain." He told the man.
"And what, he is?" Jack growled out.
"So defensive of the man that abandoned you on that Game Station." He told the man, he didn't want to say those words knowing how hurt Jack had been when he heard the TARDIS leave without him, but knowing from the said man that he had to say it.
"The Doctor had his reasons to do that. And even if he didn't, I would still defend and protect him because he deserves to be defended and protected while he defends and protects us." Jack told them and he smiled at the man.
"Truer words could not have been said." She told Jack as she made her way pass the man towards him.
"Who are you?" Jack asked lowering his gun, he lowered his as well.
"Spoilers." They told him at the same time as he rested his hand on her shoulder, and then they were gone.
-Four-
The Doctor pouted the whole way down to the lower basement, he didn't want to sleep on the not comfy couch! He had only meant it as a joke! He tried for what seemed like the tenth time since the lift began to descend to catch Rose's eye while sending wave after wave of apologies her way. But she was ignoring him. By the time the lift doors opened to a corridor lit with an eerie green light, the Doctor had already made about 100 plans on how to try and get back on Rose's good side to be allowed back into bed with her.
"Where are we?" Donna asked as she stepped off the lift and looked around. "What goes on down here?"
"Only one way to find out." Rose told her linking her arm with the woman. The Doctor gave the two a small smile, he was happy to see Rose starting to bounce back from the loss of her mother. Oh he knew it would take both of them quite a while to fully heal, but this was a start.
"Do you think Mr Clements knows about this place?" Donna asked.
"The mysterious HC Clements? Oh, I think he's part of it." The Doctor said before his eyes landed on three segways. "Oh, look, transport." He told them with a smirk as he led the group to them.
"But there's only three and there's four of us." Lance pointed out. "I guess I could stay here."
"No chance." Donna told the man.
"Yeah, me and Rose can share one. I mean it'll be a tight squeeze, but we've been in tighter squeezes." The Doctor said as him and Rose locked eyes. It was a long second before Rose stepped onto the segway and allowed him to situate himself behind her so that his legs were on either side of hers and his arms were wrap around her. The group slowly made their way down the corridor on their 'transport'.
"You know, we would probably go just as fast if not faster if we walked." Rose pointed out with a wide smile.
"I'm sure we would. But you can't tell me this isn't more fun." The Doctor told her smiling just as wide. Rose and Donna shared a look before they both began laughing, their laughter was infectious and soon the Doctor was laughing along with them as Lance looked at them as if they had lost their mind. And maybe they had, but at least they were having more fun than him! It had been months since the last time either him or Rose had laughed like this.
I think I might like to keep Donna. The Doctor whispered into Rose's mind as they slowly calmed down from their laughing fit. A minute later the Doctor caught sight of a door and pulled his and Rose's segway to a stop, Lance and Donna quickly following suit. The Doctor hopped off the segway and, after making sure Rose hadn't fallen off the segway in his hurry, ran to the door before opening the door to find the only thing in the small room was a ladder leading up.
"Wait here, just need to get my bearings. Don't do anything." He told Lance and Donna before looking at Rose. "And don't wonder off." He told her before he jumped onto the ladder.
"If you don't come back me and Donna are gonna runaway together." Rose teased him as he quickly began to climb.
"Wouldn't even dream of leaving you, love. Plus, I couldn't get rid of you even if I sent you away, twice." He joked with her throwing a wink at her over his shoulder.
"Donna, have you thought about this properly?" The Doctor heard Lance ask as he climbed. The Doctor rolled his eyes, and they called him rude! The man wasn't even trying to silence his voice! He was loud enough that the Doctor would have been able to hear him even without his sensitive hearing. And even if he couldn't hear the man, Rose was still there hearing all this! "I mean, this is serious. What the hell are we gonna do?"
"Oh, I thought July." Donna told Lance causing Rose to laugh and the Doctor to shake his head as he opened the hatch he had gotten to. He quickly, and carefully, climbed out of the hatch and onto the top of the flood barrier. After taking in a deep breath of the air and sending the mental image of the beautiful sight to Rose, he quickly climbed back into the hatch, closed the hatch, and made his way back to the others.
"Thames flood barrier. Right on top of us." He informed them as he dropped the last few feet from the ladder to them. "Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath."
"What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?" Donna asked. Rose and the Doctor shared a look and a smirk.
"It's a right shock, ain't it? Who would have ever thunk it?" Rose asked feigning shock.
"I know. I know, love." The Doctor said playing along with her before taking Rose's hand and began to lead them towards a second door just farther down the corridor. He opened the door and found what appeared to hold many particle extrusion machines. "Oh! Look at this!" He exclaimed.
"Like a kid in a candy story." Rose muttered playfully under her breath.
"Rose, you cannot tell me this isn't stunning! I mean look at it!" The Doctor told her leading her deeper into the room.
"What does it do?" Donna asked.
"Particle extrusion. Hold on." The Doctor told her before releasing Rose's hand to run over to one of the many machines and lightly tapped it. "Brilliant." He whispered to it in aw even though this technology should not exist yet, but then, this was Torchwood.
"So what have they been doing, I know you're just dying to tell us." Rose told him as she made her way to him.
"They've been manufacturing Huon particles." The Doctor told her as he continued to examine the machine. "Of course, my people got rid of Huons. They unravel the atomic structure."
"Your people? Who are they? What company do you represent?" Lance asked.
"We're just a couple of freelancers. We jump around helping out where we can, but mainly we run." Rose told him smirking.
"But this lot are rebuilding them." The Doctor continued with his explanation as if Lance had never interrupted as he took Rose's hand and began to wonder around the room.
"How?" Rose asked as Donna and Lance began to follow them.
"They've been using the river. Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result..." The Doctor said as he pulled out a jar of clear liquid from one of the machines and held it up for everyone to see it. "Huon particles in liquid form."
"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asked and in response the Doctor dropped Rose's hand to turn the dial on the jar causing the particles in the jar to glow along side Donna and Rose.
"Oh, my God!" Donna cried out in shock as the Doctor quickly turned the dial back to stop them glowing while looked at Rose fearfully. He had not expected her to glow having been so sure he had gotten every last particle of Huon from her.
It's probably a result of my connection with the TARDIS. Rose told him trying to sound sure and confident but the worry and fear she was feeling wasn't helping her.
"Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyze inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then..." The Doctor told Donna softly.
"And what about her?" Donna asked nodding her head towards Rose. "Are you manufacturing Huon particles too? Have you dosed her with them too? Is she a living catalyze as well?" Donna demanded obviously scared for Rose and the baby.
"Of course he isn't Donna. Remember how the Doctor said that the only place to find them is in the heart of the TARDIS?" Rose asked her and Donna nodded. "And remember what we told you our..." the Doctor saw Rose glance at Lance, "transport was called?" Donna nodded once more. "Well, to save the Doctor a few years ago, I willingly looking into the heart of a TARDIS and became one with it. That's the reason I'm glowing." She finished.
"And that's safe?" Donna asked.
"I took a huge risk at the time because no one is meant to look into the heart of a TARDIS. I could have died. But I don't regret what I did because in the end, after I saved the Doctor, he saved my mind from burning,I now have forever with him." Rose told Donna truthfully as the Doctor's mind finally realized what happened and how Donna got on board the TARDIS mid-flight. He gave out a cry shocked victory shocking everyone else.
"Oh, the wedding! Yes, you're getting married. That's it!" The Doctor cried out as he spun around happy to have finally figured out the mystery of Donna appearing on his ship. "Best day of your life, walking down the aisle. Your body is a battleground! There's a chemical war inside. Adrenaline, acetylcholine. Wham go the endorphins! Oh, you're cooking. You're like a walking oven. A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away. The particles reach boiling point... Shazam!" The Doctor stumbled back as Donna slapped him again shocking the Doctor, he hadn't done anything to be slapped this time! He hadn't brought her back a year late, hadn't been mistaken for a kidnapper! He had solved the mystery! And Rose had been standing right next to their new friend! Why hadn't she stopped Donna from slapping him? Was she still mad about the joke? "What did I do this time?"
"Are you enjoying this?" Donna asked him fearfully and he realized his mistake. He had been so excited about solving the mystery that he had forgotten how terrifying this most be for Donna. He looked back at everything and winced when he realized that Rose had been mentally calling him trying to get him to stop or calm down, but he hadn't heard her in his excitement. No wonder Rose had allowed Donna to slap him. "Is my mind going to burn like Rose's was? Are these particles dangerous? Am I safe?"
"Yes." The Doctor told her and Donna gave him a look that Jackie used to give him when she was sure he was lying.
"Doctor, Rose just told me she risked dying when looking into the heart of a TARDIS. And your lot got rid of Huon particles for a reason, why was that?" Donna asked and the Doctor knew he couldn't continue lying to her because she was too brilliant to be lied to.
"Because they were deadly." The Doctor told her and Donna let out a quiet sob as Rose pulled her into a loving hug.
"I know this seems scary right now, Donna, but the Doctor will sort everything out, he always does." Rose told her.
"Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. I'm not about to lose someone else." The Doctor swore to her. She was his and Rose's friend, and he would be damned before he lost her. The sound of a door opening caused them to glance around the room.
"Oh, she's long since lost." A voice said as a metal wall began to rise showing a large hole in the ground. "I have waited so long. Hibernating at the edge of the universe. Until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken me." Multiple cloaked robots stood around the edge of the hole and pointed their guns at them.
"Someone's been digging." The Doctor said as he quickly positioned himself between the robots and Rose while making his way over to the edge of the hole and peered down it. "Oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?"
"Down and down. All the way to the center of the Earth." The voice said.
"Why? What for? Rose asked.
"Dinosaurs." Donna said confidently and the Doctor spun around to look at her.
"What?" He asked.
"Dinosaurs?" She said again, less confident.
"What are you on about? Dinosaurs." The Doctor asked.
"That film under the Earth with dinosaurs. Trying to help." Donna said.
"You mean 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'?" Rose asked.
"Yeah! That one!" Donna exclaimed.
"That's not helping." The Doctor told them.
"Energy source? Like on Krop Tor?" Rose suggested.
"Yeah, but they had some indication that it was there." The Doctor told her.
"Such a sweet couple." The voice cut in.
"Only a madman talks to thin air. And trust me, you don't want to make me mad." The Doctor told the voice angrily. "Where are you?"
"High in the sky." The voice told them. "Floating so high on Christmas night."
"Yeah, well, we didn't come all this way to be put on the intercom." Rose growled out.
"Come one, let's have a look at you!" The Doctor ordered.
"Who are you with such command?" The voice demanded.
"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor told it.
"Prepare your best medicines, doctor man, for you will be sick at heart." The voice warned them before a Racnoss appeared in front of them on a giant web that had been hung in the sky.
Spider! Ew ew ew ewewewewewewew! Rose screamed in her mind easily reminding the Doctor of her fear of spiders. He was proud that though she was screaming on the inside she hadn't let her fear show outwardly.
"Racnoss." The Doctor breathed out in shock, this species was extinct! "That's impossible. You're one of the Racnoss."
I don't care what it is, just get rid of it please! Rose yelled to him as she took his hand in her and gripped in tightly in fear.
"Empress of the Racnoss." The Racnoss told them as the Doctor pulled her close to him.
"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss?" The Doctor demanded.
"I bet she's the only one." Rose said, her voice not giving away how terrified she was.
"Such a sharp mind." The Empress hissed at her.
"That's it. The last of your kind." The Doctor said. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times. Billions of years ago. Billions. They were carnivores. Omnivores. They devoured whole planets." The Doctor explained to both Donna and Rose.
"Racnoss are born starving. Is that our fault?" The Empress asked.
"They eat people?" Donna asked.
"Donna, this HC Clements, did he wear those, uh, black and white shoes?" Rose suddenly asked.
"He did! We used to laugh. We used to call him the fat cat in spats." Donna told her and the Doctor wondered how Rose knew that before she pointed at something in the web. The Doctor sucked in a breath when he saw what she had seen. "Oh, my God!" Donna gasped out when she saw it as well.
"Aye! Christmas dinner." The Empress laughed out.
"You shouldn't even exist." The Doctor growled at her. "Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss. They were wiped out."
"Expect for me." The Empress said.
"That's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing." Donna said and the Empress looked away, distracted by something. "O! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How come I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you. Look me in the eyes and tell me."
"The bride is so feisty." The Empress said.
"Yes, I am." Donna agreed as the Doctor caught sight of Lance sneaking up behind the Racnoss with an axe. When had he slipped away? "And I don't know what you are, you big thing. But a spider's just a spider. And an axe is an axe. Now, do it!" Lance raised the axe as the Racnoss turned to look at him and then, after locking eyes with the Empress, Lance began to laugh.
Oh, I'm so going to kill him! Rose hissed in anger as the Empress also began to laugh as the Doctor's hearts sank as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place. Lance had been the one to dose Donna in Huon particles.
"That was a good one. Your face." Lance laughed out.
"Lance is funny." The Empress said.
"What?" Donna asked confused and in denial.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor told her as Rose pulled her into a comforting hug.
"Sorry for what?" Donna asked still refusing to accept what she knew was true. "Lance, don't be stupid. Get her!"
"God, she's thick!" Lance said. "Months I've had to put up with her. Months! A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."
"Oi! Watch it! You're asking for a slap you are!" Rose growled out at him, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"I don't understand." Donna said weakly though the Doctor was sure she did actually understand she was just refusing to understand. Refusing to admit that the man she loved betrayed her in the worst way possible.
"Donna, love, how did you meet him?" Rose asked her gently, trying to help her come to terms to what they all knew was true.
"In the office." Donna told her sadly.
"He made you coffee." The Doctor said ignoring the slight shock he felt from Rose at remembering that. True, he had been half listening to their conversation, but he still remembered every word.
"What?" Donna asked.
"Every day I made you coffee." Lance said.
"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months." The Doctor told Donna softly and watched as acceptance of the situation finally settled in Donna's eyes before they began to tear up.
"He was poisoning me." Donna whispered and Rose hugged her tighter.
"It was all there in the job title. The head of human resources." The Doctor growled out glaring at Lance. This man had hurt his friend, and once this was all over with he was going to be having serious words with him.
"This time it's personnel." Lance joked smiling darkly.
"But..." Donna said as a tear slipped from her eye. "We were getting married."
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. Then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavoured Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap, yap, yap. Oh brad and Angelina! Is Posh pregnant? X factor. Atkins diet. Feng Shui. Split ends. Text me, text me, text me. Dear God, the never-ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia." Lance told her causing Rose to growl. "I deserve a medal."
"You deserve a slap! Several in fact!" Rose told him.
"Oh, is that what she's offered you? The Empress of the Racnoss. The metal, not the slaps." The Doctor said. "What are you? Her consort."
"It's better than a night with her." Lance said.
"But I love you." Donna told Lance sadly as she silently cried.
"That's what made it easy." Lance told her.
"Oh that's it!" Rose roared and would have probably found a way to climb all the way up to him had the Doctor not been quick enough to grab her around the waist.
"It's like you said, Doctor. The big picture." Lance continued ignoring Rose's out burst and the Doctor briefly thought about setting Rose loose on him before deciding against it, he didn't want her that close to the Empress. Now maybe once the man was farther from the Empress then he would set Rose loose on him.
While you stand back and giggle like you did back in Cardiff 1869? Rose asked having caught his thought.
I did not giggle! The Doctor told her.
"What's the point of it all if the human race is nothing?" Lance continued cutting into his conversation with Rose. "That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to... go out there. To see it. The size of it all."
Tell him to go buy a telescope. Rose joked.
"I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?" Lance said.
"Who is this little physician and his pet?" The Empress asked.
"She called them 'Martian and wife'." Lance told her and for once the Doctor was glad that Donna kept calling him Martian.
"Oh, I'm sort of homeless." The Doctor said as he tightened his hold on Rose. "But the point is, what's down there? The Racnoss are extinct. What's going to help you 4,000 miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, innit?"
"I think he wants us to talk." Lance taunted.
"I think so, too." The Empress hissed.
"Well, tough. All we need is Donna." Lance said.
"And your wife, doctor man." The Empress said. "Kill this chattering little doctor man."
"Don't you hurt him!" Rose and Donna yelled as Donna moved to stand in front of them both.
"No, it's all right." The Doctor told them as he whispered his plan to Rose.
"No, I won't let them!" Donna cried out as the robots cocked their guns.
"Ah! Now, except..." The Doctor started.
"Take aim!" The Empress ordered.
"Well, I just want to point out the obvious." He continued.
"They won't hit the bride and wife. They're such very good shots." The Empress bragged as the Doctor reached into his pocket and grabbed the jar of liquid Huon particles.
"Just hold on. Hold on just a tick. Just a tiny little, just a... tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship." The Doctor said pulling out the jar. "So reverse it, the spaceship comes to her." He said turning the dial causing both Donna and Rose to start to glow once more.
"Fire!" The Empress ordered, but it was too late as the TARDIS began to materialize around them, protecting them.
"Off we go, then." The Doctor cried turning the dial and stopping both women from glowing the second they were safely inside the TARDIS. Rose and the Doctor left the confused Donna standing on the ramp as they raced around the console and quickly sent them into the Vortex.
"Oh, by the way Donna, you know how you mentioned something about a time machine earlier?" Rose called to the woman as they worked together to send them back in time to the beginning of the Earth. "Well, we sort of lied and now we're about to use it."
"What?" Donna asked.
"We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet's core, then it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto Bene! I've always wanted to take you to see this Rose! Ever since our first date! Rose, Donna, I'm going further back than I've ever been before." The Doctor said as they put in the final coordinates. Rose flew from her side of the console towards Donna when she sat down on the captain's chair and the Doctor realized that Donna was still crying over Lance.
I've got her. Rose told him as she allowed Donna to cry on her shoulder while she ran her fingers through the woman's hair. You just focus on getting us there.