A/N: Wow! The response to the first chapter was amazing! I'm so glad to see so many of you guys came back! But you didn't come here to see me ramble on, so here's the second part of Christmas Invasion.
Previously: "I didn't want to leave her alone. That's where you come in."
Kate shrugged and nodded. "Sure, I'll stay," she agreed readily.
"Kate, you are a star." John hugged the younger girl before making sure the Wolf was still resting peacefully. Then, leaving Kate in his room, he walked quickly out of the TARDIS, determined to get back as quickly as possible.
A History
Half an hour later, John was just leaving a market with a couple of things for the Wolf and Kate when a brass band wearing Santa masks caught his eye from across the street. He wasn't sure what captured his interest: maybe it was the way one of them seemed to be staring at him, or the almost robotic way their legs moved while their upper bodies stayed preternaturally still. Whatever it was, when the band stopped playing and all hell broke loose, John had a front row seat.
All of a sudden, the trombone player blew fire out of his instrument, causing panic around him. John ran with the crowd a little ways before taking cover behind a stall. He peeked over the edge to see that three of the band members were staring right at his hiding spot while the tuba player made his way over to the tall tree on display. They're after me, John realized. And if they're after me, then they know about the Wolf. He had to get out of there and back to the TARDIS. The Wolf was safe on the ship, but he needed to lose the band before he went back home. He couldn't lead them straight to her.
The tuba player fired a blast at the giant Christmas tree, demolishing its trunk. It fell straight towards John, crushing the tuba player in the process. John sprinted away from the stall, dodging the falling tree and ran down a street in the opposite direction of the TARDIS. The band seemed slow, but he didn't seem able to shake them.
Finally, out of options, John made his way to his abandoned flat and holed up there, grabbing the baseball bat he hung onto for self defense. He waited for his pursuers in the hallway, ready to make a stand.
And he waited. For ten minutes, he was met with complete silence. Cautious, he didn't let down his guard. Just as he was getting fed up, the doorbell rang.
John cocked his head in confusion. The bell rang again. Followed by knocking that quickly escalated to pounding on the door.
"Come on, what do I do, what do I do?" John muttered, adjusting his grip on the bat. "What would the Wolf do?" The robots were banging in earnest now, trying to batter the door down. "Sonic screwdriver: don't have it. Electrical expertise: none whatsoever. Chemicals: none. Damn it," he growled. Wolf, it would be really great if you were just miraculously awake right now, he thought grimly as his front door cracked. I'm gonna get killed by six Santas. The door was almost broken in. Come on, help me out here! he practically screamed in his mind, trying to figure out how to get out of this.
The door burst from its hinges, revealing the silhouettes of three Santa robots in the opening. "What, couldn't spare them all?" John spat. "Am I not worth the trouble?" He backed away, heading for his kitchen. "Well, come on then. Come and get me!" he taunted.
The robots followed him, and when they shuffled into the kitchen single file after him, John swung his bat, flinging the front Santa sideways head first into the sink. John turned the faucet on full strength, hoping the Santas were indeed mechanical. He noted the jerking of the robot as the water hit its circuits with a small amount of satisfaction while keeping his attention on the other two bots still advancing on him.
"One down," he informed them. The robots remained silent, but stopped suddenly, turning their attention back to the hallway before making their way out there. Confused, John followed them at a distance, his eyes widening when he caught sight of the Wolf as he rounded the corner.
The Wolf was standing in the doorway, screwdriver held out threateningly. Kate looked on from behind her. The Wolf raised her sonic, aiming at the lead Santa. The two bots backed off before disappearing in a beam of blue light.
John dropped the bat in relief. "Wolf?" he asked incredulously. "What are you doing here, how did you know? How did the screwdriver scare them off?"
"Heard you. Pilot fish," the Wolf answered darkly.
"What?" Kate spoke up.
"Those were just pilot fish," the Wolf got out before hunching over in pain.
"What's wrong?" John exclaimed, rushing over to grab her shoulders to lower her gently to the floor, her back against the wall.
"You woke me too soon," the Wolf managed, her voice strained. "I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." She coughed, and a puff of golden energy escaped past her lips. "You see? The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away," she explained. "So they eliminate the defense, that's you two, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple ye- ow!" She jerked forward, her face a mask of pain, as John kept her sitting up, Kate reaching in to help.
"Ow, my head! I'm having a neural implosion. I need –" the Wolf paused.
"What do you need?" Kate asked.
"I need – I –" the Wolf seemed to have trouble getting the words out.
"Painkillers?" Kate tried. "Food? Aspirin?"
"Wolf?" John asked.
"I need you both to shut up!" the Wolf finally got out.
John sighed. "Still rude," he muttered, making Kate grin a little despite her worry.
"Hasn't changed much then," she quipped.
"Listen. We haven't got much time." The Wolf grabbed John's shirt, pulling him towards her. He held her hand there, scooting forward. "If there's pilot fish, then – If they're here –" the Wolf stuttered to a stop, one hand going to her head as the other tightened its grip on John's shirt. "Argh! Brain. Collapsing." She looked up at John, trying desperately to get a few more words out. "The pilot fish. The pilot fish mean that something – something – something's coming," she warned before passing out, slumping into John's side.
John scooped the Wolf up. "We're going back to the TARDIS," he told Kate. "If those robots can smell the Wolf, the ship is the only thing that can protect her right now. Grab the black bag in the corner by the sofa would you?" he said over his shoulder. "It's got my emergency kit in it." Kate jogged through the mess of the living room to get his bag before following John and the Wolf out the door and down to the street.
A couple minutes later, John turned to her. "How did you two know where I was?" he wondered.
Kate shrugged. "Beats me. The Wolf was quiet the entire time you were gone, didn't move a centimeter. And then, all of a sudden, she's leaping out of the bed, grabbing her screwdriver from the dresser, and charging out the door, just saying, 'John's in trouble'. I just followed."
John frowned. "That's not something she's ever done before."
"Maybe it's the regeneration screwing with her head. Or maybe she could sense the robots or something," Kate suggested.
John shrugged one shoulder, hoisting the Wolf into a more comfortable position. "Maybe." But he doubted it.
Once the Wolf was safely tucked back into John's bed, John tugged open his medical kit, pulling out a stethoscope. Carefully, he listened to both sides of the Wolf's chest, his brow wrinkling in concern at what he heard.
"What is it?" Kate asked, walking back into the room.
"Only the right heart is working, and it's beating too fast, and her lungs don't sound good either. I wish I knew what I could use to scan her brain, since that seems to be what the main problem is, but that's not something we've talked about." Letting out a growl, John picked up one of the knick-knacks he had collected from some planet and threw it hard at the wall, where it collided with his mirror, cracking it.
"Hey!" Kate grabbed his arm. "None of that is going to help the Wolf!" she reprimanded him. "Now, if you want to do something constructive, come to the console room with me."
John shook his head. "I can't leave her alone," he denied.
"She'll be fine for five minutes while you cool off and help me with something. I was watching the news while you were out," Kate informed him, hauling him out of the room.
At the console, Kate turned the newscast back on. "Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe. They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes," a reporter announced.
"Yes, we are. We're – we're back on schedule," a man identified as Doctor Llewellyn stuttered out. "We've received signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success."
"But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?" a man called out.
"Yes, we had a bit of a scare," Llewellyn admitted. "Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it – it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds. She is fine now, absolutely fine. We're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it. Thanks." Llewellyn then left the stage, ignoring all other questions.
"And that's not it," Kate told John, switching to the internet the TARDIS pulled up. "These are pilot fish," she explained, showing him a video. "Scavengers, like the Wolf said. Harmless. They're tiny. But the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish."
"Like sharks," John murmured as an animated shark chomped onscreen.
"Great big sharks," Kate agreed. "So, I guess what the Wolf means is, we had them, now we get that."
"Something is coming," John muttered. "How close?" he asked.
"There's no way of telling, but the pilot fish don't swim far from the sharks," Kate answered.
"Switch back to the news, love," John asked, and the TARDIS changed the screen with a hum.
"She does what you ask?" Kate asked in wonder.
John spared her a small smile. "Most of the time, unless I do something stupid and piss her off, like get in a fight with the Wolf. Then she ignores me, or makes me get lost."
Kate chuckled at that before turning back to the news. "Those don't look like Mars rocks to me," she pointed out.
"That's because they aren't." They both watched as an ugly, red-eyed alien wearing what looked like a mask made of some animal's skull growled and sputtered at the screen, declaring the superiority of the Sycorax and the coming subjugation of the planet.
"Sycorax, Sycorax," John muttered, pacing in his bedroom as Kate sat next to the Wolf's bed, mopping the Wolf's sweaty forehead with a cool towel. "Have I ever heard that before? Sycorax."
"Sycorax?" Kate asked. "Where'd you get that?"
John glanced over at the teen. "That's what the leader alien guy said. That the Sycorax were superior, and that the planet would be conquered and its people subjugated. Didn't you hear?"
Kate's eyebrows raised. "Oh, I heard, I just didn't understand," she told him.
John halted his pacing in surprise. "You didn't? But you're in the TARDIS. Normally all it takes is once and she'll translate for you."
Kate shook her head. "Apparently not. I got nothing. But we'll worry about that later. What are we going to do about the Wolf? If her brain's collapsing like she said, I doubt we have an infinite amount of time to fix it."
John sighed. "You're right. But I don't know what to do." He groaned, frustrated. "I don't know enough! I don't know how to fix a Time Lord's brain! She can't even fix it, how am I supposed to?"
"John –" Kate tried to break in, but John kept ranting, not paying any attention. "John." Finally, after a few more tries, the teen stood up and punched him hard in the arm.
"Ow!" John yelped, rubbing his arm. "What was that for?"
Fed up, Kate pointed at the floor. "Look!" she ordered.
Sparing the girl a last glare, John did as he was told. His eyes widened in surprise.
The floor was blinking on and off in bright flashes, trying to catch John's attention. John looked up at the ceiling. "What is it, girl?" he asked. The lights merely flashed more insistently. He sighed, calming down. "I'd better go see what she wants," he told Kate. "Watch the Wolf for me?"
Kate nodded. "I'm gonna try to find a laptop or something that I can use to keep track of some things, but I'll come right back," she said.
"Should be one on the console. The Wolf keeps it there, usually." John walked over to kneel by the bed. "I'm going to fix this," he promised the sleeping Wolf before leaning forward to kiss her softly on the forehead. The Wolf gave no indication that she had heard, and John quickly stood up and left the room, following the path the TARDIS had set him on.
Kate's eyes tracked him out the door before landing on the Wolf again. "Just between you and me," she informed the unconscious woman, "I think he's in love with you." The Wolf remained still. "Not that either of you will ever admit it," the teen sighed before leaving as well to find the laptop.
John was a bit surprised when the TARDIS led him to the library, and more specifically, to a large and heavy tome resting on a table with a spotlight over it. "X marks the spot, huh?" he said, slightly amused. John grabbed the book and sat down on their couch, looking at the title. For a few seconds, all he saw were circles and dots and lines, but shortly after, they shimmered into English words as the TARDIS translated for him.
A History, the title now read.
A history of what? John wondered, opening it. He was somewhat surprised to learn that the book was referring to the history of the Time Lords. Glancing over the sections, he saw titles for Time Lord culture, language, reproduction, and evolution, among others. Under the Evolution section, John grew excited when he saw a sub-section entitled Regeneration. He quickly flipped to the correct page and began scanning the paragraphs.
The book was enlightening, to say the least. It went through the entire process of a Time Lord's regeneration, step by step, discussing the biological changes that took place, and what personality changes to expect, although the Time Lord, with few exceptions, retained their base ideals and characteristics. The book also described the most common causes of regeneration, with those being old age, a grievous wound, or as a form of punishment for some infraction, although that last had only occurred a couple of times, the most recent being nearly eight centuries before the writing of the book.
John was fascinated, but the next page drew his attention back to his current problem. "Perils of Regeneration," he murmured. "Now we're getting somewhere." He eagerly scanned the section, searching for anything like 'neural implosions' or 'collapsing brains'. Finally, he hit upon a likely candidate: Neural Damage and Loss of Capacity.
The new chapter described how – due to certain circumstances, such as excessive exposure to certain kinds of radiation or delay of regeneration – a malfunction in the clearance of free radicals from the Time Lord's brain could occur. These radicals then resulted in decaying of the neural tissue.
John tried to think back to his university years. As a trauma surgeon, it had been a long time since he'd had to consider some of the more extraneous details of biology and brain chemistry, but from what he remembered, that explanation of free radical damage made sense even on a human level. And if he recalled his immunology introductory course correctly, anti-oxidants were what cleared excess radicals. So now he just needed something containing anti-oxidants that he could get into the Wolf's stomach.
John frowned. "Problem is, we don't have anything like that in here," he muttered to himself. Frustrated, he stood up to go back to his bedroom to check on the Wolf, lugging the heavy book with him.
When he got back, Kate was hunched over a computer screen. "Hey, come check this out," she called him over when she noticed him the doorway. "I've got access to the military. Just used that same code the Wolf gave me last time with the Slitheen." She grinned at the memory. "Anyway, they're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way," she said more seriously.
"How fast?" John asked.
"Very."
"Okay, so then, what's it coming for? This has to be the shark the pilot fish crowd around, so is it the Wolf?" John wondered.
"I don't know. Maybe it's coming for all of us," Kate shrugged. "Oh, hang on." A video alert popped up. Kate clicked on it, and four of the aliens from before appeared. "So you haven't seen them before?" she asked.
"No," John answered grimly.
The aliens began speaking again. Their guttural language sort of reminded John of one of the species from Star Trek. Cling-up? No, Klingon, that was it.
"Can you still understand them?" Kate asked.
"Yeah."
"What are they saying?"
"Nothing much different from before. The Sycorax are superior, the cattle – I guess that's us – will be enslaved, they will conquer the planet, the whole resistance is futile spiel," John said drily.
Kate gave him a strange look. "Did you just quote Star Trek at me?" she wanted to know.
John shrugged. "Had it on the brain."
She chuckled. "Well, not to spoil the mood, but it looks like the ship will be here in five hours. Did you find anything to help the Wolf?"
"Oh! Yeah, I did. Maybe. I'm not actually sure? But, the problem might be free radicals. Seems like they could cause the neural implosion the Wolf was talking about." He showed her the book, but Kate just looked at it blankly.
"You could read this?" she asked skeptically.
"Yeah, TARDIS translated it."
"Weird how she's working for you still."
"Yeah – oh, hold on. They're speaking again."
"Okay, and it looks like UNIT developed some kind of translation software. They can read it now, there's the transcript."
"Cattle. You belong to us. To the Sycorax. We own you," John read aloud. "We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax – rock?"
"They will die," Kate murmured.
"What?" John asked.
"The aliens didn't say you will die, they said they will die. Who's they?"
"I don't know, but that's the right translation. He said 'they', not 'you'."
"UNIT's sending a reply," Kate brought his attention back to the screen. "This is a day of peace on planet Earth. We extend that peace to the Sycorax. But this planet is armed, and we do not surrender?" Kate cocked her head. "That's a load of crap, 'we're armed'. We don't have missiles that can reach that far into space, especially UNIT. They're a science organization. They don't build weapons like that anymore."
"Maybe she doesn't mean UNIT, Kate," John told her. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's always someone else with a bigger gun."
"So what do we do?" she asked.
John shook his head. "I don't know yet. I need to get something for the Wolf, but I don't want to leave the TARDIS again with the pilot fish milling about. But we're running out of time."
As dawn was breaking, the UNIT translator came back online, along with the video feed. John nudged Kate, who had been napping for the last couple hours, and pointed at the screen. "They got the message, and now they're responding," he said quietly.
The Sycorax spokesperson didn't say anything this time, merely held out his hand, letting a blue energy play over it.
"What was that?" Kate asked when the energy disappeared.
"I don't know. Maybe that was the reply?"
"But it didn't even do anything," Kate protested.
Just then, as if to belay Kate's words, the TARDIS began sounding an alarm and turning her lights on and off rapidly. Kate clapped her hands over her ears. "What's she doing?" she yelled over the blaring signal.
"I have no idea!" John shouted back. "Come on!" With a glance at the Wolf, who seemed undisturbed by all the noise, John ran for the console room. "TARDIS, shut if off!" he yelled at the ship, which immediately fell silent.
Kate shook her head, trying to clear the ringing from her ears. "What was that about?"
"Yes, what was that about, love?" he asked the ceiling. In response, the monitor flicked on again to the news. Kate gasped at the images of hundreds, no, thousands of people lined up along the edges of roofs, the videos seeming to come from all around the globe.
"What?" she wondered.
"According to reports, one third of the world's population has mysteriously gathered on high-rise buildings, ready to jump. Anything with stairs, two billion people are ready to jump. We don't know yet what caused this to occur, and authorities around the world are baffled." The news suddenly turned off.
Kate moved to the doors, but John grabbed her and pulled her back. "What are you doing?" she objected.
"We don't know what's causing this event to occur. So if you go out there, and something happens to you, the Brig will have my head. And I'm a little scared of him," John reasoned. "So we're staying put."
"What, forever?" Kate said sarcastically.
"This is the only safe place on Earth right now. So yes, for right now, we're hiding," he informed her. "I've traveled, I've seen all that stuff, but right now, I'm stuck here. Right now, I'm useless."
The news turned on once more. John turned to see Harriet sitting in a paneled room at a desk. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been canceled." Pausing, she looked off camera. "Did we ask about the royal family?" she said quietly. "Oh. They're on the roof. But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request. Wolf, if you're out there, we need you." John's heart clenched. "I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Wolf. If anyone knows the Wolf, if anyone can find her, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Wolf. Help us. God help us."
The transmission ended. John sat in the jump chair, his face in his hands. "I don't know what to do. She might as well be really gone, because I don't know what to do." He looked up at Kate. "What do we do?" he asked hopelessly before burying his face again.
Kate shook her head, sitting next to him. "I'll give you a tenner if you can tell me, 'cause I haven't got a clue," she joked.
John's eyes snapped open. He whirled to look at Kate, surprising her. "Say that again."
"What?"
"Say that again!" he demanded.
"I'll give you a tenner, that bit?" she asked warily.
"Tenner. Tenner, tenner, tenner, tenner-tenner-tenner-tannin. Tannin!" John exclaimed. "Tannin is an anti-oxidant, she needs tannin!" John ran off.
"Where are you going?" Kate yelled after him.
"To make some tea!"