Episode 13:2- Bad Wolf
Rose Tyler snuck along the endless hallways and corridors of Faction Paradox. It was all a random, hodgepodge jumble of places and locations, most of which didn't make any sense at all. There was a library. There was a swimming pool. There was another library, with a swimming pool in it, presumably if you wanted to read in the water, not that Rose would like to do that.
The plan, she had to admit, was one of their better ones. It covered the entire very large piece of paper, with many scribbles, additions, and iterations in a variety of colors. It was complex, and included many inventions that had been made up on the spot. It involved all of them at once.
Their usual plan consisted of basically, 'walk in and hope something happens'. This was several very large steps away from that.
She was a very important part of the plan. At least, that was what everyone was telling her. She was inclined to agree, seeing that she didn't like her part at all.
She had to somehow get the signal out to the universe that it might well be destroyed in the next few hours. Apparently this was supposed to summon help. She would have honestly prefered some sort of Patronus.
The control room was located in the central part of the building, according to Sentience, who had brought up schematics for the place. It made sense. If, for some strange reason, someone decided to attack the building, you could retreat to the middle and anticipate their movements.
The control room was where Rose was heading.
The one good thing about the whole plan was the fact that they had cool, James-Bond style, earpieces to let them communicate with each other.
"The name's Tyler," Rose smiled to herself, holding up her hands into a finger gun. "Rose Tyler."
The radio crackled.
"I know that," Sentience replied over the piece, sounding as if she was frowning in confusion. "Why are you telling me?"
"It's a reference to something," Rose began, and then shook her head. "Eh. Never mind."
"Whatever you say."
She continued on for a few corridors, humming the Mission Impossible theme under her breath and sticking closely to walls, before deciding that that was too much effort, and simply tiptoeing instead.
It suddenly occurred to her that she had no actual idea on how to send out the signal once she got to the control room. This meant that she'd probably have to go with the normal plan once again.
Running in wildly and hoping a thing happens.
"Well," she said. "Great."
"The control centre's just around the corner," Sentience told her.
"Great," Rose repeated. "How're the others doing?"
Sentience hesitated for a split second. "Uh," she said. "Just fine."
There was a crash, a bang, and a scattering of several large buckets of marbles as Ace fell sideways into the seventeenth Time Machine storeroom they had visited so far. She emerged from a virtual sea of round glass objects, sputtering in agitation.
"When you said you had a swimming pool," she yelled upwards to the tiny opening above. "you didn't say it was full of marbles!"
"Can I take it to mean that it isn't the chemical lab?" Hobbes wondered, his voice echoing weirdly down.
"Pull me up," Ace sighed. They had been trying to find an appropriate place to make Nitro Nine for roughly fifteen minutes, with no luck.
Hobbes cheerfully obliged, tugging her up to the top by the thick rope wrapped around her waist. "Next storeroom."
"Eighteenth time lucky, do you think?" Ace snorted, dusting herself off.
When they had asked Sentience (rather politely they thought) to move the Chem Lab closer to them, she had grinned at them, told them that it would be more fun to make them search, and then teleported quickly away before they had the chance to hold her down and force her to do it by means of extensive tickling.
The next door they tried didn't have a complete gravity shift, which was a welcome change. The whole room appeared to be made out of the type of canvas you'd generally use for painting.
The next room, they got lucky. It was a chemical lab, well-stocked with ingredients and everything a possible pyromaniac would need to create the world's biggest explosion. A quick thought flashed through Hobbes's mind, something to the effect of 'was this really a good idea?'
Probably not, his subconscious responded.
He gulped.
Ace was already at work, moving fluidly through the rows of chemicals and substances. She almost seemed to dance. Her hands mixed ingredients, and set other things to the side. She smiled, and hummed a tune.
Dynamite by Tao Cruz.
Well...
Okay.
"Can I help?" Hobbes offered.
"Pass me the gelignite," she requested without losing focus. He did, somewhat reluctantly. She took the explosive material, and placed it over a Bunsen burner.
"Are you sure that won't explode?" he asked nervously.
"Yup," she said, strapping a set of plastic safety goggles over her face, and tucking her short pony tail back. "I mean, I'm pretty sure. Ninety percent. Seventy five. I've done this a lot. It hardly ever blows up in my face, ever."
Somehow, Hobbes wasn't entirely reassured.
"Can you light a match?" Ace asked him, poking a metal can with a pair of tweezers.
Calvin and Jack were working together on the inner mechanics of the Time Machine. This would probably be considered 'male bonding time', and, if it were, it was of the extremely dysfunctional sort. It mostly consisted of Calvin yelling at Jack to do something, Jack doing it, and Calvin letting out a grudging sort of grunt that meant Jack had done it correctly.
Sentience was watching this with some amusement.
"We're nearly ready," Calvin said after a loud clicking began.
Jack grimaced. "Isn't there a way to stall a bit longer?"
Sentience closed her eyes, unnoticed by either of them, and sang a high note. An E Flat, to be precise. Her eyes sprang open. "The signal is sent! We're going... now!"
"What?" Calvin and Jack exclaimed together.
"We're not ready yet!" protested Calvin.
Sentience smirked widely. "You'd better get a move on, then."
They flew into action, trying to get ready quickly without wrecking any of the plan at all. Easier said than done.
"You ready?" Jack said finally.
Calvin smiled ironically. "I don't think I can ever really be ready. But, whatever, let's do it."
He stepped over to the Time Machine's trampoline. "Beam me up, Scotty," he said solemnly.
And in an impressive display of obedience, Sentience sent a transport beam down to give him a dignified way up.
Jack twisted his T-shirt nervously.
The future Calvin was, of course, waiting. "I knew you'd come," he said.
The present Calvin said nothing.
"You know what's going to happen," Future Calvin. "You saw it. I know. I was you."
"I'm going to stop you," Calvin said pleasantly, as if he was informing a friend that he couldn't come over for afternoon tea.
"You will try," the other acknowledged, nodding. "but you won't succeed. The Time Vortex will drive you insane."
"Not likely."
"The thing is," Calvin explained, tapping out a five-beat rhythm on the console of the Time Machine. "Time is complicated. It's a simple fact of life."
"I know that," Rose told him. "I've been in the paradox loop of my dad dying."
He frowned. "You don't quite understand, though."
She crossed her arms. "Explain, then."
Calvin looked around, his eyes glancing over the objects in the room. "Does anyone have a hairband? Hobbes?"
"Why would I have a hairband?" the tiger protested.
Calvin shrugged. "I don't know. You might be going through a phase. Ace?"
"I don't wear hairbands," she informed him promptly. "I tie my hair back with twine."
"Don't look at me," Sentience chimed in. "I'm a holographic interface. And I wear my hair out!"
Rose sighed, and pulled her hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall down over her shoulders. She handed it to Calvin. "Don't blow it up, or anything."
He tested the band for elasticity, stretching it out a bit, before baring his teeth, and biting it, so it was a length of rubber band.
Rose rolled her eyes.
"Okay," said Calvin, holding an end of the hair band in each hand. "Pretend this ex-hairband is Time."
"Time is pink?" Jack wondered.
"Shut up," Calvin said. "The end in my left hand is the beginning of Time, the Big Bang, whatever, and the end in my right hand is the end of Time, which is when the universe collapses. You can pull Time in lots of different directions." He demonstrated, twirling the band back and forth, and keeping hold of the two ends all the while. "You can even stretch Time, to a point. Cause anachronisms, paradoxes, stuff like that. But there's a point where Time snaps."
He tugged on both ends viciously, and the hairband snapped in half, whipping into his hands and leaving red marks.
"Ow," he added, rubbing his hands together. "Right. We've still got the the beginning of Time," he waved his left hand. "and the end of Time," he waved his right. "but all the space in between is broken, gone, out of existence. That's what my future self did. Possibly the rest of the universe is in the same state."
"How far will this analogy go?" asked Ace, raising an eyebrow.
Calvin grinned. "Pretty far. See, we can mend Time by tying the bits together."
Hobbes moved forwards quickly, and knotted the broken ends in a double tie.
"But," he continued. "there are still bits sticking out."
Everyone waited, but there was no further explanation forthcoming.
Rose raised a hand. "Uh, how do we fix it then?"
"No idea," said Calvin cheerfully. "We're going to work that bit out later. Still, it was a pretty good explanation, don't you think?"
Rose growled. "My hairband. It's snapped."
Hobbes frowned. "Time isn't a straight line, though."
"Obviously not," Jack added. "It's not just a straight progression from cause to effect."
Ace stared at them. "What, it's a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey-"
"I have no idea where you people get these things from," Sentience groaned.
"What now?" asked Present Calvin coolly.
"You should know," replied his future self. "Now, we fight."
They glared at each other for a moment, before lunging at each other, scrabbling wildly, scratching, biting, kicking. It was happening. The moment was happening.
"Any last words?" Future Calvin panted, kneeing his double in the stomach and pushing him backwards. The other scratched and fought for all he was worth.
"IF WE FIGHT LIKE ANIMALS," he screeched. "WE DIE LIKE ANIMALS!"
"You stole that from a TV show," Future Calvin said calmly, and shoved his past self against the wall, roughly frisking his pockets, and taking out the two Transmogrifier Guns. "This is mine," he said. "and I'll put the other in the museum when I have time. Have fun being tortured to insanity."
A trickle of blood ran down the Present Calvin's chin. Blood from his future self's arm.
The Future Calvin pressed a button, and the floor opened up in front of him. He kicked the other Calvin down towards it.
"Have a nice trip," he said, turning towards the spot where he knew that his past friends would be watching, and smiling brutally.
The other Calvin fell down.
Down.
Down.
"I hope this works," Sentience said, chewing her fingernails nervously. "Otherwise the universe is pretty much completely and utterly screwed."
Jack steered the Time Machine with perfect ease, twisting it so it sat just underneath the place where Calvin had just fallen. Sentience clicked her fingers, and a mound of pillows appeared just on top of the trampoline.
Calvin landed on top of the pillows, sank into them, and sprang up. "Mission, part one, complete! Tell the slimy girl to send out the signal!"
Sentience flashed him a thumbs up. "You got it, boss!"
Calvin grimaced. "Don't call me boss."
"Sure thing, boss."
He sighed.
"How are Hobbes and Ace doing?" Jack asked quickly before the argument could escalate.
"They're ready," Sentience informed them. "In fact... here they come now."
Hobbes tripped into the room, landing on his face. "Finished!" he declared, springing up. "Let's get this cheetah on the runway!"
Ace followed, her rucksack slung over her shoulder, and filled with cans. "We'll start at the far end of the Faction, if you can drop us off there."
"We're already there," Calvin nodded. "How's the girl going?"
"She's in position," Sentience said. "You do know that sending out a warning message will throw the system into lockdown?"
He looked at her. "Yeah. I know."
"And she'll be trapped in there?"
Calvin nodded. "Terminate contact with her."
Sentience raised her eyebrows, and turned to the controls without a word.
Calvin gestured grandly towards the trampoline. "Right, you two. Get moving."
Ace saluted. Hobbes copied her.
"No," Calvin protested, annoyed. "Don't do that. Don't do that."
As soon as Rose got the message from Sentience to send out a warning signal, she did. She had found the broadcast button fairly quickly, and when she pressed the 'open contact' button, she paused. What was she supposed to say?
"Uh, hi," she began, thinking furiously. "My name's Rose. I'm telling you, if you're able to hear this, to run. There's something going on at the place that I currently am at. The universe is about to end. I really hope you can hear me, because we need help. Me and my... friends. We can't do this alone. If you're out there, send help. We're at the very beginning of the universe, but our location's being spread throughout time and space, so anyone who comes to the center of the known universe, you'll be there. Send warships. Send the military. Send anyone at all. Anyone, no matter how small, can help." She paused. "Please," she added softly, and pressed 'send'.
"Message sent," said the computer. "Initiating lockdown."
"What?" screamed Rose, dashing towards the doors that had already slid together with a clang. She pounded on them furiously. "Let me out, for God's sake! I need to get out of here! I need to help!"
When it became apparent that the doors weren't opening, she took out her earpiece and began to yell into it. "I'm locked in the control room! Let me out! Sentience! Calvin! Anyone! Ace! Hobbes! Jack!"
The blue light on the side had turned red, and it began to beep, before exploding quietly. She stared at it in horror.
"Calvin..." she whispered. "You knew this would happen."
Schematics and diagrams began to flash on the screen behind her. She turned around slowly, and stared at the computers. A flash of a smile flickered across her face.
Help was coming.
"It looks like she did it," Calvin said, looking out a window.
"Did what?" Jack came over to stand next to him, and stared. Hundreds upon hundreds of spaceships were swooping in around Faction Paradox. The Tannoys around the Faction crackled into life.
"Attention, all residents of Faction Paradox," said the speaker in a monotone. "Vacate immediately, or we will fire."
"She actually did it," Calvin repeated, grinning. "I feel slightly bad, now..."
"We should get out, then," Jack urged, already heading towards the Time Machine. Calvin shook his head.
"No. I've got to get rid of my future self. You get out, get Hobbes and Ace and Rose."
"What about you?" Jack protested.
Calvin shook his head again. "It's the only way I can get rid of him. I have to die."
"You're going to commit suicide?"
"Goodbye, Captain." Calvin nodded, and pushed Jack, hard, into the Time Machine. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his key, and the Time Machine swooped off.
"So, you survived."
The voice made Calvin turn around. It was his own. His future self was in the corner, watching with those obsidian, endless eyes.
"It's my greatest talent," he said, with no humor. "Getting out of sticky situations." He reached into his other pocket, and gripped an object. "Oh, look." He pulled it out. "I have a gun."
"You're going to shoot me?"
"No," Calvin said. "I'm going to kill myself."
He twisted the barrel around, pointing it at his chest. "Bye-bye."
The door burst open.
"Not bloody likely!" screeched Ace McShane, dragging Rose in by the hand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Saving the universe," snapped Calvin curtly. "How did you get here? I timelocked the area."
"You didn't timelock the corridor," Hobbes told him, slinking in on all fours.
"You gave me a time machine. I used it," Jack said, shrugging.
Calvin scowled. "I can't really be angry at you."
"No," said Rose. "No, no, you can't. Don't kill yourself."
Calvin fired.
Time seemed to slow down. The bullet drove itself into his chest and he choked a bit.
Rose ran forwards to his side, and held him upright even as he dropped to the ground.
Ace yelled something that couldn't really be heard, and Hobbes howled, more like a wolf then a tiger. Jack's eyes widened.
"Sorry, guys," Calvin whispered. He smiled slightly. "Look."
They all turned to stare where he was pointing. His future self faded and flickered.
"Wait," said Future Calvin, who was also Grandfather. "No, that can't-"
He disappeared.
No one made any sound of victory, instead all turning back to Calvin, who looked rather pale.
"You can't die," Hobbes said, almost pleading. "You just can't."
"The universe needs you," said Ace softly.
"You're my best friend."
Calvin turned his head to look at Rose, who looked slightly surprised that she had spoken. "You're my best friend, too," he replied.
She was nearly crying. "Don't die."
He managed a weak grin. "Sorry, Tyler. On the plus side, I saved the universe killing myself. Sounds pretty good for a death scene, doesn't it?" He frowned. "Wait, I need some awesome last words. What do I say?"
No one said anything.
"How about this." He lay back. "Since I met you- all of you- I've had the best time of my life. And I wouldn't have missed it-" he gasped a bit. "-for the world."
His eyes closed.
Rose was crying openly now, and Jack hugged her.
For a moment, they all sat there, and mourned the loss of their friend.
And then the guns started to fire from outside. Everyone jerked up.
"We've got to get out of here," yelled Ace, dragging a still crying Rose to her feet, and dashing out the door. Hobbes scooped Calvin's body up, and followed.
Jack was too slow, and a red laser slammed through his chest. He let out a soft "oh!", and fell to the ground, before crumbling to dust.
"JACK!" Rose yelled.
Ace pulled her out the door and to the Time Machine.
"Damn it," Hobbes muttered, jumping down the trampoline. "Damn it, damn it, damn it-"
"We have to do something," Rose sobbed, sinking down to the ground.
But there was nothing that they could do.
"The Earth's back in place," Sentience reported, flicking into existence. "How's Calvin?"
Hobbes sat down hard on the ground. "Dead."
She covered her mouth. "Oh."
"No," said an ethereal voice. "Not yet."
Hobbes didn't turn. "Bad Wolf."
"Yes."
"He's dead. There's no changing it."
"I'm about to go."
"Good."
"But you have more lives than me."
Hobbes looked at her. "Wait."
The entity that was once Rose smiled. "Yeah. Have a great life. All of you. Especially me. First, though, I've gotta scatter the words through time and space."
She waved her hand in the air, and BAD WOLF appeared in floating gold writing. It stayed there for a moment, before shattering into tiny bits of glitter.
"Thank you," Hobbes said after a moment. But Bad Wolf was already gone.
"What was she talking about?" Ace demanded.
"Cats have nine lives," Hobbes said, ripping off Calvin's shirt. "I've used up seven of mine. I can use one on Calvin, so all of you, get back."
"It's true?" asked Rose, incredulously.
"No, just tigers. I said, get back."
She hurriedly backed away, and so did Ace. Hobbes closed his eyes, concentrating. A faint silver mist drifted through the air around Calvin. More and more mist filled the air, surrounding Calvin and Hobbes with a raging grey storm of light.
They were completely obscured.
"What's happening?" Rose whispered.
Ace smiled. "Regeneration, I think."
A singing filled the air.
Hobbes dashed out of the storm. "Cover your eyes," he panted.
Rose quickly slammed a hand over her forehead.
There was a very loud noise.
"Oh, look," said a slightly familiar voice. "I think I got better."
Rose looked, her mouth dropping open.
"...Calvin?"
Calvin Who will return at Christmas with a short special- 'Born Again'. There will be more information about the 'show' at that time.
(A/N
Oh. My. Freaking. God.
I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT SEASON ONE IS OVER.
Right, calm down time. I don't know when I'll be able to start Season Two, since I'm going into high school next year. Rest assured, I will get onto that. I've even got a plot down, as well as an episode list that is now up on my profile. (Yay!)
I'd love some feedback on how I did. I will not give any spoilers on what's going to happen next. I will not respond to speculation. Thanks for being understanding.
I may post a Calvin and Hobbes the Series-style 'Bonus Page', but I may not. It all depends on how much time I have.
Oh, yeah. As of 10/12/2014, this story is moving to the Doctor Who/Calvin and Hobbes crossover section, so I don't break the rules of the site. If you want to find it, or any further Calvin Who stories, check there.
Thank you all so much!
~Kitty
)