More of an action chapter, this one. Bear with me - one more to go after this!
The Grim Adventures of Doctor Who
Terror At Birdland - By Father Jack
Part 3 - "Mandy Vs. Bird"
"Doctor!" Mavis said, trying to get the Time Lord's attention. "Any ideas?" She asked again. The insane penguin was slowly advancing on their hiding place behind the picnic bench. It squawked loudly again.
The Doctor looked back at her. There was a … possibility. It was quite a lame idea, especially by the Doctor's standards, but it was the only thing he could come up with in the time.
"Just one," he said, removing his overly long scarf from around his neck.
"You're not going to strangle the poor thing are you?" Asked Mavis, shocked.
"Of course not," the Doctor snapped. "Just going to try and calm it down."
"Calm it down? With a scarf?"
"Yes. Take this end," said the Doctor, handing one side of the scarf to Mavis.
"I'm not exactly filled with confidence, Doctor."
The Doctor, holding on to the other end of the scarf, moved backwards towards the other end of the bench. "When I say move, stand up and run at the penguin. Try and get the scarf wrapped around its' eyes."
Mavis twigged what the Doctor had in mind. "Of course! Darkness sooths some birds. But will it work on a penguin?"
"We're about to find out. Ok, ready? One …. Two …. Three …. MOVE!"
Mavis and the Doctor stood up at the same time and charged at the mad penguin, the scarf outstretched between them. They reached the squawking bird and ran around it in opposite directions until the scarf was fully wrapped around the creature's head, covering its' eyes.
For a moment, the penguin stood still, in a daze and slightly confused.
"There, you see?" Said the Doctor, sounding rather pleased with himself and grinning at Mavis. "What did I tell you?"
Suddenly, the penguin shook itself out of its' daze and let out another cry, far more blood curdling than before. It tried to shake the scarf off, and started waddling off frantically, squawking all the way. Eventually, it freed itself from the scarf and ran away faster than any penguin the Doctor had ever seen before. Mavis and the Doctor started after it for a moment, bemused, before turning to look at each other.
"Well, that didn't quite pan out as I'd hoped," said the Doctor.
"At least we didn't get our eyes gouged out," said Mavis.
"That's a plus in any situation," replied the Doctor, retrieving his scarf.
"Come on Doctor, we'd better get that salt, we don't have long left."
--
"What?"
Billy grinned from ear to ear as he stood staring at Aak.
"What do you want?" Said Aak.
Billy continued to grin.
"What is it?"
Billy continued to grin.
"WHAT???"
Billy continued to grin.
"Ok that's it," Aak snapped. He flew down so he was face to face will Billy, and began shaking the boy with his wings.
"Deehehehehehehee! Billy laughed.
"How are you such an idiot?" Aak asked the boy, releasing him.
"I love you," replied Billy, still grinning that idiotic grin of his.
"What?"
"You're soft! Deehehehehehehee! Hello, soft!" Billy said, as he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around the alien bird. He began to squeeze Aak, who in turn began to gasp for air.
"Let … go ….. of …. me!" Aak spluttered. He craned his neck back as far as he could, then brought his head forward quickly, poking Billy in the eye with his beak.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" Screamed the boy. He turned and ran to where Mr. Berton and Tony were standing, and stood behind Tony, peeking out from behind his legs. Aak continued to gasp for a few seconds, as he caught his breath.
"Was that really necessary?" Tony shouted to the bird. Aak stared daggers at him for a few seconds before flying to face him. Billy yelped and continued to cower behind Tony, whimpering.
"The idiot was choking me!" Aak said.
"He's just a child, leave him alone," Tony said, summoning up courage from somewhere.
"You're in no position to talk to me like that," snapped Aak, glaring at Tony once more. "If the Doctor isn't back in three minutes, one of you will die." With that, Aak turned round and flew up through the hole in the roof.
"Quite a first day this is turning out to be," said Tony. He noticed Billy still hiding behind him. He knelt down to face to boy. "It's ok, he's gone for now, Billy," said Tony, softly.
Billy was shaking with fear, and the eye Aak had poked was shut. "My eye hurts," he sniffled.
"Let's have a look," Tony said.
Billy slowly opened his wounded eye. He winced as he felt a sharp stinging pain, and his eye started to water. "Ow," he whimpered.
"Ahh you'll be ok," said Tony. "I don't think he pecked you hard enough to cause any permanent damage."
Billy sniffed again. "Thank you."
"We need to find a way out of here," Tony continued. He turned to his boss. "Are there any other doors?"
"Just the feeding entrance at the back," replied Mr. Berton, "but it's locked and I left the key in the office."
"Bugger."
"Indeed."
--
Aak sat perched on top of the Tropical House, keeping a look out for the Doctor. After a minute, he spotted him with Mavis, walking down the path. Aak flew to meet the Doctor as he approached the building .
"Did you get it?" He asked the Time Lord.
The Doctor sighed. "Yes, I did." He reached into his pockets and produced two handfuls of salt sachets. "I have plenty more in there too. Now let the others go."
"I will let one of them go, in exchange for you, Time Lord."
"How do you know I'm a Time Lord?"
"You left your mind open, Doctor, and I read it." Aak flew towards the closed door. "Everyone keep away," he said to the others, "or I will kill the lot of you." Everyone dived out of the way, and as he approached the door it opened ahead of him. Aak flew inside, as the Doctor followed him.
Mandy stepped forward as if to enter the building herself, but the Doctor reached out an arm, blocking her entrance.
"Stay. Here." The Doctor whispered to the girl through gritted teeth.
Mandy glared at him. How dare he have the nerve to touch her? Still, he may have a point. If she barged in, there was no telling what Aak may do. She shoved his arm away and stepped back. The Doctor continued walking and the door shut behind him. Grim, Mandy and Mavis stared at it for a few seconds, before the door opened again, and a very confused Mr. Berton stepped out. The door slammed shut once again.
"You?" Cried Mandy, loosing her cool slightly. "Why has he let you go?"
"Something about being the least important to everyone else out here," replied Mr. Berton, sounding obviously relieved to have been let go.
"Oh for the love of … and now the Doctor's in there too!" Mandy sighed.
"Enough of this," said Mavis. "There's a way to sort this whole thing out."
"Oh yes?" Said Mandy, sounding very unconvinced.
"Grim," Mavis continued, "where's your scythe?"
"Ah. The Doctor made me leave it in the Tardis, and…well, he has the key." Replied Grim.
"Useless, Grim. Useless," Mavis snapped at him.
"Excuse me," said Mandy, "but I think you'll find that I own Grim now, so I suggest you refrain from ordering him around or you'll suffer my wrath."
Mavis glared at the girl, her eyes wide with fire. "Don't talk to me like that, you little cow. I was 'best friends' with Grim for fifteen years. We have a history, you know, so if anyone has the right to talk to him like that, it's me. Ok?"
"Ladies, ladies, please!" Grim interrupted. "You can fight over me later," he said with a nervous grin.
Mandy and Mavis both turned, glared at the Reaper, and growled at him.
"Never mind," he said, backing down.
"He has point, I suppose," Mavis reluctantly agreed. "We need to get in there, stop Aak, and get everyone out."
"There's always the feeding entrance," Mr. Berton piped up, a plan forming in his mind.
"Feeding entrance?" Said Mandy, one eyebrow raised.
"Yes, the staff use it to leave the bird's food in there. The key's in the office, I'll go get it. Meantime, you three stay here and think of what we're going to do once you're inside … I mean, once we're inside." Mr Berton didn't wait for a response. He headed off to his office to get the key, a faint grin on his face.
--
The Doctor tried to shake Billy off his legs. As soon as the Time Lord had entered the makeshift prison, Billy had squealed and attached himself to the Doctor.
"Billy, please let go, I have to deal with Aak," he pleaded with the boy. Billy let go.
"Yeah, teach that nasty bird-thing a lesson. He hurt me!" Billy whined.
"Oh, do shut up, child," Aak shouted. "My head really hurts from your stupidity. Doctor, follow me. You two, stay in the corner," he commanded Billy and Tony.
Aak flew to the back of the building and the Doctor followed.
"Give me the salt," commanded the Thraptusian. The Doctor complied, and chucked all the sachets on the floor in front of the bird. Aak dived into the pile, ripping the paper to shreds and guzzling down the salt contents. He paused for moment, experiencing the salt-hit, and sighed contently.
"Good stuff?" The Doctor said, sarcastically.
Aak looked at him, but ignored his question. "So, Doctor, you're a 'Time Lord'?" Aak began to levitate, and hovered a few feet above the ground.
"Yes. Heard of us?"
"Not at all, but I read your mind, you left it open for me and I took that information from you."
"Ah."
"But I sense you're holding back," Aak said, ominously.
"Well, why wouldn't I? I don't leave my mind open for just anyone to access," replied the Doctor.
"Does the name 'Time Lord' suggest what I think it suggests, Doctor?"
The Doctor was silent.
"Give me your mind," Aak commanded. "Let me know all your secrets."
"No," said the Doctor, defiantly.
"Then I'll take it from you, and leave you as an empty shell."
"You don't have the power."
"Oh but I do, Doctor, the salt you provided has helped me. Before I only had a quarter of my strength. Now, I am fully restored!" Aak's eyes began to glow red as he tried to take control of the Time Lord's mind. "Don't fight it Doctor, it will hurt less if you just let me in!"
The Doctor's face contorted with pain. He grabbed his head with both hands, as he struggled to fight Aak's mind control
Billy and Tony watched from the corner. Although they couldn't hear what was being said, they saw the Doctor was in pain.
"Doctor!" Billy called out, and began to run towards him.
"BACK!" Shouted Aak, as he stretched a wing out towards Billy.
Billy felt an invisible force smash into his chest, and he flew backwards through the air at an alarming speed. He crashed into Tony and the two of the fell to the floor in a heap.
"I am regenerated!" Aak called out, triumphantly. He paused for a moment, sensing something from the Doctor's mind. "Hmm, regeneration," Aak mused. "That's a word you're familiar with, isn't it Doctor?"
"Aaaaagh!" The Doctor screamed.
--
Mr. Berton entered his office and retrieved his set of master keys. However, instead of immediately turning and heading back the way he came, he pulled a telephone directory off a shelf. He opened it up, scanned down the page, picked up the telephone receiver and dialled in a number. It rang a few times, then someone answered.
"Hello?" Said Mr. Berton. "Is that the BBC? Put me through to your news room, pronto. I think I have a story here that you're going to want to get on the Six O'clock news."
--
"So, a plan, then?" Said Mandy, getting agitated. "Come on Mavis! You went on adventures with Grim for fifteen years. I'm sure you've been in worse situations than this. What ever should we do?" She said, sarcastically.
"You know, you're a thoroughly unpleasant little girl," replied Mavis.
Mandy began slow hand clapping, while Grim nodded in enthusiastic agreement.
Mavis continued. "I'm surprised your friend Billy hasn't left you, the way you treat people."
"Mean puts the hook in 'em, Mavis. A tactic you obviously missed. Alone now, are you?"
Mavis could feel her anger bubbling up inside of her, but held it in. "Roger died, I had no control over that," she said, through gritted teeth.
"Then you were weak," Mandy stated, matter-of-factly.
"How dare you! You don't understand, you couldn't possibly."
"Under my control, no-one dies unless I say so."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, right Grim?" Mavis said, eying the Reaper.
Grim looked away, avoiding eye contact with Mavis. He didn't respond.
"Grim does as he's told," said Mandy, "and if I say someone doesn't die, they live. Right, Grim?" Mandy's voice cracked ever so slightly as she looked to the Reaper for reassurance.
Grim looked away again, avoiding eye contact with Mandy. He didn't respond.
"Never underestimate Death, Mandy," Mavis sighed. "I did, and I paid the price."
"Roger?" Said Mandy, quietly and with an almost undetectable note of sympathy in her voice.
"Yeah. I thought we were invincible. That nothing could destroy us, not with the power of the Grim Reaper on our side. And how wrong I was."
They both fell silent, as Mavis' mind began to wander. She recalled the day Grim told her of Roger's death. The despair, the anger, the hatred, and loneliness that enveloped her.
Mandy's thoughts involuntarily turned to Billy, trapped inside the building with Aak. Was it really possible that he could be taken, even with Grim on their side? No, no it just couldn't happen. She wouldn't let it. Mandy controlled Grim, and therefore she controlled life and death. End of story. Or was it?
Their trains of thought were interrupted by Mr. Berton walking up to them.
"I've got the keys," he said, holding them up and jiggling them a bit.
"Well," said Mavis, "in the absence of any sane plans, what say we just use the old sneak-up-on-them-from-behind tactic?"
"Now wait just a second," protested Mr. Berton, "shouldn't we think about this? Can't we wait for a bit? Say, half an hour or so?"
"There isn't time," said Mandy, taking control. "Come on!" She said as she lead the way round the back of the Tropical House. "You," she said, pointing to Mr. Berton. "Key. Now!"
Mr. Berton reluctantly obeyed, and quietly unlocked the door.
"Ok," Mandy began, "we rush in and hope for the best. I'm tired of standing around, waiting for nothing to happen. Grim, you and the fat one round up Billy, the Doctor and that other guy and get them out of there while I tackle Aak. He won't know what's hit him."
"And what about me?" Said Mavis.
"You stay out here, don't want you overdoing it and wearing yourself out now, do we?" Mandy said patronisingly, her hostility towards Mavis returning.
Mavis glared at the child. "I may be old, but I'm certainly not past it."
"Maybe it is best you stay here," said Grim, smiling nervously. " We don't want to overcrowd the place."
"Fine," Mavis reluctantly sighed.
Mandy nodded at Mr. Berton, who opened the door. She rushed in, following by Grim and Mr. Berton. She could see Aak levitating in front of the Doctor, who was on his knees clutching his head in pain. Beyond that, she saw Billy and Tony sitting in a corner. She began to approach Aak from behind, and Billy spotted her.
"Mandy!" He shouted, his eyes lighting up and a huge grin forming on his face.
"What the … ?" Exclaimed Aak, turning around. He was just in time to see Mandy lunge at him. She knocked him out of the sky and tackled him to the ground. Mandy pinned the bird to the floor and he began to squawk as he struggled to free himself from her grip. Aak lost his mental hold on the Doctor's mind, who struggled to his feet.
Mr. Berton hurried round the bird and the girl, locked in combat as they were, and gestured for Billy and Tony to follow him. The two hostages scrambled to their feet and began to make their way towards the back exit, as Grim helped an extremely dazed Doctor out of the building.
Mandy grabbed at Aak's face, digging her nails in and drawing blood from the creature. The Thraptusian howled in pain, and then flapped his wings rapidly. A wing made contact with Mandy's face, sending her into a daze. He struggled free from her grip, crawling backwards along the floor, away from her. Before she had a chance to recover, Aak kicked upwards, and his feet connected with her chest, sending her flying backwards. She landed on her back with a dull thud. Aak shot to his feet, and jumped on the girl, pinning her to the floor. Mandy tried to free herself, but the shock of landing on her back coupled with Aak's rapidly returning strength made it impossible for her to move.
Billy, Tony and Mr. Berton had stopped moving towards the exit, and were watching in horror at the events unfolding.
"MANDY!" shouted Billy, running to help the girl.
"No you don't!" Cried Aak, as he sent out psychic wave into the boy, knocking him out cold. Tony and Mr. Berton stepped back, too terrified to do anything else.
"BILLY!" Cried Mandy, craning her head back from her lying down position, just enough to see the boy's motionless body.
"He'll live, unfortunately," said Aak, as Mandy slowly raised her head to look at him. "You, on the other hand, are a real threat to me, so I will take great pleasure in killing you the old fashioned way."
"Go to hell," spat Mandy.
"Not before you," said Aak. He moved he head closer to Mandy, ready to plunge his sharp beak into her chest.
Mandy closed her eyes as tight as she could, bracing herself for the impact.
"GAH!" Screamed Aak, suddenly. He began to shake violently, as if he was having a seizure.
"What the … ?" Began Mandy, before a poorly rendered version of the funeral march began to sound out from her pocket. She instantly recognised it as her ringtone!
"Now's our chance," shouted Tony to Mr. Berton. You help Billy, I'll get the girl. With that, Tony rushed towards Aak and Mandy, and pushed the shaking bird off of the girl. Tony picked up Mandy, who was too weak from her battle with Aak to struggle, and ran out of the building. Mr. Berton followed closely behind, carrying Billy. However, just before he reached the door it slammed shut. He turned round slowly, to see a gasping Aak sitting up on the floor, apparently recovered from his seizure.
"No. You're not getting away," panted the bird. "Put the boy down, and come here."
Mr. Berton gulped and placed Billy on the floor carefully. He moved cautiously towards Aak.
"That was a very stupid thing you just did," said Aak.
"What are you going to do?" Said Mr. Berton, trembling.
"Something I should have done when I first met you," snarled Aak, as he reached out with his mind. Mr. Berton screamed in pain, grabbed his head with both hands. and fell to his knees.
"Please!" He gasped.
"Interesting," said Aak, ignoring the man's pleas. "Your mind is very easy to read. You have called the media. A camera crew is on its' way. Perfect. Now the humans can watch the beginning of the end of their world from the comfort of their homes. But you won't be around to see that, Mr. Berton."
At that moment, Billy began to wake up.
"I … I … I only wanted to make you famous!" Wheezed Mr. Berton. "We could be business partners…"
"Ah, money, money, money. It'll be so useless after what I'm going to do to your world. Now, die," whispered Aak.
Mr. Berton cried out once more, feeling the burn of a million suns rip through his brain.
Billy screamed as Mr. Berton fell to the floor. He lay there, motionless.
--
"NO!" Mandy shouted, and punched the now sealed door. After she had regained her senses, she had quickly realised that Billy wasn't with them.
Before anyone could say anything, Aak appeared through the hole in the roof and looked down at the group.
"I don't know what you just did to me, Mandy," he said, still a little out of breath from his seizure, "but I need to rest. Don't bother trying to get in, I still have enough strength to keep the door shut and keep your little friend Billy trapped in here."
"What about Mr. Berton?" Said Tony.
"Dead, as Billy will be soon if you don't do as I say."
"What do you want?" Said the Doctor.
"It seems the fat man called a television crew, telling them of me, the wondrous mysterious talking bird. I need about an hour to recharge myself after that little trick of yours. Keep them from leaving. I want to show the world what I can do." Aak looked down at the Doctor. "And I will have your regenerations, Doctor. Now be gone, all of you! Come back in an hour with the camera crew, or Billy dies." With that, he flew back through the hole.
--
The group had made a hasty retreat and were now sat in the Birdland café. Grim, The Doctor, Mandy and Tony all sat down at a table, while Mavis walked behind the counter.
"Tea?" She asked the group.
"What?" Said Tony. "How can you think of tea at a time like this?"
"Yes I know," replied Mavis. "Terribly British of me, isn't it?"
"I'll have a cup," the Doctor piped up.
"Coming up!" Mavis smiled.
"How can you all be so nonchalant?" Tony said. "Mr. Berton's been killed!"
"Yes," said the Doctor, nonchalantly. Mavis walked over, handed the Doctor his cup of tea, and pulled up a chair. "And a lot more people will die if we don't do something."
"Plus, we're all pretty used to this sort of thing," Grim added.
"I still don't understand why Aak had that seizure," said Mandy, thoughtfully. "If we can figure out what caused it we might be able to use it against him."
"Mmm," agreed the Doctor, sipping his tea.
"Doctor, what did Aak mean when he said he was going to have all your regenerations?" Asked Grim.
"In a sense, regeneration is a way of cheating death," the Doctor explained. "When the body is near death, a Time Lord can change every cell in their body, literally regenerate themselves into a new body."
"What, so you can change your body if you're dying?" Said Mavis, not quite believing what she was hearing.
"Well, yes," replied the Doctor, as if it should have been common knowledge for all of them. "Same Time Lord, different face!"
"So you're immortal?" Said Mandy, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh no, not at all. A Time Lord can only regenerate twelve times, for a total of thirteen lives. This is my fourth body. Plus there's never any guarantee a regeneration will hold. I've been lucky, so far."
"And Aak wants to steal your …. remaining regenerations?" Said Tony, twigging that the Doctor probably wasn't human. "Can he do that?"
"Regeneration is born out of energy," replied the Doctor. "Aak has psychic abilities, and given the chance he could steal the energy from me and prolong his lifespan indefinitely."
"Then what?"
"Short term, he plans to wipe out most of the life on this planet until birds are the dominant species. After that, who knows?" The Doctor began to trail off, before snapping back to reality. "Come on everyone, think! What happened just before Aak had that fit?"
Suddenly, the funeral march began to play from Mandy's pocket again. Almost automatically, Mandy reached into her pocket and answered her phone.
"Hello? Not now, Mother!" Said Mandy, and ended the call. She looked up to see everyone staring at her. "What?"
"Mandy, give me your mobile!" Cried the Doctor.
"My what?"
"Your cell phone, Mandy!"
Mandy handed the phone to the Doctor.
"So my phone made Aak have a seizure?"
"Yes!" Replied the Doctor. "Psychic ability is just about being able to tune into the right frequency or wavelength. Aak's psychic wavelength must be the same frequency as your mobile phone!"
"Cell phone."
"And when I upgraded it to work across time, it must have amplified the signal enough to interfere with Aak's mind! So, in a sense, your mother saved your life from almost twenty years into the future. The phone has to be right next to him, of course. Won't work from a distance."
"Fantastic," said Grim, sarcastically. "We're going to defeat him with a prank call."
"Well, we just need more phones," said the Doctor, enthusiastically. "I can upgrade them all, and with the combined signal it should knock him out."
"Uh, Doctor, it's 1989," interrupted Mandy. "Anyone who owns a cell phone also owns a wheelbarrow to carry it around in. I doubt we can find enough to be useful."
"Good point. Well, in that case we need to find a way of boosting the signal of this one even more."
Tony's eyes lit up. "The camera crew that's on the way! Surely they have an outside broadcast unit of some sort? Could we hook it up to that? Maybe?"
"Brilliant!" Shouted the Doctor. "Worth a try. Let's go!"
--
"It won't be long now, Billy," Aak said, staring at the boy. "I'm nearly recovered. The beginning of the end will soon …. uh …. begin!"
Billy was silent.
"Oh come on, Billy. Don't you have something idiotic to say? Might help pass the time?" Aak mocked.
"Why can't you just leave us alone?" The boy blurted out.
"Now why would I do that? I arrived on your planet by accident, but what a happy accident it was. Soon this will be my paradise!"
"I had a pair of dice, but I think Irwin still has them."
"There we go." Aak paused for a moment. Then he leaned forward so his beak was touching Billy's face. "Are you scared, Billy?" He asked the trembling boy.
Billy thought for a moment. In situations like this, Billy was unable to hide behind his idiocy. The fear brought about moments of clarity in his otherwise cluttered mind. Yes, he was afraid. But his friends were still out there. They'd save him. He knew they would.
"No," he said, finally. "Because Mandy's still out there. And when she comes to rescue me, she's going to kick your…"
"As much as I'd love to continue this," Aak interrupted, "I sense something approaching."
"Is it gas? I bet it's gas, I always know when that's coming," said Billy, the clarity quickly dispersing.
"No, Billy, it isn't. MINIONS!" He shouted, as every bird in the building stopped dead in its' tracks and fell silent. "Fly, my minions!" Aak commanded. "Fly away!"
All the birds flew out, through the hole in the roof.
--
Meanwhile, a van with BBC written across it in huge letters, pulled up outside Birdland. Dozens of birds began to land on nearby trees and fences, watching it ….. Waiting for the order…..
The order to attack.
--
Doctor Who/the Doctor and the Tardis belong to the BBC.
Grim, Billy and Mandy belong to Maxwell Atoms and Cartoon Network.
All other characters are mine.
The real Birdland is property of the owners of Birdland. Please look up the website - the home of Seth the Penguin, from the movie "Batman Returns" - I didn't know they lived that long but apparently they do! Seth's almost as old as me!