"Rose River" AU
'The Oncoming Storm'
Chapter Five
- Blon -
A/N: Yes, you will see her, but not like you think, and have already. Also trying to focus on this before I continue with River Run. And Yes, this is the RRAU universe.
Underneath the console, the Doctor was swearing a lot, banging things, and being generally grumpy. "Fine! No... Yes, that's it." The console hummed and powered up. "YES!"
Coming out from underneath, the Doctor checked the power readings. "Twelve hours? What the hell am I gonna do with twelve hours while you fill up?" he complained. The ship answered by opening the door. "Right, fine. I get it. 'Get out more.' Fine. Hungry anyway." Standing upright, he sniffed and headed out.
Exiting the ship, the Doctor closed and locked the door. Looking about the Plass of Cardiff Bay, he frowned. "Rift in Cardiff, and they say they're not important." Shaking his head, he headed down towards the Quay.
Stopping at a street vendor on the dock, he paid for a rather large hot dog with everything and a pop. He sat on a bench to eat, noticing an elderly fellow reading the newspaper on the other end of it. He was halfway through the dog when he looked at the paper the man was reading.
Seeing the picture of the woman under the headline, he paused mid chew. Puzzled, he knew he saw that face before. Swallowing, he turned to the man. "Pardon me, but who's that?" he asked, pointing at the paper.
Looking at the front of the paper, he looked back at the Doctor. "Mayor Margaret Blaine," the Welshman said. "Not surprised you don't recognize her. She abhors having her picture taken."
Nodding, he said thanks and tried to remember where he saw her before. It was recent, he knew that. Thinking back to the Ten, he frowned. Just outside the Cabinet Office, there was an upset woman being tended to by an office worker. Focussing, he thought back to when she had turned to him. It was while she was in his peripheral vision, but he was able to recognize her.
Standing, he pitched his wrapper and cup into a rubbish bin and headed over to a payphone. In the booth, he dialled Alistair's number. Plugging his way through the switchboard, and dealing with the secretary, he finally got through. ~Yes? Doctor?~
"General, did you locate that ninth Slitheen?" he asked.
~Unfortunately not. However, thing's have been rather quiet. I can only assume that he went underground or left the planet.~
"She didn't. Do you remember that blonde woman who pitched a fit next to the Cabinet Office?"
~Yes, but. Oh... Quite.~
"Exactly. Margaret Blaine is the ninth, and she's currently the Mayor of Cardiff. Not sure what she's up to, but I would appreciate some backup."
~I'll inform the local contingent. Will you at least wait for them?~
"Depends. Will they get to the Mayor's office in the next ten minutes?"
There was a hefty sigh on the line. ~Fifteen. Verify that she's an alien please, and try not blowing anything up.~
The Doctor grinned. "No promises, but I'll do my best. Will I be seeing you?"
~Only if I'm needed. Major Clark will be your contact.~
"Right." he hung up.
Leaning against a tree in the courtyard of City Hall, the Doctor checked his watch when he saw military vehicles pull up. "Fourteen minutes. Not bad," he commented.
Walking up to the only officer he could see, the Doctor spoke up. "Major Clark?"
The man turned, and his eyes widened when he saw him. "Doctor?" Coming to himself, he stood at attention and saluted him.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "What is it with you people saluting me?"
"Sir, your official rank is Brigadier General," the Major said.
Frowning, the Doctor tilted his head. "Last I checked, the Scientific Advisor held the equivalent rank of Major?"
"That changed in 1996," Major Clark said.
"Right," the Doctor said with a sigh. Looking at him, then at the men behind him. "Okay, you lot. Do what I say, and don't salute me. I can't stand it." With that, he turned and walked up the steps to the main door.
"I understand that the Mayor has been replaced by an alien?" Major Clark asked, keeping step with him.
The Doctor shook his head. "If I'm right, and I usually am, the people elected an alien posing as Margaret Blaine. She was always an alien."
"My word," Clark commented under his breath.
Coming to the office of the Mayor, the secretary stood sharply when he saw the soldiers. "Excuse me, what is this all about?"
The Doctor looked at Clark, who pointed at the secretary. Two men moved forward and moved him aside while holding his mouth to keep him quiet. Stepping forward, the Doctor and Clark opened the doors and went inside.
The office was quite large. There was a model of something looking like a nuclear plant in the middle of the room. Along the far wall was a poster that said: 'The DRAIG GOCH project' and underneath, 'Prosiect Y DRAIG GOCH'.
A door to a lavatory opened, and the Mayor went to her desk. Looking up, she blanched. "Excuse me, but what are you doing in my office?"
The Doctor lifted his sonic and scanned her. Checking the results, he nodded at Clark. "As the representative of UNIT, you are under arrest for the murder of Margaret Blaine," the Major said. Hearing that, four soldiers entered the room and leveled their rifles at her.
"This is absurd!" she protested. "I am Margaret Blaine!"
"That so?" the Doctor asked, moving towards the model. "Margaret Blaine has been dead for months. What I want to know, is why you're planning on building a nuclear reactor."
"A philanthropic gesture," she said with a sniff.
"I'm sure," the Doctor said. He reached over and flicked the reactor models off of the grey platform they were on, then lifted it up. Turning it over, he looked down at the circuitry. "I guess this waveform extrapolator just happened to fall into your hands as well?"
A look of defeat fell over her face, and she sat on the edge of her desk. "What are you going to do with me?"
"Take you home," the Doctor said.
Removing her earrings, she gave him a droll look. "And I'm just supposed to let you, right?" Clicking them, she vanished with a streak of blue light.
"What the?" Major Clark shouted.
Rolling his eyes, the Doctor held up his screwdriver. Thumbing the control, he hit a frequency and Margaret flashed back into the room, nearly running into the Doctor.
Her eyes opened wide, and she vanished again. The Doctor sighed and brought her back again. This went for two more times, before she stopped and caught her breath.
"I could do this all day," the Doctor said.
She glared at him. "This is persecution. Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"
"You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet," the Doctor said with a sarcastic snark.
"Apart from that?" she huffed.
Chuckling, he watched while she was cuffed. "So, you're a Slitheen and trapped on Earth. You have no means of escape, except for this," he tapped the extrapolator with his sonic. "Plannin' on riding out a shock wave, are we?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said blithely.
"You're plannin' on building this on top of a rift in space time. It blows up, and the planet goes boom."
"You'd think someone would've noticed that," Major Clark said. "Especially the planning office in London."
"We're in Cardiff," she complained. "London doesn't care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice." She paused, frowning. "Oh, I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native."
"I don't see how blowing up the planet helps you," Clark said.
"Think of this like a surf board," the Doctor said, tapping the extrapolator again. "Earth goes boom, the shield on this wraps around her and she rides it to the next star system."
"Seems like a lot of bother to get home," one of the soldiers said.
"Would've worked. Surfed my way out of this dead end dump and back to civilization," she said petulantly.
"Problem with that," the Doctor said.
"Oh? Like what?" she asked.
He grinned darkly. "Next closest bit of 'civilization' is Sto, and you'd end up starvin' before you got halfway there."
"There's always my secretary," she said, waving her cuffed hand dismissively.
Watching them lead her away, the Doctor didn't notice the poster banner change slightly as he walked out of the room. Instead of Draig Goch, it now said Blaidd Drwg. He did flinch a bit, though. Something tickled the back of his mind, but he ignored it and focussed on getting this Slitheen off of the planet.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was wiring the extrapolator to the console. "Good bit of tech, this. Makes fuelling a bit easier. Cut the time down to an hour." He looked up at Clark, who was still looking around in a bit of awe. "You can bring her in now."
Nodding, he went outside, then came in with Margaret still cuffed. "This ship is impossible!" she said, looking around. "It's superb. How'd you get the outside around the inside?"
"Like I'd give you the secret, yeah," the Doctor scoffed.
"I almost feel better about being defeated," she said with a sigh. "I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods."
"Don't worship me, I'd make a very bad god," the Doctor said, making Clark grin. "Wouldn't get a day off for starters."
"You do know that if you take me home, I'll be executed. Yes?" she said silkily.
"Oh, and why's that?" the Doctor said, unimpressed.
She held her head back. "The Family Slitheen was tried in their absence many years ago and found guilty, with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of the government: As soon as I arrive, they will execute me. What do you think of that, Doctor?"
"Not my problem," he answered.
Major Clark nodded. "With all you've done, I'd be just as happy to shoot you now."
The Doctor shook his head. "Don't get blood on my floor."
"Don't you even want to know my name?" she asked. "I think it would be a good thing to know who you're executing."
"Why should I care?" the Doctor asked.
She lifted her head, defiantly. "Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen. The youngest of the family. Do you honestly think I had a choice in how to run my life with a family like that?"
The Doctor eyed her from the side. "They're all dead and you still tried to blow up the planet. How many people did you kill while you were waiting?"
Caught out, she simply glared at him.
While they were waiting for the ship to power up, Blon tried to appeal for a last meal. This backfired when Major Clark had burgers delivered.
There was a bang and the ship lurched to the side. Catching himself, the Doctor tried to pull the leads to the extrapolator out, getting shocked for his trouble. "What is this?" he bellowed, finally yanking the wires off. "What the hell have you done?"
"Me?" Blon said sweetly. There was another lurch, and she broke the cuffs apart. Ripping the skin off her right arm, the larger natural one was exposed. Snarling, she caught Major Clark around the throat. "One wrong move, and he snaps like a promise!" she shouted.
"So, what now?" the Doctor asked, watching Clark choke.
"Kick the extrapolator to me," she smiled. "Now!"
Stepping forward, he nudged the device with his foot. "Suppose this was Plan B, yeah?"
"Of course," she said with a grin. "If the plant failed and I was arrested, then whomever did so would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would become fascinated by the extrapolator... Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. It was programmed to lock on to the closest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found.
"I'm back on schedule," she grinned, "Thanks to you."
"So," Clark grunted, "Still think you don't need to be executed? You're a mass murderer! Ack!"
"Shut it!" she snarled. Gripping his throat tighter, Blon threw him to the side to impact on one of the coral supports. Stepping forward, she stood on the extrapolator and crowed. "This world will crack, and I shall ride this board over the inferno all the way to freedom."
"Problem with that," the Doctor said.
"Oh?" Her attention was drawn to the console, when one of the panels opened. Blon was inundated with light.
"Opening the rift, means you'll pull this ship apart," he said with a scowl.
She scoffed. "So sue me."
"Not just any old power source, the Doctor said quietly. "It's the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe."
"It will make wonderful scrap," she said.
"That light you're seeing is the Heart of my ship. It's alive, and you've opened her soul."
Not knowing what to say to that, Blon looked at the swirling light, transfixed. "It's… so bright."
"Look at it Margaret," the Doctor said.
She gasped. "Beautiful."
"Look inside, Blon Fel-Fotch," he said enticingly. "Look at the light."
Staring intently at it, Blon looked up and smiled at the Doctor. Seeing him smile back, she said, "Thank you."
The light became intense, and the skin suit of Margaret Blaine collapsed onto the floor. There was a spark, and the Doctor lunged after the controls. "Major, keep your eyes shut!" Winding a control, the panel closed and the extrapolator shut itself down. Racing around the console, he switched everything off.
There was a sound of lightning outside, and Clark sat up looking confused. "What happened to her? Did she burn up?"
"Don't think so," the Doctor said. He knelt down to the skin suit, and felt through it. Smirking when his hands found something, he pulled them out, revealing a rather large and green egg. It had tendrils on the top.
"What is that?" Clark asked.
"That, my dear Major, is an egg," he chuckled. "Blon looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and even I don't know how powerful that is. The ship's telepathic, so I suppose they had a bit of a mental powwow. Rather than executing her, my lovely ship gave her a second chance; Regressed to her childhood."
On his feet now, Clark stepped over to take a closer look. "She's an egg?"
"Yup. She can start again and live her life from scratch," the Doctor grinned. "Just need to take her to the hatchery on Raxicoricofallapatorius. Just give her to a different family, and tell them to raise her up right."
"Will that work?" Clark asked.
"Why not?" the Doctor countered.
He shrugged. "Just seems strange."
The Doctor chuckled again. "Have to say, one of the better endings. I've seen worse. I don't think I'll need you or your boys any more. Can just set her on the console now.
"Thanks for helping me," the Doctor said, shaking his hand.
Clark smirked. "You've helped us plenty, Doctor. I'm just glad to have been able to give back a bit."
"See you around," the Doctor said, leading him to the door.