A/N: Happy 2015! It's been a year of funk. As in I'm in a hella writing funk. And also delightful beat driven music. But mostly the first one.
The Validium Takes Manhattan
Part Five
"Come on, Jane!" The Doctor had finally reached the main platform and was only now noticing how far behind Jane had fallen.
"You know, stairs are highly overrated." She grumbled, trying to convince her legs to continue up the last four stairs before they gave up entirely. Unfortunately, she spotted that the platform was really just the midway point. From there, her options were another tightly wound staircase, or a reinforced ladder. Both of them were going to involve more climbing than she really wanted.
"Well, you'll be happy to know when the bomb goes off, every set of stairs in a twenty mile radius will cease to exist." The Doctor's face was twisted in a scowl as he looked between the two paths, deciding which one was more likely to take them where they needed to go.
"Uh," Jane had to admit, she missed the plucky lunatic who had saved her from the spiders. Because this man was a little terrifying.
"Right," the Doctor sighed as he recognized the look of horror on her face. "Sorry, that wasn't particularly reassuring. Just a bit techy." He climbed down the last few steps and squeezed her shoulder "I'm going to fix this. Don't you fret."
"Oh good," Jane rolled her eyes. "For a second there I was worried."
"Atta girl," he grinned and then looked toward the spiral staircase, apparently deciding that was their plan of attack. He paused at the bottom, a calculating look on his face. "I just don't understand the point." He grumbled. "There are more tactically effective targets it could have chosen. Why here? Why this particular statue?"
"Maybe it doesn't like the French?" He gave her a wary look and she shrugged. "I don't know, it's pretty important, figuratively. Maybe it's just sending a message?"
"It's possible," the Doctor frowned. "But that's not what it was designed to do. It's not a scare tactic, it's a final solution. If it's here to stop Earth from threatening Gallifrey, blowing up the Statue of Liberty isn't all that impressive."
"Well, from where I'm standing…"
"Yes, alright. It is impressive, but not as impressive as blowing up an entire planet, which is more to-" the Doctor stopped as though he'd forgotten how to speak. "Oh stupid Doctor." He smacked his palm into his forehead. "Stupid, stupid daft old man. Extraordinarily stupid." He spun in place, having trouble deciding whether to continue up the stairs or retreat.
"What?" Jane hadn't thought it was possible, but he was making her more nervous. "What's stupid?"
"It's a giant conductor. The Statue of Liberty, it's a giant radio tower!"
"Okay?"
"In-" he checked his watch. "Five minutes, the International Space Station is going to be directly above us. That's when the bomb will go off, that's when the signal will transmit, and that's when…well, that's when everything else goes boom."
"I can hear you saying things, but I don't get how they're connected." Jane shook her head. 'Boom' she understood. But where the space station had come from, she had no idea.
"It's the International Space Station. Every single major country has programming on that ship, basic data, relevant biographies, anything that might need to be saved in case of global catastrophe."
"Like what? Russia's top five movies?"
His eyes narrowed. "Like the nuclear launch codes for every armed warhead. Ever." His voice had dropped an octave and Jane felt physically ill.
"But, there are like, multiple steps to that kind of thing. There's got to be two guys or something to even open the box to hit the button." Jane decided against clarifying she'd seen it done that way in movies. She couldn't claim to believe 'Hunt for Red October' was especially accurate. But it was also too terrifying to imagine that a rogue metal statue could set off every bomb in the world just because it knew some numbers.
"There are countermeasures for that sort of thing, heads of state who need to be consulted. Unless…"
"Unless what?"
"Unless there's global war. If there's a strike so profoundly violent, the safety measures are bypassed, because it's believed no one will be left alive to counterattack."
"So…we're going to get blown up to trick the space station into thinking World War III has started?"
"It's going to trick the space station computers. But then, yes, all the weapons in the world are going to arm themselves. And fire."
"Holy crap." Jane grasped the railing, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of her. This wasn't just a basement, this was the whole world, and she was not remotely prepared for it. "Holy crap." She stumbled backward, shaking her head.
"Don't panic. It's important not to panic." The Doctor reminded her, but he wasn't smiling any more. "We're about to get this sorted in just a moment. Trust me."
Five minutes. He'd said they had five minutes. She didn't know if it was a trust exercise so much as an exercise in suspending reality.
"Okay." Her eyes were wide, she didn't know if she really believed it, but she said it anyway because there wasn't much of a choice now.
"Right, up to the crown-" he grabbed her wrist and started to pull her up the spiral stairs when the stairs began to shimmer and warp. "Watch it!" He warned, pushing her back.
The puddle started to gather into a column and rose up to match the height of the Doctor before it solidified into the shape of a person. It was a woman, a bright silvery color instead of the gray metal of the stairs.
"Doctor," it said, its voice reverberated through the statue. "I asked you not to interfere."
"I've always had trouble with following orders," he shrugged, keeping himself between Jane and the creature as it circled. "I respond better to being asked politely. And truffles." He added as an afterthought. "Although I can't say any amount of chocolate could convince me to let you continue. I'm giving you one last chance to end this. Let Mary go, turn off the device. It doesn't have to be this way."
The creature stared at him for a moment, "I am protecting Gallifrey."
"Well then, as one of Gallifrey's last, I give you permission to stop." He shot her a bleak smile.
"My orders come from the President."
"As I've mentioned, there's only me left. So that makes me the President as far as you're concerned. I even voted for myself. It was all very democratic."
The creature struggled for a moment to believe him. But ultimately settled on not. "I am protecting Gallif-"
"There is nothing left to protect!" The Doctor's contained fury was ripped from him and Jane shrunk in on herself to avoid it. "You're a relic from a bygone era. Where were you in the war, Nemesis? Where were you when the Daleks were killing our people? Where were you when we were tearing ourselves apart to destroy them?"
There was another pause as the creature regarded the Doctor carefully. "The programming is clear. Earth is a danger to Gallifrey. Earth must be destroyed."
"You're not a computer they programmed. They designed you to think. Just think. All those people out there, all those lives. You're willing to wipe them out so you can protect a dead planet?" The Doctor searched the creatures face, but whatever he was looking for, he didn't find. "Of course. They gave you the ability to think, not to feel. You're just a robot with a slightly more complicated bit of binary running through your head." He scoffed angrily, tugged his jacket straight and took a step closer to the creature. "Now you listen to me. I am the last." He said in a ragged whisper. "I am the only one left, and I am ordering you to stand down, or I will do everything in my power to stop you."
"I serve the planet-"
"Then you leave me no choice," the Doctor said with disgust. He raised his sonic and aimed it at the shimmering creature, it gave out a warbled whirring noise. The creatures face twisted violently as the sound seemed to penetrate it, vibrating it's very surface. It howled loudly and Jane had to cover her ears to block out the horrible sound. It took a staggering step forward, leaving behind a puddle as it moved, and then another.
"Doctor!" Jane tried to warn him, but he wasn't listening. Hatred was etched deep in the lines in his face as he stood against the creature. The creature threw itself at the Doctor, slamming him into the wall. Jane ducked as they went flying back, the Doctor's head knocked against the metal wall and the sonic went scattering from his hands. He looked dazed for a moment but he quickly blinked it away. He lurched forward for the sonic, but he didn't get very far.
"Jane," he said very quietly, his eyes locked on the creature as it shook, trying to recover from whatever the Doctor had done. "I need you to run."
"What? Come on, we need-" She reached to help him up but he recoiled from her.
"Don't touch me!" He shouted, fixing his desperate eyes on her. "Get out of here. Run to the bunker, stay down."
"But you said-"
"Get out of here!" He shouted, "Get out!" His voice gurgled and then Jane saw it, the tarnished green copper color that was spreading over his skin. It froze his face as he shouted, creating a perfect cast of sheer terror. Jane stumbled backward, tripping over her soggy shoes and falling to the ground.
The metal creature had regained its senses and loomed over her, leveling Jane with a dark stare. Jane squinted her eyes shut and waited for the cold sting of metal to creep across her skin.
"Do not try to stop me." It warned in a cold voice. It shimmered for a moment, and then it sank into the floor. Jane blinked, watching the lump disappear up the arm of the statue.
"Oh what the hell," Jane whispered, her eyes darting between the Doctor's frozen figure and the last place she had seen the creature. "How am I supposed to stop that?" She stared at the Doctor, but he offered no suggestions. She hesitated before picking up the sonic screwdriver, it felt like a lead weight in her hand as she stared at it.
"Great." She muttered, pushing herself up off the ground. "This is just great." She took one step toward the ladder and paused. "If I end up getting the planet blown to bits, I am coming back for you." She threatened the Doctor's unmoving form. She pushed one of the buttons on the sonic screwdriver experimentally, but other than making a sort of whistling sound, it didn't do much. "Yeah, this is going to go just great."