Title: Insurrection

Author: Lady Rheena

Rating: T (some violence and non-kiddie friendly stuff)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Evidently. No money. Don't sue. Please.

Notes: I am primarily a TNS Who fan and won't try to convince anyone otherwise. Any muff-ups I therefore make with TOS continuity can just be considered part of the AU definition. The Antecedent Series was written midway through TNS season two, and begins just after the events of Tooth and Claw.

Insurrection

Part 5

Getting back onto the Base was a relatively simple task since Will, Nat and Cal still retained their freedom of movement by virtue of being unconfirmed 'conspirators.' Freyja concealed herself with Rose and Jack on Cal's timeship. The other three Travellers were to meet them in the museum having already explained to Rose the principle of the plan and, hopefully, confirmed the location of the lab where the Doctor was being held. If it came to firepower, Freyja and Jack were to take point while Rose sought cover.

'How big is this place?' Jack hissed to Freyja as they lay hidden behind the hatchway.

'Nine hundred floors, not including serviceways.'

'Yeesh. I hope this holo-Rose of yours can find the Doctor. Could be a looong search otherwise.'

'She'll find him,' Rose said, wishing she felt as confident as she sounded. A quartet of helmeted technicians were just approaching the doorway, so as she'd been told she kept out of sight. Freyja and Jack dispatched all four with a nifty set of shoulder-chops, then guessing at approximate sizes they all changed clothes. Jack didn't drop so much as a single innuendo- positively frightening, considering- and jammed the helmet onto his head without a complaint. Rose didn't like the feel of the hard plastic that closed around most of her face, the visor dimming her vision and mouthpiece making it difficult to breathe, but it at least they wouldn't be recognised. And she would have put up with a lot more discomfort for the chance to get the Doctor back.

Luckily nobody seemed to notice that only three people left the ship where four had entered, so they made their way unhindered along a bronze-coloured passageway into some kind of lift. Freyja tapped in a command to the keypad, but the trip only took a few moments.

'So far, so good,' Rose heard her say to Jack.

'Yeah,' he shot back. 'So far.'

A very intimidating pair of soldiers were standing in the next corridor but Rose followed Freyja and Jack's lead, not slowing her stride and appearing as confident as she could. They changed course into one of the narrow service corridors, and Freyja yanked off her helmet once she'd palmed the hatch closed behind her.

'Okay, we're in. Eyes and ears.' So saying, she dropped to her belly and proceeded to crawl, marine-style, along an even smaller section of the access way. Glad she wasn't claustro, Rose followed while Jack brought up the rear.

'How you holding up, Rose?' he asked her.

'Been better,' she admitted, and grimaced. 'Then again, been worse. At least it's not Daleks.'

'Amen to that!'

'Quiet,' Freyja hissed, and rapped on a plate in front of her. There was a pause and then light flooded in. For a moment Rose panicked, but then Freyja was climbing out and Will lending a hand to help them all up. Nat and Cal were standing with holo-Rose in the museum. To Rose's surprise her holographic counterpart appeared to be crying. Nat was making some attempt to comfort her, speaking in a soothing voice, but Cal looked livid.

'What's going on?' Freyja asked.

'She knows where he is,' Cal spat, 'But she won't tell us.'

'What?'

'She can't tell us,' Nat corrected crossly. 'They put an injunction in her dialogue programming. She wants to tell us, but she can't.'

'Fardling hologram-' Cal growled.

'Oi!' Rose snapped. 'Leave her alone, if it's not her fault!'

'Hey there,' Jack said to the hologram with a disarmingly sunny smile. 'Rose! You look…er, blue. In more ways than one.'

'We got as far as the release phrase,' Will said, indicating the partially disassembled control panel. 'Two syllables. That's all we know.'

'Two syllables?' Rose exclaimed in horror. 'But that could be anything!'

'Not anything,' Freyja corrected grimly. 'It has to be something relevant to the personality matrix, otherwise the command won't be compatible with the system.'

'Two syllables…' Rose racked her brains. 'Ty-ler? Doc-tor? Er…Tar-dis? Mick-ey? Jack-ie?'

'I doubt they made it that obvious,' Jack said with a sigh. 'But good thought.'

'I create myself,' holo-Rose said through her sobs. 'I create myself…'

'What?' Freyja said.

'Dunno. That's all we've been able to get out of her since we found the injunction.' Cal made a disgusted noise. 'Must be some kind of failsafe built into her dialogue generator.'

'No,' Rose said, staring at the weeping mirror image of herself. 'That's a clue. She's trying to tell us, except what they did to her won't let her say it, so…' the hologram nodded frantically.

'I create myself!'

'I create myself…' she abruptly realised all the others were staring at her. The hologram, however, was desperately trying to say something else. 'What? What is it?'

'I create myself. I- I scatter-' holo-Rose had to stop, shaking her head. 'I create myself…'

'I create myself.' Suddenly the words triggered a memory and Rose found herself reciting as if the words were written down in front of her. 'I create myself…I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here- Cal, I know what the release phrase is! How do I do it?'

'Just say it- but how can you-' he fell silent at Freyja's gesture. Rose faced the hologram squarely.

'Rose…listen to me.' She took a breath. 'Bad Wolf.'

The hologram seemed to exhale, as though a great weight had just been lifted from her shoulders.

'He's on level twenty-eight, lab four. Oh god, you have to get to him quick! They've got him in an iso-tank, as if boxing him wasn't enough. I've been trying to talk to him but I can't always hack into the system and they put a lock on to keep me out-'

'But he's alive? He's all right?'

'He's alive.' The hologram waved her arms. 'Go! You have to get him out of there! They're killing him slowly! They're killing his mind…oh god, my poor Doctor-' she subsided into sobs again.

'Right.' Jack hefted his sidearm. 'I'm betting this lab is locked down, right?'

'No service access,' Nat confirmed grimly.

'So we go in shooting. No problem.'

'But how do we get out?' Will asked, busily checking his own gun.

'We'll worry about that once we get in,' Freyja said. 'Rose-'

'I don't care. I'm not scared.' Which, oddly enough, was true. Rose was far too bloody furious to be afraid. Freyja gave a small nod.

'Then let's go.'

This time there was no pretence of secrecy. Rose hung with Nat in the middle of the line. Freyja and Jack were at the front with Will just behind and Cal at the back. They came across a sentry and Jack gave the unfortunate such a blow around the head with the grip of his gun that the man dropped straight to the floor, unconscious. They piled into the lift and Cal keyed in the destination, but it had only just begun to move when a blaring klaxon went off.

'Fardles.' Freyja scowled. 'I guess they found the donators of these tech uniforms where we left them.'

'It won't take them long to discover the injunction's gone from Rose,' Will added. 'They'll be expecting us.'

'Let them expect us,' Jack said, and cracked an impossible grin. 'We're the good guys, remember? Rose, once the shooting starts you find cover. Get to the Doctor if you can but stay out of the line of fire.'

'Got it.'

The corridor was ominously empty as they hastened along it. Cal did some fiddling with the keypad at the door they reached and then cursed.

'Sealed. I can't hack in.'

'Freyja, the sonic screwdriver-' Rose began.

'Good point.' Freyja dodged past Will and made some hurried adjustments to the little tool before applying it to the lock. There was a fizzing noise followed by a loud pop and then the door slid aside. Jack and Cal immediately barrelled through but the room within appeared to be deserted except for a large computer terminal, a giant tank-like apparatus on a stand and-'

'The Tardis!' Rose jogged across to it and tried the door. 'It's closed. They didn't get inside.'

'Nat, Will, watch the door.' Freyja was more interested in the tank. She holstered her gun and laid one hand flat on the top surface. 'Oh my god. Cal! Get the controls! It's deadlock sealed, I can't use the screwdriver on it.'

'Is he in there?' Losing all interest in the Tardis, Rose scurried to the tank. It was completely opaque. 'Doctor?' She hammered on the exterior.

'It's encrypted,' Cal said from the terminal. 'Hold on, I'm running the release sequence. Shouldn't take a minute.'

'I'd expected more security,' Jack admitted, glancing around. 'This smells wrong. It's too easy.'

'Damn!' Cal gave the keyboard a thump. 'It's a triple-lock, Freyja. No way am I going to be able to crack that.'

'Fardles!' Freyja replaced her palm on the surface of the tank and lowered her voice so only Rose could hear her. 'Hang in there, Doctor. Rose, is the Tardis functioning?'

'Seems to be. Although it won't- oh!' She dug the key the Doctor had given her- it seemed like decades ago- out of her pocket and raced to the doors again. 'Come on, come on…' they unlocked with a click and she pulled them wide. 'There's got to be something in here will-' she stopped, dimly aware of a vague vibration. 'What's that?'

'The door.' Will set his jaw. 'We sealed it but they're still coming through.'

'Hang tight.' Jack barged past Rose into the Tardis and started flipping switches before positioning himself in front of the screen and tapping a few buttons. 'Atta girl…Cal, try it now!'

'My god! You broke the triple-lock! How did you-'

'Wrong. The Tardis broke the triple-lock. Get him out of there!'

Rose raced back to the side of the tank as the seals popped off. Freyja yanked at the top portion and with Jack and Cal's assistance managed to get it to the floor. The Doctor sat up so quickly that Rose jumped backwards in shock.

'They found it! I thought it was gone…they told me it was empty…I can't hear it…they don't talk to me…'

'What? What's he talking about?' Cal exclaimed.

'Doctor! Doctor!' Rose grabbed his arm but he wrestled free and buried his face in his hands, rocking violently back and forth. 'Doctor?'

'…don't talk to me…I can't hear them…they said they'd come…they shout but I can't hear…they keep screaming…they scream at me…'

'Doctor!' Frantic, she appealed to the others. 'What's wrong with him? What's happened?'

'He's mad.' Jack's face was bleak. 'He's completely out of his mind.'

'No. No! He can't be! Doctor! Listen to me, it's Rose, you have to snap out of it, they're coming-'

'Can't see!' he shouted, and clapped his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. 'It goes…it goes and goes and goes and goes and chk'zalha m'i telashon'an-' he subsided into what was either a complex alien language or total gibberish, apparently oblivious to their careful manoeuvrings to get him out of the tank. On the floor he dropped to his knees and then curled over into a ball, still rocking violently back and forth and muttering to himself.

'Oh my god.' Rose was on the verge of tears. Believing he was dead was bad enough, but this…

'They're coming through!' Will yelled.

'Into the Tardis!' Jack barked. 'Here, Rose, help me with him-' it took Freyja as well but they managed to half-carry, half-drag the raving Doctor into the Tardis. Nat and Will hurried in followed by Cal, who slammed the door behind him.

'Are we safe in here?'

'Nothing can get through that door if the Tardis doesn't want it to,' Jack said, propping the Doctor up against the control column. 'Hey, Doc. Wow. Talk about a total makeover-'

'He regenerated, I told you.' Rose pushed him out of the way. 'Doctor? It's me, it's Rose. Come on, you know me.'

'Here, this might help.' Nat pulled something out of the backpack Rose hadn't even noticed she was carrying. 'I took it from the museum.'

'His coat! Freyja, help me put it on him-' it took a bit of wrestling but they managed it, and Freyja also put the sonic screwdriver into his hand. He didn't seem to notice it, but neither would he relinquish his grip on it once he had it. A loud thud made everyone else jump.

'What the-' Freyja exclaimed.

'Sounds like a battering ram! Or maybe flash explosives.' Will pressed an ear to the door. 'Exactly how secure are these doors, Jack?'

'They'll hold,' Jack said, but he didn't sound overconfident.

'You're sure we can't just ride this ship out of here?'

'Nobody can fly it except the Doctor, and if he's non-compos-mentis then we won't get a squeak out of it.'

'So what do we do?' Rose demanded. 'Just give in? Surrender? Let them put him back in that- that thing?'

'Uh, people-' Cal held up a hand '-I have a question.'

'What?'

'One: was the console glowing like that when we came in? And if no then two: is it supposed to do that?

'I don't think so,' Jack said, grimacing.

'Oh my god.' Rose could see the cracks of light appearing around the edge. 'Jack, it's opening!'

'By itself?'

'Looks like!' The cracks were widening and the lip of the panel, which was directly behind the curled-up, raving Doctor, was starting to lift. 'Help me move him-'

'No!' Freyja said, and grabbed Rose's arm to stop her. 'It might heal him!'

'What?'

'The Tardis is telepathic. It might be able to get inside his head and…and sort it out! Stay back!' Pulling her away, Freyja turned her head. 'Nobody look into the light! Don't even glance at it! Close your eyes!'

Rose barely had time to obey when a violent blast send her reeling to the floor. Flipping onto her stomach, she buried her face in her arms and hunched her shoulders so she couldn't see a single thing. The roar of wind and vague sensation of heat on her back seemed to go on for hours before shutting off as neatly as if someone had flipped a switch. She counted to three and then scrambled to her feet just in time to see the Doctor run his hand gently along the rim of the control panel as if in benediction. Her heart leapt into her mouth.

'Doctor?'

He turned and she almost cried with relief, running to hug him tightly. It was her Doctor, whole and sane, that not-quite-cocky saunter to his stance, the boyish half-smile twisting up one corner of his mouth, exuding that reassuring aura of inquisitive, unrelenting mischief that was so oddly contradictory to the ineffably aged wisdom in his sparkling hazel eyes.

'Doctor!' That cry was Freyja's and then they all rushed him. It was the biggest, most muddled and most enthusiastic group hug Rose had ever been lucky enough to be a part of, and she was almost disappointed when it was over.

'Hallo Freyja-' the Doctor gave her a squeeze before turning to the others '-Cal, Will, Nat…' his gaze turned incredulous '…Jack?'

'Hi there, handsome!' Jack was as dapper as ever and gave the Doctor a frankly evaluating look up and down. 'Love the new body. Nice lines. Not as much muscle…but more than a little foxy.'

Rose burst out laughing at this but the Doctor was imperturbable.

'Jack! How the devil did you get here?'

'I got your message, big guy! On my psychic paper.' He pulled out the slip and brandished it. 'First we-' indicating Rose '-figured you might have sent it before you got 'killed' but I guess you must've found a way to smuggle it out in captivity-'

'I didn't send that!' The Doctor snatched the paper off him and gave it a long, hard look. 'No, definitely. Looks like me. But even if I'd thought of it there's no way I could have sent that.'

'Another mystery?' Rose asked.

'I'll add it to the list,' he said grimly as Jack pocketed the slip again. 'There's a lot of unexplained stuff going on around here.' Another thud against the Tardis door made everyone else jump but he remained unmoved. 'Don't worry, they can't get in here. Now, someone update me. How long's it been?'

'Two months,' Rose supplied. He stared at her.

'Two…no. It must have been longer. It-' a look of such pain flitted across his face that she wanted to hug him again, but it passed as quickly as it had appeared. 'All right. Two months. What's happened and, more importantly, has anyone managed to find Asha?'

Freyja took up the narrative. He listened intently, stopping her only once to ask for elaboration, and then nodded.

'Right. So the first thing we need to do is get to the mainframe and wipe it clean of every scrap of data they managed to extract from me.'

'That could be a problem,' Will said, gesturing to the door. 'It's the seven of us against pretty much the entire Institute.'

'Not quite.' Jack had been fiddling at the console. 'Here, I found the internal security communications system.' He tapped a button and voices flooded the Tardis cockpit. 'I think holo-Rose did a little shouting while we were up here. She must have known who to contact, unless she just did some kind of general broadcast. Most of the Institute may be on the Board's side, but there's a good couple of hundred people out there making noise.'

'Shots fired?' Will asked.

'Sounds like it.'

'Oh, god.' The Doctor sank onto the chair and buried his face in his hands. 'What have we done?'

'What?' Rose asked him. 'What is it?'

'Civil war. By far and away the worst kind there is. A temporal civil war,' His gaze turned cold. 'A Time War. Another Time War.'

'Got a transmission coming through-' Jack warned '-general broadcast, all frequencies.' A single voice this time, male and gritty with anger, flooded the room.

'This is a broadcast from the Loyalist forces to the Institute. We will not surrender. Repeat, we will not surrender. You have lied to us, manipulated us and mislead us in your plans for the future of our species, but our blind obedience stops here! You may take us to the last man-'

'Shut it off,' the Doctor muttered. Jack sighed and did so.

'Loyalists?' Rose echoed, wrinkling her nose. 'Surely if they're the rebels they should be the…I dunno, the Glorious Revolutionaries or something.'

'It's not loyalty to the Institute they're talking about,' Freyja said in an oddly tight voice.

'Then loyalty to what?' Rose asked her. Freyja took a breath and looked at the Doctor.

'Him.'

He looked up sharply.

'What did you say?'

'It's you, Doctor. We all grew up learning about you. You're the reason most of us entered the Academy!'

'I'm not a figurehead,' he snapped, standing up and rounding on her. 'I never wanted to be, and I never meant to be!' To Rose's lasting astonishment, because when angry he lost all his boyishness to become a frighteningly daunting figure who was every inch the Lord of Time, Freyja held her ground and tilted her chin up. She didn't seem at all intimidated either by his transformed demeanour or the more practical consideration that he was a full head taller than her.

'You may not want to be, Doctor, but you are. There's a couple of hundred people out there fighting the Institute in your name.'

'Then they're wrong,' he snarled. 'And I'm wrong. And you should have left me to rot in that casket-'

'No-' Rose began to protest, but was cut off by Freyja's far louder- and angrier- retort.

'And let them tear you apart? Discover the secret of eternal youth? They'd bring a new meaning to tyranny in the universe, and you know it!'

'Oh believe me-' the Doctor's voice became dangerously soft '-it'd be a lot better than the alternative. Killing in my name-'

'You honestly have no idea, do you?' she snapped. 'You have no idea what you are to us!'

'An excuse? That's all the human race has ever really needed to start killing each other!'

'You made us! We began as nothing! Nothing! We were just flesh! Meat, grown in a tank! But you freed us and you healed us and you made us, Doctor, you as good as created us!' He opened his mouth but she didn't give him a chance to respond. 'We may have interbred with the others, and diversified, and evolved, but we still remember our origins. It's the first thing any of us learn! You are the first thing any of our children are taught!'

The Doctor's jaw dropped, the rage draining smoothly away from his face, but before Rose could question it he murmured,

'New Earth.'

Freyja folded her arms.

'New Earth,' the Doctor echoed, suddenly becoming animated. 'You- you're the new subspecies! My god…the Sisterhood of Plenitude grew you and I let you out and now…' he looked her up and down in open amazement '…look at you! You're the evolutionary peak of your species!'

'Oh my god,' Rose exclaimed. 'You mean those…those people in the hospital? With all the diseases?'

'Yes!' The Doctor clapped his hands and gave a bark of laughter. 'They existed to be sick! They were lab rats, and now-' he suddenly swept Freyja up and spun her around '-ha! Look at them, Rose! Just look at them! Because of us!'

'Because of you,' she corrected, a trifle sourly. 'I was a bit too busy being possessed by Cassandra to do much.'

'Me!' He seemed perfectly happy with the amendment. 'Because of me!' Turning to the others, he hugged them each in turn. 'Just look at you lot! And you-' turning to Freyja again and wagging a finger meaningfully at her '-how amazing are you? Figured it all out and-' then he stopped, a frown crossing his face. She took half a step back.

'Doctor?'

'You. There's something about you.' He ran his fingers impatiently through his hair. 'God, how did I miss it before?'

'What?' Rose asked him. 'What do you mean?'

He ignored her, still intent on Freyja.

'Feels almost like…like I've met you before…'

'Anti-gravity Olympics?' she hazarded.

'No, not that. Like I met you…before I met you…'

'Hey, Doc!' Jack's call broke the spell. 'We got an incoming transmission. Aimed right at us.' He tapped a button and a woman's voice came over the speakers.

'This is the Director of the Institute to the rebel personnel within the Tardis machine. Surrender immediately and your lives will be spared.'

'Tell her to get bent,' Cal said, but before Jack could respond to that the Doctor had strode to the doors and flung them wide. There was a brief scuffle as everyone else tried to get in front of him, but he slipped neatly through. Rose managed to find her way to stand at his right shoulder and saw Freyja flank his left, the others spreading out on either side with sidearms at the ready. Confronting them in the lab were about twenty fully armed and kitted out soldiers all with heavy assault rifles aimed at them. Standing at the front was a tall, elegant middle-aged woman with auburn hair pulled into a tight bun on top of her head, and next to her…

'Asha,' Rose hissed, wanting to claw the traitor's eyeballs out with her bare hands.

'Well well,' the Doctor said, sticking his hands into his coat pockets. 'This is a reception and a half. Although I must say, your guest accommodation could use some work.' He was very pointedly not looking at the dismantled tank that had been his prison.

'I have a proposal for you, Doctor,' the woman, whom Rose assumed was the Director, said coolly.

'Oh, really?'

'Surrender,' she snapped. 'We have imprisoned all the rest of these so-called Loyalists-' her tone made the title an insult '-so any ideas you had about building up a little private army can end here and now.'

'Well whatever you were taught about me, you were taught wrong, unless you just failed to learn,' he replied mildly. 'Because if you knew anything about me at all you'd know that a private army isn't on even the very bottom of my wish list.'

'And what is?' she asked sardonically. 'Universal peace and harmony?'

'Well, that'd be nice for starters.' Suddenly he whipped out the sonic screwdriver and aimed it at her. 'Eradicating tyrants, however, is a tad more realistic a goal.'

'If you do not surrender,' she replied, unaffected by the threat, 'We will execute each and every one of your loyal disciples. Starting with Rose Tyler.'

'If you even touch her-' Jack began heatedly, hefting up the rifle he'd somehow appropriated.

'Do you know how many rebels we've incarcerated, Doctor?' the Director went on, unmoved. 'Three hundred and forty-nine. Not including your immediate companions, of course. Do you want those three hundred and forty-nine lives on your conscience? Their blood on your hands? As I believe a particularly noted tyrant once put it to you, are you a killer…or a coward?'

Rose didn't have a clue what the woman was harping on about it but she felt the tension in the Doctor and sensed the subtle shift in his stance. That had hit a nerve, whatever it meant.

'Surrender and assist voluntarily in our regeneration research, and you will be treated with appropriate deference for the last of your great people,' the Director went on. 'Refuse, and after we have eradicated your associates I will personally supervise your deconstruction cell by cell. And believe me, Doctor, you will be fully conscious and aware of the process as it occurs.' She glanced to one side. 'Asha, a demonstration of our sincerity if you would be so good.'

'God, I've been waiting to do this.' Asha took a single step forwards and raised a gun. It took Rose several heartbeats to realise that the barrel was aimed straight at her. She was dimly aware of Jack shouting, of a single pip-pip as the shot went off, of the Doctor moving-

'NO!' she screamed as he toppled in front of her. 'DOCTOR! NO!' Dropping to her knees, she turned him over and cradled his head in her lap, horrified. There was some more shouting and a minor explosion, and then Freyja was grabbing at her.

'Rose!'

'I'm all right,' she mumbled. The Doctor suddenly opened his eyes and gave her a quizzical upside-down look that under any other circumstances would have been hilarious.

'Ow,' he said. 'That hurt.'

'Right in the heart,' Jack muttered, taking off his jacket and pressing down on the wound. 'And don't tell me you've got a spare, Doc. You need both!'

'Yeah, I know that. But still…ow.' He wrinkled his nose. 'Oh, bother. I'm going to have to regenerate again in a minute. I was just getting used to this body, too. And where's your mum with a cup of tea when we need her, eh?' His face contorted then, in pain. 'Owww…you'd better get back, Rose.'

'Get a stasis pod!' The Director's shout stood out plainly against the bustle in the background. 'If we can freeze him mid-cycle we can access the trigger mechanism. Do it!'

'Oh no-' the Doctor reached out, groping blindly '-Jack?'

'I'm here, buddy.'

'Listen to me. Listen very carefully. I want you to take that big, nasty-looking gun of yours-'

'Got it right here.'

'-and put it to my head, between my eyes for preference, and-'

'No!' Rose and Jack said simultaneously.

'Doc, I am not going to shoot you!' he protested.

'If they freeze me there's a chance they'll work out how I do it! I can't let that happen!' The Doctor winced. 'They're not ready, Jack. Rose, they're not ready- Freyja! Freyja, you do it if he won't! God, someone has to!'

'There must be another way,' Rose protested, crying now. 'We can't kill you! We can't! Doctor, think of something!' She appealed to the others. 'Jack? Freyja? Cal? Someone!'

'No,' Freyja said, and stood up. Rose threw her arms over the Doctor despite his efforts to brush her off.

'No! Freyja, you can't!'

'Rose, get out of the way! She has to-'

'No.'

Freyja's second denial seemed to hang in the air like a solid object, ringing out across the suddenly silent room even though she'd spoken only in a murmur. Rose looked up, puzzled. Freyja seemed to be strangely distinct from her surroundings, as if she was somehow more real than reality itself. A faint haze outlined her. The figures of the hurrying soldiers in the background blurred, slowing…then began to move backwards.

'What the-' Rose began, but then she felt her own muscles shifting and aligning without her having a say in it. She was standing, moving backwards, and in front of her the Doctor was…not getting up, exactly, because that implied a conscious motion. It was more as if he was falling in reverse, like a tape being rewound with the image still on the screen. He was upright, stepping back, his coat falling around him to its usual loose folds, and then…and then, impossibly, she saw the slim streak of the energy bolt that had impacted his chest moving in reverse towards Asha's raised gun, like a shard of coloured glass in the air. Freyja was the only person apparently able to control herself, her movements oddly detached from the slow-motion reversal around her, and she strode forwards to examine the bolt with a curious air, then looked up and right at Rose herself. Her eyes had a strange, pearly sheen to them.

'No,' she said once more, and lifted her hand. The bolt fell out of the air, knocked casually aside, and shattered on the ground like the glass it resembled. Abruptly everything sped back up, turning chaotic. Rose saw Asha drop her gun and stare at it in amazement. Jack whirled and fired his rifle at the iso-tank, blasting it into so many smoking pieces. Cal and the others were firing at the soldiers, but Rose had eyes only for Freyja, still surrounded by that unearthly haze of yellowish light. Nor was she the only one.

'Doctor?' Rose asked, but before he could reply Freyja suddenly gave a scream and toppled. There was a blinding flash that took several long moments to clear from Rose's vision. Blinking rapidly, she recovered in time to see the Doctor yank off his coat and fling it over Freyja where she'd collapsed…dead?

'Stop!' he yelled, whirling to Jack and the others. 'Stop! Hold your fire!'

'What the hell-' the Director began.

'Me! It was me! Time Lord- er- thing.' Rising, he held up his hands. 'We surrender. Don't hurt anyone. We submit. Jack, put the gun down. That goes for all of you. Go on, drop them.'

Reluctantly, and with no small level of bewilderment, they all did. Rose risked a step forward.

'Doctor, what are you doing?'

'It'll take them a while to rebuild that tank,' he whispered. 'Score one for Captain Jack.'

'But when they do they'll put you back in it!'

'I don't matter. Not any more. Not now…' his eyes flicked to Freyja, fully covered with his jacket so Rose couldn't even see her face.

'Take them to a cell,' the Director spat. 'And don't harm them. I want everyone in this room interrogated, and memory imprints taken of…whatever that was.'

A soldier started towards Freyja but the Doctor waved him off, crouching to scoop her up, coat and all.

'It's all right,' he said, giving the others a meaningful look. 'We're your prisoners. We won't resist.'

'What are you doing?' Rose hissed as they were herded towards the door by gestures with vicious-looking pistols and rifles.

'Saving the world, the usual.' He glanced at her and, to her complete astonishment, gave a wolfish grin. 'And, in the process, changing the fate of the universe.'

Somewhere in ancient Rome the priests chanted praises to the inner light of the victorious goddess who had fallen from the Temple roof.

Somewhere on the Institute Base three hundred and forty-nine men and women passed word between them that the greatest Traveller of all had returned.

Somewhere on a world believed lost forever a darkened pedestal began to glow, and the ground beneath it trembled.

And somewhere adrift in the currents of time an unexpected spark blossomed, grew, and turned towards home.

To Be Continued