Author's Note

The Doctor awakens and finds out exactly what he is up against.

The Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights belong to Russell T. Davies and BBC. I make no money and intend no harm.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy it, any reviews or comments would be great.

The Doctor awoke tied up and with a splitting headache. He opened his eyes, the chamber was now flooded with light. He looked beside him and saw Rose tied up and looking unhurt but scared.

"Rose!" he said again. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"No I'm fine." said Rose. "Better than you anyway, how's your head?"

"I'll live, who was that anyway?" asked the Doctor.

"O'Neil." said Rose unhappily. "He must've known you'd find me so he waited down here for you. He got Sam too."

For the first time, the Doctor noticed that Sam was tied up on Rose's other side. "Sam!" he cried. "How are you?"

"I've been better." he said.

"So, O'Neil got you too, eh? I'm beginning to dislike that man." said the Doctor grumpily. "Well, this is quite a quandary we find ourselves in. Ooh, I like that, quite a quandary. Anyway, question is where are we? And how do we get out?"

"I don't know I was unconscious when he brought me here." said Rose.

"Me too." said Sam.

"If I'm not mistaken, and I'm usually not, we're under water." said the Doctor thoughtfully.

"But why would O'Neil want to build a room underwater?" asked Rose.

"Oh, I don't think it was O'Neil." said the Doctor. "No, I think it was his masters."

"Very good, Doctor." came an ethereal voice, seemingly from nowhere.

"We meet at last." said the Doctor. "Now, tell me, who are you? Cause you're not human."

"No we are not." said the voice. "We are the many. These are our waters, this planet will fall and the human race will perish."

"Now listen to me!" said the Doctor, his voice ringing through the chamber. "I can help you; I can find you a place to live where you won't have to hurt anyone."

"Why would we leave, it's so much better when they try to fight." said the voice, almost laughing.

"I am giving you one warning." said the Doctor. "Leave this world in peace."

"And what are you going to do if we don't, Doctor?" asked the voice mockingly.

"I'll have to stop you." the Doctor replied, a hard edge to his voice.

The voice laughed, "Oh really? You and what army?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply but stopped when he heard voices.

"Someone's coming." said Rose.

The Doctor turned towards the hatch to see four familiar forms making their way down the ladder. They dropped off one by one and approached the Doctor, Rose and Sam grinning.

"Hello," said Paul cheerfully. "How've you been?"

"Not very good, as it turns out." said the Doctor. "I thought I told you to go back to the T.A.R.D.I.S."

"Did you really? I must have missed that bit." said George.

"Well, while you're here, do you mind getting us out of here?" asked the Doctor impatiently.

"Sure thing." said Ringo happily and they all moved towards the captives. They made short work of the bonds and in no time the three of them were free.

"Thanks for that." said Rose.

"Happy to be of service, madam." said John, bowing to her.

"We can save the chat for later, first we have to get out of here." said the Doctor. "Say how did you get in here without the guards seeing you?"

"Our distraction was very good." said Paul.

"Go ahead and run, Doctor. Save yourself while you can." said the voice maliciously.

"What was that?" asked George, alarmed.

"Nothing, it was nothing. Let's go." The Doctor walked back to the ladder. "Now, I'll go first to make sure the guards are still gone. I'll call down to let you know if it's safe to follow." he said.

"The Doctor grabbed hold of the metal rungs and quickly scaled the ladder. A few seconds later they heard the hatch open there was a pause, and then the Doctor called down to them. "It's alright, follow me."

One by one they clambered up the ladder and through the hatch. The Doctor put his finger to his lips and, motioned for them to follow him. They crept through the dockyard and managed to escape without being seen. They hurried back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. and were relieved to see it just as they had left it.

"Well, this is where I leave you." said Sam. "I think it's time for a change of scenery for me and the missus."

"That is not a bad idea." said the Doctor. "Thanks for all your help, Sam. It has really been a pleasure, stay safe, alright?"

"Yeah, alright." said Sam, shaking the Doctor's hand.

"Thanks Sam, take care of yourself." said Rose, hugging him.

"Good luck, mate." said Paul.

"Yeah, thanks." said John.

"Thanks, man." said George.

"See you around." said Ringo.

Sam took one last look at them all and then spoke, "I hope you can stop them, Doctor. For all our sakes. Good luck." He turned and walked swiftly out of sight.

"Will he be alright?" asked Rose.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." said the Doctor. "Anyway, it's probably better of we get off the streets, plus I've got something to tell you, in you go."

They settled down in the T.A.R.D.I.S and looked expectantly to the Doctor. "Right, when I was asking around, I found out that just before the explosion occurred, there was a small oil leak in the ship. Now it may not seem like much, but these creatures need the water for something. That's why they're putting the chemicals into it, so what happens when oil starts leaking into their water, contaminating it?"

"They get rid of the source." said Rose, comprehension dawning on her face. "They were just trying to stop the oil getting in the water."

"Exactly," said the Doctor. "Now, judging by what they aid in the chamber, they want the planet. But what for? To destroy it? No…" The Doctor stopped suddenly and slapped himself on the forehead." Ooh, I am thick. D'you remember what they said these are our waters. They're not poisoning the water; they're converting it, making it habitable for themselves. And what better place to do it than planet earth, 70% water, plenty of space for them."

"Are they going to poison all of the water?" asked Rose.

"They would have to; they would have to have a vast amount of chemicals somewhere. Ready to release into the water, but where?"

"The alien, it said we are the many, Doctor, how many of them are there?" asked Rose, worried."

"I don't know exactly, but it doesn't matter because they reproduce so rapidly, they can double they're numbers every day, once all of the water's converted, there'll be no stopping them."

"Wait! Do you know what they are?" asked Rose.

"Oh, yeah, haven't I told you."

"No!" they shouted in unison.

"Oh, right, sorry, they're called Netvors."

"Netvor?" asked John.

"Yep." said the Doctor.

"And where are these Netvors from?" asked Rose.

"They're from a planet called Accueil. About 200 years ago their planet died, I mean literally died. Food source died out, water dried up, and they need water to survive. So what do they do? I'll tell ya, they move on to a new planet. Only this one doesn't have enough water. After a while it dries up and then they move on to the next one. Leaving a barren, lifeless desert in their wake. They won't stop; they'll just keep moving from planet to planet till they find one capable of producing enough water to support life."

"Well, they're not having this one." said Rose fiercely.

"Yeah," said John "We'll help."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Right!" said the Doctor. "Alien invasion to stop, planet to save, what are we waiting for? Alons-Y"