The Doctor of course didn't stay long in the room. There was far too much to do, and he had to make sure Mace didn't ship Scorch off to the Rahki. Or the Krize. Especially since he had just lied to her. There had to be something he could do, even now. Some dormant programming must be taking affect, or maybe her original programming was getting damaged by having so much energy pounding inside her. All he had to do was find out what it was and fix her. Simple enough. Then she'd be back to her old self. He could do it. After all, he was the Doctor. He could do it. He had to.

Mace was coming out of one of the side rooms as the Doctor entered the main room. He tucked something into his coat before meeting the Doctor's eyes with an odd look.

"Your friend is back to work, something we need very much right now."

The Doctor didn't wait to hear any more from Mace, who was seriously grating on his nerves. He went into the side room Mace had just come from, where Scorch was working. She was sitting cross legged on the floor, a laptop balanced precariously on her knees, a headset over her ears as she typed furiously.

"Remember the all-important item?" the Doctor asked lightly. She popped the piece of gum in her mouth as she glanced up at him before getting back to work.

"Nope," she said before changing the subject. "Glad you showed. I keep coming across stuff written in Krozian rather than computer code the closer I get to the central programs. Normally a new language would be a blast, but the Rahki didn't bother to give me the language of their mortal enemies, so I'll need a translator."

The Doctor sat down next to her. "Doesn't the—"

"She's alive. Start again."

The Doctor smiled lightly at Scorch's correction. Yeah, Katie was still there. An American by any other name would still be Katie. "Doesn't TARDIS translate it directly in your head?" he asked.

"Nope," Scorch said, shaking her head. "She's smarter than that. Where or whenever she exerts her presence, she sends out temporal energy, and that is the last thing I need right now." She grabbed the microphone on her headset, speaking into it.

"Ianto, you'd better tell me that you whipped up something on that end. If there is anything like where I'm at, the planet's rapidly approaching a look similar to 9/11, and hospitals are filling with lead poison victims." She made an irritated face, took a breath, and then repeated the question in English rather than Rahki.

"Good," she said after listening to the reply. "This is one day when broken satellites are a big help. Who gets affected first?"

As she listened, the Doctor noticed that her eye-lids blinked sideways rather than up and down. He wondered when that had started, and if she had noticed. He wondered what Randalls, the man who lead her creation team, had really had time to do on Kurunathan. Had her Last Cycle been started? If so, why was she still here? Was it part of the game?

Scorch gave a relieved sigh, smiling. "Oh, I could kiss you Ianto Jones. I owe you…Oh, don't worry, I'll find some way to adequately repay you."

"Good news?" the Doctor asked. She glanced at him, a half grin on her face and her eyes sparking for the first time since he'd interrupted her video conference earlier.

"Very. I don't know why UNIT doesn't go to TORCHWOOD more often for help. Ianto and Gwen have used an…outline of sorts Toshiko and I came up with. It basically shuts off satellites en mass by blocking any and all transmissions too or from them. The stuff farthest from the source is affected first, which means the U.S. will be safe very soon."

The Doctor made a face. "Why would you make something like that?"

Scorch's face fell slightly. "Why not?" she asked with a shrug as she turned back to the screen.

The Doctor looked at the screen with her, recognizing his blunder but not apologizing. He was no longer quite as amazed at her computer skills as he had been before reading all those files back on Kurunathan. It made perfect sense, now. He wondered if he should tell her, then decided to go for the sentimental conversation option he had.

"I heard about Tosh."

The typing slowed for a second before starting with greater fervor. "It's the Rift. People die."

"World must have felt like it was falling in."

Scorch stopped and turned to look at the Doctor, pushing her headset down to make sure she could speak without distraction. "Don't start this Time Lord. Don't try using the emotion angle, not now. Not anymore. Just…just leave it, alright?" She put the headset back over her ears.

"They're very protective of you," the Doctor said, referring to TORCHWOOD.

"Friends tend to do that," Scorch answered tightly. "Now drop it and tell me what this says."

"You've got…" The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Access to the entire ship. You might as well be in the command chair."

"Yeah, and they're gonna catch me in a minute," Scorch said. "Just tell me which choice would send me to whatever they're using to send the signal."

"Science Core," the Doctor said, pointing. "That will take you to the base of it. From there you can change the signal."

"Glad you caught on," Scorch said cynically. "Ianto was kind enough to create the changes for me. I love having a solid team. I'll miss 'em once this is over."

"Going somewhere?"

"Can't go back to Cardiff. Too risky. Maybe I'll wander over to Greenland. The cold might burn off some of the excess."

"Click on that one," the Doctor said. "Atomic Reorganizer. You know, there's a planet with that name. Greenland, not Atomic Reorganizer. Some intrepid explorers had the same brilliant idea Eric the Red had. The whole thing is actually one solid ball of ice. Still, the place has settlements. A lot of shops. Mostly ice sculptures though."

"Sounds pleasant," Scorch said after a pause, her voice slightly thick. "Maybe you should pop by, make one yourself. I'm sure you'd be great at it." The screen of the computer shuffled around a bit as Scorch broke into the signal being sent, entered a few instructions, created a lockdown, and activated the whole thing by swiftly clicking enter. She gave a smug smile.

"There," she told the screen defiantly. "Come for me now, Julius."

Scorch leaned back against the wall, her shoulders slightly slumped as she let out a deep sigh. The Doctor looked at her curiously, also leaning back.

"Unless I'm mistaken," he said, "and that's not very often, you just forced the Atomic Reorganizer to reverse everything it's been doing, transfer itself to the TORCHWOOD Three Hub and UNIT, and then set it up so that even the program's designer couldn't get into the code to put it back."

"Yep."

"That means you just saved the Earth."

"Yep," Scorch said with a small sigh.

"I'd think you'd be a little more excited about it."

"Meh," she said with a shrug. "Old news. I did it at least once a week with TORCHWOOD. Gets blasé after a bit."

"You probably saved the friends you mentioned."

Scorch looked like she had an instant retort, then swallowed it and replaced it with something else. "Nah, I don't expect so. If they aren't already dead they're wishing they were. Anyway, I'm finished. No reason to stick around. Have to figure out what's next for me."

"Well. You could…"

"What?" she asked, her tone and look killing the idea as surely as her words. "Go back to traveling? TARDIS is saturated in temporal energy. The vortex is nothing but power. I go anywhere near her and I'll crack."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"How the hell should I know?" Scorch snapped, looking away.

"Language."

"Do I look like I give a damn?" she asked, purposefully using the four-letter word. "Maybe I'll walk around the world. I know enough languages, and you don't have to leave Earth to see amazing things, Doctor. I've already got a planet; I don't need any of yours." She glanced at him, then away again as though it hurt to look at him. "Besides, why should it matter to you where I go? You're leaving once this is done and everybody's sent away. Off on your travels again as always."

"Not as much fun without friends."

"Then find one."

There was a slight fizzle and a scratching sound. Scorch frowned and flipped back the cover on her manipulator. The screen was flickering.

"Extreme irritation expressed in copious amounts," she sighed, hitting it. The screen stopped flickering, but not for long. Scorch looked up at the Doctor. "Hate to ask a favor from you, but do you mind going to my rooms on TARDIS and getting my other manipulator? You know, the one I pilfered from Jak back during the American Revolution? It should be in my glass memento shelves. This one's burning out."

The Doctor looked at her for a moment, feeling like he should be seeing something but not knowing what it was. "Sure." He stood up, and his hand was on the door handle when suddenly Scorch spoke.

"How long has it been for you? Since Kurunathan."

"Three months."

"Did you—" She cut herself off and shook her head. "Ah, it's nothing. Never mind."

Scorch closed her eyes tightly as the Doctor left. She clutched the small purple crystal on the necklace that he had bought her on Kurunathan, biting her bottom lip and forcing herself not to cry. Oh, how badly she wished she could turn back time, personal time.

She stood up and stepped into the main room. A smaller, transportable screen had been brought in to replace the one she had broken earlier. Colonel Mace met her eyes with a suspicious look.

"You're certain this will work?" he asked.

"Did you do the thing I asked?"

"Yes."

Scorch nodded once. "Then this will work."

The Doctor looked curiously at the TARDIS door. Someone had stuck an envelope addressed to him on the front door. Recognizing the words as Atlantian he pulled it off and opened it, reading the note inside swiftly.

Dear Doctor,

I'm going to die today.

I knew it as soon as I found out the Rahki were coming. I knew I wasn't going to make it past today. A little disturbing when you're a teen. At least I'll put an end to the destruction.

I'm glad I got to see you again, though I don't know how glad you were to see me again. You were right. I can never stop being Kavrin the Killer. Well, I guess really it's Scorch the Super Soldier. Not much better.

That's why I messaged the Krize. They've worked out a way to get me, and they'll quietly put me out of commission. You won't have to wonder who I'll kill next anymore. That'll be a relief to you.

Maybe you're glad I left. Maybe you finally had a good excuse to get rid of me. I don't know. Perhaps that's better. I mean, as long as I never know for real, I can pretend it was my choice, right?

I'm sorry, but I have to ask this one thing. Please, please, please, go find my family and save them. Don't let them die because I was here. Please, please, please. If you ever thought I might be more than what I am, please save them.

Goodbye Doctor. The six months I spent with you were just…just. Thanks.

I love you.

The Doctor looked up from the letter. "Kathryn." He stuffed the letter in his pocket as he started running.

"Kathryn!"

Back in the main room, Scorch looked at her vortex manipulator. It was slowly counting down to the end of the two hours. She would have fifteen seconds to tell the Rahki that she wasn't going to remain on the planet, and then the Krize would use their communication signal to transport her out. From there, the fight would go to space, leaving Earth and the Doctor alive.

He would understand. She knew he would. And he'd be just fine without her. Better than fine. He'd be brilliant as always. So brilliant and alive. He would live. That was all that mattered in the end.

The smaller, portable screen flickered to life, showing both Julius and Assavapisitkul.

"Phil," Scorch said bluntly, making sure she showed nothing yet. "I want you to know that your efforts over the past two hours haven't been for naught. I have decided to get off this planet. Too dangerous for them with me here."

"Finally coming home. Good for you. Turn off your vortex manipulator so we can bring you aboard."

"I didn't say I was going with you. I just said I was leaving."

She looked back down at the manipulator, hearing the numbers inside her head. Six…five…four…

The double doors to the room burst open, the Doctor nearly skidding out as he turned sharply towards her.

Three.

He regained his footing and started speeding towards her. Scorch took a few steps back.

Two.

The Doctor looked more determined than she had ever seen him.

One.

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*