Chapter 8- Things Get Worse
Everyone in the room stared at the rhino man in the case. It's eyelids were half-closed, and it appeared to be barely breathing.
"Ah." The Doctor said, "He's resting."
"What IS that thing?" asked Keesha.
"Now don't be rude." said Frizzle disapprovingly. "HE is Tybo, a Judoon, and a commanding officer of the Shadow Proclamation."
"Ha!" The Doctor laughed, "Commanding officer for hire, more like. He's also the reason we're here, I'm guessing."
"H-H-How did you know he was here?" Hearn said.
"Simple, you're a genius, Hearn, but look around you. There's no way half of this stuff was you."
It was then that Tim gave an approving whistle.
"Rhinoceros aliens, robot dinosaurs, and time travel? I think this field trip is going down as one of my favorites!"
"Glad some of us can still enjoy ourselves." Rory said, "But if you don't mind me asking Doctor, what's he doing here?"
"And why bother enlisting a human to make dinosaurs?" Piped Amy.
"That's the question isn't it..." The Doctor said, looking over Tybo. "You awake yet, Commander?"
As the creature started to awaken, Frizzle went over to The Doctor and observed Tybo curiously.
"Is there something...different, about him?" she asked with a hand on her chin, "Or is that just me."
"No, your right..." said The Doctor with a squint. "He looks older than we last saw him. Centuries older."
Tybo's own voice cut into the conversation, the officer now fully awake.
"Doctor." he said, making everyone jump in shock from the suddenness. "You have arrived...as I planned..."
"Ah, yes, I figured I was expected. Last I saw you, we left you behind in 1792. Don't tell me you waited a century and a half for a pick up!"
"I approach you now with the same mission as when last we met, that being to assure your apprehension and destruction."
"Wow. I knew you guys could hold a grudge, but that's a bit of a long wait for whatever crimes I've committed, don't you think?"
"It is imperative that The Doctor is dealt with! Such is the mission of the Alliance!"
With this, Tybo leant his head back, visibly tired again.
"The Alliance?" The Doctor asked, "What Alliance?"
"E-excuse me, Commander Tybo, sir, I'm c-c-confused." Hearn began, "Y-You n-never informed about this man-"
Tybo cut Hearn off with a growl, before addressing The Doctor again.
"The Alliance demands that The Doctor be destroyed, and thus prevented from piloting the TARDIS."
"What for?"
"I owe you no answers!" Tybo growled again. After a moment of intense silence, he began again.
"Upon your deception of us, my platoon was stranded in a primitive time. We were perceived as monsters. Many of us were killed, after our weapons ceased to function. We had no way of contacting the Shadow Proclamation. You abandoned us to our deaths, Doctor. The Alliance predicted that youwould leave death in your wake. You and the TARDIS. And that is why you must be stopped before you can continue."
Their was yet more silence as Frizzle looked forlornly from the The Doctor to Tybo. The Doctor didn't have a response, but Amy most certainly did. She walked up to the decrepit Commander and glared at him.
"The Doctor doesn't cause death, ok?" She said. "Not unless you're a bad guy. The Doctor stops death. He helps people. And it sounds to me like you had it coming, trying to kill him and all."
"Yeah, Mr. Melodrama." said Ralphie, "It's kinda hard to take your sob story seriously when you've been letting loose dinosaurs all willy-nilly."
"Though I must admit," The Doctor said, "for you that's creative. A scenario so outlandish it would bring me right to you. Of course, there was no guarantee that it would ever work so on that level it's stupid. But hey, you managed to keep casualties to a bare minimum, so I suppose I can't be angry."
The man clapped his hands, before leaning himself on Tybo's case.
"So what do you say we just forget about this whole mess, you call off the Dino's and my friends and I go back to our business?"
"No!" said Tybo curtly, "You must be eliminated!"
"How're you gonna do that, eh?" The Doctor said, turning as if to leave. "You're a decrepit old rhino in a box."
It was then that Tybo let out something akin to a laugh.
"I did not stave off death for this long, only to let you slip away, Doctor."
Tybo moved his arm, revealing a large button in his case.
"If I am to die soon anyway, I will take solace in knowing that you were taken with me!"
Tybo pressed the button, the sound of loud banging was heard, as the room grew darker. This darkness was replaced with a strong redness, as Dorothy-Ann ran back to the hallway, looking around to notice all of the windows had been sealed off.
"Guys!" She said, "We've got a problem!"
"Ya think!?" came Phoebe's voice.
"Ooh, look!" said Frizzle, pointing to a small screen that had just come up inside Tybo's case. "A countdown! I do hope it's for something good."
"Um, I think that might be a bomb actually." said Rory.
"Indeed." Said Tybo as the countdown began from 20 minutes. "This building was long ago fitted with explosives, specifically for The Doctor's arrival."
The Doctor, along with the still bewildered Hearn, spun around in panic before looking to the Commander.
"Tybo, what are you doing!?"
"Completing my mission." Said the Judoon, looking straight in front of him.
The Doctor growled in response and ran to one of the windows, scanning it with the sonic screwdriver before groaning.
"What is it Doctor?" Dorothy-Ann asked.
"Deadlock seals!" said the man in increasing dread, "Developed during the Last Great Time War. Sonic instruments have no effect!"
"I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!" shouted Carlos.
Ralphie grabbed the nearest blunt object, which just happened to be a robotic raptor leg, and swung at the wall with it.
"Me neither!" he shouted, before Keesha walked up to him and swiped the leg away, clocking him on the head with it.
"Ow!"
"That's not going to work, Ralphie! We need another way out."
"There IS no other way out!" The Doctor shouted, running back to Tybo and leaning on his case again.
"Tybo, please! You're making a mistake! Stop this! Stop the countdown!"
It was only then that Tybo turned his head to face The Doctor, looking him straight in the eye.
"Your destruction is for the good of the universe, Doctor. I am going to die today. Let my last act be one of justice."
"Justice?" The Doctor flung his hand to the panicking kids. "Tybo, look at them! This isn't justice, they're children! Innocents! Tybo, stop the countdown! Do with me what you like but please, let them go!"
Tybo stared long and hard into The Doctor's eyes.
"Please."
With some effort, Tybo moved his arm to the button again and gave it another press.
The red lights died down, as did everyone's shouts. The lighting returned to normal, signaling that the windows had reopened.
Everyone gave a collective sigh of relief, before The Doctor turned to Tybo.
"Thank you."
It was all he had time to say before he was suddenly felt a huge shock run through him.
"DOCTOR!" Amy shouted as the man fell to the floor with a groan.
"You will stay." said Tybo with a labored voice.
"Yeah." said The Doctor, struggling to stand back up, "Gathered that much."
"All un-accused may leave."
"Heh. You heard him guys. You might wanna get out now."
There was a long silence, filled only by Tybo's brewing, before the children looked towards each other, then Miss Frizzle, who gave them a nod. They solely began to leave the room, though Amy remained rooted in her position.
"We're not leaving you." she said.
"Yes..." said The Doctor, "you are. Unless you wanna get blown up!"
Rory stepped up to Amy and put his arm around her shoulder.
"Please, Amy. Just think about it for a moment."
"The Bus will be able to get you home. Won't she Valerie?"
"Oh yes, she will indeed."
"Good." With that, The Doctor gave Amy a quick wink.
"...Ok." She said after a moments pause, deciding to trust her friend. "Ok. Let's go."
With that, they began to leave, with Tye Doctir gesturing for Frizzle to follow.
The teacher did so, only to be zapped much the same way The Doctor was before making it to the hall.
"MISS FRIZZLE!" shouted the kids as their teacher fell to the floor.
"Valerie!" shouted a The Doctor, turning to Tybo, "You said-!"
"Valerie Frizzle...is accused with...aiding and abetting...a criminal. She is NOT innocent."
"Wooh!" Frizzle shouted as she writhed on the floor. "What a rush!"
"My patience...is wearing thin." Tybo said as the student rushed back into the room.
"Unaccussed leave NOW!"
"Come. Come." said Amy, grabbing the kids along with Rory and pulling them out. "They'll be fine. They've got a plan."
With a slight amount of struggling, the children, Amy and Rory where all gone.
A moment later, Hearn's voice rang out in the silence.
"M-my work..."
The Doctor looked toward Hearn, shocked to see him still there.
"Hearn." He said as the old man approached Tybo, "Hearn, what're you doing? Get out! You're not accused of anything, you can leave!"
"All of m-my work. These many years. Alone, in th-this building, work-ing f-for you. It was a-all for this one man!?"
"Hearn!"
Tybo, who seemed to pay no attention to the man, clearly had run out of patience, and pressed the button yet again. The light went red, and the countdown resumed at 17 minutes and thirty seconds.
"And you w-would destro-oy it all for this one man as w-well!?"
"Hearn, leave, the windows and the doors are closing! The system only let's him stop it once!"
"This work, these machines! They're my life! It is all I h-h-have! You will not destroy it!"
The Doctor ran up to Hearn and shook his shoulders.
"You're going to die in here, is that what you want?"
Both men at that moment looked to Tybo. The Judoon was staring directly in front of him. To The Doctor's eye, something close to a smile could be seen on his face.
"What's funny?" He said, walking to the case and tapping it.
Tybo didn't react. Not with words, not with expression, not even with a blink. Not even with a breath.
"No. No no no no no!"
Frizzle took that moment to rise from her electrified stupor.
"What's wrong, Doctor?"
"...He's dead!"
"Well this stinks." Wanda said, sitting on the bus with the others. "Are we really just gonna do nothing while The Frizz and The Doc get blown to smithereens?"
"Of course not, squirt," Amy said, "Have a little faith. We've got yer Magic Schoolbus, don't we? Bustin' 'em out of one building should be no prob."
"Um..." rang out Phoebe's voice.
"We might have a slight prob." She said, pointing out the window.
The others looked along with her. Walking across the town was their old friend the T-Rex, preceded by a mass of terrified and sprinting townsfolk. Following close by was a veritable mob of other dinosaurs.
"Yeah," said Rory, "just a slight one."
"Velociraptors, stegosaurs, pterodactyls..." said Carlos, his voice growing in panic as he listed off the creatures he saw. "They're everywhere!"
"But how?" Amy asked, "Why? I thought the Doctor said they were all dormant or something."
"Something must have happened." Rory said, "But now what're we supposed to do?"
After taking a deep breath, Amy answered.
"We stick to the plan. Use the bus, get the Doctor out. He'll know what to do."
"No!"
All heads turned to Arnold, who had shrunken slightly immediately after his outburst.
"What do ya mean, no?" Amy asked.
"I mean... Shouldn't we stay and help the people here first. I-it's just that, The Doctor and Miss Frizzle can take care of themselves...right?"
"Right!" agreed Dorothy-Ann "If there's one person we know who can get herself out of a jam, it's The Frizz! These people are going to get themselves killed without us."
"Besides," said Carlos, "If I had to pick between an exploding building and dinosaurs, I'd say the others got off easy."
The other kids all voiced agreement. Even the bus seemed to take their side with a honk, as Rory turned to Amy, who seemed incredulous to what she was hearing. It was almost as if they had more faith in The Doctor than she did.
"Fine." She said. "We tackle the dinos first. Now, how do we do that."
The kids turned between each other, before Dorothy-Ann spoke up.
"I have a plan."
"This looks like it's somehow connected to the automated controls on the dinosaurs." Said Frizzle, leaning over a nearby control panel as The Doctor scrambled around the room, sonic-ing every possible orifice for a way out.
"It turned on after the children left. It's set to link with the ones outside. All of the dinosaurs outside the building are now completely autonomous. How good for them!" she stated with a smile, earning a bewildered look from Hearn.
"B-but the only one with a-access to those controls was T-T-Tybo. Why would he turn them on with the three of us in h-here?"
"Of course he wasn't going to just let kids go free!" growled The Doctor, smacking his head. "He'd never risk compromising the mission, so he set the dinosaurs on the kids so they wouldn't be able to get us out."
"Well that was awfully silly of him." Frizzle said her smile never faulting.
"Wh-What type of threat did he possibly think those ch-children could serve?"
"That's a Judoon for you," The Doctor said, "logical but thick. But now's not the time to think how they could save us. We have to save them!"
Hearn looked at the clock as the Time Lord and the Teacher strode past him to the other side of the room. It read 12 minutes.
"How do you intend to do that?" He asked.
"I assure you that's quite the unnecessary question." Frizzle said, "Once we have the answer, we'll be sure to give it to you."
AN: So this chapter was a loooooooooong time coming. I have a plethora of excuses, including but not limited to laziness, writers block, working on my blog, school starting, planning concepts for future fics and just generally doing other things. But oh well, all I can do now is try to get the next chapter out way sooner. Shouldn't be TOO hard since I actually have a plan for next chapter, unlike the end of last chapter.
I wanted to get this one out ASAP, and thus didn't have anyone beta read it. So I apologize if there are any spelling/grammatical errors I missed. Here's hoping you enjoy.