Encounter With Evil
"Aha! Here we go! There's a massive concentration of temporal energy focussed on this spot here," chirped the Doctor, tapping the small screen in front of him, "By the looks of it, it's been built up by constant travel through timelines, which means someone there is jumping through time an awful lot..."
"That's him..," Ember said, her voice filled with a dark hatred that Flair had not heard before.
"Who's this?" asked Rose, moving over to the Doctor and examining the screen over his shoulder.
"The guy who's changed our timelines," informed Flair, getting up from the damaged chairs at the back of the room and stretching his arms as wide as he could.
"All we need to do now is lock the navigation system onto that point, fire up the engines and off we go!" the Doctor cried, grinning at all of them. He received no such enthusiasm from the draconic pair though, who simply looked at each other and then back at the floor.
"Oh, all right then, let's all be miserable...," he muttered to himself, returning his attention to the command console.
Flair looked over at Ember with clear sympathy in his eyes. As quietly as he could so as not to draw attention from everyone, he walked over to where she sat and dropped himself down beside her.
"You don't look happy," he said simply.
"Are you surprised?" returned Ember, not removing her focus from the floor.
"Not really. You've spent most of this trip looking the way you do now," he told her, shuffling up against the support beam that Ember was leant against.
"I'm worried, okay? I don't know what's going to happen and... and that scares me... It scares me so much...," she whimpered, bringing her hands to her head. Small silver tears rolled softly from her eyes before dropping silently from the end of her snout and disappearing into the murky depths beneath the floor. Flair, unsure of how to react, chose to carefully place his arm around her in an attempt to comfort the quietly sobbing dragon.
"Look... everything's going to be fine... you'll see. I mean, these two we're with now? They scare the living daylights outta me, but at least they're taking us to the guy who fucked everything up...," he said, glancing over at the other occupants of the ship, making sure he hadn't been heard.
Ember chuckled slightly, and propped her head against the pillar behind them, staring glassy eyed at the ceiling.
"I'm not sure what to do once we find him... ," she admitted, more tears running down the side of her snout, "This entire thing is a gamble... I just have to hope that somehow, I can figure out away to reset the time-line so that none of this happened."
"Well, when he's dead, he won't exist in any time-lines, will he? Because he wouldn't be a proper part of any of them. So... if you just killed him... then took out the machine that brought you and you're mate back in time in the first place... time would re-align wouldn't it?" suggested Flair, using his hands to help him describe his little plan.
There were moments of silence between them before she finally answered him.
"I suppose you have a point," she muttered.
Flair smiled and shook her slightly.
"See? It's not all bad! There's still a chance!" he said, trying to cheer her up.
There was more silence as Ember contemplated what he said.
"Thanks Flair... just in case I never said it before...," she said, turning to him and letting a small smile escape her.
"... no problem...," he smiled.
Their moment of privacy was rudely interrupted when the entire room began to shake violently. They both raised their heads to look over at the Doctor, who was madly running around the console wacking random things with his mallet. Rose was stood behind him giving him an awkward smile.
"Can I just ask what THE HELL IS GOING ON NOW?!" Flair yelled over the noise that the core was making.
"We're de-materialising!" replied the Doctor, yanking sharply on a jammed level, " That's how we get around! De-materialize from one place, and re-materialize in another!"
"Doesn't this thing have some sort of stabiliser?" asked Ember, standing up and using the pillar for support.
"It did! But it broke!" came the reply.
Rose just laughed as he continued to thump buttons and switches.
"You're mad, you are!" joked Rose, grabbing the nearest stable object.
"INSANE!" replied the Doctor.
With an almighty bang, the room fell quiet, and all shaking stopped. The core of the room (Which had been slowly rising and falling as the room trembled) was now stationary, and the small screen had de-activated.
"This, my friends, is your stop," smiled the doctor, running over to the door.
"Erm... thanks?" was Ember's response.
"My pleasure," he smiled, opening the door for her.
"Hang on, how do we get back if my time-device isn't working?" asked Ember, picking the device up from the floor as she headed out.
"This guy you're on about, the guy that changed time, he couldn't have travelled through the time-lines without some sort of machine, similar to yours. If he's made more then one jump, the chances are he'll have more then one device. You just need to find one of his. Trust me, you have every chance of getting back," smiled the Doctor as he held the doors open.
"Well... thanks, I suppose... for helping us out," Flair said, stepping out of the TARDIS and into the dark outside.
"Don't mention it... good luck, both of you," he said as Ember stepped out after him.
"Thanks... good luck to you both, too," Ember returned, giving them a quick wave before bounding up to Flair, who was already metres ahead. They turned around as the doors closed and watched as the light on top of the box began to glow. The heavy, metallic grinding filled the air as the machine faded out of the area and vanished from their sight completely.
"That was... weird...," Flair said, still watching the spot where the vessel had been.
"C'mon, we have a bit more ground to cover by the looks of it," Ember told him, turning away and walking ahead of Flair.
"What d'ya mean?" asked Flair, but Ember needn't explain anything, for when he turned around, a sight met his eyes which sent a shiver up his spine. They were standing on the outskirts of a colossal fortress that stretched up towards the heavens with what seemed like endless towers and spires. Every wall they could see was the darkest black possible and the entire structure radiated with a dark energy that pulsated every few seconds with a deep purple throb of light.
"Whoah...," was all Flair managed to say. His jaw slacked and his eyes stretched open as he registered what he was seeing.
"Are you coming?" called Ember. Flair snapped out of his trance and spotted Ember, striding down the thick black path that led to the gates of the dark palace.
"This guy's made himself at home...," muttered Flair after catching up with her. She did not reply. Instead she raised her hand to his chest in order to stop him advancing any further. He stopped and looked up at Ember with a look of confusion. She merely pointed up ahead at the squadron of dark-scaled creatures that were making their way down the path towards them
Ember rolled of the path and into the ditch at the side, pulling Flair with her.
"Any suggestions?" she asked him, whipping her gun out of it's holster.
Meanwhile, the unusually shaped creatures drew closer and Flair was able to make out a few of their features. The two at the front were scrawny compared to the sheer bulk of the pair at the back. Their narrow, whip-like tails lashed about wildly, ripping chunks of the path out as they went. Their eyes glowed a fierce blue as they surveyed the area and in their arms, of which there were four, were large, chunky weapons that neither Dragon nor BIDras recognised. Their glistening fangs dripped with saliva that stained the already dark ground.
"What... are... they?" Ember asked, pointing at them to emphasize her question.
"Who knows, but they look hostile... so... after you?" Flair said, gesturing with his hand as one might if allowing someone through a door before themselves.
"I'll take the two at the front, then-," started Ember.
"Ehem... no. You take that one at the front, and then the guy behind him. I'll take out the other guy at the front and then the guys behind him," commanded Flair.
"Sounds fair to me... ready?" she asked him, loading her weapon.
"No... I don't have a weapon...," complained Flair, shrugging.
"Take this one," she said, handing him her spare pistol.
"One three. One...tw-," Ember began.
"THREE!" Yelled Flair, who dived out from the ditch and fired four, lethally accurate shots before he'd even landed. The bullets went speeding through the air, the first two of which embedded themselves deep within the scrawny creature's skull. Two thin jets of black blood gushed from the bullet holes and spread slowly across the ground. The two other bullets pelted the bigger creature in the head, causing his cranium to practically explode in a shower of dark liquid and fragments of brain. Both bodies collapsed to the floor in a heap and black fluid crept across the path, seeping into the cracks.
The two other creatures, startled by the sudden death of their allies, fumbled messily with their firearms in a futile attempt to terminate the invader that had mutilated their backup. It was during this time that Flair flipped himself onto his stomach and took aim at the two of them and blasted four more pellets of metal into them. With satisfying 'thuds,' their corpses dropped to the ground, and their last breaths left their lungs.
Ember climbed out of the ditch and walked right up to her companion. The way she strode towards him gave him warning that she was about to tell him off. He quickly picked himself off the ground and dusted himself off as she got closer.
"I'm sorry, does, 'You take the first two and I'll take the next two,' ring a bell?!" she asked, the anger was evident in her voice.
"It took care of them, didn't it? And besides, you need to conserve your ammo," he replied, checking his gun over to avoid looking at her.
"THAT'S COMPLETELY BESIDES THE POINT!" she yelled suddenly, causing Flair to drop his gun in surprise.
"SHHHHHHH!" Flair retaliated, looking around to make sure they had not been heard, "This 'Evil' dude probably knows we're here now!"
"I DON'T CARE! WHAT YOU JUST DID WAS IRRESPONSIBLE!" She continued.
"I'M PART OF THE MILITARY! IT'S MY JOB!" Flair yelled back, yanking his weapon off the path and placing it back in it's holster.
"I don't care! Your 'Draconic Military' probably doesn't even exist anymore!"
"I'm sorry, we were just in a Draconic Military outpost, remember?!" Flair reminded her.
"That... it's... well... that's not the point!" she stammered.
"Then what is?" asked Flair, still agitated.
"The fact that you could've died!" Ember exclaimed, clenching her jaw.
"Oh? So you give a damn now?!" Flair shouted.
"OF COURSE I GIVE A DAMN!" she yelled back.
"SINCE WHEN?!" he asked, raising his voice louder.
"SINCE YOU'RE THE ONLY PERSON WHO ISN'T TRYING TO KILL ME!"she retaliated, waving her arms around, indicating the world around her.
"Good point...," Flair muttered, grinning slightly.
"What's funny?" she snapped, folding her arms roughly.
"The fact that we're both stood here yelling, and meanwhile we've been surrounded by guards," he replied, looking over Ember's shoulder at the three beings that stood behind her.
Ember took a few moments to glance round. Surrounding them was a group of eight heavily armed creatures like the ones Flair had just shot. All of them were aiming at them and ready to fire.
"Shit...," she murmured.
"Duck," ordered Flair, staring into Ember's eyes. She obliged, dropping to a crouched position on the floor. In a blur of movement, Flair leapt into the air over Ember and landed a sharp kick in the face of the creature ahead of him. He followed this up by spinning to his left, all the way around, and slamming his fist into the guard on his right. The guard flew backwards, landing in a crumpled heap in the ditch alongside the path. Flair then bounce to his left and slammed his fist into the other creature's gut, then pounding his knee into it's chin. The thing dropped to the floor stunned as Flair hopped over him, drawing his gun as he went and landing the other side. Her blasted the back of it's head, sending it reeling forwards into the dirt and rivers of blood came trickling out of it's mouth.
Ember leapt forwards from her crouch and placed her hands down on the ground. This lifted her feet over her head and brought them hurtling through the air at the pair of guards that had been standing behind Flair. They flew back as Ember flipped her gun out and fired, landing a bullet in each of them. Simultaneously, Ember and Flair leapt at the last remaining guards that stood in groups of two either side of where they had been standing. Ember kicked the first one in the side of the head and used the backwards momentum from the kick to send herself into a flying punch that landed on the nose of the guards stood behind her.
Flair took a more 'clean' approach, whipping his gun around and blasting both of the nearby guards away with deadly precision.
"Nice," he said as Ember landed on the ground in front of her victim's limp bodies.
"Not too bad yourself," she smiled, looking at the blood soaked ground where the dead bodies of Flair's victims lay.
"No more yelling, okay? Unless you want to end up looking like pink Swiss-cheese," joked Flair, reloading his firearm.
"Got it," she replied, giving him an apologetic glance.
"So, where to next?" he asked, beginning to stroll calmly up the path.
"Through the front door," Ember said, nodding towards the towering metal doors that sat ahead of them about fifty yards.
"Ooh, very stealthy. He won't be expecting that," joked Flair, looking back along the path to check wether they were being followed.
"Just trust me, okay?" Ember asked, also throwing a nervous glance back along the path.
"I do... I was just kidding," Flair muttered under his breath.
They arrived at the doors in a matter of seconds and upon realising that they were in no way sealed, made their way inside. They found themselves in a dully lit chamber filled with strange and mysterious relics of some kind. In the centre of the chamber's rear wall was a large staircase, lit with unusual candles that cast flickering shadows on the walls.
"This guy has a taste for theatrics," Flair said, looking around at the odd decorations.
"Either that, or just a twisted sense of style," Ember replied.
"It's a bit quiet...," Flair mentioned, frowning.
"He knows we're here," Ember stated blankly, her eyes darkening.
"How?" Flair wondered aloud.
"He has his ways...," Ember mumbled, barely audible.
"You have NO idea."
The voice sharply intruded Ember's mind, making her freeze.
"Erm... you heard that, right?" asked Flair, looking around for the source of the voice.
"Yes... she heard... didn't you Ember?"
Ember snarled, "Where are you?!"
"Oh, you're both closer then you realise..."
Without warning, Ember and Flair were struck with such a force that they were lifted off the floor and slammed into the staircase. Before they could get up, they were thrown once more up into the air, and brought crashing violently into the ground about two metres away from where they had been.
"I must admit, I expected better from you," the voice mocked as they were hurled across the room again, this time smashing through a majority of the odd items that stood around in the hall.
"Ugh...," groaned Flair, his eyes struggling to stay open. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his head and he was fighting to stay conscious. Ember was not much better off. Her mind was swimming, and glittering lights danced in front of her eyes. Her brain felt as if it weighed a tonne and every second that passed she felt a heavy throbbing in her mind.
"Leave... leave him alone...," Ember managed, finding it hard to put a sentence together.
"Why would I want to leave him alone? It's more entertaining this way," came the reply.
A burning wave of anger roared through her. A seething hatred that had been locked away for so long was on the brink of being unleashed, had it not been for the fact that her conscious mind was slowly slipping away.
She could feel her limbs going numb, and her eyes drooped shut, despite her efforts to stay awake. Flair was still next to her, and the last thing she knew before a comforting darkness consumed her fully was his warm hand enveloping her's, and a distant, maniac laughter.