IDChapter11

As Jon and Rose had been sitting together in their cell, Jon's mind had been working overtime. If the Krillitanes could concentrate and change their own DNA, then why couldn't he? Thanks to the Krillitanes' arrogance in assuming they would get what they wanted - namely Arianna - from him, they had gone ahead and given him a whopping dose of Krillitane oil in order to increase his brain capacity. Fortunately, they were unaware of his own exhaustive knowledge of his own DNA, Time Lord anatomy and function, and the sheer magnitude of what his own brain was capable of. He quickly went to work, concentrating on reverting his DNA mostly back to pure Time Lord DNA, developing a respiratory bypass, and a second heart, in that order. He had made tremendous progress on the first, some on the second, and none on the third when Janice and her guards came for them. Having Arianna and Rose's minds linked to his own had helped. He had to break off the connections when they dragged them out of the cell, for he had a pretty good idea of what was to come, and he couldn't take the chance of harming either one of them if he should die with their minds linked to his. He put all his concentration on developing his respiratory bypass, hoping to at least be able to fake death well enough to fool the Krillitanes into leaving him for dead. as it happened, it worked, a little too well in fact, he also convinced his poor Rose, too. He couldn't risk reaching into her mind to tell her he wasn't really dead, he needed to completely concentrate on developing the necessary organs for regeneration or soon he wouldn't be 'just faking' his own death. As soon as his respiratory bypass kicked in, he concentrated on a second heart. Wonder of wonders, he could feel it growing, as well as something else. A familiar tingling, distant but definitely there, started at the site of his wound. Rassillon, he thought, I can feel regenerative energy already, where did it come from? No matter, he was being dragged off somewhere while Rose was being dragged back to the cell, unconscious from being stunned. He was hoisted up on something cold, and left there. He listened carefully as the door closed, and when he'd heard nothing for a few moments, dared to breathe, then open his eyes. His vision was still blurry, but he saw nothing moving, heard no evidence of any other presence, and so blinked several times and turned his head and looked around. He was indeed alone, in some sort of laboratory, on a table. There were alot of tubes, machinery, and cannisters about. He felt his wound through his charred clothing, and was somewhat surprised to find it was healing quickly. The tingling was spreading, and his hands were faintly yellowish. He sighed, knowing - but not really knowing - what was coming. He'd deliberately avoided the genetic code that changed his form upon regeneration. He had no idea if it would really work, or if he might wind up some poor, half-generated mutant freak, but apparently he was about to find out. He got up off the table, and took a deep breath and relaxed, willing it to happen.

Rose opened her eyes, disoriented from the stun. She felt for Jon and could not find him. Please let it have been a really bad dream, she prayed. She looked around, and he wasn't there in the cell with her, nor was he lying outside in the security chamber. There was no evidence, other than her memory and the pounding headache, that anything had happened. She sat up slowly and gingerly, and took deep breaths, willing herself to recover and remain calm. She reached out for her daughter's mind, and heard her precious little one sobbing hysterically. It's alright Sweetie, Mummy's here, she thought out to her.

Mummy?! You're alive? I thought you died, too!

Arianna's mind leaped into Rose's and she smiled in spite of everything. I'm alright, Sweetie. I'll come for you soon. First there's something I need to take care of. Stay where you are, OK? Promise?

I promise, but hurry. I need you.

Rose almost broke down at those thoughts, but steeled herself. There would be plenty of time for grief later, she had a husband to avenge. At this thought, she felt energy surge into her veins like electricity, she took several calming breaths to cool and control it. Revenge was indeed a dish best served cold, she reminded herself, it wouldn't do to be irrational and make mistakes. She needed to get this right. She stood up slowly, putting a hand out against the wall to steady herself. She let her head clear, and then walked slowly up to the security barrier and looked directly at a panel across the chamber that she was sure was hiding a surveillance device.

"OK, I've had enough. You win. I'll tell you where my daughter is. Just let me see my husband one last time."

Nothing happened for a few minutes, but Rose stood still and silent, staring at the panel. Eventually she heard a swish of a door, and Janice and two guards walked in, with weapons aimed at her. Janice smiled too sweetly at her.

"Ms. Tyler, I'm so glad you finally came around to seeing things our way. Now if you'll just stand back, we'll take down the barrier and secure you."

Rose smiled too sweetly back at her and obediently stepped back. She could feel the energy building in her, and had to think of other things, calming things, to keep it at bay until she could use it. She had no idea what she was capable of, but she was certain she was capable of somethig awfully destructive, and she was going to find out, and so were the Krillitanes, much to their detriment, she was sure.

As the barrier turned off, what sounded like a muffled explosion came from somewhere. Rose took advantage of the distraction this provided as the Krillitanes looked about in alarm. She charged one of the guards and ripped his weapon from him, firing as she did so. He fell to the deck stunned as she turned and fired upon the second, with the same results. Janice was running for the door, Rose caught her handily and grabbed her in a choke hold around the throat with one hand, shoving her up against the wall, while keeping her weapon pressed into her with the other. Rose was glowing with golden fire and her eyes shone brightly as she looked into Janice's eyes and saw into her very soul. She saw a persecuted pair of Krillitanes fleeing their home planet and finding refuge on Pete's World. She saw them build their family with the blood of their human victims. She saw that cruelty was part of their nature. She was about to kill Janice when she heard Jon's voice calling to her,

"Rose! Don't do it! Let her go!"

With Janice's throat still firmly in her grasp and her weapon firmly planted against her chest, Rose took her eyes off of Janice and looked at Jon, who had run into the room with a contraption strapped to his back that looked suspiciously like a pesticide sprayer.

"You wish me to release this animal, Time Lord?" She asked in a voice that was not quite her own. Jon recognized it from when Rose had taken the Time Vortex into herself to save his ninth self from the Daleks.

"Yes, help me put them all in the cell. They won't hurt anyone there. We need to leave."

"Very well," Rose said, and lifted Janice by her throat, carried her across the room and threw her in the cell, and watched as Jon dragged the two guards in and turned on the barrier.

"Right then, come on, we've got to get out of here, this ship's going to blow!"

Rose followed him, still glowing, as he ran to the bridge.

"Everyone ran back to fight the fire, we've got to teleport back to the escape pod and get out of here. The fleet will be here soon, and we don't want to be aboard when they get here," he exclaimed. The fleet had been given orders to stay in the asteroid belt and observe, and only attack if Jon or Rose called them for help, if they saw something terribly amiss, or if the Krillitanes tried to leave with them. Why they didn't attack when Voyager was blown up was troubling him, but they'd sort that out soon enough. He ran to the teleport and directed Rose into it, and paused, astounded, staring at the screen. "They never destroyed Voyager! They only pretended to! Brilliant!" He quickly set the coordinates and jumped in the teleport with Rose and shut the door. Within moments they were back on their ship, and Jon shed his sprayer and leaped to his seat, manuvering Voyager away and toward the asteroid belt where the fleet had been hiding and observing, just as more explosions ripped through the Krillitane ship. He switched a viewer on so they could observe the destruction of the ship.

"What did you do?" asked Rose, Still glowing, her voice still not quite her own.

Jon shrugged. "Just hooked their fire sprinkler systm up to a vat of their own oil. In the end, their greed was their own undoing."

He stood up and walked over to her. "To whom am I speaking?" he asked.

"I am the Bad Wolf."

"But I took you out of Rose."

"I allowed you to remove most of my energy from her, the amount that was killing her. A small amount of me remained."

"For what reason?" Jon demanded. "Usually you kill or punish anyone who looks upon you!"

"Because her motives were pure. She is the first being who ever looked into me with no thought for herself. I wanted to know her better, and to reward her for her sacrifice."

Jon thought about this for a moment. "So," he asked, "how exactly did you reward her? Besides by allowing her to set events leading to my creation in motion?"

Rose smiled. "I did many things to enable her to have the life she wanted. Now I must retire, as she is weary, and wishes to see her daughter. Walk in Eternity, Time Lord. I will speak with you again, someday."

With this the glow left Rose and she sank gracefully into Jon's waiting arms. "Rose," he whispered in her ear.

"Jon!" she whispered back, clutching him fiercely for a moment, then releasing him. "We have to tell Arianna, she thinks you're dead!"

"Just a moment." He closed his eyes and tickled his daughter's mind. They momentarily heard a squeal and a ruckus in the aft section of the ship, then the thunder of little feet as Arianna ran as fast as she could and launched herself into her father's arms.

"Daddy!!!"

Over Arianna's head Jon met Rose's eyes and mouthed, "We have to talk."