Union of Souls

Chapter Three

Chiswick, London

Martha followed the Doctor in silence as he padded along the familiar section of suburbia, wondering how long it would be before he actually spoke.

He'd been strangely quiet after she'd explained how his alter ego had been forced to wipe Donna's memory. From his expression, it was obvious he felt to blame, even though he couldn't help the way he'd been created.

A light breeze ruffled his hair and Martha was reminded of just how much she'd once loved this man – still did if she was honest – and yet, she'd never be able to stop his suffering.

It was the bane of the Time Lords.

She knew that.

All the Doctor's companions knew, and she suspected it broke their hearts just as much as it did the roving Gallifreyan's.

"Too quiet for a big gob, then?" The Doctor suddenly paused and looked at Martha questioningly. "Me, I mean," he added. "I'm doing your head in because I'm not saying much, 'cause, well…I never DON'T say much…"

Martha smiled. "You're just worrying about Rose and Donna…" She shifted a little uncomfortably. "Rose's family…her mum, dad, brother?"

"Oh right…" The Doctor's pensive expression relaxed a little and he turned, hands in pockets as usual. "Left them on the lost moon of Poosh…although, strictly speaking it's not lost anymore. But anyway…left them there until I knew the coast was clear down 'ere. Rose wasn't having any of that, though…"

"I wouldn't expect she was," Martha said offhandedly. If there was one thing you could rely on, it was Rose Tyler's tenacity not to let her man down. The whole 'Bad Wolf' thing had proved that. "So, you two came down here and expected to fight this 'Wall' on your own, yeah?"

"Well I wasn't expecting the cavalry if that's what you mean. And your mate Mace's first solution is always to pull a gun. Like a silly old bullet is going to stop a writhing wall of elctroplasmic energy!"

"So how long did you track the thing before, you know? You got zapped?" Martha shuddered as the zephyr that had swept at the Doctor's hair grew stronger, colder, wrapping around her as if it had a life of its own.

"Oh a few days," he said casually, looking up at the sky as if some unseen, unheard warning chime was pealing through the heavens. "Or was it a few weeks? Memory's still a bit hit and miss." He tapped his skull as if he could dislodge some random neurons, bringing back the hidden recollections.

"From the looks of the beard you had, definitely more than a few days," Martha concluded as she began to walk again, heading for a crowd that seemed to have formed in the middle of the road.

"Oy! I was too busy using my noodle to try and save the planet. No time to whisk off a few whiskers!" The Doctor shrugged and followed. "Besides, you know, it's considered rude not to have facial hair on Tarsus Major, even for the women!"

"So not going there…"

Martha reached the back of the gathering and realized she wasn't going to be able to push through with sheer curiosity. These people were scared, and they wanted answers from the soldiers now cordoning off their once peaceful street.

Reaching inside her jacket, she pulled out the temporary I.D. card she'd been given by Mace and held it aloft.

She cleared her throat. "Official business, I need to get through here, please!"

Several members of the group looked at her like she'd spoken a different language. One young man sneered and held out both arms, deliberately blocking her path forwards.

"I'm here to try and help you people!"

The milling mass didn't appear impressed and seemed to actually form into a tighter pack.

Behind them, a single gunshot reverberated through the estate as one of the U.N.I.T. soldiers on guard finally realized what was happening.

The locals eventually split down the centre, like the Red Sea being parted by some biblical liberator.

The soldier shot off a quick salute. "Dr Jones, ma'am, if you'd like to step this way?"

Martha nodded, smiling back at the sergeant as he ushered her and the Doctor beyond a temporary metal barrier that cordoned off at least ten houses.

It was amazing how many U.N.I.T. staff still recognized her, and Martha realized she could use that to her advantage.

The Doctor didn't quite share her enthusiasm. As they walked beyond the blockade, he leaned forwards, whispering in her ear. "See what I mean? Give this lot a gun and they just can't wait to play cowboys and Indians!"

Before she could stop the words coming out of her mouth, Martha had snapped back a response she would never forgive herself for. "Like you thought about that when you took out the entire Dalek nation? Genocide is a bit more than gung ho humans playing with their big boys' toys…"

The Doctor didn't answer right away, but he shrank back as if she'd slapped him in the face. Eventually, as they approached Donna's house, he answered, his voice cracking.

"I can't change that. But I won't let that one moment define me. I'm better than that. Rose has made me better than that."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" It occurred to Martha that she'd said enough.

Done enough damage.

She hadn't really meant those words, but with every passing moment she couldn't shake the feeling that this just wasn't her Doctor.

But he could be, one day, with your help, she told herself. He could be her Doctor and more because he had a distinct human side. He doesn't need me, though, he needs Rose…

"No." he looked at her softly now, big brown eyes latching onto hers with the most tender, calmest expression she'd ever seen. "I'm the one who should be sorry…"

"Get your hands off me! This is government bullying this is! And what have you done with my Donna? Just you wait till my Sylvia gets home…"

The Doctor's left brow ticked up, and he stepped past the sergeant and over the threshold into the Nobles' house.

Wilf was standing in the lounge, trying to pull his arm away from one of two U.N.I.T. soldiers as they tried to escort him outside. At the sight of the Doctor, he stopped protesting and used his free arm to give a little salute.

For once, the Doctor didn't complain about the gesture. "Hello!" He offered, grinning broadly. "What's going on here then?"

"They're trying to take me from my own home, they are!" Wilf complained, looking at the soldiers distastefully. "I told 'em I won't go! Not with my Donna missing." His gaze softened a little. "Is she with you, Doctor?" He asked hopefully.

The soldier on the right let go of Wilf and stepped forward, reaffirming his grasp on the automatic hanging from his shoulder strap. "This area is out of bounds," he began.

Martha flashed her I.D. again. "Not to us it isn't. Colonel Mace sent us," she lied, just a little. "You can leave us with Mr. Mott now…"

Both military men looked wary but did as they were told, marching from the lounge to take up sentry duty at the front door.

"Now then," The Doctor took Wilf by the shoulders and sat him in his favourite chair. "I think you better tell us what happened here right from the start." He took a second to glance up at Martha. "Put the kettle on, I think we might all be needing a good strong brew before the afternoon is through…"

* * * *

Wilf took a sip from the steaming mug of tea he'd been handed and shook his head. From the pale complexion of his skin and the wideness of his eyes, Martha suspected he was still in shock from whatever he'd been forced to witness.

She hoped it wasn't his granddaughter's demise.

"Sooooo…." The Doctor gently prompted. "What happened here? I mean, with Donna?"

Wilf swallowed hard and he looked through the window out onto the street. The crowd there was growing as word spread that the military had cordoned off the neighbourhood.

"I was orderin' a spot of shopping online from the local Tesco and Donna was upstairs. Been out to the pub with a few mates last night and she was still sleeping it off…"

"Something came into the house didn't it?" The Doctor suggested.

Wilf nodded, eyes going distant, white-grey whiskers twitching nervously. "Computer went off first," he explained. "Then the telly…then suddenly it was in the hallway, crackling, sparking its way towards the stairs…"

"The Wall," Martha mouthed.

"I didn't know what to do," Wilf admitted. "It was like lightning only inside the house, and it was headed for my Donna! I shouted for her to wake up, but you know what she's like when she's sleeping…"

This time it was the Doctor's turn to bob his head. "Do I!" he admitted. "Donna Noble, the only person to sleep through the Sycorax and scuba dive through a Cyberman invasion! Sleeps like a baby and misses the un-missable!"

Wilf grunted. "She was never quiet as a baby, trust me. Our Donna can be a bit…"

"Um…loud? I hadn't noticed," The Doctor teased. "Anyway…the big, nasty sparkly thing in the hallway, it went upstairs then?"

"Yeah, like it knew exactly where it was going. By the time I'd got up there it was hovering around Donna's bed. I tried to wake her, I really did…"

"And then what?" Martha asked as kindly as she dared, hoping the story didn't end like it had in several other London locations.

Wilf clicked his fingers together, eyes beginning to tear up at the memory. "Poof, she was gone, just like that! Just like in one of those spacemen movies." He fixed on the Doctor. "Is that who's taken my Donna? It's them aliens isn't it?" He sniffed a little, eventually having to pull a hanky from his ragged cardigan's pocket. "Is she gonna be alright, Doctor?"

Martha watched the Doctor's reaction. This version hadn't even known Wilfred Mott – only from memories he'd inherited.

And Wilf, well Wilf had no clue the man he was begging had never met him before.

The situation seemed insane, unworkable, and yet here they were, trying to save the planet, Donna, Rose, everyone.

"I'll bring her back." The Doctor put a hand on the old man's shaking arm. "I promise…"

At first, Martha thought he was making empty guarantees, but then, as he turned, she saw actual hope in those oh so dark eyes.

"I think the Tau K'mon are using some of the energy they're bleeding from humans to power spatial matter transferences. Electrical energy breaking down a body at a cellular level and forcing it through space like a big old cheese grater…"

Martha grimaced, not appreciating the simile. "Just tell me they're putting the cheese back into shape the other end like a Star Trek transporter, yeah?"

"Oh yes! Simple reversal of the energy field and a few other little tweaks, and BAM! Humpty's back together again! The Doctor bounded to the front door and frowned as an army helicopter buzzed overhead.

Martha joined him. "So Donna and Rose?"

The Doctor grinned, but didn't take his concentration from the chopper as it made another pass. "Rose is alive…Donna too…"

Martha could hear the relief in his abrupt change of tone. It was easy that way with the Doctor.

Even this Doctor.

What was less obvious was why he'd chosen this moment to examine a seemingly harmless helicopter. "What is it?" she prompted, squinting at the olive drab Lynx in curiosity as it zoomed overhead.

He licked a finger, holding it aloft with a deep frown. "Something's wrong….something's very, very, very wrong…"

Roald Dahl Plass, Wales

Torchwood Hub

Jack Harkness sat at his desk, eyes scanning over a recent report from U.N.I.T. While the two agencies didn't exactly see eye-to-eye, sometimes it was in both their interests to share information.

This time, Jack was wishing they hadn't.

A spate of deaths in the London area by some unknown entity was one thing, but the fact that the phenomenon was growing day by day was another. It had all the signs of some kind of covert alien invasion, and even he didn't know how to handle it.

While his own immortality meant he had nothing to fear, he knew there were millions of others less fortunate. And right now, he had no answers that might help. He'd never seen anything like the mysterious entity before, and so far, Gwen and Ianto hadn't been able to come up with anything either.

It was times like these when he missed the medical expertise of Owen and the sheer brilliance of Tosh.

Without them, the only other people he would usually turn to were Martha Jones or the Doctor, but the latter seemed to have been missing for months, and U.N.I.T. had already re-recruited Miss Jones.

Jack sighed and pushed up from his desk. Maybe a trip to London to see the evidence firsthand would help.

"Jack…I think you should take a look at this!" The urgency in Gwen's voice made the former Time Agent forget London and jog over to the computer console where the girl was furiously tapping at the keypad. "Something's happening to The Rift…some kind of energy anomaly attaching itself to the wormhole…"

Jack moved Gwen aside wordlessly and began taking in the data. As he watched, The Rift began to open and something began to slowly channel through its centre. "What the…" He glanced over his shoulder. "Ianto, are you getting any of this?"

Standing at a secondary console, Ianto nodded. "Whatever is coming through seems to be made of pure energy…and, Jack? It's heading our way…" He hit enter, sending the feed over to Jack's monitor.

"This looks like the same kind of thing that's been attacking those people in London. But why here? Why now? And how the hell are these things manipulating The Rift?"

The simulation of particles being drawn through a vortex on the screen abruptly changed to a view of inside The Hub and a klaxon began to sound. Around them, emergency lighting suddenly kicked in as the facility's power began to be inexplicably shut down.

"EMP!" Jack exclaimed as one by one the computer systems began to spark out and die. "Ianto, hit the Time Lock before that thing gets in here!"

Ianto dodged to a still-working console, hitting several emergency overrides to initiate the Time Lock Tosh had installed before her death. It had saved them against the Daleks, maybe it would work again.

As he punched in the last password, The Hub's huge, cog-like door grumbled open even though its power supply had already gone.

"Bloody Hell, Jack!" Gwen reached for a weapon, not quite realizing that bullets would pass right through what was about to attack. "They're using the energy they're formed from to power our systems!"

The door clanged fully open and outside a mass of energy pulsed and throbbed, hissing out waves of sparks and white hot spikes of electricity.

"Ianto, the Time Lock!" Jack didn't take his eyes from the thing. He couldn't. It was rolling towards them like a bank of energy, hell bent on domination and death.

"I've done all I can! The system's down!"

To prove it, even the emergency lighting popped and then dulled until The Hub was dropped into utter blackness. Only the brilliance from the 'Wall' remained, illuminating the scene.

Jack could see Gwen's expression turn blank with fear and fascination as the energy being enraptured her.

Light from the plethora of blue-white sparks played across her face and she was compelled to step forward, almost wanting to join the thing, to become one with it, even though she feared it.

"Gwen no!" Jack grabbed her arm, snapping her back around to face him instead of the entity. He didn't care if he bruised her, it was better than the alternative.

Behind them, some redundant system shielded from the EMP suddenly kicked in, and the air in front of them abruptly exploded as the Time Lock trapped them in a bubble out of phase with the rest of the planet.

Jack blinked, biting back the flare as it blinded him for a second. Fighting off the temporary lack of sight, he realized that Tosh's ultimate security protocol had one flaw.

The entity had been halfway into The Hub when the program had kicked in, and instead of being repelled backwards, it had literally been sliced in two. One half of the phenomenon now lay beyond their existence, but one portion was still with them, writhing and sputtering as it regained its alien composure.

"It's like a bloody worm!" Gwen noted. "Chop its head off, see, and it carries on!"

"Just don't let this particular worm touch you," Jack warned, stepping in front of both his friends protectively.

"Well, it's not like we can exactly hide from it," Ianto retorted.

Jack watched the thing. It still seemed disorientated from being severed from the main body. Maybe that could work to his advantage. Maybe, just maybe, he could drain it, like it drained humans.

Maybe.

"Just get as far away from that thing as you can and I'll take care of the rest."

"Great plan, that." Gwen frowned, looking around the gloom. "But it's not like we can actually see where we're going, even if we had somewhere to go!"

Jack winced, thinking that the statement sounded just like something the Doctor would say. Where was he now? "Just move!" he eventually snapped, hoping the edge to his voice would jar Gwen into action.

It didn't, but Ianto grabbed her anyway, pulling her backwards until their forms were at least hidden by the darkness and elongated shadows peppering The Hub.

How long would that save them for if his plan didn't work?

Jack stepped gingerly towards the flaring creature, trying not to think about his friends or their possible deaths. There would be no more fatalities at Torchwood, he wouldn't allow it.

"Alright, Sparky, come and get it…If you know me, you know I'll try anything once…" He winked at the thing teasingly, subconsciously sensing Ianto scowling at him.

The 'Wall' writhed, new colours washing over the pulsing veins of electricity that formed it. Somehow, it understood his words, and it was wary.

It cracked and popped, decisions being made at some indistinct level of its combined alien consciousness.

Eventually it moved, its swift and unexpected motion surprising Jack enough to make him pause mid-step.

The hesitation was enough, it was what the thing wanted and had achieved.

Enveloping Jack in its being, it began to suck, to feed from his very lifeforce.

Jack didn't fight it. In fact, he welcomed the thing's feeding frenzy.

Just how much of him could it take before it realized he was the master of this confrontation? He was the one who could not be destroyed?

A halo of sparks erupted over the ex-Time Agent's head, spikes of current flared from his fingertips and discharged harmlessly across the room – but still he wouldn't give in – and neither would his enemy.

To Jack, the confrontation seemed to last for hours as the thing probed him, attacked him, fed on him, trying to find a chink in his immortal armour.

With each new assault from its agonizing tendrils, he grew weaker. Only once before had he been so sapped of his strength - and that had been during his encounter with Abaddon.

The 'Wall' seemed to sense his sudden fear, and mistook it, because if Jack really was afraid, it wasn't for himself, but for Ianto and Gwen if he failed.

The creature attacked again, this time at Jack's mind instead of his body. He screamed out as its electrical tentacles delved into the depths of his psyche, wanting, needing.

And then it found what it was looking for.

An overload of rapid imagery filled his brain as Jack recalled his death at the hands of the Daleks, his reanimation at the hands of Rose…and finally...

The Doctor.

The final image instigated a new burst of fury from the 'Wall', a primal scream that sent Jack's body sprawling across the pitch-black Hub like he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning.

His back slammed into a console and he slithered downwards until he was nothing more than a heap in the cascading shadows. He didn't move.

He didn't breathe.

The 'Wall' crackled its approval and moved on, searching, scouring the gloom for more flesh to burn, more mental energy to absorb.

More humans to kill; because the Doctor loved them so.

* * *

"Like what?" Martha exclaimed, frowning as the Doctor shielded his eyes, looking to the heavens.

Instead of answering, he stuffed a hand rapidly in his pocket, pulled out the sonic and waved it around manically, blue tip glowing as he apparently scanned the ether and beyond.

"Knew it!" he shouted, grabbing Martha and pushing her back towards the entrance. "'Nother EMP! That helicopter is about to take a swan dive right onto this street!"

Martha ignored his attempts to protect her and scrambled back out of the doorway to see him scooting out into the middle of the road.

There was no time for psychic paper or crafty tongue-work, so he was simply waving his hands in the air and politely telling the soldiers and locals to 'leg it!'

The mad behaviour wasn't quite working to plan, and one of the U.N.I.T. men grabbed the Doctor's arm, intent on restraining him.

"Oy! Watch the suit!" The Doctor whirled on the spot, lithely stepping out of the soldier's grasp and pointing skywards. "Will you just MOVE or run, or scarper!!!"

Finally, someone amongst the throng of people looked up and saw the Lynx stalling in mid-flight.

Silence overcame the masses, and the sputtering helicopter's engine filled in the gap.

Still, no one moved. It was as if the realization the Doctor was right had transfixed them all.

The Doctor shook his head, convinced that sometimes humans could be stupid. Really stupid. Then the realization hit that he too was human and he pulled out the sonic again, targeting the falling helicopter.

"Can't you do something?" Martha yelled, skidding to a halt at his side.

"I'm trying," he snapped back, whirling settings on his screwdriver until the Lynx's freefall seemed to slow. "Gotcha!"

Martha wasn't impressed. "Erm, it's still gonna crash!"

The Doctor shrugged. "Moderately crash as opposed to shattered to smithereens crash. Best I could do!" He bounded back in front of the crowd. "Right you lot, allons-y!!!!"

This time, for some bizarre reason – possibly the helicopter about to fall on their heads – the group moved, breaking and scattering across the street to hide in gardens, porches or other areas of possible cover.

The Doctor nodded his approval and then took Martha's forearm, quickly depositing her over a small garden hedge before following himself.

As the pair hit a well-kept lawn with a double thud, the ground shook beneath them like a 6.9 on the Richter Scale had just hit Chiswick. The lawn seemed to move and vibrate, its movement matching the sounds of metal crumpling and glass shattering.

Debris filled the air, bolts and segments of painted steel clattering around them like techno-rain.

The Doctor shook a smouldering piece of wreckage from his hair and sprang to his feet, head popping over the thorny hedge like a hyperactive jack-in-a-box.

He winced, but didn't attempt to move, first scanning the downed aircraft with the tip of the sonic. "Riiight….sneaky, very sneaky…."

With relief, he noted movement in the crushed cockpit. The pilot and co-pilot both appeared to be breathing, and the nearest man was trying to move – albeit sluggishly.

Martha bobbed up beside him and scowled, a sudden look of disgust flushing her features.

He didn't need her to say a word to know what she was thinking. People were hurt, maybe even dying, and he hadn't made a move to try and help them.

U.N.I.T. soldiers who had hid with the rest of the locals were now reappearing on the street, some heading for their fallen comrades, others trying to calm householders or radio in for assistance.

And amidst all that carnage, the Doctor simply stood behind the prickly little bush, screwdriver in hand.

"You're not him," Martha finally growled through clenched teeth. "You might look like him, but you'll never be him. What's wrong with you? People are hurt, yeah, and you just stand there gaping like a school kid!"

She shook her head and jumped back over the shrubbery, making a dive towards the injured men in the helicopter.

The Doctor ignored the second jibe of the day and ran after her, All Stars wading through a slick of aviation fluid draining from the Lynx.

"Martha no!" he pleaded, hand outstretched as he tried to catch up. "You don't get it! This wasn't an accident, it's a trap! You know, ambush, trick, walk into a great big ball of energy that fries your brains out before you know it TRAP!"

He saw Martha hesitate at his words, stumble even as she reached the helicopter. He felt her pain at seeing the injured, blood-covered men and not be able to help them.

But most of all, he felt his own single heart skip a beat as a blinding wall of energy appeared from nowhere, blocking off his friend's path to the chopper.

There was no point in calling her name again, no point in running anymore.

Martha turned in time for her eyes to lock with his and he saw understanding and forgiveness there. She had mistrusted him and now she would pay the price.

She opened her mouth, but had no time to offer an apology or even a scream of terror.

The 'Wall' shot forward with such speed it was as if it could transcend time. Within a nanosecond, it had ensnared her, holding her prisoner in the clutches of its energy matrix.

Martha's wide eyes stared, but were unable to move, unable to blink, cry or rotate unless the 'Wall' commanded it.

And now, like every cell in her body, Martha Jones was at the mercy of the alien thing.

And it was hungry.

The Doctor didn't back away, but instead stepped in front of the 'Wall' until he could almost reach out and touch it. His face was a mask of fury, of aggression he hadn't shown since he'd destroyed the Daleks – but this time, aggression he could and would control.

And his voice, his voice was as low and as deep as a yawning chasm in the deepest pits of the ocean.

"I'm the Doctor," he snarled like a nine-hundred-year-old. "Now, you might not know me, but I know you. And trust me, you just made it personal…"

Tbc…