Chapter Six
Donna didn't scream, and neither did Rose.
The thing approaching from the east suddenly burst through the thicket into the exposed clearing – except it wasn't a 'thing' at all. It was the Doctor, Jack and Martha.
The light that had flickered and filled the stretch of forest with ominous foreboding hadn't been the electrical discharges of another alien being; instead it had been the benign pulsing of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, leading him to both girls.
Donna examined the group with surprise and uncertainty. "I don't suppose one of you is named Smith, by any chance?" she asked, warily looking at Jack as if he might be the one she was after.
Jack shrugged apologetically and glanced over towards the Doctor, but he didn't have time to give any explanations.
The 'Wall' had seemingly realized its plan was going dangerously awry, and it needed to make a move to rectify the problem before it lost control.
Moving faster than usual, the miasma of energy surged forwards, trying to envelop both Rose and Donna in its deadly aura.
Even though she was still suffering from the effects of her earlier tumble, Rose was still too fast for the creature. She had a choice to make, a split second decision between herself and Donna.
Donna was the innocent here, the one person who had no clue what was going on or why she'd been involved. If anyone deserved to be saved, it was the temp from Chiswick.
Grabbing Donna and spinning her around, Rose shoved her cheeky friend clear of the 'Wall' and its debilitating effects, only to be taken by it herself.
The 'Wall' let its tentacles close around her, capturing her, but not yet attempting to do any harm. To Rose, it was like being held in a Dalek force field all over again. She was conscious of everything around her, but at the same time powerless to interact with the outside world.
The Doctor was here, and so were most of her friends, but she may as well be alone for all the good they could do her right now.
Rose was at the mercy of a creature from the fringes of time that had never shown compassion or mercy once in its perpetual lifespan.
* * * *
Donna yelled in surprise as she was pushed forwards, tumbling over and over in the snow until she came to a halt just a few feet away from the 'zombie'.
"Not you again!" Donna scrambled in the thick slush under her feet, slipping and sliding as the man lumbered towards her. "Shouldn't you go back to the coffin you crawled out of or somethin'?"
The man didn't hear her, but slithered closer, his boots dragging in the snow until it formed small mounds on the front of his Doc Martens. He raised the knife over his head, repeating his actions back in the cottage like a well rehearsed play.
Donna cringed, momentarily ceasing her attempts to stand as she waited for the blade to plunge downwards.
Nothing happened.
Blinking in astonishment, she looked up to see the rather handsome man she'd pegged as Smith tussling with the 'zombie'. His long blue overcoat billowed backwards in the still drifting snowstorm, giving the bizarre impression of some kind of super hero cape.
"Donna, you've been eating too many E numbers," she scolded herself as she finally dragged her body out of the snow, narrowly avoiding the two men still fighting over her.
"Jack! Do you always have to brawl like a Neanderthal?"
Donna's eyes shifted to the new, scathing voice. It belonged to a quirky, extremely skinny geek in a blue suit, who was darting towards the alien blob without any sign of fear. He's a right nutter, she thought absently, dodging out of the way as her rescuer finally despatched 'the zombie' with a final right hook to the jaw.
The rescuer, or rather Jack, held out a hand. "Not Smith then?" she asked, turning her attention to the Doctor. "Don't tell me Rose is in love with 'im?"
Jack winced. "Long story, but yeah, pretty much." Taking Donna's hand without her permission, he tugged, half dragging her to Martha and the relative safety of the forest.
Meanwhile, the Doctor had positioned himself just a few short feet away from the rippling 'Wall'. He held out his left hand, long fingers outstretched. "You don't have to hurt her, this is between you and me…"
The 'Wall' seemed to consider the idea, spikes of energy undulating over Rose's body with just enough power to make her jolt suddenly in discomfort.
"It's me you want. Me you've always wanted," the Doctor tried again, his features intense with concentration and deep-seated anger. "Just let Rose go and take me instead. You know you've the power to kill me…you've read my mind enough to know I'm human…"
"All in …good….time…" The 'Wall' hissed spasmodically. "But…for now…I need you and the Face of Boe alive…"
"You can't trust him, it…you know what that thing's capable of!" Martha yelled a futile warning, almost breaking from her position to join the Doctor.
Tesla's consciousness nestling within the energy being laughed a low, grumbling chortle. "I …do not ask you to trust me. I command you to help me reconfigure Torchwood's Rift Manipulator. If I cannot return to my world via the conduit, then I shall bring forth the remainder of my Tau K'mon brethren…and we shall conquer this one…"
"Doctor, you can't," Martha pleaded, her eyes flashing in despair at the choices they were being given.
"Oh, but they both can and will…join me at the Hub…or I will offer up Rose's charred and blackened corpse…as a consolation prize…"
The 'Wall' shimmered, the solidity of its form waxing and waning until it abruptly blinked out of existence in a flash of iridescent light, taking Rose Tyler with it.
Donna's mouth opened and she gaped for a second before regaining control of her facial muscles. "Bloody 'ell," she muttered, any cognitive sentences lost in her whirling mind. "Tell me she didn't just vanish…"
"She didn't just vanish," Jack obliged. "That thing just transported Rose to Torchwood, and now we have to follow and kick some alien butt. Right, Doc?"
"Doc?" Donna queried, a brief look of recognition passing across her exhausted façade. "I thought his name was Smith? Tell me he's not Doctor Smith? I mean, c'mon? Even I'm not that stupid. I saw Lost in Space as a kid too, ya know."
Jack ignored the rant that followed, focusing on the Doctor.
The gangly Time Lord was still staring at the space the 'Wall' and Rose had occupied. His expression was blank, his body language totally unreadable.
Eventually, he turned, walking past everyone without saying a word.
As the Doctor vanished back into the unforgiving forest, Martha draped her jacket around Donna's shoulders. "He's going to Torchwood to try and stop that thing."
"To try and save Rose," Jack corrected. "And we have to help him…"
TARDIS
Ten Minutes Later…
Donna hadn't been exactly sure of her position on a map while she'd been scrambling through the snow-covered countryside, but now she was even less certain of her surroundings.
When the man everyone seemed to simply call 'Doctor' had headed off through the blizzard and the others had followed, she'd pretty much been obliged to join them or freeze.
But then he'd dived inside what looked like an ancient police box she was sure she'd last seen the likes of in Dixon of Dock Green. Not that she was actually old enough to remember that, mind you.
If that hadn't been weird enough, inside the strange call box was just…well, it was just wrong. Donna had been rubbish at science at school, but you really couldn't get large inside small, could you?
She was contemplating the fact while watching 'The Doctor' pirouette around the centre of the box, pressing buttons and generally acting like Bozo the Clown.
As she frowned at his behaviour, Martha reappeared from what must be some kind of antechamber, a fresh and thankfully dry set of clothes over her arm.
Martha offered up the jeans and a jumper along with a towel, outwardly oblivious to the madman still cavorting around the centre console. "Are you sure you're okay? It must have been freezing out there in just pyjamas."
Donna shivered at the memory of the icy mire she'd squelched her way through. "I'm good," she answered, bobbing her head towards the Doctor. "Not so sure about 'im, though. Is he right in the head? Oy, mate, which loony bin did you escape from?"
The Doctor tugged at the TARDIS's monitor, took a look at a long and complicated algorithm scrolling down the screen, and then bounded over to Donna unexpectedly.
Taking her by the shoulders, he gave the temp a mammoth hug and then pulled back to look at her affectionately, a ridiculously wide grin spreading across his face. "Donna Noble!"
"Who are you? Am I supposed to know you? How'd you know my name? 'cause I'm so not in the phone book…"
The Doctor winced, pulling a face that said he'd definitely put his foot in something gooey. "Err…well…um…I'm a good guesser? Very, very good guesser. In fact, some people might even say I'm a bit of a mind reader, I'm so good at deducing the un-ducable!"
Donna slapped him across the cheek so hard the noise echoed inside the hollow of the TARDIS's innards.
He rubbed at his face distractedly, but the grin didn't falter. "Aww brilliant! Just like old times!"
"Old times?" Donna fumed. "I'll give you old times! I need to get home. I need to report a murder…"
The TARDIS seemed to groan and wheeze, the pulsing rotor juddering in mid-stroke until the Doctor kicked at a handle on the console with the toe of one of his All Stars.
The juddering ceased and he refocused on Donna, his nose puckering in bewilderment. "What? What? WHAT? Who's been murdered..?"
Donna slapped a hand onto her hip, noting with satisfaction that she'd regained his attention. "You will, if I don't get back to Chiswick, pronto! It is Christmas, ya know? Good will to all men and all that…"
The Doctor's eyes widened until they looked like huge brown saucers. "Really?" Then he began slapping at his head in a similar fashion to the way he'd whacked the TARDIS controls. "That's it!" He exclaimed excitedly, jumping up across the ship to hug both Jack and Martha. "How could I have missed the truth? I mean, put two and two together and not make five…"
"Whoa, how about we skip the calculations and hit the explanations?" Jack pleaded. "In plain English…"
"The things I saw and felt while I was connected to the 'Wall' all make sense now! I shouldn't have just assumed it was evil…"
Donna huffed, rubbing at her ginger hair with the towel Martha had handed over. "If that thing isn't evil, it has a funny way of showing it! All I could get out of it was 'die with me'. Not exactly an invitation to the grand alien ball, is it now?"
The Doctor paused mid-bounce and licked his lips, mind in overdrive. "That was Tesla," he finally explained. "Something he said to the 'other me' before he was dragged into the Rift and lost in time..." The Time Lord seemed to go distant briefly before mumbling Tesla's words under his breath. "If you don't help me, then you and the rest of this world, maybe more, will die with me. …"
"If you weren't there, how can you know that?" Jack looked confused.
The Doctor shrugged. "It doesn't matter, no time to explain the intricacies of…"
"Yeah, we get it," Jack agreed, quickly avoiding another lecture. "Now can you just tell me if we can defeat this thing with whatever it is you've remembered?"
"Oh yes! Defeat it, help it…everything!" The Doctor rubbed at his earlobe, shooting Jack a look that said he might not like what came next. "Of course, I might need a certain Torchwood member's help in the proceedings…"
"Whatever it is, you know I'm up for it." Jack winked. "Unless it's kinky. Not sure I can cope with Gallifrey's finest swinging that way…"
"Not kinky, lewd or anything else remotely bawdy," The Doctor scolded. "Now come on, there's something I need to show you…" He scooted along the metal grating of the time ship, diving into a section of the TARDIS Jack had never been privy to before.
Jack shrugged but followed. "Hey, I'm all for privacy if that's your kinda thing," he chuckled as he vanished from the control room, leaving Donna and Martha both looking bewildered.
"You lot are all as flippin' mad as hatters," Donna told Martha with a frown. "I mean, just wot is going on?"
Martha looked slightly pained. "Um…that might be a bit hard to explain…"
"You're telling me! I've been kidnapped, attacked, chased, attacked again. And I don't even know where I am, let alone why I'm still not in my bed! And did I mention? It's Christmas. As in peace on Earth. Peace," she huffed again. "Not likely to get any of that around 'ere!"
"You just have to trust us."
Donna made a harumping noise that suggested the word wasn't in her vocabulary. "Well where am I then? I at least deserve to know that."
Martha's queasy face returned. "You're um…in the TARDIS…." She shrugged as if no further explanation could be given.
Donna sighed as if she wasn't surprised and quietly mumbled, "S'not exactly a McDonald's snack after all then…my mistake."
TARDIS
Torchwood Hub
Cardiff
Martha wasn't sure what to say to Donna. The ginger-haired temp had asked only once about the TARDIS and had then seemed content to sit drying her hair while the rotor burbled its familiar vwoorping noise.
It was definitely out of character for Donna to be so quiet.
But then, the day's events had been enough to make the sanest person need a lifetime of counselling.
Of course, it was always like that with the Doctor.
Donna just didn't remember it anymore.
Martha sometimes wished she could forget too. Forget she'd ever met the bony Gallifreyan and his cranky, semi-sentient spaceship.
But she couldn't, and to remind her of the fact, the TARDIS began to power down, the green glow from its central shaft fading just a touch as it started to materialize in a new location.
Matching his ship's timing impeccably, the Doctor reappeared from the bowels of the TARDIS with Jack Harkness at his side. Both men seemed distant, as if whatever they'd discussed was the one thing they now had to concentrate on.
A grim-faced Doctor was bad enough, but when Jack was all-business too, things were way worse than bad – they were desperate.
To compound the situation further, Jack had his trademark revolver in his hand, sliding in shells silently until the cylinder was full.
The Doctor doesn't condone violence…and yet he's not stopping Jack. He's not even commenting on the gun…
Martha winced, remembering again that this was not her Doctor, but the one who had committed genocide. Was he about to do the same again with the Tau K'mon?
But he's different now…he wouldn't…
And what use was a gun against the 'Wall' anyway?
"Is everything alright?" Martha asked, unable to think of anything else to say that wouldn't give away her feelings.
"Oh, everything's just peachy. Can't think of anything I'd rather be doing." Donna pulled a face. "Now can you lot just get on with it – whatever it is you're supposed to be doing, I mean. 'cause its boring in 'ere. So need a plasma screen TV and a bowl of nuts in this place…"
A small smile chased the grimness from The Doctor's face, and he looked at Donna affectionately. "Whatever happens, just stay in here, Donna. It'll all be over soon, I promise…"
"I bet you say that to all the girls. Well don't think that charming smile of yours is gonna win you any favours with me, mate." She crossed her arms and glanced at the TARDIS door. "Well? Hurry up then! I wanna be home for tea. This century…"
"This century it is, then!" The Doctor looked to Jack expectantly. "Shall we?"
"Don't mind if I do." Jack beamed strangely back and took point, hopping out of the TARDIS with the Time Lord close at his heels.
Martha watched them go, unsure if she should follow. This was something the Doctor had obviously planned without keeping her in the loop, but did that mean he was protecting her, or something more sinister?
Deciding she needed to find out, she jogged to the ship's door and peered out into the gloom.
Torchwood seemed to be running in emergency mode, red flashing secondary lighting the only true illumination in the whole structure.
The air was thick too, as if ventilation was offline.
She'd seen it like this before, but somehow if felt different this time.
Final.
Near the huge cogged entrance, the 'Wall' glittered like a distant star shining in the midst of the cosmos. It looked almost benevolent, if not for the fact that it still held Rose as a hostage.
Now though, Rose had been allowed to stand free of its tentacle-like grip so that she could talk and move, albeit in a confined space.
The creature seemed to have given the girl some kind of boundary that could not be crossed, and every now and then, should she stray too closely to her invisible prison's edge, she was made to pay with a jolt of raw energy.
It was painful for Martha to witness, but as she watched the Doctor cross the Hub towards his transformed nemesis, she realized it must be even more agonizing for him.
Martha took a deep breath, trying to remain calm even though her pulse was pounding in her ears.
The Hub seemed to smell of ozone, of death, even though no one had died here – yet.
"You've got what you wanted," the Doctor began. "I'm here, and I'll do whatever you want if you'll just let Rose go…"
Rose turned, looking expectantly to her captor. Surprisingly, the thing hissed like a kettle coming to boiling point, tiny sparks bouncing from its permeable edges as if it was excited.
"Go…to him," the 'Wall' commanded in deep, disjointed tones. "Join your lover…one last time…"
Martha felt her fingernails begin to dig into the centre of her palms as she flexed them with just a little too much vigour.
The 'Wall' was giving too much up, being too generous at this point in the game. And I don't like the sound of 'one last time', either. She continued to watch anyway, both transfixed and terrified of what might happen next.
Rose took a step forwards, testing the 'Wall's' honesty.
Nothing held her back, and the creature didn't try to stop her progress. Moving more quickly, she crossed over to the Doctor and took his hand, wrapping her fingers around his and squeezing tightly.
He squeezed back, and just a hint of a smile passed over his lips before he returned his full attention to the 'Wall'.
The heaving mass was changing colour again, suggesting its mood was altering.
"I will…enjoy watching Rose and your friends suffer," it spat mechanically.
The Doctor's back straightened like he'd suddenly been called to attention. "If you think I'd ever let you hurt them…"
The 'Wall' laughed, sparks skittering along the concrete floor from its swelling form. "My intention isn't to harm them…it's to hurt you…" the laughing grew intense, reverberating off Torchwood's walls until the room began to shake like a mini-tremor had hit Cardiff.
"But you need him, you said so yourself! You can't kill him!" Rose blurted out the rebuke, but her expression said she didn't believe it even before the thing replied.
"Oh really? Why would I need the Doctor anymore when Mr Harkness appears to know all the system overrides to the Rift Manipulator?"
From her vantage point, Martha saw every pair of eyes in the room shift to where Jack was standing.
Since he'd left the TARDIS, he'd been strangely quiet, and it was easily evident why.
The centres of his eyes now glowed the same dark orange as the 'Wall'.
Aware that everyone was staring at him, Jack turned like a machine to face them, all his free will apparently taken from him by the Tau K'mon's evil influence.
His actions, his jerky movements mirrored those of the man back in the wilderness.
Whoever he'd once been, he was now nothing more than a vessel commanded by the enemy.
And worse still, his right hand contained the pistol he'd loaded back in the TARDIS, the shaking barrel now pointed at the Doctor's chest.
"No!" Martha gasped, unable to keep her feelings in check. But it didn't matter. No one else in the room heard her anyway. They were all too busy listening to what Jack had to say.
"Guess I can finally get a little payback for the immortality crap now, huh, Doc? Ya know, living forever kinda sucks…"
"You don't mean that!" Rose interrupted. "It's 'im! Tesla talking! And anyway, you can't blame the Doctor for what happened on the Gamestation, that was me…if anyone ruined your life, it was me…I am the bad wolf, remember?"
Jack's shimmering eyes flashed with even more colour, even though there was no feeling behind them anymore. "Oh, honey…it was still his fault…"
A gunshot resonated through Torchwood's central chamber, its echo sounding hollow, as it left no further time for talk.
And as the last vestiges of sound ceased to repeat, the Doctor fell to his knees, his face obscured by his pained body's contortions.
"No!" This time, Martha's yelp was heard by everyone, but it was too late to stop the atrocity, too late for her to do anything except dive forwards out of the safety of the TARDIS in an attempt to help her fallen friend.
Even that small contribution was too much for the 'Wall' to allow, and as she ran across Torchwood's interior, she suddenly smashed into an invisible barrier that held her back.
Were the Tau K'mon becoming so powerful they could create walls of energy outside their own being?
Martha pushed at the phenomenon, but it was like pressing against a thickly padded surface that there was no way to break through.
She looked on helplessly as Rose rolled the Doctor onto her lap, his head resting limply in her arms as tears streamed down her face.
This isn't how it's supposed to end! Martha hammered on the translucent barrier willing it to give in. "Jack! JACK! Snap out of it!"
But Jack wasn't listening.
The minute the projectile had left his weapon, he had turned his attention back to the Rift Manipulator, plugging in cables here, pressing controls there until a varied array of lights now illuminated the area where he was working.
He showed no remorse about shooting his friend execution-style, nor did he show the slightest interest in whether the Doctor was alive or dead.
He simply worked, faster and faster, patching in electrical feeds and breaching security protocols to accomplish his mission.
Martha felt sick as she was forced to watch one friend commit the ultimate betrayal, and the other bleed to death before her eyes – with no hope of stopping either event.
The 'Wall', or maybe just the consciousness that was Tesla, appeared to pick up on her thoughts. "Watch him die…watch her suffer for his sake…"
And Martha found she had little choice but to do as the thing suggested.
Rose was rocking back and forth, the Doctor still cradled in her arms, her face reddened with the sudden onrush of tears and the reality that her world had once again just imploded – this time, for the last time.
Martha felt her own eyes begin to fill with moisture, and she rubbed at them with the back of her hand. It was right for Rose to be filled with grief, torment, regret, the whole slew of emotions that went with the possible loss of a loved one.
But Martha couldn't feel that way. She was the only person left who could do anything to stop things going any further – even though she had no clue how yet.
What would the Doctor do? Think, think…
Martha forced herself to look back at his lanky form. He might not be dead yet, there might be still time if she could just think…
Wait a minute, there's something wrong…something not right about this whole scene…
Something was 'off' but Martha knew her brain wasn't processing the information it was seeing properly. She was allowing her emotions to cloud her judgement.
What am I missing?
Before she could push her mind any further, a fresh deluge of sparks erupted from the console Jack was working at. He ignored the brief overload and turned, facing his 'master'.
"Grid power is online and the Manipulator has been reconfigured to your specifications," he droned subserviently, his whirling orbs fixated on the 'Wall'. "Shall I initiate the new start up sequence..?"
The pulsing creature ebbed forwards but stopped just short of the Torchwood boss. To Martha, it actually looked like the thing was suspicious.
Unexpectedly, a bizarre appendage made of pure energy broke from the Tau K'mon's mass. It was like the leg of an octopus squirming and twisting to touch the reconfigured machine.
Perhaps it sought to test the Manipulator somehow with pure tactile senses, or perhaps there was some other deep-seated meaning she could never pretend to understand.
Martha cursed under her breath, wishing that some force of God or nature would fry the thing as it had fried others.
The tip of its 'hand' made contact with the machine and stopped as if it had been frozen in time. Likewise, the 'Wall's' body ceased its rippling palpitations, all colour draining from its being.
As Martha watched, mouth open in awed silence, she finally realized what was happening.
Instead of the Rift Manipulator dragging more of the Tau K'mon through the gap in time and space, it was actually pulling at the 'Wall', attempting to tear it molecule by molecule into some unknown dimension or world.
The edges of the 'Wall' began to shimmer and morph as it fought the magnetic effect, and as its power was refocused on saving itself, Martha found her limbs finally free of any encumbrance.
She glanced at Jack, expecting him to try and stop her, but instead she realized he was grinning at her in a very familiar way. "Gotta have a little faith there, Martha Jones!"
He winked conspiratorially, and was about to say more when a computer terminal on the other side of the room exploded, quickly followed by another and other, some kind of system-wide cascade effect causing them to fall like dominoes.
More and more computers began to hiss, smoke, or literally catch fire as Torchwood's advanced technologies fought with an alien creature's mind.
"I am…not so easy to ensnare…Harkness…"
Jack ignored the threats coming from the enraged 'Wall' and darted for the nearest fire extinguisher station.
For a second, Martha found she couldn't take her eyes from the strange soap opera playing out in front of her. It was madness, it didn't make sense, but then nothing the Doctor was ever involved with did.
The Doctor.
Martha felt her stomach tighten and she suddenly forgot Jack, Tesla and even saving the world.
Diving across the room she skidded to a halt at Rose Tyler's feet, expecting to find the Doctor there in a pool of blood – except, there was no blood, and there was no Doctor.
Martha blinked and found that Donna Noble had appeared at her side despite being told to remain in the TARDIS. It was anyone's guess when she'd joined the melee, but from her expression she had also expected to find a certain Time Lord in Rose's arms.
"Oy! Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Donna had a hand on her hip again and was looking at an open wall panel that half-concealed the Doctor fiddling with a mass of wires.
At the sound of her high-pitched voice, he whirled around and grinned, brushing his jacket down as if it was covered in lint. "Nah! Not me! No blood, see?" He opened his jacket and pointed to his unblemished shirt. "Can't get shot and not bleed. I suppose that means I'm um…not very shot then!"
Martha's worried expression turned into mild annoyance. She'd almost been grieving for him and there wasn't a scratch on him. "You faked it!"
"Well…not faked. I like to think of it more as the thespian in me sneaking out! Playing possum, that was me!" His beady eyes roved to where Jack was struggling with Torchwood's beleaguered systems. "Oops, gotta run!"
The Doctor pranced past the trapped 'Wall' and started to press buttons and levers along with Jack. The pair seemed to be working in unison, as if they already knew what must be done and were executing a well-formed plan.
"We're not gonna hold that thing much longer," Jack barked, his features twisting in irritation. "Our pal Tesla's fighting our little 'trap'. Guess he didn't fancy being flung back into the void, huh?"
The Doctor raised just one brow quizzically, but gave up his ministrations at the various consoles surrounding him. Instead of the furious typing, he clicked his fingers in the air and smirked. "I know just what we need!" He announced like he was offering up a menu, not a plan to defeat an ancient enemy.
"What?" Jack snapped back. "For someone to pull that thing's batteries?"
"Reinforcements! Cavalry! Rear guard action!" The Doctor sprang over to the 'Wall'. "ME!" he announced, and before anyone could stop him, he placed his palms on its distorted surface area and became one with the beast.
* * * *
Touching the souls of the Tau K'mon was different every time. Every 'mind meld' with the 'Wall' was like stepping into a totally different landscape; a subconscious world where communication with the whole being, or sometimes one single entity, was possible.
The Doctor was well aware that Tesla was master inside this swirling mass of minds, but it wasn't the insane Time Lord he wanted to communicate with.
Back in the alleyway, and again the second time he'd encountered the creature, he'd felt something – someone familiar. He believed it had been this 'soul' that had tried to help him, to warn him about Tesla using the slate clue.
Now, maybe if he could contact this 'soul' again, it could help him fight Tesla's influence inside the 'Wall'. Maybe, just maybe, the Doctor could instigate an internal coup. Good against evil, and with his help the right side could overcome.
Of course, triumph didn't come without a price – and that price was the sacrifice of all the Tau K'mon should his plan work.
The Doctor was asking the last vestiges of good within a civilization to give up their existence so that the Earth might survive.
Am I asking too much? He had to wonder if this wasn't tantamount to causing genocide all over again. Would his 'twin' even consider this plan?
The Doctor reminded himself that he couldn't think that way. He was the one here, now. He was the one faced with the decision.
And if it came to it, just where was his 'brother of time' anyway?
The 'Wall' seemed to squirm beneath his fingers and the Doctor pushed away his thoughts. He was letting too much through, feeling too much when he should be doing the exact opposite.
Where are you? His mind screamed for the 'soul' that had been his guide inside the miasma before. Why can't I reach out to you, sense you anymore?
And then the voices were closing in, one screaming, vengeful and unsympathetic and the other so very afraid.
Tesla against the weaker entities…
The Doctor tried to think of nothing, just a void, an empty ocean of blackness that stretched to infinity as he attempted to contact the latter.
You helped me once…I need that help again…
The energy spiking through his mind sputtered and prickled as two or more lifeforces struggled for control.
Tesla is too strong…too…powerful…we…cannot…fight his influence…
The Doctor shook his head, his mouth actually speaking the words aloud this time as he remained joined with the 'Wall'. "Yes you can…he is one, we are many. He cannot wage both an inner and outer war…together we can beat him. United we stand and all that…"
We are…afraid…
The Doctor realized the tortured souls didn't fear Tesla, but their own demise – and he couldn't blame them for their hesitation. As a mere human, he too felt the inner demons of his own mortality.
Perhaps these souls had seen their fate inside his head. Maybe his defences hadn't been all he had hoped. It didn't really matter, though, how they knew, the end result would be the same.
Tesla, the 'Wall' and all that it was made up of, would be sucked into oblivion if the Doctor succeeded.
Another voice entered the mental dreamscape, and it didn't just want to talk. Tesla was here, pushing at the fortifications in the Doctor's mind, feeling for a weakness, a spot were he could attack and destroy.
You cannot beat me, Doctor…I am the perfect entity…pure energy…pure hatred…Surely you don't think these pathetic creatures that dwell within this shell with me are strong enough to help you?
The Doctor closed his eyes briefly, concentrating, blocking the tendrils testing the edges of his mind. Tesla's words were brave enough, but could he truly back them up?
Tesla's internal voice laughed. Watch as I destroy you, and then your friends...
The Doctor yelped in surprise as the icy fingers in his head suddenly became spears of pain – and not just any pain – Tesla was attacking his mental barricade, and he wasn't exactly using light artillery for the abrupt full frontal.
You have to fight him…The Doctor begged the souls now quiet inside the 'Wall'. He caused the deaths of your physical bodies…he'll cause countless more if we don't stop him…
There was no answer, only the continued assault from Tesla's subconscious.
And Tesla was strong.
The Doctor had the urge to pull his palms away from the 'Wall' and give in. What good could he do if Tesla was able to penetrate his mind and destroy him?
You're thinking about your own mortality. That's not what's important here…
He felt his body begin to shake as the current of energy running through it increased. His muscles fought to keep control, but Tesla was winning the fight, slowly electrocuting the Doctor, frying his synapses even though he hadn't been able to break the barriers within the human Time Lord's mind.
What do you…need us to do…?
The voices of the honourable Tau K'mon returned, their presence a mere whimper at the side of Tesla's.
The Doctor gritted his teeth, struggling to maintain contact as he wrestled with consciousness, the edges of his vision growing ever darker.
Focus on him, the Doctor instructed. Let your minds will him into submission. Envisage some huge, gigantic old nothingness and imagine him there…force him there…
Tesla screamed inside the 'Wall' as he realized the Doctor's plan, and as he screamed, his essence emitted one final blast of temper-fuelled energy that brought the Doctor to his knees.
The Time Lord almost lost his grip on reality, on willing Tesla into oblivion and saving humanity. He was tired, so tired.
But then, just one thing caught in the periphery of his vision.
One small, frightened blonde, whose features told him that no matter what happened next, she trusted him, loved him and would do so for all eternity.
Rose's tear-filled face was like a lifesaving drug, and the Doctor used it to focus on as he fought back. Tesla was losing and all they had to do now was push him over the edge.
Just think about the void…The Doctor fixed on an image in his mind of the 'Wall' being sucked into the abyss by the Rift Manipulator, and continued to urge the other souls to do the same.
And with each passing moment, even though his eyes were closed, the Doctor sensed more and more of the thing beneath his hands begin to dissipate as its quintessence was drawn into the black maw of the wormhole.
Tesla stabbed out one last time in desperation, sparks dancing from the 'Wall' and bathing the Doctor in their unhealthy light.
The Time Lord shook, but didn't release his hold on the 'Wall' even though remaining in contact might kill him.
Die with me…
Tesla's words filled the Hub like they'd been shrieked down a massive loudspeaker, reverberating off the concrete until the very floor shook with the vibrations.
And then, the 'Wall' and every last entity known as the Tau K'mon, were gone, lost to a place from which they could never return.
The Doctor hunkered over, burying his head between his knees as he gasped down air.
Somewhere, perhaps from the depths of time and space itself, perhaps simply in his mind, a hundred indebted voices whispered their gratitude.
Thank you…for finally giving us…peace…
The words should have given him comfort. The very fact that he had helped save billions of lives should have given him at least some solace, but it didn't, because he had been forced to trap innocent, tortured souls in a perpetual prison.
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, his mind yelled back in bitterness.
But sometimes, sorry just wasn't enough.
* * * *
It seemed like everyone converged on the Doctor at once, a plethora of gabbling voices demanding answers that even his high-speed brain couldn't process fast enough.
Rose wanted to hug him, to wrap her arms around him and never let go. Donna wanted to know just why she'd been involved in such madness, and who were they all anyway?
Jack wanted his team back, his Hub back, and for unspeakable things with Ianto he dare not suggest in the Doctor's presence.
And Martha, well Martha simply wanted to know that the human Time Lord she considered more than a friend was still in one piece.
"Oy you lot!" Raising a hand, she hushed the small crowd, earning dirty looks from both Rose and Donna. "Give him a minute, yeah?"
The Doctor inhaled, gathered himself and stood up.
All eyes were on him expectantly.
"I suppose you nosy lot want to know what just happened then? Well…apart from Jack, because he was in on it…although technically not as 'in on it' as me because I was really in it for a bit there…"
"Never mind what happened." Rose hooked an arm around his, like she was guarding a small child. "You're alright, yeah? I mean…it didn't hurt you fighting that thing?"
The Doctor sniffed. "Nah, one hundred percent normal, me! Not a scratch on me!"
"I'd argue with the normal part," Jack chuckled.
Donna huffed, flinging her ginger hair back in temper. "Will you lot just tell me WOT is going on, or was going on, or whatever…?"
The Doctor rose to the challenge, oblivious to the fact Donna may well not have a clue what he was gabbling about. Only those privy to the original Montauk mess would know the full details, after all.
"Well, you see back in the TARDIS, I realized what was really going on and Jack and me plotted a plan…or planned a plot. Anyway, basically, the Tau K'mon combined entity was the lifeforce from all the people who vanished at the Montauk base back in the seventies! Think about it, Tau K'mon and Montauk are the same word!"
"So, you're saying the people from Montauk's souls weren't trapped in the void or an alternate plane like the 'other' you originally thought. Instead, they were zapped back to the dawn of time to become some new kind of collective being?" Martha was remembering her time at the US Airforce base, and sadly, the human Doctor's idea sounded all-too plausible. "The name Montauk simply got corrupted over millennia and…"
"That's exactly what I'm saying!" The Doctor snapped his fingers together excitedly. "Once they were stuck in the past, the more twisted souls became dominant and the Tau K'mon began pillaging different worlds' 'energy' until the Time Lords trapped them."
"You're makin' all this up!" Donna scoffed. "I've read better on the back of a Cornflake packet! You're tellin' me that thing had minds inside it? Like trapped people in a big ball? Soul Ball or something..." She looked around as if eyeing up an escape route. "Wait till I tell Granddad…"
Jack took her arm. "Think of the 'Wall' as a union of lost souls. A collection of minds that never quite made it to the afterlife…"
"Ghosts then, yeah?" Donna seemed even less impressed. "As if I'm gonna fall for that one." She pulled out a chair, plonked herself down on it and folded her arms. "Pull the other one, pretty boy…"
Jack gave in and looked to the Doctor for assistance. When none came, Martha continued the conversation. "So how did you two know how to beat this 'union of souls'?"
"Like I said," the Doctor shrugged, and stuffing his hands in his trouser pockets, began to pace back and forth. "Tau K'mon was really a corruption of Montauk. Likewise, their nickname, the 'Wall' was also a distortion! The 'Wall' was never about describing their physical attributes, oh no! Over the millennia the word's significance had become misinterpreted…"
Donna looked at her watch. "You're like one of those books that everyone skips the middle of, you are, ain't ya?"
The Doctor blinked, one brow darting skywards at a ridiculous angle.
"Will you just skip to the good bits," Donna explained tetchily.
"The 'Wall' wasn't their name," Jack offered helpfully, a wry smile appearing. "It was a way to beat them."
"Exactly," the Doctor agreed brightly. "And I never had amnesia! My big old brain threw up those blank spots on purpose to stop the thing getting in after it attacked me the first time! I just didn't realize it! It was a wall in my mind, get it?"
"I haven't got it for hours," Donna shook her head, mumbling despite everyone ignoring her. "The only thing I've got is a right bunch of nutters, if you ask me…"
"So that's what you and Jack planned?" Rose finally spoke up, satisfied that her man was in one piece. "Jack let the 'Wall' think it was controlling him, while all the time he'd managed to keep it out of his head enough to rig the Manipulator as a trap?"
The Doctor nodded, still grinning.
"But he shot you," Donna intoned, her voice suggesting her annoyance level was at its peak. "We saw him load the gun!"
"You saw me load the gun with dummies," Jack eyes sparkled. "And trust me that's the only time you'll catch me firing blanks…"
Martha winced at the comment but didn't rebuke the Captain – she knew full well there was no point. Instead, she asked, "So why didn't you tell us the plan instead of scaring us all half to death?"
The Doctor sniffed. "Because A, the whole thing had to look believable, you had to really think Jack had been overcome! And B, or two, or zwei as the Germans say…if the 'Wall' had possessed anyone else, it would instantly have known all about our wonderful little ruse!"
"So if it all went so well, why risk touching that thing again at the end?" Rose watched him a little too intently as she spoke, and Martha suspected the young blonde thought her man was possibly even more suicidal than his 'brother'.
In truth, Martha was inclined to agree.
"Because Tesla was winning, and I knew not all the souls inside that thing wanted to be there. Some still held a vestige of their humanity. I sensed their pain, their anger, their willingness to help the second time I joined with it. It just took my addled brain a while to work out the details! Wasn't quite firing on all cylinders and all that!"
Rose bit into her bottom lip, apparently once again saddened by the things she lived through. "So in the end, the souls from Montauk gave up any hope of being freed to save us?" She sighed. "To save mankind, yeah?"
The Doctor's face mirrored Rose's. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't help them, but there was nowhere for their minds to go even if I could have separated them from Tesla and their evil counterparts. They had no bodies, no form to inhabit…"
The Hub grew silent.
Even Donna stopped grumbling and paid her last respects to the Tau K'mon with a moment of stillness.
Then, as if signalling the world should move on, another bank of the Hub's computers decided to erupt in a pillar of white and black smoke.
The tiny explosion made the Doctor look up, focusing on Harkness. He looked exasperated, but it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. "And oy you! What did you mean, immortality sucks? You've never complained before!"
Before Jack could respond, Donna joined in the fracas by whacking the unsuspecting Torchwood leader across the face.
Jack took both altercations in his stride. "Hey, what is this? Pick on Harkness day?" He smirked at Donna. "So what was that for?" He rubbed at his chin.
"For scaring me. At Christmas. When I should be home watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or somethin'…" She took a breath.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh no! Never, not ever, as in eternally do not, say the words bang bang to him…"
Jack chuckled, Donna scowled, and everyone else finally dared to laugh as the snow outside gently fell on the empty streets of Cardiff.
* * * *
Rose couldn't help but occasionally stare at the Doctor as they walked through the inner chambers of the Hub. She had been parted from him so many times, but never had it been so frightening as this time.
Because this Doctor was far more fragile than the one she had once loved.
This Doctor had only one life to give.
Right now, he was blathering about how he and Jack had reconfigured the Manipulator, and she let him drone on without actually taking in any of the words.
Just the wonderful sound of his voice was enough, telling her he was alive, he was here with her, and they were going to spend Christmas together.
Together and safe.
Somewhere above them, Rose could hear Donna giving Jack grief about going home. It was late, and Granddad would be worried. The ginger temp sounded furious, but Rose knew it was just another defence mechanism. She sometimes had similar reactions herself since she'd been around a certain Time Lord.
"I think…I think we have a lot to talk about…" The Doctor's sudden change of topic caught Rose off guard.
This wasn't the same man she'd been 'given' on Bad Wolf Bay. He had learned, had grown, just as his 'brother' had expected he would.
When she'd first kissed him on that lonely beach, she'd sensed his love for her, but also a hesitation, a feeling that deep down he believed he was nothing more than a consolation prize.
Perhaps in the beginning he had been, but things were different now.
A pang of guilt hit her at the memory of that fateful day, the memory of her gut wrenching inside as the true Doctor had departed in the TARDIS, leaving her behind.
But that had been a long time ago – it seemed like a lifetime, in fact, even if it had only been months. "There's nothing to talk about…" She turned to smile at him, intending to finally tell him what she wanted for their future.
Together.
Either here on Earth or wherever he chose to call home now.
Except, instead of meeting the Doctor's doleful eyes, Rose's gaze met with nothing…
TBC….