They had only stepped outside the TARDIS for a few minutes. The Doctor had needed to check a sensor that he had planted outside the warehouse and Rory had come to help.
The array was a sophisticated powerful sensor that would hopefully pick up the source of the telepathic wavelength this unknown creature was using on the children. With a bit of luck, the next time that the creature struck they'd be able to backtrack it or at least have a way to identify it.
Suddenly Rory stopped. His eyes glazed over and his mouth opened and closed involuntarily. "We are coming tomorrow. We are coming tomorrow."
The Doctor swung around in shock. "No, no, no. No!" he shouted, rushing to Rory's side. "Rose!" he screamed over his shoulder.
Calm down, he thought, as he forced air into his lungs. The others had no ill side effects after it was over. There was no reason to believe that Rory would either. Except that Rory wasn't a human child.
"We are coming tomorrow," Rory said again before the door to the TARDIS crashed open.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Rose had started to ask but was cut off by Rory once more.
"We are coming tomorrow."
Amy had come out now, too, and was sickened by what she saw.
"Oh my God!" Rose said, rushing to her son's side. "Why..."
"Shhh," the Doctor said, raising a finger to his lips. "Rory, can you hear me?"
Not even the slightest recognition crossed Rory's features. "We are coming tomorrow."
"Rory, fight it. Look at me. Fight this. I'm here, I'm right here." The Doctor brought his hands up to the young man's face. "Trust me, I've got you."
"We are coming... No, no." Rory's head started shaking violently. The Doctor's hands held him steady. Gently, the Doctor reached his mind out to Rory, surrounding him with the older Time Lord's presence, while staying on the outside of his shields.
"It's alright. I promise everything is going to be alright." His fingers inched closer to Rory's temples. "Let me in, please?"
"We are... Dad, please?" Rory was able to give a small nod and the Doctor plunged into his mind. Once inside, the Doctor used his own mental shields to strengthen Rory's. The young man had done a fairly decent job of fighting whatever this was off on his own.
Once Rory's mind was protected, the Doctor tried to follow the telepathic signal back to its source, but it was to no avail. The signal was abruptly cut off.
The immediate crisis over, the two men broke apart, panting from mental exhaustion. Amy caught her husband before he hit the floor. The Doctor had staggered backwards into Rose's waiting arms.
"What the hell was that?" Amy asked, caressing Rory's cheek.
"Why did it affect Rory? He's not a child," Rose said as if she was pointing out the obvious.
"By human standards, yes, Rory is an adult." He pulled away from Rose and moved closer to Rory. "But you are more than just human." He was only speaking to Rory now. "By Gallifrayean or TARDIS standards you are still very young. He wouldn't hit maturity for at least another century."
"But how did I fight it off?" Rory asked.
"You are an incredibly powerful telepath. More so than almost anyone I've met." He paused and looked back and forth between Amy and Rory. "Definitely more than I had originally thought."
The Doctor turned to Amy. "Tell me, every other time this has happened Rory has been in the TARDIS, yes?"
"Yes," Amy agreed even if she wasn't sure where this was going.
"So she wasn't just protecting EJ and Jamie," Rose concluded.
Rory stood up tall now that he had shaken off the physical effects of his psychic assault. "So if it affected me... Where's Jenny? Would it have affected her as well?"
"Oh yes, Jenny!" The Doctor turned back to Rose. "Where is Jenny?"
"She went with Ianto to meet his sister."
In Cardiff, Ianto ran up to Jenny as she was still reciting the words from another being.
"Why is she doing that?" Rhiannon asked. "She doesn't look like a child."
"We are coming tomorrow."
"Looks like it, no," Ianto said as he brushed a hand across Jenny's cheek, trying to get her attention. "But she's alien, a Time Lord. And she's only a few years old. Her father is actually over 900 years old."
"Has this happened to her before?"
Ianto shook his head. "No, she only arrived on Earth last night."
"We are coming tomorrow," Jenny echoed.
"You're mad, Ianto. You should be sectioned for the daft things that you're saying." Rhiannon didn't step away. She simply stared at her brother and the young woman.
He turned to her. "This is what I do, what we do. We deal with things like this."
"So deal with it. Stop it," Rhiannon said firmly.
"We are coming tomorrow."
"We're doing our best," Ianto promised.
"Is something wrong, Ianto?" Jenny asked, having come back to her senses.
Whipping around, he saw that every other child in the vicinity had resumed their normal activities. Jenny followed his gaze. "What's going on?"
"Jenny, what do you remember about the last few minutes?" Ianto asked.
The blonde's brow furrowed in confusion. "You took your sister inside the TARDIS. I stood guard out here. I blinked and suddenly you were staring at me. What happened?"
"It was the kids again," Rhiannon said softly. "They said 'We are coming tomorrow'. And you were saying it, too."
"No, I wasn't." Jenny shook her head before closing her eyes. Her eyelids twitched as if she was concentrating very hard. "I'm missing almost five minutes. Oh my God. Why?"
"I think we need to get you back inside the TARDIS and back to your dad," Ianto said lightly, tugging on Jenny's arm.
"Yeah," Jenny agreed as she followed. "It was nice to meet you." She smiled at Rhiannon. "I just wish it had been under better circumstances."
"Sure." Rhiannon nodded as she watched the young woman enter the ship. Reaching out a hand, she stopped her brother from following. "Are you sure that you can stop this?"
"If we can't, then no one can." Ianto gave her a quick hug. "Remember, keep the kids with you, and if a TARDIS shows up, go with them."
She swallowed hard and nodded. "Be careful." He squeezed her hand and disappeared inside the purple box.
That box soon began to disappear and she felt her stomach lurch. If she hadn't seen so much with her own eyes in the last two days, she wouldn't believe it. She still wasn't sure that she believed it, but she believed Ianto would never let anything harm her or her children. So if that Police Box showed up, she'd do what he asked and gather every child in the neighborhood inside it. She just hoped it never darkened her doorstep.
Amy had immediately taken Rory to the Med Bay to have Tony run some tests. The Doctor stood in the warehouse with his arm around Rose, staring at the spot where the other TARDIS should be. Both of them were willing it to appear.
"She may have been inside when it happened, my love," Rose said quietly. "For all we know she was inside."
"And if she wasn't?" His voice was filled with anger but had just a slight edge of fear in it. "I can't lose her again, not now."
"Even if she was, she'll still be perfectly fine," she assured him.
He turned to her, fire in his eyes. "I should have seen it though, at least with Jenny, if not Rory. They're different and I should have known this could happen. The creatures could use their telepathy against them… If they hurt them, if they hurt anyone…"
"Stop." Rose pulled back and cupped his face, trying to quell the storm raging inside. "They are doing this to scare every last person on Earth and it's working. But you and I, we'll stop this. Then whatever is doing this will have to answer to us." The gold flecks in her eyes momentarily flared brightly. "Defenders of the Earth."
"The Stuff of Legends." He squeezed her hand and she felt some of that anger dissipate.
"Exactly…" Her words were cut off by the keening metal on metal sound of the second TARDIS coming into view. Ianto was out the doors before Rose and the Doctor could make it to them.
"It happened to Jenny," he said quickly. "When the kids started talking, Jenny did too."
"Rory too. It happened to Rory as well," Rose said as the Doctor pushed past Ianto to get to his daughter.
"What?" the Welshman said in disbelief. "I understand Jenny, but Rory…"
"He's still a child by Time Lord standards, but he could fight it off." She edged closer to the TARDIS. "Did Jenny do that?"
Ianto shook his head. "No, she just kept saying the words over and over. Like all the other kids."
Rose sighed. "Well, let's go in there, calm the Doctor down and get Jenny into the Med Bay for some tests."
Three hours after the 'incident' Rory was official sick of being poked and prodded. Every diagnostic that could be performed had been run on both him and Jenny. And yes, that included having Dad, having the Doctor, poke around a bit in there.
The good news was that there didn't seem to be any lasting damage done. Jenny had bounced back to her usual self quickly. That probably had a lot to do with the fact that she didn't remember it happening. The bad news was that they were no closer to discovering what was going on than before. The only thing that had been detected was the frequency the aliens were transmitting on, 456. Fat lot of good that did.
His thoughts traveled back to how it felt with them inside his head. It had been unnerving. Something had been in his head and he felt more than a little violated. Not by what Da... the Doctor had done. Having him inside his head had been comforting. It hadn't been similar to the times his dad had been in there, it had been exactly like that. His presence, his aura, if you will, had been the same. And now Rory was more confused than ever.
He needed his mum. She had left the Med Bay earlier to help Sabrina get a finicky Jamie to take a nap. Part of him knew that she needed to leave to get away from the tension in there. She and the Doctor were angry. So was Amy, for that matter.
Mum didn't think clearly when she was incredibly angry and it was harder for her to keep someone else in line when her judgment was clouded. So she would have gone to help with the kids for a reprieve.
With that in mind, he headed towards the kids' room. Instead, turning a corner, Rory found himself outside the door to the Library. Turning the handle, he pushed the door open. The ship had brought him here so he was unsurprised to see his mum sitting alone on the sofa in front of the fire. Jamie was in a cot near her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," he said, backing out of the room, at least feigning that he didn't need her right now.
"Don't be silly, sweetheart, come in. Jamie's out cold, I was just reading." She set her book down and patted the sofa next to her. He quickly made his way across the room and plopped down next to her.
"Are you alright?" she prodded.
"Maybe…" He sunk into the cushions. "I don't know."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. With a sigh, Rory scooted down the couch until he was lying down. His head rested in his mum's lap and immediately her fingers were ruffling his hair.
He held back a snort of laughter when he pictured the two of them doing this hundreds of years from now. It may seem silly and a little bit like a six year old but it also made him feel extremely loved and safe. Right now he needed the love only his mother could give.
"Rory," she said softly. "What's really bothering you?"
"I called him Dad today." It came out as a barely audible whisper.
"Ah." Her hand stilled in his hair. "And now you feel like you're betraying Dad, because you are starting to see the Doctor in that role. And it's hard to reconcile the two in your head, isn't it?"
"Great big Time Lord brain and I can't wrap it around this." Rory sat up, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. "I mean it's not weird that Tony, Trisha, Sabrina or even Amy call him Dad now. It sounds right for them to call him Dad. It's just... I can't... But today, they felt the same, him and Dad. No difference at all."
Standing up, Rose crossed the room and picked up two photo albums off the shelf. She set them down on the table before pulling Rory's hands away from his face.
"It's like, Mum, it's like I miss him so much." Rory let out a sob. "And yet he's right here at time."
"Oh my love, I know exactly what you mean." Rose pulled Rory into a hug and let him cry into her shoulder.
A few minutes later Rory pulled back and wiped his face with the back of his hand. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Middle of a crisis here and I'm having a breakdown."
"It's understandable, though. What happened to you, you felt it. Someone invaded your mind and used you. You're allowed a bit of a breakdown."
Reaching forward, Rose pulled a photo of her first Doctor out of one of the albums. "When the Doctor first regenerated, even though I watched it happen, it was difficult to mesh them into one person. I knew in my head that they were the same man. But at the same time they were so different. One gruff and moody with big ears." She smiled as she traced the face in the photo.
"The other a bit ADD, with great hair and big smiles." Rose pulled out the photo of her and the Doctor that first Christmas, both wearing those paper crowns. "Eventually I was able to see them both as my Doctor. I loved him in that tenth body completely, even though I still missed the ears on his ninth form."
"How anyone could miss those satellite dishes is beyond me," Rory said, taking the pictures from her. "And that nose."
"Oi! They suited him." Rose slapped her son lightly on the arm before grabbing another set of photos from the second album. "It was different with Pete." Her gaze lingered on the photo of her as a baby being held by this Universe's Pete.
"I barely knew my real dad. Only a baby when he died and I simply got to spend a few hours with him the day he died." She handed the photo over to Rory. "It was actually fairly easy to accept the other Pete as my dad."
"Was it easy for Gran?" Rory asked, taking the second photo from her, the one of Pete, Jackie, Tony, Rose and James the night of the election. His dad had always carried that picture in his wallet.
Rose shook her head. "That first year was hard for both of them, even after Mum got pregnant with Tony. They both had these expectations. She wasn't his Jackie and he wasn't her Pete. Eventually, though, everything worked out and every day for the rest of their lives they simply loved each other for who they were."
Looking down at the photo, Rory's fingers traced his Dad's face. "What about for you and Dad? Did you accept him right away?" He had never asked about those early days just after Bad Wolf Bay. Oh, there had been stories of his parents' early courtship. Dad had told him about being followed by the tabloids and various misadventures they had together. But neither of them had ever mentioned those first few weeks and Rory had never asked.
His mum stiffened a bit before speaking. "The first time I called him Doctor it felt wrong. I tried to think of it as just another regeneration but I was still so angry at the fully Time Lord Doctor that seeing them as the same person hurt. Don't get me wrong, I still loved your dad; I have always and will always love him. I just felt that loving Dad meant that I didn't love the Doctor. And even though I was so mad at the Doctor for abandoning me, just like he said he never would, it never stopped me loving him."
"But you and Dad worked through it. I mean, I'm proof of that." Rory gave her a half grin.
"Yes, Rory, you are the best of both your dad and me and all either of us wanted was for you to be happy."
"I am happy, Mum. Just confused."
"Dad and I talked a lot about what would happen when the Doctor reentered our lives. He knew that he wouldn't have nearly as long with us as the Doctor would and I know that he wanted us to love the Doctor as if it was him. After I mourned him for at least a hundred years."
'What?" Rory didn't think Dad would have been serious about that.
"Just him teasing," she assured her son before pulling out another two photos. The first was one with James and the entire family the day that EJ was born. The second was one with the Doctor at Rory and Amy's wedding. "Because they are the same person. The quirks may be different but they are the same underneath."
"I know it here." Rory tapped his temple before laying a hand on his chest. "I just don't always feel it here and I feel like I should. Everyone else seems to be having a much easier time with this."
"You can't judge yourself by someone else's standards. Don't be too hard on yourself and don't push too hard. If you want to call the Doctor Dad he wouldn't mind. If you never call him Dad, that's okay, too."
"Thank you for understanding, Mum." Rory leaned his head onto her shoulder.
"Our lives keep bringing us impossible situations and more changes than I care to think about at times." She took his hand in hers and spoke softly. "One day, I will miss his big chin and floppy hair. I'll miss the raggedy Maths professor that he is now. The same way I miss the ears and the nose and the leather or the pretty boy with the spiky hair who wore trainers with a suit. Or the man who stood by my side for years and gave me you." She wiped a tear from her eye.
"And one day, if you regenerate... I'll miss your face, too." She brushed her hand down Rory's face. "In the meantime, we learn to see past the packaging and see the person underneath."
Rory couldn't bring himself to say anything. She was right, of course she was. They sat there in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Rory brushed another subject he'd wanted to ask her. With so many people milling about and traveling in two different ships, sometimes it was hard to pin someone down for a private conversation.
"There's something wrong with Amy." He spit it out as bluntly as he could and, as he thought might be the case, she didn't act surprised.
"Yes, there is," she said softly, squeezing his hand.
"Do you know what it is? Because I know there's something but I can't quite put my finger on it." He paused, not sure he wanted the answer to his next question. "Do you know what's wrong?"
She gave him a sad smile. "The Doctor and I have a pretty good idea, but now's not the time to discuss it. After this is over, though, I think you and Amy should travel with us for a bit."
"I think that's a good idea, too," Rory quickly agreed.
There was a soft knock on the door and Sabrina stuck her head in. "Trisha's on the phone. She and Hannah have found out where they're holding Jack. I'll stay with Jamie."
Rory and Rose stood quickly and left the room, but not before Rose gave her daughter a quick hug. They quickly entered the console room where the Doctor, Amy, Jenny, Tony, Gwen and Ianto were huddled around the view screen.
Trisha's face is filled the screen. "I've sent over the floor plans and the basic layout of the military compound where they're holding him."
"Is he alive?" Ianto asked. "I mean, is he okay?"
"He is doing much better now." Trisha went white for a moment. "I'll send you the link for the CCTV feed. Just be thankful I didn't send it earlier."
"Why's that?" Gwen asked.
"They didn't recover many remains, and apparently it's painful regrowing a body after it's been blown up." Trisha shook her head clear. "Anyway, they are building something big on the top floor of the MI-5 building. I'm sending over schematics on that as well. We believe that this is going to be the place where contact with the alien species will occur. There's some sort of gaseous combination being piped in there as well."
Hannah cut in over her daughter's shoulder. "A combination of 25% nitrosyl chloride, 22% hydrogen chloride, 20% nitrogen, 12% fluorine, 9% hydrogen cyanide, 6% acetone, 6% phosgene. In short... poison. Do you think that you can figure out what this creature is now?"
"Maybe," the Doctor said as he began to pace. "We haven't come up with anything nearly as useful on our end. Just the frequency they have been transmitting on, 456."
"What did you say?" Hannah demanded.
The Doctor spun on his heel and turned back to the screen. "456. Why, does that mean something to you?"
"It might, but I need to check something first. When Jack gets back, let me know, he and I need to talk." Before anyone could say anything else, Hannah was out of the room.
"That was strange," Ianto mumbled to himself.
"That's Hannah," Trisha shrugged. "You might want to act fast on Jack's rescue. I'm watching a live satellite feed of a concrete truck rolling onto the yard. That may not bode well for our favorite immortal man."
"Thank you, Trisha, we'll see you later," the Doctor said as he flipped of the screen to the live feed of Jack's cell. Turning to the people in the room, he said, "Alright, so should we come up with a plan or just make it up as we go along? Personally I'm in favor of the make it up as we go along."
"I'll go." Ianto volunteered immediately. "I can sneak into the base…"
"Won't work," Rory said, cutting him off. "You and Gwen were supposed to die in that explosion. We can't just let you waltz in there." He pulled out the laptop that Hannah had left this morning and brought up the floor plans of the military base.
"Look." Amy leaned over her husband's shoulder. "They're so confident that no one can save him they put him in a room with an exterior wall. Bless."
"Why don't you just use the TARDIS to break in and pull him out?" Gwen asked.
"We could." Tony drew out the last word. "But I'm not sure we want anyone to know that Dad is here yet and a blue Police Box is a dead giveaway."
'We could turn on the chameleon circuit in the other TARDIS. Make her a different shape that they wouldn't recognize," Jenny offered.
"It still might raise too much suspicion, to have something appear out of thin air like that. I want to hold off anyone suspecting that we're here." The Doctor tapped his chin. "At least not while Trisha is out there. Which leaves…"
"A vortex manipulator," Rose finished for him. "And only four people in this room who would know how to use one."
"Two of whom are remanded to the protection of the TARDIS until this is all over," the Doctor said as both Jenny and Rory began to protest.
"Enough," Rose said, silencing both her children. "We don't know what these things are capable of and the two of you are vulnerable to it. Which means it's down to me since we don't want the Doctor seen yet." Rose walked over to Jenny and opened her hand to her daughter. "Please, Jenny?"
The younger blonde nodded and unbuckled the leather strap from her wrist. "Be careful, Mum."
"I always am." Rose kissed Jenny on the forehead and headed towards the doors. The Doctor trailed behind her. "You may want to have some clothes ready for him, love. I'll bet he's starkers," Rose said once they were outside.
"What is it with that man and his continual need for nudity?" the Doctor asked, rolling his eyes and helping her to adjust the strap on her wrist. "Come home soon." He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.
"I promise," she said and pushed the buttons that teleported her where she needed to go.
Jack struggled against the bonds in his cell. "Come on! Who's the genius behind the camera?" He pulled again, hoping that he could break or dislocate his wrists to get out. "Come on, come on out and take your bow! Show yourself! Face me like a man!"
A circular hole opened up in the ceiling and a petite brunette leaned over. "I'm not a man."
"Who are you? What's all this about?" Jack demanded.
"Apparently you can't die, so it would be foolish to tell you anything." She shrugged. "But I will say this. If I can't kill you, I can contain you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked, struggling harder now.
A flash of bright blue light filled the room. "Who the hell are you?" the brunette commanded.
"Someone you shouldn't have crossed," Rose said irritably as she took out her sonic screwdriver and released Jack's handcuffs.
"It's good to see you, gorgeous," Jack said, pulling her into a naked hug. Well, at least he was naked.
"You, too," Rose smiled. "Time to go." She pressed a few buttons on Jenny's manipulator.
"Where the hell do you think that you're going?" the woman above them spat.
Rose gave her a half smile. "We're going to be doing what you should be doing, saving the world."
"Again." Jack flashed a cheeky smile as he put his hand on the manipulator. With another flash of blue, the two of them were gone.
Across London, Hannah Stalwart stood outside the entry to her house. As soon as she stepped through the doorway, she heard a noise from the kitchen. She drew her service weapon as a precaution. She had a fairly good idea who was inside, had told her to come, in fact.
"You can put the gun away, Hannah. It's just me," a familiar voice called from inside. "I'm in the kitchen, just needed some parts."
"You had better not be destroying my teakettle again, young lady." Hannah sighed as she holstered her side arm.
"Nope." She popped her 'p'. "I'm making use of all those lovely toasters you've been collecting at boot sales. It's like you knew I'd be visiting."
"What exactly are you building?" Hannah asked as she crossed to stand in the doorway.
"A Faraday cage," the young woman answered. "I'm using your panic room. It's small and has telly and wifi access. You don't want me to get bored while I ride this little adventure out do you?" She waved a hand toward Hannah's normally hidden room. "Sorry about the mess."
Hannah snorted. "If you were really sorry, then you'd clean up your mess before you left. Which, having known you for the better part of two decades, I know you won't." Hannah moved further into the room. "Why do you need a Faraday cage? I figured if you were here, out of everyone's line of sight, no one would know you were being affected either."
She shrugged. "We don't know what these things want, and trust me, I don't want them in my head." The young woman looked Hannah up and down. "Why are you home? I guess I assumed you'd be at UNIT until the wee hours of the morning trying to fix this."
"I needed a file, looks like something from Jack's past may be back to haunt us." Hannah walked past her to a small file cabinet and pressed her palm against it. A few loud clicks later and the door slid open. Hannah shuffled through a bunch of files before extracting the one on the 456. Really she shouldn't have these files. They were supposed to have been destroyed after Canary Wharf.
She had destroyed the digital copies of Jack's files but had kept the hard copies in case Jack needed them one day. Like today.
"Can I see my file, then?" the young woman asked from the other side of the room. "You always said I could, when we got closer to time. We're pretty close now, aren't we?"
Hannah sighed and pulled a file in a familiar shade of blue out of the front of the drawer. Silently she removed the back few pages before sliding the door shut. Foreknowledge of those events wouldn't be good. "Here," Hannah said, handing her the file. "That's all you can know for now. And don't even try to open that cabinet. It's the best in the Universe and if anyone but me tries to open it, everything inside will be destroyed."
"Yes ma'am." The girl gave her a salute and eagerly took the file.
"Now I have to go. Keep inside, don't order takeaways, and if you need anything, let me know."
"Hannah," the girl said. "Thank you, and not just for the file. Thank you for looking after me all these years. I know it's cost you a lot with your relationship with Trisha. When I can tell her, I will. I'll tell her it's my fault."
Walking over, Hannah placed a kiss on the dark complexion of her cheek. "It is not your fault. You needed my help all those years ago. I chose to be a part of this and I chose the way I handled it with my daughter. Now I really need to go. I have to let Jack know what's going on before everyone else finds out."
"Off to do damage control?" The young woman smiled.
"With that man," Hannah nodded. "Always."