CHAPTER 25

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

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Continuity Note: This takes place just before the Eleventh Doctor's regeneration into Twelve and Clara's return in the latest chapter of It's Better With Two. It's probably the last time that I'll write Eleven in my Guardian Who stories barring any kind of Doctor crossover. It's so sad!

THE MACRA'S MASTERPLAN PART 2

As the Macra closed in on the Doctor, Rose, and their companions in all directions, Cassiopeia was cut off from the others and soon found herself completely alone. She tried looking for her family and friends several times in vain as she fought off a small army of the crab creatures, and she began to wonder if this was the way that she would die. She didn't want to die here on this distant planet all alone without ever really having gotten to live at all.

"No! I won't let that happen! Do you hear me? I won't die this way. I've already lost enough of my life. I won't lose the rest of it!" Cassiopeia screamed in frustration as her anger and frustration completely overwhelmed her.

Her entire body erupted with an enormous tidal wave of Vortex energy that sent the Macra around her fleeing in terror. As the Macra cleared a wide path for her in all directions, a small pang of hope sprang up in her hearts as she looked for any sign of someone that she knew. She still saw no one. Despair instantly overcame her as she realized that she was still alone.

She wouldn't stay that way for long though.

Right in front of Cassiopeia's amazed eyes, a young man in his early twenties suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He looked around him in complete confusion at first which immediately turned to absolute terror as soon as he saw the Macra.

"What in the world is going on here?" The man said in a frightened voice.

"Where did you come from? How did you get through the transduction barrier? I thought it was preventing teleportation," Cassiopeia asked him in disbelief.

"The what? What are you talking about and why does that sound so familiar to me? How did I get here anyway? I was just in my apartment a second ago. Did I fall asleep?" The man asked.

Cassiopeia frowned as she said, "Okay, let's start with something simpler then. What's your name?"

"I'm Shawn. Shawn Cooper. Am I dreaming? Is that it? I mean you're one of the most beautiful girls that I've ever seen in my life. That means it's a dream, right? There's no way that someone like you would even be talking to me in real life and let's not even go into the giant crab people," Shawn said with a dazed look on his face.

Cassiopeia smiled despite seeing the Macra regaining their courage and starting to slowly approach her once more. If she was going to die, at least she'd know that she had at least one admirer with her at the end.

"I'm Cassiopeia and this is definitely not a dream. It's more like a nightmare. This entire planet is filled with a deadly alien species called the Macra that will stop at nothing to tear us both apart. If you want to live, then you have to listen to me, okay?" Cassiopeia said.

"Macra? That sounds familiar too. Wait a minute!" Shawn said as his eyes widened in surprise.

At that moment, Cassiopeia had to yank him out of the way of the huge claws of a Macra as she said, "Pay attention to your surroundings, you idiot!"

"That's it! The Macra and transduction barrier are from Doctor Who. Now I know that this is a dream. I'm having a fantasy about being saved by a pretty girl right in the middle of my favorite show. It's like a fan fiction daydream!" Shawn said with a chuckle.

"Try to get this through your thick skull, Shawn! THIS. IS. NOT. A. DREAM!" Cassiopeia shouted as she began to glow with the power of the Vortex and sent the Macra scurrying away from her again as she began attacking them with blasts of energy from her hands.

"No, this isn't right. It's Rose that did the Bad Wolf thing. If I was going to fantasize about that, I'd think about Rose not some random girl. I know I would. This is weird," Shawn said in confusion.

"How do you know about my mother and her power?" Cassiopeia asked suspiciously.

"Your mother? No, no. This isn't right. Rose was too young to have grown children. Unless this is the future and you're one of her kids with the Metacrisis. Why would I daydream about that though? I always thought she should have wound up with the Doctor not him," Shawn said.

"She did wind up with him and I'm their daughter. Of course I was born way before she ever became Rose but that's beside the point," Cassiopeia said as she continued to drive the Macra away from them with blasts of energy.

"Before she became Rose? I'm so confused right now," Shawn said.

"That makes two of us. Come on, Shawn. I've got to get back to the others. If we manage to survive this fight, then maybe I can find out what's going on with you later," Cassiopeia said as she grabbed his hand and they began to run together as she tore through the Macra around them.

"If this is a dream, I definitely don't want to wake up from it," Shawn said as he smiled at Cassiopeia happily.

For the first time in a long time, Cassiopeia began to smile from ear to ear. Despite everything, right here in this moment she was happy. She didn't know why but her hearts felt lighter than they had since she was a child.

Could it be? Was she in love?

Nonsense! Things like love at first sight just didn't happen in real life, right?

Even as Cassiopeia searched for the others, things began to go from bad to worse as the Viyrans finally broke through the transduction barrier by weakening it enough in one small part of it with one of their powerful weapons so that they could teleport through it. It was just a small hole but it was enough to allow them all inside so that they could swiftly cover the entire planet in no time at all. Soon a planet-wide war erupted between the Macra and the Viyrans simultaneously everywhere at once.

"The Viyrans. I knew it. They've come for me," Charley said as she turned pale with fear.

"They're not going to get you, Charley. I promise you that," The Doctor said in a determined voice.

"Oh, but we are, Time Lord. She will become our servant once more, and all of you will die for keeping her from us for this long. You won't be left alive to tell our secrets to anyone else and neither will the Macra," One of the Viyrans said.

"I didn't tell all of them to anyone," Charley protested.

"Maybe you did and maybe you didn't. At least this way, we'll know for sure that no one will ever know them, won't we?" Another Viyran said.

Charley looked at them in absolute disgust and horror as she said, "This isn't right. They didn't do anything wrong. They just tried to help me. If you want to blame someone, then blame me. Leave them alone!"

"They must all die in order to make sure that no one can use our own weapons against us," A Viyran argued.

"No, I won't let that happen," Charley said in defiance as she pulled a vial out of one of her pockets.

The Viyrans backed away from her now as she said, "That's right, boys. This is one of your own weapons. In fact, it's the one weapon that can kill all of you instantly but will leave everyone else completely untouched as soon as I remove the cork from this vial. I made it in secret with the help of the TARDIS' computer. I wasn't planning on using it but I will if you don't let us all go."

"Charley, don't do this. This isn't you," The Doctor said as he looked at her in complete astonishment.

"I don't want to hurt anyone, Doctor, but I won't let them hurt any of you either. You don't deserve to die just for helping me," Charley said.

"Stop bluffing. We all know that you won't use the weapon, Charlotte Pollard. You lived with us for a long time, and we know you very well now because of that. We know you better than you know yourself in fact. You're far too noble to commit genocide no matter what the provocation," The leader of the Viyrans said as he suddenly appeared in front of Charley.

"Am I? Maybe you know the regular me but you don't know the me who has been looking over her shoulder in terror ever since I left you, do you? In fact, you don't know the scared, frightened little thing that you've made me into now at all. Maybe it is small and petty of me, but I don't want to die. I don't want them to either. The funny thing is that I never would have used this if you had just stayed away from me. You did this, all of you. You did this to yourselves by not leaving me alone," Charley said in an extremely upset voice as she put her hand over the cork in the vial as she silently threatened to pull it out.

"Charley, we'll find another way. Don't do this. You'll always regret it if you do. Believe me on that," The Doctor pleaded.

Perhaps you would feel better if someone else used the weapon instead. A voice said in Charley's mind.

"Who are you?" Charley asked even though she was sure that she knew.

I am the leader of the Macra on this world. I offer you a bargain, Charlotte Pollard. Give us the vial, and we will kill the Viyrans for you. The guilt won't rest squarely on your shoulders then. Then we will let you and your friends go unharmed. You have my word on that. Just give us the vial. The Macra leader demanded.

"You're just saying that because you're desperate now that the Viyrans have arrived and are killing all of you. What about the other secrets though? You'll still want them after you've finished them off, right?" Charley asked not trusting him.

With this one secret, a weapon that is created specifically to kill just one type of living being, we should be able to reverse engineer a weapon that will be able to destroy any enemy that we want it to. This should be more than enough for the Macra to return to our former glory. The Macra leader reassured her.

"Yes, and then I'll be responsible for even more deaths," Charley said in a sickened voice.

That is the price for your freedom, Charlotte Pollard. Either accept it or you will die I'm afraid. The Macra leader said.

Charley shook her head as she said, "No, I won't be responsible for other people dying. Only the Viyrans."

Give us the weapon or we'll kill you and take it anyway! The Macra leader threatened her.

"Charley, you don't need this. We'll get you out of this. I promise. It's going to be okay. Let me have the vial," Victoria said in a gentle voice as she stretched her hand out towards Charley.

Charley held the vial closer to her chest as she said in a frightened voice, "No, this is the only way that I'll be safe, Victoria. It's my only protection."

"Charley, I honestly didn't know that you were so afraid that you would do something like this. I'm so sorry for not recognizing it before. This isn't the way though. You're only making things worse. Give us the vial so that we can get rid of it," The Doctor pleaded with her.

"No, Doctor. I can't do that. This is the only thing keeping us all alive. You want it, everybody? Come and get me," Charley said as she began to race off by herself as fast as she could.

Forget the others. Concentrate on her. Find her and seize the weapon now! The Macra leader ordered.

"We must get to Charlotte Pollard before they do!" The Viyran leader ordered.

As the Macra and the Viyrans all raced after Charley, Shareen looked on in stunned disbelief as she asked Rose, "What is she doing? Has she gone mad?"

Rose said nothing. She could only watch in stunned silence along with everyone else as what seemed like the entire planet now chased after Charley.

Cassiopeia suddenly noticed this too as the Macra all seemed to forget her and Shawn instantly now as they raced away from them. Cassiopeia took advantage of this opportunity to close her eyes and reach out to the TARDIS as she tried to contact her sisters and brother who were still onboard.

Jackie, are you all okay? Cassiopeia asked telepathically as she called out to Jacqueline.

We're fine. The Macra never got inside. I have no idea where we are though. I wasn't sure if I should try moving the TARDIS on my own or not. Jacqueline answered.

No, don't do anything. Just place your hands on the telepathic circuits and form a link between the TARDIS and me. Cassiopeia instructed.

You've got it, Cass. Jacqueline said as she did just as her sister asked.

A temporary telepathic link was now formed between Cassiopeia and the TARDIS using her sister as the bridge, and she used her mind to dematerialize the ship and bring it straight to her. This entire time Shawn looked at her in puzzlement as he had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

Then he suddenly knew as he found himself in the TARDIS along with Cassiopeia. He knew then at last that this was no dream. Somehow in some way he was stuck in the middle of Doctor Who!

He promptly proceeded to faint immediately.

"Who's that? Your new boyfriend?" Jacqueline asked with a smirk.

"You never can tell," Cassiopeia answered.

Meh! Surely you can do better than Fainting Boy here. Lily replied telepathically.

"We'll worry about my pathetic lack of a love life later, guys. Let's go," Cassiopeia said as she dematerialized the TARDIS.

Charley meanwhile was racing for her life as she somehow managed to keep herself one step ahead of the two massive armies at all times. She knew that she couldn't keep that up forever though. As she finally saw the entrance to one of the mines that the Macra were forcing people to labor in she ran inside of it.

She smiled as she saw that there was no one in the mine. The Macra must have loosened their hold on the workers while they concentrated on her, and they fled for their lives just like the people on the surface had been doing while she ran by them. Good. Now it was just her in danger down here and no one else she thought to herself.

Now it was finally time to carry out the rest of her plan.

When she had run into the mine far enough to lure the bulk of the two armies of aliens inside it, Charley said, "You want this? Here."

She held the vial up and then tossed it even further down the cave.

"Go and get it," Charley said as she began to run towards the cave entrance while the Macra and the Viyrans both seemed to ignore her.

She couldn't believe just how that lucky she was, but she wasn't about to question it. It turned out that it wasn't luck at all though.

Forget the girl. We'll find her later. We must reach the vial first. The Macra leader ordered.

"We must get to the vial before they do. We will recapture Charlotte Pollard later," The like-minded Viyran leader ordered.

"Isn't anyone going to help Charley? She's all alone against them now. She can't outrun them all forever," Polly said with concern even as Charley raced for her life to the cave entrance.

"Don't worry about it," Rose said with a mysterious smile on her face.

"Oh, I hate that smile. You're always up to something wicked whenever you have that smile," Shareen said knowingly.

"You know me so well," Rose said with a giggle.

"You and the Doctor had this all planned out ahead of time with Charley in case the Viyrans ever caught up to her again, didn't you?" Shareen accused her.

It was the Doctor who answered as he said, "Yes, but it was more her plan than ours. Didn't you see the way that she was using the vial to manipulate both the Viyrans and the Macra? That wasn't blind fear talking at all. That was a very deliberate action on her part and a huge bluff since she didn't have a Viyran weapon in the vial at all. You should know Charley too well by now to ever believe that she'd really do something like carry out a mass genocide, Shareen."

"I'm so proud of her. She's come up with a very clever bluff to use against both of them all by herself," Rose said with a mischievous smile.

"You knew too didn't you, Victoria? You were all playing along with her, weren't you?" Shareen asked with a frown.

"Yes, we were. Sorry that we couldn't let you know," Victoria said.

"Aye, you get used to it eventually. Victoria is just like the Doctor now in how she always plays her cards close to the vest," Jamie said.

"Yes, she's become so much like him that it's a bit scary at times," Zoe admitted.

Victoria gave her a questioning look to which she quickly responded, "We still trust you though, Victoria. I wasn't saying that we didn't."

Victoria smiled and nodded because she wanted at least Jamie and Zoe of all people to know that they could always trust her no matter what. She loved them both dearly and would never deliberately do anything to hurt either of them. She hoped that that would always be true.

"So nobody could be bothered to clue us lesser mortals into the whole thing at all, could they?" Shareen said in an annoyed voice.

"Don't take it personally, Shareen. They do this sort of thing a lot. It's so that they can get a genuine reaction of fear in order to convince the people that they're trying to bluff. It's nothing against you," Mikaela said reassuringly.

"I'm okay with it myself. Against an enemy like the Macra, we need every advantage that we can get," Polly said.

"Wait a minute though. If the vial doesn't have the weapon in it, then what is in it?" Jamie asked.

"That's the magic question isn't it? Charley really is brilliant," Rose said as her smile widened.

"She still didn't answer my question," Jamie complained.

"You'll have to forgive her, Jamie. She's gotten just as bad as the Doctor about keeping secrets now," Polly said with a small smile.

"Sorry about that. Okay, I'll tell you," Rose said.

"Do you have to, Rose? I wanted everyone to find out as it happened," The Doctor protested.

"I'll tell everyone myself as soon as we get back to the TARDIS. Where is it by the way? Please tell me that it's not still in one of those caves," Charley said as she came running up to them out of breath.

"No, I've got Cassiopeia on that right now. She should be here any minute now as a matter of fact. She just had to go do something else first," Rose said.

"Something else? Like what? We need to get out of here not waste time," Shareen asked with concern.

Suddenly they all found themselves inside the TARDIS as Cassiopeia said, "I was hardly wasting time, Aunt Shareen. I just rescued all of the kidnapped people on this planet. It was a lot of work too convincing them all to get into what they thought was something too small for them all to fit into too believe me."

They all looked around them to see that the Console Room was packed full of people now as Cassiopeia dematerialized the TARDIS. She then left the planet entirely as she guided the ship through the hole in the transduction barrier that the Viyrans had made earlier.

"We did it. I can't believe it. I finally gave the Viyrans the slip. Do you think that I'll have really gotten away from them forever this time?" Charley asked hopefully.

"I certainly hope so, Charley. I hope that they'll completely lose track of you now especially after what you just did to them," The Doctor said with a grin.

"Which was what exactly? What was in that vial?" Shareen asked.

"Aye, what was it, Doctor?" Jamie asked eager to know the answer to that himself now.

"It was a little something that Ace left behind in the TARDIS' lab. It's a new invention of hers, a new form of Nitro-9 that can only be set off by pulling the cork out of the vial. Ace came up with it as a trap. She'll be glad to know that you tested it for her, Charley," Rose said.

"So it'll explode as soon as one of them opens it then," Jamie said.

"Yes, but if neither of them opens it, then it should be perfectly safe," The Doctor said.

"What's the likelihood of that happening though especially among that lot?" Polly asked.

"Pretty much zero," Rose acknowledged.

"The ones that aren't killed will then be trapped in the cave-in that results won't they?" Shareen asked finally piecing it all together.

"Yes, and by the time they get out again they'll have long since lost track of Charley. She'll finally be free of them," The Doctor said.

Rose nodded as she said, "Especially when I do this."

Rose gestured at Charley and she felt an odd tingling sensation briefly all throughout her body that quickly went away. She looked at Rose in surprise as she asked, "What was that?"

"Let's just say that I just put a permanent perception filter like effect into your DNA that will hide you from the Viyrans. It'll make you completely invisible to them in every way even if they're standing right next to you. They'll see you as someone else entirely and hear your name as someone else's name even if they do manage to hear it. I couldn't do it before since the Viyrans seemed to constantly have you on their radar at every moment, but now that they've lost track of you completely for a moment you should hopefully be able to hide from them for good now," Rose said with a warm smile.

"Thank you so much!" Charley said as she hugged her in gratitude.

The Doctor smiled and then frowned as he said, "So I suppose that you'll want to go back home now."

"Yeah, I do. I'll like for it to be right after I left too since my family might think that I died in that disaster that you rescued me from if I don't, Doctor. I hate to leave you but I've missed them. I've missed them all so much. Besides, you don't need me here anymore. You've got a family now just like me, and I'm so happy for you about that," Charley said as she hugged him tightly.

"I'll still miss you, Charley. I won't keep you away from them any longer though. Several years is quite enough I think," The Doctor said with a small smile as he set the coordinates for Charley's own time.

Charley waved goodbye as the Doctor dropped her off one last time while he tried unsuccessfully to hold back his tears. Rose hugged him and kissed his cheek even as she wiped those tears away for him.

"I'm going to miss her too, Doctor. She had become just like another daughter to me," Polly admitted as she saw this.

"Don't worry. She's going to be alright. Besides you'll have your own family to get back to soon enough now," Rose said.

"When?" Polly asked curiously while Mikaela listened intently.

She had been wondering this herself. Why was Polly still there when she knew for a fact that she went from this time to stay with her family in her own time in the future? She didn't know exactly when she had left but she was sure that it had been sometime around this time period.

"Soon now. Very soon. I'm sorry that I can't tell you more than that," Rose said with an apologetic look on her face.

"That's alright. It'll be nice to see them all again. I've really missed them over the last few months," Polly admitted.

Mikaela then noticed that Rose was giving her the same look that she was giving Polly only she wasn't saying anything. What did she know about her own future that she wasn't telling her?

She began to fear that maybe the horrible future that she had seen recently with herself as the leader of the Symmetry was about to come to pass. She was determined not to let it though. She would never become their leader no matter what happened.

Never.

The Doctor meanwhile looked at the still unconscious Shawn suspiciously as he said, "Who's this? Is he someone the Macra kidnapped?"

"No, he's Cass' new boyfriend," Jacqueline joked.

"He is not. At least I don't think so anyway," Cassiopeia said with a smile that was just a little bit too wide.

The Doctor immediately became alarmed by that and he was even more alarmed as Shawn woke up and said upon seeing him, "You're the Doctor! The real Doctor! It's true. It's all true. I really am in Doctor Who. This can't be right though. You never got back together with Rose, and you didn't have an extremely gorgeous daughter together."

Cassiopeia blushed even as the Doctor said, "Never mind my daughter. How do you know about the original timeline that Rose changed? Who are you?"

"I'm your biggest fan, Doctor. I watch your show every week. It's my favorite show of all time. I mean I'm a real hardcore Whovian. I can't believe this though. It's just my luck to land in the middle of the show only for it not to be anything like the show at all. I won't have the advantage of knowing what's going to happen before you do. How unfair is that? This is nothing like the show at all. I mean you're not even the Old Man yet and where's Clara? I really wanted to meet Clara. I bet she's so cool in person. I still don't even know how I got here. Do any of you know?" Shawn babbled nervously.

The Doctor practically growled at him which made Shawn back away from him and ask Cassiopeia, "What? What did I say?"

"You just struck a nerve without meaning to by mentioning Clara is all. Don't worry about it. Do you want us to try to take you home now along with the others?" Cassiopeia asked as she put her arm around him and smiled at him.

"I guess so. I'm not sure that I really want to go though," Shawn said as he smiled back at her.

Rose grinned at them and turned away as the Doctor whispered, "No. Oh, no. He's not is he?"

"Could be," Rose whispered back.

"Can't I just send him back home with the others? I don't like him," The Doctor said.

"You can try but I doubt you'll be able to. We don't even know what universe he came from. Finding it might take forever. I think they'll already have a relationship started up by then," Rose said with a grin.

"I'll find it alright. I'll find it if it takes me the rest of this regeneration," The Doctor said.

"I'm afraid that won't be long enough, Doctor," Rose said in a voice so low that no one could hear her.

She knew that the Old Man was already on his way and that Clara would be coming back right along with him. It would be very soon now.

She missed this Doctor already and he wasn't even gone yet.

She gave him a tender kiss which caused him to say, "It's soon now isn't it?"

"Yes. I'm sorry," Rose said as she tried not to cry.

"It's okay, Rose. It's going to be okay," The Doctor said as he held her close to him and kissed her.

No matter what happened he would never forget this time. Not only because it was the time when he was the Doctor, but also because it was the time when he was finally reunited with Rose once again. It was the happiest time of all of his lives, and nothing would ever take that away from him. Ever.

Next: Twelve is finally here at last and he's brought Clara along with him. Unfortunately a war between two very different factions of the clockwork robots soon becomes one of his first challenges as the Symmetry take on the forces of the Half-Face Man for the future of all machine kind everywhere. Will Mikaela really be able to remain neutral in all of this especially when the fighting between the two factions starts to become a major threat to the entire universe?