CHAPTER 33

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A REAL LIFE FRANKENSTEIN

Thanks to Lilith, the Doctor's sister*, the laws of the universe had finally been restored back to normal at last. Not long afterwards once the Doctor, Rose, and the others had fought an intense battle with the Trickster and the Weeping Angels who desperately sought to prevent it so was the universe.

Of course since Rose had been the one resetting things it wasn't exactly the same universe as before. She had decided to make a few minor changes to reality here and there while she had this rather unique opportunity to do so.

Changes that she hoped would make the lives of her friends much better in the long run.

"Rose, is the Doctor around? There's something that I really need to talk to both of you about," Polly said as she pulled Rose aside in the Console Room of the TARDIS a few days after reality had been restored.

Rose had a feeling that she already knew what this was about but she pretended as though she didn't as she said, "He's off in one of the corridors repairing a faulty circuit somewhere. Smitty the Dinosaur's room is getting too cold and you know how reptiles hate that. He's been whining about it having to be repaired for days now, and Smitty's not been too happy either. So what's up?"

Polly hesitated for a moment and then finally said in a resolute tone, "Rose, I'm leaving. I'm sorry but I won't be traveling with you and the Doctor anymore. I want . . . No, that's not quite strong enough. I need to be with what's left of my family in the future. I've put off going there to live with Alex and Mary for long enough now."

Rose smiled as she said, "All you had to do was ask. I would have sent you to them any time that you wanted to go."

Polly looked at her gratefully as she said, "I know. I guess I was just being a bit selfish. I didn't want my time with the Doctor to end so soon after I'd been reunited with him again. I realize now though that this is finally the right time to go. I miss them, Rose."

Rose nodded even as she said, "You still remember what happened in the other reality, don't you? That's why you suddenly want to be with the kids isn't it? You still remember Ben being alive again if only for a little while, and it reminded you of them."

Polly immediately looked relieved as she said, "So you remember it too? I wasn't sure if you did or not. Once reality reset itself, everyone acted as if nothing had ever happened even though some things are definitely different now than they were before. I thought maybe I was the only one who still remembered the way things used to be."

"No, you weren't the only one, Polly, just one of the few who were allowed to retain that knowledge. Only Time Lords and Guardians can remember changes in reality like that once things have gone back to normal. Humans usually don't. That's why the Doctor and I didn't mention it around you lot. You would have thought that we were even madder than usual," Rose said with a grin.

Polly looked confused and a bit concerned now as she said, "If humans can't remember changes in reality, then why do I still remember then? Does that mean that I'm not human anymore?"

That was when the Doctor finally returned and said, "Not completely, no. When your future great-granddaughter altered your biology, she did more than simply make you immortal, Polly. She also gave you a few extra abilities that all of humanity will have the potential to gain in the far future including the ability to detect and remember changes in reality others can't."

"That doesn't make you any less human in any way though so don't be worried, yeah?" Rose quickly added since she could tell from the expression on Polly's face that the Doctor's unemotional reply hadn't exactly inspired her with confidence.

"Yes, she's absolutely right. You're still very much human if you value that sort of thing. I'm not entirely sure why you would though. So why are we discussing this exactly since I missed the first half of this conversation?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm leaving you, Doctor, because seeing Ben again made me realize that I need to be with the few family members that I have left," Polly admitted.

"Well, if you must," The Doctor said with a sudden look of sadness in his eyes that surprised even Rose.

It just showed her that his friendship with Polly must be even stronger than she thought if he could still display sorrow over her leaving even in this new almost emotionless incarnation. Then again she was present during his first regeneration and helped him through that rather traumatic experience so she was bound to have become very special to him.

Polly could obviously sense this too as she said, "The two of you are going to be alright without me, aren't you? I could stay a bit longer if it's going to be a problem since I know that you wanted me to look after the Doctor for you, Rose."

"That was when I couldn't always be there to look after him myself, Polly. Now that I can though you're free to do whatever you want. We're definitely going to miss you though. Won't we, Doctor?" Rose reassured her.

"Yes. Yes, of course," The Doctor said in a now emotionless tone as he looked away from her.

"He'll miss you too," Rose mouthed behind the Doctor's back making Polly smile.

"So will you be coming back again or are you going to stay with future me for good?" The Doctor asked Polly in that same flat emotionless tone that he had suddenly returned to before.

He was trying to act like he didn't care, but Polly knew him far too well to ever fall for that.

"Yes, some day, Doctor, once little Polly is all grown up. I promise. I just wanted to be with my kids for a while so that I don't miss out on all of the important events in their lives, and then I'll come back again to some future point in this time period. I don't exactly know when yet, but you definitely won't have to wait twenty years or so before you see me again. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not though. I'd certainly like to think so," Polly said with a warm smile.

"Good. That's good," The Doctor said in that same flat tone.

"Are you ready then?" Rose asked Polly while she briefly frowned at the Doctor.

"Yes. Good bye, Doctor, Rose. Tell the others that I'll miss them too. I meant what I said though. I will be back," Polly said as she struggled to retain her composure.

Part of her really didn't want to go after all. She knew exactly how much that she would miss this.

It was that part of her that made her impulsively give the Doctor a massive hug as she whispered into his ear, "I know you're going to miss me no matter how much you pretend otherwise and I'm sorry. This is just something that I have to do."

Then she finally pulled away from him as she motioned to Rose to go ahead.

Rose gave the now visibly upset Polly a reassuring smile as she said, "I'm going to send you to the same time in the future that I sent Mary and Alex so that you won't miss a thing I promise. Then whenever you like just tell future me that you want to pop back in here for a visit again, alright? She won't mind. Oh, and I hope that you like the gift that I gave you."

The Doctor immediately turned to look at Rose with almost as much surprise as Polly was now showing as she said, "Gift?"

"You'll see. See you soon I hope, Polly," Rose said as she began to glow with energy and snapped her fingers.

Polly suddenly vanished in a burst of golden energy as the Doctor looked at Rose questioningly while he asked, "What have you done? If it's what I think it is, you know that you can't undo that particular event without possibly damaging the Web again almost as soon as you fixed it."

"Blimey! Give me a little more credit than that, will you? I didn't suddenly bring Ben back to life again if that's what you're worried about. Yeah, I made some changes to reality but even I couldn't pull that one off without some major jiggery pokery on the timeline," Rose said in an irritated tone.

"You still didn't answer my question, Rose. You're deliberately trying your best not to answer it in fact. What did you do?" The Doctor said.

"The next best thing," Rose finally said with a mischievous grin.

Polly meanwhile found out exactly what Rose did almost as soon as she arrived in the future.

"It's about time that you got here, Duchess. What took you so long?" Ben Jackson said with a huge smile on his face as he stood there in front of her in a future version of the TARDIS' Console Room looking just as young as he had when they had first met.

"What? How?" Polly asked in bewilderment.

"To be honest, I'm not quite sure. The Doctor said a bunch of high minded stuff that I still don't understand while he tried to explain it all. This version of him is even more bad-tempered than our first one I think. He seemed to run out of patience with me when I still didn't quite believe what was happening to me once he finished. I actually thought that it was all a dream," Ben said with a grin.

"That sounds like you alright. Always skeptical of everything no matter how much proof someone gives you," Polly said as she smiled from ear to ear with unbridled joy.

"Well, it is an awful lot to accept that you're an old man who is near death in the hospital one minute and then you're suddenly young and healthy in the next. The gist of what happened is that somehow the Doctor's wife used some kind of alien element called Axonite to make a perfect copy of me from just before I died. She must have done it while I was asleep in my hospital bed or something because I still remember my entire life perfectly up until that point. She said that she did it because she owed us for taking care of the Doctor for her. Can you believe that?"

"Right now I can believe anything, Ben. Thank you, Rose," Polly said as she embraced him tightly.

"You're welcome," Rose said in the present day as the Doctor frowned at her.

"Axonite. You made a copy of him using Axon technology," He said in disapproval.

"Now before you say anything, I completely blocked Ben off from Axos in every possible way. It won't have a chance of influencing or controlling him. I guarantee it," Rose said defensively.

"Exactly how sure are you of that?" The Doctor asked skeptically.

"I'm the Bad Wolf, Doctor. I know exactly what will and won't happen as far as Ben is concerned. I may not know my own future but I definitely know his, yeah? So are you through grilling me now?" Rose said as her eyes briefly glowed.

The Doctor actually looked apologetic for once as he said, "It's not that I don't trust you or have faith in you. I just wanted to make sure that Axos didn't have a new way to invade Earth once more. Axos is very clever, Rose."

"Good thing for you that I'm even cleverer then, isn't it?" Rose said with a wide grin.

"Well, I definitely won't dispute that. I've certainly seen more than enough evidence of it lately," The Doctor admitted with a brief smile.

"Mother, am I becoming as mad as Father and just imagining things or did you actually find a way to give Ben back to Polly again?" Victoria said as she and Jamie suddenly appeared next to Rose.

"Case in point," The Doctor said as he gestured towards Victoria.

In this new version of reality, The Doctor and Rose had officially adopted Victoria as their daughter a month ago. She had fit into the family so seamlessly from that moment onward that it was almost as if she had always been there right from the start.

It was just like Ace all over again.

"You're not imagining a thing, Victoria. That's exactly what happened. Am I good or what?" Rose said happily.

"That is clever even for you. I'm so glad that you were able to find a way to do that for her, Mother. She more than deserves it," Victoria admitted with a warm smile as she hugged her.

"Aye, if anyone does Polly does for sure. It's almost as good as when you found those long lost cousins of Zoe's mother that took her in a month ago, Rose. I've never seen her as happy as she is now in all of the time that I've known her and it's all thanks to you," Jamie said as he eagerly joined Victoria in hugging Rose.

"And there's even more evidence of your cleverness as if you needed any, Rose. Be careful or you'll wind up with a swelled head," The Doctor warned.

"Speaking from experience, Doctor?" Rose teased him.

"You know that he is, Blondie. He's usually the one bragging about how smart that he is after all. I think that it's actually bothering him that someone else has the spotlight for a change," Clara said as she appeared in the Console Room in a burst of silver energy.

"You know I miss the old days when I was the only one who decided when someone could or couldn't get into my TARDIS. Now I have people constantly entering it without warning at all times," The Doctor said with a sigh.

"Oh, shut up, Old Man. You know you love it whenever we drop by to visit," Clara said as she suddenly hugged him making him stiffen in response.

"I was actually going to ask you to come here anyway, Clara, so it really doesn't matter anyway," Rose said.

The Doctor was surprised yet again for the second time that day as both he and Clara looked at her curiously now.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Clara asked.

"No, everything's fine. I actually wanted to tell you some good news. Well, I hope that you'll think that it's good news anyway," Rose said with an uncertain look on her face.

"Now I can't help admitting that I'm more than a bit worried about this whatever it is," Clara said.

The anxious look on the Doctor's face told Rose that he felt exactly the same way. Apparently even what little she had changed of the timeline was just a bit too much for him to take in all at once.

Rose gave both of them a comforting smile now as she said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. It's nothing bad at all, Clara. I swear that it isn't."

Clara started to smile again now as she said, "Alright, I believe you, Bad Wolf Girl. So what is this great and wonderful news that you want me to hear so much then?"

"I spoke to the High Council earlier and they wanted me to take back the position of Lady Lungbarrow again now that I'm finally back and the universe is safe again," Rose started to explain.

"And you said yes, right? That's the good news that you wanted me to hear?" Clara asked in a very hopeful voice.

Rose's smile started to fade now as she said, "No, not exactly."

Clara's smile definitely faded as she said, "What do you mean by 'not exactly'?"

"I told them that I wanted you to keep the job," Rose said with a nervous laugh.

"Sorry. I must have heard you wrong. Did you just say that you told them to let me keep it?" Clara said in a furious voice.

"Are your ears developing a fault, Clara, because I'm hearing her perfectly?" The Doctor said with a frown.

"Zip it, Skeleton Man. I only want to hear from her right now," Clara said in a cold voice.

"You've done a good job at keeping things going while we were away, Clara, so I didn't see why I should change anything. You're actually an unpredictable element to the Time Lords. They have absolutely no idea what you're going to do next because you're human. That's exactly what I need to keep the less pleasant members of the Council on their toes. I really need to keep them on the defensive right now, Clara," Rose said in a pleading tone.

Clara's expression instantly softened now as she said, "It's Astalan, isn't it? You want me there to help throw a spanner in the middle of whatever he has going on against you and the Doctor. I knew that man was up to no good. He seems to hate your family with a passion for some reason."

"It's because Jenny is standing in his way by being Lord President when he obviously wants that position so much, and he knows that Rose and I would stand against him and whatever he has planned anyway even if she wasn't the President. He's not to be trusted with any kind of power especially not power over all of Time," The Doctor said.

"So you two have a history then? Is that it?" Clara asked.

The Doctor nodded with a grim look on his face as he said, "You could say that. He once worked with the Master and Chancellor Goth in a plot to assassinate the then current Lord President and have Goth take his place. I didn't find out about his role in things until much later and long after Goth died."

"I remember that. Cydonia was there working for Lord Cardinal Borusa at the time in order to secretly help you. So what was Astalan's part in that mess?" Clara asked.

"He had planned on becoming the power behind the throne as Goth enacted legislation that would be very beneficial for the Celestial Intervention Agency. Even that far back he was already out for ultimate power. Now he's trying to use the authority and power of the Presidency to secretly bring the nearly destroyed Celestial Intervention Agency back to its former glory once again. I'm almost certain that's what he's up to this time. That's a brilliant idea to have Clara there keeping him constantly off balance with her actions since she's so emotional and illogical, Rose," The Doctor said with a proud smile while Clara shot him a furious look.

"Well, that's not quite the way that I'd put it but that's the general idea anyway. I want him to be so worried about her that maybe he won't pay as much attention to us while we're trying to find out whatever he's up to now," Rose said as she gave Clara an apologetic smile.

"You don't think that it has anything to do with the Celestial Intervention Agency then?" The Doctor asked curiously.

"I'm not sure. I know that he used to work for them but now that they're more or less gone I don't see why he'd even care about them anymore. I feel like it's something else this time, but I'm not sure what just yet," Rose said.

"And that's another reason why you want me in charge of the House so that you have more time to find out, right?" Clara asked.

"You've got it. So will you help us? It's just until all of this is over with, and then I'll take the position back again," Rose promised.

Clara smiled and eagerly said, "Sure, why not. I like being a thorn in that guy's side anyway. I haven't liked him from the moment I saw him."

"See what I mean, Rose? Purely illogical and so utterly human," The Doctor said with what almost looked like pride on his face for a brief moment.

"Keep that up, Old Man, and I'll show you just how illogical that I really am," Clara said with a threatening look in her eyes.

"Yes, keep acting exactly like that and you'll keep him in a state of constant paranoia as he worries about what you'll do next," The Doctor said with approval.

"I think you're the one who should be worried about that, Doctor," Rose said with a chuckle.

That was when the TARDIS suddenly began to materialize unexpectedly causing the Doctor to rush to the console in order to look at the coordinates. What he saw there immediately made him smile for a brief moment.

"Well, at least wherever we're going must not be too bad," Victoria said hopefully.

"I'm not so sure about that. Sometimes when he smiles like that it's because we're heading straight into trouble," Jamie observed.

"Oh, you know him so well, Kilt Boy," Clara said with an evil smile.

"So do I. That's why I'm already wondering what incredibly dangerous enemy that we're about to be running for our lives from this time, Doctor," Rose said with an eager smile.

"I have absolutely no idea," The Doctor said as the TARDIS finally materialized completely.

"Then what was that wicked little smile about?" Rose asked curiously.

"It's because I'm certain that we will be in trouble before long even if I don't know what kind just yet," The Doctor said looking just as eager as Rose had earlier.

"How can you be so sure of that other than the fact that we almost always are of course?" Clara asked.

"It's because I recognize those coordinates and who lives at them. That's why. I mean if you can't count on getting involved in a good horror story whenever you meet Mary Shelley then what can you count on?" The Doctor said as he started towards the TARDIS doors.

"Oh, that's just great. Why did it have to be her for?" Clara said with a frown.

Rose looked at Clara questioningly as she realized that there was definitely a story behind that frown. She made a mental note to ask her more about it later.

"So you know Mary Shelley, Father?" Victoria asked with a look of admiration on her face.

"Who's this Mary Shelley that everyone keeps going on about?" Jamie asked in confusion.

Victoria looked at him as if he was mad at first and then she said, "That's right. She was after your time wasn't she? She's a writer, Jamie. She wrote a very important book called Frankenstein about a man who brings the dead back to life."

Jamie nodded with an understanding smile now as he said, "Now I see why the Doctor likes her then. That's exactly the sort of thing that he would get himself involved in alright."

"Well, as it turns out I did travel with her for a while back when I was all dashing and romantic. That version of me looked like he could have stepped right out of one of the gothic novels of the time," The Doctor admitted as he opened the front doors.

As soon as he did so, Mary Shelley herself instantly dashed inside and then looked at him with disappointment as she said, "You told me that you might be a changed man the next time that I saw you, Doctor, but I certainly wasn't exactly expecting this. You are the Doctor, correct?"

"What's wrong with the way that I look?" The Doctor protested.

"Do you have a mirror handy?" Clara joked even while she moved behind Victoria and placed her between her and Mary Shelley while completely blocking her line of sight.

Rose made a careful note of this behavior. It was almost as if she didn't want Mary to see her. Why?

"Yes, definitely the Doctor," Mary said with a small smile.

"Yes, he certainly is. You definitely sound like you know him alright so you must be Mary Shelley. I'm his wife, Rose, and I'm a huge fan of yours. I love old horror movies and they probably wouldn't even exist without you," Rose said with a massive grin as she introduced herself.

"Wife? Well, that explains it then," Mary said.

"Explains what?" Rose asked with a bewildered look.

"Why I traveled all alone with him for so long and he never once so much as looked at me in a suggestive manner. He obviously loves you very much. I'm so glad that he was able to be reunited with you once again," Mary said with a warm smile.

"And how do you know about that?" Rose asked suspiciously.

"I guessed as much because it was obvious to me that he was always looking for something during those travels of his. Now I see that that something was you," Mary explained.

Rose smiled at her gratefully while the Doctor said, "Why were you running so eagerly into the TARDIS, Mary? I have a feeling that it wasn't just because you wanted to see me again."

Mary shook her head as she said in an almost frantic tone, "Unfortunately that's not the reason why at all, Doctor. It's actually very fortunate that you came when you did because I desperately need your help. I used to think that my book was entirely fiction but now I'm not so sure. You have to stop a real life Dr. Frankenstein, Doctor, before he succeeds in covering the world in undead horrors."

"Tell me exactly what's going on, Mary," The Doctor said as he listened to her with an intense look on his face.

"There's a man who claims that he can bring back the dead. Only he doesn't just claim it, Doctor. He actually does it. When they come back however, they're not the same as they were before. They're far from it in fact. They resemble my monster in the way that they're horribly patched together and seem to have several parts that have been replaced here and there. It's truly horrible, Doctor, and what's worse is that there's even talk of him making a whole army of these undead creatures. Several countries are already asking him to make such a thing for them," Mary said in a disgusted voice.

"Who is this man, Mary? What is his name?" The Doctor demanded.

"Solon. They call him Dr. Solon," Mary said with a shudder.

Now it was the Doctor's turn to shudder because Solon was dead. He had killed him himself as he had tried unsuccessfully to stop him from creating a new body for the notorious Time Lord criminal known as Morbius.

So how could he still be alive and well on Earth in the early Nineteenth Century?

*I bet you thought that this was going to be changed back when Rose fixed everything, didn't you? See the upcoming Bad Wolves Chapter 75 if you want to know more about this.

Next: How did Solon survive and what is he up to this time? Plus why is Clara less than impressed with Mary Shelley and what is the story behind it?