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NTMR:
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Chapter 16: Not Quite A Battle
"RUN!" Helena shouted into the night as her and Jamie emerged from the restaurant and shot after the running humans. "Ah, this is super. We've been in hiding too long. This is sport!" She laughed harshly.
"I can smell the agent. He's gone back to his business." Suzie said, sniffing the air as she walked into the cool night.
"We know about Rose Tyler." Jamie said. "But what of the other female?"
Suzie stopped in her tracks and momentarily glowed green. "This body... she was once friends with Miss Martha Jones. The girl would often go walking to the west. Husband of Mine, follow the woman's scent. Go to the west. Find out what she was keeping secret."
"Soldiers!" Jeffrey cried, and the plastic mannequins surrounded him obediently.
"As for you, Sister and Mother of Mine," Jamie said authoritatively, "Let's go to work."
- - - - - - -
Martha led the Doctor and Rose through the forest at a sprint, ignoring the thorns tearing through her trousers, the twigs scratching her face, and the insistent calls of "Where are we going?" from John and Rose. Suddenly, she ground to a halt, and John flew into her, knocking her to the ground. She didn't move for a second after he'd stood up, but listened out to the dark night.
"Shh!" she said sharply as Rose ran towards them in her high heels. She stopped where she was, as did John. Martha raised a hand and looked around her for the sound she had heard. Then John and Rose heard it too. The footsteps of soldiers.
"They're coming." whispered Martha hoarsely. "Go!" she cried to Rose, but Rose didn't move immediately, and Martha bounded ahead of her, leading them in the opposite direction, back towards Torchwood.
"Now where're we goin'?" Rose asked, annoyed, and John grabbed her hand, pulling her along beside him. For a moment, she lost all her doubts and worries, and was just glad that the opportunity had arisen, but then he smiled at her, and she remembered the situation. She pulled her hand away apologetically and ran away from her lover.
- - - - - - -
"They're sounding the alarms." Helena said as she, Jamie and Suzie approached the Torchwood building.
"I wouldn't be so pleased, Son of Mine." Suzie told him. "These bodies are silly and hot. They can damage and die. That's why we need the Time Lord."
"Indeed. They will have guns." Helena added. "Perhaps a little caution. Brother of Mine, you're such a small little thing. Find a way in and spy on them."
Jamie nodded in confirmation and skipped hurriedly down a path into the side entrance of the building.
Helena smelt the cool evening air and sighed, as the plastic mannequin soldiers gathered around her and Suzie.
"War will come to England once more." she said happily.
"Family of Mine, wait." came Jamie's sudden telepathic voice in the two women's ears. "Hold the soldiers back. The Time Lord is playing some sort of trick."
"Discover him, Son of Mine." Suzie ordered, and then he was gone from their minds.
- - - - - - -
Martha came to a halt once more when the three were back outside the Torchwood building.
"What're we doin' back here?" Rose asked, slightly out of breath.
"I've gotta find that watch." Martha breathed heavily.
Throwing open the door, Martha rushed inside the building and into reception. She rushed over to numerous people, asking for Kate, but nobody had seen her.
Rose ran over to Pete, who was organising the agents for battle. "Dad, you can't do this." she told him, and he didn't seem shocked that she was there.
"Darlin', I've got to." he replied tiredly.
"But it's not their battle to fight! It's John's and mine and Martha's." she insisted.
"It's what they were trained to do." As if that solved the matter, Pete walked away, heading towards the other agents preparing for battle. "Where's Kate gone? You'd think she didn't want the promotion..." he muttered, but Rose didn't hear. John slid his hand back through hers, but she pulled away uneasily and headed over to Martha, who was having no luck finding Kate.
"Where's that watch?" Martha muttered to herself frustratedly.
- - - - - - -
Jamie crawled through a window in the side of the building and sucked down behind a crate of explosives. Peering around it, he waited until the coast was clear then dashed out, following the scent of the Doctor upstairs.
- - - - - - -
"What is this watch?" Rose asked, running a hand through her hair. Martha eyed her suspiciously.
"Martha, you can trust me." Rose told her. "I used to travel with the Doctor, I might be able to help. What's goin' on, what's wrong with him?" She nodded towards John, who was staring at the two women with utter disbelief.
Martha sighed, and ignored the people rushing around them as she attempted to explain the situation to Rose. "Look, we were on the run, from these aliens. The Doctor said they could find us anywhere; they had a - a vortex... something."
"Manipulator - a vortex manipulator." Rose supplied.
"Yeah, that, and they could follow us through the vortex; through time and through space. The Doctor used this thing, this Chameleonarch. It made him human."
Rose stepped back, evading John's eyes as he made to interrupt. "Permanently?" she whispered.
"No!" cried Martha. "No, not permanently. He said... he said that the watch was him. That when I needed the Doctor, I had to open the watch. But that if I opened it, the Family would find us."
"Well, we can't open it, then!" Rose exclaimed. "We can't let 'em get the Doctor."
"But they already know it's him!" Martha argued, ignoring John's protests. "He said they had short lifespans. That's why they want him, they want his life. They want to live forever. He said that after three months, they'll just... die."
"Well, he's barely been here for two. We can't wait another month." Rose scratched her head frustratedly.
"It's gonna start soon." Martha whispered. "We've got to run."
"Run where?!" Rose cried after Martha as she ran back out of the building.
"Just somewhere safe!" came the reply, and Rose grabbed John's arm and dashed after her.
- - - - - - -
Wandering the halls of the building, Pete checked every room on his side of the tower for any cowering agents wishing to evade the battle and sent each downstairs. As he grew closer to Jamie, the boy slid into a cupboard and hid behind the door, creeping out only when he was sure the danger had passed. He walked silently upwards after him to find the source of the scent.
At last, Pete came to Kate's office, where she was sat on the floor, gazing at the watch intently.
"You, Kate! Come on, I didn't get you that promotion for nothing. You'll do your duty with the rest of us." He pulled her up roughly and she ran from the room, the watch clutched in her hand.
Pete followed her down the stairs to the front of the building, where an army of agents and soldiers were awaiting their command. Jamie once more hid from Pete and Kate as they dashed down the stairs past him, and when he emerged, the scent followed them. He dashed down the stairs to them, this time looking for Kate.
- - - - - - -
"Daughter of Mine, Wife of Mine?" Jeffrey's voice boomed through Suzie and Helena's ears as he spoke to them telepathically.
"Father of Mine, what have you found?" Helena asked eagerly.
"His TARDIS." Jeffrey said proudly, admiring the wooden craft hidden in the forest. "The Doctor can't escape."
- - - - - - -
Hiding behind a pile of sandbags, with a gun in one hand and the fob watch in her other, Kate's eyes filled with tears.
Her mind filled with memories that weren't hers: A burning sky on a burning planet, scorched for all eternity. John Smith and Rose Tyler, together and alone. Another face, one so familiar: Mickey Smith, from so long ago. Then another, the Family, and another of John, and another of herself. She looked up immediately, her eyes puffed out and red, realising what she had to do.
Pete passed her as she stood up and dropped her gun to the ground. "Kate? You're not runnin' off on me again. Torchwood needs you, come on."
Kate wasn't listening. "Mickey wouldn't want me to fight. He'd want me to help."
"What?" Pete asked, unable to hear over the calamity in the room.
"Maybe..." Kate said slowly. "Maybe I was given this watch so I could help." She turned to look at Pete. "I'm sorry."
"Kate!" Pete called as she ran away from the other agents. "Kate, don't you leave us now!"
"I'm sorry!" she called back over he shoulder, though she wasn't sorry one bit.
She ran as fast as she could to the back of the building, then stopped suddenly, just inside the tower, with her hand on the back door handle, and she slid down the wall.
"How do I find them? What do I do?" she asked the watch desperately. "What do I do? What do I do?"
"Beware..." a voice whispered cautiously.
"Beware of what?" she asked, confused.
"HIM..." the voice said again, louder, and Kate looked up. Jamie Tyler was stood at the opposite end of the hall, just out of the sight of anyone who looked down the corridor.
"Keep away." Kate said shakily, standing up and leaning against the wall.
"Who are you?" the little boy demanded.
"I saw you at the dance." Kate sniffed. "You were with that family. You're one of them."
"What are you hiding?" Jamie asked, and although he was merely a child, his tone of voice sent shivers down Kate's spine.
"Nothing." she replied, hiding the watch discreetly behind her back.
"What have you got there?" Jamie asked again.
"It's nothing." Kate repeated firmly.
"Show me." the boy ordered.
"I reckon, whatever you are, you're still in the shape of a boy." Kate said firmly, walking ever so slightly forwards. "How strong is he, do you think? Does he really want to see this?" She thrust the watch open and shone it in front of her, aiming it directly at Jamie.
Whatever he saw, his eyes widened at it, and he fled out of the corridor hastily, leaving Kate to snap the watch shut and turn back to the door.
- - - - - - -
"Time Lord." Suzie said, looking into the night sky.
"Inside the device." Helena added, smirking maliciously.
"Everything he is, concealed away in the hands of a frightened soldier." Suzie laughed harshly. "Now we know that's all we need to find: the girl and the watch. What are we waiting for?"
She paused, letting the cool evening breeze wash around her, then smiled an evil grin and looked to the mannequin soldiers. "ATTACK!"
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