The Redemption of Doctor Who or The Man Called the Doctor

by TheTie-DyeJedi

The 12th Doctor regenerates and crashes his Tardis on the shores of Cape Cod, closely pursued by a vengeance-bent enemy. With the help of Mason Black, who befriends him, can this new Doctor prevent the earth from burning? Note: this is about a male 13th Doctor. Contains mild language, minor violence, regeneration, memory lose, post-regeneration.

16. Chapter 15- Exit Strategies

Chapter Fifteen

"Exit Strategies"

The Doctor, along with Mr. Donovan, myself and Felicity headed towards the control room. The corridors were empty and we were able to go quickly through them without being seen. I took the precaution to look for more cameras and it was a stroke of good luck for us that there were none. If Grimwarr had guessed our actions, it would have been curtains for us in no time. As it was, he was still busy yelling at the mechanic down in the engine room. Fortunate for us, but not for the poor Crimearian.

We came to the control room.

All seemed to be normal inside, though it looked to me as if half the crew of the ship was gathered there. Mr. Donovan and Felicity crouched on the right side of the arched doorway, the Doctor and I on the left. The question was, how to get in unnoticed. Mr. Donovan voiced this thought softly as we looked in from the archway. The Doctor held up his finger for silence and mouthed "patience." I wished he would come up with a plan of action before an armed garrison or two showed up and spotted us.

The Doctor didn't seem so concerned about it. He had his attention focused on the vaulted door with a group of sentries planted outside. The Doctor was thinking and biting his lower lip. I wanted to tell him to hurry up. My hands were starting to itch again and if we didn't move soon, I might explode from inaction. All the going and stopping was making me antsy. I wisely kept my mouth shut on the matter. And fortunately, the waiting was short-lived.

A voice crackled over the speaker on the captain's computer. I couldn't understand a word of what was being said, but the Doctor seemed to. He was nodding.

He whispered to me, "Zeno knows what he's doing."

I deduced it was Zeno's voice we were hearing and whatever he said, it had an instant effect on the staff. The captain muttered under his breath in the same strange tongue. Then all the personnel in the control room exited through the other archway, leaving just the two guards outside the vault. The Doctor and I joined Mr. Donovan on the other side of the arch.

Before either Mr. Donovan or I could ask the Doctor anything, he coolly took out his sonic screwdriver and said, "Leave it to me. I can handle these guys. Cover your ears by the way."

With that, he strode boldly through the archway. Felicity laid on the floor and put her front paws over her head. Mr. Donovan and I clasped our hands over our ears just as the awful squeal pierced the air. In an instant, the sound was gone and the Doctor poked his head around the corner.

"Come on," he said.

Mr. Donovan was a bit skeptical, but when we entered the control room, we found the two guards lying on the floor knocked out.

"Nice job, Doc," I said.

"It's not- oh, never mind it. No time for applause, please," he said, "We have work to do."

He opened the vault door with his sonic and we went in, dragging the two guards with us. Mr. Donovan found some spare electrical cords and soon we had the unconscious Crimearians tied together.

Then we saw what we were after.

"So, this is the little device responsible for all the brain fog," I said.

"Oh, yes it certainly is," the Doctor said.

It was smaller than I'd thought it would be. It looked something like a plasma ball, with energy crackling inside it. There was a sickly yellow gas floating through it. Huge tanks lined the room on two sides and had large pipes running to the ball-like machine. Each tank had the numbers 0-9 stamped on them in black lettering. The ball itself was wired up to various panels of switches and controls with lines and tubes heading off in all directions. There was a touch pad on one of these panels and when the Doctor tapped it, seven blank spaces came up. The Doctor stared at it, then snapped into action.

"Okay," he said, "I'll do the password. You two work on the vault. Felicity, watch the door like a good dog."

Mr. Donovan and I went to the vault and began the search. The vault was one whole wall of drawers, each with a label tacked on and a lock. The Doctor's supply of paperclips came in handy with this. Mr. Donovan started on the bottom row and I tackled the top. After the first few, it seemed utterly ridiculous to go about it in such a way and we looked for the bins with the newest labels. They weren't hard to find as our three bins were the only ones with clean white labels slapped on. Not to mention they were also the only ones written in recognizable English. I guessed the Crimearians didn't have words for our names in their native language. That was just fine by me, it made our search all that much easier.

We picked the locks and dumped our bins on the floor. I took care to replace and lock the bins back in their places. I was happy to see my knife and phone again. Mr. Donovan was equally pleased to have his watch back and patted it after he put it on his wrist. I slipped my knife on my belt and shoved my items in their pockets. My headphones took their place around my neck and I was finished. Mr. Donovan had to help me gather all of the Doctor's various curiosities. The light bulb and his Jack of Spades playing card were not the strangest things he had collected.

We carried the lot over to the Doctor as he bent over the pad by the machine. He had sweat beading on his face and was again muttering. I caught things like "Deposit," "Erosion," "Captive," "Convert," and "Possess," and other such words of seven letters. I let each one spell out in my mind's eye, but none seemed to be it.

"Doc?" I said.

He waved a hand. "Not now, kid," he said, "I have to get this right the first time, otherwise the alarm could go off and we're sitting ducks."

"Does this thing really control the entire supply of gas?" I asked. "I'd sort of expected something a little more impressive."

"Eureka!" the Doctor shouted. "Of course! Brilliant! Marvelous! Control is it!"

Mr. Donovan and I jumped back in bewilderment, dropping a few things on the floor. The Doctor put his hands on the keyboard and tapped out the seven letter word. There was a responding ding and he had access to the machine's inner workings. His hands flew over the controls and then it was done and everything slowed to a halt. The energy in the ball flickered off and was still.

The Doctor clapped his hands enthusiastically. "Control was the password," he said.

I grinned. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Felicity do a quick little dance.

"Now just for good measure," the Doctor mumbled. He took his sonic and with a little flick of his wrist, fused all the controls together in one melted mass. There was no way it was going to be fixed any time soon.

The Doctor was very pleased with himself, but he nevertheless started to put things back in his pockets in a hurry.

"We've only got a few minutes before they discover what I just did," he said. "Not that they can do much about it, but we can't be caught here."

The Doctor shoved his slingshot and Jack of Spades in his back pocket along with a broken pencil and picked a few stray oddities from the floor. I bent to help him. It was then I saw the blinking red lights above our empty bins in the vault. I kicked myself in the shins mentally. Of course the vault would be attached to the security system.

"Oh, damn it!" I said.

"Mason?" Mr. Donovan looked at me.

I pointed a finger at the vault. Mr. Donovan and the Doctor followed it.

"Oh," Mr. Donovan replied.

Felicity suddenly charged towards the door and stood there like an arrow ready in a bow, her back taut, a growl started low in her throat. That could only mean the staff had returned.

"Crumbs," the Doctor mumbled. He pressed his ear to the door and turned. "When I open this," he said, "I want the both of you to run as fast as you can towards the meeting place. Don't wait for me, just go."

"We are not going to leave you again, Doc," I said.

The Doctor narrowed his chocolate-brown eyes at me.

"When I say go, you go like bloody hell, understand? I will be right behind you."

I had not heard the Doctor swear like that before. He was dead serious. His voice was firm, and there was no persuading him otherwise. The Doctor smoothed down his big hair and with a grand motion, threw the door open.

"Go!" he shouted.

Mr. Donovan and I burst from the vault room right into the arms of Grimwarr and the captain with his trio of soldiers. We had caught them off guard and they were too startled at first to fire any weapons at us, all of them ending up on the floor. Felicity leaped over a fallen Crimearian and out the next archway and galloped off through it with a resounding bark and nails scratching on the flooring. I grabbed Mr. Donovan's arm and we scrambled after the dog.

"Do pardon me," Mr. Donovan said to the one soldier he stepped on.

Grimwarr collected himself quickly and was shouting out orders. "After them!" he bellowed. "Don't just lie there, you nitwits! Get after them!"

I felt cold sweat gather on my forehead and I ran faster. Felicity yipped at us to catch up as her tail zipped around the next bend. There was a commotion and I heard the soldiers start up some shooting behind us. I glanced over my shoulder. Relief flooded through me when I saw the Doctor slam into the wall of the corridor and run after us. I hadn't thought of what we would do if the Doctor hadn't appeared. We let him reach us and tore down the halls with adrenaline pumping in our limbs and the dog running on before us. We came to a four-way split and stopped in bewilderment.

"What now?" I said.

"I don't recall this junction at all!" Mr. Donovan whimpered.

The Doctor forced his way between Mr. Donovan and me and charged down the left corridor. "This way," he said, waving his arm.

We followed his lead and after a few twists and turns found ourselves at the dedicated meeting place. We then halted and waited for Zeno. My lungs were hurting again, but I didn't feel it as much as I had at the start of this adventure. I hoped we would all be around for the finish, if there was one. I panted and looked up and down the silent halls. There was no sign of any movement.

The Doctor was using his necktie to dab at his face. "I hope Zeno hasn't run into any trouble," he said. "He should be here by now."

"Do you think he's alright?" Mr. Donovan asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know," was his reply.

Just then, straight ahead there was the noise of many heavy footsteps. We all crouched and froze where we were. We were hiding behind a protruding air duct. There was no place for us to run. Felicity growled. Around the corner there appeared what looked to me like the entire Crimearian army. I felt my skin turn cold. This was it. Then I clenched my fist, I wasn't going to go down without a fight of some sort, that was for sure. I saw the Doctor take his sonic out and grip it tightly in his hand. Mr. Donovan's face was firm and set. He had nothing on him to use besides the paperclips. He had them ready. I unclipped my knife and gripped the handle. I set my jaw and decided to count to ten.

I got up to five when Felicity suddenly sat up and perked her ears. I bent towards her and tapped her shoulder.

"What's up, girl?" I whispered.

She looked up at me, gave a meager woof and charged at the advancing soldiers.

I wanted to shout out, "Felicity, no!" but I didn't need to. The soldier in the lead dropped to his knees and greeted her with a rub on the head. I put my knife away.

It didn't take the Doctor a moment to understand. He sprang up and met the soldier with a laugh.

"Zeno," he said, "You had us worried! I thought you might have been caught or cheated on us." Though the Doctor spoke in jest, he sounded serious.

"No, sir," the Crimearian- who- wasn't replied. He took off his helmet and Zeno's bright and flushed face smiled back at us. "All went well, thanks to these." He held the gum and the little white bottle in his hand.

"How many did you revive?" the Doctor asked.

"All on this ship," Zeno motioned to the crowd around him. The masked individuals all nodded their heads. I could tell by the differing colors and numbers on their suits that they were from all sorts of ranks and positions. Each, however, had a bar of green across the right arm. I took it to mean they were human.

"These are all of the fifty-seven victims who served here, myself included," Zeno said. "But there are more on the other ships. This is the largest group, yet another hundred or more may be left. Can we save them?"

The Doctor furrowed his brows and I saw him tap his sonic on his wrist as he thought. He looked at Zeno. "Are there any more shuttles, like escape pods?"

"Yes, at least two on each ship. More on this, being the command ship of the fleet."

"Good," the Doctor said. "All of you use them and see if you can reach the others. I wish I had another bottle of that white stuff for you to use. I don't know if it'll be enough."

Zeno smiled. "No need," he said. "It turns out impact joint oil works just as good. It's used on the mechanical parts of these ships and it's against regulations to use it without wearing a ventilated gas shield."

Zeno held up a little black can with grease dripping down its side and shook it. I could see what he meant, the stuff smelled awful. I had to turn away and cover my nose. Felicity sniffed the can and gave a huge sneeze. The Doctor and Mr. Donovan were lost in a round of coughing. Zeno had to laugh.

"That's marvelous, Zeno," the Doctor said in between coughs. "Look, whatever happens to you, you must get off this ship. Even if you can't get everyone (though I deeply pray you do), head for earth."

"What about this big fireworks party Grimwarr has planned?" Mr. Donovan put in. "Have you forgotten about that already?"

"No, I haven't," the Doctor reassured him.

Then there was a shout and an energy beam narrowly missed the Doctor's right ear. I whirled on my heels and saw Grimwarr's posse appear at the end of the corridor with loaded weapons. We ducked back behind the air duct. The Doctor turned back to Zeno, who clicked his helmet on and quickly gave him a few last instructions.

"Remember what I told you," the Doctor said. "Escape as soon as you can. Set the coordinates to 40° 41' 15" N / 70º 16' 22" W. This will take you to the place Grimwarr found me and where we will join you. There will be an assembly of the earth forces roaming around aimlessly. Tell them to get everyone under cover. If the general's plan goes off the way I think, it may be messy. Very messy. Time is short. Now, Godspeed."

Zeno saluted. "Godspeed, Doctor."

His outfit of troops vanished into the ship like a puff of smoke as the firing grew closer. The Doctor gave us a shove and we darted from our cover. We ran as deadly bolts of energy flew by and bounced off the metal walls. Felicity yelped as she dodged out of the way of stray shots. Alarms were sounding and lights were flashing all around. Grimwarr's whole squad was at our heels and if I could guess correctly, he was very very angry.

"Hey Mason, remember how I told you your worrying might come in handy?" the Doctor shouted to me over the din.

I dodged a shot which missed the top of my cap. "What about it?!" I shouted back.

"Now is the time to use it!"

We just barely had a head start on Grimwarr, and his Crimearian yes-men were making good use of their air rifles. If I had believed in luck, I'd have said it was very lucky for us that shooting at a moving target while running wasn't the easiest task. Most of the shots were zinging off the walls or leaving scorch marks on the metallic surfaces. Mr. Donovan was puffing like a pair of bellows and I could hear him mumbling "oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," over and over under his breath. I clutched at my baseball cap as we ran on. I felt my skin burn every time a shot barely missed me. It was doubtful if my arms had any hair left on them. Every way we turned it seemed we were met by more armed soldiers or blaring alarms.

"Where are we headed?" I shouted to the Doctor.

"To the Tardis!" the Doctor said over the din. "We must reach the Tardis before Grimwarr cuts us off!"

"Why?" Mr. Donovan couldn't help but ask.

The Doctor blasted a panel on the wall to stop a door from closing in our path with his sonic. "Later, later! We must get to her," was all he said.

We came to yet another fork in the passages where three went off in opposite directions. We had no choice but to stop. All the ways looked exactly the same. Even the Doctor looked uncertain. Felicity darted down each passage and came back with her head down. She turned her big eyes up at me and whined. The echoes of running boots were not far behind us. Mr. Donovan was playing nervously with the chain of paper-clips. The Doctor was examining each passage with a setting on his screwdriver, but I could tell by the way he frowned he was just as clueless as the rest of us.

"Well?" Mr. Donovan asked.

The Doctor and I didn't reply, and this only made Mr. Donovan more antsy.

"Haven't you got anything at all?" he said. "You're the ones who are supposed to be the big geniuses around here, not me. And the enemy is close to biting at our rears!"

"That's it!" I said.

"What is it, Mason?" the Doctor was staring at me with expectation in his eyes.

"Where is your Tardis exactly? As in which section of the ship?"

"Hmmm, I believe it was storage division eighteen, detention block five and-"

"Great," I interrupted him. "That's all I need. Silence please."

I glanced up at the number tacked to the archway over us and shut my eyes.

I did my best thinking with my eyes closed. Having a photographic memory was proving to be very handy. I put my hands in the air near my face as if I could draw in data with my fingers. In truth, I'd once seen the gesture in a detective show and had always wanted to try it. And oddly enough, it actually worked. The gears of my brain were set in motion. It went into overdrive.

I recalled the layout I had seen in the control room. I drew out a map in my mind of the ship and focused in on the many corridors and hallways spidering their way through it. The mental map became something like one of those color-coded maps of the underground or subway tracks. I marked out our route on it with a thick red line, down one tunnel and up another, going around obstacles and plotting the quickest way.

"Mason?" Mr. Donovan said.

"Shut up," I heard someone who sounded like myself grumble, then heard the Doctor shush Mr. Donovan.

I completed the route on my imaginary map just as Mr. Donovan squeaked out, "They're here!"

I snapped open my eyes and broke into action immediately as Grimwarr's mob came around the bend with all the rifles seeming to be aimed directly at me.

"Okay, follow me," I ordered, and charged down the corridor to the right without waiting for either of my comrades to respond.

This time we gained a cushion of distance between us and our pursuers. It was only a matter of a few yards, but it was something.

Around a bend we literally hit a snag. We ran smack into a stunned soldier who was making rounds. The Doctor quickly knocked him out with a blow to the helmet, taking away any chances of us being shot. The Doctor stared at the soldier's number plate, then he tossed away the weapon. The Doctor hoisted one of the Crimearian soldier's arms over his shoulder.

"Grab his other arm," he told Mr. Donovan. Mr. Donovan opened his mouth, and the Doctor cut him off with, "Just hurry, man!"

We stumbled on with the unconscious soldier. Even with the extra baggage of the solider we managed to move fast. We almost ran by the storeroom in our haste. If it wasn't for Felicity, we might have missed it all together. The dog grabbed my pant leg and pulled me back so hard I had to stop.

"What, girl?" I snapped. "This is no time for games!"

She tugged again and dashed into the storeroom behind us with a bark. I followed her in and saw the Tardis hidden away in the far corner. Felicity turned in a circle and yapped at me.

"Good girl!" I praised her.

Felicity grinned.

"Come on!" I called to the others. "She found it!"

The Doctor and Mr. Donovan quickly came in behind me and plopped the soldier on the floor. "Get his helmet off!" the Doctor barked at Mr. Donovan and me.

He scampered over to the control panel by the arch and pried it open. He took an ordinary screwdriver from his jeans pocket and began working. All at once there was a loud sound like the wailing siren of a fire engine. Mr. Donovan and I covered our ears.

"Crumbs!" the Doctor said.

I saw the Crimearians dashing up the corridor and the store room door crash down with a notable clang, locking them outside and sealing us inside the storage block, with several layers of metal between. The painful ringing sound ceased and the Doctor wiped his face. I decided against cheering and helped Mr. Donovan flip the soldier over to his side. I pressed the almost invisible patch on the soldier's suit and the helmet separated. I was about to remove it when there was a noise like fire crackers going off and Mr. Donovan and I spun around to see the Doctor holding his sonic aimed at the door's control panel. Sparks were flying out of it. There was a hiss and a pop and a vapor of smoke trailed out. The Doctor switched off his sonic and joined us.

"Are you going to use this - creature as a hostage?" Mr. Donovan asked.

"Hardly, Donovan." the Doctor knelt and off came the helmet.

Mr. Donovan gasped, but I didn't feel at all surprised to see another human face lying there. The Doctor rubbed at the layer of grime on the soldier's upper arm. When the Doctor removed his finger, there was a faded green stripe on the soldier's armor.

We looked at the Doctor. He was expressionless.

"This is the one Zeno missed," he said.

"How did-?" Mr. Donovan didn't finish his thought.

"His green rank number. This bloke wasn't from the colony," the Doctor touched the face of the soldier. "That's why Zeno wasn't aware of him. Crimearians aren't known for having human slaves, other than the colonists. He must have been taken some time before."

The soldier stirred.

The Doctor quickly thrust the helmet into Mr. Donovan's hands and he yanked the gum out of his ears. He divided the gum in half, stuck part back in his own ears and the other in the soldier's. He shoved it in with his thumb and hopped to his feet. He went over to the stacks of crates and began to go through them. The soldier's eyes opened, but he didn't move. The infamous dark silver glaze was embedded in his eyes. I was beginning to detest the color silver.

Mr. Donovan passed his hand over the soldier's face, with no reaction besides a blink for a reward. "Oh, dear," he said. Then he looked at me. "Oh, dear," he repeated, "We have no white-out or joint oil!"

"Oh yes, we do!" the Doctor cried in triumph. He bounded over holding a small can in his left hand. "I found a whole crate of the stuff. Hold his head up!"

Mr. Donovan and I lifted the unresponsive soldier into a loose sitting position and the Doctor quickly opened the oil can with the aid of the ordinary screwdriver. Black oil spilled all over the floor, but nobody cared. We all tried to refrain from coughing as we watched and waited. It felt like hours crept by as the Doctor held the open can under the soldier's nose.

The Crimearians outside sounded like they were banging on the closed door which was all that was between us and them. I caught myself pulling on a strand of my hair and I shoved my nervous hand in my pocket. The soldier was taking far longer then Zeno had, to come around. I wondered for a moment if he would revive at all.

Finally, the soldier's eyes began to clear. The Doctor pulled the can away and set it aside. We all stared at the soldier expectantly. His eyes cleared fully, the pupils became a normal size and his irises turned a deep hazel. He blinked once. The Doctor passed a hand over the man's face. The soldier blinked again and looked up at us.

What happened next none of us were expecting at all. When the soldier saw the three of us and the dog clustered around him, his eyes got big and he began to scream at the top of his lungs.