His Favorite Star
The Doctor Dances
Chapter Three
Suddenly the patients started to sit up making Star and Doctor Jump. Jack on the other hand nearly jumped into Stars arms. "Wh-Whats happening?!" Star asked backing up to the metal door. "I don't know…" Doctor said. "Don't let them touch you, Star!" he pulls her back from examining one of the patients. "What happens if they touch us?!" she asked startled. "You're looking at it!" Star just looked at the closing in patients in horror.
"Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy."
By now the patients are within touching distance of the three terrified beings. Star hides behind her brother, griping his leather jacket in a very rare display of fear. Doctor can hear her small whimpers escaping her. The only other man was being a bigger little girl than the little girl was. He was hiding behind Star, definitely lost in what's happening at the moment. The Doctor looks at his frightened little sister and gets an idea. 'This always worked when Star was acting up when we were little, please let it work now….' He thought to himself.
"Go to your room!" he said loudly, making even Star jump. The patients in the ward all freeze and just look at him, some tilting their heads in confusion and some looking at others unsure of what's happening. "Go to your room! I mean it! I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross! Go. To your. Room!" he said sternly. Even Star herself was contemplating going to her room in the TARDIS, but is amazed when the patients hang their heads and start to shuffle away from them. "I'm really glad that worked, Doctor. Those would have been terrible last words!" Star said slipping her still slight shaking hand into his. "Why are they all wearing gas masks, Doctor?" Star said looking over one of the patients at a far enough distance to run if need be. "They're not. Those masks are flesh and bone." Jack said grimly, also examining patients beside her. "How was your con supposed to work?" Doctor asked looking at Jack directly. "Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con." Jack explained like they were children. Doctor had to hold Star's arm from hitting the attractive man's face. "Yeah. Perfect." Doctor said sarcastically. "The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." He gets a glare from Star that would put a super nova to shame. "Getting a hint of disapproval." Jack says growing quiet. "Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did." Doctor said accusingly. "It was a burnt-out medical transporter! It was empty!" Jack protested. Star watched as they both argued and held her hand up like she was in school.
"Star."
"Uhm are we getting out of here soon?" She asked with a barely noticeable but shaky tone. "We're going upstairs." Doctor said starting to climb the stairs. "I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me; I had nothing to do with it." Jack complained. "Try all you want you're not helping your case any wanker!" Star said between gritted teeth. She feels a hand on her shoulder to see Doctor giving her a warning glance. "I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day" Doctor said in a grim tone continuing to climb the stairs with Star following closely behind. Star suddenly stops hearing something in the distance, and to her it sounded like a siren. "What's that?" she gives Jack a glance. "That's the all clear." Jack said with a serious face. "I wish." Doctor muttered under his breath. After a silent tread up 2 flights of stairs, Doctor is speeding past the two others like it was a race and Star got utterly annoyed at that. Noticing the face Jack thinks it'd be best not to be alone with her, he hurried along behind Doctor.
"Mister Spock?" he said.
"Doctor! Wait!" Star shouted stopping him in his tracks, taking deep breaths. "Have you got a blaster, Jack?" Doctor said facing them. "Sure!" They run up the stairs to his side, in front of a large metal door. "The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken." Doctor said knowingly. "What happened?" Star asked. "Let's find out! Get it open!" Doctor said, or more demanded. "Wh-What's wrong with your sonic, Doctor?" Star asked quietly. "Nothing…" he replied. Jack pulls a futuristic looking gun that glows blue, and Star just watches very little amused. His gun does disintegrate the lock and lives up to its purpose.
"Sonic blaster, fifty first century." Doctor said.
"Weapons Factories of Villengard?" Star asked interested, knowing Doctor hates guns of any kind. "You've been to the factories?" Jack asked intrigued. "Once." Was her simple answer. "Well, they're gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical, Vaporized the lot." Jack said in a matter of fact tone. "Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now, Doctor." Star said with a mischievous smile to her brother. "I like bananas. Bananas are good!" Doctor said with a smile. Star gives a look at the square hole and smirks. "Nice blast pattern." She said with a laugh. "Digital!" he said with a egotistical smirk.
"Square-ness gun you mean!" Star said with a smirk.
"Yeah that…"
"I like it…" she said giving him a mischievous smile. They walk in following Doctor, who, being the protective older brother, didn't like how much flirting, was going on between the Con-man and his little sister. But he turned anyhow and paid attention to the state of the observatory room. From what he could see there was papers strewn everywhere from open filing cabinets, across from an electronic control board that Star almost immediately started to tinker with, when she notices the observatory window is smashed to pieces from the inside. Something inside drew Star in with an almost heartbroken expression. Doctor took no notice of it though, stepping inside, turning to Jack. "What do you think?" Doctor asked. "Something got out of here." Jack stated the obvious. "Yeah and?" Doctor pushed on. "Something powerful. Angry." Jack said, going deeper into the scene before him. "Powerful and angry." Doctor said aloud. He notices Star looking at the walls of the room, and saw the certain child's drawing she singled out of the dozens on the wall. She was staring at a picture of a child and another person holding hands on grass colored red. She looks at an old teddy bear and picks it up. 'Oh yeah… That bear… I gave her the same one on her birth day… My little baby bear…' Doctor thought as he watched her hug the child's teddy. "A child? I suppose this explains Mummy." Jack said oblivious to the siblings. "H-How could a child… do all this?" Star said with a slightly defensive tone lacing her voice. The Doctor presses a button on the control panel and a recording started to play.
"Do you know where you are?" That sounded like Doctor Constantine on the recording.
"Are you my Mummy?"
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?"
"Are you my Mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know—"
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"
"D-Doctor, I've heard this voice before." Star said still holding the teddy bear to her heart. "Me too…" Doctor said with a nod.
"Mummy?"
"Always… Are you my Mummy… I-It's like he doesn't know… W-Why doesn't he know?" Star said giving Doctor a weak look. She knows how the little boy felt. Alone. Hated. He had no one and that feeling was all too familiar to her. She was almost exactly like this boy. All she wanted was the one person who she knew could give her the comfort she wanted. All she wanted was her big brother.
"Are you there, Mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Please, Mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Star spoke quietly looking at him, fearing to speak too loudly because her voice might break. "Can you sense it?" he asked knowingly, as he entered the room beside her. "Sense what?" Jack asked, yet again oblivious. "Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?" Doctor asked, slightly irked.
"Mummy?"
"Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?" Doctor spat, feeling quite stressed. "When he's stressed he likes to insult other species." Star said quietly to Jack, who looked quite offended. "Star! I'm thinking!" Doctor said, trying to keep his sister quiet. "He cuts himself shaving, and he goes on for half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than, which in retrospect is quite a few. Not surprising actually. But this is him when he's mad… I'm a lot worse." Star said with a small smile to her brother. "There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food." Doctor said.
"Mummy, please?"
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" Doctor hypothesized. "It was a med-ship! It was harmless." Jack keeps at defending himself. "Yes, you keep saying harmless. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?" Doctor said. "Altered how?" Star said looking at him curiously.
"I'm here!"
"It's afraid! Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It'd got the power of a God, and I just sent it to its room!" Doctor said with a little more glee than Star was expecting. Her head looks at the window giving her attention to a sound coming from the control board. "Doctor?" She said gaining his attention.
"I'm here. Can't you see me?"
"Doctor what is that noise?" She asked looking at him. "End of the tape. It ran out about thirty seconds ago." Doctor said as a grave expression came over his face. Star gave him a startled look and looks to the broken window.
"I'm here, now. Can't you see me?"
"Doctor… you sent him to his room." Star said with fear lacing her voice "This is his room." The boy comes from around the corner of the observation room and Star jumps behind Jack reaching into his pocket without him noticing.
"Are you my Mummy? Mummy?"
"Star…" Doctor had a cautious tone in his voice. "Okay on my signal, make for the door!" Jack said in a low self confident voice, reaching into his pocket. Star rolled her eyes when they all ignored the boy's voice, not even noticing her switch places in the room going to the other side of Jack. In a sudden movement Jack has drawn, from his pocket, what he thought to be his sonic gun. "Now!" he yelled, confused to find he actually pulled out a banana. Star pulls the real gun out and aims it for the wall, making a square for them to escape through. "Go! Now! Don't drop the banana either git!" she yelled while going through the hole. "Why not?!" Of course Jack would protest. "It's a good source of potassium!" Doctor countered, as Jack took his gun from Star rather roughly and repairs the hole in the wall, turning to them with an arrogant smirk. "Digital rewind." Jack smirked at Star "Nice switch."
"It's from the groves of Villengard-" Doctor said before Star interrupted with "Well that was quite appropriate!" she smiles cheekily at him and gets a stern look in return. "There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" Jack says with a slight tone of disbelief. "What? Bananas are good!" Star said jumping as the wall starts to crack. "Doctor!"
"Come on!" they started running down the hall, but are stopped by more patients coming from the same direction.
"Mummy… Mummy… Mummy…"
The patients just stop and don't do anything to them, making Star fidget behind Doctor just waiting for the patients to attack. "It's keeping us here 'till it can get at us." Doctor said with an ominous edge to his voice, making Star even more uncomfortable. "It's controlling them?" Jack asked watching the patients coming from the other end of the hall as well. "It IS them. It's every living thing in this hospital." Doctor said backing up a little, just enough to step on Star and making her squeak. "Star! Don't get right behind me like that! You could get hurt!" he said sternly. She hides behind Doctor again, hoping that she doesn't look like as much a child as she thinks she does. It wasn't working very well. "Okay? Well this can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?" Jack asked with a hint of arrogance in his voice. "I've got a sonic, er… Oh never mind!" Doctor said pulling out his sonic screwdriver, and pointing it at the patients on his side of the hall.
"What?"
"It's a sonic okay? Let's leave it at that!"
"Disrupter? Cannon? What?"
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!"
"A sonic WHAT?"
Star got fed up with the arguing at that point and her temper got away from her. "IT'S A BLOODY SONIC SCREWDRIVER, YOU WANKER!" As she yelled the wall breaks and behind the gaping hole in the wall, stands the little boy. Star, thinking quickly, grabs Jacks blaster and points it at the floor, making them a hole to fall through and Jack takes the blaster repairing the ceiling not allowing the patients or child get through. She groaned as she got up. "Doctor, are you okay?" Star asked worried, when she saw he was having a little trouble getting up. "Could've used a warning, maybe." Doctor said in between a groan from his, now, sore back. "Sorry, didn't have time for that! I was too busy saving your life, you git!" Star pouts in a corner of the room, for not being appreciated. "Who has a sonic SCREWDRIVER?" Jack asked while looking at Doctor, as if he grew another head.
"I do!"
"Lights…" Star said while looking for a light switch, while Jack and Doctor have a whole conversation about his screwdriver. Then suddenly, as soon as Star found the light switch and turned the lights on, patients sat up from their beds and were looking at her.
"Mummy… Mummy…"
"Eeeeh, door!" Jack said as they all ran for the door. He pulled his blaster out and aims but it doesn't do anything. "DAMMIT JACK!" Star yelled punching him upside the head. "It's the special features! They really drain the battery!" Jack said holding the back of his head. Star just stared at him for a moment looking at him in disbelief. "THE BATTERY?!" She yelled as Doctor opened a storage room with the handy dandy sonic screwdriver. The all bolted into the room locking the door behind them. "THAT'S SO BLOODY LAME!" Star continued to rant at Jack who was looking rather miffed. "Well I was GOING to send for another on, but SOMEBODIE'S got to blow up the factory!"
"Oh, I know! Little pyromaniac, this one is! She once blew up an abandoned cargo ship for the fun of it! It's practically how she communicates! That and she has a problem with this thing in her head…" Doctor said giving her a glance from working on the door "Okay, that door should hold it for a bit." He said walking over to the pair. "The door?! The bloody WALL didn't stop it!" Star said in disbelief. "Well if you would think, Star, it's got to find us first! Come on, you're not giving up yet are you?" She shakes her head with a determined look in her eyes. "Assets, Assets! What have we got?" She asked looking around. "Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you can put up some shelves!" Jack said with a pessimistic tone. "Window!" Doctor said going over to a barred up window high up on the wall. "Barred. Sheer drop outside it. Seven stories." Jack said not even trying to help them come up with ideas. "And no other exits…" Star said beginning to get pessimistic as well. "Well the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack said as he sat in a nearby wheel chair. His smart tone pushed Doctor over the limit of understanding. "So, where'd you pick this one up then Star?" he asked, annoyed anger lasing his voice. "Doctor-" Star said trying to calm the already stressed out man in front of her. "She was hanging from a barrage balloon; I had an invisible space ship. I never stood a chance." Jack interrupted giving Star a flirtatious wink that made her cheeks go light pink. She let her eyes go down to the floor from the stare Doctor was giving her. "We will talk about that one later… So, one, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?" Doctor said still staring at Star. "Yeah, Jack just disappeared." Her head shot up and she pointed at the now empty wheel chair with her thumb. "Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?!" Star groaned to herself. "I'm making an effort not to be insulted." Doctor said, sonicing the bars to the window. "I mean men, not my brother, you weirdo!" she said with a humorous face, because he was actually listening. "Okay, thanks that really helped." He responded sarcastically. Before she could make a smart remark, as we all know she was about to, the radio beside her started to crackle and made her jump out of surprise.
"Star? Doctor? Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it though, so hang in there and don't kill each other before I save you!"
Star visibly twitched at Jacks voice on the radio. Doctor just turned from his spot on the window, looking at the radio. "How are you speaking to us?" he asked, Star curious of the same thing. "Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill." Jacks arrogant voice said. "Now there's a coincidence." Doctor said looking back to the window. "What is?" Jack said and Star was going on and on in her mind of what he meant. "The child can Om-Com, too." Doctor all but exclaimed. "H-He can?" Stars squeaky voice asked weakly. "Anything with a speaker grill. Even the TARDIS phone." Doctor said, not paying attention to his little sisters weak voice at the moment. "W-What you mean t-the child… he can phone us—"
"And I can hear you… I'm coming to find you mummy! I'm coming to find you!"
Star falls out of the wheel chair she just sat down in, squeaking and trying to get away from the radio, instantly drawing Doctor's attention. "Doctor? Can you hear that?" Jacks voice came on the radio again. "Loud and clear." The older man responded. "I heard that little scream Star did…Star… You scream like a girl! Did it really scare you that bad?" Jack said the quiet laughing could be clearly heard by Star. "S-Shut up Jack ass!" Star yelled at the radio. The only response she got was more laughing. "I'll try to block out the signal. Least I could do for you, because that was priceless!" He said.
"Coming to find you, Mummy…"
"Remember this one, Star?" Jack said as 'Moonlight Serenade' started to play over the boy's voice. Doctor gave her a quizzical look and she shrunk down into the ball she was already forming, with herself. Her cheeks began to become pink again as she gave the doctor a sheepish smile. "O-Our song…" Star said rubbing her arm a little from the icy stare she was getting from Doctor. A little later, Star is relaxing in the wheelchair again, wheeling herself back and forth in a bored manner, while the Doctor is at the barred window with the ever-versatile sonic screwdriver. The drums were pounding in her head leaving a dull ache she did her best to get rid of. She looked at the Doctor standing on the table. "What are you doing?" Star asked "Trying to loosen the bars?" She watches him turn slightly, acknowledging her question. "Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, yeah." He said with a slightly off voice that he didn't use unless he was mad at her. It was basically him trying to give her the silent treatment, but he was never silent, oh no, that wouldn't drive her mad enough. He only spoke when she asked him something worth answering, and then only answered in the shortest way possible. That way she KNEW he was mad at her. He always did that to her, especially during the war. But she always tried to figure what she did wrong, and try to fix it and this was no exception.
"You don't think he's coming back do you?"
"Wouldn't bet my life."
"Why don't you trust him?"
"Why do you?"
"Uhm have you bloody forgot the fact that, oh yeah, HE SAVED MY BLOODY LIFE! …. I trust him… because he's a lot like you… Except with dating and dancing" she said quietly, noticing he's looking at her with disbelief "What?"
"You just assume I'm…" His voice trailed off, making her even more curious.
"What?"
"You assume that I don't dance." The Doctor said quietly. "What? Are you trying to tell me you do dance? I've never seen you dance…" She said with a small smile. "Nine hundred years old, I am. I've been around a bit longer than you, Star. I think you can assume at some point I've danced." She knew she was getting close to getting to start talking to her again.
"You?"
"Problem?"
"I bet the universe implodes or something if you dance! Like… because you can't or something…" Star said jokingly. "Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast, about it to my little sister…" he said with an arrogant smirk. She takes the challenge and turns the music up. "You've got the moves? Then come teach me! Show me you're moves!" Star said holding out her arms like she wanted a hug. "Star, I'm trying to resonate concrete." Doctor protested, making his sister visibly deflate from regection. "Jack'll be back Doctor! He'll get us out! So come on… The world doesn't end because the Doctor dance… especially not in the 1940's…." she gives him an innocent smile holding out her hands to him. He rolls his eyes and hops off the table he was standing on and gives an expecting look at her palms before holding them in his hands gently. She self consciously notices them being about 10 times smaller than her brothers, but he holds her hand and starts dancing slowly. "Barrage Balloon?" he asked receiving a confused look from Star. "You were hanging from a barrage balloon." Doctor clarified. "Oh yeah, about two minutes after you left me there, thousands of feet above London, middle of a bloody German air-raid. With a bloody Union Jack all over my chest!" she said with a playful glare. "You know how many people I have traveled with… but you have set the record jeopardy friendly, Star…" he said with a smile. "Is this you dancing? Because I've got notes… and you're not doing very well…"she said jokingly. "Hanging from a rope, thousands of feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise." He said, continuing to examine her hands, while making spinning in circles around the room at a comfortable pace. "Yeah, I know… Captain Jack fixed me up!" she said with a girlish giggle. "Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are you?" Doctor asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well duh… His name is Jack and he is a Captain… so it's logical." Star said smiling. "He's not really a Captain, Star." He deadpanned. "Do you know what I think big brother? I think you're jealous because I'm not looking to you to save me… I think you have Captain Envy!" She said taking his hands finally "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may want to move them before I step on them!" She smiled tripping when she steps on one of his feet. He smiles and puts her on his feet and moves them guiding her feet as well. "If he ever was a Captain, he's been defrocked." Doctor all but mumbled. "Shame I missed it too. I would have held it against him!" Star laughs.
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock!" Star and Doctor both jump looking around in Jacks ship and look to the pilots chair to a smirking "Most people notice when they've been teleported but you guys are so cute, I didn't want to disturb you…" Jack said making Star take a step back from the Doctor out of embarrassment. "I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security." The Doctor and Star just look at him like they can't believe what he just said. "You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?! Even I can do better than that!" Star said putting a hand on her hip. "Maybe you should remember whose ship this is." Doctor muttered more to himself. Jack heard him either way. "Oh, I do. She was gorgeous! And like I told her, be back in five minutes." He said quickly as Star started to glare. "This is a Chula ship!" Doctor said as he saw Star start to open her mouth angrily. "Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous." Jack said looking at Star slightly startled but still keeping that smirk on his face. Jack keeps getting a death glare from Star even after he apologizes. The Doctor looks around from the spot he first transported in. He snaps his fingers and the same golden glow surrounds his hand, also grabbing Star and Jack's attention. "That's what Jack used to fix me. Nanogenes he called them." Star said "Sub-atomic robots, right? I think there are like millions of them in here." Doctor nodded and smiled. "You'd be right Star. See? I burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk heads sealed. Check's you out for damage, fix any physical flaws. Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk." Doctor said with urgency in his voice. "Sure as soon as I get the nav-com back online. Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing." Jack said with a smirk. Doctor merely rolled his eyes at the man's cheeky smirk. "We were talking about dancing." He all but muttered. "Heh… It didn't look like talking." Jack said, looking like he was about to laugh. "It didn't feel like dancing either!" Star said making Jack chuckle amused.
Later, while Jack continued to get the nav-com back online, Star was sitting on the step that led up to the cockpit he was seated in. She was bored out of her mind. She looked up at Jack working, and put her hands on her chin resting them on her knees. "So you used to be a Time Agent, but now you're trying to con them?" she asked, with a bored but interested tone. Jack gave her a kind glance and smiled going back to work. "If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money." He said with a sigh. "Well then why do you do this?" Star asked giving Doctor a glance as he leans against the bed she was on not too long ago. Jack paused in his work for a moment, looking at her with an expression close to sadness. "Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. And I'd like them back." Jack said turning the chair to face her. "They stole your memories?" Star asked. 'Wish someone would take some of my memories.' She thought to herself, but Doctor knew what she was thinking. "Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know he's right not to." Jacks attention was taken by a light coming on, on the console "Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?" he asked.
The three stayed low while sneaking behind a crate in front of the Crash site. Doctor popped his head up over the top of the crate while Jack just stood up, leaning to the side to see, while Star stood straight up in the middle not even tall enough to look over the crate, unless she stood on her toes. "There it is. Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important." Jack said with a smile. "What?" Star asked. "We've got to get past him." Doctor said to Jack. Star smiles. "Are the words 'distract the guard' heading in my general direction?" Star asked. "I don't think that'd be such a good idea." Jack said. "What? You don't think I can handle it?" Star said feigning insult. "I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him. Don't wait up cutie!" Jack said sending a wink in Star's direction. Her cheeks turned pink and she rolled her eyes. "Ugh… I hate fifty-first century guys." Star muttered. "So many species, so little time." Doctor said with a smirk. Algy starts to retch a few moments later, then falls to his knees before his face turns into a gas mask. Star and the Doctor run forward from the sidings of the crate and Star examines him without touching him. "Stay back!" She said. "You men, stay away!" Jack said to the other soldiers. Doctor knelt down beside Star also examining the man. "The effect's become air-borne." Doctor said quietly to the ginger beside him. "So it's accelerating then." Star concluded. The air raid siren goes off again in the distance. "What's keeping us safe then Doctor?" She asked. "Nothing." He said darkly. "Ah here they come again." Jack said looking off into the distance for the German air raid. "All we bloody need. Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?" Star asked Jack. "Never mind about them, Star. If the contaminants air-borne now, there's hours left." Doctor said looking into the barbed wire fence to the tarp. "For what?" Jack asked, lost in the Doctor's thinking pace. "Till nothing, forever. For the entire human race." Star said catching on quickly. "And… can anyone else hear singing?" Doctor added.
"Rock-a-bye baby, in the tree tops…"
Star followed Doctor running to keep up with him, also needing her inhaler at the moment, and when they get to the old metal doors, where the singing is coming from, she puts her head against it hiding her inhaler while taking big huffs of it. Doctor leads another girl with dark hair and a big jacket out of the door and Star visibly stiffens. She follows them anyways, turning on lights as Doctor and Jack uncover the tarp. "You see just an ambulance!" Jack said. "That's an ambulance?" the girl spoke up. "It's hard to explain. But basically it's from another world." Star explained trying to seem patient. "They've been trying to get in." Jack observed. "Of course they have you daft wanker! These humans think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon…. Jack, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Star said watching as Jack started to enter the access code. "The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it!" Jack said defensively. "Really?! You're still going on about that?" Star said before nearly jumping into Doctors arms as a LOUD alarm blares from the ambulance. "That didn't happen last time!" Jack said with disbelief. "It didn't crash last time git!" Star said with an expression that was kind of a glare of disbelief. "There'll be emergency protocols." Doctor said stepping closer to the fence looking at the hospital. "Doctor, what is it?" Star asked jumping from the banging on the hospital doors, from what they expected to be the patients. "Doctor!" Star yelled as she saw the patients break through the doors, coming closer to them. "Captain, secure those gates!" Doctor ordered, only to be questioned. "JUST DO IT YOU BLOODY WANKER!" Star ordered with such authority it slightly scared even Doctor, but Jack goes and does as he was told. Doctor turns to the girl. "Nancy, how'd you get in here?" he asked. "I cut the wire." She explained simply. Star gave an inward nod of approval. "Show Star." He said throwing her the sonic screwdriver. "Set it to setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D." Doctor instructed, receiving a nod from Star. "What?" Nancy asked. "It reattaches barbed wire now come on!" Star said running off and following Nancy to the split barbed wire. The patients get closer and closer with each bomb that falls on London. Nancy holds up the split wire in her gloved hands as Star mends it quickly. "Who are you? Who are any of you?" Nancy asked all of a sudden. "Oh trust me you'd never believe me if I told you." Star said with a slight laugh. "You just told me that was an ambulance from another world. There are people running around with gas mask heads calling for their mummies, and the sky's full of Germans dropping bombs on me. Tell me, do you think there's anything left I couldn't believe?" Nancy said getting a smile from Star, who laughs lightly making her freckles rise a little. "Okay then. We're time travelers from the future." Star said with a shrug.
"Mad, you are."
"We have a time machine! I know it sounds daft to you humans but I'm being totally bloody serious!"
"It's not that. All right, you've got a time machine. I believe you. I'd believe anything." Nancy said looking up to the sky "But what future?" Star gave her a sympathetic smile. She knew what it was like to not be able to believe she was going to survive to see the future as well.
"Nancy, yeah? Well, this isn't the end. Yeah it looks like a bloody hell hole but it's not the end of this world. Trust me… I make sure of it."
"How can you say that?! Look at it!" Nancy exclaimed, gesturing to the sky and the bombs. "Listen to me. I was born into a war. I have seen this same city, fifty years in the future. "London?" Star nodded with a smile.
"B-but you're not…"
"Not what?"
"German."
"Nancy, the Germans don't come here. I could get in an arse load of trouble with my brother for telling you this, but they don't win. Don't tell anyone I told you so, but you know what? England wins." Star said quietly with a kind smile. Nancy just stared at her in disbelief and was pulled back to the ambulance before she could say anything else. They see that Jack finally got the ambulance open, and as he said it was empty. "It's empty. Look at it!" Jack said pointing into the pod. "What do you expect to find in a Chula medical transporter?! Bandages? Cough drops? Star?"
"Bloody Nanogenes!" Star said running her hands under her glasses rubbing her eyes. "It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes to rebuild a species!" Doctor said aggressively. Jack got a face of sudden realization. "Oh, God!" he said holding his head and looking quite stressed. "Oh, getting it now are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask." Doctor said, possibly making Jack feel even worse. "And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Nancy asked, with an astonished tone. "What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!" Star said with a grim face looking at the pod. "I didn't know!" Jack said anxiously. The Doctor starts circling the ambulance, giving glances to the approaching patients, who were getting closer by the second.
"Mummy… Mummy…"
"Star!" Nancy shouted drawing the small gingers attention. "It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it Doctor?" the smaller girl asked in a shaky tone. "The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol." The Doctor said only glancing up from where he's working. "Doctor I know troops! The gas mask people aren't troops!" Star protested. "They are now! This is a battle field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up. They get you ready for the front lines. Equip you and program you." Doctor said, looking at the shocked face of his little sister. Even through her shocked face, he can see the cogs in her mind whirring. Then it clicked. "That's why the child is so strong! Why it could do the Om-Com." Doctor gives her a nod. "It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yeah. All those weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old." He said gravely. Outside the barbed wire the patients are just standing there making Star grow anxious. She glances at Jack and sees he's getting the same feelings. "Why don't they attack already?" Star and Jack asked almost at the same time. "You should know Star. Good little soldiers wait for their commander before doing anything." Doctor said making the younger of the siblings turn to look at him. "The child?" she asked. "Jamie?" Nancy asked, suddenly, making Star look to her. "What?" Jack questioned. "Not the child. Jamie." Nancy corrected. Star looked up at the sky, on the verge of actually showing emotions. "So uh, how long until the bomb falls?" she asks nervously. "Any second." Jack said, seeing her tense up a little. To tell the truth, he was quite nervous about it as well. And he started to fidget, noticeably making the Doctor get a prideful smirk. "What's the matter, Captain? A bit too close to the volcano for you?" Doctor asked with a cheeky tone that made Star smile. "He's just a little boy!" Nancy said protesting an unheard argument. "I know…" Star said agreeing with her. "He's just a little boy who wants his mummy!" she continued. "I know, Nancy. There isn't a little boy born, on Earth or any other planet, who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy." Star said softly to calm her down. "And this little boy can." Doctor added. "So what're we going to do?" Jack asked joining the other three after pacing around the barbed wire. "I don't know." Doctor said leaning his head on the ambulance.
"It's my fault…" Nancy said quietly. "No." Doctor said simply. "It is. It's all my fault." Nancy said looking at her feet. Star gives Nancy a hug. "Nancy, how could it be your—"
"Mummy… mummy… mummy….mummy…"
The patients cut her off. But Doctor suddenly got an idea, looking at Nancy. He pushes off the ambulance and takes Star's place. "Nancy, what age are you? 20? 21? Older than you look, yes?" he asked quickly. Star and Jack notice the bombs getting closer. Jack went up to him, against Stars protests. "Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds." He said urgently. "It's volcano day, Jack. Do what you've got to do."
"Jack?" Star said looking around for Jack, who suddenly disappeared. "How old were you five years ago? 15? 16? Old enough to give birth, anyway." Doctor said to Nancy, and Star finally gets it as well. "H-He's not your brother, is he Nancy?" She asked gently. "A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him." Doctor said with a hostile tone. Their eyes shoot to the now open gates where Jamie is standing, at the front of the other patients.
"Are you my mummy?"
"He's going to keep asking Nancy. He's never going to stop." Doctor said to her. "Tell him, Nancy. The future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me and tell him." Star gently nudges Nancy forward and she kneels in front of Jamie with a scared look.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?"
"Yes. Yes, I am your mummy."
"Mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes."
"Are you my mummy?"
"Doctor, he doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left." Star whispered to her brother giving the child a worried look. "I am your mummy. I always will be your mummy. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Nancy said hugging Jamie closer. Star and Doctor get hopeful looks when a golden cloud of nanogenes surround the two relatives. "Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out! The mother, SHE'S the bloody mother! It's got to be enough information! FIGURE IT OUT!" Star said under her breath, with a worried look, as Nancy fell to the ground. "Come on! Give us a day like this! Give us this one!" She steps forward, Doctor at her side, and gently undoes the straps to the gas mask and to her delight it falls right off. The Doctor laughs relieved and picks Jamie up smiling like an idiot. "Welcome back! Twenty years 'till pop music- "
"Oh, you're going to love that!" Star said looking up at the small child in her brother's arms. "W-What happened?" Nancy said as Star helped her up. "The nanogenes recognized the superior information!" Doctor said. "The parent DNA." Star explained. "They didn't change you because you changed them. Ha-Ha! Mother knows best!" Doctor said, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. Nancy took Jamie from the Doctor's arms and hugs him closely again. "Oh Jamie…"
"Doctor, that bomb's coming!" Star said with urgency. "Taken care, of little one…" he said putting a caring arm around his nervous siblings shoulder. She looks up at him confused. "What? How?" she asks. "You're worst enemy." Doctor hinted. "Psychology." Star stated with a questioning voice. Their attention is drawn to the bomb that is hurtling towards them, making Star cling to her brother's side in fear of dying again. But at the last minute a bright light shines, and when she looks up at the bomb, she instead sees Jack sitting on it like a horse. He was wearing his Captain's hat, which Star personally loved to look at.
"Doctor!"
"Good lad!"
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis bit it won't last long." Jack stated proudly. "Change of plans. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it?" Doctor asks. "Safely as you can, alright?" Star added.
"Star?"
"Yeah?"
"Goodbye."
And with that Jack disappeared, leaving Star to feel almost heartbroken. Until he reappears again. "By the way, love the tee-shirt!" is all he said, making her giggle and blush, before winking at her and disappearing once more. Star just stares at the spot where he sat on the bomb for a moment before she noticed Doctor summoning the nanogenes. "What are you doing?" She asked curiously. "Software patch." He stated simply. Star nodded but Nancy gave him a confused look. "Going to email the upgrade." He explained further "You wanted moves, Star? I'll give you moves." Doctor said with a cheeky smile before throwing the nanogenes to the patients, who were standing there the whole time, and they all fall down.
"Everybody lives Star. Just this once, everybody lives."
The Doctor doesn't notice his sibling, slightly behind him, smiling proudly, like he just saved the world, because he did. 'And I couldn't be more proud of you Doctor. You really are amazing, sometimes. I want to be just like you when I get to be your age.' She thinks to herself, proud of her sibling, who was walking over to the other patients. They were starting to recover and he walks over to the Doctor Constantine. "Doctor Constantine, who never left his patients. Back on your feet, the constant doctor. The world doesn't want to get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit! These are your patients, all better now." Doctor said gesturing to the herd of people taking off gas masks. "Yes, yes, so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?" Constantine asked with a pointed smile, knowing it had to have something to do with the man in front of him. "Yeah, well, you know cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably going to find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?" Doctor smiled as the man nodded. He turned to Star who was looking off in the sky again, where Jack disappeared. He put a hand on her shoulder and they silently walked back to the TARDIS. "The nanogenes with clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I told them to, and they can follow orders, unlike you…" he gave star a cheeky smile as she elbowed him in the ribs. "Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help. All in all, all things considered,-"
"FANTASTIC!" they said together. "Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas." Star said amused by his energetic happiness, as he zoomed around the console of their ship. She leans against the railing of the around the console feeling quite sad, but not showing it on her face. "Who says I'm not, stuffed bear when you were only 3?" he said with an arrogant smirk. She just stared at him astonished. "What?!" she said laughing a little bit.
"And everybody lives, Star! Everybody lives! We really need more days like this!" he said, starting to ramble and not paying attention to his sibling, who's staring at the holes in the metal floor.
"Doctor?"
"Go on, ask me anything! Except to light something on fire! That's a definite no!"
She looked up at him with sad eyes through slightly askew red glasses. The look she gave him rarely showed on her at all. The worry, sadness and confusion could even be felt from her expression.
"What about Jack? ... W-Why'd he say goodbye?"
Meanwhile, Jack sits in the pilots chair looking at the bomb in the middle of the air craft he stole. "Okay, computer, how long can we keep the bomb in stasis?" Jack asked as the automatic female voice came over the speakers.
"Stasis decaying at 90% cycle. Detonation in 3 minutes."
"Can we jettison it?"
"Any attempt to jettison the device with precipitate detonation. 100% probability."
"We could stick it in an escape pod." Jack offered, thinking of ways to get out of dying.
"There are no escape pods on board."
"I see the flaw in that. I'll get in the escape pod."
"There are no escape pods on board."
"Did you check every where?" he asked, starting to give up hope in escaping.
"Affirmative."
"Under the sink?" he asked starting to get smart with the computer voice.
"Affirmative."
He sighs and sits back in the chair. "Okay. Out of 100, exactly how dead am I?"
"Termination of Captain Jack Harkness in under two minutes. 100% probability."
"Lovely, thanks" He said with a content peacefulness in his voice. "Good to know the numbers."
"You're welcome."
"Okay then. Think we'd better initiate emergency protocol 417." Jack said turning to the window and console of his ship.
"Affirmative."
On the top of the console a martini appears and sparkles in its party glass. Jack takes the olive out and drinks the whole martini. "Oo, a little too much vermouth. See if I come here again. Funny thing. Last time I was sentenced to death, I ordered four hyper-vodkas for my breakfast. All a bit of a blur after that. Woke up in bed with both my executioners. Mmm, lovely couple. They stayed in touch. Can't say that about most executioners. Anyway. Thanks for everything, computer. It's been great." He said looking at the stars again. Then he gets a quiet ringing in his ear that gets louder and louder, like its getting closer. It starts to sound like Moonlight Serenade, playing in the ship. He turns to see the TARDIS doors open and sees Doctor and Star dancing and laughing. Star looks out the doors of the blue ship, giggling. "Well, hurry up then!" she says calling him into the TARDIS. She goes back to dancing with her brother, teaching how to really dance. "And right and turn. Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time don't get my arm up my back. No extra points for a half-nelson, even though I'm surprised you know how to do that!" Doctor rolled his eyes at her cheeky tone. "I'm sure I used to know this stuff." He turns to Jack "Close the door, will you? Your ship's about to blow up! There's going to be a draught!" Doctor said, and Jack shuts the doors as Doctor and Star both start the TARDIS up again.
"Welcome to the TARDIS!" Star said with a big smile.
"Much bigger on the inside." Jack said to himself with a smile at the small ginger. "You'd better be!" Doctor said apprehensively. "I think what the Doctor's trying to say is you may cut in." Star said being pulled back out to dance with her brother. "Star! I've JUST remembered!" Doctor said with excitement. "What?" she asked with a smile and a light laugh. The music changes from Moonlight Serenade to Glenn Miller's In The Mood. Doctor starts to dance swing with his sister, who was being twirled, not expecting the sudden change in dance. "I can dance! I can dance!" Doctor exclaimed.
Star stepped away from her brother a small bit. "Actually, Doctor, I thought Jack might like this dance." Star said with a pink blush sneaking its way to her cheeks, as she rubbed her arm shyly. "Yeah I'm sure he would, Star. I'm absolutely certain. But with who?" Doctor said with a cheeky grin. She giggles when he dips her and looks at Jack, who's watching the cute sibling interaction, upside down.
TO BE CONTINUED...