Chapter 5 – A Freakin' Rocket Launcher?
"Jack!"
The metal door of the Hub rolled back unannounced and seconds later Jack looked up from his desk to find Don and Rose sauntering into his office, looking casually around.
"What?" he asked.
"We need you," Don said, perching himself on the desk in front of Jack. "We have a problem."
"Problem?" Jack echoed, confused.
"Long story short, we need to catch an unbeatable dark spirit that embodies the complete evil of the Doctor, his bad thoughts, bad memories, bad feelings etcetera, and if we don't put both the good side and the bad side back into the Doctor where they belong pretty damn soon then the dark spirit will most likely get out and kill his good side and grow in strength until it has enough power to destroy human life as we know it and then eventually it could probably claim dominion over the entire known and unknown Universe and... well... the end," Don answered, giving a shrug.
Jack blinked.
"We need to catch a bad guy," Rose reiterated, smiling.
"Ah!" Jack exclaimed, bouncing onto his feet, grabbing his gun from off of the table and checking his ammunition.
"Err..." Don pointed at the gun. "Probably won't work."
Undeterred, Jack put down the gun. "Laser gun?"
"Nope..."
"Portable Meson gun?"
"Nadda..."
"EMP gun?"
"Nah..."
"Time Lock?"
"No..."
Jack's brow was beginning to furrow. "Proton Blaster?"
"Newp..."
"Sub Etheric Resonator?"
"No..."
"Jamolean Lance?" he asked desperately.
"No..."
"A freakin' rocket launcher?"
"No, Jack."
Jack sighed. "Yeah, we got this thing caught, no problem," he said sarcastically.
"We can't kill it, Jack," Rose said. "It's part of the Doctor. It's what makes him. We need to trap it somehow."
"Mirrored box!" Jack suddenly said. "Like a portable prison cell but doesn't have a rubbish battery life."
"Perfect," Don said. "If we can lure it somehow to a place to catch it..."
"What's happening?" a voice suddenly came from the doorway, and they all turned to find Martha leaning on the doorframe, staring at them all.
"We need to catch a bad guy," Rose said, grinning. "You in?"
"Who's the bad guy?"
"The Doctor."
Martha stared. "What?"
Don took a deep breath. "The Doctor died by electrocution, or so we thought, but after me and Rose went to the place of incident we found out he wasn't actually electrocuted, but the bad side of his mind and the good part of his mind have somehow been ripped out of their host entity and are now roaming around as embodiments of good and evil, the evil is trying to kill the good to be a dominant force in the Doctor and if we don't catch the bad then you know, imminent destruction of the Universe and all that."
Martha nodded instantly, understanding. Don looked slightly surprised she had understood and taken it into her stride so easily. "What's the plan?"
"Mirrored box," Jack answered, holding up the device in his hand. "We lure it and then catch it."
"Then what?"
"We'll think that up later," Don dismissed, waving a hand. "Let's go."
The four emerged out onto the Plass with the intentions of heading towards the TARDIS, but as the TARDIS came into view they all instantly stopped dead in their tracks.
A giant black cloud was hovering over the TARDIS, and what looked like liquid was seeping out of the closed doors and spiralling up into the air like a mini tornado. They watched, absolutely mesmerised as the blackness finally finished drawing itself out of the TARDIS to become one giant toxic-looking black cloud above them, shimmering.
Rain suddenly began to crash down onto them in a freak thunderstorm, lighting striking and thunder rumbling in what should have been a sunny May afternoon. The cloud shimmered from back to front like an unconventional Mexican wave... and then it began to take shape, gathering together in the sky to compress down into a smaller, denser form... Quicker than they could blink the black cloud had become the shape of a man – the Doctor – and was walking towards them across the Plass from the TARDIS, unwavering...
"Oh fucking shit," Jack whispered, terrified as the completely black spirit continued to stride towards them, unrelenting, his bright white eyes shining, his mouth twisted into an inhuman sneer...
"Hey Doctor!" Rose suddenly yelled, drawing the white sphere out of her pocket and holding it up in the air. "Look what I've got!"
The black spirit abruptly turned his head to Rose. His fists clenched. He saw the white sphere.
Then he was striding towards her.
Rose accelerated as though her feet were on fire, tearing across the Plass towards the sea wall with the white sphere in her tight grip.
"Jack! Now!" Don yelled, running after Rose and the spirit. Jack quickly ran towards the dark Doctor, drawing the mirrored box out of his pocket and throwing it across the Plass in the dark Doctor's direction. The spirit suddenly stopped dead inches before the trapping device, and sharply turned his head towards Jack... piercing him with those bright white eyes...
He suddenly morphed into a cannonball shape, and charged without hesitation towards Jack at seemingly 100 mph. There was absolutely nothing the ex-Time Agent could do as the cannonball slammed into him, the liquid-like blackness creeping up over his body like a second skin, holding him rigid as it forced its way down his throat, squeezing him, suffocating him...
Then the darkness peeled away, leaving the body of what had previously been Jack Harkness crushed like a tin can on the concrete, undeniably dead.
Don, Rose and Martha stared in complete disbelief at Jack's body as the spirit morphed once more into the form of the Doctor, and turned his attention back towards them.
"Retreat!" Don yelled, grabbing Rose's arm and tugging her back towards the TARDIS. The spirit was changing shape again, this time into a lance, pointing directly towards Rose and Don.
"Martha!" Don yelled, grabbing the white sphere out of Rose's grip and hurling it towards Martha. "Catch!"
She caught the sphere in both hands, almost tripping over her own feet. She looked down at the ball in her hands, astounded by the feelings she was getting... the memories of the Doctor... memories of when they had travelled together. The amazing things she had seen; the joy when he had invited her on board; the relief when he had saved her from the Macra; the shock and awe of when she had met Shakespeare; the elated joy when the Doctor had recovered from being hosted by the Sun...
But suddenly blackness flooded her mind of the bad times they had had... when he had fallen in love with Joan Redfern; when the Master had taken over the Earth; when the Doctor had been held prisoner...
Then more memories flooded her mind. Memories that were not her own, but really felt that way. Memories of a lonely childhood with no one but her own mind as a friend; indescribable emotional pain of her entire family dying by her hand; the physical pain of torture through every one of her limbs as she repeatedly told herself it was to protect Martha's family from the Master...
She looked up. The Dark Doctor was standing a metre away from her, staring at her with a face that didn't reflect anger any more. It was pain, it was loss, it was sadness. And she felt every bit of it.
She began to reach out to him. He reached out to her, to the white sphere in her hands.
"Martha!" a voice suddenly yelled, bringing her back to reality with a jolt.
"You're not getting him!" Martha shouted at the black spirit angrily, pulling back her arm and throwing the white sphere over to where Don and Rose stood next to the TARDIS. Rose caught it and dived inside the doors, Don beckoning Martha frantically.
"Come on!" he yelled. Martha ran across the Plass with her heart in her throat, feeling the darkness creeping closer and closer behind her...
She dived in through the TARDIS doors with Don quickly following, slamming it shut behind him. He ran over to the console, slamming his palm onto an elevated green button.
"Okay, that should keep him out for a bit," he gasped, out of breath. "Plan B, anyone?"
"He's unbeatable..." Martha said, trying to get back her breath. "We can't touch him!"
Rose's eyes suddenly lit up., looking down at the white sphere in her hands. "We can't... but he can."
She placed it down onto the console, and as before the white sphere exploded out in bright white light, taking the familiar from of the bright white Doctor with black eyes. Martha stumbled back in shock.
"We need you," Don said quickly to the spirit. "That thing, his dark side, we can't touch him. Only you can. You're the only one that can hurt him."
"I... I..." the spirit stuttered, looking as though he were about to cry. "I... cannot. I am not strong enough to beat him."
"Doctor," Rose said gently with a sense of underlying urgency. "You can do this."
"I cannot..."
"No, you are small, you're tiny compared to him, but the Doctor doesn't let his dark side control him," Rose said quickly. "You are the dominant half, Doctor. I know you are."
"His courage comes from his dark side," the white ghost protested. "I have no courage."
Suddenly there was a massive thud from the TARDIS doors and the entire ship jolted, the three living occupants just about keeping their feet.
"No," Rose said again, meeting his eyes. "Courage comes from good, courage to save your friends, to save lives of people you don't even know. That's the Doctor. And you are the Doctor. You have courage, you just need to believe it."
"You're strong, Doctor," Martha said quickly. "You're stronger than you think. You are the only one who can trap him. We need you."
"I am you," Don joined in, nodding. "I know how you feel. You are the stronger one. You can beat him."
Another large jolt came, even bigger than the last. The ghost paused, looking between the three. "I'm so scared," he whispered.
"We'll be right behind you, Doctor," Don said quickly.
"Friends till the end," Martha said, smiling.
"We all love you," Rose said. "We believe in you. You can do this."
"I... I love you all too," the ghost said quietly, unreal tears coursing down his face. "Okay," he muttered, sounding hesitant. "I'll try."
A/N: Next chapter is borderline ridiculous.
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