Doctor Who : The Nightmare Child
Chapter Five : War of the Worlds
"A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life, there's..."-The Third Doctor
In Memory of
Elisabeth Sladen
1948-2011
UNIT Base 13
Lima, Peru
Cameras flashed incessantly, blinding him as he tried to calmly read out the words printed on the paper. His wrinkled old hand was shaking slightly. General Lethbridge Stewart blinked hard with his heart stuck pulsing in his throat. But he could not show weakness here. He straightened himself up, gently stroking his white beard astutely.
Not right now. Right now, he needed the strength to strengthen others.
Billions of people around the world were now watching him, at the edge of their seats transfixed. He took a deep breath, stared out into the sea of journalists and their video cameras and spoke calmly words he never wanted to utter.
"At 1446, Greenwich Mean Time, London, England was breached by what appears to be a fully coordinated attack by an unknown enemy."
An audible collective gasp filled the room, followed instantaneously by frantic clicks, bright flashes and hard scribbling of pen to paper. Questions were filling the air but he somehow cut through them with a low and soft polite cough into the microphone that then left the silence ringing.
He continued further, eyes scanning intently on the paper before him.
"The breach was entirely from the atmosphere in what is clearly a campaign of rapid dominance," he continued further, feeling the sweat roll down his brows and cheek. "This is a textbook military assault and invasion. Defensive lines are being drawn 20 miles outside the combat zone and all civilians are being evacuated as we attempt to figure out where the enemy has come from, and what their intentions are… But as of now, only one thing is clear: The world is at war..."
As he drove without paying much attention to the darkening road, he switched from channel to channel frustrated as newsreader after newsreader intently read out the news through his stereo's crackling noise.
"The Prime Minister has issued for a DEFCON 1, the maximum Defence Condition-"
Click.
"-we're now getting confirmed reports of spaceships. The Pentagon has issued an emergency report-"
Click.
"The public has been advised to stay indoors…"
Click.
"You know, if you wanted music you should have brought your iPod," interrupted Martha Jones annoyed, looking at her husband's futile attempts to get music on the radio while she sat patiently, waiting on the phone.
The world had gone to hell and there weren't a lot of radio stations on left to choose from. Except for the Archers, obviously. Figures that would still be playing despite all of London turning to ash.
"I wanted to, but somebody had to touch my desk!"
"I was trying to clean it up."
"It was organized!"
"It was a mess!"
"It was an organized mess!"
The two fell into an angry silence as Mickey gave up and switched off the radio entirely.
"Is the Doctor picking up?" asked Mickey, who had asked this question twice before but said it again simply to break the nasty silence. He disliked the quiet.
"No," whispered Martha worriedly as she admitted defeat and neatly pocketed her phone into her jacket. Her eyes looked far into the distance where the dark smoke-filled sky lit up for a second, in a flash of lightning, and she prayed quietly for her Doctor's safety.
Mickey recognized the look on her face. He had seen in many times before. Rose wore it often when he was still in Pete's World.
"It's going to be ok," he comforted her, stretching out his hand to hold hers and squeezing it gently.
"Speed up," urged Martha. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Mickey obliged, putting his foot flat on the pedal, speeding towards the ruins of London.
Seth knelt down and uttered his prayers even as his cover, a great chunk of the ship that flew them began disintegrating from the laser bolts that tore straight through the durasteel.
"Maker, show them what you know of death, and guide my hand at this hour of need," he prayed quietly. But a different altogether indifferent voice answered him.
"Is this really the time?" asked Lady Christina as she ducked down for safety, though her long hair was singed by a laser bolt that narrowly missed her head. Though at her furious scream, Seth wondered if she preferred if it had met the target instead.
"Do you pray Lady Christina?" he asked.
She stared at him with some contempt.
"Dear, these are two hundred dollar Italian cashmere Kiki de Montparnassestockings. I'll only kneel in them if absolutely necessary," she replied dryly. "Also, kill the Judoon on the left. I just got my hair done last night."
Seth nodded, and his cybernetic eyes glowed a lethal red. He pulled out his sniper rifle, steadied the muzzle out into a small gap in the debris, took less than a second to aim and squeezed the trigger.
The Judoon fell like a ton of bricks.
"Thank you darling," said Christina, smiling appreciatively. "Just a few hundred more still to go."
The aliens, clad entirely in purple armour were stout and many. Without pause or hesitation, they formed precise formations and marched forwards, bombarding them with a shower of laser fire, though they were somehow, miraculously, quicker to react.
They ducked and quickly, the Doctor and the Master marshalled everyone aside into the corner of the street, where the laser bolts drilled harmless holes into the wall.
Ivy looked around at her friends. They looked worse for wear. Their clothes now slightly scorched and tattered around the edges from the near-misses and they were mostly caked with dust. The Master was leaking a trickle of blood from a wound near his temple from trying to save Matt, the slowest of the group. But by far, still the luckiest.
"HEY! Watch where you're shooting that thing," cried Matt. Several more laser bolts whistled past his ear as he rushed behind the others. "Oh, I guess they are."
"What the heck are those?" cried Ivy, flinging her back against the wall.
"Sontarans," growled the Master, as he bent and edged low to pick up a steel rod. "Bravest soldiers in the universe."
"I have Mister Potato Heads that look like them," added Matt as he peered around the building.
"You still play with those?" joked Ivy.
"Not...really," replied Matt, reddening alarmingly as he turned back. "I mean...I take them out once...in a while. For sentimental reasons.."
The rain of laser bolts grew heavier the longer they remained unmoving. Scorching hot holes in the ground burned the soles of their shoes, melting away some rubber.
"So what do you want to do now?" asked the Master as he swung about his metal staff eagerly. There was a hint of bloodlust in his eyes and words. He was licking his lips in the most disturbing manner. Ivy thought the grazing shot to his temple and the smell of his own blood must have awakened some sort of vicious beast inside him.
"Something stupid," replied the Doctor as he eyed the numbers ahead of them, his eyes squinting in the dust and wind. He gathers perception, and luck, and sucks into himself the instinctive, pre-conscious what-will-happen-in-the-next-ten-seconds intuition that has always been the core of his talent. And then he begins formulating a plan.
"Ah, the usual then," grinned the Master.
"Ok," interrupted Matt. "Maybe we should open a dialogue with these guys and see if we can't come to some sort of peaceful accord."
"Meh," answered Jenny dismissively, her over-eagerness brimming. She wanted a fight and this was more than she could have dreamed of. Every alien of every kind was out there, ready for combat. She didn't want to pass up such a glorious opportunity. "Not my style."
"Don't say meh," chastised the Doctor disapprovingly.
"You think it'll work?" asked Matt surprised at the usual lack of ridicule to his suggestions.
The Doctor opened his mouth to answer but a laser blast destroys a chunk of the wall, inches away from the tip of his nose. He stared whilst making a face at the smouldering debris, which could have almost been his nose, and probably face, and fell silent for a while.
"Well...meh," retracted the Doctor.
"So, what's this stupid plan of yours involve?" asked Ivy hurriedly.
"Running faster."
"That's it?"
"Oh, and you know the thing about teleportation… is that it usually works both ways."
The Doctor smiled a playful smile and whipped out his sonic screwdriver. There was a streak of blue light as he waved and aimed it carefully to the other side of the street. The others looked curiously to what he was pointing at.
An unassuming fire hydrant, in the middle of the street, trembled and shook. Then it became still. And then it shook again slightly. It looked to Ivy as though it was almost shrugging aside the Doctor's attempts at sonicking it, when steadily, the trembling became more and more severe until it almost shook itself out of the ground. Then suddenly…
BOOM!
Pressurized water exploded and burst in harsh torrents in every direction.
Water rained and soaked the street where the Sontarans stood, those without luck being hit by the strong jets, knocking them over and under, the others staring into the sky like fascinated children at the gush of water pouring down onto them. They looked on distractedly.
The Doctor took that tiniest of openings.
Boldly he strode out of his hiding, right arm outstretched and flicked his sonic screwdriver towards them, changing some settings and pressing some buttons on the screwdriver Ivy never understood. For a while, nothing happened but the Doctor persisted and advanced upon the Sontarans with a brave front. His screwdriver whined determinedly.
The Sontarans, with their target in sight, snapped to. They ceased all thoughts about the water raining down on them and raised their weapons to shoot, before something odd happened.
There was a glow and a shimmer, and all the water in the area either froze in midair or began to float up from the ground like they did before. Clear, shining and weightless, like strange liquid bubbles. And with another brilliant iridescent glow in the air, one by one, directed by the Doctor's sonic, the Sontarans began to vanish from view.
"Okay, that was prettygood," enthused Matt, laughing and clapping his hands happily as they joined the Doctor into the street.
"Oh yes, I'm very good.," grinned the Doctor smugly, spreading his hands in the air exultantly.
"Alright, don't get too proud," hurried Ivy bossily. "We still haven't gotten out of this mess."
"You're right," admitted the Doctor, smugness gone and now his frown deepening. "Reversing the polarity of the teleports won't hold them for long and there's still a lot more of them around."
"We need to get to the TARDIS pronto," said the Master. "Blah, did I just use the word pronto?"
"It is a weird word that," agreed the Doctor, pursing his lips and narrowing his eyes earnestly. "Like correctomundo. What's with all the Os?"
"Will you two please stop it," snapped Ivy. "London! Burning. Alien invasion. Hullo?"
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
"To the TARDIS then," murmured the Doctor. "Allons-y!"
"Sontarans," growled Wade. "Why did it have to be Sontarans?"
He'd been watching too many Indiana Jones movies. The quotes, the fedora and the constant humming of the theme tune as he massacred his enemies. The signs were all there. Jorge really wished he understood Wade more. He seemed fun. In a psychotic and possibly-going-to-stab-you-in-your-sleep sort of way.
But watching him kill up close made Jorge slightly hesitant. Maybe even fearful. Wade was a flurry of blades and blood and regenerating energy as he tore through the Sontaran formation, blade meeting flesh, blood and bone with unerring ease. An unstoppable killing machine they called him.
Jorge didn't even know why he was covering fire for Wade as Jorge barged his way past the fallen enemies. Wade never died. Wade was…immortal.
Thanks to General Adama's Project Lazarus, Jorge grew into a mountain of a man with strength to go toe to toe with a Judoon. But as for Wade, Project Lazarus gave him the curse of healing.
With every injury he got, he simply healed in a glow of regenerative energy that poured out from the wound. Not that much could get a chance to injure him from up close.
Wade had put down killing others down to an art form. He knew where to strike, hit, cut and deliver the final blow. All his moves were cold and calculated but made in instant reflex. However, this had nothing to do with Project Lazarus. Wade was a killer long before that. Long before his time in Japan. Long before he was in the Special Forces. Long before Adama ever laid eyes on him.
Then again, once in a while, Jorge simply thinks Wade is just a little bit...crazy.
"To me, my healing factor!" cried Wade as a Judoon ran straight through him, sending him flying and flailing through a brick wall.
"Ok, ow. Like ow a lot."
The Last Stand of Bannerman Road
Quickly the company gathered together, confusion and fear still in the eyes of Suresh and Gita Chandra, though they cooperated silently. Their whispered and mumbled questions escaped from their lips and drowned in the screeching war above them. Trailing missiles and the spray of frequent shrapnel blasting into the town around them.
"Mistress! Danger, mistress!" cried K9, his flashing eyes glowing a dangerous red and his rotating ear probes whizzing as the Chandras made their way safely into her house. "We are in great danger! Fatalities imminent!"
"What is it K9?" asked Sarah Jane as she turned to him. But she had no need to. Lifting her eyes into the sky, where the whining roar of thruster engines became greater and greater, she saw a broken battle cruiser - power failing, hull torn to shreds and escape pods fleeing.
It was falling.
Falling through the parting smoke and clouds so that it eclipsed the entire town in its great shadow.
Where could they run to now? It would fall on them all…
"Oh my god..."
The hull plates that burnt and peeled off the cruiser came crashing into houses around her like meteors.
Had she evacuated them all? Only the Chandra household and her own were left...
Too old. Too stupid. She was too slow. Maybe if she hadn't been, she could have gathered them all safely to her old friend, the Brigadier. If only she had been one step ahead of her own self like the Doctor had always been, she could have all those families safely together...
Clyde...That stupid boy. So stubborn to not have joined his mother in the evacuation. Now he might not see her again. She should never have let him come...Sarah Jane's tears began to flow as she remembered how she promised her she'd take care of him and now...she would lose a son because of her. How could she have been so stupid?
Too old. She'd grown far too old.
And her own son Luke...She had hoped and dreamt of so much for them together. All robbed from her now as the cruiser dived nose first, smoke and fire trailing from it.
Thundering shock waves of the crashing and crushing debris reverberated through the Earth and her body felt every ounce of it and though fear filled her thoughts, a pressing question was on her mind...
Where was the Doctor?
"Mr Smith… I need you."
"A bit busy at the moment!" cried the Doctor to Jenny's plea for help as an Ogron gripped tightly around his neck, intent on crushing his windpipe as it pinned him against a lamp post.
"The Emperor requires you and your child," growled the Ogron menacingly, baring its yellowish misshapen teeth. "Consider yourself honoured!"
"You know, I really don't like the tone of your voice," gasped the Doctor as he wriggled in the massive grey hands of the Ogron, his hands pushing against its ugly face. "Or the stench of your breath!"
Then with a huge clenched fist smashing to the Ogron's flat forehead, their primary weakness, the creature moaned and growled in violent pain and released the Doctor instantly.
The words rang in his ears and echoed darkly in his mind. The Doctor's hearts sank and the echoes sank with him. The blazing tarmac beneath his feet seemed to shift under him, and his head was starting to spin.
"The Emperor requires you and your child."
The intention was clear now. They came for him and Jenny.
Jenny spun with grace and lethal potency packed in her legs, as she swung and kicked off the arm of the cyborg, who stumbled back laughing. Its sinister laugh a convulsing mixture of machine and flesh.
"I applaud your courage little one!" droned the machine.
"Hard to applaud with one hand," retorted Jenny smugly. "Stop this-"
Jenny charged at speed, and leapt a great height before letting loose a side kick to the Cyborg's head, heel hitting the side of its steel cheek, which fell with a great clunk to the ground. With unerring skill and elegance, Jenny landed gently as the decapitated torso collapsed to the ground, sparking harmlessly from the hinge of the neck like a puppet with all its strings cut.
"-and get a head in life."
Jenny looked enquiring towards Ivy, who had been watching.
"I'd say that was cute," smirked Ivy to Jenny's delight. She squealed her joy quite loudly. "Very cute. But if you want one liners, you might want to watch him."
Ivy jerked her head towards the Master who was swinging the metal rod he picked up like a fighting staff.
"You must be crazy to resist the Empire!" gurgled a Zygon as it prepared to sting the Master with its poisoned barb. It raised its hands high in the air above its large cone-shaped head. The suckers that covered the entirety of the creature's flared and squelched angrily as it charged. "Die arrogant Time Lord!"
"Me? Crazy? No!" exclaimed the Master calmly in mock outrage. "I'm just a business owner who employs some very nice people. Meet my staff!"
Turning his metal staff in his hand, the Master swung it like an over sized baseball bat towards the Zygon. The creature, not expecting it, received the great blow to his chest where it stayed, with a momentary pause as though the pain had not fully registered.
Then, finally, the Zygon fell limp and staggered forwards slightly as it spit dark red blood all over the Master's face.
"Ah," said the Master annoyed, as the Zygon crouched over on the floor sputtering, gasping and filling its lugs with its own blood. Ultimately choking it died painfully as Ivy looked on horrified.
"This isn't' getting anybetter," interrupted Jenny as she regrouped with the others. "We can't go this way. There's too many of them."
"Change of plan?" asked the Master, his eyes boring slightly into the Doctor's.
"I agree with new guy," said Matt, who despite his steady words was trembling slightly. Ivy put an arm on his shoulder, squeezing it hard. She realized she too was trembling.
"Me too," agreed Ivy. "We need to haul ass before it gets handed to us."
"I prefer to say 'Tactical relocation.'" said the Doctor.
"Let's tactically relocate quickly," urged Jenny as a hail of laser bolts flew in different directions above them.
"Less talk," griped the Master. "More tactically relocating."
The Hub, Torchwood
The world rattled and roared around her as Gwen struggled to keep herself balanced and to keep from collapsing like everything else. Everything was just chaos and noise but Gwen kept her cool, despite her phone going slightly wonky. She waited patiently for the other line to pick up...
And as it usually is with these kinds of things, the moment she had given up hope of an answer, the call went straight through.
"Erisa ****ingMugambo!" she screamed as a considerably large piece of the ceiling fell from above and destroyed what used to be the Weevil Containment facility.
"Gwen ****ingCooper," replied the Captain sardonically.
"I need an explanation," said Gwen as she kept an eye on the Hub's Rift Manipulator. "Explain why there's a fire fight happening in your backyard right now?"
"Bad things happen to good people?" shrugged the Captain.
"Captain, you're in charge of London, what the bloody hell is going on down there?"
"We don't know yet," answered Erisa honestly. Her voice losing the humour, sounded rough and strained. Gwen inferred her deep intakes of breaths meant she was fighting hard as they spoke. "Most of our satellites and communications are gone, even this line could go at any moment. The Doctor's down on the ground here, so it could be anything."
Gwen flinched at the sound of the Doctor's name. The Doctor was here? She felt like a foolish child to have not known how truly grave the situation was. She rushed to the nearby workstation and brought up the Rift Manipulator's readings.
"My data says it looks like an invasion force," said Gwen helpfully. "From all over the galaxy. You'll want to take a look at this. Sending it over before all your satellites go."
"You've got data?" asked Erisa sounding legitimately surprised, having had always boasted UNIT's superiority compared to Torchwood to Gwen at any given opportunity. "Impressive."
"You mispronounced 'Thank you.'" replied Gwen. "Just helping as much as I can from here."
"Much appreciated. And Gwen," trailed Erisa's voice softly till it turned to a silent pause, "we think we've found your boy."
In the silence, Gwen's blood froze.
"You mean Jack?"
The sub-wave network died and her question was left unanswered.
"THERE THEY ARE! IT'S THE DOCTOR," shouted a Sontaran, whose armour was different from the others. There were many colours. Something in his mind wanted to tell him what that meant but, he had other important issues to consider.
"They're looking for us," repeated the Doctor, the words echoing in his mind ever since. But the blaring whine of panic and confusion inside his head was preventing him thinking properly as they continued running.
"Do not resist or you will be questioned, tortured and killed!"
"Well, I hope you get it in the right order," he shouted back at the Sontaran before he suddenly realised where he'd seen that different Sontaran armour before.
On Sontar. In the Coliseums. That was where he first saw such things. His hearts pumped cold poisonous dread throughout his body. He gritted his teeth in despair.
They were the Gladiators of Sontar. Mightiest of the mightiest. The Empire had gone so far as to release them from Stormcage...
Who or what were they dealing with?
They reeked of madness, decay, of the desperate passing of all things. These Sontarans were not ordinary Sontarans. They were the Gladiators of Sontar. Mightiest of the Sontarans through constant combat and most importantly, victory, explained the Doctor. Three of whom were currently chasing the group.
"But they were imprisoned," added the Master. "For starting a war against their own world. They're quite dangerous as far as potato heads go, really."
Ivy could see why. They looked like the nightmares of monsters. Grizzled, scarred and bloodied. They wore no helmet except their amour which bore war paint and for some, the skulls of dead foes. Ivy dared to look back and count, though she gave up soon after. Simply put, there were a lotof skulls.
But they were almost there. The alley where the TARDIS rested, eagerly awaiting their return, was not that far away. If they could just get to it...
A rain of laser fire trailed the ground behind them. Ivy, instinctively grabbed a handful of Matt's shirt and dragged him forwards, holding one arm over her own head as shards of debris hit them hard. A Gladiator closest to them, lunged forwards through the cloud of dust and Jenny elbowed him hard in the face. But she fell backwards as well, the Gladiator managing to connect a kick to her abdomen.
They were all yelling now, there were cries of shock and pain as Jenny crumbled to the hard jagged ground. The Gladiator however simply sprang back to his feet instantly, and pulled out a blaster pistol and pointed it towards Jenny.
"That will cost you -"
Then something reckless occurred to Ivy, as she saw the blaster pistol charge and crackle with energy.
Immediately, Ivy launched herself across the ground, grabbing the Sontaran around the knees causing him to topple and his aim to go awry. She screamed as she tackled him, both in fear and surprise at her own outburst of courage. A jet of red laser fired high into the sky missing the target completely.
Then, in the commotion and panic, as the angry Sontaran turned and grabbed Ivy into a choke hold, Matt too launched himself on the Sontaran, his anxiety to help kicking away the blaster pistol and punching the Sontaran in the face.
Several times.
Quite a lot of several times. Several times too many even. It had actually begun to lose consciousness when it fell in the tackle and hit its probic vent on a shard of sharp debris.
"Let's go!" cried Jenny as she pulled them both away as the other two Gladiators surged towards them, roaring and spitting.
The adrenalin pumping and her heart racing Ivy alarmingly cried out, "I've seen tougher KEN dolls than you!"
There was an awkward silence of realisation then as they kept running where Ivy wondered where those words came from. She was wondering if she had passed out in the midst of battle and started dreaming instead.
"You still play with those?" joked Matt.
"No," replied Ivy grinning. "Sentimental purposes."
Too many of them. There were too little of them fighting against too many.
There seemed no end to the horror – it was like Hell, and there were devils around every corner.
The Sontarans led by the Gladiators knew where they were running to. They had set up the ambush and the Doctor stupidly fell for it, bringing the others along with them. He stood tall and spread his arms wide around the group protectively, backing them against the stone wall. They wouldn't shoot if they wanted him alive. Or that was the wager he had anyways.
But they shot two streams of silver light like arrows which missed but left craters in the wall behind them. A warning shot but nothing more. He won his wager – so far. They weren't daring to risk killing him. With that confirmed, the Doctor took a brave step forwards, those he still had his arms open wide like a shield to guard his companions.
The Master too took a step forwards, though his eyes were leering. It was as though he read his mind.
"Your race is run Time Lord," drawled a Gladiator, stepping forwards from the formation of Sontarans that had their sights all on them. "You and your daughter will come with us."
"Let the others go, and we'll come quietly," bargained the Doctor desperately.
A few of the Sontarans laughed.
"You are in no position to bargain Doctor," said the Gladiator, his terrible face flushed with pleasure. "We have an army. What have you got?"
There was a pause as the Doctor began to register a new development on the battlefield. He tried to keep a straight face but he was never good at poker. His grin turned to a smile as he saw a dark shape fly towards him.
"Oh you know...a dragon."
"What?"
"Look behind you."
There and then, high above them, a large great shape came into view blocking out the sky and covering the land beneath it in darkness and dust. The Sontarans turned to fire but before they could do so, a gush of flames set them alight.
"Get behind me!" roared Bob, as it reared, circled and lashed its great tail at the Sontarans.
Ivy did not wait to see the Sontarans flying through the air but dived to one side out of the way. The Sontarans were completely distracted by the appearance of the dragon that they had forgotten all about them, fleeing the area to take cover.
Some tried to fight back but were grossly overestimating their luck and ability. The shrieking Sontarans hurled returning fire that simply glanced off its flanks. Bob tore at them with his large claws and crushed them with a single strike of his forelimbs.
"Thank you," coughed Ivy in the whipping dust storm brought about by Bob as she was helped up by Jenny who had been laughing at the fleeing Sontarans on fire.
"You're welcome," growled the now blackened dragon which was covered in soot and ash. There were signs of wounds and burns on his scaly wings but it seemed not to bother him at all. "I said before that I would fight alongside you, didn't I?"
"Brilliant," said the Master in an awe-struck voice. He laughed, "A big bloody dragon… I want one now. Christmas, perhaps."
"But I'm afraid I must ask you to leave this battle to me," interrupted Bob slowly, turning his massive spiked head towards the Doctor.
"Why? We can fight!" disagreed Jenny vehemently.
"In that I do not disagree," said Bob flashing his razor sharp teeth in what Ivy assumed was a grin. "But there's not much time. Look at the sky. This weather is not of Earth... His armies have no love of the daylight, so He covers the face of the sun to ease their passage. As the sky gets darker, more will only come through."
"The teleport scoop," muttered the Doctor gravely, as he stared into the sky. The sky seemed to darken even further, as though the blackness of space wasn't dark enough.
"It's getting bigger," said the Doctor in surprise.
"Well, I guess this battle's lost," shrugged the Master unhelpfully, throwing his hands in the air. "We should run."
The Doctor remained silent.
"Heed his counsel and run, Doctor," explained Bob hurriedly. There were four cries behind them of enemies returning. "If you really care about this world, you'll go. They're only here for you. They will chase you, but I can slow them down - as best I can."
There was a long pause as the Doctor seemed to deliberate. Ivy's heart seemed to ache at every passing second as she looked around her and realised how many people had died. They were everywhere. Bodies littered the streets of London and the blood soaked on her hands wasn't even hers. She had whilst running, stumbled over a woman in her fifties, and her warm blood was now on Ivy. She didn't even look to see if she was really dead or what she had looked like. She could have been someone she knew and she didn't even care to look.
"I agree with the running away business," answered Matt his voice hollow and sorrowful.
"Me too," added Ivy quietly. She felt a twinge in her heart and a writhing fear inside her chest screamed to rupture open. "If they want us, they're going to have to chase us. And I bet it's very difficult to chase a TARDIS don't you think?"
The Doctor remained silent for a moment as he looked into Ivy's pleading eyes. It was as though he could see right through her. See through the anxiety and the sorrow going through her head and see the grotesque trepidation inside her.
"Alright," said the Doctor decidedly. "Let's go."
As the others nodded and prepared to run once more, only Ivy saw the Master flinch. His eyes flashed like a bright light on water as he watched the skies carefully. There was something there that had suddenly caught his attention…
"I'll stay with the dragon," said the Master suddenly turning to the others, "but I'll meet you as soon as I can."
"What?"
The change in the Doctor's voice was astounding.
And then, suddenly it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone.
"No. Come with us," he said. There was an edge to the Doctor's voice. A strange desperation.
Hadn't it been the Master's idea to run right from the start?
Ivy looked on confused. The Master was looking straight at the Doctor, his drawling voice still in the air as though a hint of danger laced his words. Ivy was still not comfortable with his presence. There was something in the way he bared his smile, the echoing lingering way he laughed and the way he looked at you – more scrutinizing than anything else.
"Trust me," said the Master smiling his malevolent smile as innocently as he could. "Go. I've got a Time Ring remember? I'll find you."
But the Doctor seemed to know him well. There was bond between them Ivy could not explain. Of equal trust and mistrust. Like brothers who knew each other's darkest depths.
The Doctor and Master looked into each others eyes for what seemed an eternity, lost in one another's gaze. The Doctor's bright stare trying to pierce through the veil of shadows behind the Master's own edacious black eyes.
"Don't be late," muttered the Doctor finally.
"Oh, go already," the Master whispered rolling his eyes to avoid his gaze once more. "Run Doctor. Fast as you can."
They sped together, quickly running out of breath and ideas, they needed to get to the TARDIS.
"Very brave to stay and fight Time Lord," said Bob, rearing once more at the sight of the counter-attacking Sontarans.
"Don't be so stupid," the Master said dismissively as he watched the others run off into the distance. "This isn't about courage. This is about revenge."
"Revenge?"
His lips curled into a thin smile and his eyes darkened.
"I smell Rassilon in the ranks…"
"Very well, let us fight evil with evil," roared the dragon as he shot jets of ruinous fire across the battlefield before spreading his wings and rising up into the air.
Millenium Bridge, London
There were too many of them.
"That noise you hear, like bottles breaking- those would be your ribs!" snarled the Sontaran as it continued viciously to stomp down hard on Wade's spine with its great boot, laughing as it did.
"That cold metallic chrome you're feeling on your back," interrupted a voice that seemed to loom from behind," that would be the St Paul's Cathedral you're crashing into."
The Sontaran turned to face the voice but all it saw before it was sent soaring through the air like a vivid purple ragdoll was a giant fist flying towards its face. Jorge then laughed as he helped Wade up off the ground, simply picking him bodily up by the collar and putting back his dust-caked Fedora on his heavily bleeding head.
There was then a great crash when the Sontaran crashed into the Cathedral.
"Thanks big guy," coughed Wade, glowing orange regenerative energy flowing out of his every orifice again.
"Man, these guys don't quit!" cried John vaulting over large broken slabs of tarmac and stone as laser bolts ricocheted off them leaving scorch marks and green smoke on them. "I hope you alien scum bought return tickets, because otherwise you're goin' home in a cosmic ambulance!"
Buck and Seth threw themselves acrobatically over into the crater the squad had been taking cover behind, looking slightly bruised and beaten with Seth's green glowing eye flashing madly.
"They swarm like ants!" declared Lady Christina as the squad began regrouping.
"She's right," admitted Buck bitterly. "We're too out in the open. They 're coming at us from all sides. We'll funnel them through the bridge. FALL BACK!"
"And if that doesn't work?" asked Christina as they began retreating in systematic leaps and bounds.
"We could blow the bridge and drown the bastards," interjected Seth helpfully as he lobbed two grenades towards the enemies with a surprising amount of grace.
"And what would Jesus say about that?" asked John sarcastically.
"He'd suggest inflatable swimmies," Seth replied, grinning.
Then, suddenly as the fire fight seemed to reach its crescendo, with nothing to separate either side, a roar of command was issued out from beyond the bridge.
"HOLD!" bellowed a Sontaran Commander, standing boldly upright in no-man's land, right hand raised in the air with an open palm, signalling the others to halt.
Curious, Buck too issued out the command to cease fire.
"This is new," Lady Christina said with interest. "Why'd they stop?"
"Maybe they were intimidated by our slick fallback moves?" suggested Wade.
But then silence fell all around them.
"Guys, I don't think we're at the wisecrack part of the encounter yet," complained John annoyed. "Something's coming…"
In the instant he spoke those words, a bright light descended behind them. Buck swore under his breath as they turned to look high above them. There was a deafening roar from the mighty ship above as he gazed at the apparently empty light, yet feeling its menace. Buck clambered over a low crumbling wall, feeling himself slip backwards and feeling a flutter of fear pass through him.
And then he saw him. Rassilon was descending from the ship like smoke on the wind, without any visible means of support, his menacing eyes gleaming out of the blackness and his staff and metal gauntlet emitting a powerful glow of blue before-
BANG!
Buck opened fire first, immediately followed by the others. Lasers and bullets firing in a frenzied burst of fury but alas; all of them were deflected harmlessly, unable to penetrate some sort of great invisible barrier that shielded the Time Lord in a glowing orb.
Rassilon laughed a dark chuckle that chilled them to the very bones.
"You have prolonged this farce for long enough," screamed Rassilon suddenly, as he finally placed both feet on the ground, slamming the bottom of his staff angrily on the Earth. "I shall end it now."
Sparks flew from the tips as he slowly, lifted it skywards and the Lord Presidents staff began to shimmer and radiate energy and the light of a dying star.
Buck could barely see as he narrowed his eyes, staring into the brightness and was sure that it would be last thing he ever saw. It was over.
It was finally over. The door closed behind her, and instantly she felt safe once again.
The TARDIS. They had always been safe here. Ivy felt protected and safe within the infinite amount of walls of the TARDIS. She almost felt they were untouchable.
The TARDIS groaned and shook violently as the chaotic battle ensued.
Well, almost untouchable.
"I know, I know," replied the Doctor impatiently as he whipped out his glasses and began a manic control switching, flicking, pressing, punching and kicking on the core console. The bright glittering central column breathed slowly, rising and descending in soft and gentle mechanical breaths.
"So, what do we do now?" Jenny asked as she joined her father at the main console, helping him with the controls. Strangely, she seemed slightly calmer and more adept at it than her father.
"Well," dragged on the Doctor slightly as he thought, "first thing's first, I've got to know what's out there."
"But we've already seen what's out there," Matt said impatiently. "They tried to shoot us whilst we were seeing what was out there! It was very distracting."
"We saw the soldiers, yes," answered the Doctor, "but I want to know who's really running this show."
"Scanned the fallback of the enemy signals," interrupted Jenny quickly, flicking several switches and pushing the monitor towards them. "Let's find out then."
A flickering buzz and hum came from the monitor as it flashed a series of alien ships, the kind unlike the TARDIS and more like those she had seen in movies. Large futuristic battle ships, all shapes and sizes. Names and numbers scrolled on the right side, confirming the scale of the assault. The terrible fear that gripped Ivy seemed to tighten.
"Oh—kay," mumbled the Doctor nervously, his voice lowering.
"What is it? What are we up against?"
"Well, basically, almost everyone and everything," said Jenny calmly, her keen eyes fixed upon the readings still flying past the monitor. "Plus the TARDIS can't pick up where they've all come from."
The Doctor seemed stunned and in awe, as he pocketed his glasses and looked away past the monitor, towards the door, as though mentally visualising the threat that lay beyond it.
"What are you?" he asked aloud, gaping and looking worried. "Who could possibly amass such an army…and what do you want with us?"
"What do we do?" asked Matt.
"Doctor, listen to me," pleaded Ivy urgently.
The Doctor turned back to face her, paying her attention though there was still a faraway glaze in his eyes as he smiled back.
"Always will," he said consoling her with a comforting grin.
"You can't win this, you can't even fight it," blurted Ivy instantly as though it had been on the tip of her tongue all this time. The alarm in her words rang plainly.
"But we can't just run!" cried Jenny, as the Doctor began to consider the point. "People are dying, we haveto fight."
"No, I'm sorry Jenny," interrupted Ivy. "I know how you like to solve problems with your fists, but that isn't going to do anything. And you're right, people are dying. That's why we can't fight."
"It'll help the people who are dying!" said Jenny firmly.
"I'm sorry, I know," insisted Ivy desperately. "I get it. But whoever is behind this, at the heart of it, that's who we should fight. This once, just this once Doctor, we have to run. Please."
"But everyone in the galaxy is going to be hunting us down," said Jenny.
"Universe is a big place to hide a small blue box," Matt said finally.
There was short pause as the Doctor, scratched his head irately, turning on the spot on his converse that groaned against metal floor. He seemed to be struggling against himself in his own thoughts before he subsided, folded his arms and stared quietly down into the TARDIS darkest depths.
"You're right," he said, staring into the darkness.
"Who is?" Ivy asked.
"All of you," declared the Doctor as he regained his normal composure. "You're all right."
"We are?"
"Yes," said the Doctor, returning to the main console and flicking several switches as he talked. "But there's more to this story than we've heard so far. And whoever these people are, they came for us...specifically for us. Chasing us."
His eyes lingered upon Jenny, who stared back blank and confused.
"What for though?" Matt asked curiously.
"I don't know," admitted the Doctor honestly, "but if we want to help Earth we should leave."
"But-"
"We have to trust our friends here can take care of themselves whilst we're gone."
"But the Master-"
"-can take care of himself. He's a survivor. Always have been, always will be."
"But-"
"I know how you feel Jenny," said the Doctor with a tone of finality. "But this…this Empire, whoever they are, whatever they are, only has one objective : the two of us."
Jenny looked as though she was about to argue her point further, but the Doctor pressed on persistently.
"They're not interested in who dies or doesn't. That makes them dangerous. Very dangerous. They're just killing and destroying London because we just happened to be here. It's our fault they're dying. The Empire has been chasing us."
Jenny looked at her father, eyes darting ashamed though now, finally accepting and understanding. Instantly, she began flicking and turning switches on the main console and the TARDIS engines began to wheeze and moan. The light from the central column burned brightly and with a crash of engines that quaked the room, the TARDIS began to levitate and soared through the sky.
"Thank you," Ivy told Jenny, who smiled politely in return.
The Doctor grinned to himself as he too returned his attention to the controls.
"And if it's a chase they're after...This TARDIS will give them a run for their money. "
Jenny grinned tensely, though a fleeting glance towards the monitor, which showed the scan of London smoking and blazing, betrayed her distress.
"Don't worry," whispered the Doctor. "You know, the thing about time travel is...it's never too late."
Then with a determined roar, the TARDIS shot through the darkness, whirling frantically through the battle zone, dodging and weaving its way past the lasers, explosions and the thousands of stars ships. Swiftly it rose higher and higher, until at last they made it into the calmer stillness of the solar system.
Then finally, the galaxy around them wheeled in a spray of hard, cold pinpricks through the veil of infinite night as the TARDIS dematerialised safely into the vortex.
Ivy's mind ached and throbbed sharply. Everything seemed fuzzy and slow. As the TARDIS began to dematerialise, Ivy felt sick and retreated to sink into one of the chairs in console room.
She buried her head in her hands, closing her eyes so that the glowing red of and eyelids grew dark and cool. Then as she did, a silence spread outwards from her like a ripple till she could not even hear her friends' voices or the low incessant groan of the engines…
Her mind was full of what she had just seen. All that destruction around her as London fell, triggered flashbacks of her childhood. A childhood she couldn't even remember. A childhood where she lost so much. A family and a home. Everything she had ever wanted.
Sometimes, they would come back to her in spells. Barely even memories. They were mere fragments of unclear memories that had haunted and riddled her for many years. But one thing which was clear, was they were not joyful memories…
The world around her was ablaze. A rushing noise filled Ivy's ears. There was screaming and crying as she lay helpless in her cot. Still just a baby, tears streaming down her cheeks, calling out for help.
Then the woman came for her. She took her and fled the burning house but to her horror, it was not just the house that was ablaze. The whole world was alight…the orange sky was burning and the heat scorched through her skin.
"It's falling…it's finally falling."
Hyde Park, London
"Oi!" cried Donna piercingly, so that all of them could hear her.
Every eye was fixed upon her as she strode out into the open field. Grass, rock, cinder and ash blew past her gently. Her red hair flowed in the storm like a blaze and her the depths of her dark eyes was full of rage. She looked as bold as brass with every step she took into the crowd of completely silent and watchful aliens.
Some stood and took aim, wary of anything this planet could bring whilst others simply stared curiously. Some faces like the Ogrons and Zygons were cruel, rough-hewn like rock, others Donna had never seen before were smooth and skulking; but all of their eyes were full of apprehension at the new sight that defied fear of them.
Nobody dared speak however. They seemed as scared as she was, whose heart was now throwing itself against her ribs as though determined to escape the body she was about to cast aside.
"I'm going to give you one chance - just one- to leave this planet alone."
A jeering and raucous laughter filled the air.
Her head began to heat and burn as her enemies slowly took small steps and advanced upon her tauntingly. The monsters were daring her but she did not flinch nor falter. They rose together with the cries, gasps and laughter rising with them as they did, but she held fast, unmoving and her body did not betray her.
"Filthy human," spat a Zygon venomously who stepped forwards as the leader of the cabal that were circling her, like wolves about to shred their unfortunate prey to pieces. "We will rip and tear this world apart like all the others."
"No second chances," muttered Donna dangerously.
"Will you die to protect this world?"
"You bet I will."
As she uttered her final word, they moved to strike.
Then it came.
Donna's body began to tingle and stir up her spine to the aching, pulsing base of her skull. The familiar rushing sensation flowed through her body and she felt it course through every vein and through into every fibre of her being. Her head began to boil once more.
She saw shock flit momentarily across the Zygon's face as a red and fiery glow burst suddenly across the dark sky above them and Donna's eyes shone gold.
More and more flashes of repressed memory ran through her mind, ever increasing in intensity. They flew madly past her eyes, crumbling, tearing and blazing like wildfire until the blaze of pain, was finally too much for her to bear…
And the space around her screamed and tore in a blinding rupture of white light.
The aliens looked on paralyzed as their gloating smiles froze, and their eyes seemed to bulge as they watched an explosive wave of energy discharge from Donna Noble with the force of a bomb, blasting every one of them backwards, flailing and writhing through the air…
The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins—but in the heart of its strength lies weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars...
There was a flash of light in an alleyway. Two thuds could be heard, followed by a round of soft laughter as the two people arrived at their destination.
"I can't believe that worked. You did it. You brought us back," the blonde said, wiping the dust from her jacket. She turned to look at her companion. He straightened up and walked over to the girl. He was wearing a tight, all- blue suit, a shirt, and no tie. His converse squeaked on the debris.
"Yeah. Back," he said, his eyes smiling before his mouth did, curving up into a grin. She smiled back at him, reaching out her arms. They kissed smoothly and when they broke apart, she rested her head in the crook of his neck. He breathed in her scent. His Rose. Her Doctor.
"Let's go save the other you," Rose said, grabbing his hand.
"Oh yes. Just like old times!" he replied with a wink, and they ran.
Author's Notes :
Super long chapter. Think I was overcompensating trying to appease you, the readers for the lack of chapters being published the last month and things.
And I do sincerely apologise. I have never been this late before and I hope I won't be ever again. Then again, I've never been as busy as I had been the last few months. Now, it's getting a bit calmer where I work so, good news for us.
Some of these plot developments may seem self-indulgent, and they are. Well, not really. Well, slightly. Well, actually no. I never write anything that's self-indulgent that's not also vitally important - so I can get away with it. :D
Anyways, like I said, I found this part of the chapter really difficult to do. I had to get the plot points down as well as getting enough emotion out of the characters to still keep people invested in the people these things are happening to.
Another thing I'd like to point out was the Sarah Jane parts. I really felt torn about whether I wanted to keep her in the story after Elisabeth Sladen's passing so I had to deliberate for a long while what to do. It felt at the time disrespectful to have that character in there at the time.
There was a lot of editing and rethinking before I finally decided that I had to keep her in. I could have done without her, but I loved the character dearly that it would be disrespectful to edit her out entirely. I am comforted by my memories of the character and I hope they endure further through playing with her character.
Also, had to bring in the Brigadier, whose actor Nicholas Courtney also left us this February.