Chapter 2
The Highest Authority

Only a few moments later, Rose opened her eyes, gasping for breath and clutching her head. Jack rushed forwards, kneeling on the ground next to her. She looked up at him and smiled, and sweet smile that let him know Bad Wolf had left for the time being.

"You know, I never really get used to it," she said, gritting her teeth. "It hurts every time."

Jack hugged her tightly. "Do you have any idea how long it's been?" he asked her.

She laughed lightly. "I promise you, it's been longer for me." When he looked as though he may question this, she interrupted. "Stories for later, I promise. We need to be going. Vortex manipulator in good working order?"

"What? Oh, yeah, it's fine." She reached forward and grabbed it from him to enter the coordinates. "Where exactly are we going, Rose?"

She frowned at him. "How much do you know about Demon's Run?" The blank look he responded with gave her his answer. "I'm rewriting history. It's against the rules, but I kind of am the rules now, so, I guess it's not against the rules. Hard to explain." She glanced over at Ianto and Gwen. "You coming too?"

...

The room they appeared into was tense. The Doctor stood up on a stage in a robe – in front of him were soldiers taking aim, and behind him were robbed creatures with swords.

"You're only human," he said, calmly. The man in uniform on the stage walked towards the Doctor, gun pointed at his head.

"Doctor, you will come with me right now."

"He's always had a flair for dramatics," Jack whispered, grinning. Rose nodded, laughing silently in agreement, before turning to face the other two and whispering out her instructions rapidly.

"Now, you three find Amy and Rory. Erm, she's a red head, he'll be dressed like a Roman soldier and holding a baby. Stay with them. Try to keep everyone alive at the end. Don't tell anyone I'm here. I have something else I'm needed for. Just wait for the lights to go."

"Three minutes, forty seconds. Amelia Pond! Get your coat!" he shouted, before putting his hood back up as the room went dark.

"Go!" Rose hissed, running off in the opposite way.

Jack, Gwen, and Ianto followed her orders, running through corridors until they came across a man dressed as Roman and carrying a baby.

"Erm, Rory!" The Roman stopped, spinning around. "Look, I know you don't know me, but we're here to help. We're friends of the Doctor. Well, I'm a friend of the Doctor, and these are friends of mine."

"He sent you to help me?" Rory questioned. "That wasn't part of the plan."

"Not quite," Jack said, grinning. "Our orders come from a higher authority. The Doctor only thinks he knows everything. Now, I believe we're looking for your wife."

…

"No, Colonel Manton, I want you to tell your men to run away."

Gwen and Ianto stood outside the door to the control room. Jack sent them there, saying he had received a message from Rose, and that they needed to go to the Doctor.

"Those words, run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Runaway. I want children laughing outside your door cause they found the house of Colonel Runaway. And when people come to you and ask if trying to get to me through the people I love is in any way a good idea, I want you to tell them your name! Look, I'm angry, that's new."

"You should really calm down," Gwen interjected.

The Doctor spun around, glaring at the interruption. "Who the hell are you?"

"Torchwood," Gwen explained simply.

"I didn't ask for Torchwood's help," he argued.

"You're missing the point," Ianto said, sound impatient. "We don't have a lot of time, and you're so worked up that you're missing the point!"

"Would you care to fill me in on what the point is then!?"

"She didn't tell us," a third, familiar voice provided. "Honestly Doc, she's as cryptic as you are."

"I figured you were around here somewhere when they said Torchwood," the Doctor sighed, settling himself back down in the seat. His face lit up when he saw Amy and Rory. "Oh, you guys are alright then. Reunited and all that… stuff." He paused. "Well, I suppose we should get to the Tardis."

…

Rose sat at a computer, the entire room glowing, as she traced the flesh signal back to where Melody Pond actually was. As soon as the found them, she locked on, downloaded the signal to her mobile device, and hurried out of the room.

She stayed in the shadows by the Tardis, watching carefully as the monks closed in on the Doctor's friends. Jack was doing as he was told, dutifully protecting Rory, Amy, and their child.

As the battle carried on, she couldn't help but wonder what was taking the Doctor so long. Jack had died twice already, but everyone else remained unharmed. When it became clear that the Doctor wasn't showing up any time soon, Rose jumped into action.

"This stops now!" she screamed, her voice harsh as it echoed throughout the room. Everyone stopped moving and looked her way. Jack's grin was the only give away, but no one seemed to be paying him any attention.

"Amelia," Rose said slowly, "I'm going to need you to remain calm. What you're holding is not your child, but I can guarantee you that your daughter is safe and will be here soon."

"What? But, who are you? My daughter is right here." In that instant, the child in her arms disintegrated.

"Flesh," Rose replied. "You've all been tricked into believing you were winning. I tried to send him a warning, but he's too worked up to see through them. I was hoping to get this completed with minimal interference on my part."

"Um, you still there?" Jack questioned slowly, noticing that her words didn't really sound like Rose anymore.

"Still me, Jack. Not for much longer. Don't worry. This is the way it's supposed to be."

"Who are you people!" Amy cried.

"Later," Rose said. "First of all… Monks – I'm going to need you to leave." They began chanting again. "I didn't say argue with me, I said leave." As they ignored her, she tried once more. "Okay, seriously, last chance, you leave, or I make you leave."

At that moment, she heard the Doctor pounding against the locked door, screaming to Amy that the child wasn't real. She scoffed slightly – this Doctor wasn't quite as sharp as hers. Losing it in his old age, the Bad Wolf laughed in her head.

Rose turned her attention back to the monks, who hadn't stopped chanting, and were now circling her. "Bye Jack," she said, without looking at him. "See ya later." Her body glowed. She raised the hood of her stolen robe to cover her face.

"Divide," she said, but with a different voice. The occupants of the room watched in awe as she raised her arm, and the Doctor burst into the room just as the monks vanished into gold dust.

"What was that?" he cried, screeching to a halt. "Who are you?"

Jack laughed at him. "My higher authority."

"So they took her anyway," Amy said, tears streaming down her face. "All this was for nothing."

"I am so sorry," the Doctor said, sounding heartbroken.

"Amelia Pond," Bad Wolf called, the sound a million voices in one. "Did I not tell you that your child was safe and would be here soon?" Amy just looked at her in disbelief. "I'm going to need everyone to stand back."

"Who is this?" the Doctor whispered, pulling Amy back as the woman ordered.

"We have no idea. Were kinda hoping you did," Rory supplied. "She just turned everything into dust."

She pulled her mobile device out of her pocket and pulled up the lock she had placed on the ship carrying away the baby. She spun, up into the air, hovering above them all, and in a flash of light, Madam Kovarian was in the room, as was Melody Pond, sleeping in her carrier. Madam Kovarian blinked once, and then rushed forward to take the baby.

"If you touch her, I will end you," Bad Wolf said from above, annunciating each word slowly.

Madam Kovarian widened her eyes. "You can't be here. It's against the rules. You're breaking all the rules."

As she came back down to the ground, she snarled at the woman, "I am the rules! You think the Doctor is scary, you have no idea. You have found out what happens when you come at the Doctor through his loved ones, do you want to find out what happens when you touch mine?"

Jack looked over at Gwen and Ianto, holding out his arm, "Look, goosebumps!"

"But-But they assured me this wouldn't happen if I went after him. They told me you wouldn't do it. They – "

"The Silence doesn't know everything," Bad Wolf replied in a bored tone. "Now, just… three… two… and, there she is!" She pointed her finger behind the doctor as River Song appeared.

She shushed everyone as the Doctor spun on River, screaming at her for her timing, and River returning the argument, blaming the Doctor for everything. She leaned down into the cradle to pick up tiny Melody Pond, and walked past Madam Kovarian, shooting her look, daring her to move. She handed Melody off to Jack before continuing on to the Doctor and River.

"This is not his fault," Bad Wolf said. "This is your fault."

River looked up at her, seeing her for the first time. "Who the hell are you?"