Survivor's Hearts

By Michael Weyer

Boyd Langton was calm as he faced the man on the screen. "Doctor Smith," he said in a calm voice. "You should know there's no reason to threaten me. We have you outnumbered and outgunned."

"That's a regular Friday for me," the Doctor said with a friendly smile. "You strike me as a reasonable man, Mr. Langton and it's quite the refreshing change for me to meet one. So I'll make this as quick and clear as I can. Simply take those silly guns of yours and the men carrying them and leave this installation alone. Leave Adelle DeWitt unharmed. Leave this entire Dollhouse operation, get into another line of work, something honest would be nice but anything will really do. Do all that and we can simply let this go and head on our own merry ways."

Langton smiled broadly. "I don't think you're in much of a position to negotiate with us, Doctor. If you come out of hiding now, I promise not to kill you. If not, I cannot make such guarantees."

"Tempting as that is, I'll pass. But I will make a counter-offer. You simply surrender and you get a chance to walk away with no harm."

Langton's smile widened. "Does this 'surrender now' line ever work?"

"I truly wish it did," the Doctor sighed with regret. "I should warn you in advance that I was never comfortable with this whole bit of wiping out people's minds and using them for your own ends. Call it a pet peeve. I'd rather settle this with a lack of utter bloodshed, as unlikely as that sounds. So, how about it, let bygones be and all?"

Langton lost his smile. "We are in control here, Doctor, not you. Give it up now before you regret it."

The Doctor looked at him with what appeared to be true sadness. "I gave you a chance," he finally said quietly. "Do remember that later."There was a buzz of static before the picture faded.

Langton turned to an aide. "Make sure we're locked down, then go floor by floor, room by room. I want him found." He turned to Adelle, cocking his gun. "I really want to resolve this easily, Adelle."

"You've ruined that already, Mr. Langton," the Rani said, her face calm as ever and now marked with a deep smile of amusement. "You've unleashed the gates of pure chaos upon your head and you don't even know it." She made a show of glancing at her watch. "I give you, at the charitable most, thirty-seven minutes, Mr. Langton." She looked up, the smile tightening. "And then the walls come tumbling down around you."

The Doctor paused to let out a regretful sigh as he turned the communications device off. "Just once, it'd be nice to do this the easy way," he remarked. He then shrugged, forcing a smile as he turned to the rest of the TARDIS. "Best to get started then."

Echo and Ballard were still staring in disbelief at the massive space inside of the small box. "Hello?" the Doctor clapped his hands. "Yes, I know, it's a bit overwhelming first time out but I really need your attention here."

They stared over at him, Ballard waving a hand. "How…where did you find this?"

"A very long story we don't have time for," the Doctor said as he adjusted a control on the console. He focused on Echo. "Now, you're one of these 'Actives,' correct?"

"Yeah," she said.

"She's kind of different," Ballard put in. "She remembers her wipes, she access her other personalities…"

He was cut off by the Doctor holding up a finger at him. "You. Not talking now." He pointed it at Echo. "You. Head different, can be key." He turned to point to a hall. "My lab." He began to walk hurriedly toward her, Echo and Ballard exchanging a baffled look before following him.

Ten minutes later (after walking through a half-dozen twisting hallways, including one that appeared to be on its side), Echo was sitting in a chair with a large device upon her head. It was the size and shape of a large fruit bowl with twenty different wires attached to it. Echo was having a hard time holding her head straight under it as the Doctor adjusted some controls. "Right, right, hold it steady." He looked over to Ballard, who stood at a large machine nearby, his palm pressing on a button. "Just hold that steady, do not move it."

Ballard did so while looking around the lab. It was twice the size of Topher's and the machinery around it was three times as complicated, devices and wires and cables that Ballard had no clue to the purpose of. The Doctor looked at the nearby scanner that showed a three-dimensional image of Echo's mind. "Hmm….interesting….Quite amazing. Have to admit, is fascinating how you can use that extra brain matter to cram so much in." He checked a reading. "And here…we…are." He pointed at a glowing part of the brain. "Here's our little trick."

"What?" Ballard asked, leaning forward.

The Doctor whirled. "Do not move!" he snapped and Ballard stepped back, pressing on the button. The Doctor pointed at the screen. "To make this simple…" He paused, turning to study Ballard, then looked back at the screen. "To make this very, very simple, your lovely lady here has a unique twist in her brain setup, no doubt from birth. It's thanks to that she was able to resist the mindwipes. No matter how much you try, you can't totally erase something, there will always be traces." He tracked the path the neural glow followed. "Hmmm….so take this, give it a bit of a shake and it can be replicated in other minds as well." He smiled. "Which means, with a bit of fine-tuning, the rest of the Actives can be just like Echo here, know all their past skills and use them."

"How does that help us?" Ballard demanded.

The Doctor pulled the headset off of Echo as he helped her off the chair. "It means, dear boy, that we have an army waiting to be unleashed right within the House walls. All we have to do is set the signal off and viola or however you pronounce it."

Ballard watched as the Doctor headed to a table loaded with about six feet of various mechanical devices strewn about in no order. "Ah, can I stop holding this now that you're done with that scanner?"

The Doctor glanced at him with surprise. "Oh, right, that had nothing to do with the scanner. That's the tea-maker."

He walked off as Ballard just stared, wondering just what sort of lunatic he'd mixed himself up with this time.

"How hard is it to find one man?" Langton demanded to the underling who'd just reported no luck in finding the Doctor. "It's not that big a place!"

"Twenty-two minutes," the Rani calmly announced. Somehow, she'd gotten a file and was actually working on her nails as she sat in the chair. Topher, handcuffed to his own seat, just stared at her in disbelief. "I'd be advising your men to start the engines on your cars right about now."

Langton glared at her as he pulled out his gun. "I want you alive, Adelle. That doesn't mean your body has to be intact."

She looked up and once more, Langton was struck by the coldness in her eyes. "Do not think to threaten me like any other flea, Mr. Langton. I've met the Marquis de Sade. He had you beat cold when it came to intimidation and he was a complete madman, if strangely compelling company."

Not for the first time, Langton found himself wondering about Adelle's sanity. He cocked the gun, aiming it at Topher. "One more word of resistance, Adelle…"

"We've already been through this, Mr. Langton," she cut him off. "I won't give you any aid, no matter what you do, so you might as well put a bullet through his brain now."

"Adelle, please don't tempt him," Topher moaned.

"Grow a backbone already," she snapped. "Honestly, Topher, a man of such intellect should be able to handle these situations better." She looked to Langton. "Nineteen minutes."

Langton was about to aim the gun at her knee and pull the trigger when the sound of gunfire erupted from below. He whirled to gaze at the nearby monitors that showed the security feeds to the main room and his eyes widened in shock. Every single active was on their feet and taking out the guards with a variety of deadly martial arts moves. After being little more than neutered pets for the better part of an hour, the sudden change to hard-bitten fighters caught the sentries by surprise, giving the Actives the opening to take most of them down before they realized what was happening. A few got off shots but one Active leapt in a somersault to kick him in the face, knocking the gun back. Already, others were grabbing the guns from the ground to fire back and take the attack to their former captors.

"I'll be damned," the Rani muttered, glancing at her watch. "He's actually ahead of time for a change."

Langton whirled to his men. "Get out there and try to put them down!"

"Sir, what about…" One man nodded to the Rani and Topher.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Langton said. "Go!" They were quick to obey, Langton letting out a sigh as he turned to the Rani and aimed his gun at her. "You call him off, Adelle."

She threw back her head and let out an honest laugh that infuriated him even more. "Mr. Langton," she said once she'd stopped. "I'd be better off trying to rein in a hurricane. Actually, I've done that with much better success than anyone has ever had containing that man's actions."

He cocked the gun and she rolled her eyes. "Rassilon's ghost, and I thought the Master had a flair for the melodramatic."

Langton set his jaw as his finger tightened on the trigger. "I'll give you one more chance to do something before I give you a limp for life, Adelle."

She pursed her lips as if in serious thought. "I suppose I should do something, Mr. Langton." She looked him in the eye without any humor in her voice or her gaze. "I should tell you that I picked these cuffs three minutes ago."

The blur of light on steel was all the warning Langton had before the cuffs slammed into his face. He was knocked back, stunned as the Rani rose up and grabbed his wrist with one hand as the other struck with the palm on his nose. Langton yelled in pain as his nose was shattered, bleeding as he fell back. The Rani lashed out her foot to catch him in the groin, grabbing his head and smashing it into the desk. Langton slumped to the floor, bleeding from the head.

The Rani took a deep breath to set herself before brushing her hair back. "That was bracing," she acknowledged.

The door burst open as Echo entered, toting an assault rifle. She looked at the Rani and lowered it. "You ok?"

"As best as can be expected," she replied. "I assume the Doctor is behind this?"

Echo nodded as she moved to uncuff Topher. "He somehow figured a way to activate all the Dolls, get them to remember all their skills."

The Rani smiled. "Very daring of him. It appears he may actually have let go of some of those annoying scruples of his."

"He said it was just temporary," Echo told her as she took the cuffs to manacle Ballard. "He wants to change them back to normal as soon as he can."

"I should have known it was too good to last," the Rani sighed. "Where is he?"

"Topher's lab," Echo answered. "He's doing something with the main systems. He won't' explain what it is." She glanced at him. "You know his ship is a lot bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?"

"Ship?" Topher asked. "What ship?"

The Rani ignored him as she made her way to the door. "I'll be over there." She pointed at Langton. "Keep him unconscious and secure."

"That mean I get to hit him?"

"Feel free to indulge your inner violence," the Rani said as she walked out. She made her way calmly through the halls, ignoring the fighting all around her as if it was just a light rain. She walked into the lab to see the Doctor wrapping a large cord around one console while attaching it to the special chair in the middle. "Dare I even ask?"

The Doctor plugged the cords in and adjusted the wires. "Taking out just the one House isn't enough. They'll just rebuild."

"Agreed," the Rani nodded. "But it can't be done remotely unless you're in the central Rossum headquarters in D.C."

The Doctor shook his head. "That was always your problem, so lateral, didn't take the massive leaps in reasoning." He frowned. "Unless, of course, it involved the ethical treatment of humans."

"Let's not start that now," the Rani snapped. "What are you doing?"

The Doctor's fingers flew over a keyboard as he entered a series of commands. "Linking the Houses up. All of them." He pointed his sonic screwdriver at a panel as he kept typing, the whirring sound activating and the screens coming alive. Realizing what he was doing, the Rani moved to the other side of the room, typing furiously herself to bring up more data screens. "This is insane," she said even as she began calling up file after file.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that…"

"A massive alteration of every Active in every House?" the Rani demanded.

"Not alteration," the Doctor said, adjusting some dials on the chair. "Deactivation."

The Rani stopped to stare at him. "You…" She realized she was gaping, something she'd sworn to never do and shut her mouth. "You want…to deactivate every mindwipe in every Active at once?"

The Doctor nodded. "That's it in a nutshell."

"I'd drop the shell part," the Rani exclaimed. "You don't think this is a mistake?"

"I learn from my mistakes."

"In which case, you should be a PhD."

The Doctor looked up. "Was that an attempt at irony?"

"I was going for dry wit."

"You didn't have a sense of humor before."

"Laugh lines are better than worry lines." The Rani rubbed her face. "You are going to undo the programming for every Active at once?"

"Not just that," the Doctor stated. "Also unleashing a little worm into the systems to wipe out every part of the data that can rebuild all this." He pushed a few more keys. "Hopefully, anyone who gets it into their heads to try this again may find it worth so much effort."

"Every one of the Actives…"

"Think of it as letting them out of the contracts early," the Doctor said as he adjusted the knobs on the chair.

The Rani shook her head. "Insane. You are still utterly insane." She paused and smiled. "I can't believe how much I've missed that."

The Doctor threw her a smile. "Time to embrace the wild side at last." He rose up, holding up his screwdriver. "Ready?"

"To destroy two decades of work by hundreds to alter the lives of hundreds more across the country and take down one of the most powerful corporations on the planet? All in less than a minute?" The Rani smiled. "I haven't had such fun in ages."

"I wouldn't call it fun," the Doctor shrugged. "Merely necessary and expedient."

"I rather understand that."

"And yet we have different definitions of what that entails," the Doctor remarked. "Ah, well." He aimed his sonic screwdriver at the chair and took a breath before activating it. The whirring sound filled the air as the chair lit up, shaking hard. The wires sparked as the screens began to flash and shake, blurring as energy flowed through them. There was a blur as file after file came up, each one flashing the word "deactivated" across it. The Doctor gave a satisfied nod as the process took forty-three seconds before the chair wound down and the screens went blank.

Popping the screwdriver back into his front jacket pocket, the Doctor briskly paced out the lab, the Rani following. They found the main room quiet, everyone standing around in various states of confusion, some talking in whispers but most just looking around with no idea of their surroundings. There was an exception, the Doctor noted. Two Actives, one a handsome hunky male, the other an attractive female with exotic features, were looking at each other with smiles as if recognizing one another. The Doctor glanced out the corner of his eye to see the Rani frowning and if he didn't know better, he'd swear she was actually feeling some remorse at that pair.

"Hello, all," the Doctor called out, getting the attention of the people gathered. "I know, this is rather confusing, I apologize for the disruption and all but believe me, it's all for a good cause and I dare you to prove otherwise. However, rest assured, there will be people here to handle this soon enough."

"There will?" the Rani asked.

"Well, I'm assuming," the Doctor shrugged. "Truth to tell, was rather more concerned about the whole 'undo the Actives' thing to realize the aftermath."

The Rani rolled her eyes. "The more the face changes…"

The Doctor ignored her as he saw Ballard entering. "Ah, Ballard, my good man!" he called out, waving. The agent frowned as he stepped forward. "I'm assuming you still have contacts at the FBI?" He glanced to Adelle. "Yes, I do listen to other people better now." He looked back to Ballard. "I'd be giving them a ring right about now, call them in to help settle all this."

"Hey, Doctor?" He turned to see Echo coming up, Topher behind her. The two were leading over Langton, who was looking around with the same dazed expression as the others. "When that buzzing went out, he went as whacky as everyone else."

Langton looked about. "Did I fall asleep?"

Topher shook his head. "Boyd was…an Active?"

"Actually, my guess would be that Mr. Langton is the latest body to house the mental template of the Dollhouse founder," the Rani stated, studying the man with great interest. "With that gone, he's reverted to his former persona, such as it was."

"What about the template then?" Topher asked. "The original guy?"

The Doctor let out a fatalistic shrug. "Gone. Not totally deleted but scattered into various systems to the point where reintegrating it might be impossible."

Topher licked his lips. "So, um…what happens now?"

"Now," the Doctor grinned. "You can all move on to wonderful fresh lives, no doubt with some large settlements as the government will probably want to keep this as quiet as they can to avoid the public fallout."

"And Topher," the Rani smiled. "I'm rather certain you will be in high demand by any one of a dozen major corporations and agencies." The smile tightened. "Do try to see this as a way to change your life."

"Um, yeah, sure, change is good!" Topher exclaimed, nodding furiously. "Real good!"

"Excuse me?" They turned to see Victor and Sierra coming up, holding hands. "Does this mean…we're done?"

"With the Dollhouse, yes." The Doctor smiled. "With each other…I rather doubt it." He glanced at his watch. "Well, I'd best be off, lots to do. Was wonderful meeting you all and good luck!" He turned to head back to the lab. The Rani paused to look at Victor, then at Sierra. "For the best," she softly said. She then turned to follow the Doctor, letting the others look at each other in confusion.

The Doctor was opening the door to the TARDIS when the Rani caught up to him. "Still leaving without experiencing the fallout of your actions?"

"One thing we always had in common," the Doctor noted. He paused and turned to her. "So what are your plans now?"

The Rani shrugged. "I suppose try to find a new life here. It shouldn't be too hard to set up a new identity, a new job, make some nice moves behind the scenes." She sighed. "I'm not a fan of this planet, of course, but one must make do."

"Yes, one must." The Doctor was quiet for a moment, leaning on the TARDIS door. "You could come with me."

The Rani blinked in surprise. "I…what?"

"Come with me," the Doctor repeated, this time as a request. "I know you, Rani. Three weeks and you'll either be bored silly or up to something that will have the authorities on your tail for years. But out there…able to travel again…seeing other planets, other cultures…"

She bit her lip, considering it but shook her head. "It would never work."

"Why not?"

"We don't even like each other."

The Doctor's face softened. "We're the only ones left, Rani. You and me. And I don't know about you, but I'm rather tired of being alone."

The Rani narrowed her eyes. "If this remotely approaches the topic of restarting our species…"

The Doctor threw up his hands. "I get that enough from humans, not you too!" He opened the door wide and spread his arm out. The Rani looked at it, mulling it over, then smiled. "Oh, like it's that hard a choice and you know it." She moved forward, brushing past him to enter the TARDIS.

She looked around, taking in its interior. "You've redecorated."

"You know how it is," the Doctor said as he moved past her and to the console, flicking switches. The motor started its grinding as the ship took off, vanishing from the lab. "So…where to?"

The Rani tapped a finger to her lips. "I suppose anywhere, anytime is a good start."

The Doctor smiled. He didn't forget her crimes. He never would. He knew who she was at her hearts and someone like that didn't change overnight.

But for now…he wasn't alone. And, for a time, that would be worth any price of company.

Coming Soon…

"Hello. I'm the Doctor."

"And I'm the Rani."

The duo running down corridors.

The Doctor in Victorian London facing Cybermen.

The Rani atop a floating balloon.

The Doctor waving to the Rani before a familiar curly-haired figure.

"Ah, yes, Mel, you remember the Rani, don't you?"

Mel gaping.

The two bursting into a room of well-dressed guests with Sarah Jane Smith startled at the altar.

"Stop this wedding!"

The Rani on horseback trying to catch up to a locomotive as the Doctor hangs onto its roof.

The Rani using her own sonic screwdriver on a door.

A water-filled corpse shuffling towards the Doctor.

"You can't do this, Doctor. You can't be as damned as I am."

River Song mingling at a high-class party filled with aliens.

"I'm sorry for you, Doctor. Sorry for how it will end for you and her."

SG-1 held in a cell as the Doctor works on the lock for it.

A figure in the middle of the TARDIS bursting with light.

Atlantis filled with soldiers.

Jennifer Keller smiling broadly at the Doctor.

"Hello, you."

Explosions across Gallifrey.

Daleks roaming through a Western town.

A white-haired figure turning to the camera.

"My name is the Master."

"Your song is ending. Not just yours, either."

DAVID TENNANT

OLIVIA WILLIAMS

DOCTOR WHO

Hope interest is high enough to get to all that. Comments are all welcomed.