Chapter Eight
-The UNIX Home Base: Universal Room-
"How did you do this?" The Doctor stood inside the UNIX universal room, mouth wide open as he glanced around at the many portals around the place.
"That's kind of difficult to explain," Chelsea began, but she was shushed by the Doctor who started to pace around the room.
"Punching holes through reality! That's very dangerous, and could lead to all of reality breaking down! What were you thinking?!"
Chelsea crossed her arms, a glare crossing her face. "Well, we don't choose our abilities, now do we?"
The Doctor stopped and peered at her down his nose. "What is that supposed to mean, hm?"
Chelsea rolled her eyes dramatically and turned around. "I'll show you."
Andrew scratched his head nearby. "Why didn't you show me it before, anyways?"
Without missing a beat, Chelsea's voice rang out. "You would probably break down or something if I did. You were mentally unstable at that point."
Andrew nodded, startled when he felt the Doctor's hand on his back. "I promise I'll try to be more... sane from now on."
Andrew shrugged the Doctor's hand off. "Well, you can start by toning down the tactile contact."
"Boys!" Chelsea's impatient voice echoed across the room, and Andrew winced.
She seemed to concentrate at a certain area of the room, and Andrew's eyes widened when the air seemed to ripple and tear open.
The Doctor gasped next to him and quickly sprinted over to where Chelsea was standing. "That was... impossible! Simply impossible!" He gaped at her, his brows furrowing in concern when he noticed her bloody nose.
"It's fine," she waved him off, used to having them from opening holes.
The Doctor scoffed and crossed his arms. "Don't play games with me. I can tell when somebody is hurt. I can get rid of that ability, you know-"
"No!" Chelsea cried out the moment he spoke those words, and Andrew noticed her sway on the spot.
"I need these abilities, Doctor! To get back to my own universe. To get everybody back to their own universes."
The Doctor shook his head. "But your universes are closed off. I already tried going to them after Andrew escaped, using the information from his mind."
Chelsea rubbed her head. "We already know that. Obviously, you're much better now then you were before. I don't think you're going to go on a psychotic break if you help us, so... please help us!"
The Doctor laughed and rubbed his hands. "Of course I'll help! I haven't exactly helped anybody since the Old Man took Rose Tyler away! I was broken after that, but I think you guys..." He looked lost for a moment, before continuing. "I think you guys are going to help me. If I help you... will you help me?"
Chelsea smiled warmly for the first time in a few days, and swept back her hair. "Of course. I must admit, when you're not all psychotic and dark... you're actually kind of cool."
The Doctor shrugged, chuckling a bit as he ran his hands through his hair.
Andrew, however, simply raised his hand. "Um... sorry to spoil the moment, but we kind of have to talk about this now. To figure things out, I mean. I'm tired of being kept in the dark all the time about everything that is going on."
Chelsea nodded. "You're right. We have to figure out this mystery." She snapped her fingers at the Doctor, who looked flustered as she strode off deep into the building. He glanced at Andrew, who smiled and said; "Follow her."
They quickly jogged after Chelsea, who seemed to be practicing her daily runs at that moment.
Chelsea pursed her lips glancing back at the two huffing men, and she came to a sudden stop in the hallway causing them to almost crash into her back. She opened a door to the right, and led them into a small sitting room.
"What was the point of walking across the building just to go into some small sitting room?" Andrew panted, resting his hands on his knees. Chelsea cleared her throat and he raised his eyebrow.
"This room is meant only for secret discussions like this. It is completely soundproof."
Andrew looked confused. "But don't we want everyone in the facility to know about this?"
She shook her head. "We don't know how the Old Man led these Doctor's here. There could be followers of his in these very walls, and so I'm taking extra cautionary measures to prevent something horrible from happening."
The Doctor made a clucking sound nearby, and Chelsea sighed. "What?"
He hummed and said, "Oh nothing. It's just that, I found this place through Co-ordinates left to me in my TARDIS."
Andrew stood up straighter. "Co-ordinates to this universe?"
The Doctor smirked. "Exactly!"
Chelsea waved her hand infront of their faces. "Hello? This just proved what I said. The Old Man obviously left those Co-ordinates."
The Doctor blinked. "Why, yes. Of course he did."
Andrew nodded along. "It's obvious."
Chelsea held her hand to her forehead. "Oh, dear God. Not only did this Doctor redeem himself, he also turned out to be a bumbling idiot in the end."
The Doctor looked offended. "Oi! I'm so much smarter than you! I could make a dimensional portal in two micro-seconds flat!"
Chelsea simply raised a brow. "Oh, can you now?"
He scratched his neck. "Er... no. But I can try! It has a 0.1% chance of success!"
She sighed. "Doctor, you're a Time Lord, not a robot."
...
"You're not a robot, right?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Don't think so, no."
"Don't lie to me. If I punch you in the head, will you get a concussion?"
The Doctor scratched his arm. "Maybe?"
Chelsea cracked her knuckles. "One way to find out."
"I swear on my mother's grave, I will give you both a headache if you continue to act like a couple of children." They all jumped at the sound of Enoch entering the room.
"Oh, Enoch! Meet the Doctor! Andrew's Doctor, I mean!" Chelsea squealed, pulling Enoch into the room right infront of the Doctor.
They stood there awkwardly staring at each other before Chelsea finally lost her nerve and shoved Enoch away. "How about I give you a headache for acting like a shy teenager?"
He swatted her hands away, and leaned against the wall warily. "There is news from the other universes, Chelsea."
This snapped her out of her mood. "What is it?"
Enoch looked grave. "The Doctor's have... vanished from them. No sign whatsoever."
Chelsea gasped and covered her mouth. "I thought... I thought we had more time."
Andrew, confused with the current situation, butted his head into the conversation. "Um... what do you mean by that?"
Chelsea looked at him exasperated. "Every time we open a hole in reality, little bits of particle-matter escape. What's the particle? Huon Energy. The Doctor is full of it. He is also completely unique in the fact that all of his universal counter-parts are connected, and everytime a hole in reality is opened near him, well... large bits of Huon Energy escape from him."
Andrew shrugged his shoulders, tired. "Which means?"
Chelsea was about to respond, before the Doctor rudely stood infront of her. "It means that everytime a hole in those universes are opened, I fade a little bit more. Until I exist no longer. It took a while, but with all these portals open... it was inevitable."
Chelsea stepped around the Doctor and sighed. "Yes. It was inevitable. So inevitable, infact, that it seems..." She gasped.
Andrew raised his brows. "What is it?"
She glanced at him in horror. "I know what the Old Man's plan is now!"
Andrew covered his mouth as the eureka moment came to him as well. Of course, it made sense. Everything was deliberate. Them opening the portals and crossing over to other universes. This was what the Old Man had wanted all along. For them to in-advertantly destroy the Doctor. It was a highly complex plan, just to simply destroy the Doctor, but perhaps the Old Man needed the Doctor to be erased from reality completely in order to...
"Oh my God..." Andrew covered his mouth. It figured. The Doctor, the person who they were trying to run from was actually the most integral part in the entire thing. If he didn't exist, then they would never be able to escape. In fact, they wouldn't be there at that very moment.
Enoch cleared his throat. "There is also something else. Thanks to that... many of our members have also vanished. Completely. Without a trace. Even their bedrooms have vanished."
Chelsea covered her mouth. "What about..."
Enoch nodded with a grimace. "Yes. Even Amelia."
Andrew felt his face pale as he glanced at Chelsea. "But... then how is this Doctor still here?"
Chelsea gasped. "Because, we're inside a highly complex space-time event! This entire facility is a fixed point in time! Oh, I could kiss the person who created this place!"
The Doctor hummed in approval next to them. "Yes, as long as I stay in this universe I'll still exist. If I even lay one finger in my own... well, you know what happens."
Andrew opened his eyes wider as he considered the other member in the room. Enoch. How was he still there, then? His Doctor didn't come into the facility, right? Chelsea's Doctor was lying dead inside the bowling alley, Andrew's Doctor was standing there with them, but Enoch's Doctor...
"Enoch... where is your Doctor?"
Enoch glanced at him in surprise, before answering. "I... don't know." He furrowed his brows in confusion. "I can't remember. Oh my God, I can't remember. I'm going to fade out, aren't I?!"
Chelsea shook her head vigorously. "No, Enoch. I won't allow-" She gasped when he seemed to vanish in front of their very own eyes.
"Enoch! Enoch! No!" Chelsea screamed, lunging at the spot where he was standing.
The Doctor was pulling her back in an instant, his expression stern as he held her back. "No, Chelsea. He's gone. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. But... he doesn't exist here anymore."
Chelsea wrestled her way out of his grasp. "But, he's still alive in his original timeline, right?!"
The Doctor's expression was somber. "I'm sorry. But he doesn't exist anywhere, anymore. He never existed in the first place. You only have your memory of him now because this is a complicated space-time event."
Chelsea wiped her tears away and stood her ground. "We need to find that Old Man right now! No more wasting time punching holes through reality! We are going to march right up to that thing and tear it's heart out!"
The Doctor held up a hand. "Judging by how things have went so far, it's searching for us right now."
Andrew felt his heart drop when Chelsea dropped to the ground in tears, her arm clutching her chest. "Oh my God... We're the only ones left. I just realized that now. We are the only ones left. The Final Three. Out of everybody else in this facility, the hundreds and hundreds there were, we are the only ones left... and it's all my fault!" She screamed, banging the floor with her fists.
Andrew observed the Doctor stride over to her and hold her, whispering comforting words into her ears.
"It's not your fault," he rubbed her back. "The Old Man was simply playing you along like a fiddle. I say that you're going to be back in your own universe in no time, eh? Especially with me around."
Chelsea lifted her red eyes and stared into the Doctor's. "How do I know I can trust your word?"
The Doctor stared back at her not unkindly. "You don't. It's your decision whether you trust me or not."
Andrew spoke up from the back of the room. "Gee, Doctor. You've changed since we first met."
The Doctor grimaced in recollection. "Those were darker times."
"I'd say," Andrew agreed. Strange, it felt so long ago now. The plane crash, the Doctor dragging him back on the TARDIS. He still remembered some of his first words to the Doctor. He was much more aggressive back then. He remembered his whispered "What the fuck," and the way he slipped the aspirin inside the Doctor's drink.
"So, what is the Old Man, exactly? Doctor, do you know?" Andrew asked, trying to get his mind away from the past. The Doctor shook his head.
"No. This is a first for me, to be honest. This is the first time I honestly do not know what the thing is. Usually I figure it out within a day or so, but I haven't been able to dig anything up on the Old Man. It is completely anonymous."
Chelsea swallowed hard, and the sound of it echoed across the small room. She weakly stood up, and squared her shoulders. Andrew admired her strength to just get up and go like that. He still would've been on the ground.
She put on her "This-is-war," face, and bit her lip. "Well, well, well. It's time to talk face to face to the Old Man then. Where are you, Old Man! We know you're here! Watching us!" Her voice pierced the silence of the air, and Andrew shuddered when a voice responded.
"I have always been here, insolent child. Watching you, observing. What fun it was to watch you shoot your Doctor in the chest!"
The Doctor angrily stepped forward, his fists clenched. "What are you? Old Man, such a fitting name for such an inferior creature!"
They could almost hear the Old Man snarl in response. "I will smite you from the very ground you're standing on, Doctor! Your words have no power over me! I shall be the most superior being in all of creation."
The Doctor shook his head. "Oh, I doubt that. Because, you see, you can't change things inside a complicated space-time event. It's against the very laws of reality."
"The laws of reality are mere plastic barriers before the might of me!"
The Doctor glared up at the ceiling. "Oh, you're all bark but no bite! What have you actually done besides make children do your dirty work? Only a coward would stand by instead of actually affecting things yourself! That was the same problem with my own race... always just sitting by but never changing! How is it living when you just sit there wasting away your hours?"
Andrew could feel the air shift and everything suddenly darkened. "How dare you defy me, Doctor. How dare you disobey the one who created you?"
The Doctor growled. "You did not create me. To claim that is a lie. A really bad thing to lie about, infact, because there is one person you should never try to get the better of. Who is it? Me. The Doctor!"
The Old Man let out a booming laugh, and Andrew gasped when the room was plunged into utter darkness.
The Doctor scurried over to Andrew and Chelsea and shielded them, his eyes narrowing under the black surroundings.
"You are also quite the inferior being, Doctor. Last of the Time Lords... mmm. I can smell the time energy radiating off you, off of all of you. I can feel your fear as you tremble in your boots. I am the void-eater, Doctor. I am the ultimate creator, the one these pathetic humans call God."
"Well, I'm afraid that's a lie." Came Chelsea's deadly calm voice.
"Chelsea!" The Doctor hissed, signalling for her to shut up.
She ignored him. "You see, you will never be God. Sure, you can imitate him, but you will never be the real deal. God decides everything. God created you. And to have such a pitiful thing such as you be a God... I laugh in the face of that." Chelsea chuckled a bit, and they felt the anger radiating off of the Old Man.
The Doctor scanned the Old Man quickly, and Andrew noticed his surprised look.
"Of course... I should've known all this time."
"Oh dear, it appears your Doctor has discovered who I truly am. And I was starting to enjoy myself. No matter. It is time for a confrontation, Doctor. Your pets aren't allowed, however. I shall deal with them after... and Chelsea Berbrook shall know the true wrath of a vengeful God!"
The Doctor looked panicked. "Wait! Chelsea, Andrew! The Old Man! He's from before-" They watched horrified as the Doctor was suddenly pulled upwards, and the room was filled with light.
"Take this!" He chucked the screwdriver at them, and Andrew caught it, twirling it around in his fingers. The Doctor finally vanished, and Chelsea cried out in anguish.
"We were so close! And now he's gone too!"
Andrew put a hand on her shoulder. "No, he's not. He's in the same space as the Old Man right now."
Chelsea peered up at him through clasped fingers. "So... you're saying he's still alive?"
Andrew nodded. "Of course. He left us his sonic because... I think he wants us to come to him. To join him in the final confrontation."
Chelsea suddenly was filled with determination, and she marched over to the doorway. "Well, come on then! There is no time to waste! We're going to need weapons, lots of them!"
Andrew frowned. "I thought the Doctor doesn't approve of weapons?"
Chelsea scoffed. "Do you really care about that? Besides, you're forgetting an integral part. This is a different version of the Doctor. The one in the show cared about that shit, but I don't think this one does."
Andrew tried to look tough. "Well, I did learn to use weapons for a year. I guess it's time to put those skills to use."
Chelsea looked smug. "That's the spirit. Now, come on. I anticipate a large battle with explosives and stuff!"
Andrew laughed awkwardly. "Um... I don't think it's going to be like that at all. It's probably going to be anti-climactic, to be honest. Or maybe really philosophical. I honestly don't know. Maybe the Old Man likes psychological warfare?"
Chelsea sighed. "Andrew, don't you like to at least be a little imaginative? I mean seriously, the way things are going right now reminds me of some crappy fanfiction."
Andrew chuckled. "Imagine if we were inside a fanfiction right now, and the author was writing about us?"
Chelsea felt the urge to slap him. "Don't be stupid. All that sensing alternate timelines stuff is just baloney."
Andrew raised his hand. "But... all of those fanfiction authors? Remember that one community on the website? Stolen from Reality, maybe it was called? It had tons of stories like that!"
Chelsea's eyes shot daggers at him. "Those were just fanfictions, Andrew. They weren't alternate timelines or anything like that!"
Andrew pressured her to continue, however. "But what if they were?! What if people are being ripped from their own realities across every universe? Not just these ones, but the ones from those fanfictions?!"
Chelsea finally slapped him. "We have to focus on the present moment, Andrew! We can't worry about fanfiction universes! Not right now, not ever!"
Andrew nodded. "Right, right. Sorry. I got kinda' carried away there for some reason."
Chelsea rolled her eyes and beckoned for him to follow her.
Andrew crept behind her, cautious as he heard the distant rumbling laughter up above.
Would the Doctor survive? Or... would he fail?
A/N: Hello all of you! I hope you guys all enjoyed this latest chapter! Please leave a review!
I don't suppose I need any explanations this time (assuming you read the entire chapter), but I will say one thing. This fanfiction will END in Chapter Ten. Aka, two more chapters before the conclusion to this fanfiction! I'm sorry if it seems a little short for a fanfiction, but honestly I don't think I would be able to stretch this out to fifty-thousand words or any longer. Short but sweet, you know what they say?
Oh, and... I felt so much better writing this chapter. I don't know why, it just felt good. Maybe I was more inspired? It was cloudy out, so that probably helped. Anyways, I don't think you guys want to read my ramblings, so have a fantastic night (or day)! ~soultrain21