The Doctor walked the TARDIS corridors for an hour as he tried to think of a solution to Rose's predicament, but realized he didn't know enough yet to solve anything. He returned to the zero room, determined to speak with Rose again.
The Doctor stood at Rose's head again, put himself into position, and gently probed her awareness.
"Doctor?" Rose asked in surprise.
"Yes."
"What are you doing here? I told you before-"
"I'm not giving up on you," the Doctor insisted. "We can solve this. I just need to know more."
"I told you that there's nothing to solve."
"But there is," he argued. "How did they find you? You weren't Bad Wolf, but they still found you."
"But I was. For a split second in the Gifted One's hut, Bad Wolf flared. The nanogenes restored my memory and when I remembered Bad Wolf, she flared."
"In the Gifted One's hut? You couldn't have connected to the time vortex without the TARDIS assisting you." The Doctor stated it as a fact, but had a terrible feeling that he was wrong.
"I don't need the TARDIS anymore. When I became the Bad Wolf, I absorbed the time vortex, taking its full energy inside of me. You put it back and hid my memory of it, but I have been connected to it ever since. A ghost of the Bad Wolf flows along the edge of the time vortex. A ghost of the Bad Wolf is a speck in my mind. With my memory unblocked, I could feel it. I could feel time. I can call the energy and it will protect me. I can no longer change what doesn't affect me, but I can protect myself and, by extension, you. It exhausts me and it hurts. It's excruciating, but it doesn't destroy me.
"The shadows, being made of time, saw the power that I stole and have searched for the Bad Wolf ever since. That one flare let them track me. I tried to hide, but it was too late."
"I know what they are, Rose. I've fought them before. They are the Pantheon of-"
"The Pantheon of Discord. I know," said Rose. "They live in my mind and I see them."
"Then you know they can be fought."
"We can't. There's too much at risk. They see me as I see them. They live in my mind and have seen everything. They know who Bad Wolf is and they mean to destroy her. They mean to end the Bad Wolf paradox."
"The Bad Wolf messages you left for yourself?"
"No, bigger. There is only one Rose Tyler. Out of all alternate universes, there is only one Rose Tyler. I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. Bad Wolf sees to my conception and sees me through birth, childhood, and adolescence. Bad Wolf creates the events that lead me to the Doctor. I become the Bad Wolf and the Bad Wolf creates herself. Bad Wolf sees to my conception and sees me through birth, child-"
"Yes, I see," the Doctor interrupted her. "Not just a predestination paradox; it's an ontological paradox. You have no true beginning. The first twenty years of your existence are a loop. You're a being that has no logical creation."
"Which makes Bad Wolf easy to destroy. One move to break the circle of events and I can never born. If I'm not born, Bad Wolf will not be created and so cannot create me. The Pantheon of Discord feed off of chaos. To destroy the Bad Wolf paradox would give them ultimate power. I never realized just how important I was until now. I knew that I was helpful and assisted in saving people, but if the Bad Wolf paradox is destroyed so is the universe.
"The Bad Wolf saved the Doctor who saves countless others. Bad Wolf destroyed the dalek fleet which sought to destroy everyone. I returned to this universe to help you destroy the daleks again. Together we prevented the daleks from using the reality bomb which would have destroyed not just this universe, but all universes. That's what the Pantheon of Discord wants to see. Only the daleks and transcendental beings would survive the reality bomb. All the chaos from my birth to the daleks' reality bomb would be their doing and they would feast for eternity on that chaos."
"They want to kill you before you become the Bad Wolf?"
"Yes," Rose affirmed.
"This can still be done then," the Doctor said hopefully. "How many are there?"
"Five."
"Can you release them?"
"I can, but never will."
"Can you release them one at a time?" the Doctor pressed.
"I can, but never will."
"But I can do this," the Doctor persisted. "They're easy to track. The TARDIS can actually lock onto them, practically putting them on a leash. I can find them and secure them."
"Secure them?" Rose asked.
The Doctor became more hopeful just at Rose's question. She was curious and wanted to hear what he had to say. He wasn't immediately dismissed like every other time.
"I have a device, the Oubliette of Eternity. Well, it's like the Oubliette of Eternity, only portable. Its function is to send beings to the antiverse. The antiverse is a universe made of anti-time, a place with no time. No past, no present, no future. I can trap them there and they can never get out. Their history will not be erased, but they won't be able to do any more harm."
"But if you failed, if you couldn't find them in time-"
"I will," the Doctor vowed.
"They would do everything they could to kill me. They can completely control the environment. They would use the entire world around me to kill me."
"And I'll protect you every second. I can and I will," the Doctor solemnly swore.
"It's too risky," Rose said again. "I'm not worth the whole universe."
"You are to me. I can do this. I promise. I will see that you're safe and they are locked away. You have to trust me. You have to believe me. Can you trust me? Please tell me you do."
Rose was silent. When the Doctor wasn't speaking with her, she was at peace, but when he was with her, she longed for him and her life back. She wasn't sure what to do. The stakes had never been higher. The Doctor always came out on top, but what if this was the time he couldn't?
"Please," the Doctor pleaded desperately.
Rose thought of the life she was losing in her current state. She thought of all the incredible times she'd had and how she'd never have that again. And the Doctor… She was tearing him apart by staying in this state. She'd be like this for eternity. He would keep her aboard the TARDIS and never be able to properly mourn her. He would keep this comatose woman with him for the rest of his long life. He'd never let go and never stop suffering. The Doctor had suffered enough in his life. She loved him too much to do that to him. If he swore that he could save her then she knew that he would. He would do anything to save her.
"You can't fail," she told him. "Cannot. The universe depends on that. You cannot fail."
"I won't fail," he vowed again.
"Are you ready?"
"Not yet, but soon," he assured her. "I just need to prepare a few things. I'll be back soon."
"I have no sense of time," she reminded him.
"Then I'll be back in a minute, won't I?" he teased.
The Doctor gently retreated from her mind and took a deep cleansing breath. He was sure he could do this, but the task still terrified him. She didn't need to remind him how serious it was. He knew.
The Doctor was back to walking the halls in thought, but this time his thoughts were racing. He needed to be prepared and so had to think of every aspect. Obviously, he'd have to prepare the TARDIS to track the members of the Pantheon, but he'd start by packing things he might need. First was the antiverse portal. The box-room was storage for many, many, many things and each time the Doctor entered he wished that he would organize it better. It took quite a bit of searching, but he finally managed to find it. In the process, he found a miniscule defibrillator that was only a bit larger than a cigarette lighter. He hoped that he'd never need to use it, but just in case.
His next thought was how to carry them so he headed to the wardrobe room. He selected a plain, canvas messenger bag and stowed his gadgets inside. Looking about the room, he realized another thing; he had to blend in. He didn't want Rose or Jackie wondering about his identity. He didn't want them to ever guess that he was an alien. It could ruin how they accepted the Doctor when they first met him. His bowtie and jacket made him stand out which was the opposite of what he wanted. It didn't take him long to select an outfit. The shadows would arrive in Rose's timeline anywhere between the late 80s and 2005. The easiest fashion to fit in? Jeans and a plain t-shirt. Once dressed, he slung the messenger bag over his shoulder so that the strap crossed his chest. That way, it was secure. He was sure there'd be running and he didn't want it slipping off his shoulder.
Considering it was Rose's health that he was trying to protect, he moved to the infirmary to gather bandages and liquid medication to promote fast healing. Having no good pockets in his outfit to store his sonic screwdriver, he put that in his bag, too. There were many other items he considered, but decided that he needed to keep his load light.
He was ready.
The Doctor played with the TARDIS controls, preparing it for a chase, and returned to Rose in the zero room. He positioned himself for telepathic communication right away.
"Rose?"
"Are you ready?" she asked.
"Almost. You remember that you have to release only one at a time, right?"
"Yes."
"You're certain you can do that?" he pressed.
"Certain."
"Okay, I want to be in the control room when it's released. It will move quickly and I want to be ready. I know you have no sense of time, but I think that I can set up a sort of countdown for you. When it reaches zero, I want you to release one single being. Tell me again that you understand. Just one. When I've captured it, I'll come back and ask you to release another. Only one at a time and only when I say," he said very seriously.
"I understand, Doctor. Only release when you say and only one at a time. I'm ready when you are."
The Doctor's head ached with the amount of concentration it took to set a timer in her time resistant mind, but he believed that he managed it. "Can you feel it? Can you feel the countdown?"
"Five minutes and counting down," she affirmed.
"Good. When it hits zero, release one and only one."
As soon as he finished that thought, he pulled out of her mind and ran to the control room. Five minutes was plenty of time, but as he repeated over and over, he needed to be ready. He was aware of each passing second and watched the same countdown in his head. His hands were placed on the controls as the last five seconds counted down. It was only a second after zero when a shadow form rushed through the console room and through the closed TARDIS door.
The TARDIS monitor lit up the shadow's path and the Doctor followed, locking onto its course. The TARDIS was set to exit the time vortex at the exact moment that the being did. His TARDIS once told him that she didn't always take him where he wanted to go, but took him where he needed to be. She knew. His setup was perfect and he knew the TARDIS would be precise.
The TARDIS jerked when it was thrust so forcefully out of the vortex. It steadied, but still finished materializing with a thud that nearly knocked him off his feet. He glanced at the coordinates and rushed outside. It was summer of 1989. He was looking for three-year-old Rose.
It took the Doctor only a second to find his bearings. He was just down the road from Peckham Rye Common and it looked like there was a summer funfair going on. There were many people walking about, going to and from the fair and he was anxious as he scanned the crowd for just one tiny, little girl.
"Come on now, Rose. No more dallying," Jackie Tyler insisted as she led her young daughter by the hand. "It was fun, but we're heading home. Now stop dragging your feet or we'll miss the bus."
Rose stopped in her tracks and pointed up at the large assortment of balloons a clown was holding. "Can I-?"
"Rose, I've spent more than I should have on you today. I told you, no more asking-"
Before Jackie could finish, the clown extended a balloon to Rose.
"Oh," Jackie said in surprise. "Thank you. Rose, what do you tell the nice man?"
Rose took the balloon and delivered the 'thank you' her mum had prompted her for. Jackie immediately started hurrying down the pavement again.
"Jackie?" a woman called after her. "Jackie Tyler?"
Jackie stopped and turned and her face lit up. "Oh, Meg! It's been so long!"
Once the woman called Meg caught up with her, Jackie pulled her into a one-armed hug, still holding onto Rose with her other hand. All thoughts of catching the bus fled from Jackie's mind as she began catching up with her old friend. She felt Rose's hand slip out of hers, and glanced down to look at her. She was still talking, but turned to look over her shoulder for her daughter. When she still didn't see her, her head whipped around to look in the other direction.
"Rose!" Jackie called angrily. "You get back here!"
Rose's balloon had gotten away from her and she was chasing it down the pavement. The wind changed direction suddenly and her balloon with it. Jackie was already after her, but when Rose ran out into the street she panicked. She saw the bus coming and she knew she was too late. Jackie cried out in horror and stepped forward. Running wouldn't help her. She knew she was too late.
The Doctor wasn't late. It was close, but he wasn't late. He ran full-tilt from the opposite side of the road. He seized Rose by the upper arms and continued running, never slowing in the process. He didn't stop until they were safely on the pavement at Jackie's side.
"Rose!" Jackie cried. She squatted down in front of the small girl and held her arms like letting go would mean losing her again. "Oh god, Rose! What were you thinking running into the street like that?! You were nearly killed. Oh god, I…" Jackie choked up, unable to get a hold of herself. She tried her best to hold back her tears, but they came anyway. "Don't you do that again. Not ever. Do you understand me?" she scolded. Young Rose was crying much like her mother, trying to hold it in, but she'd been just as frightened. A crowd had gathered and Rose felt even smaller under everyone's stares.
"Is she alright?!" the bus driver called out as he jogged over to them, leaving the bus full of passengers in the middle of the road. "I stopped as quickly as I could, but she came out of nowhere. I only saw her at the last minute."
Jackie, the bus driver, Meg, and the gathered crowd were all speaking quickly and almost incoherently, their words fueled by the adrenaline coursing through them. The Doctor had blocked them all out at the start. Rose was safe, but he needed to find the member of the Pantheon.
The Doctor had seen it all from the other side of the road. The balloon didn't accidently slip from Rose's fingers; it was jerked from her hand. It was the clown. The Pantheon of Discord were not simply shadows; they could take the form of any sentient being. They could possess a being if given permission from the host, but it was much more common that they morph into a shape of their own design.
The Doctor had watched as the clown waved his hand and Rose's balloon broke free. The balloon moved, but never ascended, dangling at her height and just out of reach. The Doctor wanted to take out the antiverse portal, but he already saw how things were going to play out. He concentrated on Rose first.
When he safely set her down, he looked up for the clown, but the only sign that he was ever there were the bunch of balloons that had been released and were floating into the sky. He looked up and down the pavement, searching for anyone running. The members of the Pantheon of Discord could change forms, but it wasn't instant. If they wanted a quick getaway, they had to do so on foot. It wouldn't go far though. It wouldn't hop back into the time stream. The way they worked, they'd pick a time and not leave until they finished what they set out to accomplish. The shadow being was near and it would strike again, which meant that the Doctor had to keep close.
"Really, if you hadn't been there. If you didn't…"
The Doctor realized then that Jackie was speaking to him.
"I can't thank you enough. If it weren't for you, she'd be… Oh god, I can't even say it. Just… Just thank you. I wish there was more I could do, more I could say… Just thank you. Thank you."
The Doctor nodded. "It's alright. Just take extra care with her. She's jeopardy friendly; I can tell. Just keep her safe."
Jackie stood and lifted Rose up in her arms where Rose clung back with her entire body. "Oh, we have to take the bus, but I can't even think about it," Jackie groaned miserably.
"Where are you going?" the bus driver asked.
"North Peckham. We're at the Powell Estate," Jackie answered.
"That's my bus. No charge," he told her.
"Alright." Jackie still looked shaky as she headed for the bus.
"That's me, too," the Doctor piped up. "Can I hop on?"
"Of course," said the driver. "No charge for you either."
Jackie boarded the back of the bus and the Doctor followed after. He faced the window, not wanting her to take too much notice of him. She'd had a good look at him already and he didn't want her to remember him when they saw him in the future. There were still four beings after this one, so Jackie was sure to see him again.
When the bus finally reached their stop, the Doctor stepped out first, followed by Jackie who led Rose by the hand. The doors snapped shut suddenly.
"Mum!" Rose cried out. The leg of her trousers was trapped in the closed door.
"Wait!" Jackie bellowed to the driver as she tried to rip the fabric out of the doors. "Wait!"
The bus started moving and Jackie clung to Rose, but they were both being pulled. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver was out and he quickly opened the bus doors with it. Jackie fell back on her bum at the sudden release, but Rose was safe in her arms.
The Doctor had spotted his prey and dashed after him, pulling out the antiverse portal as he kept pursuit. The portal looked like a small mirror with a wire that connected it to a tiny gun. The Doctor was careful with his aim, making sure no one could possibly get in the way of his target. He fired just before the disguised being turned the corner. The Doctor stopped in his tracks and stared down at the mirror. There, inside, was the shadow figure, struggling violently to get free. It couldn't fight against the pull and appeared as if it was being sucked deeper inside, shrinking in size like it was being dragged far into its depths. And that was exactly what was happening. The shadow being was being pulled into the antiverse. The Doctor watched and didn't put it away until there was no sign of the being at all.
One down. Four to go.
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