Ok, on a request from Argetaie, this chapter is a bit longer than usual. Not all chapters from now on will be, but I sort of got carried away with this one. I've tried something different about half way through. If you like it, I might do it again ^_^ Enjoy! And thanks to everyone (including GalaxyGirl) for reviewing and following! Oh! And a shout-out to my friend (you know who you are) who decided to read my fanfic and tells me he has really enjoyed it. Hope you like this one too!
Chapter 28: A Rescue Operation
The voice certainly didn't sound like one of my friends or their mother. It sounded rather like the screech of a feral animal. Donna and I shared an anxious look, then yelled at the same time, "Run!"
The five of us headed back outside, where Donna started leading us in the direction of the road, where we could get back to the TARDIS. I was relieved that no-one asked any questions. Some more, unintelligible screeches from behind us made me turn.
The creatures chasing us were obviously what the Onduits normally looked like; human-sized pangolins. (if you don't know what they are, look it up, they're cool!) Well, human-sized pangolins with a few extra teeth and claws…and scales that looked very much like metal.
"Intruders!" One screamed. "Kill the intruders! Reclaim the prisoners!"
Turning back and running again, I started to feel real panic. Donna, though she was trying to hide it, was badly limping on her bad ankle. Lucy and Julia appeared to be in shock as they constantly had to be urged onwards.
Oh, and let's not forget the guns.
A bright purple laser flew past my head just inches from frying my ear off. We still couldn't see the road. Julia cried out, but when I looked I saw that she had only tripped and was being dragged back to her feet by her mother.
The Onduits were shockingly fast, only a few metres away now. One lunged forwards and grabbed my arm, almost pulling it out of its socket.
I was yanked onto my back. Winded, I couldn't bring myself to move as the dark barrel of the gun hovered a foot above my head. A purple light glowed dimly and I suddenly realised that I was about to die. My mind was blank of anything intelligible; no 'life flashing before my eyes', no 'last-minute regrets or promises'.
Then something ginger slammed into the Onduit, knocking it away from me and allowing the laser to blast harmlessly into the grass.
Donna had come to my rescue. She pulled me to my feet again and we continued running.
"Not bad for a human with a Time Lord brain!" I shouted over the screams of the Onduits as they continued their pursuit.
She grinned back. "Good old human gut instinct!"
The road was within view now, to my immense relief, and I knew that the TARDIS was only a couple of hundred metres up that road. If we could only make it that far.
Someone screamed.
Lucy, the younger sister at fifteen, was down. Her arm was badly burned from the laser, as well as part of her side. Crying and whimpering, she lay there on the grass. I dashed to her side, next to Rachel. We picked her up between us and carried her, trying to move as fast as possible, all the while murmuring reassurances.
But it was hopeless. The Onduits had recovered quickly from Donna's sneak attack and were gaining easily again…and with each metre they gained, their accuracy improved.
"Right, Donna, now time to actually use the Time Lord part of that head." I cried.
She looked back at me, desperation showing on her face. "Honestly, I've got nothing! The Onduits don't have any weaknesses that we can exploit now. And anyway, I think the intelligence is slowly fading."
"You're telling me that now!" I demanded.
She had the grace to look shamed.
I guessed it was up to me.
I tried to remember what I had done back in the pocket universe. It had been a moment of greatest need…well, I needed it now. I closed my eyes as I ran, which created an oddly surreal feeling, and felt again the Time Lord energy that existed somewhere within me.
The instant I touched it, mentally, it embraced me. It filled me so fast that only a gasp could escape my lips before I was seeing everything tinted with gold. I stopped. So did everyone else, even the Onduits, who were clearly just as shocked.
I wasn't even going to try and control it. The experience in the pocket universe was nothing, nothing, compared to now. Now, the energy was back in its own universe, and it controlled me, filling me with both an overwhelming giddy joy and a harsh aching in my head as my human brain protested.
It burst outwards in waves, harshly blasting the Onduits backwards and leaving a circle of burned grass around me. Luckily, it was harmless to Donna and the others. However, I could feel it draining my strength…yet I couldn't force it back now that the Onduits had been knocked out.
Turning, I continued to run in the direction of the TARDIS, which I could now see. Donna came up next to me, still limping but obviously not noticing the pain.
"Talia, you've got to stop. It'll burn you up eventually." She said urgently.
"I…can't." I gasped, looking down at the waves of golden dust radiating around my body.
She frowned, but we reached the TARDIS quicker than I deemed possible. Once everyone was inside, I bent down and placed my hand on Donna's ankle. It was almost instinctual; the energy was there now, and my mind wasn't capable of letting it go until it had accomplished everything it could.
To Rachel, Julia and Lucy's amazement, the swelling and redness on the ankle faded in seconds. Donna hissed in surprise.
"You shouldn't be able to do that. You've got to stop!" she cried.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt miffed that she didn't even thank me. Ignoring her comment, as there was nothing I could do anyway, I turned and healed Lucy's burns while instructing Donna to get us to the Doctor.
She obeyed, going and punching in the coordinates to lock on to the Doctor. I couldn't help but notice the worried glances she kept throwing in my direction. My friends and their mum were silent; the 'bigger on the inside comment' hadn't even been said yet. The energy still controlling me, I mentally told the TARDIS to help them to some spare rooms, which she did.
The trip only took about a minute. The rough landing didn't faze me and I threw the doors open without even bothering to be cautious; in the state I was now, any Onduit who tried to get in my way would be vaporised.
Even if the intelligence of the Doctor's mind was fading, Donna was still an excellent TARDIS pilot. I noticed immediately that we had landed in some sort of large hall, and that the Doctor was standing in front of what I assumed to be their leader. His hands were chained and there was a nasty bruise on the side of his face, but other than that he seemed fine, paused in an animated discussion with the Onduit leader. Well, he had been talking, the Onduit had been glaring menacingly.
(I've decided to do something different and write from the Doctor's pov, second-person)
The Doctor turned around and spotted Talia and the TARDIS. Amazement and admiration filled him, followed by an overwhelming concern when he realised that Talia was glowing gold, her eyes no longer brown. He knew instantly that she was under the influence of Time Lord energy, and it was very dangerous.
"Talia, what have you done?" he croaked, his voice breaking.
"Rescue." She muttered. Then she raised her voice, and the Doctor heard the power and authority in it, like how he addressed crowds of species. "You all will let the Doctor and any humans you have captured go, or else I will destroy every last Onduit in this room."
The Doctor just stared at her; he knew she couldn't control the energy…but surely she wouldn't kill twenty Onduits, would she? A murmur of laughter met her words and the leader spoke.
"You are nothing more than a human, girl! We are not scared of you."
In response, her eyes flashed completely gold for a split second, even the whites, and a beam of light flew from her to one of the Onduit guards on the walls. He collapsed. The Doctor glanced at him, hoping he wasn't dead, but noticed with relief that he still breathed. He also noticed Talia look towards him with the same expression of hope, and felt a smidgen of relief.
The leader's eyes flashed. "You would be silly to do what you are threatening. Guards!"
As one, the twenty or so remaining Onduits all pointed their weapons at Talia. As one, they fired, but the Doctor saw the coating of energy around her body expand to create a sort of shield. The Doctor felt the worry gnaw at both his hearts as he watched her, noticing the tiny wince. He knew that the pain of having so much energy rushing through her would be building and just hoped that they could all get back in the TARDIS quickly so he could help her regain control…and that it wasn't already too late.
"Talia, I'm glad you're not getting hurt, but please! You have to try and control it! It'll kill you! I never wanted you to use the energy." He cried out to her, desperately trying to make her understand. Donna stood next to her, also urging her to release the energy.
She lifted her head to look him right in the face and he felt a shiver run down his spine; was this how he looked when angry? The pain of hundreds of years, a sense of such strong justice showed in her eyes; something a young human should never have inside their head.
When she spoke, her words were directed at the leader. "Let. Everyone. Go!"
The Doctor turned to look back at the Onduit king. For the first time, he looked nervous and the Doctor was relieved; the quicker he gave in, the quicker they could get out of there.
"Alright, fine!" he grumbled. "Baen! Release the prisoner and bring back all Onduits from Earth, making sure they are ordered to release the humans first."
Smiling grimly, the Doctor realised that the king at least cared enough about his people to want to protect them. The Doctor was even scared as to what Talia might do. He had never seen her like this, and he was more terrified of what she was capable of than the guns that had been pointed in his face earlier. He knew, of course, that she was doing nothing willingly. That made it all the more nerve-wracking.
Baen, one of the high commanding Onduits, came and un-cuffed him and the instant he was free, he ran over to Talia, taking her face gently in his hands and staring fiercely into her eyes.
"Alright, I'm free now. Everything's ok. Now, you have to let the energy go." He whispered. He wanted to pull her into a hug and congratulate her on her rescue, but he needed to make sure she would be okay first.
She blinked and for the first time he saw a hint of brown return to her eyes. It was only enough to show the pain she was feeling, however.
"I can't." she whimpered, an edge of panic now into her voice. "It hurts, Doctor."
She stiffened and squeezed her eyes shut as a fresh wave of the energy surged through her. The Doctor felt his hearts ache; he hated seeing her in pain. Moving his fingers up to his temples, he prepared to reach into her mind.
"I'm going to help you. Just relax. Breathe."
It took a few seconds, but she did so, although she still shook slightly. He delved into her mind, absorbing as much of the energy as he knew was safe for him to do so, then combining his will with his to force the rest of it back into that corner of her mind where it should have always stayed. The process took several minutes and every few seconds she would gasp in pain as the energy struggled to return.
"It's alright, Talia. Keep on going. Come on!" he murmured constantly.
When the last bit of golden light disappeared from her eyes, he released her head. She swayed on her feet for a second, before collapsing forwards against him.
He gripped her shoulders and stood her upright again. She was still conscious, but pale and feverish-looking.
"Doctor." She breathed.
A wave of relief filled him upon hearing her voice back to normal again. He gave a small smile and kissed her forehead gently. "Yes, it's me. Everything's okay, now."
She smiled back, albeit much more weakly, before collapsing outright.
Donna spoke for the first time in several minutes. "Is she going to be okay?"
He nodded, scooping her into his arms. "Yeah. She needs rest and a good cup of tea, but she'll be fine." He turned and grinned at her. "Thanks for the rescue, by the way, Earth girl."
She grinned back, looking up at him. "It's the girl in your arms you should be thanking. I was just the pilot."
He rolled his eyes and was about to comment otherwise, when the voice of the Onduit king sounded behind him.
"I'd get out of here if I were you, Doctor. Your pet human may have scared us, but my patience won't last long. We will leave this planet for now, but I will change my mind if you do not get off my ship in thirty seconds!"
Nodding grimly, the Doctor hurried back into the TARDIS. Now that he was inside, he lay Talia down on one of the chairs and set their course back to Earth.
"I could have done that! She needs to lay down on her bed, not a pilot chair!" Donna snapped.
The Doctor turned and mock-glared at her. "My TARDIS. My rules."
Donna rolled her eyes, but grinned. "I'll go and drop her friends off, then."
But the Doctor didn't hear her. He was looking at Talia and remembering the power that had coursed through her. It was terrifying, and awe-inspiring at the same time…but he preferred her as a simple human. His simple human.
whovianpower...don't kill me. I have to add some fluff! And a warning to you and any others who aren't huge fans of Talia and the Doctor's relationship: next chapter will be all fluff, so if you want to skip it until the end (when something is needed to be read), I won't be offended ^_^