Chapter 4 – Choppy Waters
Following the declaration from the woman claiming to be The Doctor, everything went silent. The group of aliens took an unconscious step back from the woman whilst the three companions in the alleyway gasped in disbelief. The Doctor bounced on the balls of her feet a couple of times, eagerly waiting for a response from anyone. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her coat and shook her head, "Huh, normally that gets a bigger reaction, I'm a little disappointed".
"The Doctor is dead", the Cyberman stated in its robotic voice, the sound of which sent a chill through the bones of the three humans hiding out of sight, "he ceased to function on the planet Trenzalore".
"True, one of my more boring deaths if you ask me", The Doctor smiled, "I can prove it to you", she opened her arms, "scan me but this is a onetime only offer. It's rude to scan a woman without her permission you know".
The Dalek began to move its plunger arm in a scanning motion over The Doctor's body. The raven haired woman looked almost bored with the delay and tapped her foot impatiently, "Binary circulatory system detected", the Dalek declared and it briefly inched away, "you are the one known as The Doctor".
The Time Lady gave the mutant creature a little smirk. The Dalek's synthesized voice had risen in pitch by a couple of tones, the creature of hate was terrified by her reappearance, "That's what I've been trying to tell you", The Doctor said, exasperated by the conversation. The various aliens began to charge up their weapons, the sound of them powering up and their various calls for the immediate death of the woman filled the air. The Doctor though didn't look too concerned, "Now boys, let's not be too hasty".
"You will be exterminated", the Dalek screeched loudly.
"Before you do that, I want you to consider something very carefully", The Doctor began with a slow, methodical tone in her voice, "I defied you for nearly seven hundred years on Trenzalore when I only had one life remaining". She paused for a moment to allow that to sink in, "This body has plenty of regenerations left so just imagine how long I will defend this planet for now".
"The Sontaran Empire is prepared for a protracted military engagement", the creature declared proudly, a loud thud echoed from his chest as he pounded it defiantly with his fist.
"For now yes but I've destroyed entire fleets with just a few minutes planning", The Doctor replied, "will the Sontaran Empire look so mighty after I've been given a millennia or so to devise your downfall". The Sontaran hesitated slightly, bringing a smile to The Doctor's face, "I've got an offer for all of you", she continued, "think of it as a welcoming present from me. If you want to abandon this fruitless war then I'll let you leave and I won't track you down. You're free to go and I won't even think any less of you", she shrugged momentarily, "although that not too hard as my option of all of you is a little low".
"And if we refuse?" the Cyberman asked, even the emotionless cyborg was sounding hesitant.
The Doctor frowned, "I guess we'll find out in a few thousand years", she said with a dangerous tone. There was a tense silence before one by one, the aliens teleported away, leaving The Doctor alone in Trafalgar Square with her TARDIS. The Doctor blinked rapidly a couple of times as a eerie silence filled the streets of Central London. Some loose newspaper skipped across the ground where the creatures had been standing, rustling quietly in the breeze. "Oh, that was easy", despite her cool exterior, the Time Lady's hearts were still beating rapidly, "I should've thought of that centuries ago", she added with a slightly dismissive tone that went against the nervousness she was feeling.
In the alley Jack, Martha and Clara stared in stunned silence at the woman. Disbelief was rolling off them in waves as the raven haired woman nonchalantly opened the door to the TARDIS and stepped inside, "Wow, that I wasn't expecting", Jack gasped, "she's certainly the best looking Doctor I've met".
"Is that the most important thing on your mind", Martha shook her head. The young doctor wasn't fully convinced that this woman was The Doctor. But there was something about her mannerisms that screamed 'Time Lord' to her. That little glimmer of hope was gnawing away at her disbelief, "Are we just going to stand here?" she said to the others.
Clara stood motionless and chewed on one of her nails, a nervous habit that she thought she had left behind during her childhood. Her emotions were swirling around like a hurricane and were radiating outwards around her body. The shock of the Time Lady's re-emergence was threatening to wash away any joy that she might be feeling , "I'm not convinced", she finally stated and shook her head, "that can't be The Doctor".
"Regeneration is a lottery", Jack began, "trust me I've seen it before".
"But he", Clara waived her hands in the air, "sorry she didn't regenerate. The Doctor died, I burned his body, how can he regenerate after that?" That was the sticking point for the school teacher, she could remember the heat from the flames as she watched The Doctor's body burn. She had picked through the ashes to ensure that nothing remained that could be used. The emptiness she felt when she stepped into the TARDIS for the final time, all of that would stay with her forever.
"Are you three waiting for an invitation", The Doctor called out from the TARDIS doorway, interrupting Clara's memories, "you can come in".
The trio looked at each other, Jack and Martha were willing but the pair could sense that Clara was more than a little hesitant. Seeing that she was going to be outvoted, the school teacher sighed and led them across the deserted street and towards the TARDIS. She paused at the doorway, pushed aside her memory of her previous journey in the ship, took a deep breath and stepped inside. The console room was largely as she remembered it except that none of the lights were working. The only light was coming from a few lanterns that were dotted around the floor. The humans could sense that something wasn't right with the TARDIS. The sentient ship was sick but they could feel a glimmer of life with every faint pulse of the Time Rotor.
"Sorry about the mess", The Doctor stated without looking away from a screen, "the old girl was in the middle of redecorating". The humans could see several loose cables hanging down from the ceiling and there were holes in the floor, fortunately not on the main walkway to the console itself. When they reached the console they found several exposed panels with wires laced between the different panels. One of the scanners was completely broken and even the Time Rotor looked a little dull. "Stupid bloody thing", The Doctor swore as she slammed her predecessors sonic screwdriver onto the console. It looked almost comically big in her hands in her now feminine, "Must've used the last of its power getting you three out the car", she still tucked it into the pocket of her coat.
"Doctor?" Jack nervously stepped forward, "is it really you?"
"The one and only", The Doctor replied, "and just because I'm a woman now doesn't give you permission to flirt". The Doctor didn't look up from the only working screen, instead she was furiously flicking levers and tapping something into a keyboard, "I'm sorry old girl but I need you to hold together for just a few more hours", she said in the direction of the TARDIS.
"What's wrong with the TARDIS", Martha asked curiously, "and how are you here?"
"We found a large quantity of temporal energy in the area", Jack added, "is that something to do with you?"
The Doctor sighed, mostly in frustration that she had been interrupted and reluctantly looked up from the screen, "The TARDIS is fine or at least she will be, she just needs to restore her systems after that messy business on Trenzalore".
"You mean that little incident where you died", Clara said coolly. Anger was beginning to build in her chest at this woman's flippant attitude towards her supposed death.
"Yes that one", The Doctor nodded, seeming oblivious to her companions emotions, "funny thing about the Time Lords is that they don't make a decision quickly. By the time they chose to grant your request I was already dead, hence", she opened her arms to show off her new body. "One question though", The Doctor grasped her long black hair, "how do you cope with so much hair?"
Clara could feel her blood pressure rising each time The Doctor opened her mouth, "That's the most important thing on your mind", Clara began, "you come back from the dead and you're worried about your hair", she said with indignation. She still a couple of moments to internally count to ten, trying to reign in her bubbling anger, "I burned The Doctor's body, I mourned his death and you're telling me the Time Lords just clicked their fingers and brought you back to life".
"Wouldn't be the first time they did it", The Doctor shrugged casually, "I'm sure you two remember The Master", Jack and Martha shuddered at the name, "yeah I thought so". The Doctor turned back to the screen, "To answer your question Martha all this temporal energy is nothing to do with me. I followed it here like everyone else and I would be able to tell where it's coming from if this thing would work". She banged her hand on the console top and a shower of sparks covered the quartet.
That was the final straw for Clara as her temper finally boiled over, "How can you be so casual about this, don't you care about our feelings at all", she hissed, "we all thought you were dead, we held a service in your honour".
The Doctor looked down at the console surface and her a moment, her companions were sure they could see some storm clouds gathering in her eyes, "Right now Clara I've got more important things to worry about", she replied in a cold, flat tone. she looked up and her dark brown eyes locked onto Clara's, "For example the huge Armada of aliens about to declare war on your planet. We can talk about your precious feelings once I've gotten rid of them", she added, her voice rising with each word she spoke. A couple of moments later she let out a deep breath, releasing some of the tension in her body. She pushed her hair out of her face and with a softer tone added, "I'm sorry I don't mean to sound ungrateful but I've got a lot on my mind right now".
The hurt was clear on Clara's face but she refused to be intimidated by the Time Lady. The harsh words of her friend though had dealt a crushing blow to her heart and it took all of her resolve not to let this show on her face. She held The Doctor gaze until she uttered, "Yeah sure, it's all about you Doctor, right?" Clara spun away and moved to another part of the console, away from The Doctor.
"That was a little harsh", Jack whispered and Martha nodded in agreement, "we were all hit hard by your supposed death but Clara took it hardest, probably because she was there".
The Doctor was filled with regret with that the words had even left her mouth, "I know", she muttered gently to the pair and shook a few loose strains of hair out her face, "this body's still settling, my emotions will be erratic until that stage passes".
"I know that but Clara doesn't", Jack warned, "just keep it under control, yeah?"
The Time Lord nodded and returned her attention back to the screen, "I can't tell if they're still out there", she began, choosing to divert attention back to the alien invasion fleet, "the scanner's low on power, it barely picking up anything above the troposphere. I can tell you there's a large flock of geese flying over Kent but not if the Daleks and their allies have actually gone".
"Daleks don't usually give up", Martha commented, "neither do Cybermen or Sontarans from what I remember. Don't really know enough about the others but all of them certainly looked scared when you told them you were The Doctor".
"Yes I noticed that too", The Doctor's smile was a little forced, she was still replaying her earlier conversation with Clara back through her mind, "I'm going to need something a little more powerful", she sighed, "looks like I'm going to have to pay UNIT a visit".
"Don't sound too excited about that Doc", Jack smiled, he wasn't a huge fan of UNIT himself. On many occasions Torchwood had come into direct conflict with the organisation.
The Doctor rolled her eyes, "How many times do I have to tell you Jack, don't call me Doc". She patted the console surface and looked up at the Time Rotor, "I'm sorry for hitting you old girl, do you have enough juice left for one more flight?" The Rotor flared briefly, giving The Doctor an answer, "Thank you", she said to the ship. The Doctor clapped her hands together, "Right I think I'm going to need all of you for this flight".
"Just tell us where you want us", Martha replied. She tempered her excitement at being back in the TARDIS again. You could cut the tension in the ship between Clara and The Doctor with a knife and UNIT's medical officer didn't want to make the situation worse.
"Alright Martha you man that station", The Doctor pointed to one side, "Jack you grab that one". She paused and realised that she would need Clara's help as well. The brunette woman was resting on the console, her hands gripping the sides so hard that her knuckles had turned white. The Time Lady could feel the maelstrom of emotions coming off the school teacher. The fact that she had unintentionally caused much of her pain resonated all the way to the Time Lady's soul. Swallowing her pride The Doctor stepped over some fallen cables and approached her companion, "I'm sorry", she began, "I guess this version of me is a little spikier than you're used to".
"It's not just that", Clara sighed, "you don't seem to understand how hard these last few weeks have been for me. I thought you were dead and then you turn up alive and well without a care in the world". She paused and took a deep breath, "It just reminded me how alien you really are". That was the heart of the matter for Clara, the very fact that The Doctor could be reborn finally made her realise how alien her friend was. Everything else she could deal with but The Doctor's indifferent attitude towards her own death and the impact that it had on others, that was a different story.
"Sometimes I forget myself", The Doctor said honestly, "if this is going to be a problem...", her voice trailed off.
Clara shook her head, "As you said, more important things to worry about", she stood up off the console. The Doctor got that bit right, any personal feelings would have to be pushed aside for the time being. "We can talk later", Clara said with a small amount of fake cheeriness, "how can I help?"
The Doctor knew that her companion was hurting but she and the others still had work to do, "You've got the most important job", The Doctor began, "you get to operate the stabilisers, I know I don't normally like to use them but I think we're going to need them on this flight".
"No problem", Clara grasped the little blue switch tightly in her hand.
The Doctor smiled in appreciation and moved back to her usual flight position, "Next stop, The Tower", she flipped a switch, "I hope". The Time Rotor lurched into life violently and the four man crew were thrown about in their positions, "Come on my dear", The Doctor tried to coax her TARDIS, "I know you can do this". The TARDIS lurched again and everyone clung on for dear life, praying that this wasn't one journey too far for the little blue box.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N - So there's your first taste of the new 12th Doctor. She's a very spiky character although not on Capaldi's level. The way I imagined her is without a filter between her brain and mouth so whatever flashes across her head (good, bad, rude, angry, whatever) will come out of her mouth. As you can hopefully tell from this chapter.
Thank you for the positive responses so far. I'll be honest this is out of my writing comfort zone in terms of the emotional aspects of the characters but I do like a good challenge. The reviews have been greatly appreciated, especially the comments of "WordOfTheIlluminati" who's honest critique motivated and helped me to improve this chapter from what I had originally wrote.