Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who in any way shape or form.
A/N: Hope you all enjoy the next chapter! :)
About ten minutes had passed when the Doctor and Amy came barging into the room.
"Kate? Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical history to your military response patterns. They made a complete assessment of Planet Earth and its inhabitants. That's what the surge of activity was." The Doctor called as he came rushing down the stairs.
I ran up to him and threw my arms around his waist in a quick hug. "You okay?" I asked in concern.
"Never been better." He said with a smile. At that moment the power went out. "Problem with the power?" He asked scanning the room with his sonic.
"Not possible. We've got back ups." Kate responded.
The Doctor licked his lips and let out a soft "hmm." He grabbed my hand and pulled me around the room with him. The buzzing of the sonic filled the air and the faint green light that it gave off acted as our flashlight.
"Doctor? Look." Amy called pointing to a cube. A blue seven glowed brightly on all of its sides.
"What?"
"Why do they all say seven?" I asked glancing around the room. All of the cubes read seven.
"Seven." The Doctor thought aloud. "Seven, what's important about seven? Seven wonders of the world, seven streams in the River Ota, seven sides of a cube."
"A cube has six sides." Amy corrected.
"Not if you count the inside." The Doctor said softly scanning the cube with his sonic. The seven on the cube changed to a six and the lights immediately came back on.
"It has to be a countdown." He started walking to the room with the computers, the rest of us following close behind.
"Not in minutes." Kate added.
"Why would it be in minutes? Kate, we have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they'll do if they hit zero. Get the information out any way you can. News channels, websites, radio, text messages. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous." The Doctor ordered.
"Okay, why is it starting now? I mean the cubes arrived months ago. Why wait this long?" Amy asked.
"Because they're clever. Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their homes, their lives. Humans, the great early adopters and then, wham!" The Doctor smacked his hands together causing me to jump slightly. "Profile every inch of Earth's existence."
"Discover how best to attack us." Kate offered.
"Get that information out any way you can. Go!"
"Right." Kate muttered to herself.
Kate, Amy and I followed the Doctor over to the computers. "Every cube was activated. There must be signals; energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace. There can't be." The Doctor turned around to face us. "We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities, okay? Go, go, go!"
Kate immediately set off to work leaving Amy and I alone with the Doctor. The Doctor quickly turned back to the computer screen and began typing at lightning speed.
Anxiety nibbled away at me as I watched the cubes count down to four. Oh, God. What are they going to do?
"Doctor, please. You don't have to do this." Amy pleaded.
The four of us were looking into a sealed off cubicle with a single cube and a chair. The Doctor wanted to sit in there with it to find out what will happen when it counts down to zero.
"She's right. You don't have to be in there. We can do this remotely." Kate interjected.
The Doctor spun around. "Remotely isn't my style. See you after." He kissed his hand and smacked it against Amy's head as she pulled a look of disgust.
I quickly reached my hand out to him resting it gently on his left arm. The Doctor turned around and smiled at me. He wrapped me up in his arms and kissed my cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." He whispered.
"But what if you don't come back." I choked back tears.
He pulled away and cupped my face in his hands. "Hey, I always come back." With that he planted one final kiss on my forehead before entering the cubicle.
He sat in the chair just as the number on the cube turned to two. He smiled at us and threw us a friendly wave before turning back to the cube which now read '1'. I held my breath as we waited for the cube to strike zero. Anxiety was eating me alive as I prayed that my Doctor would be ok.
Finally the cube reached zero, but nothing happened. The Doctor glanced at us as Amy and I shared looks of confusion. The cube then turned blank and the top of it opened up.
"Geronimo." The Doctor muttered.
"What's happening?" Kate asked.
"Shh!" I hushed her before turning my attention back to the Doctor who smirked smugly. He peered into the cube and frowned.
"Well? What's in there?" Amy asked.
"There is nothing in here." The Doctor muttered in disappointment.
"Er, well, that's good. It's not, it's not bombs, its not aliens."
"Why? Why is there nothing inside? Why? It doesn't make any sense." The Doctor grumbled running out of the cubicle. The three of us ran after him and into the computer room.
"Glasses, is it the same? Is it the same all around the world?" He called to the researcher working at the monitors.
"They're empty. We're safe, right?" Kate asked a worried expression crossing her features.
"Ah, no, no, no, we are very far from safe. All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don't contain anything?"
Amy and I watched the monitors in horror as people started gripping their chests and falling to the ground.
"Doctor, look." Amy said.
The Doctor turned to the screens as Glasses started explaining what was happening.
"They're CCTV feeds from across the world. They're showing the same."
"People are dying." Kate gasped.
I immediately looked to the Doctor. People who were near the cubes were dying. But the Doctor isn't human. He's fine. I tried to reassure myself.
"What? They can't be dying. How? How are they dying?" The Doctor asked.
"I want information on how people are being affected." Kate ordered.
The Doctor started rubbing his head in thought. "The cubes brought people close together. They opened and then- ARGH!" The Doctor clutched at his chest and fell back into a chair screaming in pain.
"DOCTOR!" I shrieked immediately rushing to his side. "What's wrong? Are you ok?"
"Doctor, what's the matter?" Amy asked.
"Argh. Ah, I don't know!" He cried.
"Hospitals are logging a global surge in heart failures." Glasses informed us.
The Doctor pointed at him in pain. "That's it!" He gasped. "Oh! Oh! OH!" The Doctor started hitting his chest. "Only one heart. Other one's not working!"
"Ok, I'm taking you to the hospital!" Amy shouted.
I quickly grabbed the back of his chair as the two of us raced him towards the door.
"Oh, no, no, no. Just a short circuit. Turn around, turn around." I spun him around and rolled him over to the monitors. "Tell, me. Ten seconds after the cubes opened, show me patterns in their electrical currents." He ordered.
The monitor displayed a heartbeat.
"See?"
"No!" Kate gasped.
"Yes, the power cut. They zapped the power and then- ARGH!" He clutched his heart again before jumping back to the computer. "They're signal boxes. People leaning in, wham. Pure electrical surge out of the cube targeted at the nearest human heart. The heart, an organ powered by electrical currents, short-circuited. How to destroy a human? Go for the heart." He whacked Glasses's chest multiple times before clutching at his own heart in pain. "Crikey Moses."
"Doctor, the scan you set running, the transmitter locations. It's found them." Kate informed.
"And look at them all, pulsing bold as brass. Seven of them, all across the world. OW!" He cried clutching his heart. I placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to soothe him. "Seven stations, seven minutes. Why is that important? ARGH! OW, OW." He threw his head back in pain to look at me. "How do you people manage one heart, it is pitiful." He turned back to the screens. "A wormhole, bridging two dimensions. Seven of them hitched onto this planet, but where's the closest one? Glasses, zoom in."
The screen zoomed in on a large building. "That's the hospital where Rory works." Amy whispered.
"How many deaths have been recorded?" The Doctor asked as we walked into the hospital. Amy and I stood on either side of him, ready to catch him in case he fell over.
"We don't know. We think it could be a third of the population." Kate said.
"Kate, I have to find the wormhole, but the attacks could still happen. Tell the world. Tell them how to deal with this. The world needs your leadership right now."
"I'll do my best."
"Of course you will. Good luck, Kate." Kate nodded before taking off. "ARGH!" The Doctor cried out leaning on a wall for support.
"Ok, how long are you going to last with only one heart?" Amy asked as the two of helped him to his feet. The Doctor wrapped an arm around both of our shoulders for support. He reached inside his pocket for his sonic, causing both Amy and I to nearly suffocate, as he held onto our heads for dear life.
"Not much longer. I need to locate the wormhole portal." He said waving his sonic around.
The sonic started beeping and led us to little girl standing not too far behind us. "Hello. Hello! You are giving off some very strange signals." He let go of the two of us.
The girl's face started glowing blue.
"Oh, my God." Amy and I said in unison.
"Outlier droid, monitoring everything. If I shut her down I can-" The girl collapsed but the Doctor quickly caught her. "It's alright, it's alright." He cooed. "ARGH!" He screamed letting go of the little girl. He leaned up against the wall. "I can't do it. I need both hearts!" He gasped. He fell to the ground screaming in agony.
I knelt down beside trying to assure him that he would be ok. Please, be ok! Tears started prickling at my eyes as my Doctor suffered. He grabbed my hand and squeezed the life out of it.
"Claire, rip open his shirt." Amy ordered taking me completely off guard.
"What?" I asked flabbergasted.
She grabbed a portable defibrillator. "Just do it! Desperate measures, Claire!" She shouted running over with our last hope.
The Doctor started protesting. "What? No! No, no, no. That won't work. I'm a Time Lord." I ripped open his shirt just as Amy prepared the stabilizers. "Ah!" He screamed at an unusually high voice.
"Alright, clear!" Amy cried shocking him.
The Doctor sat up immediately breathing heavily. Within a matter of seconds he jumped to his feet. "WHOO HOO! Welcome back, lefty! Whoa-ho! Two hearts! Whoo!" The Doctor cried happily doing a weird little dance. "Back in the game!" He struck a ridiculous pose causing me to erupt into a fit of giggles. Thank God, he's alive. He turned to Amy and kissed her forehead. "Never do that to me again." He warned, earning an annoyed eye roll from her.
He then turned to me and immediately lifted me up off the ground and spun me around in circles clutching me close to his chest. I buried my face in the crook of his neck giggling like an idiot. He placed me back on the ground and pressed his lips to both of my cheeks before bopping me on the nose. He then quickly buttoned up his shirt before grabbing my hand and taking off down the hallway.
"Oi! Don't forget about me!" Amy called running after us.
We stopped at a lift in an abandoned hallway.
"Ah, portal to another dimension in a goods lift?" Amy asked in confusion.
The Doctor frowned at the reading on his sonic. "The energy signals converge here. Does seem a bit cramped though." He led us into the elevator. The Doctor looked around the area suspiciously before settling on the wall in front of us. The wall seemed to glimmer like some sort of mirage. He reached his index finger out and poked it. His finger went through it as the wall made a weird 'vwoorping' noise.
He glanced at the two of us, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Through the looking glass, ladies?"
We smiled in return and took his hands before walking through the wibbly wall.
Everything around us was pitch black.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"We're in orbit. One dimension to the left." He answered.
We soon entered a room filled with people lying on gurneys. In front of us I spotted Rory and Brian laid out on slabs.
"Rory!" Amy gasped running to his side.
The Doctor pulled a small pouch out of his pocket and tossed it to Amy. "Soborian smelling salts. Outlawed in seven galaxies."
Amy waved the salts under Rory's nose and he quickly sat up, right when someone shot at us. We quickly ducked out of the way; the Doctor shielded me with his body before popping his head up when the coast was clear.
"Whoa! Whoa! What kind of a welcome do you call that?" He shouted. "Get them out of here. You two as well. Now!" The Doctor ordered. He placed a kiss to my forehead before pushing me in the direction of the exit.
Doing as I was told I bolted for the exit. Amy and Rory pushing Brian, who had just woken up, following close behind me.
"What do we do?" I asked them once they met with me in the hospital wing.
"Simple, we leave Brian here and we go back and help the Doctor." Amy answered grabbing my hand.
"But, the Doctor said to-" I started.
"Yeah, yeah. I know what the Doctor said, but he knows that I never listen to him. Now come on!"
Ignoring my protests Amy dragged me back through the wibbly wall.
"The human contagion must be eliminated." The alien said.
"Who are you calling a contagion?" Amy called out, popping up next to the Doctor.
"Oi! Didn't I tell you three to go?" He scolded.
"It was all Amy's idea." I said putting my hands up in mock defense.
"You should've learned by now." Rory grumbled.
"Yeah, and what is this Tally anyway?" Amy asked.
"Some people call it Judgment Day, or the Reckoning." The Doctor informed.
"Don't you know?"
"I never wanted to find out."
"Before the Closure, there is the Tally. The Shakri serves the Tally." The Shakri said.
"The pest controller's of the universe, that's how the tales went, isn't it?"
"Wow. That's some seriously weird bedtime story." Amy said.
"You can talk. Wolf in your grandmother's nightdress?" The Doctor scoffed. "So, you are depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans would collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside. Because that's what they are. Not pests or plague, creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does. But, but they learn. And they strive for greater, and they achieve it. You want a tally. Put their achievements against their failings through the whole of time, I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."
The Shakri started to chuckle to himself. "The Tally must be met. The second wave will be released."
"What does that mean?" Amy asked.
"It's going to release more cubes to kill more people." The Doctor stated.
"The human plague breeding and fighting, and when cornered, their rage to destroy. You're too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met." All of a sudden the Shakri started to flicker before completely vanishing from sight.
"He's gone!" Amy gasped.
"He was never really here, just the ship's automated interface, like a talking propaganda poster." The Doctor ran over to the screen the alien once stood at. "I can stop the second wave. I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the dark space. Ah, but all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them will have died." He stopped scanning the screen and paused in thought.
"Amy restarted one of your hearts." I reminded him.
"We would need mass defibrillation." Rory offered.
"Of course! Ah, beautiful. But, Ponds and Claire, we are going to go one better than that. The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off. Bingo! We're going to use them to turn them back on again."
"Will that work?" Amy asked.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic. "Well, creatures of hope. Has to."
"Thirty seconds." The Doctor finished sonicking the screen. "Don't let me down, cubes, you're working for me now. Oh dear. All these cubes. There's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here any second. Run." The Doctor grabbed my hand and the two of us bolted for the exit the Ponds following close behind us.
A loud explosion went off just as we jumped into the safety of the elevator. The four of us shared worried looks before hopping to our feet.
"Are you ok?" The Doctor asked me, helping me up.
I smiled. "I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me all the time."
He smirked. "I'll always worry about you, whether you like it or not."
I stared at him for a second completely taken off guard by his comment. "Umm, thank you? I guess. Oh never mind." I blurted before exiting the elevator.
"Right, Mr. Pond and I are going to take Brian home and order Chinese for dinner. Seeing as there's not that much room in the car you can hitch a ride home with the Doctor." Amy winked at me.
"But Amy, he doesn't even have the TARDIS here." I argued.
"Hmm, you guys will think of something. Meet you back home." Before I could argue with her anymore she and her husband left, leaving me alone with the Doctor.
"Where are they going?" The Doctor asked emerging from the lift.
"They're ditching us for Chinese that's what they're doing." I grumbled.
The Doctor scrunched his nose. "Well that's not very nice. Come on let's clear things up with Kate then we'll meet them there."
The two of us walked outside where we immediately met up with Kate.
Kate smiled when she spotted us. "You really are as remarkable as Dad said." She then reached up and placed a kiss on the Doctor's cheek.
I felt jealousy start to burn in my core, but I quickly shooed it away. Why am I jealous of every girl who touches him?
The Doctor looked down at her in surprise. "My! A kiss from a Lethbridge Stewart. That is new. But sorry, I'm taken." He winked draping an arm around my shoulders. I felt me heart skip a beat in my chest before it started pounding furiously. What did he just say? No, no, he's married remember. But Claire, he said that and then draped his arm across your shoulders. His arm is still across your shoulders! By the way, he has made quite a habit of this as well as kissing your forehead and bopping you on the nose. Those could be some very valuable hints. Okay, mind I need you to shut up now!
The Doctor looked down at his wrist. "Oh dear, we're late for dinner." He held out a hand for her to shake, but quickly pulled it away as a joke. Kate laughed at his silliness and waved as the two of us hopped in the car.
Brian, Amy, Rory, the Doctor, and I all sat around the family table eating Chinese food with chopsticks. The Doctor let out a disgusting burp.
"Doctor that's disgusting." I scolded as everyone erupted into fits of laughter.
"You two act a lot like an old married couple. Trust me, I would know." Brian laughed taking a sip of his water.
I felt a blush tint my cheeks as Amy wiggled her eyebrows at me from across the table.
The Doctor swallowed his food with a loud gulp looking down at his wristwatch. "Dear me. I'd better get going. Err… we better get going. Things to do, worlds to save, swings to swing on." He said awkwardly obviously trying to escape as soon as possible. He stuffed a fortune cookie in his pocket before getting up. He made to leave, but stopped and draped his arms across Amy and Rory's shoulders. "Look, I know you both have lives here. Beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don't want to give them up. I understand."
"Actually, it's you they can't give up, Doctor. And I don't think they should. Go with him. Go save every world you can find. Who else has a chance? Life will still be here." Brian said.
"You should come, Brian."
"Someone's got to water the plants. Just bring them back safe."
The Doctor nodded with a small smile. "Right then, let's get going."
The three of us followed him into the TARDIS after saying goodbye to Brian.
"So where to next?" The Doctor asked flipping a few switches.
"Actually can we wait a day before heading off somewhere? I want to rest. This whole cube nonsense has really boosted my stress levels." Amy groaned.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll wait a day. You humans can be so boring sometimes." He grumbled in annoyance.
"But you still love us." Amy smirked. She ran over to me and threw her arms around me. "Be up and ready by 9 tomorrow. We got business to discuss and events to prepare for." She whispered in my ear.
I pulled away from her in confusion. "What on earth are you talking about?"
She winked. "You'll see."
I didn't like where this was going. Amy had some sort of evil plan for tomorrow and I had a feeling I was going to be left an embarrassed mess.