CHAPTER 65

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CAUGHT IN THE WEAVER'S WEB

As the mutagene crept closer and closer to the Bad Wolves, the Weaver laughed in anticipation. She simply couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Then she suddenly felt a presence behind her as if someone were watching her. She quickly turned to see Victoria Waterfield standing there with a sly smile on her face.

"What? It can't be. You're out there with the rest of them," The Weaver protested.

"Am I? Or is that just what I wanted you to think? It's an amazing thing being the Great Intelligence sometimes. It definitely has its advantages such as a group of loyal servants that I call the Whisper Girls who I've made to look just like me. Having one of them standing there with the others made you think that I was out there when I was really wandering around your ship looking for you instead. It looks like I've finally found you, doesn't it?" Victoria said with a slightly sinister smile.

"Stay away from me," The Weaver said as she began to feel fear grip her heart in its icy hold.

"What's the matter? Don't like being trapped in someone else's web for a change, little spider?" Victoria asked.

"Arkytior," The Weaver spat out in disgust.

"Oh, no. Not this time. She's a good little planner herself, but this was all Donna's idea. She said to me and I quote 'Go find out where that stupid spider lady is and give her a good kick in the teeth for me.' So here I am. Now call off the mutagene now and I'll show you mercy," Victoria said in a voice that sounded less and less like her own by the moment.

She was pulling her greatest trick and making herself sound like the Great Intelligence. She knew that his voice always brought chills to the hearts of everyone who heard it. Arachne it seemed was no exception.

"J – Just stay back," The Weaver said in a frightened voice.

"Stop the mutagene. Now!" Victoria ordered in a voice filled with anger.

She hated putting on this act because she was a kind, gentle person at heart. She understood that using fear was a very effective weapon at times though, and the Great Intelligence was feared throughout the universe.

Sometimes though she feared that the act was becoming a reality as it became easier and easier for her to do. She lived in constant dread of the day that it would no longer be an act at all but the truth.

That day however wasn't today.

The Weaver suddenly began to laugh as she said, "Why don't you do it yourself, Miss Waterfield? You can't though can you? You can't even save yourself from the trap that you've just walked into. You are a pale shadow of the true Great Intelligence I'm afraid."

Victoria looked at the Weaver in surprise as the renegade Time Lady suddenly changed from being frightened to smiling in triumph in the blink of an eye. Then she suddenly understood why as she realized that she was standing next to a TARDIS console and it was opening. At any moment now, she was going to be exposed to the Heart of the Weaver's TARDIS!

Meanwhile the Bad Wolves had their own problems as the mutagene approached closer and closer to them and was now only inches away. Donna realized now that Victoria must have failed and that she would have to rely on her back-up plan to save them. That is if it didn't get them all killed first.

"Tori, do it," Donna said.

"Are you sure?" Tori asked in a hesitant voice.

"Yes. I don't fancy spending eternity as Bigfoot's sister so do it now, Star Girl. Open up!" Donna shouted.

Kallista now enveloped everyone but Tori in a force field as they shielded their eyes against what was to come. That was Tori's cue to open her Auton body's hands and pour pure concentrated heat from them straight at the rapidly approaching mutagene mist.

The intense heat that could only be found at the heart of a star instantly incinerated the mutagene that was in front of her. Tori smiled as she rapidly began to incinerate all of it in the room. It was working!

"That's it, Star Gal. You're doing it," Donna encouraged her.

"Is anyone else noticing that it's getting very, very hot in here?" Dorothy complained.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Kallista's got us covered though. Don't you, Super Jenny?" Donna said confidently.

"Oh, yeah. My force field's doing just fine and is in no way about to buckle at any moment due to the intense heat," Kallista said in a voice filled with pain.

Rose could see the strain on her face as sweat poured off of her in waves. She instantly grabbed her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. She only wished that she could do more but thanks to the Vortex shielding in this place neither she or Dorothy could use their powers.

"You can do this," Rose whispered to her encouragingly.

Kallista nodded and gave her a brief smile that she really didn't feel. She felt as if she were pushing the limits even for her powers. She had to suppress a scream as she felt as if her brain was about to explode from the pressure of keeping the force field up.

"Just a little bit longer," Rose said in a low voice.

Donna wasn't fooled by the brave face that Kallista was putting on for an instant so she said something that she wished that she had heard more herself growing up, "I know that you can do this, Kallista. I believe in you."

Kallista smiled and Donna could tell immediately that what she said had helped her as she seemed to gain renewed strength from that moment onward. Donna was more than a bit shocked by this. She was actually inspiring her to keep going when she had seemed to want to give up a minute earlier. She didn't particularly consider herself to be a very inspiring person if she were being honest.

Oh, Donna, you're far more special than you realize. You always have been long before you ever met the Doctor. Rose said to her telepathically as she smiled at her.

Where were you when I was just a temp in Chiswick, Flower Girl? I really could have used someone to tell me that back then. Donna replied.

Well, I'm telling it to you now, aren't I? Better late than never, yeah? Rose said with a face wide grin.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Tori finally destroyed all of the mutagene. Just as she did this and closed her Auton shell once more, Kallista's force field fell and she instantly collapsed to the floor.

"Hey! Are you alright, Jenny Senior?" Donna asked in concern.

"Yeah . . . I'll . . . be fine," Kallista said as she lay there with a look of complete exhaustion on her face.

"You don't look like it," Donna said with concern.

Before she could ask her any more questions though, the Whisper Girl with them screamed and dissolved causing all of them to suddenly become alarmed. What had just happened to Victoria?

"Come on, we have to get to that loony Time Lady right now. I only hope that it's not too late to save Victoria. Does anyone have a way of finding her?" Donna asked.

"She's probably in the Console Room of this TARDIS," Emmy suggested.

"Which is where exactly?" Donna asked

"Don't you know how to find it? Can't you feel it?" Emmy asked in surprise.

"If I did, do you think that I'd be asking you?" Donna said as she glared at her.

"How long have you been a Time Lord now? Get with it, Donna. Even Time Tots could feel the telepathic pull of the mind of a TARDIS," Emmy said as she rolled her eyes at her.

"I'm really starting to see why the Doctor doesn't like you right now," Donna said with a frown.

"Let me lead us there. Really, Arianrhod, you've got to work on your manners. I thought you were supposed to be nicer in this regeneration," Calliope said to her daughter as she took the lead at the head of the group.

"I was at first but now I'm back to normal again. I have no idea why but I'm not complaining. I'm actually glad about it. Being nice and happy all the time just wasn't me at all," Emmy said.

Calliope briefly shook her head at her and then led the Wolves down the hall. Rose however stayed behind with Kallista because the Elder Goddess wasn't going anywhere anytime soon in her condition, and she wasn't about to leave her alone with the Weaver on the loose.

"She's still alive," Lilith said to Donna as they walked along.

"How do you know that?" Donna asked.

"I can feel it. I whispered her name and I could feel her heart still beating. I can't tell you any more than that though. Sorry," Lilith said.

"You just never stop surprising me, Witch Girl. Is there anything that you can't do?" Donna said.

Lilith smiled and looked away in embarrassment as Emmy said, "What is up with you lately, Lil? You're acting weird."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lilith said nervously.

Donna pretended not to hear this as she realized that Emmy didn't have a clue that Lilith wanted Donna to be her second mum. Now who needed to get with it?! Donna would have gladly rubbed that in Emmy's face, but she didn't want to risk hurting Lilith's feelings.

"I still can't believe the change in her. She goes from wanting to kill all of us to trying to impress us. Or at least one of us anyway," Martha said in a low voice as she winked at Donna.

"Keep it down, Boss Lady. I don't want her to hear. I'm still not sure how to handle her just yet," Donna said wincing.

"So she wants you to be her mum? So what?" Ileana said as she joined into the conversation.

"Did everyone know about this except for me and Emmy?" Donna said in an annoyed voice.

"Basically. Word travels fast," Martha admitted.

"I don't know what's to handle anyway. I'd be happy if she thought of me as a mother figure. I'm a bit insulted that she doesn't actually," Ileana said with a mischievous grin.

"Maybe she thinks that you're too goofy to be a proper parent," Martha suggested with a chuckle.

"I am not. I've raised lots of children. You've seen Adriana. I think I did a pretty good job with her thank you very much," Ileana protested.

"Yeah but it's a wonder that she turned out to be as well-adjusted as she did," Martha joked.

Donna however didn't join in with her laughter. She didn't think that she had a right to.

"Oh, Donna. You think that you're not worthy of being her mother don't you?" Ileana finally realized.

"I'm worried enough about doing a good job raising Lauren. I don't need to try to be a role model to someone who could wipe out the whole planet if I don't do it right. Besides, I'm not old enough to be her mother anyway. Why don't you be her mum, Lana? It's just not for me," Donna said as she quickly walked away from them and ended the conversation.

"Man, her mother really did a number on her, didn't she?" Ileana whispered to Martha who nodded empathically.

Unknown to any of them, Lilith had heard the whole thing and was left feeling miserable by it. She hadn't wanted Donna to get this upset about it. She had just wanted a second mother to fill the gap that had been left in her life by the loss of her two mothers, and she couldn't think of anyone that she admired more to fill the slot. She had actually hoped that Donna would feel honored.

She now became determined to make her see that she was going to be a great mother. She was determined to have a talk with Lauren about that as soon as possible.

That was all depending on if they all survived the next few minutes of course. That was beginning to seem very doubtful as soon as they found the Console Room and saw Victoria lying on the floor unconscious.

"What's wrong with her?" Donna asked with concern as she started towards her.

Calliope scanned her with what Donna swore was a primitive sonic screwdriver like device and said in a surprised voice, "She's human again. Completely human."

"What? Where did her powers go?" Donna said in alarm.

"Where do you think?" The Weaver said as she suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a triumphant smile on her face.

The Wolves were suddenly surrounded by the Whisper Men who began to start slowly approaching them with a murderous look on their faces.

As she began glowing with power, Arachne said, "Say hello to the new Great Intelligence. My plan succeeded completely. I knew that if I started creating Yetis that I'd grab Victoria's attention and lure her straight here into my trap. Luckily I was right and the Heart of the TARDIS was enough to knock her out cold when I took her by surprise with it. Then I just used my superior will to take the power away from her while she was unable to fight back."

"It was never about the devolution mutagene at all was it? You just wanted to steal Victoria's powers," Martha said.

"No, Martha. That was very real but I didn't have a way of perfecting it before. I do now though. With the power of the Intelligence, I can make the mutagene able to do anything that I want it to now. In fact, as soon as I kill all of you I'm going straight to Gallifrey with it. My plan has worked perfectly. Thank you so much for your part in it. As a way of expressing my gratitude, I'll grant you all a painless death," The Weaver said with an evil grin.

"Thank you so much. You're so kind to us," Donna said sarcastically.

Then her mind froze as the Whisper Men began to reach towards their chests. She knew from the Doctor exactly what they were about to do. She briefly thought that it would be even worse for her because she had two hearts to crush now.

"Come on, Donna. Think of something. Quick!" Donna said to herself.

Suddenly she saw Lilith ripping a piece of skin off of one of the Whisper Men near her and making a very quick voodoo doll of them with it. She held a knife over the heart of the doll as she smiled evilly at them.

"Well, now you have to ask yourself something, Whisper Men. Can you kill me before I kill all of you? I'm betting that my way is a lot quicker," Lilith said.

"She's good. Now I really want her for my daughter," Ileana said.

Even in the middle of a life and death stalemate, Lilith couldn't help but smile at that.

Meanwhile back at the Bad Wolves' headquarters, the Seventh Doctor greeted Osgood with a friendly smile as she woke up to find herself surrounded by the remaining Wolves who were all staring at her. She was immediately very nervous and realized that she needed her inhaler.

As she searched for it in her pockets, she immediately saw that her scarf was missing.

"I'm sorry for removing such a lovely scarf, my dear, but I had to know exactly what it was hiding. It seems that you've been keeping a secret from the others," the Doctor said.

Osgood froze and said nothing. She had finally been caught, but she couldn't tell them anything. Her new master had forbidden her to do so. Not even if she wanted to with all of her heart.

"It wasn't a secret from you though apparently, Doctor. You already knew that she had been bitten even before we found the vampire bites on her neck. I still can't believe that vampires are real. I'm still trying to get over the fact that beings from another world exist and that I'm now living in my own future to be honest," Joan said with a small smile.

"Well, you're certainly doing a much better job of accepting the truth than most of your species. No wonder human me is marrying you. You're definitely an exceptional woman," the Doctor said causing Joan to blush.

"No flirting with my fiancé," John said.

"I wasn't flirting. I don't even notice human females that way," the Doctor said defensively.

"That will definitely change later for you, Doctor. My version of you seemed to do nothing but notice them," John said more to himself than the Doctor.

"Doctor? You're the Doctor? Of course! Now I know why you looked so familiar to me. It's so nice to meet you. I mean this version of you. I've already met a future version of you of course. The one with the bow tie and the tweed jacket. Have you met him yet?" Osgood asked as she babbled.

"Yes, and I can't say that I enjoyed the experience. He talked entirely too much, and you seem to be trying your best to imitate him right now. Why don't we skip to the chase, Miss Osgood, and you can tell us all that you know about your new master and what he's up to?" The Doctor asked in a serious tone.

Osgood turned pale and she reached for her neck and started absentmindedly rubbing the bite marks there as she said, "I – I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do, Osgood. You just can't say can you? He won't let you," Michelle said.

"I don't know . . ." Osgood started to say again.

"Yes, yes, you don't have to repeat yourself. It's obvious that she's right to all of us. He won't let you speak will he? He's done his work at infiltrating your mind far too well. Perhaps he hasn't done it well enough though. I have a little bit of experience with hypnotic control myself. I've had to learn quite a bit about it when I have an old enemy who loves to use it to control others and use them against me. It really helps to be able to undo the power of a hypnotic trance from time to time when you have to frequently do battle with the likes of the Master," the Doctor said.

"Do you think that you can help her to tell us what's going on? It would be nice to have the inside advantage on our enemy for a change. He's been bothering us for a long time now, and we don't have the slightest idea what's going through his head," Michelle said.

"Yeah, it's very scary to be constantly being watched as soon as you go outside and to be pretty much alone in here with him out there. It's one reason why I was so glad when Joan and John came," Amanda admitted.

"I'm sorry, Mandy. I didn't even think about the fact that you might be scared with just you and your mum here alone. I should have cancelled my date. I cut it short anyway because I kept having a bad feeling all night, and my heart just wasn't in it. Mark finally told me to go back here and check on you. He's remarkably understanding about things like that. It's one of the things that I love about him," Michelle said with a fond smile on her face.

The Doctor studied her intently as he said, "Amazing. I hadn't noticed it before but you're one of the Family of Blood and yet you're here acting like a human. You actually care about others unlike the rest of your species. Then again you are part human, aren't you? Someone's been doing some major tampering to your genetic structure."

"Yes, but in a very good way," Michelle admitted.

"I can see that. I don't suppose that you'll tell me how you got this way will you?" The Doctor asked.

"No, I'm afraid that I can't. That would tell you information about your future that you just shouldn't know," Michelle said.

"Ah, I see that it was Arkytior then," The Doctor said smiling in satisfaction.

"How?" Michelle asked in surprise.

"I've fixed my memory so that I always remember her when I'm in the same time period as Mr. Bow Tie. I made sure of that so that I could go and see her. Why should he have her all to himself?" The Doctor said with a small grin.

Michelle laughed and said, "Rose seems to be the one thing that all of you can agree on. So do you think that you can remove his influence on Osgood?"

"I can certainly try. This may take some time though," The Doctor said.

"Go ahead. We seem to have plenty of it or at least I hope that we do," Michelle said.

"You're thinking the same thing that I am, aren't you?" Katherine asked.

"Yes, I am. He has another plan up his sleeve that he's getting ready to carry out now that we know about Osgood. I don't even want to know what that might be," Michelle said with a shudder.

Meanwhile the Doctor put his hands on each side of Osgood's face, he said, "This won't hurt at all, Osgood. At least I hope not anyway."

"It's alright. I trust you, Doctor," Osgood said as she used her inhaler again.

As both the Doctor and Osgood suddenly went silent, Joan said, "Let's not talk about whatever else he's up to. Let's keep our minds off of it by talking about the wedding. Michelle, I'd really love it if you could be my Maid of Honor."

Michelle's eyes lit up as she said in disbelief, "Me? Really?"

"Yes, you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have John after all," Joan said laughing.

Michelle launched herself at Joan and hugged her tightly as she said, "I'd love to be there. Of course I'll do it. I just didn't think about you ever asking me after what I did to you."

"I'm asking you because of who you are now not because of who you were then. You're my friend, Michelle, and after what you did for me I'd say that you were my very best friend. I love you and I want you there," Joan said in a heartfelt voice.

Michelle's voice cracked as she said, "Thank you so much. I love you too."

The two of them embraced then as Joan said, "Now the wedding's complete with you there. I also have the Doctor, Rose, Martha, and Donna coming too. Well, actually all of the Wolves are invited if they want to come. I even have River Song and my ex-boyfriend, Donald, coming. I thought that might be awkward, but he's so happy for me. I think up until now he still felt guilty for leaving me for River."

"He must have been an idiot," John said as he kissed her.

"No, you mustn't say that, John. River's been very good for him. She's a nice person once you get to know her. Never tell her that I said that though. I'd like to stay alive long enough to enjoy the wedding," Joan said laughing.

"Where will the wedding be? Do you have a Best Man yet?" Michelle asked out of curiosity.

"I invited the Doctor to be the Best Man. Mr. Bow Tie, I mean, not Umbrella Man over there. There's nothing like being toasted by yourself. As for where, that's the part that we're still not sure about yet," John said.

"How about the Mirror Verse? Or maybe even here?" Michelle suggested.

"I wanted it to be somewhere more romantic than that. Joan deserves only the best," John said.

"I don't care about any of that as long as you're there," Joan insisted.

"I do. I want this to be perfect to make up for all of the pain that the other me put you through," John said firmly.

"I've long since forgiven him for that," Joan said.

"I still want to make it up to you as much as possible," John insisted as he gave her a tender kiss and held her close to him in a loving embrace.

Michelle smiled at the two of them. Finally she knew for sure that she had done at least one good thing with her life if nothing else.

This heartwarming moment was unfortunately quickly interrupted as a knock came on the door and a familiar voice said, "Hello? It's Alina. Can I come in?"

"Lina? What's she doing here? Do you think that she's come back to rejoin the team again?" Amanda said in an excited voice.

"You never can tell," Michelle said with a shrug.

She went to open the door and saw Alina standing there with a worried look on her face as she said, "Have you seen my sister?"

"Stefania? No, I haven't seen her since the two of you left. What's going on, Lina?" Michelle asked in concern.

"She started acting funny an hour ago. She acted distant and out of as if she wasn't herself. Then she just disappeared. I thought that maybe she might have come here or that you might know something about her. I can see by your expression though that you don't. I'm sorry for bothering you. I'll just go," Alina said in an extremely upset voice.

"Whoa! Wait a minute, Lina! I think that maybe I might know what might have happened to her. Come inside and let's talk," Michelle said as she quickly brought her friend inside and shut the door.

She immediately explained the whole story about the return of one of their old enemies and how he had been hounded them lately. Alina looked furious by the time that she finished.

"He's back and no one bothered to tell me?! He's done something to her in order to get back at me. I just know it," Alina said in a voice filled with anger and worry.

"Yes, he has. She's his Plan B. He's trying to take control of her even now so that he can send her here in my place. He was hoping that you would bring her inside because you trusted her, and she could then destroy the wards on this place so that he could finally get inside at last," Osgood suddenly said.

"I broke his hold on her at last and now she can finally tell us everything that he's doing through his mental link with her. Turnabout is fair play I'd say," The Doctor said proudly.

"We have to find her and stop him before he makes her into his new bride. Where is she?" Alina asked in a panic.

A voice suddenly said through the door, "She's with me, my dear Alina. It turns out that her bond with you was too strong for me to turn her, but I can still use her against you even despite that setback. If you want to see her alive again, you will let me inside. If you don't, I'll kill her. You have my word on that."

"You let her go!" Alina screamed.

"You have thirty minutes to decide. Let me in or she dies a final death. I'll be back soon to hear your answer," The shadowy figure who had been hounding the Wolves said.

"No! I will destroy you! Do you hear that, Dracula? If you do anything to her, I'll rip you apart!" Alina shouted.

Dracula's mocking laughter was her only response.

Next: Dracula's back! I'm sure most if not all of you probably already figured out who he was by now, but I hope that you're still excited to see him. Will Alina be forced to let Dracula in or will she and the others come up with another way to get Stefania back? Will the rest of the Wolves stand a chance of stopping the new Great Intelligence? Who will win in the stalemate between Lilith and the Whisper Men? Will Victoria ever get the power of the Intelligence back or is the new Intelligence here to stay? For that matter, will she even want it back?