A/N: Okay—so it's starting to be exciting. Braxiatel is the Doctor's brother; Theta is the de-aged version of the Doctor. Just in case you don't know. Enjoy and Review! :)

Chapter 14

Table-Turning Time Lord Brothers

It's dark. It's cold.

I don't know where I am. Where am I? Alone. I am alone. Too alone… too much darkness.

I can hear a thunder clap above my head, and the storm rages all the time. Yet, I can't do anything—and it makes me afraid. Even more than the time when I was trapped in a fob watch, because this time, I don't know who I am anymore.

I curl up in a fetal position, trying to ignore the other voices in my head— the voices of my other selves that I know not. A shudder runs through my body and chills the spine, only that I don't have a real body. I know that I am a figment of memory, an echo of myself; but still, I'm afraid. I close my eyes tight and desperately try to think.

Who am I?

The Doctor? Theta Sigma? John Smith? Sir Doctor of the TARDIS? Doctor Foreman? The Renegade? The Madman? The Oncoming Storm, the Dalek-killer, the Bringer of Darkness, the Predator? The Nightmare of Monsters? The Pretty Boy? The Chin Boy? Sweetie? Raggedy Man? The Man Who Never Would? The Last Time Lord? The One Who Betrayed the Name of the Doctor?

But…

Doctor Who?

"That… was a nice slap, Donna." Jack managed to say out loud while pulling the elder Time Lord—by the legs—up the stairs at the same time. Grudgingly, Donna took Irving by the arms and started to help Jack carry him up the stairs.

"He deserved it, Captain Harkness. Now, move!"

Amy watched, amused, as the once threatening Time Lord was most ungracefully dragged into the bedroom. However, she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for him; after all, the Doctor's brother was even ruder than the Doctor (which was an amazing feat, by the way!)—and compared to him, Theta Sigma was a lovely angel.

After thrusting Irving Braxiatel onto the bed, Donna and Jack exited the room one by one, letting Rory drag the man's trunk in. With that done, the redheaded temp from Chiswik yawned and shrugged, turning away.

"Well, good night! It was a long day—I'm going to sleep."

"Good night," Amy smiled, and entered the room, gently cradling a sleeping Theta in her arms. After shooing Rory away, she tucked the little boy into bed, right next to Irving. After patting the little Doctor's forehead rather fondly, Amy turned and headed for her own bedroom, humming. The door closed shut.

And Irving Braxiatel's eyes immediately flashed open.

The Time Lord pushed himself upright, rubbing his sore cheek and groaning in annoyance. Feigning unconsciousness was useful when you wanted to overhear certain segments of information or drive unwanted, nosy people away; after all, he did manage to get into a room all alone with Theta. The only drawback of it was humiliation. He scowled again, brushing dust off his sleeve with his long fingers. Then he turned his attention to his younger brother, who was sleeping quite fretfully. Must be a nightmare.

He placed his palm on the child's pale forehead and pressed gently. A wisp of golden light swirled beneath his palm before dissipating quickly. He lifted his hand, and saw that the boy's face had relaxed into a peaceful smile.

Dream manipulation; easy.

He shrugged, and pulled out his sonic pen from his pocket. He scanned the young Doctor's body briefly for Huon Energy Signals. He gazed at the numbers that appeared on the screen for only a fraction of a second before his brows furrowed. He pressed the sonic pen onto the Bio-dampener on the boy's wrist, deactivating it in a puff of smoke. Then he pointed it again, this time directly in the direction of the Doctor's body, before pressing a silver button that read 'AMPLIFY'.

Seeing the energy level spike up immediately, he smiled in satisfaction. Good. Everything was going as planned. This will be enough to lure them in… a good bait.

And at that very moment, the door swung open. Braxiatel quickly pocketed his sonic and looked up sharply. Upon recognizing the visitor, his eyebrows arched up in surprise.

It was Jenny.

She looked beautiful, with her blond hair freely flowing down her back. Brax hummed in approval as he observed that she was wearing the Gallifreyan white linen tunic that he had given to her as a gift, earlier on the TARDIS. The silver moonlight illuminated her features just enough for him to see her flash a grin at him.

"Sorry that I didn't knock. I thought you would be asleep—"

"Not really. I do with catnaps most of the time. Bedrooms are a waste of space, in my opinion." Braxiatel shook his head lightly. "Why don't you come in, Jenny?"

Really, 'Jenny'? What kind of name was that? He groaned inwardly, thinking that his younger brother had been hanging out with humans a bit too long. He made a mental note to himself that sooner or later, he would give his nephew a more dignified, longer, suitable Gallifreyan name—like 'Jennikiatyor' or 'Jenicescheor'.

Jenny stepped in, observing the room with keen interest. She bore a striking resemblance to Theta Sigma, Brax noted. Including the reckless courage and display of curiosity. And, of course, superior Gallifreyan intelligence. No wonder she had a positive first impression on Braxiatel (which was a rare case, mind you; in fact, up to then, only three females had succeeded in doing so—Romana, Bernice "Benny" Summerfield, and Jenny.)

"So," Braxiatel smiled a little, pulling out two comfortable armchairs from his bigger-on-the-inside trunk (no wonder poor Rory had to struggle carrying it up the stairs) and beckoning Jenny to sit on one while he sat on another. "I see that you are wearing the tunic I gave you!"

"Well, yeah. Couldn't resist wearing it—after all, it's the first gift I've ever gotten from my family!" She laughed a little and leaned forward, brushing a lock of silky brown hair from Theta's face with a gentle move. A pensive smile appeared on her lips. "Irving?"

"Oh, just call me Brax. That's what your dad calls me, too; after all, 'Irving' is just a makeshift alias for me."

"Okay, then, Brax!" Jenny giggled cheerfully. Braxiatel smiled at her, but soon his feature turned serious again. He tilted his head a little to the left, regarding his newfound nephew with curiosity.

"Jenny, may I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you care for the Doctor?"

A pause. Then Jenny started laughing incredulously, as if the question was absurd in itself.

"Excuse me, he's my dad!"

"Yes, he is," Braxiatel answered, his eyes boring into Jenny's, firm and penetrating. "But that's it. You only knew him for a few hours, and he wasn't even slightly affectionate to you at the beginning. He rejected you, and he, in that sense, was just a gene donor for you, Jenny. And yet, you got shot instead of him, and you kept searching for him through time and space for decades. This time around, you even came to help him out without even hesitating a little. I can't understand, and I want to know the motive behind your actions. You don't owe anything to him—but why do you still risk everything for the Doctor?"

Having finished speaking, Irving Braxiatel was quite surprised to find Jenny smiling. She shrugged and turned her gaze to her peacefully sleeping father.

"Well then, why did you come?"

"What?" Braxiatel asked, taken aback by her daring question. His nephew was staring at her, her fingers fiddling with her nighties.

"I don't know how I did it—but I read you. On the TARDIS. I guess it's a Time Lord psychic weird stuff, but…" Jenny trailed off, not looking at Braxiatel directly. She drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes. Braxiatel's gaze turned sharp for a fleeting moment.

How?

His psychic abilities were far beyond any other Time Lords. Braxiatel's mental barrier was so great, almost beyond measurement, that he was able to lock the Pandora in his head and suppress it—while all the other Time Lords had died from simply looking at it. When he was lying or pretending to be a nice, charming man, no one could see through it, let alone read his mind. But Jenny had done it—without even trying to do so. Something that only he had been able to do.

And she had seen the darkness within.

Dark. Twisted. Lying. Deceiving. Uncaring. Sociopathic. Manipulating. No guilt. No sympathy. Ne hesitation. A godly devil. An endless land of grayness that stretched on and on, until the good and the evil ceased to exist; not hesitating at all to take lives of a million innocent children, erase an entires civilization from history, bend Laws of Time to his will, or even kill and sacrifice himself, if it was for the 'better good' of the Universe or the Time Lord Society.

How could she even bear to look at him?

Yet, she was looking straight into his eyes, unusually calm and controlled—just like Romana did on a few occasions when she, as a Lady President of Gallifrey, was forced into a situation in which she had to understand his point of view. Jenny continued.

"It was a brief glimpse, but I saw enough. Brax, you think you can never be a good man; you gave up on it a long time ago. You are absolutely goal-oriented, not letting anything get in your way. Sacrifices are easily made, friends abandoned, and there's no guilt or hesitation when you are doing so. And I understand, because I wasn't born a Time Lord— I was a soldier. Sometimes you just have to do that kind of thing—although you go a bit too extreme."

Braxiatel stared. He felt as if he was staring into his very own mirror image.

"But one thing that I didn't understand," Jenny went on, tilting her head. "Was why you killed the President to save your brother, all those years ago. Why? Why did you do so? It would have imposed an unnecessary risk on your career and your life, defending the Doctor like that. And you wouldn't have felt any guilt even if you had killed him instead of doing so!"

"He's my family." Braxiatel replied, flicking his hand impatiently. "I don't take such ignorant, inefficient orders. He is my only true family, the one Time Lord on Gallifrey who knew who I truly was and didn't run away screaming."

"Yes, exactly, Brax! " Jenny jumped up, grinning in satisfaction. "The Doctor, he is my only family. And that's what families do, isn't it? Sticking together until the very end of it all. I was born a nameless soldier, born to fight and kill and obey. But he showed me a life to really live— planets to save, enemies to fight, and an awful lot of running to do."

"You…" Braxiatel observed his nephew again, intrigued and awed at the same time. "You are quite brilliant, I should say. Better than almost any other Time Ladies I've ever met."

"I'm not a proper Time Lady, remember? Evolution is bound to take its course," Jenny laughed, walking to the door. "I like that, anyway. Thank you."

"You are welcome. Goodnight, Jenny."

"Goodnight!" She flashed a cheeky grin, and opened the door. Before she went out, though, she looked back one last time and winked.

"By the way, it was Dad who called me his 'daughter' first, not me!"

Then she closed the door, leaving a baffled—and also slightly impressed—Braxiatel in the moonlight-lit room. Then the Time Lord started to laugh.

Oh, this was becoming so intriguing.

*…*…*…*…*…*

Next morning, Rory Williams found himself in a very uncomfortable situation. He was sitting right between Brax and Theta. The duo was engaged in a banter that was more fiery and competitive than playful and fun—with their breakfast lying forgotten. The last night's tension between the Doctor's friends and Braxiatel was long gone (after the particularly amazing Noble Slap, that is), but still, Rory wasn't sure if he wanted to be here, between the Doctor and his brother, at the moment. After all, he was still having—or rather, trying to have—his tea.

…Hell, even others like Martha, Mickey, Donna, Wilfred, and Amy were all staring with their jaws dropped open as Braxiatel started talking about a side that was rarely revealed to others in the Doctor's seemingly endless wandering life: Childhood!

"So, how did I fare at the Academy?"

It all began with a curious Theta asking this fateful question. Braxiatel laid down his fork and regarded him with a smirk.

"Terrible, of course. Flunked almost every class for half a century. Almost got kicked out of the school three times. Kept getting yourself into trouble and was nearly beaten to death by the bullies. Tripped and fell over in a most ungraceful manner right before the Naming Ceremony—oh, and did I mention that you died once or twice, trying to stop your best friend Koschei from taking over the world? He calls himself Master now."

Martha's jaw dropped open. Amy stared. No, don't tell me that the wonderful, almighty Raggedy Man was a… a flunker! And WHAT?! His best friend is a World Dominator or something?

"Stop, stop!" Flustered, Theta frantically waved his arms to stop Braxiatel from saying more. He glared at the amused Time Lord. "You're doing that on purpose, aren't you? And Koschei, taking over the world? Yeah, fat chance!"

"Actually… he did." Jack answered, and Theta's jaw dropped open. Braxiatel smirked in triumph.

"See? I'm right, Thete."

"No—nope, that can't be true. No! You aren't…" Theta shook his head groggily, trying to recover from the initial wave of shock. And recover he did; a mischievous grin slowly spread on his face. Now it was his time to retaliate. He leaned forward and whispered loudly.

"No, you aren't always right. You never expected being slapped by Donna, huh, Lord Cardinal 'Oh-I'm-So-Perfect-and-Is-Prepared-For-Everything', huh?"

Braxiatel's eyes darkened, and soon enough they were arguing with each other, their voices rising louder and louder. Well, more like bickering, really.

"Oh, and who's talking? Theta Sigma the Great Renegade?"

"Yeah, Brax, cause it's you who—"

Mickey sighed and leaned back on his chair, putting an arm around Martha's waist and pulling her close. He muttered.

"Yeah, that's what brothers always do. Fight and bicker and turn tables. I'm not surprised. Though I thought Time Lords would be better than—" A piece of fish finger flew overhead and landed on the floor. "—This."

"They aren't Time Lords, they are just boys. Boys and their stupid sense of pride." Martha laughed. Donna rolled her eyes at that, and Wilfred chuckled. A few minutes had to pass before Braxiatel collected himself and pulled back, sighing in exasperation.

"Fine, fine, that's enough!"

"Ha! I won!" Theta poked his tongue out, grinning. "Chickening out, Brax?"

"Childish as always," Braxiatel shook his head, leaning back with another sigh. Then he handed Donna—who was busily cleaning the table—his half-finished breakfast plate with a tight smile on his lips.

"Thank you. I enjoyed… having fish fingers with custard. I've never seen this kind of combination before, though."

"Obviously, Donna retorted, cheerfully taking the plate. "It's your brother's favorite menu. I figured you would like it!"

"How intelligent of you, Miss Noble. My brother's taste in food had always been quite—bizarre, in the least! And you thought I would like it?"

"Well, thanks for your compliment, suit-boy!"

Braxiatel frowned and muttered something inaudible under his breath. At least she didn't call him 'Space-ass' this time around. Jack quickly exchanged amused glances with Jenny. She gave a knowing smirk.

Well, that's something. At least he's trying to be polite again, Jenny mouthed. Jack rolled his eyes and grinned.

Yeah, that really means something, considering that he doesn't think much of us. And he isn't running off, screaming 'He's a Fixed Point!' like the Doctor.

Somebody did slap the senses into him last night, River added, smiling. But he's still rubbish at his manners. That's cute.

Jenny groaned. River…

I'm not flirting!

Yes, you are.

I'm not!

"Do you know that I can hear everything you are whispering at the moment? And it's starting to be slightly embarrassing," Brax interrupted their heated argument, looking quite annoyed. Jenny grinned sheepishly at her uncle, and he shook his head with a long sigh. He was sighing for the third time in the morning.

Abruptly pushing his chair away, Irving Braxiatel stood up, tall and firm. He gathered everyone's attention with a single clap.

"Now," he announced, smiling. "Enough of all this friendly talk. Why don't we move on to business?"

Theta stared at him, his eyebrows arched in doubt. Something in Braxiatel's voice made him uneasy. Not to mention that meaningful smile…

What was going to happen?

*…*…*…*…*

Back on the TARDIS…

"Oh, and I was thinking I'd never have to do this again, Martha muttered in disapproval, locking the Chameleon Arch onto the fidgeting boy's head. She remembered the screaming and the pained expression on the Doctor's face all too well; it didn't help that Theta was looking up at her with the same big, brown, doe-like eyes. Feeling sorry for herself and Theta, she took an unwilling step back as Irving Braxiatel approached the child.

The man, perfectly clad in suits as ever, strode over to the console and unplugged two of the cords, disabling the cell biology rewriting function. Then he connected all the remaining wires to the sonic pen and crouched down in front of his little brother, making an intense eye contact with the boy.

"Listen, Theta Sigma." Turning the loose bolts back into place, the man spoke into the young boy's ear in a level voice. "Listen to me. As I'm not using the Arch to rewrite your biology, the process will be painless. Instead, I'll use this mind to access your mind and put the memories back into place. Is that okay?"

"Well… yeah," Theta fidgeted again, puffing his chest up in an attempt to look brave. "Only—only that I don't want to remember everything in one go. Not now."

"We'll do with the pleasant memories first, then." Braxiatel replied casually, as if he was expecting that kind of request from Theta. "And I'll let you choose the memories that you want to have back. What about that?"

Theta hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting over to Martha, Mickey, Sarah Jane, River, Jack, Jenny, Amy, Rory, Donna, and Wilfred Mott. He wanted to know. He wanted to truly remember who they were.

Be a Doctor.

"Okay. Okay!" He said, taking a deep breath and nodding briskly. "Let's do this!"

"Excellent!" Braxiatel exclaimed and walked back to the console. Then he faced the Doctor's companions, meanwhile uploading data to the TARDIS computer database with his Sonic Pen.

"Now, I'll make the Doctor lapse into a state of total unconsciousness and enter his mind. But you will have to come with me. All of you."

"What?!" Rory asked, alarmed. He took a step forward. "You mean that we will enter his mind?"

"Your consciousness entering his mental landscape, to be precise. But don't worry—the TARDIS and the Arch amplifies my psychic abilities. And my work is always perfect," Brax casually dismissed him with a shrug. "He will be reliving the memories he chooses, and we will be watching it. But as I don't know the details of your little adventures, you'll have to point things out if you see a distorted, or false, piece of memory. Just in case."

"All right!"

To their great surprise, it was Donna, who wasn't on particularly good terms with Brax, that answered first. The ginger woman's eyes were so rigidly set in determination that no one dared object.

"I understand—the Spaceman needs us. We'll do it!"

"Good choice, Madame." Braxiatel nodded, a wry smile twisting his lips. "Then let's begin. Oh, and… Theta?"

"Yes?"

"I lied. About the 'painless part."

Before anyone could make a move, Braxiatel swiftly brought his hand down and slammed on the button. With a huge 'Bang', electricity immediately began buzzing and shooting blue-white sparks from the entangled wires. Theta's eyes widened impossibly.

Confusion, shock, anger, betrayal, anguish, and pain.

Then he started screaming.

Shocked, Martha watched the boy's fragile form writhe and shudder, then spun around and glared at the other Time Lord in utter fury and anger.

"You… you lied to us?!" She yelled. And Braxiatel smiled.

"Oh, of course. I lie all the time; it makes things easier."

With that, he brought his hand down again, pulling another lever. A blinding rush of white light erupted from the circuit. Theta screamed louder, from the pain of his mental barriers being torn down without preparation, from the shock of Braxiatel tearing through his memories and pulling them up one by one.

And everything plunged into utter darkness.

*…*…*…*…*

And very, very far away, a Sontaran fleet in search of the Doctor detected a fleeting signal, a signal of Huon Energy amplified by a sonic pen. The Origin: Earth. The Doctor, their honorable enemy, was located on Earth.

Shortly after reporting this, the General could receive a clear command from the Sontaran Empire: Find the Doctor. Execute the Oncoming Storm, and bring glory to the Empire.

So twenty Sontaran fleets—an army with enough power of burning an entire Solar System to ashes—started heading for the same destination. They would arrive in only a few weeks, at most—sometime after Christmas.

Oh, it was just as Braxiatel had intended. All of this.

A/N: Now it's the SHOW TIME! The next two chapters will really cover the Doctor's companions watching our favorite Time Lord's memories—from funny to angsty. But the plot is only starting to thicken, with a black-hearted, deceiving, unpredictable brother and an upcoming attack from the Sontarans.

Please Review! :)