CHAPTER 20
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The Doctor had gone to visit the Menoptera on the moon of Vortis that was now their home. He was saddened that they had had to return there after he had helped them regain Vortis from the Animus once before a long time ago in his first incarnation. He was determined that they would walk on Vortis once again. He wanted to finish the Animus off once and for all this time.
The Menoptera had the only weapon known to be able to kill the Animus, the Isop-tope. His companion, Barbara, had used it to kill the monster before. He was going to recreate history with it once again.
"Doctor, is that really you? You were an old man when I last saw you, but that is undeniably the TARDIS," Vrestin, who the Doctor had met when he fought the Animus before, said to him in joy. She had been the leader of the Menoptera expedition to free Vortis from the Animus.
"I've changed a lot since then. Ten times actually," the Doctor said with a smile.
"Yes, I have heard of your ability to change form. No wonder that you were able to help us defeat the Animus. Only a god can kill a god," Vrestin said.
"I'm not a god, Vrestin. I'm just a man who wants his wife back. The Animus took her along with her adopted brother. He's gone to destroy a planet that I care about very much. I won't let him get away with it. I need the Isop-tope to stop him with again," the Doctor said.
"I will gladly give it to you, but I don't know if it still works or not. No one has used it since the day you were last on Vortis. It may no longer function," Vrestin warned him.
"I'll take my chances. Even if it is broken, I can probably fix it. I am quite brilliant after all. I can fix practically anything," the Doctor boasted.
The Doctor waited for Lily to make a joke about the Chameleon Circuit. It never came. He looked to see her standing there staring blankly ahead while Allison had her arm wrapped around her protectively.
It made his hearts sink to see her like this. It brought back bad memories from the past. This had been her reaction after they thought Arkytior had died, and it had been one of the reasons that he had left Gallifrey. He couldn't stand to see Persephone, who he loved deeply despite their feuds, disintegrate like that. He would not let it happen again!
Vrestin brought him the Isop-tope, and he looked it over. It looked weathered with age, but he thought that it still might be usable. He would have to check it later back on the TARDIS.
"Thank you, Vrestin! I'll bring it back after I use it to put the Animus down. You have no idea how much this means to me," the Doctor said with a serious look on his face.
"I think I do. It also means something to that woman there I think. When I gave it to you just now, it was the only time I saw any movement on her face since she came here. I saw a moment of hope there I believe," Vrestin whispered to the Doctor about Lily.
"She's my mother in law," the Doctor explained in another whisper.
Vrestin understood now. She looked at Lily with sympathy and silently wished her success in finding her children alive and well.
"Good bye, Vrestin. When I come back, it will be to tell you that you can go home again. Forever this time," the Doctor promised her.
"Good luck, Doctor!" Vrestin said as she smiled at Lily an encouraging smile.
Lily briefly smiled back. Then there was no reaction. Persephone had no time for emotion now. She was working on a plan to get Rose and Ron back in her mind. The Doctor thought that she was broken again and in a way she was, but she was not beaten. Not this time. This time she knew for sure that Rose was still alive. This time nothing would keep her from her side!
As soon as they all left in the TARDIS, Lily locked herself in the Doctor's workshop and would not come out for hours. The Doctor worried about her but said nothing. He wouldn't bother her yet.
Allison paced around the Console Room in agitation. She just kept walking back and forth as she grew more and more worried about Lily.
Robin could do nothing but watch her in despair. He didn't know what to do to make her feel better. He felt full of despair himself. Maybe he should have stayed in the Land of Fiction. He was useless here in this world. He couldn't do anything to help anyone here!
Isabella just watched both of them in silence. She felt helpless herself, but she had hope. The Time Lady had helped save her village against impossible odds once before. She had faith in Lily that she could save Ron for her. She believed if anyone could that she could. The others believed that Lily had given up, but she had seen the fire of old appear in her eyes from time to time. She knew that Lily had a plan. She believed that. She believed in her!
In the workshop, Lily was inventing her own way to stop the Animus. When she emerged, the Animus would learn why the Time Lords of the Dark Times used to call her The Destroyer!
The Doctor landed on Earth where he managed to find a way of finding the Animus by tracking Rose's unique Vortex energy signature. He tracked the two of them to the North Pole where he found the Animus setting up a Carsinome, an organic home for himself made out of self-healing fungus. It would be from here that the Animus would start sucking the life out of the Earth eventually.
As the TARDIS landed, the Animus turned to it in anger. Rose was very weak now, but she still had enough energy left to manage a weak smile.
The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS and pointed the Isop-tope at the Animus.
"Recognize this? It ended your existence once, and it will again unless you leave those two alone right now. I want you to end this peacefully and disperse your consciousness into space as you should have long ago. Your life is long over. It ended during the Time War. Let go, Animus. Don't drag this out any longer. End this farce now!" the Doctor ordered.
"I don't think so, Time Lord. This is the end of the line for you and your kind. Once my new human empire begins, I will come to Gallifrey. I will end your misbegotten race's dominance over time once and for all. This universe will belong to me and my kind just like the previous universe did once," the Animus threatened.
The Doctor had had enough! No second chances!
He pointed the Isop-tope at the Animus, and the half-finished Carsinome that he had been building collapsed into dust instantly. The Animus screamed in agony as his consciousness started to fall apart, and he began to be pulled out of Ron's body. Rose began to swiftly regain her strength, and she hoped that she would be able to use her powers soon so that she could join the Doctor in attacking him.
Then, just as Vrestin had warned him, the Isop-tope stopped working!
The Animus started smiling as his strength started to return, and Rose fell to her knees as he began to drain her strength all over again.
"No! Not now!" the Doctor said as he hit the Isop-tope to try to get it to start working again.
"That ancient relic won't help you anymore, Doctor. It's all over for you now! Say good-bye forever!" the Animus said as the Carsinome came back to life and fungus from it started to surround the Doctor. He quickly found himself trapped in its iron grip, and it continued to flow up his head as the Animus planned on suffocating him to death!
"Time to die, Doctor!" the Animus said laughing.
"Yes, it is time to die! For you, you piece of garbage!" Lily said from behind the Doctor.
Lily was wearing head to toe armor now. It was filled with weapons that she was going to use to tear the Great Old One to pieces after she had him beg for her mercy!
Robin, Allison, and Isabella stood behind her watching her in concern.
"My lady, be careful!" Robin warned her.
"Lily, what are you doing?" Allison asked her in concern.
"My name isn't Lily. It's Sekhmet the Destroyer! I will crush my enemy under my feet and reclaim my children!" the woman who had once been Persephone said.
She had regressed in her mind back to her very first persona from long ago. She was now the warrior she had once been in the First Great Time War. She would do anything, even risk permanent brain damage, to save her children. If she didn't return to her current persona in a certain amount of time, she might be risking exactly that!
She started off her battle with him by blasting the Animus with a psionic disrupter designed only to affect non-human brainwaves. The Animus' mind felt as if it were on fire as he screamed in extreme agony.
This was just the start. Lily smiled with satisfaction at her enemy's pain. Soon there would be more!
Next: Lily shows the Animus why the Great Vampires used to fear her!