CHAPTER 71

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ATTACK OF THE WIRNN

As I arrived at Oxford in 1890 to go back to my teaching job, I thought about how weird it was that my perception filter was still making me look like I did two regenerations back. I usually moved on and abandoned parts of past lives once I regenerated because it was too much trouble to keep those attachments once I became a different person, but I didn't want to do that this time.

This job was different. I loved this job, and I wanted to keep it as long as possible because I really felt like I was making a difference here in the lives of my students. I also liked the idea of having a regular job like everyone else. That appealed to me more than anything else about it I think. Being an immortal pretty much makes you crave any kind of normality or even just a semblance of it that you can find. You latch onto anything that can make you forget what's inevitably going to happen to everyone and everything around you.

I tried to push all thoughts of outliving everyone that I loved that had now been awakened in my mind aside as I went back to work. I was already afraid enough of losing Robin since he was only human. I was actually beginning to think of asking him to try the potion that could make anyone into a Time Lord that River Song had obtained from an alternate universe recently. I would still lose him even then eventually, but at least it wouldn't happen so quickly.

I quickly forgot about these thoughts though as I saw Jenny Flint. She smiled at me as I entered our office and then developed a look of instant horror on her face as I grabbed her and hugged her as tight as I could. She started to turn blue and gasp for air before too long.

"Miss Lily, stop! Stop! I . . . I can't . . ." Jenny somehow managed to say between gasps.

I immediately let go and said, "I'm so sorry, J. I'm just so happy to see you that I forgot myself for a minute there. It's this new regeneration. I'm all touchy feely now and just love to hug. A little too much I'm afraid. I hope I didn't hurt you."

"You've changed again, Miss?" Jenny asked with a touch of sadness.

I think that she had become attached to the last me. I have no idea why. I mean what was so great about Miss Fancy? Who walks around carrying a purple umbrella and wearing purple gloves anyway?

"I'm afraid so. I'm burning through them pretty fast these days. Do you want to see?" I asked.

"Yes, of course," Jenny said.

I switched off the perception filter, and she started to laugh immediately. I frowned as I wondered exactly what it was that she found so funny.

"I'm sorry, Miss. I know I shouldn't laugh, but you just look so strange. In that long dress and tiara, you look like you just stepped out of a children's book," Jenny said still laughing.

"Hey! I think I look pretty good myself. What's wrong with looking like a princess? Isn't that every little girl's dream? I'm just living the dream, J. I'm living the dream," I said with a proud smile on my face.

Jenny burst out laughing again and wouldn't stop. I liked her but today she was really pushing our friendship. I decided to let it slide though. I knew that it was just because she couldn't appreciate how great my new ensemble was. She was too stuck in the mindset of her own time to truly get it I think.

"I'm sorry. It's just that you're so funny, Miss. You act even sillier in this life than you did in the last one. No offense meant," Jenny said.

"I am a little offended actually, but I know that you're not trying to be intentionally malicious so I'll just let it slide. Just be lucky that I like you so much, Miss Jenny," I said smiling at her as I switched the perception filter back on.

"I am lucky, Miss. You're a good friend," Jenny said.

"Please stop calling me Miss. It's Lily, Jenny. Call me Lily," I said sighing. How many times had I told her that?

"I'm too stuck in my ways I'm afraid, Miss. It just wouldn't be right," Jenny said.

"Okay. Whatever, J. I still love you anyway," I said as I hugged her again and kissed her cheek.

This time the hug was nowhere near as tight as the one before. Jenny sighed as she said, "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm very happy with Madame Vastra, Miss Lily."

"Huh?" I said in confusion.

"I just wanted to clear up any possible confusion about our relationship," Jenny said.

"Oh, no! No! I wasn't . . . I told you it's just the new me. I love everyone now, and I tend to go to the extremes to show it. I'm happy myself with Robin. I promise. I'm sorry if I'm making you feel uncomfortable," I assured her.

"It's not so bad. I just wanted to make sure of where we stood," Jenny said.

"Great. Now I have to worry about alienating all of my students," I said with a sad face.

Jenny laughed at me as she said, "I promise I'll stop you if you start going too far. Don't worry about it, Miss."

"Thank you, J," I said with relief.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Jenny asked confused.

"Calling you what?" I asked.

"J? Why do you keep calling me a letter for?" Jenny asked.

"Oh. That's a part of the new me too. I call everyone by cute nicknames. J is short for Jenny. It's the hip way to talk. I'll try to stop that I promise. I'm really sorry, Jenny. I guess you're not exactly a fan of the new me so far, huh?" I said.

"It's alright, Miss. You're still not as strange as the Doctor," Jenny said.

"Jenny, you've just made my day. Thank you so much! I'd hug you again, but I know you've already had enough of that today," I said grinning at her.

"I certainly have, Miss. I'd prefer not to have any more of my ribs bruised," Jenny said as she started to back away from me warily.

"I'm sorry," I said again. This was not going too well so far.

She smiled at me as she could see the despairing look on my face and said, "Don't worry about it. We're still good friends."

"Thank you, Jenny," I said.

The rest of the day went much better as I consciously reined myself in around my students so that none of them thought that I was being overly familiar with them as well. Luckily I made it through the day without any more hugging incidents.

Then just as I was getting ready to leave in the TARDIS and go back to Robin, I was suddenly caught up in yet another adventure. As Jenny and I started to leave the school together, I heard many of the girls whispering about something in a corner.

When so many students got together to talk in whispers, I was always a bit weary. It was never good. It usually meant trouble of one form or another.

I signaled to Jenny to approach them as silently as possible as I put my finger on my lips and motioned for us to go forward. We slowly made our way to within earshot of the students, and I quietly listened as they told a horrible story.

"You're lying. That's just a rumor like those stories about the shape changing men that looked like frogs that were going about not too long ago. You lot will believe anything that this one tells you," Beth, one of the more vocal of my students, said in disbelief as she glared at Margaret, who was well known for being a bit of an . . . embellisher of the truth to put it in a nice way.

"I swear that it's the absolute truth this time. I saw the police investigating the murder myself. I was listening nearby when I heard one of them say that a witness told them that the murdered man had been killed by a giant insect. It was an insect the size of a person. It's true. I swear. The police didn't believe the witness but I do. That body was covered in green slime just like what you'd expect to see from an insect," Margaret said.

"She's just telling tall tales I tell you. None of that ever happened," Beth said.

"You say the body was covered in green slime. Was there a large pupa around like a caterpillar might break out of when it becomes a butterfly?" I asked suddenly breaking into the conversation.

All of the girls looked at me in shock as they realized that I had been listening to them. They looked at me nervously thinking maybe that I was about to punish them in some way. I had no intentions of doing so of course.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I know we shouldn't be standing around gossiping. Proper ladies don't do that," Margaret said.

"Since when?" I asked with a conspiratorial grin on my face.

I could see the students starting to relax right away as I pressed on with my questions.

"So did anyone see a large pupa or a chrysalis of some kind?" I asked Margaret again.

"Well, I did hear the police mention finding something like that nearby, but they dismissed it as being a part of some hoax. They didn't take it or the man who talked about the giant insect very seriously. They thought that someone was putting them on. I got the impression that they thought that the witness was a bit touched in the head, Miss," Margaret said.

"Yes, just like you must think that we are," Beth said.

"I'm not lying!" Margaret said.

"Beth, lay off of her. I believe her. I think that she may be onto something," I said.

"What?" Beth asked in shock.

"It's like that bat creature that kidnapped some of the girls here, isn't it? It's just as real, isn't it?" Margaret asked.

"That story was made up too," Beth said.

"No, it wasn't. I knew a girl who was kidnapped by it," another one of my students protested.

"It's all just stories I tell you," Beth insisted.

"Humans. You never can see the forest for the trees, can you? Alien species walk around openly in front of you, and you still deny their existence to the bitter end," I said with a snort.

"What?!" Margaret and Beth both said together this time as the others looked at me like I had grown an extra head.

"What Miss Ceres meant to say was that you shouldn't just blindly dismiss a story just because it doesn't agree with your own beliefs. You should examine all of the facts first before dismissing them," Jenny said as she used the alias that I went by in this time of Diana Ceres instead of my real name.

I smiled at her appreciatively as I said, "Yes, that's right. That's exactly what I meant."

The girls all looked at one another as if they didn't really believe me as they said, "Of course, Miss Ceres."

"I think that you're right, Margaret. Don't get too upset about it though. I'm sure that whatever it is will be taken care of by the proper authorities before it becomes any kind of a real threat," I said trying to make her feel better about what she had seen and heard since it obviously seemed to be bothering her.

I turned to leave and was about to start investigating the murder with Jenny when Margaret said, "So you're going to stop the giant insect like you did the giant bat, Miss Ceres?"

I stopped in my tracks and said without turning around, "Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, come on, Miss Ceres, a lot of the girls know now. You rescued them from a giant bat who wanted to feed off of them. They kept quiet about it to everyone else, but they told the rest of us. Some of us believe them and some of us like Beth don't. I believe them though. You fought and killed the giant bat along with Miss Jenny and two other people who we don't know the identities of. The four of you are some kind of monster hunters, aren't you?" Margaret asked.

"Tell them it's all a pack of lies, Miss Ceres," Beth said.

I turned around and smiled at the girls as I said, "We're not monster hunters."

"See? I told you," Beth said.

"It's more like we stop attempted alien invasions of this planet instead. They're beings from other worlds not monsters," I said.

"Hah! I knew it! I knew it!" Margaret said excited.

"You're putting us on. There are no such things as beings from other worlds," Beth said still not believing it for a second.

I just smiled at them and said, "Beings from other worlds might be closer than you think, Beth. You could see them every day and not even realize it. Not all such beings are bad after all. Sometimes they work to protect instead of destroy," I said.

"It's time to go now, Miss Ceres," Jenny said nervously as the girls started to stare at me in shock.

"I told you she was an alien," one of the girls whispered.

I turned to leave again and was once again stopped as Margaret said, "Don't worry. We won't tell anyone about you, Miss Lily. We know that you're our friend and would never harm us no matter who or what you are. You've proven that for a long time now."

I turned back around once again in shock as I said, "How did you know that name?"

"Oh, my! It's true! The rumors going around are true!" Beth said in shock.

"You're not going to say anything, are you? She's on our side. We know she'd never hurt us," Margaret said.

"Yeah," one of the other girls said as several others nodded.

"I won't tell. I know she's a good person," Beth said.

"How did you know about my name?" I asked again.

"Many of us overheard Miss Jenny and her strange friends calling you that when the giant bat kidnapped them. I promise that we won't tell though," Margaret said.

The others nodded their heads in approval of this and I smiled at them. It seemed that I had made more of an impression here then I thought.

"Thank you. All of you. I've got to go now to find out what's going on but don't worry about it. I'll soon sort it all out," I assured them.

"Goodbye, Miss Lily," Margaret said as she waved goodbye to me and Jenny.

As we left, Jenny said, "Are you sure that was wise, Miss? Telling them all of that I mean."

"It seems that they already knew it anyway. Don't worry, Jenny. I trust them," I said.

"So do I but the truth seems to find a way of getting out sometimes whether people mean it to or not," Jenny said.

"I hope not. I don't want to have to leave this school. I've grown to love it too much," I said sad at the mere thought of it.

We said nothing else and walked along in an uncomfortable silence until we came to Madame Vastra and Jenny's home. I had decided to go to see Vastra first since she always seemed to know everything about what was going on in London in this time.

As soon as I opened the front door, Vastra was waiting for us. She smiled as she said, "What took you? I expected you to come sooner."

"We were talking to the students. They've worked out who Miss Lily is I'm afraid. More or less," Jenny said.

Vastra looked troubled as she said, "I hope that this won't become a problem for you down the road, Lily. I'd hate to see you stop coming here. Jenny loves to have adventures with you. She simply adores you. I'd be jealous if I didn't know how happy you were with Robin."

I sighed as I said, "I promise that I only think of her as a friend. I have to admit that I'd definitely take her along as a traveling companion if I could because she's definitely fun to fight alongside. I don't have to worry about her as much as I do my family. She can really fight. I assume that she has you to thank for that."

"Well, Strax and I both have trained her as a matter of fact. He's taught her a few things as well. I wanted to make sure that she could take care of herself," Vastra said.

"You've certainly done a good job with that, Madame. I suppose from what you said when I opened the door that you already know that I'm hunting the Wirnn," I said.

"I thought it was them from the descriptions that the witness gave. You know what this means then?" Vastra asked.

"Yes, they're trying to create a new swarm of Wirnns from the local population in secret under the cover of night. Once they have enough of them, they'll take over this entire city and maybe more than that to use them for new hosts for their eggs," I said.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but what are the Wirnn?" Jenny asked.

"They're a race of large insects from the Andromeda galaxy that can actually travel through space by themselves without needing a ship. They go from world to world to find hosts to lay their eggs in, and the eggs hatch inside of the hosts and slowly take them over. They eventually transform the host into larvae when then create a pupa for themselves and emerge later as adult Wirnns. They need humanity as hosts in order to make new Wirnns, and there are certainly plenty of them to choose from here," I explained to her.

"That's horrible. We have to stop them now before it's too late," Jenny said now finally understanding what I was so worked up about.

"It may be worse than that. The green slime on the corpse can transform people into Wirnns too. Whoever touched it is also in danger," I said.

"The police have found this out the hard way as many of them have started to change. They have quarantined the infected officers and had already contacted me about the case due to my reputation for investigating such things. I told them that I would soon be bringing them an expert on such matters," Vastra said smiling.

"You're very sure of yourself, aren't you?" I said smiling back at her.

"I'm certain of your nature, Lily. You could never resist involving yourself in such a thing," Vastra said.

"True. Very true. You know me so well now, Vastra. Well, let's go then. We need to stop the Wirnn now while we still can," I said.

The three of us were joined by Strax as we soon traveled to the police station that Vastra had mentioned. We arrived just in time to discover that the entire station was under attack by the Wirnn. Apparently they were trying to rescue the future Wirnn within.

"We can't let them reach the others. We'll lose any chance that we have of saving them," I said.

"How do we kill them? Their outer shell looks too impervious for normal weaponry to affect it," Vastra asked as she noticed that the police's bullets were having no effect on the invaders.

"The Sontarans have encountered these parasites before. Even our guns do not affect them. The only way that we know to kill them is with electricity," Strax said.

"Where can we gain access to enough electricity to kill them in this time though?" I asked.

Vastra smiled as she said, "Show her, Strax."

"Yes, Madame. I am prepared for any form of combat," Strax said as he produced a giant gun from his coat.

"Don't tell me. Your pockets are bigger on the inside," I said grinning.

"The Doctor treated them himself. They come in very handy when I need to carry an entire arsenal with me without it being noticed," Strax said grinning.

"That man just loves to use my technology on his clothes. I bet he never even credits me for it either. I invented dimensionally transcendental technology you know including a means of making your pockets bigger on the inside," I said.

"Really? I wasn't aware of that," Vastra said impressed.

"Can we please shoot the giant insects now, Miss?" Jenny said looking worried as the Wirnn seemed to be clearly overpowering the police now.

"I'm already on it, boy. For the glory of Sontar!" Strax said as he started using his huge gun to shoot electrical bolts at the Wirnn.

The large insects screamed in pain as Strax started quickly shooting them all with it and instantly killed them. We thought that the threat was all over with until the half transformed humans within the station suddenly burst out and rushed towards us.

"They have killed the entire swarm save one. Destroy them before they can find the Queen. We must protect her or all is lost," one of them shouted.

"They're too far gone now," I said sadly.

"The Queen must be somewhere nearby. Find her while we take care of the others. The Wirnn won't be stopped until she's dead too so that there will be no more eggs," Vastra said.

"I'm sorry that it's come to this," I said as I watched the still half human Wirnn hosts rushing towards us ready to tear us apart.

"There's nothing that we can do for them now. Go," Vastra said.

I reluctantly left and pulled out an alien life sign detector that I had made long ago to help me ferret out any hidden alien invaders that I might come across in this era. As I started to use it to find the Queen with, I suddenly heard Strax mowing down the human hosts behind me. I instantly stopped and winced but didn't turn around to look. I didn't want to see what was happening to those poor people.

I quickly started searching for the Queen again vowing to make sure that no one else wound up as her new hosts. I soon found the Queen hiding nearby in an alley. She had been observing the deaths of her swarm and was now furious.

"Murderers! Assassins! You may have killed my children, but I can always create more. I will turn this entire area into a breeding ground for the swarm. The Wirnn will rise again. Once I have created a fully grown swarm from the overabundance of hosts in this city, we will go back out into space to return home. We will survive and prosper, and there is nothing that you can do about it, Time Lord," the Queen said.

"I know that you're just trying to survive but so are these people. I can't let you destroy them," I said.

"You will have no choice. Soon you too will become one of the Wirnn," the Queen said as she tried to get near me so that she could infect me.

"Don't do this. Go now while you still have a chance. Leave this world, and I'll let you live," I said as I stayed just out of her reach.

"I don't have the strength to return to space. I am old and dying now. I must lay eggs and create a new Queen to take my place before it is too late. You will be that Queen," the Queen said as she continued to try to get close enough to me to infect me.

"Don't make me do this," I said.

"Neither of us really have a choice, do we? We both do what we must for our people's survival. I want you to know that I have no personal animosity towards you. I only do what I must for my species to survive," the Queen said.

"I know and I'm sorry," I said as I began to glow with regenerative energy.

"This is it then. Goodbye, Time Lord!" the Queen said as she ran at me at full speed.

"Goodbye," I said softly as I instantly incinerated her with a massive blast of regenerative energy from my hands.

I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I bristled with shock. I instantly whirled around to attack whoever was there and stopped when I saw that it was Margaret. I stopped glowing and said, "Never do that again. I could have hurt you."

"You just looked so sad. I wanted to tell you that you did the right thing," Margaret said.

"Did I? I'm not so sure. She didn't really leave me with much of a choice though. She would have infected more people and gotten them killed as well. I couldn't allow that. I've killed so many people and beings, Margaret. So many. It still hurts the same though whenever I have to kill again. Every time is still as painful as the first time," I said still upset.

"That just shows that you're as good of a person as I thought you were," Margaret said.

I looked at her with concern as the full impact of her presence there finally hit me.

"Why are you here? Are you following me? She didn't touch you, did she? You didn't touch any of her slime, did you?" I asked.

"No. I'm fine. I decided to follow you here to see if I could help. Well, that and I . . . ," Margaret said and then stopped.

"What?" I asked as I waited for her to finish.

"I would like to go with you when you leave here. I've seen you get out of your ship. I know you have one. Can I travel with you to your planet or wherever it is that you go when you leave here?" Margaret asked.

"You're too young to go with me, Margaret. Besides I wouldn't feel right about risking the life of one of my students anyway. I'm supposed to protect you not put you in harm's way," I said.

"Holly is traveling with you though, isn't she? That's where she disappeared to, isn't it?" Margaret asked.

"Yes, but that's different. She's older than you are and more . . . experienced," I said trying not to insult her.

"She's around the same age if not younger. Are you saying I'm not mature? I may not know what I'm getting myself into exactly, but I was smart enough to figure out the truth about you all by myself. That counts for something, doesn't it?" Margaret asked.

"Being smart isn't the same as being mature. I mean you proved that just now by following me straight into danger and allowed yourself to get within arm's length of a dangerous alien queen. You could have gotten yourself killed. I'm sorry. I can't let you go with me right now, Margaret. Maybe in a few more years though," I said.

"Yes, of course. I understand. I'll never get to leave this rotten life of mine," Margaret said in a voice filled with pain and frustration.

"Margaret, I'm sorry," I said.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll be fine. Just fine," Margaret said as she quickly ran from me in tears.

I hated to do that to her, but I couldn't take her with me. I was sworn to protect the girls not endanger them. Besides I already felt badly enough traveling with my family even though I knew that they could take care of themselves. I wasn't going to take someone completely inexperienced and naïve out there to die. I had to draw the line somewhere. I would never be able to live with myself if anything happened to her.

I thought that was the end of the whole thing, but it turned out that I was wrong. Margaret would soon get involved in one of my adventures again and become plunged right into the middle of an insanely dangerous situation right along with me whether I wanted her there or not.

That was in the future though. Just before that I had a very different adventure ahead of me. I was about to finally discover the truth about a hidden secret from my past that had always bothered me. I was about to discover what really happened to my old babysitter who had mysteriously vanished when I was a child and exactly who she was. All that I knew about her at that point was that she looked exactly like Clara Oswald. Soon I would discover the truth about her at last.

The answers would surprise me and lead me to yet another distasteful meeting with the Doctor. You can't have everything though.

Next: It's Part 2 of a crossover with It's Better With Two Chapter 33 as the details of Lily's early childhood are revealed at last. We will meet her entire family and get to know what they were like before their untimely deaths. We'll also see the truth behind Lily's mysterious babysitter. Who was she and where did she disappear to? Could she really be Clara somehow? Come back next time to find out.