CHAPTER 83

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WILL THE REAL ROBIN HOOD STAND UP?

In the aftermath of our victory over the Sontarans, we immediately decided to focus on trying to find out how to change the Zygons back to normal from Stryfe. I'm sure that you won't be too surprised to find out that he was less than forthcoming with that information however.

"I will never help you! I would lose what precious little honor that I have left if I do so. Being hugged by the enemy is nothing in comparison to willingly helping them. This I will not do. You can threaten to torture me or even kill me, but I will never, ever betray my people. Sontar-Ha! Sontar-Ha! Sontar . . ." Stryfe said and then suddenly stopped in mid cheer as Allison held a cell phone with a picture of him being hugged by a Zygon in front of him.

"What do you intend to do with that?" Stryfe said with just a tinge of fear in his voice.

"She's going to send it straight to the Sontaran High Command if you don't cooperate," I said with an evil smile on my face.

"I don't believe you. There's no way that you could know how to contact them. They have secret encoded frequencies that are told to no one so that we aren't spied upon by the Rutans," Stryfe said.

"I've been alive for a billion years and I'm a master engineer who basically helped to found the greatest civilization in the universe. You don't think that I can figure out how to listen to some encoded transmissions? Honestly!" I said with a chuckle.

"You're bluffing," Stryfe said still unconvinced.

"Am I? Listen up," I said as I took a jury rigged communications device and tuned it directly into the secret frequencies of the Sontaran High Command.

"We will move against the Rutan position outside Soros III in a short time. Be prepared to move when I give the command," A voice suddenly said through it.

"Yes, Commander. With this sneak attack, we will finally crush the Rutan forces in that sector of the galaxy forever! Sontar-Ha! Sontar-Ha!" Another voice answered back in a curt tone.

I turned the device off as I said with a smirk, "Do you think that they'll win, Stryfe? Personally my money's on the Rutans. They've been holding that area for a couple of months now. Or so I've heard."

Stryfe's eyes went as wide as saucers as he finally realized at last that what I was saying was true.

"You know I really think that I could manipulate this photo on my phone so that it looks like Stryfe was hugging the Zygon back if I put a little bit of work into it," Allison said with a giggle.

"Oh, yes! Be sure and do that, Ally. That'll be even better! I wonder if you'll even be able to show your face around Sontar once that photo gets out, Stryfe. You might even be shot," I said.

"Oh, do you really think so?" Violet said in an almost hopeful voice.

"Hey, anything's possible. Maybe you could try and help our good friend, Stryfe, out though. You could try to talk to the people that you know on Sontar and see if you could get him a reduced treason sentence. I have a feeling after they see this picture that he's going to need it. What sentence do they give you for hugging the enemy anyway, Stryfe? I bet that they haven't even thought that one up yet because no Sontaran's ever dared to do it before. You'll probably get an extra special punishment for that one. They'll do it in secret too because if it ever got out you'd embarrass your entire species. No one will ever know what happened to you," I said as I did my absolute best to scare him.

Stryfe was shaking so much that it looked like he was about to explode at any moment now as he said, "They will never believe that the picture is real. You said yourself that you would manipulate it. The High Command will think that it's edited and will denounce it as a hoax."

"I thought you might say that, Stryfey, so I also had Ally take a video of the whole thing. Let's take a look at it," I said as Allison began to show the video on her phone to him.

Stryfe looked like he was about to wet himself as he shouted, "No! You can't show them that or I'll be atomized!"

"Then tell us what we need to know. If it works, then we'll delete the picture and the video from the phone. No one will ever know what really happened here," I said.

"How do I know that you'll keep your word?" Stryfe said suspiciously.

"My word is my bond. I'll even swear an oath to it," I said.

"I don't believe you," Stryfe said nervously.

"It's not working, my lady. Let's just send it to them anyway. At least we'll get some kind of satisfaction out of it. I will enjoy watching how they react to it," Robin said with an eager look on his face.

"Yes, let's just send it already. Go on, Ally," Ron said.

"Do you really think so?" Allison said as her finger hovered over the phone.

"Do it, Ally. I want to see him get his for what happened to Mum. She'd be fine if it wasn't for him," Aishwana said encouragingly.

"Oh, stop worrying so much. I'm fine now," I said lying through my teeth as I hid the massive scream that I wanted to let out at that moment.

Robin grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze as he looked at me in concern. He knew. He could see despite my best attempts to hide it from Stryfe that I was still in excruciating pain. I may have been able to fool the Sontaran into thinking that I was better, but I would never be able to fool him. He knew me far too well.

"Why don't you quit stalling and just do it already, Ally? If he won't give Skaren the cure, then I don't care what happens to him. He'll deserve it. Let them fry him!" Holly said in a voice so filled with venom that it completely stunned me.

It seemed as if what had happened to her was already changing her. She wasn't just playing along in order to get Stryfe to break like the rest of us. She actually meant it. That was not the sweet woman that I knew talking just now. I hoped that I could find a way to help her soon or the person that I knew, the one that was one of my closest friends, might just be lost forever.

"Holly, are you alright? You're not acting like yourself," Skaren whispered as he sensed this too.

"Well, I'm not really myself anymore anyway am I? So who cares?" Holly said.

"I care," Skaren said.

Holly smiled briefly but said nothing else. She wasn't gone completely, but she was so filled with anger that it was very hard to see the true her right now. I couldn't really blame her. She had her life turned completely upside down in a single moment because she was trying to save me.

I wasn't going to rest until I had fixed her back to normal somehow. I was not going to let her become some bitter, angry hate-filled caricature of herself because of me. That was not going to happen.

Stryfe could see Holly and Skaren whispering about something and how the rest of us looked at them with concern. Naturally, being completely self-centered, he jumped to the wrong conclusion entirely.

He thought that they were talking about him.

"I will not die in such an ignominious fashion. I will tell you what I know. If you do not keep your promise however, Sekhmet, then you have no honor, and I will hunt you down from the afterlife for it!" Stryfe promised.

"Cool your jets, Stryfe. I'll keep my word as long as I get what I want. Now tell me how to reverse the effects of Kovarian's ray," I said.

"Before using the ray, you must reverse the polarity of the neutrons in it in order to neutralize its effects. I'll have to tell you how to recreate Kovarian's gun first however," Stryfe said.

I groaned as I said, "I should have known that myself. That's an engineer's Rule Number One: In order to fix every technical problem, the answer is almost always to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. It does the trick every time."

"Really?" Ron asked skeptically.

I smiled as I said, "Nah. Not really. I was just being sarcastic. I mean it works sometimes, but it doesn't always solve everything like a certain Doctor seems to think that it does."

"Do you wish to talk about the accursed Doctor all day or do you wish to know how to build the gun?" Stryfe said impatiently.

"I agree. Talking about him is a waste. Alright let's hear it," I said.

As he told me exactly how to recreate the gun and reverse its effects, I silently struggled not to lose my cookies right in front of him. I really felt like I was going to pass out at any moment, but I couldn't let him know that. I had to stay strong and somehow keep myself together until he was finished. Somehow, I'm still not sure how, I actually managed to do exactly that without completely falling apart.

Then as soon as he was finished, I said, "Alright, Stryfe, your ship is over that way. Go home. Don't worry. I'll keep my side of the bargain."

Stryfe looked at me in surprise and then smiled and saluted as he said, "You are a true warrior. Having said that though the next time that I meet you I will kill you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I said with a grin.

As soon as he left the planet, my knees began to buckle as I said, "Allison, do you think that you can recreate the gun from what he told us?"

Allison nodded as she said with a worried look, "Yes, I can because I've learned a lot since becoming a Time Lord, but I'm really not too concerned about that right now, Mum. The Zygons have waited this long to be cured after all so I think that they can probably stand to wait just a little bit longer. You can't because you look like you're about to die at any moment. What can we do to help you?"

"Help them. That's what you can do," I said.

"Seriously, Mum, we want to help you first. Stryfe may be as dumb as a post and didn't notice it, but we all knew that you were in absolute misery the entire time that you were talking to him. You still are. We need to help you," Aishwana said.

"I'll be fine," I said as I could feel the pain in my head becoming worse by the moment the longer that they argued with me.

"No, you won't. You're in no way fine and won't be unless something's done about whatever you did to yourself. You need some help, Mum," Ron protested.

I felt so sick now that all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep for about a week or so, and I didn't want to hear any more arguing about it. I was coming very close to losing my temper now which was something that I didn't want to do especially with my kids.

I finally decided to lay down the law here and I tried very hard to keep the anger and pain that I was currently feeling out of my voice as I said, "Listen, all of you, and listen very carefully. Yes, I am sick and I'm looking like death warmed over right now. This won't last forever though. I promise. I've been through this before and after a few days I was better. That's all I need, okay? I just need a few days to rest. So you just let me have that and help the Zygons and Holly too if you can while I'm doing it. I don't want to hear any more arguments about it either. Trust me when I say that. I don't want to have to say it again. Understand?"

I think at least some of my anger must have been put into my voice after all despite my best efforts to keep it in check because everyone looked too afraid to say anything to me now. Finally Robin put his arm around me and started to lead me towards the TARDIS. He knew that there was no further use in arguing with me anymore so he didn't even try.

Smart man.

"Come on, my lady. I'll make sure that you get all of the rest that you wish," Robin said.

That was when I finally began to start whimpering in pain because I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I nudged Robin to get me into the TARDIS quickly before the whimpering became screaming.

We didn't quite make it.

As I entered the TARDIS, I heard Aishwana say, "I knew it. I knew she was in a lot of pain. We should try to get her to go back to Gallifrey."

"Do you want her to rip you a new one for suggesting it? If you do, then be my guest. I'm not saying another word until she's unconscious," Allison said.

I couldn't help but smile at that even despite the pain that I was in at that moment. Even feeling so sick that I could barely move I still had it.

That's right, folks. All hail the great and mighty Sekhmet who is rightfully feared throughout the universe! Now will someone please give me an aspirin?

Yes, I know that aspirins are deadly to Time Lords. That's how bad I feel right now though.

As I entered the TARDIS screaming at the top of my lungs, Robin said to an upset Isabella, Freya, and Richard, "Why don't you all go outside for a while and let her get some rest?"

"Sekh, are you going to be alright?" Freya asked as she resisted going.

Do I look alright? I started to say but instead I managed to somehow say between screams, "I – I'll b – be fine. Go outside, okay?"

Freya nodded and then hugged me with tears in her eyes as she said, "Don't die. Please."

"I – I'm t – too tough to die, kid," I said with a smile that I definitely didn't feel.

That would have worked a lot better in convincing her to go if I hadn't thrown up right after I said it.

"Come on, Freya. Just let her have some time to recover, okay? She'll be fine once she gets some rest," Isabella said even though she didn't sound too convinced about that herself.

After they left the TARDIS, Robin started to take me to our bedroom. Unfortunately for me things weren't going to work out as planned because as soon as we started to leave the Console Room, the TARDIS dematerialized.

"What?" I said in surprise.

"Why is it taking off with no one at the controls? I didn't think that it could do that," Robin asked.

"I don't know," I replied even though I had a sinking feeling in my hearts that I knew exactly who was behind this.

I somehow managed to make it to the console without passing out, and my suspicions were confirmed. It was the recall signal. The TARDIS must have been recalled to Gallifrey by the Time Lords.

At least that's what I thought at first anyway. Then I soon realized that we weren't going to Gallifrey but Earth instead so that completely blew that theory out of the water in a matter of moments.

Who was on Earth that could force a TARDIS to come to them and why?

Minutes later, the TARDIS landed and Robin said, "Stay here. I'll go see where we are."

"Just t – take a p – peek. Don't be a hero," I said.

I almost laughed as I thought about who I was saying that to. That was like telling Rassilon not to be a heartless prick. It wasn't going to happen.

Robin smiled because he knew this just as well as I did, and then he went outside to find himself in all too familiar surroundings. He was in Sherwood Forest.

"This is impossible. How did we wind up here of all places?" Robin asked.

Nearby a voice answered him by saying, "That's not the question that I would have answered, sir. The real question is why are you dressed like me? Do you honestly think that you can actually fool anyone with half a mind and eyes to see with into thinking that you are me? Everyone here knows the real Robin Hood when they see him and that's me."

Robin looked at him in surprise for a moment and then he began to become angry as he said, "You may be the Robin of this world, but I am just as much Robin Hood as you are where I come from, sir."

The other Robin laughed as he said, "You, Robin Hood? You're nothing like me. For starters, you have the physique of a ten year old child. You look so weak and out of shape that I doubt that you could even beat one of the former Sheriff's men in combat much less me. You dress so ineptly that even a court jester would laugh at you for your lack of a fashion sense. And let's face, it you're definitely not as handsome or debonair as I am. You're not even close. I'd be surprised if you could even get a woman much less one as beautiful as Marian."

"I resent that remark. I bet I'm a billion times better looking than her whoever she is even if I don't exactly look it at the moment," I said as I forced myself to come outside and defend my Robbie's honor.

"Lily, get back inside and rest. I can deal with this third-rate version of myself," Robin said as he looked at the other Robin dismissively.

The other Robin meanwhile looked at me with a smile as he said, "Lily? Yes, that name seems appropriate somehow. You are certainly as beautiful as a flower alright. If I wasn't completely true to Marian, I would definitely show you why you're with the wrong man. You would easily see why I am the one true Robin Hood."

"Leave my wife alone!" Robin shouted in anger.

"Wife? It appears that I've misjudged you, sir. You may not be much on looks, but you must have some good qualities in order to attract a woman such as her to your side. I'm sure that if I searched very, very hard that I would eventually find them. I neither have the time nor the inclination to at the moment however. What I want to know is why are you dressed like me and what business do you have here? Are you another time traveler like the Doctor? Are we about to be plagued with more metal men from the stars like the Sheriff?"

"So you're saying that the Doctor came here and exposed your version of the Sheriff of Nottingham to be a robot? That sounds like him alright," I said with a chuckle that quickly devolved into a violent choking fit.

"Lily!" Robin said as he caught me just before I fell over.

"What's wrong with her?" The other Robin said with concern as he immediately forgot his animosity towards my Robin.

"She's very sick. I was going to let her rest in our ship when it was hijacked by someone and brought here. She doesn't need this right now," Robin said with worry.

"So you didn't come here of your own free will then. You're not here to try and replace me," The other Robin realized at last.

"Why on Earth would I want to do that?" Robin asked.

"I thought that you might be another metal man like the Sheriff sent here to invade Sherwood once again. What better way to invade us then to attempt to impersonate me?" Robin asked.

"Y – You're very full of yourself aren't you?" I asked through the throbbing pain in my skull.

"Lily, don't try to make jokes. Just rest and conserve your strength," Robin said.

"I hate to say it but for once Ten Year Old Me is absolutely right. You should go back inside of your TARDIS if that's what it is and rest. You're starting to look like a plague victim already," The other Robin said.

"My, aren't you the flatterer? Sorry, boys, but I'm not going anywhere. Besides I don't think that I'm going to get much of a chance to rest anyway. Whoever brought us here did so for a very good reason, and I'm sure that it wasn't to let me sleep," I said with a growing feeling of dread in my hearts.

"She's right, Robins. Is it Robins? Or is it Robii? It doesn't really matter I guess. I just like to be as accurate as possible with language," A very familiar voice said.

I looked on in dread as I saw Clara who was wearing a magnificent red dress of the kind that women wore in this time period come walking up to us with a sinister smile on her face. Only she wasn't Clara. Not really.

"Clara? You've returned! It's so good to see you again. You didn't bring the Old Man with you this time did you? He was even more annoying than the Ten Year Old Me here," The other Robin said.

"Will you stop calling me that?" Robin said in irritation.

"I will when you start to look like a fully developed man," The other Robin quipped.

"Y – You're not Clara at all. You're the Matriarch. Rose called before we left and t – told me that I was right about you. You're her version of F - Fenris. You're Clara's dark side created by using too much Vortex energy in her own f – future," I said through a massive wave of pain that had me almost biting my own tongue even as I spoke.

"You look like you're already on the way to the boneyard, Lily. You really need to get some rest," The Matriarch said with what looked like an amused look on her face as she drew closer to me.

"Leave her alone or I'll shoot an arrow through your heart, woman or no woman," Robin threatened.

"Don't you dare threaten her! She's as kind a woman as I've ever met," The other Robin said as he placed himself in-between the Matriarch and Robin.

"Sorry, Robin, but I'm really not," The Matriarch said as she knocked the other Robin out cold by placing a glowing hand on the top of his head.

"What are you u – up to?" I asked as I started to slump over and Robin had to help me to stay upright.

"Really, Lily? Still trying to fight even in your current state? You are a stubborn one aren't you?" The Matriarch said with a chuckle.

Then she surprised me by catching me when I slipped out of Robin's arms after a particularly nasty choking fit. Robin looked at me with absolute fear until she gently sat me down against a nearby tree and let me go.

"It's funny, Robin, but even though I'm Clara's dark side comprised of her most negative qualities and her most loathsome thoughts I still can't quite bring myself to hurt Lily especially not in this state. Maybe it's because I helped raise her even if it was only for a short time. I've had a similar problem with hurting the Tyler children in the future. It's something that I'm still trying to overcome, and it's a bit embarrassing really. Luckily I have no such problems with you however. I couldn't kill the Robin of this time period because it would disrupt history, but I can definitely kill you. You're no longer necessary to anyone's history. Then once you're out of the way, I'll take Lily's TARDIS as my own. I wonder if I could finally make a nice soufflé in its kitchen. I assume that it has a really nice one. I still can't make a bloody decent soufflé even as a bad girl! I'm babbling aren't I? That's another bad habit that I've picked up from the Dream Lord," The Matriarch said as her hands started to glow with energy.

"N – No, leave him a – alone," I said as I struggled to get up.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine here even without him, Lily. I'm sure the other Robin will take good care of you until you're better. You'll like it here. I know I did. Now say goodbye to your Robin because I'm afraid that he's about to die," The Matriarch said as she began attacking Robin with blasts of Vortex energy from her hands.

As Robin screamed in agony, the Matriarch said, "It's nothing personal, Medieval Boy. I just can't leave you alive to stop me from doing what I have to do here. Not that you really could anyway, but I've found that it's best not to leave anything to chance. You know this really is hurting me more than it is you, Robin. Robin Hood is my hero. Well, he used to be anyway."

"J – Just stop it! S – Stop it!" I screamed as I made my way to my feet.

"Sit down, Lily. You're too sick to move," The Matriarch said in a voice that sounded exactly like Clara's in that it was actually full of warmth and caring which just made this whole thing even worse.

"I'm not about to l – let you do t – this," I said as I called forth a massive amount of regenerative energy.

I began to attack her with every last iota of power that I could summon up even as every cell in my body protested what I was doing. With nothing but sheer willpower alone, I pushed past the massive amount of pain that threatened to cause me to black out at any moment as I attacked the Matriarch with an entire life cycle of regenerative energy.

I could suddenly feel my insides being torn apart, but I just kept attacking anyway and didn't stop. I had to save Robin and stop whatever was going on here in its tracks while I still could.

"Lily, stop! You're killing yourself!" Robin screamed even as the Matriarch stopped attacking him and fell to her knees in front of me.

"As long as it gets the job down, I – I'm all f – for it. I – I can't l – lose you can I?" I said even as the black spots filling my vision threatened to completely overwhelm me.

Then I felt agony such as I had never known before in my life shoot through my brain, and I fell to the ground amidst Robin's screams. I lay there in absolute agony unable to move as I could feel the life oozing out of my body with each passing moment.

"I'm sorry, Lily. I would have let you live but it seems that you've already made that choice for me. Do you know that part of me is very proud of you? You almost beat me. If you had been at full strength, I'm sure that you would have. Goodbye, Lily. I think I'm honestly going to miss you. Well, what do you know? Maybe a small part of me is still Clara Oswald after all," The Matriarch said as she gave me a kiss on the forehead.

Then my entire world went black, and I was completely lost in darkness.

At that very moment, Allison had managed to recreate Kovarian's gun and converted it so that it would neutralize the effect that her ray had on the Zygons. Now she was using it on Skaren who had volunteered to serve as her first test subject.

As soon as she shot him with it, he smiled and said, "You did it. You finally did it, Ally. I feel completely back to normal again."

He then demonstrated the truth of these words by changing back to his original form once again. Allison laughed with joy while the Zygons cheered. She had done it. The ray worked.

"Congratulations, Ally. I knew you could do it. I didn't even have to help you like I thought that I would," Aishwana teased her.

"Shut up," Allison said before Aishwana hugged her with pride.

"Who would have ever thought that you would turn out to be Mum 2.0? Being a Time Lord must work wonders on someone's intelligence because you definitely couldn't have done anything like that before," Ron said.

Allison glared at him while Isabella said, "Ron, that was very rude. Your sister just saved the Zygons."

"I'm sorry, Ally. I wasn't thinking. I guess I'm just used to teasing you so much that it comes to me automatically now. You did good, Sis. I'm proud of you," Ron said.

"So am I. You really have become just like Lily now," Isabella said.

Allison smiled at that comment as she said, "I wish. Maybe one day though. Now I just have to create a wide beam to cover the whole planet somehow so that all of this goes a lot quicker. I'll worry about that later though. I still can't believe that I did it. I actually did it."

"Now use it on Holly, Ally. Fix her too like you did to me," Skaren encouraged her.

"Yeah, sure. Hold still," Allison said as she used the gun on Holly next.

Holly looked at her with blank eyes afterwards as she said, "I don't feel any different."

Then she changed herself into a bear and back to human once again as she said with sad, pain-filled eyes, "It didn't work. Why didn't it work?"

"I don't know. It should have. It really should have. It worked on the Zygons," Allison said in tears.

"It's alright, Ally. You'll figure it out. Maybe you have to do something different for her since the beam turned her into a shape shifter instead of vice versa," Aishwana suggested.

"I don't know what to do though. I – I can't believe it. I guess I'm not Mum after all. She would know exactly what went wrong and how to fix it. I don't have a clue. I'm sorry, Holly," Allison said in an upset voice.

"Ally, don't. It's okay. You'll find a way or your mum will. I know it," Skaren said encouragingly.

Holly meanwhile could only look down on the ground in defeat, and it looked like she had actually given up. Richard took her hand now and looked up at her with a warm smile as he tried to cheer her up.

Holly smiled at him briefly and rubbed the top of his head, but even Richard could tell that she wasn't really feeling better. She was only putting on a smile for his benefit.

As she watched Holly seemingly descend into a depression, Allison wondered to herself how she could still feel like she had lost even as she had won. It seemed as if she hadn't really solved anything at all.

The Zygons who were cheering at that moment would have completely disagreed with her though.

Next: What happened to Lily? Is she really dying? What is the Matriarch after in Robin Hood's time? It's not just Lily's TARDIS. Plus Allison and the rest of Lily's children struggle to find a cure for Holly too even as they work on a way to fix every Zygon on the planet at once. Is there any hope left for her?