CHAPTER 93

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A LONG DELAYED FAMILY REUNION

"Alert! There is currently an attempted breach of the transduction barrier in progress. All guards prepare for an imminent attack at any moment. Repeat, this is not a drill. We are under attack by an unknown enemy," Commander Maxil's voice said all over Shada as he sent out a warning across the entire planet.

"It must be a jail break but why? I've heard of people escaping Shada before but who would ever be mad enough to want to break in here? Every one of the prisoners in here are so dangerous that they'll instantly be torn to bits as soon as they try to release any of them," Borusa said to the guard outside his cell with concern as he heard the alarms going off all around him.

"Either they're extremely confident of themselves or absolutely insane. Either way I definitely don't want to meet them. I really hope that barrier holds," The guard admitted in an anxious voice.

"It's too bad for you that it's already fallen then. I do hope that I'm not too much of a disappointment. Tell me. Am I mad enough for you?" A voice suddenly said from somewhere just outside of Borusa's line of sight.

"Halt right there or I'll shoot," The guard warned as he pulled his staser on the unseen enemy.

"Oh, do please go ahead. I could use a good laugh today," The voice said in amusement.

"Halt!" The guard shouted once again as his eyes widened in fear at the sight of whomever or whatever that he was seeing.

Then the guard screamed in such incredible agony that Borusa instantly cringed in terror as he stood by and watched helplessly while the man was completely ripped apart molecule by molecule right in front of him by his mysterious attacker. As soon as the guard vanished, the door to Borusa's cell disappeared in exactly the same way, and that was when he finally got to see who was there at last.

He instantly wished that he hadn't because it was like a creature out of a nightmare with long razor sharp claws and pointed, jagged teeth. The bizarre being was covered in some sort of translucent silver metallic skin that he could actually see through as if it were made out of glass.

"Are you here to kill me as well?" Borusa somehow managed to say without an ounce of fear in his voice.

"Oh, no. If you're already dead, then she won't come will she? And she simply must come. You see I have a bargain to fulfill after all," The strange being said with malevolent laughter.

"She? You're after Persephone aren't you?" Borusa said as fear finally entered his voice at last now.

It seemed the old boy still cared about me after all.

The creature laughed as it said, "No, I'm sure that I'll have fun with her too eventually, but I'm after someone much bigger. I'm surprised that she's not already here as a matter of fact. That's not her reputation at all. Oh, well, I suppose I'll have to start ripping off little bits and pieces of you here and there until she finally shows herself, won't I? Hopefully the intense screaming will finally bring her here."

The creature's mouth twisted into an ugly hate-filled smile filled with teeth as it slowly advanced towards him with its claws extended. Borusa now realized with a sinking feeling of nameless dread in his hearts that he was not about to be granted a quick albeit painful death by disintegration like the guard had been. His end was to be far, far worse and infinitely longer.

Or at least it would have been anyway if the living nightmare before him hadn't suddenly been thrown across the hall and straight through the nearest wall right before it would have reached him.

"Enough!" Rose shouted in a furious voice as she and I suddenly appeared in the cell together in a burst of golden energy.

I bet you thought that I'd never show up, didn't you?

Amazingly enough it was my first time traveling with Rose through the Vortex, and I must say that it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected that it would be. Maybe it was because I'm already made out of sterner stuff than your average Time Lord, but I barely felt a thing afterwards except a slight case of nausea that quickly faded away just as soon as it came.

"How did you do that? I knew that you had some kind of power now, Arkytior, but I didn't realize exactly how powerful that you truly were," Borusa asked us in surprise.

"No time to explain now. Ugly here really wants a rematch in the worst way possible, yeah?" Rose said as she watched the thing that had almost attacked Borusa instantly reappear with murderous rage in its eyes.

I gasped in shock now as I finally knew exactly who we were up against at last.

"Hello again, Mother," The Avatar said with an evil smile.*

"She's not your mum. You're just some crazy genetic experiment of Rassilon's using her genes. That's what you are and nothing more," Rose protested in an irritated voice.

Why was I not in the least bit surprised that Rose knew exactly who he was? She definitely wasn't kidding when she had said that she had seen my entire history apparently.

"Oh, such harsh words, Sister, and I was so hoping that we would become the best of friends when we first met. I had truly wanted us to become oh so close . . . right before I killed you," The Avatar said with a malicious laugh.

"So it's not about me at all this time is it? It's all been about Rose. Why though? You've never even met her before today," I asked in confusion.

"I could truly care less whether she dies now or later, Mother. The ones who saved me when you tried to destroy me however demanded her death as payment for my rebirth, and I always honor my debts. They told me that if I came here and threatened this one that she would come no matter what the risks were. I honestly thought that no one could be that mad, but I'm so glad that I was proven wrong. Plus with your being here I get the added bonus of killing her right in front of you right before I finish you as well. It's going to be such a great day," The Avatar said in a sickeningly jubilant tone.

"Yeah, and I'm the mad one. Right," Rose said in disgust.

"You said that this was a trap for Rose. By whom though? Who brought you back? Who's behind all of this?" I demanded even though I was already sure that it was the mysterious Brethren that Rose had mentioned to me earlier.

The Avatar looked at Rose now as he said, "She knows. She always knows, don't you, dear sister? The Brethren want you dead and I'm more than eager to please them. Then after I've finally finished with you and Mother, I'll free each and every one of the prisoners here and let the universe itself cringe in terror before them. I simply can't wait to see what happens next. I may even take part in it all myself just for the fun of it."

"You're not going to do anything . . . not to her or me. I defeated you before and I'll do it again," I promised him in a resolute voice as I prepared to release Sekhmet once more from her mental prison just as I had had to do in order to stop him before.

The Avatar actually laughed now to my surprise as he said, "Did you really think that I'd let you get away with that again, Mother? This time I came prepared. Here. I brought a little present for you in order to celebrate our happy reunion."

He suddenly produced a small cube-like device from his hand, and it began to glow with energy. I had absolutely no idea what was going on until my mind was suddenly torn apart by an intense psychic probe that filled my every neural pathway with such incredible pain that I could barely function much less summon Sekhmet.

"Erebus sends his regards, Mother," The Avatar said with wicked laughter as I swiftly collapsed to my knees in front of him.

"Tell him thanks but no thanks, mate. I already went Christmas shopping early this year," Rose said as she closed a glowing hand into a fist and immediately incinerated the small device in a single instant without even touching it.

The Avatar looked at her in complete astonishment as he said, "That's impossible. That mind probe was made out of dwarf star alloy and was so strong that it could even stand up to the power of the Grace themselves. The Brethren said that not even you would be able to affect it."

"Looks like they were wrong, doesn't it? Makes you wonder what I can do to you next, yeah?" Rose said with an evil grin.

"Such power! No wonder they fear you so. I must have your abilities for myself. Not even Mother could stop me then," The Avatar said with a look of awe on his face as he started towards Rose with eyes filled with power lust.

That was when he was felt a sudden tapping on his shoulder. He was so preoccupied with thoughts of taking Rose's power for himself that he automatically stopped and turned around without even thinking about it to see what it was.

That was when I blasted him in the face with a massive dose of regenerative energy so powerful that it instantly sent him right back through that same wall that Rose had sent him through earlier. Luckily I had taken him completely by surprise just as I hoped that I would.

"You didn't expect me to recover quite so soon did you? Unfortunately for you I'm much more powerful than I was back in the old days when we first met though," I said with a smug grin.

"Arkytior wasn't the only one hiding incredible power it seems. You told me that you were immortal but never anything about being able to do anything like that," Borusa said as he stared at me in amazement.

"Yeah, well we were all hiding secrets from one another, weren't we . . . Dad?" Rose said with an accusing stare.

Borusa's face filled with dread now as I said, "That's right. She knows. How else do you think that you suddenly became miraculously 'cured'? It certainly didn't have anything to do with Commander Maxil's kind and loving behavior I'm sure."

"Is there anything that you can't do?" Borusa asked Rose in disbelief.

"Blimey! Is that all you care about? You finally find out that I know I'm your daughter and all you can do is ask me about my powers? Mum was right about you. That really is all that you care about, isn't it? Power!" Rose said as she suddenly exploded in anger.

"No, Arkytior, that simply isn't true. I only acted that way because my mind was tampered with by the Rani's mad sister, Kali. She altered my brain centuries ago so that I would be too caught up in power lust to tell anyone what I had accidentally discovered about her. She didn't want anyone to know that she was still insane after everyone thought that she had been cured," Borusa protested. **

"What?" I said in stunned disbelief.

I truly hadn't known this or even had the slightest clue about it. It all made perfect sense now in hindsight though. Borusa had been just fine until around the time that he had examined Kali for Ushas to see if she really had regained her sanity or not when it seemed as if she had been miraculously cured once. I had never put two and two together before in all of this time or I would have realized that long before now.

Plus it helped that we didn't find out that Kali was still quite mad despite how it had appeared to everyone long after I had dumped Borusa.

"I already knew that. I also know that she could only use what was already there in the first place though. I watched your entire history recently, Dad, and I saw that the lust for power had always been there right from the start. That was why you never wanted to acknowledge that I was yours. Mum was right about you. You were afraid of what it might do to your political career if people found out about me. That's all that you cared about. I – I came here because I had hoped that maybe you had changed. Guess I was wrong, yeah?" Rose said in a devastated voice.

"Ari, no. I do care about you. I really and truly do," Borusa protested.

"Uh huh. Right," Rose said with clear disbelief evident in her tone as she looked away from him with a face filled with pain.

"Borusa, talk to her. You talk to her and you tell her that you love her right now or so help me I will . . ." I demanded.

"No, Mum, don't. He's not going to be forced into doing it. It won't mean anything that way. Either he means it or he doesn't. Just . . . forget about it, alright? I don't even care anymore," Rose said in a disappointed voice as she turned her back to him.

"Yes, you do. I could always read you like a book when you were my student back at the Academy and I still can now. You've always worn your heart on your sleeve, Arkytior. That's just one of the many things that I've always loved about you was your amazing lack of subterfuge. You only lied in order to protect yourself or others never out of greed or malevolence. If only more Time Lords were like you," Borusa said in admiration.

I silently gave Borusa an enthusiastic thumbs up as I saw Rose begin to smile despite herself. Then I quickly motioned for him to say more while he still had the chance to win her back.

"And you're wrong about how I feel about you just as I was wrong to never acknowledge you all of those centuries ago. I do love you. I always loved you even when I didn't feel as if I could ever tell you that. I'm so sorry, Arkytior. I'm so very sorry that I never told you that or the truth about who I really was. I was so very wrong to do that and I truly regret that now. I really wish that I could undo all of that. I truly would if I could, Arkytior. I promise you that because I missed out on everything. I – I never even got to hear your first word," Borusa said as he broke down into tears right in front of us.

My hearts instantly went out to him and I put my arms around him as I said in a gentle tone, "She said Mama."

"Of course. What else? You were the one who was always there for her after all. I certainly never was," Borusa said in an emotional voice.

"It's Rose," Rose said suddenly as she finally turned to look at him at last.

"What?" Borusa asked in confusion.

"That's my name now. It's Rose. That's what I prefer to be called because that's who I am," Rose said.

She held out her hand to him as she said, "I'm Rose Tyler and it's very nice to finally meet you, Dad."

Borusa briefly looked at me in confusion because he still had no idea what she was talking about since he didn't know anything about Rose's history as a human just yet. He still had far too much to catch up on where his daughter's life was concerned.

He quickly moved past all of this for now to what really mattered though as he shook her hand and said, "It's nice to meet you too, Rose. I love you. I've always loved you and I'd like to finally have you in my life now. If that's what you want that is."

He looked at her with fear as he eagerly waited for her response. I could tell that he had absolutely no idea what she was going to say.

I did though. I knew right from the start. Family meant everything to her after all.

She was just like me in that way.

"I love you too. Welcome home, Dad. I can't wait until you meet the family. You're going to love them, yeah?" Rose said with a wide grin as she hugged him tightly.

This touching moment was completely ruined however by mocking laughter suddenly erupting behind us as the Avatar picked that moment to finally reemerge.

I swear that one of these days that I'm going to insist on doing a DNA test on him because there is no way that he has anything to do with me. He must have come from Rassilon instead. He definitely has his rotten sense of timing in spades.

"I'm so glad that I could be here to witness this loving moment. It just brings such a happy tear to my eyes. Doesn't it choke you up as well, dear friends?" The Avatar said sarcastically.

That's when I realized to my horror that he hadn't returned there alone. He had brought some brand new allies along with him.

He had actually done it just as he had said that he would. He had freed all of the prisoners of Shada!

I could already see dozens of them directly behind him with hideous smiles of anticipation on their faces since Rose had been instrumental in placing several of them there. There were more than eager to completely tear her apart in revenge for that it seemed.

"Now, Mother, Sister, let's just see exactly how good that you really are, hmm? Can even the power of the Other and the Bad Wolf help them survive a gauntlet of yours truly and the most dangerous criminals in the universe? Something tells me that your father is about to gain and lose a daughter all on the same day. That just has to be some kind of universal record," The Avatar said with cruel laughter.

That was when my TARDIS suddenly materialized in the middle of Borusa's cell, and my family instantly came pouring out of it ready for action.

"No, I'll tell you what the record will be. It's how fast it takes us to beat you down," Allison said with a determined look.

"I thought I told you to stay out of this no matter what, Ally, and I told you to keep her from coming here, Robbie," I said in an accusing tone.

"I'm afraid that nothing I said could stop her. She has a will of her own that no one in the universe can control, my lady. In other words, she's just like her mother. I never could tell you what to do either," Robin said with a mischievous grin.

"Yeah, that's right. Blame me. It's always the mother's fault, isn't it?" I said with a chuckle.

"I don't think that you realize just how serious that your situation is, Mother. I'm about to finally crush you once and for all, and there's no way that you can stop me and my new army. Then we'll simply use that TARDIS that you so helpfully provided for us to complete our escape from here," The Avatar said in a cold voice.

"That's only if you get past us and that is not going to happen. I promise you that," I said as I began to glow with regenerative energy as I stood defiantly against him and the others.

"Bet you're sorry that you saw me again, huh?" Rose said to Borusa with a small smile.

"Not in the slightest no matter how this day ends up," Borusa said without hesitation.

Rose smiled and so did I. At least she had finally gotten her father's acknowledgement at long last, and I was so happy for her about that.

I just hoped that it hadn't come far too late.

*Remember him from Lily and Robin Chapters 29 – 32? Anyone?

**This happened in Tales of Gallifrey in case anyone's interested.

Next: It's Lily and her family versus the scum of the universe as the entire population of Shada goes all out to destroy them. Can even Rose give them a fighting chance out of this one?