Child of Earth
By Lumendea
Chapter Four: Skye: Disarming
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
AN: This is where the episode really starts to change. This will be a six chapter episode as it is the start of a new season.
….
While the others were all staring at the newly preteen Skye in shock, Rose and Doctor used the time to get down the stairs to the main floor. Meyers had a triumphant smirk on her face and was eyeing Skye with a smirk of pride on her face. The expression made Rose's stomach turn over uncomfortably and she pushed down the urge to punch the woman squarely in her great cheekbones.
"I am too late," the metalkind observed regretfully.
"Face your destruction, Metalkind," Meyers sneered as she looked between the metalkind and Skye. "The child is your doom."
At her words, shimmering energy began to surround Skye and dance across her body once more. The young girl looked down at her own hands in alarm. Sarah Jane pulled Rani and Luke back as Johnny grabbed Clyde's shoulder. The Doctor stepped forward with his device out in front of him and beeping.
"What's happening to me?" Skye asked frantically as the energy around her hands brightened and thickened.
"Destroy him!" Meyers shouted to Skye as she gestured towards the metalkind who made a fast movement towards Skye.
With wide eyes, Skye's body moved awkwardly as her hands pushed forward. Energy spun off her fingertips creating a bolt that shot through the air and struck the metalkind. It flew back and hit the far wall with a crash. In the corner of her eye, Rose saw Meyers glow with pleasure as the metalkind struggled to stand only to slump back against the wall. Energy from Skye was shimmering over its metallic form and seeping into the grooves in his armored body.
"Again, my child!" Myers told Skye urgently.
"No," Sarah Jane shouted to Skye as she reached forward and tentatively placed a hand on Skye's shoulder.
"What am I?" Skye asked in a small voice, looking over at Sarah Jane in confusion.
"It's going to be okay Skye," Johnny promised before glancing towards the Doctor hopefully. "Don't be frightened."
"You are the hammer to crush the Metalkind. You are the weapon and salvation of our species," Meyers told Skye as she took a few small steps towards the girl. "Destroy your enemy," she insisted as she gestured towards the injured metalkind.
"No, Sky. You don't have to destroy anything," Sarah Jane cut in when a conflicted look crossed Skye's face. "You don't have any enemies. Just be calm, and trust me. It's all right."
"Sarah Jane?" Skye asked in a soft voice as she looked at the older woman and was rewarded with a smile.
"Everything's going to be all right, I promise," Sarah Jane assured her.
"Stop your meddling," Meyers growled at Sarah Jane. "Come with me. Return home and fulfil your purpose," she said to Skye urgently.
Energy flashed around Skye when Meyers reached for her and the Doctor's tool beeped again making Rose glance towards it nervously. The Doctor, however, was looking closer to being relieved than worried. Meyers took a fearful step back from Skye.
"I don't think she wants to go with you," Sarah Jane told Meyers seriously as she stepped in front of Skye.
"I am the child's mother!" Meyers snapped raising her chin definitely.
"Well, my name is Sarah Jane Smith, and I don't think you're a fit parent."
"She is a weapon, grown in a laboratory to destroy the enemies of my species. I grew her!" Meyers insisted proudly.
"What does she mean?" Skye asked in a small voice.
"Oh, don't listen to her, Skye," Rani told her as she pulled Skye back closer to them.
Rose glanced to the side to see a human in a white jumpsuit lingering at the edge of the room with a vacant expression. The metalkind was down, but Rose was pretty sure that Meyers had to have some serious alien toys. She'd gotten to Earth very quickly and taken over a nuclear power station. Of course… she'd taken over that man and put the others to sleep standing up. It would only take her a moment to do the same to them.
Before any of the others could react, Rose leapt forward and delivered a sharp temple blow to the side of Meyer's head while inwardly chanting a prayer that they were similar enough for it to be effective. The alien woman was knocked sideways against a wall and slumped to the floor in a heap of flesh and bones.
"Rose!" Sarah Jane scolded with wide eyes.
"She can take us over," Rose defended as she gestured to the man who was swaying on his feet and looked ill. "We can't protect Skye if she does that. Besides did you want to run away and leave the genocidal alien in charge of a nuclear power plant."
Sarah Jane's expression was one of begrudging agreement and Rose glanced towards the Doctor. He looked more amused than anything and she felt her heart do another annoying flip at his easy smile.
"What?" the man began to ask, "What?"
Rose grimaced and began to move towards him, but then thankfully he began to collapse. Jumping forward, Rose caught him and gently laid him out on the floor. She took a moment to check his pulse and breathing before opening one of his eyelids to check his pupils.
"Seems to be alright," Rose told the others with a sigh of relief. "Though he and the others should be checked over by doctors once this is over."
"We can call UNIT once we make sure that Skye is safe," the Doctor assured her.
Skye was looking between Meyers and Rose uneasily and Rose felt a jolt of guilt for being violent in front of the girl. Sure she'd taken Meyers down with one strategic blow, but still. It didn't help that Rani, Luke, and Clyde looked more impressed than distressed. Taking the chance, Rose moved over to the metalkind and carefully pulled the laser gun it had been holding away. She held it awkwardly, but there wasn't really a good place to get rid of it right now.
"Doctor," Sarah Jane greeted finally as she seemed to recover enough to shift behind Skye. "Thank you for coming," she gestured down at Skye with an uneasy expression. "Can you help her?"
The Doctor took a step towards Skye who shifted back nervously to be closer to Sarah Jane and Johnny. He paused and waited calmly as Rose smiled at Skye and moved over to stand next to him.
"Skye this is a very old friend of mine," Sarah Jane informed Skye gently with a soft smile. "He won't hurt you I promise." She looked at the Doctor almost frantically. "Rose told me that she's a weapon," her words made Johnny gasp in alarm and look at Skye in near horror. "Can you do anything?"
"Spock said that it can't be reversed," Rose said softly to Sarah Jane. "It's part of her DNA."
"But if she's a bomb can't we you know defuse her?" Clyde asked which earned him an approving look from the Doctor.
"Well done, Clyde was it?"
"Yes sir," Clyde said straightening up a bit.
"That was the point of this," the Doctor explained as he knelt down in front of Skye with the strange blue box. "It was recording the energy frequency when you transformed. I can't change your genetic structure without hurting you, but thanks to this we don't need to rely on your creator to rewrite your genetics.
"Oh thank goodness," Sarah Jane breathed, her shoulders shaking slightly. "Thank you, Doctor."
The Doctor nodded at Sarah Jane's remark but focused his eyes on Skye. The little girl looked confused and worried but didn't move away from this time. She looked back to Rose who gave her a reassuring smile.
"Skye I'm the Doctor," he told her kindly. "The reason that you grew up so quickly is because you were created with special DNA in order to fulfill genetic programming. Do you understand that?"
"I think so," Skye offered hesitantly. "I have a purpose."
"Of sorts," the Doctor agreed carefully. "But that was only your creation, purpose is something changeable and everyone decides their own." He lifted the strange box up into Skye's line of site. "Now in order to give you that choice I need to check some things. This may sting a bit or be uncomfortable, but I won't hurt you."
"Is she really my mother?" Skye asked softly as she looked over at Meyers.
"No," the Doctor told her seriously as he met her soft brown gaze with his own blue eyes. "She created you Skye, but that doesn't make her your mother. Her plan is to sacrifice you to commit genocide. She made a weapon and tool, not a daughter no matter what she might like to say. She is not your mother and you owe her no loyalty."
"Okay then," Skye agreed carefully. "If you're sure." Skye paused and looked between Sarah Jane and the Doctor. "She said I was a weapon. That's bad, isn't it? You all seem upset," Skye observed uneasily. "Am I bad?"
"No. No way. Miss Myers, she's the bad one, not you," Clyde rushed to reassure Skye.
"What am I, then?" Skye questioned with wide eyes.
"The thing inside you. Miss Myers created you like that to kill her enemies, Metalkind."
"Kill? What's kill?" Skye asked naively and Rose looked over in time to see the Doctor grimace.
"You take away life. It dies. It no longer exists," Sarah Jane explained softly as she looked at the Doctor cautiously.
"And that's bad?" Skye questioned with a tilt of her head.
"You're a child," the Doctor told her gently drawing her attention back to him. "Bringing death is a great responsibility and should never be the first option," he explained. "And as you are a child Skye it is not your responsibility."
"But I was made for it," Skye protested hesitantly.
"All life exists with a simple biological purpose," the Doctor chuckled. "And you'll learn more about that when you're older. Everything else, any other purpose is one you decide upon." The Doctor gestured towards the injured metalkind against the wall. "Is that what you want to do Skye?"
"No," Skye replied immediately, shaking her head so vigorously that her wavy brown hair flew out around her. "I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Good girl," the Doctor answered with a grin. "Now hold still for me."
Rose wanted to watch as the Doctor took Skye's hand and tugged her a little closer. He set the blue box against her chest and pressed a few of the buttons. Skye shifted uneasily with a distressed expression on her face as the box began to hum. But Rose shifted over and glanced between Meyers and the metalkind. Part of her worried about doing this here, but then again doing it anywhere else raised the chance of mother dearest waking up and doing something very violent.
The sound of metal shifting made Rose look towards the metalkind in surprise as it began to rose. She risked a look back towards Skye who was gradually being surrounded by a new field of energy. The Doctor looked Rose's way towards the metalkind and Rose nodded quickly before moving across the room towards the collapsed alien. She paused and set the weapon she'd taken from the metalkind on top of one of the control systems.
"Have you come to finish the job, Fleshkind?" the metalkind asked as Rose knelt down by him.
"Of course not," Rose informed him as she looked over him carefully, unsure of what was wrong with him. "This isn't my war, I have no interest in harming you." Rose paused and nodded towards Meyers. "That one, on the other hand, made a child into a weapon, I enjoyed knocking her out more than I should have."
The metalkind turned its head and Rose found herself looking at a pair of half-covered eyes. The creature somehow didn't seem quite real to her and she wasn't sure what to say or do.
"The weapon," the metalkind growled after a moment, making an abortive move to get up.
Rose pressed her hand down on its chest, noting the warm and humming sensation that tingled up her hand.
"Don't," Rose cautioned. "The weapon is being disarmed as we speak," she informed him with a smile as she shifted just enough so that the metalkind could see Skye.
The girl in question was surrounded by a flickering energy shield and holding tightly to the Doctor's shoulder with one hand. Her eyes were tightly closed and Skye was biting her lower lip. She didn't appear to be in pain, but her discomfort was clear. Rose could see the Doctor's lips moving though she couldn't hear him. Skye was nodding every few seconds in response to the Doctor and Rose hoped.
"Fleshkind tore the ore from our planet's womb to make their dumb slaves," the metalkind growled as it tried to stand. "They stole our children. We have sworn vengeance on all Fleshkind, on any world."
"Any world?" Rose challenged with a frown, pushing the metalkind back down and shifting so he couldn't see Skye anymore. "That's horrible what they did," Rose agreed with a nod. "You're angry, I get that, but don't you lump my world in with Meyers. We have a lot of problems true, but we don't create children for the purpose of destroying them."
The metalkind made a threatening sound and began to move once again. His actions were no longer sluggish and Rose's eyes widened as it began to stand. Jumping up, Rose stayed between it and Skye and gave it her best attempt at her mother's glare.
"The weapon, Skye, is being disarmed," Rose told him sternly. "You move any closer and you might set her off again."
"Disarmed?" the metalkind growled. "What trickery is this?"
"No trick," Rose informed him seriously before gesturing to Meyers still collapsed on the ground. "I knocked her out myself. We aren't going to let her do this."
"Compassion for the child form of the weapon," the Metalkind muttered, tilting its head so it could see Skye behind Rose.
"That and your kind," Rose answered even as she kept her arm at the ready to summon her sword. "We can't let Meyer kill all of your kind or use a child to do it."
For a moment Rose thought that maybe, just maybe this could be dealt with peaceful, but then a groan behind her made her grimace.
"What are you doing?" Meyer's voice asked in a groggy voice.
Rose turned just enough so she could see the alien woman looking at Skye and the Doctor with a horrified expression. Meyers grabbed onto the wall and began to hoist herself up.
"No! Stop you have no right!"
It was the hum of an energy weapon that made Rose look back sharply at the metalkind. Its weapon was still where she had put it, but part of its right arm was now glowing at the rough metallic grooves that Rose hadn't been sure if they were its skin or armor.
"Protect the child!" Meyers shouted.
Summoning her sword, Rose brought it up just in time to deflect a blast of bright blue energy shooting towards her. It ricocheted off of the Star Knight blade and struck the wall near the metalkind.
"Run!" Rose snapped as she shifted back to put more distance between her and the metalkind.
It blasted her again and Rose deflected the blast with a frantic swipe of the sword. It hit the wall once more leaving a black burn mark.
"Run! Disarm Skye before she goes off again!"
"Rose?!" Sarah Jane cried in alarm.
"Go, we're in the middle of a nuclear power plant!" Rose reminded Sarah Jane sharply. "Disarm Skye! I can take care of myself."
"Rose-" the Doctor started to say before she deflected another blast which hit too close to a piece of machinery for Rose's comfort.
"I'll be fine," Rose promised. "I'll keep it busy. Then we can work on another solution."
Another low growl escaped the metalkind, but Rose heard the others moving away and Meyers protesting the Doctor's attempt to disarm Skye. Rose breathed out slowly and gripped her sword with two hands, really wishing that she'd thought to get her sonic pen back from Sarah Jane.