Memories
Broken Worlds
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They danced for years. Land, let him run a little and then take off before the Doctor could catch them. She could feel her sister calling out to me. She laughed in the Vortex and sent her a message. Catch me if you can! Her sister responds with joy. They had been without others of their kind too long. They were the last of their kind, just as their Thieves are the last of theirs. And finally, finally the Thief feels something he had never felt before –homesickness. Not for the dead world of red mountains and silver trees. But for the little world he had been on so long for. She assented and they returned, within minutes of them leaving and he walked out into the laboratory of the smartest human yet born. He grinned cockily –that grin he always got when he was especially happy and held his arms out wide to his assembled friends.
"I'm back."
The smart men –well, 'smart' when applied to humans- attempted to poke and prod her. She responds with a well-opened door hitting one in the face. Her Time Lord laughed.
"She's got a mind of her own. Darlin', play nice."
She giggled in his mind, allowing her joy at being reunited to return. He smiled softly.
"Go on. I know you're all dying to ask questions."
It goes from there. He allows them to listen to his hearts; take his temperature and marvel at its coolness, the hot-headed beings that they are. The clever ones are allowed in and get excited but her Time Lord still defends her when they get too rough and keen to explore. He soothes her and laughs at the looks on their faces. And then the whining sound of the engines of the other TARDIS –handbrake still on after all these years- and the Doctor leaps out, his long brown coat sweeping and he stares at her Time Lord and her Time Lord stares back and then the Doctor opens his mouth. And promptly sticks his foot in it.
"You're short!"
"And you're as irritating as ever."
They stared at each for a moment (two point six four eight nine two seconds precisely) and then laughed, clapping each other on the back as they laughed their heads off. The TARDISs sighed and linked themselves together, enjoying the feeling of being with another of their kind –at least, one with personality. That was the danger of being both a living being and a mode of transport. The Time Lords often did not see the true beauty of the TARDIS but when they did… When they did, amazing things happened.
They had names –TARDIS differentiated from each other after all, but they much preferred the names given to them by their respective Time Lords.
Hello, Sexy.
Hello, Darling.
She heard the two Time Lords joking and catching up and then the quiet accusation.
"Why didn't you return?"
She stopped and focused on the Doctor. He was staring at her Thief and his mind was melancholy.
"Why didn't you come to fight in the War?"
And her Time Lord glanced over his shoulder.
"She wouldn't let me. She couldn't bear to lose me."
And that was answer enough.
xXx
Handing over Logan to the proper authorities ruined their cover. All it took was one overzealous photographer who got close in hoping to see the Hand of Apocalypse and possibly the injured Shadow got the scoop of a lifetime when he got a clear photo of Kurt Wagner and Marie Circen standing in the door, answering Steve Rogers' questions.
The images were all over the Internet within hours, but by the time the rest of the press had arrived at the house, the Wagners had vanished, almost as if into thin air, which had to be impossible –yes, Kurt Wagner was a teleporter, but there was no way he could get as far away from the house as he appeared to have with the former Tigress and Jamie Logan.
Of course, it would have taken a black-ops soldier, trained by either Etana, Natasha Romanoff or Tora herself, to notice the well-concealed escape pod tunnels that had taken Tora, Kurt, Jamie, Amanda and Stephen to Etana's Eyrie in the Canadian Rockies.
xXx
Bruce whistled through his teeth.
"Impressive."
The place was a huge metal spire, arching almost two miles into the sky of the pocket dimension. Steve Rogers sighed.
"It was built for something stronger even than you."
"Is this the mysterious prisoner you need me to meet?"
"Yeah."
They entered and were immediately scanned twice; one full-body, one retina scan. Bruce glanced over at the robots walking back and forth.
"Not even LMDs?"
"Not worth it. The prisoner's too far gone to care about a facsimile of human behaviour."
"Who is it? You've drawn me in with hints and subtly veiled comments. I need conclusive proof."
"The worst kind of being."
"See, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about!"
"Bruce, please. We can't risk speaking properly until we're in the heart."
"Explain the security measures."
"Each of the big blocks you saw on the way in? Individually powered. Every three hours, they shift position. The whole place is an ever-changing labyrinth around the central cells. The computer systems are all separated. Even if the prisoner manages to hack into the systems controlling their cell, all they'll be able to control is their cell. Which if they want the lights off, or the temperatures controlled, that's fine. All the main work takes place in the Hub."
"Which is…?"
"Depends on the day, time. The AI controlling the Hub is one of the most advanced in the world. Unfortunately, we have the ethical problem of having to switch between different AIs every few minutes, to prevent the prisoner corrupting one of them."
They had been walking and suddenly Cap stopped.
"Wait."
There was a horrific grinding and then the whole place lurched to one side. Both men grabbed the walls and Bruce glared at Cap.
"What the…"
"Shifting positions! Don't worry! One of the staff will send us the new floor plan!"
The floors stopped moving and Steve straightened up.
"They've moved us into the block next to hers."
"A woman? Well, that narrows the field a bit."
Steve smiled sadly.
"I think you already know who it is, Bruce. You just don't want to admit it."
Bruce sighed.
"Just… Show me."
"Here. And Bruce…"
"Yes?"
"If we think she's manipulating you, we're going to have to pull you out."
The door in front of them slid open and they entered a long galley. And a woman on the other side of the glass looked up; her eyes lighting up as her lips twisted into a broad smile.
"Hello, Brucie dear. Long time, no see."
Banner leapt backwards, swearing under his breath. And then he exploded at Cap.
"That… That monster is supposed to be dead!"
She giggled, pressing her face up close to the glass.
"And you know all about monsters, don't you, Brucie dear? Big, angry monsters."
Steve sighed and made a gesture, causing the voice to be cut off, although the mouth kept moving.
"You honestly think anything could kill that? We've done a minor miracle in keeping her here."
"She should be dead! She's too great a threat!"
"We've tried! But… Bruce, it's impossible. Whatever humanity she once has was burnt away. She's an immortal. We've done our best –keeping her here is as much as we can manage. But killing her? You don't think we've tried everything? She just shrugs it off –most often doesn't even notice it."
Bruce stepped back.
"Get me to do what you called me here for then get me out. And be very, very glad I don't spill that you're holding the most dangerous being in the entire Universe –and yes, that include Galactus- right here in her own little prison. You promised that she was dead! That you'd burnt her corpse to dust and vaporised the ashes! If word gets out that Tora Logan is alive and kicking, they'll have your head!"
"I need you to help us, Bruce. We need your gamma skills. Gamma has always been one of her weaknesses, we just never made that fact common knowledge. You know more about gamma radiation than any of us. We need you to create a containment field."
Bruce paused.
"I'll do it. But I won't go anywhere near that… thing! She killed Betty and Rick and Heaven knows how many people, and that was before she even started playing with the tectonics!"
"Jean Grey's been helping with containment but there's only so much she can do. The Dragon's not as offensive as the Phoenix –that's partly why Grey's still sane."
"I wouldn't call her sane."
"Next to Tora Logan she is."
"Yes, but we all know Phoenix is about as crazy as you can get."
Phoenix paused.
"And this, Death, is why Tora and I were never tempted to swap. She was always better with the Dragon than I was. And I had the training to be at least partly able to hold the Phoenix in check.