Mistressnmoon: I had the hardest time getting this chapter done. First I accidentally delete the first 2,000 words, and had to re-write them. Then I decide I don't like about 1,000 words in the middle, and change what I had entirely and write a whole extra scene that I had originally excluded. And I feel like the whole chapter is choppy compared to the rest of the story, and to be honest I just don't like this chapter. I know what I'm doing now, but the point is I just really struggled with this chapter for some reason. But hey, I still managed to get it out before the 11th. In fact I would have been done with it sooner, but I just finished with my two week volunteer camp and that just takes over my life. But yeah. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and please let me know what you think!
Shara Raizel: Gotta love timy-whymie-ness! I'm not sure I'll be as successful as I'd like with it, but I'm going to try! (I read one story that is almost nothing but that!) And I'm glad you like her/what she brings to the story! I have many plans for her. And maybe? You'll just have to read to find out.
aandm20: Why thank you! I'm glad you love it so much! And thank you, I was worrying a bit about that, it seems there's a fine line between good characters and Mary-sues...
Chapter Six
After a terrifyingly bumpy ride, which was the first time I ever feared that the TARDIS might crash and kill us all, the TARDIS landed harshly at the Powell estate. Only moments after the Doctor had regenerated, he suddenly started talking about a million mile a minute, and acting as if he had lost his mind before suddenly declaring that he was going to take us to Rose's home as a present. Had it been a different time, and had I not been worrying about the Doctor's mental health, then I would have been upset that the Doctor hadn't offered to take me home. But since he had never met my family, and probably never would, I suppose it didn't occur to him to take me home. When the TARDIS had finally settled down, the Doctor nearly stumbled towards the door, and stuck his head out telling us,
"Here we are, then! London! Earth! The Solar System! We did it!" I exchanged a worried glance with Rose, not sure how much I wanted to trust this new Doctor on his own, he seemed to be a little crazier then he ever had before. I noticed Rose's overwhelmed look, and decided to step out of the TARDIS to give Rose a moment alone to compose herself before seeing her family. When I stepped out, the Doctor seemed to finally notice Jackie and Mickey,
"Jackie! Mickey! Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on." If I hadn't been worrying about the Doctor so much, I would have smirked and laugh at the Doctor as he stumbled away from the two, but instead I kept a close eye on the Doctor as he continued to act bizarre. "Wait there, I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you. Something important, what was it? No, hold on, hold on..." The Doctor seemed to be thinking incredibly hard as he moved closer and placed his hands on Mickey and Jackie's shoulders. "Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush... OH!" A small smile formed on my face as the two jumped in shock at the Doctor's loud exclamation. But my smile quickly faded as I noticed the Doctor looking like he was sweating a lot, and breathing heavy. "I know! Merry Christmas!" I moved quickly, and was able to catch the Doctor before he hit the ground. I heard Rose leave the TARDIS as I held my hand up to the Doctor's mouth to check if he was breathing.
"What happened? Is he all right?" I glanced towards Rose, shrugging my shoulders to the best of my ability as I held up the, now skinny, Doctor.
"I don't know, he just keeled over! But who is he? Where's the Doctor?" I glanced at the Doctor's face, telling Mickey,
"This man is the Doctor." I glanced back towards Mickey, and saw the blank look he was giving me as he responded with,
"No really, where's the Doctor?" Rose gave the regenerated Doctor an uneasy look before she told Mickey and her mother,
"She's right, that's him. Right in front of you. That's the Doctor."
"What d'you two mean, 'that's the Doctor'? Doctor Who?" The Doctor remained motionless in my arms, and if it weren't for the fact I knew he was breathing then I would say that he looked like he was dead.
"It's THE Doctor. Now listen, why don't we get him up to your place before one of your neighbors thinks we killed him." My small joke got a small smile out of Rose, before she started leading me towards their apartment with Mickey and Jackie following her while giving the Doctor and I odd, confused, looks. I let out a soft chuckle, before carrying the Doctor bridal style after them. Once we got to the apartment, I placed the Doctor on the bed and Jackie produced a pair of men's pajamas, which I assumed belonged to a boyfriend of some sort. I was quick to shoo the others out of the room, and change the Doctor into the pajamas. When Rose asked me why I was the one changing him, I told her that since Mickey had gone home to get something or another, I was the next best thing; reminding her that I was from the 51st century, and having been friends with Jack nothing was too much for me. Besides, it's not like the Doctor would be completely naked. When I finished, I let Rose back into the room, and she immediately started tucking the Doctor in, trying to make him more comfortable. Only moments later Rose's mother came into the room, and handed Rose a stethoscope and told us,
"Here we go. Tina the Cleaner's got this lodger, medical student. And she was fast asleep, so I just took it." I rolled my eyes at Jackie's comment, leaning against the wall as I watched Rose start to put the buds into her ears. "Though, I still say we should take him to hospital." I shook my head, muttering to myself,
"Terrible idea." Rose took the stethoscope out of her ears, and voiced our shared thoughts so that her mother could hear,
"We can't. They'd lock him up. They'd dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race." I smirked as Rose cut her mother off before Jackie could even say anything. "No! Shush!" Even though Jackie still looked like she wanted to say something, she kept her mouth shut. I watched closely as Rose placed the stethoscope over the Doctor's left heart, and listened for a moment, before repeating her actions with the other heart. Rose let out a soft sigh of relief, at which I smiled, before she took the stethoscope out and said,
"Both working."
"Good, I'm glad their both working." Rose exchanged a small smile with me, before her mother asked us,
"What d'you mean 'both'?"
"Well, he's got two hearts."
"Oh, don't be stupid." I shook my head to myself as Jackie made her way towards the door, as if she were leaving. Rose stood up from the chair she had been sitting in, and told her mother,
"He has!" I chuckled as Jackie pause, and turned around to look at the Doctor.
"Anything else he's got two of?"
"Leave him alone." I smiled as Jackie shook her head in disbelief before she left the room.
"Hey Rose, while we have that stethoscope…" I laughed inside my head as Rose turned to give me an odd look, almost like she expected me to say something perverted as well. "Did you want to hear that second heart I told you about?"
"I wasn't expecting that." I gave a small grin, finally starting to feel much more open with Rose then I ever had before. My grin quickly changed into a smirk as I responded with,
"I know, you were expecting something… pervert? Just because I swing both ways, like a certain friend of ours, doesn't mean that I don't have any class. Besides, I don't flirt with my friends." Well, that wasn't entirely true, but I wasn't planning to flirt with Rose so she didn't need to know that.
"I didn't know that."
"Hm? Oh, I guess I just assumed that you knew, since I'm also from the 51st century… Anyways, how did we get to talking bout my sexual orientation? Why don't we get back the double heart listening topic?" Rose gave me a small nod, seeming to be distracted, until her stomach suddenly let out a growl of hunger.
"Maybe later, right now I'm starved." Once more I chuckled softly, before nodding my own head and turning towards the Doctor as Rose left the room to go find food. I turned towards the Doctor and spoke to him,
"She seems to be more shocked about this then I thought she would be… Makes me wonder if you know or not. Not that it matters much." I paused to let out a tired sigh, "God, I hope you wake up soon. She's doing so terrible about this, she just won't understand it until you explain it to her… I would just freak Rose out, she doesn't seem to like me that much Doctor. Sometimes I wonder if I should just go back to wandering on my own…." I paused once again, thinking about what I was doing before I stated to myself and the Doctor, "Gosh, look at me, complaining to a comatose man. Maybe food isn't such a bad idea after all." I shook my head at my silliness, before I turned and walked out of the room.
"Is that Harriet Jones?" My attention was instantly taken away from the thought of food, and given to Rose. Wasn't Harriet Jones a famous Prime Minister? I silently followed Rose into her living room, seeing a woman on the television. "Why's she on the telly?"
"She's Prime Minister now. I'm eighteen quid a week better off. They're calling it 'Britain's Golden Age'. Keep on saying 'my Rose has met her'."
"Did more than that. Stopped World Was Three with her. Harriet Jones…" I gave Rose a small smile, as I watched the television that had Harriet Jones on it.
"Harriet Jones – what about those calling Guinevere One Space Probe a waste of money?"
"Now, that's where you're wrong. I completely disagree if you don't mind." Rose let out a small laugh at Harriet's comment. "The Guinevere One Space Probe represents this country's limitless ambition. British workmanship sailing up there among the stars."
"This is the spirit of Christmas, birth and rejoicing, and the dawn of a new age, and that is what we're achieving fifteen million miles away." I grinned at the television; the human race sure was an interesting one, that's for sure. A moment later there was a knock on the door, and Rose went to answer it. I grinned when I heard Mickey asking Rose to go do something or another with him. I was quick to follow the two out the door, not wanting to get stuck with Jackie, and told Rose that I was going to go hang out in the TARDIS. My plans were to shower and eat, something I felt like I hadn't done in forever.
Shortly after I had finished taking my shower, I realized that the two outfits I owed were disgustingly dirty, and quickly decided that the Doctor wouldn't mind me borrowing clothes from the TARDIS's wardrobe. I looked around for a few minutes, trying to find something that I wanted to wear, before I finally found a shirt with a picture of an owl saying 'who?' on it. I then put on a pair of ripped jeans, and a knee length black coat. When I went to look for a pair of shoes, since mine had been destroyed by the defabricator, all I saw was a pair of brown hiking boots, the Doctor's old shoes, and about fifty pairs of converse. With a look of confusion, I picked out a pair of red converse. I could have sworn that there use to be more shoes in here. I suppose it doesn't matter. With a small shrug of my shoulders I made my way back to the console room. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion when I noticed that one of the monitors in the console room was on, the monitor that showed what is going on outside of the TARDIS. I peered at the screen, until I saw Mickey and Rose rushing out a taxi. With a frown I rushed towards the door, telling the TARDIS that I would be back later.
"What's going on!" The two turned to look back at me, before Rose shouted,
"I'll explain in a moment!" I continued to frown at the two as I followed them to Rose and Jackie's apartment. The first thing I noticed when we entered the apartment was that Jackie was talking on the phone,
"So, save us a chipolata…"
"Get off the phone!"
"It's only Bev! She says hello." I watched Rose take the phone from her mother,
"Bev? Yeah—look, it'll have to wait." Rose hung up the phone and looked at us, "Right, it's not safe, we've gotta get out—where can we go?"
"My mate Stan, he'll put us up." I gave them all a confused look, thinking that it would be best to go to the TARDIS if we wanted to be safe, there wasn't much that could get into that. But I somehow doubt that Mickey or Jackie would be okay with that idea.
"That's only two streets away. What about Mo? Where's she living now?"
"I dunno! Peak District!"
"Okay, we'll go to Cousin Mo's then."
"It's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling about?" I, for once, agreed with Jackie. I wanted to know what had happened, and why Rose felt we weren't safe here.
"Mum…" I noticed that Rose was staring intently at the corner of the room, and followed her vision. In the corner of the room was a new tree, a white tree. I frowned, wondering when they had gotten that.
"Where'd you get that tree?" I watched Jackie turn to look at it, not understanding Rose's concern. "That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"
"Well, I thought it was you!"
"How can it be me?"
"Well, you went shopping, there was a ring at the door, and there it was!" I frowned at her logic, the main problem with that was that Rose didn't have any money with her.
"No, that wasn't me."
"Then who was it?" We all peered at the tree in confusion, and a sense of dread filled my senses. I noticed Rose pull her mother behind her right before the tree light up.
"Are you fucking joking?"
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Rose and I shared a look of panic, before the tree started spinning. It started out very slow, before it started picking up speed. If it weren't for the fact that this was probably going to try to kill us, I would have laughed. Killer Christmas trees singing Jingle Bells? I don't think I've seen anything that crazy on Christmas since I was twelve, and the robot Santa had a minor glitch and started singing 'I'm a Little Teapot' while spinning in circles. Jackie let out a scream as the tree sped even faster. I flinched when the tree cut threw the coffee table without any effort at all.
"Go, go, go! Get out!" I gave Mickey a small smile as he picked up a chair,
"Don't stay too long Mickey!" I then followed Rose, who had gone to the Doctor's bedroom, while Jackie had gone straight to the door.
"We've got to save the Doctor!" I nodded in agreement, going over to the Doctor's bedside, trying to figure out the quickest way to carry the Doctor.
"What're you doing?" I gave a glare towards Jackie, while I told her,
"We aren't leaving him here!"
"Mickey!" I rolled my eyes as Jackie ignored me, thinking that it was about time for Mickey to be leaving the tree alone. "Leave it! Get out! Get out! Mickey! Get out of there!" It seemed that after a few moments of Jackie yelling at him, Mickey finally listened because not a minute later Mickey joined Rose and I in the bedroom.
"Just leave him!" I glared at the door again, very unhappy with everything Jackie was saying and doing.
"Get in here!" I rolled my eyes when Jackie huffed in frustration, and closed the door with more force then she needed to. While Jackie and Mickey moved the wardrobe in front of the door, while Rose leaned over the Doctor,
"Doctor, wake up!" I frowned, going to grab my sonic hair devices, thinking that they may be able to stop the tree, before I realized that I had left them in the TARDIS when I had taken my shower. I then saw the Doctor's leather jacket, and made a quick decision to grab the sonic screwdriver from the pocket. When I pulled the device from the coat pocket, I noticed that the wardrobe was shaking something violently. Moments later the tree had chopped the wardrobe to pieces, throwing Jackie and Mickey backwards.
"I'm gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!'
"Doctor!" Thinking quickly, I adjusted the settings on the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the tree, making it explode. It was then that I noticed that the Doctor was sitting up, something that surprised me.
"It's remote control." I handed his sonic screwdriver back to him, with a small smile on my face.
"Then who's controlling it?" The Doctor was quick to get out of bed, and make his way towards the front door. We all quickly followed the Doctor to the balcony. I looked over the edge, along with the Doctor, and saw three creepy looking Santa's holding trumpets
"That's them. What are they?"
"Shush!" While Rose was looking at the Doctor, I was staring at the robot Santa's. Something was odd about this, and I didn't like it. I noticed from the corner of my eye that the Doctor had raised his sonic screwdriver at the Santa's in a threatening manner, making them back away. The group moved closer to each other before they teleported themselves away.
"They're just gone! What kind of rubbish were they? I men, no offence, but they're no much cop if a sonic screwdriver's gonna scare them off." I glanced towards Mickey, ready to tell him that a sonic screwdriver could probably do more damage then he thought, but the Doctor spoke before I even opened my mouth,
"Pilot Fish." I tossed the Doctor a confused expression, not fully understanding what he meant by that.
"What?"
"They were just Pilot Fish."
"Oh." It clicked in my head when he repeated his response. I knew what Pilot Fish were, and that really wasn't a good sign. My thoughts were quickly broken when the Doctor coughed, and was against the wall in pain. I frowned as everyone surrounded the Doctor, worried about his health. Now that I think about it, he really shouldn't have been out of bed right after waking up, Timelord or not.
"What's wrong?" My frown deepened when the Doctor started panting, clearly not feeling well.
"You woke me up too soon. I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." My eyes widened in shock when I saw the golden energy, the vortex energy, escape the Doctor's mouth. For a brief moment I felt my second heart throb, before I focused my attention on what the Doctor was saying. "You see? The Pilot Fish could smell it. A million miles away. So they eliminate the defense—that's you lot—and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of year—" I took a step closer when the Doctor leaned forward, a groan escaping his lips.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"My head!" I watched Jackie kneel before the Doctor, holding him up. I frowned, wishing that there was something I could do to make the Doctor better.
"I'm having a neuron implosion. I need—"
"What do you need?"
"I need—"
"Do you need aspirin?" I rolled my eyes at the woman, thinking to myself that whatever medicine the Doctor might need wouldn't be so simple.
"I—"
"Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I dunno—Pepto-Bismol?"
"I need—"
"Liquid paraffin? Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?" I rolled my eyes at the woman again, thinking that if she would just shut up then the Doctor could finish talking, and tell us exactly what it was he needed.
"I need—"
"Is it food? Something simple? Uh—a bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?"
"I need you to shut up."
"Oh, he hasn't changed that much, has he?" I grinned at Jackie's statement. My grin fell off my face when the Doctor lurched forward again, wondering just how much pain he was in.
"We haven't got much time. If there's Pilot Fish, then—" I could feel my eyebrows furrow when the Doctor pulled an apple out of the robe he was wearing, and apparently as confused by this as I was, "Why's there an apple in my dressing gown?"
"Oh, that's Howards, sorry."
"He keeps apples in his dressing gown?"
"He gets hungry." My expression matched the Doctor's, as we both stared at the apple in confusion.
"What, he gets hungry in his sleep?"
"Sometimes." Suddenly the Doctor shouted out in pain, sinking to the floor as he struggled to say,
"Brain—collapsing—" I saw the Doctor grab onto Rose's upper arm, barely able to speak. "P—the Pilot Fish. The Pilot Fish mean… that something—something—Something's coming." The Doctor suddenly collapsed onto Rose, no longer conscious.
Nearly twenty minutes later we had gotten the Doctor back in the apartment, tucked him into bed, and Rose was checking on him again since he looked like he was in even worse shape then he was before. While Rose was checking on the Doctor, I waited awkwardly with Jackie and Mickey. I took the tea that Jackie offered me, mostly to be polite, as I watched Mickey set up his laptop.
"Jackie, I'm using the phone line. Is that all right?"
"Yeah. Keep a count of it." Jackie placed a cup of tea next to Mickey, holding onto the other one for Rose. "It's midnight. Christmas day." Rose made her way into the room, before sitting on the arm of the chair. Jackie was quick to hand Rose the last mug of tea before she asked,
"Any change?"
"He's worse. Just one heart beating." I slumped in my spot, silently noticing that my second heart was beating faster then it normally did when Rose mentioned that only one of the Doctor's hearts was working. And then a sudden, sharp, pain rushed through my chest. I winced in pain, before it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. I frowned, before my attention was grabbed by Mickey.
"Here we go, Pilot Fish."
"Oh, you're looking up Pilot Fish? I could have told you about those. I thought you knew what they were." I gave Mickey a cheeky grin when he looked at me with an annoyed look. "But by all means, keep explaining." The boy rolled his eyes at me, before turning his attention back to Rose,
"Scavengers, like the Doctor said. Harmless—they're tiny, but the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish."
"Do you mean like sharks?"
"Great big sharks. So, what the Doctor means is, we had them… now we get that."
"Something is coming…" I glanced towards the television when it suddenly went more static then it was before. "How close?"
"There's no way of telling, but the Pilot Fish don't swim far from their daddy." I watched as a distorted image suddenly appeared on the television, staring at it curiously.
"So it's close?"
"Funny sort of rocks." Rose and I exchanged a worried look, after she had looked at the screen, before we both stated,
"Those aren't rocks."
"Coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning." A loud roar suddenly came through the television as an alien was revealed, making me gasp and jump back. It didn't take long before the reporters, all over the world, were talking about the alien that had appeared on the television.
"Rose, take a look. I've got access to the military. They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way." I glanced at the computer, awkwardly looking at it over Mickey's shoulder.
"Coming for what, though? The Doctor?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's coming for all of us." I frowned, thinking that it wasn't highly likely. These weren't any aliens that lived near here, and while the Earth made a lot of noise, but I doubt that there's any reason that they would come to the Earth other then the Doctor. I looked back towards the laptop when I heard noise coming from it. There were four of the Sycorax on the screen, speaking a language that I didn't understand. "Have you seen them before?"
"No." I hesitantly told them,
"Erm… They're known as the Sycorax. I've seen pictures of them once or twice, but never had an encounter with them. In fact I really don't know anything about them other then their name, and what they look like… And it's not a language that I ever learned."
"How do you normally understand aliens?"
"The TARDIS translates alien languages inside our heads, all the time, wherever we are." I glanced at Rose, noticing from her tone that she was upset.
"So, why isn't it doing it now?"
"I don't know. Must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's… he's broken."
Not too much time passed, before Mickey and Rose were checking in on the Doctor and Jackie. While they checked on the other two, I stayed in front of the television boredly watching the news reports about the Sycorax's. It wasn't until I heard the front door opening that I got up from my spot on the couch.
He won't listen! He's just walking, he won't stop walking! There's this sort of… light, thing. Jason? Stop it!" I followed Rose and Mickey out of the apartment when they cautiously stepped outside. "Right now!" I followed the two over to the balcony, and frowned down at the mass of people that were walking in a zombie like state, with this strange blue light appearing every few minutes. It didn't seem like the family members were doing any good as they tried to stop the people that were being controlled, instead the people kept walking towards higher ground. I silently followed the people up to the roof, continuing to frown at them as they all made their way to the edge of the roof, before stopping. It looked, almost, like they were waiting for some type of command.
"What do we do?" I glanced towards Mickey, before looking back at the controlled people.
"Nothing. There's no one to save us. Not anymore." I heard the other two leave, as I bit my lip wondering what I could do to help. I might not be the Doctor, but I certainly wasn't going to sit around doing absolutely nothing. When nothing came to mind immediately, I decided to go back to the TARDIS. Maybe she'd be able to inspire me somehow. And it's not like I'm doing any good to Rose and her family, I'm pretty sure that they don't like me all that much. I heard someone talking when I entered the TARDIS, making me frown in confusion. When I was closer to the console, I realized that one of the screens was on, and the person that I heard speaking was Harriet Jones.
"I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request: Doctor. If you're out there… we need you. I don't know what to do. But if you can hear me, Doctor… If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him… the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us." I let out a soft sigh, knowing that the Doctor wouldn't be any good until he woke up. Not wanting to be distracted by the television, I leaned over a turned the monitor off. I then remembered the fact that I had my vortex manipulator, and could teleport myself onto the space ship. It's not like the other three would notice or care. I fingered my watch, before my memory reminded me that I still didn't have my sonic hair sticks. And that was something I wanted to have if I was going onto an aggressive alien ship. So I made my way back to my room, and made my way towards my dresser; where I had left my sonic devices. With a twist of my hair, they were snug against my head, and I was ready to go.
"Well… I hope that I'll be back soon TARDIS!" I gave a grin, as I pressed the necessary buttons on my watch. And after blinking I saw that I was on the Sycorax ship, next to Harriet Jones and three other men, in front of thousands of Sycorax. The other four gave me an odd look, as the Sycorax leader watched us. I titled my head towards them, quietly telling them, "Hi, I'm Robin Williams, I'm a friend of the Doctor's, and I'm here to help." Harriet gave me a small nod, and as she was about to speak the Sycorax leader stepped forward, gaining all of our attentions. We all followed the Sycorax leader's example, and stepped closer. I watched closely, with narrowed eyes, as the leader went to pull off his helmet.
"It's a helmet. They might be like us!" When the helmet was off, we could all see that underneath it was compose of bone and muscles, not at all like humans. "…or not." I frowned when the leader started to speak, not understanding a word of what he was saying. I really need to learn more languages, because this was just irritating.
" 'You will surrender, or I will release the final curse. And your people will jump.' " I glanced over at one of the men, noticing that he had a software of some sort that was translating what the Sycorax was saying.
"If I can speak." I shifted my eyes towards the man, the scientist, as he stepped forward.
"Mr. Llwellyn, you're a civilian!" So the man that Mr. Military man stopped was Mr. Llwellyn.
"No! I sent out the probe. I started it. I made contact with these people- this whole thing's my responsibility." Mr. Llewellyn pulled out of the other mans grasp, and stepped away from us, and closer to the Sycorax leader who was coming down the stairs in front of us. "With respect…. Sir. The human race is taking its first steps towards the stars, but… we are like children compared to you." I hid a smile, this man was impressive to me, he seemed like the type of man the Doctor would like. It didn't seem like the Sycorax agreed with my opinion, because they seemed to be very unimpressed. "Children who need help. Children who need compassion. I beg of you now… show that compassion." Once more my eyes narrowed at the Sycorax leader, when he didn't respond verbally. And before I could even blink, the Sycorax leader wrapped his whip around Mr. Llewellyn's neck; with a yell of pain, and a flash of blue, Mr. Llewellyn was a pile of bones. I glared at the Sycorax, anger swelling in my body.
"That man was your prisoner! Even your species must have articles of war, forbidding—" Once again the Sycorax leader used his whip, making the man a pile of bones on the floor. I clenched my teeth, trying to avoid getting the same treatment as the other two, which would happen if I were to open my mouth to the Sycorax. Harriet seemed to know the same thing, because she stopped the man with the tablet from stepping forward, and held up her ID for the Sycorax to see.
"Harriet Jones. Prime Minister."
" 'Yes. We know who you are. Surrender or they will die.' " The leader then turned his back to us, and stood next to a big threatening looking button.
"If I do surrender… how would that be better?" I frowned when the leader hovered his hand above the big red button, wondering what the hell that would do. Better yet how are they controlling the humans?
" 'Half is sold into slavery or one third dies.' " I bit my lip, thinking to myself that I really wasn't doing much good. Either way the Earth looses. " 'Your choice.' " I watched as Harriet closed her eyes, and opened them a moment later making the Sycorax leader hiss at her. Before Harriet had a chance to tell the Sycorax her choice, the leader turned and started speaking angrily. "The noise – the bleeping – they say it's machinery. Foreign machinery. They're accusing us of hiding it. Conspiring. Bring it on board." Before I could stop it, a cruse slipped through my lips, making Harriet and the man turn to me in confusion. I didn't answer the two's unasked question, more worried about what the hell Rose had done. Only moments later the TARDIS appeared, not in it's usual fashion since it was teleported aboard, and Harriet turned to me as if she were going to ask me if it were the Doctor. I gave her a small shrug, before quietly saying,
"He was sick, really sick, the last time I saw him. I don't think it's him." And as if to prove my point, Rose walked out of the TARDIS, and with a scream the Sycorax grabbed her.
"Get off! Get off me!" Mickey then came out of the TARDIS in a frantic manner. Rose was quick to break Mickey's amazement when she yelled out, "The door! Close the door!" And Mickey did just that, he was barely able to close the door before a Sycorax grabbed him. They then roughly pushed the two to where we were standing, the leader yelling out in glee.
"Rose." I watched the two embrace each other tightly, clearly terrified. "Rose! I've got you. My Lord. My precious thing. The Doctor… is he with you?"
"No. we're all on our own." While I should have felt terror at the thought that the Doctor wasn't going to help us, I felt totally calm. I felt like the Doctor was here, that he would still save the day.
" 'The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet.' " I felt my blood run cold for a moment, worried about Rose's safety. If they hadn't hesitated to kill the other two men, then what would stop them from trying to kill Rose?
"But she can't."
"Yeah, I can."
"Don't you dare."
"Someone's gotta be the Doctor."
"They'll kill you." I narrowed my eyes at the Sycorax, still very angry at their leader, before I told Harriet and Rose,
"I won't let them." I kept my eyes on the leader as Rose stepped closer to him. The Sycorax muttered excitedly, even as Rose started speaking in a nervous tone.
"I, um… I address the Sycorax according to… article fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius, and um… the Gelth Confederacy…" I nearly growled as the leader began walking toward Rose. "A – as uh… sanctioned… by the Mighty Jagrafess… and.. Oh, the Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace! In peace…" There was a moment of silence before the Sycorax started laughing hysterically.
" 'You are very, very funny. And now you're going to die.' "
"Leave her alone!"
"Don't touch her!" My voice turned sharp as I glared at the Sycorax and told him,
"If you harm her in any way, you will die." Before I could follow through on my threat, a Sycorax restrained me. I struggled, still glaring at the leader as he circled around Rose.
" 'Did you think you were clever with your stolen words?' " The leader paused for a moment, as he raised his arms into the air. " 'We are the Sycorax. We astride the darkness.' "My struggling increased when the leader hissed at Rose, making her whimper. " 'Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion…' "
"…Then your world will be gutted…" I suddenly stopped struggling, and stared at the Sycorax leader in confusion.
" '… Then you world will be gutted…' "I glanced between the leader and the man that had been translating what the Sycorax were saying, before it clicked in my head that I was hearing English. Which mean that the TARDIS was translating again, and that meant that she was all better! And that meant that the Doctor was no longer ill!
"And your people enslaved."
" 'And your people enslaved.' " The man looked up in confusion as he stated, "Hold on, that's English." I gave the man a grin, before my eyes flickered towards the TARDIS in anticipation.
"He's talking English."
"You're hearing English."
"You're talking English." I chuckled as the leader quickly became upset by this thought.
"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!" My smile grew as Rose pointed at the leader while telling him,
"That's English." She turned towards us, asking, "Can you hear English?" I nodded along with the others, my eyes going back toward the TARDIS as Mickey said,
"Yeah, that's English."
"Definitely English."
"I speak only Sycoraxic!" I chuckled to myself. That might be true, but we were certainly hearing English, and Rose was figuring out that the Doctor was awake.
"If I can hear English… then it's being translated. Which means it's working. Which means…" I grinned, as I kept my eyes on the TARDIS as the rest of our little groups slowly turned to look at the TARDIS. I let out a soft chuckle when I saw the Doctor standing in the TARDIS door, still in his stripped pajamas and dressing gown.
"Did you miss me?" I grinned at the man, and had I been close enough I would have smacked him upside the head for being so late to the party. Again the Sycorax leader tried to use his whip, attempting to turn the Doctor into a pile of bones, but he failed. The Doctor caught the whip with ease, tugged it away from the Sycorax leader, and tossed it away. "You could have someone's eye out with that!" The leader let out an angry roar, before he tried to attack the Doctor with his staff. But the Doctor was quick to snatch it from the leader, and break it over his knee. And the Doctor then threw the pieces to the side as well, while telling the leader, "You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy." I laughed, almost clutching my stomach, at the incredulous look the leader sent the Doctor. After pointing at the leader warningly, the Doctor made his way to Mickey.
"Mickey! Hello! And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North! Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life'!" The Doctor turned towards Rose and I, his grin matching the one on my own face. "Tea! That's all I needed! A good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses…" I chuckled for moment, for once the 'British cure-all' had actually worked. I was surprised when the Doctor suddenly became serious with us. "Now… first thing's first… be honest. How do I look?" And with that comment my grin was back.
"Um… different."
"Good different or bad different?"
"Not that you weren't attractive before Doctor, but you're certainly 'pretty boy' material now." I continued to give the Doctor a grin, even as he gave me an odd look. He seemed to get over my odd statement fairly quickly as he asked,
"Am I… ginger?" I shook my head at him, as Rose looked at his hair and told him,
"No, you're just sort of brown." This seemed to upset the Doctor, as he turned away pouting about not being a ginger.
"Aww, I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger." The Doctor quickly turned back around and pointed at the two of us. "And you two, Rose Tyler, Robin Williams, fat load of good you two were –you gave up on me, and you ran away—oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger." I gasped at the Doctor for a moment, shocked that he thought I had ran away, seriously what gave him that impression? Though I guess I hadn't really stayed near Rose or the Doctor, and had left to a strange alien ship on my own…
"I'm sorry-who is this?"
"I'm the Doctor." Rose and I both glanced towards Harriet and told her,
"He's the Doctor."
"But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?" The Doctor walked towards Harriet, trying to explain that he was still the same man in a different body.
"I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face-well, new everything."
"But you can't be."
"Harriet Jones. We were trapped in Downing Street, and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens… wasn't the war… it was the thought of your mother being on her own."
"Oh, my God." The Doctor bent over a little to ask her,
"Did you win the election?" I chuckled quietly to myself, why else would she be here?
"Landslide majority."
"If I might interrupt!" I flinched when the Sycorax leader suddenly yelled at us, having momentarily forgotten him. The Doctor twirled around,
"Yes! Sorry! Hello, big fella!"
"Who exactly are you?" And wasn't that the question? Wasn't that always the question?
"Well. That's the question."
"I demand to know who you are!" I giggled when the Doctor shouted out, imitating the Sycorax's rough voice,
"I DON'T KNOW! See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I- I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic?" I raised an eyebrow when the Doctor looked towards Rose and I, "Sexy?" He winked at us, and I let out an unattractive snort. Hadn't I already told him he was attractive? "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob. And how am I gonna react when I see this?" The Doctor then pointed to the big red button with a nearly insane grin on his face. "A great big threatening button." He then ran up the stairs, and laughed as he did so. "A Great Big Threatening Button Which Must Not Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances. Am I right? Let me guess, it's some sort of control matrix? Hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" I watched the Doctor bend down and open a small door to reach the controls. "And what've we got here? Blood?" The Doctor dipped his finger in the dark liquid, and brought it to his lips. I scowled, and said,
"Oh… That is disgusting." The Doctor ignored me entirely, and kept ranting about the controller.
"Yeah, definitely. Blood. Human blood. A Positive. With just a dash of iron. Ahh. But that means…. Blood control—Blood control! Oh! I haven't seen blood control for years! You're controlling all the A Positives!" While the Sycorax's grin fell, my own grin grew. This meant that those people were totally safe, there was no way that they could be controlled to kill themselves, self preservation would kick in before that would happen; in theory at least, unlike the Doctor I had never actually seen blood control, only heard about it. "Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. 'Cos… I really don't know when to stop. So if I see a Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never Ever Be Pressed… then I just wanna do this." The Doctor then pressed the button, releasing the people from the control they were under. The rest of our group didn't seem to know this as they yelled out,
"No!"
"You killed them!" I glanced at Rose and Harriet, with my eyebrow raised. Did they really think the Doctor would push the button if he thought it would kill all those people?
"What do you think, big fella? Are they dead?"
"We allow them to live." Once again I let out an unattractive snort escape my lips, and barely contained my laughter. Allow? Yeah, right.
"Allow? You've no choice! I mean, that's all blood control it. Cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis—you can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis, you can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."
"Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force." I rolled my eyes, naturally that would be the next thing out of his mouth, intergalactic laws be screwed.
"Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that - of course you could. But why? Look at these people." I grinned and gave a small wave when the Doctor gestured towards the humans and myself, and spoke in a very passionate way. "These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun. There is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than- no, hold on…" He paused for a moment, a moment in which I realized that he was quoting 'The Lion King'. "Sorry, that's 'The Lion King'. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"
"Or what?"
"Or…" And without missing a beat, the Doctor grabbed a sword from one of the Sycorax guarding us, and ran down the steps to stand in the empty space in front of the TARDIS. He then raised the sword into the air and told the Sycorax, "I challenge you." The Sycorax all busted into laughter, clearly they didn't think highly of the Doctor standing in front of them in his nightgown. "Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?" I watched, very unimpressed, as the Sycorax leader stepped down the step, and pulled out his sword.
"You stand as this world's champion." The Doctor started shrugging off his dressing gown, before telling the Sycorax,
"Thank-you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up." I was quick to catch the Doctor's gown when he threw it at me, and since I could hit him on the head or arm, I yelled at him.
"I'm not a coat rack Doctor!" I couldn't help but giggle when the Doctor turned and gave me a dramatic eye roll, before he became serious again while he asked,
"So—you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?" I resisted the urge to give the Doctor a funny look and instead looked towards the leader when he let out a hiss. The two then started their duel for the planet by kneeling by their swords. The Sycorax leader then asked the Doctor,
"For the planet?"
"For the planet." They then stood, and held their swords at the ready, before they ran at each other and began to fight. I chewed on my lip when the Doctor was thrown aside, and the Sycorax leader laughed at the Doctor. After straightening himself up, the Doctor and the leader started to fight again. When the Sycorax leader swung his sword at the Doctor Rose shouted out,
"Look out!" I gave her a quick look with my eyebrow raised as the Doctor spoke, before turning my attention back to the fight.
"Oh, yeah, that helped. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks." Rose watched the two fight with a terrified expression, while I bit my lip in worry as the Doctor led the fight up the staircase. "Bit of fresh air?" I watched, my eyes opening a bit in shock, as the Doctor hit a button that led to a platform on the outside of the spaceship. How the hell did he know that was there? I shook the thought out of my head, and quickly made my way out onto the platform with the rest of the humans, and a few Sycorax, following me. We all stood and watched the two fight, until the Sycorax leader managed to scratch the Doctor on his nose. Rose began to run forward when the Doctor let out a small groan of pain, only to be stopped by the Doctor holding out a hand to stop her and told her,
"Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet." The Doctor the wiped his nose, and the fighting resumed. Only a few minutes later the Doctor was knocked backwards to the ground. The Sycorax leader used this to his advantage; a scream was on the edge of my throat as I grimaced at the sight of the leader cutting off the Doctors hand. The hand and sword both fell off the side of the ship, but rather then a pained expression being on the Doctor's face, his face looked angry more than anything. "You cut my hand off."
"YAH! Sycorx!" I ignored the Sycorax leader in favor of watching the Doctor stand up with a curious expression on my face.
"And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. 'Cos quite by chance... I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy... to do this." I watched as, right before my eyes, the Doctor's arm grew back. How the hell does he do that? I know that Time Lords are crazy, but I didn't know they could re-grow limbs after they regenerated.
"Witchcraft."
"Time Lord."
"Doctor!" I then noticed that Rose had grabbed a sword from one of the Sycorax, and thrown it towards the Doctor; who caught the sword and spun it around. Showoff.
"Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?"
"No arguments from me!" The Doctor and myself both grinned, before he turned back to the Sycorax leader and said,
"Wanna know the best bit? This new hand…. It's a fightin' hand!" Once more an unattractive snort made its way past my lips when I heard the Doctor speaking in a Texan accent. I managed to stop my laughter when the Doctor ran at the leader, and the fighting resumed. Unlike my fellow onlookers, who winced when the Doctor jabbed the Sycorax leader hard in the stomach, I let out a loud cheer; only to flush when everyone looked at me with strange looks. Because of this I made sure to keep quiet when the Doctor hit the Sycorax leader two more times in the stomach, which caused him to fall to the ground before the Doctor held his sword to the Sycorax leader's neck.
"I win."
"Then kill me."
"I'll spare your life if you'll take this champion's command: leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?"
"Yes." I wasn't able to hold back my flinch when the Doctor spoke again, this time angrier, and much more serious, then I had heard him since he woke up.
"Swear on the blood of your species." This time the Sycorax leader answered with his breathing labored,
"I swear." And just like that, the Doctor sounded cheerful again,
"There we are, then! Thanks for that! Cheers, big fella!" I watched with a large grin as the Doctor jabbed his sword into the ground, and Harriet let out,
"Bravo!" After a moment, I rushed forward with Rose, grins on both of our faces.
"That says it all. Bravo!"
"Nicely done, Doctor"
"Yeah! Not bad for a man in his jim-jams!" I continued to grin while I placed the dressing gown, which I had held onto during the fight, onto the Doctor's shoulders. Rose was quick to actually put the dressing gown on the Doctor, rather then just letting it rest on his shoulders. "Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man. Hold on, what have I got in here?" I quirked an eyebrow at the Doctor when he pulled out a satsuma out of the dressing gown pocket, and heard Rose giggle. "A Satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mothers – he does like his snacks doesn't he? But doesn't that just sum up Christmas?" I chuckled, and followed the other two towards the door. While we were walking, the Doctor tosses the Satsuma in the air and caught it again.
"You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old Satsuma." Suddenly I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, no sound being emitted since it was set on vibrate, and pulled it out to see who was calling me. I let a small frown appear on my face when I saw the name: Jack Harkness. "Who wants a Satsuma?" I jumped, and lost my grip on my phone, when I suddenly heard the Sycorax leader let out a loud roar. And as the Doctor threw the Setsuna behind him, I watched my phone slid off the edge. I let out a sad sigh, before registering that the Sycorax leader was no longer on the ship, and that I could hear his screams.
"No second chances. I'm that sort of a man." We all silently followed the Doctor back to the TARDIS, and the next time anyone spoke was when the Doctor told the Sycorax, "By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet… when you tell them of its riches –its people- its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this: It. Is. Defended." And not seconds later we were back on Earth, having been teleported back along side of the TARDIS.
"Where are we?" I nearly told Rose that we were on Earth, but cut myself short since I decided that I really shouldn't insult her, she probably meant which street were we on.
"We're just off Bloxom Road. We're just round the corner, we did it!" I gave a small smile in Mickey's direction, as he laughed loudly and jumped up and down in glee. The Doctor was quick to hold his hand up, as the engines started up, and tell Mickey,
"Wait a minute… wait a minute…" The Doctor and I both grinned once the ship had left, and Mickey shouted,
"Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!" I gave Mickey a funny look, but Rose jumped on Mickey's back.
"Yeah! Don't come back!"
"It is defended!" I laughed, for different reasons then the other two, Mickey just wasn't nearly as impressive as the Doctor. Rose then surprised the assistant man by giving him a hug, after she jumped off of Mickey's back. I felt a little left out when the Doctor and Harriet gave each other a hug. I had missed their previous conversation, but heard Harriet tell the Doctor,
"Absolutely the same man. Are there many more out there?"
"Oh, not just Sycorax. Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Everyday you're sending out probes and messages and signals – this planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed… more and more. You'd better get used to it." It is during this century that everything changes, not that Harriet needs to know that.
"Rose!" I glanced towards Rose's mother, wondering how the hell she found us.
"Mum!"
"Oh! Talking of trouble!" I smiled softly when Rose ran towards her mother, hugging her tightly.
"Oh, my God! You did it, Rose! Oh!" I followed Mickey over to where Rose and Jackie were standing, listening to what the others were standing.
"You did it too! It was the tea! Fixed his head!"
"That was all I needed – cup o' tea." So that's what cured the Doctor? How… Ironic.
"I said so!"
"Look at him!"
"Is it him, though? Is it really the Doctor?" I rolled my eyes, thinking of how many times she had already been told he was the Doctor, before Jackie suddenly noticed Harriet, "Oh, my God! It's the bleeding Prime Minister!"
"Come here, you." The Doctor then held out his arms to Jackie, who threw her arms around him. Rose and Mickey were quick to join the hug, while I stayed off to the side, not feeling that I was really a part of this group. The Doctor was one of Rose's friends, while Rose seemed to barely consider me a friend; naturally her family didn't like me as much as they liked the Doctor.
"Aww! Are you better?"
"I am, yeah!" I gave the group a small, nearly sad, smile as I watched them chat among themselves; it was times like this that I thought that I shouldn't travel with the Doctor. After all he didn't choose me to come with him like he chose Rose, I was a tag-along. And that had been fine when Jack traveled with us, he was another tag-along. But he wasn't with us anymore.
I jumped, along with everyone that wasn't part of the government, as a beam of green lights shot up from four points and met in the middle to create a fifth point. That point then shot the spaceship, destroying it.
"What is that? What's happening?" I frowned up at the sky, broken from my previous thoughts.
"That was murder."
"That was defense. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."
"But they were leaving."
"You said yourself, Doctor. They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today - Mr Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case - we have to defend ourselves." It was times like this that I was really glad that I didn't live in this century, and that I wasn't in charge of the government.
"Britain's Golden Age."
"It comes with a price."
"I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run - as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming: the human race."
"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf." Although I disagree with her method, this was probably for the best. The Doctor can't always be here to save the day, and even the Doctor can make mistakes.
"Then I should've stopped you."
"What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?" I then noticed just how threatening, and angry, the Doctor really was as he stepped towards Harriet.
"Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones. 'Cos I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word."
"You're the most remarkable man I've ever met. But I don't think you're quite capable of that."
"No, you're right. Not a single word." I watched the Doctor curiously as he paused for a few seconds, before he amended what he had previously stated. "Just six."
"I don't think so."
"Six words."
"Stop it!"
"Six." After that the two stared at each other in a silent battle of wits, before the Doctor walked around Harriet and approached the assistant man. The Doctor then pulled off ear piece the man was wearing, and spoke to him softer then any of us could hear. I gave him a curious look as he walked away, leaving the other man confused, and Harriet just plain alarmed. I was quick to join the Doctor and the others as we walked towards the TARDIS, needing to move it closer to the Tyler's apartment complex. Harriet yelled after the Doctor, wanting to know what he had said, until we had all disappeared in the TARDIS.
A quick trip later we were at the apartment complex, and the Doctor ushered the Tyler's, and Mickey, out the door telling them that he would be up after he changed. He tried to usher me out as well, but I shook my head and refused to leave.
"Sorry Doctor, but I don't do the family thing anymore." I noticed the odd look the Doctor was giving me, but didn't feel the need to elaborate if he wasn't going to ask me personally. Besides, I wasn't planning on sticking around much longer, the Doctor and Rose didn't need a tag-along and they would get along just fine without me.
"Anymore? What does that mean?" I narrowed my eyes at the Doctor, wondering where this sudden curiosity in my life came from, before I told him,
"Just what it sounds like. I used to, but then I grew up." I paused for a moment, before I continued, "I'll be in my room, you'd best go get dressed, you don't want to miss the festivities." Without waiting for a response, I made my way past the Doctor and towards my room. I gave a sad look around the room, before I started pulling all my stuff out and packing it. And by all my stuff, I mean the three pairs of clothing in my room, and that phone Electra had given me. Once I had everything packed up, I slung my backpack onto my back, and opened my mouth to tell the TARDIS goodbye.
"Well, Ms. TARDIS, it's been fun. But I've got to go now. I hope I see you again someday, it'd be too boring without you in my life." I gave the TARDIS a pat, before setting my watch to a random date in the future, and disappeared from the spot I was standing.
Mistressnmoon: Yeah... sorry that this chapter was so choppy, and that Robin didn't really have a major role in it. But my thought was that she doesn't really feel like she gets along with the Tylers and Mickey, and thus she tried not to say a whole lot around them... but I'm not entirely sure if that got across or not. So yeah, even though I don't like the chapter all that much, I hope that you did!
