A/N: Part 3 of the 6-part 'pilot' episode "A Pirate's Life for Me."

WARNING: graphic depictions of violence and blood.

Chapter 18: Contraxia Corrupted

"What the hell?!" I exclaim in shock at the completely ruined environment around me.

Okay, maybe not completely ruined, but the majority of it is. In contrast to the environment I'd just left that was bustling with people running this way and that not ten minutes ago, the place now looks utterly devastated, with a dark storm brewing overhead. At first, I don't recognize where I am, but it's not until I see the buildings—or what is left of them—far off in the distance that I immediately get my bearings. Like Idris said, we're exactly where we were, only we seemed to have travelled in Time, far into the future. The building that which we first landed in is still present, only its roof is missing in some places, like a massive tornado had torn through the city and ripped the roof off, as well as anything and everything in its path; even the buildings in the distance have parts missing from them. Large piles of debris are strewn everywhere on the floor, even in front of the TARDIS. After I close the door, I struggle slightly to move a large beam that had fallen from the ceiling above the alcove where we originally landed. Once I manage to get to the center of the C-shaped hallway, I look around for any signs of life, but there seems to be none.

"'A few centuries,' you say?" I scoff in a murmur. "More like a few centuries plus. What happened here? I suppose this is what travelling through Time looks like…" Most time-travel movies generally depict the future to be post-apocalyptic, so seeing the world like this admittedly doesn't surprise me one bit.

Like I said, "Science Fiction no more."

As I wander toward the general direction of where the ice cream shop is—was—where I left the Doctor, I wonder what happened to him. If a few centuries had really passed, that means he should be a few centuries older. At this point, he may not be easily recognized; he may look like a street hobo by now, with dirty clothes, wrinkly skin, and a long, shaggy beard. Then again, he may no longer be alive. Everything here is dead, therefore not many life-forms could still be alive, if any. If there are, they're mainly just scrounging for scraps, and maybe even feeding off of their own kin just to stay alive. I can't imagine any of that stuff happening to the Doctor. Even if he was still alive—god, I hope he is—I hope he's still where I left him. Idris said he was alright, so he must still be alive...at least for now; unfortunately, I don't sense him through our telepathic link. I just hope I'm not too late.

A feeling of anger suddenly washes over me—anger toward Idris. I don't understand why she had to travel many years into the future rather than a few hours. I mean, there's no way that whatever danger she was trying to escape stuck around for several centuries straight, right? That would mean not leaving their post ever, not even for food or bathroom breaks. Surely the danger would eventually give up after a while, right? I don't understand why Idris made this decision and abandoned the Doctor—her pilot, my father—for so long.

What kind of a ship does that to her pilot? I think. Whatever happened to 'a ship never goes down without her captain?'

This thought suddenly makes me think of Hazel and her speech that 'if you go down, I go down with you.' "Oh, Haze…" I sigh shamefully. "If only we went down together…" If only I hadn't abandoned her like I abandoned everyone else, including the Doctor. If I find him and he's dead, I'll never forgive myself.

A sudden crunch from somewhere up ahead interrupts my thoughts, followed by a strange growl. "Doctor?" I call out hesitantly, hoping it's him; though my senses suddenly tell me it isn't him. No human—or Time Lord, for that matter—can growl that deeply, so it has to be from an animal. Another loud crunch is heard, and I see movement behind one of the mounds of debris. I squint through the darkness and see a giant doglike creature step out from behind the mound, its glowing eyes burning red like hot coals. The demon-dog bears its fangs hungrily at me, and I have no time to react as it jumps at me without warning.

"NO!" I scream on instinct, shielding myself with my hands, so sure I'm about to die.

Once I do, the unexpected happens—again. When I raise my hand up, a massive burst of gold energy shoots out from it and strikes the mutt in the chest, sending it flying and crashing into the pile of debris it was hiding behind. At the time of the attack, my vision takes on the familiar gold tinge, like I'm seeing the world through a cloud of gold dust—no, regeneration energy. The impact against a large support beam within the pile apparently impales the mutt in the stomach, killing it instantly.

"What?" I exclaim in shock after my vision returns to normal, staring at my glowing hands. "This again?" This very thing happened last time in the alley in London, when I was attacked by the Silence, and apparently it happened again here. At the time the attacks were happening, I was fearing for my life, but I also had absolutely no control of my energy. I mean, I meant to keep the Silence, and this time the mutt, away from me so that they didn't hurt me, but I didn't intend to hurt them with a massive burst of Jedi (Time Lord?) Force power. And now this has happened twice! What the freak is happening to me?!

My thoughts are interrupted once again as I see a strange blue glow in the distance, half-buried under another pile of debris further around the bend. "What's that?" I say to no one in particular as I cautiously approach the glow-y thing. I carefully move the debris and gasp once I discover what the glow-y thing is, or rather who is frozen inside it, lying on the floor and appearing dead…

The Doctor.

Well, he isn't 'dead,' per se…at least, he doesn't seem to be upon closer inspection; though he does appear to be in very bad shape. His eyes are wide open and filled with horror, his clothes are caked in some kind of rusty orange and brown substance that I hope to God isn't blood but might actually be blood, and his face is battered and bruised, like he'd been in a wrestling match and royally lost the fight. There is a small pool of what I know one-hundred percent is blood, but I can't tell if it's from his nose or mouth, as it's barely visible directly below the two. My hearts feel like they're about to drop out of my chest, seeing my father like this.

"Dad!" I scream in horror as I attempt to place a hand on his shoulder, but the 'glow' zaps me, preventing me from touching him. I yelp in pain from the burn it left on my hand. Immediately after, I feel the regenerative process begin to manifest in my hand, but I ignore it as I inspect the glow further, trying to figure out a way to get him out of it.

"It looks like a time-bubble of sorts," I think aloud to myself. "I mean, I think; I've never seen a time-bubble before, but this is kinda what it looks like in the movies." Clearly he hasn't aged a day, nor is he currently able to move any part of his body. Time has stopped inside the bubble but not the outside, hence the state of the place…and him. Whatever or whoever did this to him, they obviously did it before they put him in the time-bubble and froze him like this. But why?

"How do I get you out of it?" I continue. "I can't touch this thing without burning myself. I don't think anything can break through this thing either." Luckily the debris didn't crush him like it normally would've. The time-bubble acted as a force field to prevent him from being crushed by the carnage, and from anything else that had happened here, whatever happened. Thank God, or he would've died long ago, whenever the roof initially collapsed.

'Sonic,' I suddenly hear Idris's voice again in my head. 'Use the sonic.'

I frown in response, looking around. "Idris? Is that you? How are you talking to me right now? I'm nowhere near you!" How can I still hear her when I'm on the other side of the building, completely out of sight of her?

'No matter where or when you go, we're telepathically linked,' she explains, 'just like you are with the Doctor. Now use the sonic screwdriver to disrupt the Chronal Displacement Field. It'll release him. Just point and think.'

At first, I am confused as to what a Chronal Displacement Field is, but then I realize that she's referring to the time-bubble (it must be a more scientific and professional term for it, I think). I take a deep, nervous breath as I take my flashlight-looking device out of my pocket. "Okay…" I breathe out nervously as I point the screwdriver at the time-bubble ('Chronal Displacement Field' is too big of a mouthful for me). "Please don't kill him." I close my eyes and 'think' the screwdriver to deactivate the time-bubble and release the Doctor as it whirs loudly. A second later, there is a loud POP, followed by a swift gasp of surprise. I open my eyes again and see the Doctor panting heavily, the time-bubble now gone. "It worked!" I exclaim joyously. "Thank god!"

"Nova!" the Doctor exclaims upon seeing me. "You're okay!" He reaches up and wraps his arms around me, pulling himself up as he does so, holding me so tightly that I feel like I'm being asphyxiated. I manage to keep myself upright as I wrap my own arms around him, almost supporting his body in my lap. "I thought you were dead," he whimpers in my shoulder, and I take notice of his weak voice, like he's in a lot of pain and struggling to breathe; even our telepathic link feels slightly weaker than it was before, at least on his end.

"Ditto," I reply meekly, rubbing his back gently up and down, trying to calm him, as his body is shaking like a leaf. He's clearly in a lot of distress, but from what, I have no idea. Perhaps from whatever destroyed the city, I wonder, or from the physical abuse that was mercilessly inflicted on him. Who would do this to him? And why?

"Bad people," I suddenly hear him say in my ear.

"What?" I ask, puzzled, as I pull away from him enough where I can see his bruised face—his face that has now started to swell a little since I broke him free of the time-bubble.

"Bad people did this to me," he explains, wincing in pain as he clutches one side of his chest over one of his hearts. "A ruthless gang of pirates that were after the TARDIS. They snuck a sedative in my ice cream and attempted to steal a TARDIS key; luckily I gave the only key I had to you. When they found out the Old Girl had left and saw I'd given my key away, they tortured me…beat me half to death. Then they locked me in a time-lock and left me until the Old Girl returned. I thought they'd done the same to you…or worse."

"No, I was in the TARDIS the entire time," I shake my head. "When I heard the screams, I was gonna come back, but the TARDIS freaked out and left. The controls were being activated on their own, but I couldn't stop them."

"She must've set the HADS off with you inside," he deduces, although he says it like 'hads,' which is grammatically incorrect.

"Hads?" I say, frowning in confusion. "What's that?" Then I suddenly remember Idris saying something that had those exact letters in it, in that exact order. "Wait! Is that the Hostile whatever-whatever System?" I realize that the Doctor had, in fact, said it like an acronym—like 'TARDIS,' only it's 'HADS,' which makes much more sense in this case.

"Hostile Action Displacement System," he confirms. "It's what activates when a TARDIS's outer shell is being attacked."

"She said someone was trying to blow apart the doors to get in," I confess nervously. "That must've been what she was trying to escape. She ended up taking me with her…but she saved me." This suddenly makes me feel ashamed of being angry with her earlier. Idris didn't electrocute me on purpose. Well, she did, but she did it to save me. If I'd known, I wouldn't have fought her.

"Yes," the Doctor nods gravely. "If she hadn't—"

"Let's not think about that," I say swiftly, shaking my head. In all honesty, I'm not remotely interested in knowing the alternative; what matters is that we're both alive…for now.

No, I respond to my previous thought. No 'for now.' The Doctor and I are both alive. That's not going to change for either of us. Not by a long shot.

"Come on," I say as I tuck myself under the Doctor's arm, "we need to get you out of here. Can you stand?"

"Not very well," he admits as he struggles to his feet. "My leg might be broken." He points to his right leg, which appears to be bent at an awkward angle.

"What about your other leg?" I ask curiously. If at least one of his legs is okay, he shouldn't have a problem, right?

"It's fine, but the ankle is sprained," he says in a painful tone as I help him up the rest of the way. "They had to make sure I couldn't escape." Once he's on his feet—sort of, as he's actually leaning most of his weight on me—he suddenly covers his mouth with his hand and coughs violently into it, and when he wipes his mouth, I could swear I see a flash of orange-red that had stained his hand. He swiftly wipes his hand on his trousers before I can get a good look at what I believe to be blood; though I hope I'm wrong, as coughing up blood is a very bad sign—a sign of probable death. "I'm alright," he assures me, though I get the sense that he is lying.

"I'm so sorry," I say angrily, not toward Idris, but at myself, as well as those who did this to him, my father. "This was my fault! If I hadn't walked out on you again, like the coward I am…"

"No, Nova, you're not a coward," he says, shaking his head, as we begin walking—limping, in the Doctor's case—back toward the direction of the TARDIS. "This was my fault. I should've started off easy for you. Started off in an environment that you'd be comfortable in. Started off somewhere on Earth instead, and built up gradually from there."

As much as I agree with him, I can't help shaking my head and saying, "No, I get it. You were anxious to show me that there was other life out there besides on Earth. Don't get me wrong, this place is amazing. Well…was. What happened here? How long were you stuck here?"

"Fifteen centuries," the Doctor admits with a wince. "Well, fifteen centuries, four years, three months, and two days, to be specific. I've been keeping track of the time ever since they trapped me."

Seriously?! I exclaim in my head. That long?

I then frown in confusion. "Wait! So, you were awake the entire time, even though Time never passed for you inside the bubble?"

"Yes," he nods gravely. "I was awake for every second of it. Every second of every minute of every day—"

"Yeah, I get it," I stop him from continuing, feeling more disturbed by the second. "I can't imagine the things you saw in all that time." Obviously the city destroying itself, as well as whoever was keeping him locked in the time-bubble.

"War," he admits. "Terrible war. The Paroobian War, to be specific. Occurred throughout the entire galaxy and lasted an entirety of fifteen centuries, four years, and two months solid. Began two weeks after you left, and ended a month before you returned. And I wasn't affected by any of it. But everybody else… So many innocents I could've saved…"

His statement makes me silent for a minute, making me wonder if he had known what was going to happen around the time of when we first arrived—fifteen centuries ago—but had accidentally forgotten. In any case, time didn't matter to him so much as the place. He only thought about impressing me with the sites rather than what was to come in the next week; rather, the majestic beauty of the planet before the war destroyed it and everyone (except for the Doctor) on its surface.

It would also explain why Idris didn't return at any time during the war. Absolutely nowhere was safe for her to land, because everywhere was getting bombed by attackers from above world. Unfortunately, the only safe time to land was after the war was over, fifteen centuries later.

"I'm sorry," I say again, sensing his guilt. "You're safe now. The pirates are gone…right? All of them, they're gone?"

"Not all of them," the Doctor shakes his head. "The ones that'd initially trapped me, yes—well, except for the captain and the multi-eyed waitress from Orka's—but they've been recruiting since then."

"But they're gone now too, right?" I say with a raised eyebrow. "I mean this place looks completely devoid of life. Well, except for those mutt things. One almost killed me when I came back. I managed to kill it, though. Well, sort of; I didn't mean to kill it; it was an accident. It was weird how I killed it, though." I shake my head, not wishing to talk about it for fear of worrying him further. "Whatever, we need to get out of here before its friends come back."

As if on cue, there is a sudden electrical sound, as well as a brief flash of light, from further around the bend where the TARDIS is parked. We immediately stop in our tracks upon seeing the light.

"What was that?" I ask, gasping in surprise, hoping it's not what I think it is.

"Friends came back," the Doctor confirms my fears in a disturbed tone. His tone also sounds weaker, like he's fighting to stay awake. The pained expression on his face confirms my suspicions, which makes me all the more worried for him. He's clearly in a lot more pain than he's letting on, and that's not good in the slightest; our gradually weakening psychic link tells me as much. Also, I'm ninety-eight percent sure that was blood he coughed in his hand earlier that he clearly tried to hide on his black trousers.

"The mutts?" I ask, puzzled. Since when did animals learn how to teleport?

"No…" he shakes his head, "the pirates. They've returned." He then looks around. "Come on, we need to hide. Over there." He begins hobbling toward a nearby pile of debris, pulling me with him, wincing as he goes. His first step almost makes him tumble to the floor, but I hold onto him, wrapping my arm around him more tightly.

"I've got you." I assure him as I half-drag, half-carry him behind the pile. Once there, we crouch to our knees—rather, the Doctor slides down the wall as I drop slowly to my knees. "This isn't a very good spot," I say, noticing a lot of space around us that isn't piled high enough by debris. "We're still in plain sight, they'll see us."

"I know," the Doctor pants heavily, clutching his heart on his right side, "but this is the only spot." He suddenly doubles over in pain, pulling his hand up to his mouth again and coughing violently into it. This time, he fails to prevent me from seeing the blood—more blood—that trickles down the side of his jaw when he isn't fast enough to wipe it away.

"Dad!" I cry in horror upon noticing this.

That's when I realize that I made a huge mistake when I screamed, because we suddenly hear someone from around the bend—one of the pirates—shout in alarm, "What was that?"

"There's someone else here!" another screams after the first.

"Find them!" a third pirate orders. "And check the Time Lord! He could've escaped!" From this pirate's tone, he sounds like the leader of the group.

"Fudgeknuckle!" I curse in panic, peeking around the pile of debris to see several shadows walking toward our location. "They're coming! What do we do?" I turn to the Doctor, and I see that he looks on the verge of passing out, his eyes fluttering closed.

"It's okay…Nova…" he says as he slowly loses consciousness. "Everything…is going…to…be…" He then slumps in deadweight against me, his head falling limply on my shoulder.

"Dad!" I cry in alarm, this time a little more quietly so as not to alert the pirates coming our way. "Wake up!" I say, desperately shaking his shoulders in an attempt to wake him. "Dad—Doctor, wake up!" I immediately stop as I suddenly see a shadow extend across the floor a few feet from where we're hiding, coming closer and closer. I hold my unconscious father close, supporting his head on my shoulder and the rest of his body on my hip. I feel his light breath against the side of my neck, and when feeling his pulse, it feels slow and weak; much slower than even a human's, which, I assume, is dangerous for a Time Lord. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about that right now.

"The Time Lord has escaped!" the pirate that was approaching our direction announces to the rest of the group, having stopped directly across from our hiding spot. If he turns around, we'll be seen, and who knows what he'd do to us then.

"How?" the voice of the leader pirate demands in an incredulous tone from around the pile. More footsteps approach after he says this.

"I don't know!" the pirate across from us says, shrugging his shoulders. "Perhaps he had help! No matter, he couldn't have gone far; not in his condi—" He suddenly pauses, and my fear is confirmed when he turns to face us, seeing me cradling my unconscious father in my arms. He smirks and says, "Well, well, well, look what we have here. Seems he did have help, after all." He then calls to the other pirates as he steps closer to us, "Captain! It seems the blue box returned with a stowaway still on board."

Another pirate, who I believe to be the Captain, peeks around the pile at us, and his face instantly mimics his comrade's. "I see," he says as he takes out a strange rectangular device and holds it out to me. The device reminds me of one of those devices one would use when scanning one's DNA. My assumption is correct when his smirk widens into a broad smile which shows rotten yellow teeth.

Moreover, when he comes closer to me, I immediately recognize him as the pig-nosed man that attempted to pull Idris's doors open twenty minutes ago—or fifteen centuries ago from his point of view. Apparently that guy was the Captain, and I didn't even know. Looking back, that would explain the creepy vibe me gave me and continues to give me right now.

"Ah, not just any stowaway," he sniggers after the DNA scanner had finished, confirming my identity. "Another Time Lord… Or should I say 'Time Lady.'"

Fudgeknuckle! I curse in my head, thinking that this might well be the end for both of us—the last two Time Lords in the universe at their mercy. We are so dead!

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!