A/N: Yeah... I've like completely changed this story. I just wasn't happy with it at all. It still covers the same sort of themes (the Doctor's past, Rose and the Doctor living a domestic life, their relationship, heaps of the Bad Wolf and found family).
With cannon I took the cherry picking approach of using the things that I thought fit the story.
Warnings for this chapter: descriptions of injury, implied character death. Characters believing their death is imminent.
Prologue
ACCESSING_AGENT'S_LOG_056-ALPHA-1402-7
***CONNECTING TO AGENCY DATABASE***
LOGIN_SUCCESSFUL...
SELECT_LOG...
LAST_ENTRY...
AGENT'S_LOG_056-ALPHA-1402-7_MISSION-ASSIGNMENT_032_CODENAME_CRITICAL-SURGE
***SEARCHING***
FOOTAGE_FOUND...
BODY_CAM_874...
DATA_CORUPTED...ONLY_PARTIAL_FILE_AVAILABLE...
***FILE LOADED***
PLAY?...
Another explosion shook the crumbling warehouse. Above, the industrial lights flickered then blew with a shattering pop. A low rumble rattled her bones - the calm before the storm.
The shockwave reached in seconds, knocking her off her feet.
Mid-air, she tried to contort her body to land safely, but with her ears already ringing and the heavy, restrictive combat armour, it was impossible. She landed with a thud, skidding across the laminate flooring, the broken glass from the lights, scraping and crunching under her.
That one was much closer than the last - not good, very much, not good. It meant it was getting worse.
Something shattered just in front of her face. Slowly, she looked up. Through a gaping hole in the plastic ceiling which looked like pus-filled flesh from a heatgun wound - a huge metal tube structure hung precariously from the factory hanger. Over the tinnitus, she heard that bone-chilling 'I'm about to snap and crush you' creak from metal.
She held her breath. At the most unfortunate timing the readouts from her goggles fizzed in and out, blinding her. So, the radiation leaks hadn't been cleansed either.
She thought back to her training and counted to three before, oh so carefully, getting up from the floor. Feeling her way over the glass and other bits of rubble. She stumbled and the power of her suit turned back on. She could see, and it really wasn't looking good.
Not at all.
She wobbled through wreckage of the corridor. Another explosion shook the building. It'd been this way for hours, and the metallic taste in her mouth told her she'd almost reached her limit.
Turning a corner, the goggles cut out again. But she couldn't take them off, not if she wanted to avoid dying so horribly. Stupid corporations, always the same. Just keep cutting and cutting until some disaster like this angers the populace enough they introduce new legislation for fear of their precious profit. No prison-time, of course, the people to blame are too rich for that.
Always the bloody same.
When her vision returned, grotesque looking air bubbles were growing from the laminate lining further up the hallway, popping with an infectious sounding hiss. So, the engineer they'd escorted was either dead or a fraud.
Shit.
There was a sudden force on her shoulder. For a second she'd thought she'd been shot. She jerked, reaching for her holstered gun.
"Well how about that? You're still alive."
Her posture relaxed, it was her partner. The voice had come through the coms in her suit, his mask almost identical to her own. But it wasn't only his voice or short height that gave him away, it was his posture – as usual relaxed amongst the impending doom.
"The engineer's dead?" she said with a hint of accusation.
"Ouch." He pretended to be offended, as if he had all the time in the world.
She remained silent.
"It wasn't me, alright. Bit of bathroom sink from the lavy the floor above if you must know. Straight to the throat, got blood on my boots." He lifted one foot to show her. "- but nice and quick. ...Although I'm not sure I can say the same for us if we stick around."
She sighed, looking down the corridor. The place was a wreck; she'd never make it to them in time. "Are we trapped here… or?"
He scoffed. "Of course not, did you really think I'd want to spend my last few seconds alive looking for you?" She could picture the eye role. "Please."
She only realised he was teasing, and expected a retort, in the slight pause that followed before he spoke again. "There's a shuttle in thirty minutes. Decked out to make it through the radiation." He turned back the way they'd come, nodding at her to follow. "Come on."
They climbed together through the wreckage of the massive power plant 2B. He led her through the rubble to a large, melted hole in the wall, standing amongst burnt out generators and the huge, dated-looking machinery of the turbine floor. Despite its massive size, the whole place looked like it was a delicate miniature shook by a three-year-old. She gazed up, lost in the enormity of the destruction.
Yensen slapped her on the shoulder. "I wouldn't start one of your daydreaming sessions if I were you, or you'll end up like the engineer." he said casually, moving in front of her.
She snapped herself out of it, weaving and climbing over the debris, following a step behind him. "What about the rest of the workers?"
He scoffed. "Come now, Gate. You know how these things go."
She stopped, taking a second to process. She'd meant the ones assigned to the factory, not the whole planet. "Then -"
"Yes, the nuclear storm drive's going to blow. It's going to trigger a surge of energy through this station's external output circuit into the planet-wide grid through to the other stations. The Junkers are already hovering in the atmosphere -" He put on a voice like he was a vendor at a market. "- 'buy your nuclear fuel here, get your fuel here.'"
She took another second, then nodded and moved with him, traversing the wreckage of the machinery; climbing, weaving, and squeezing through any gaps that were big enough.
What could she do? Time Agents might be trained to topple governments, to infiltrate organisations, to talk themselves out of death sentences, to fight in the Empire's wars, but this was a whole planet - a single cataclysmic event.
And she was just one person.
They stopped, craning their necks up as a broken metal stairwell taunted them. Without words, she placed herself to give him a boost to the closest step. She heard the clang of his boots on the metal as he squatted down and held out his hand. With a running jump, she reached for him.
He pulled her up with ease, despite her being at least a foot taller and quite a bit heavier. She often forgot just how many species in the universe looked human, but weren't; his naturally shorter, but massively stronger.
"And you came back for me?" she asked, as they continued to trek.
He paused just as another explosion rumbled through the factory. It was further away this time, the shockwave causing some of the looser piles of debris to shift.
"Now we're even." he stated flatly, and continued walking.
This time, just this once, she didn't have it in her to argue back.
They came to a secure-looking metal door on the factory floor, just as another shockwave rumbled through the building. They'd moved from the epicentre, the shockwaves softer, yet becoming more and more frequent.
They were running out of time.
Yansen speedily punched in the code on the panel next to the door. The bolts began to shift and he yanked it open, leading to a wider and more London tube-like maintenance shaft; dimly lit with industrial overhead lighting.
The tunnel was more fortified, their path clearer, saving them time. Marched to keep up, she tried to turn the navigation back on her vortex manipulator. The readings glitched horrifically.
Nope. Well, she tried.
They approached a large vault door, covering the entire circumference of the tunnel. He entered the code again, and the large safe-like lock started to turn, only this time, it stopped half-way through. The lights went out, and a second later an alarm blared, echoing through the building, maroon emergency lighting flickering on. Her stomach dropped.
"Power's out?" she wondered aloud, while Yensen put his strength to good use, straining as he twisted the lock. "But this is a power station. How can it be out?"
"The shockwaves must've broken the main internal supply circuit that connects to the storm drive, that, or the converters have been taken out, take your pick." Yensen replied in his usual calm tone, but the speed in which he spoke was slightly elevated; unnoticeable – almost.
"Any of those mean we don't have a way out?" she asked, helping him pull the heavy vault door open, just enough so they could get through; her arms screaming. God she was getting too old for this, thirty-seven now, thirty-seven! Almost fifteen-years spent in this future hell hole.
"As long as the emergency power holds."
They squeezed through and continued along the corridor as the building shuddered.
A long bout of brisk walking was what did it. It finally, finally clicked in her head.
She stopped, Yensen unaware as he powered on ahead.
Connections, there were always connections. If there was an internal supply circuit in this power plant, then there was an external supply circuit to the other power plants. And if cutting the internal supply cut the power inside this factory then -
"No." Yensen said firmly, facing her from further up the corridor.
"But, it could work."
He marched closer, so they were just a few inches apart, his posture radiating disapproval. "Now, Gate." he said patronisingly. "Now's not the time to play hero." He raised a finger like he was her teacher telling her off. She hated it. "There's no coming back from this. So, let's go, before we die." He turned around and walked towards the lobby.
She didn't move. There was a chance, he knew it too; that's why he was pressing her buttons - so she'd drop it. But as he knew her, she knew him. If they could break the external circuit – whatever that was – before the meltdown, they could stop the surge through the grid; this place would go, but the planet would be safe – and he'd known from the get go.
He glanced back. Realising she wasn't following, he stopped and sighed. She couldn't hear it, of course, but saw the sag on his shoulders.
"Let it go, Gate." he said firmly, turning to address her. "You won't get lucky this time. This is a nuclear storm drive meltdown, remember? No sneaky teleport, no time travel, no vortex manipulator at all, and no standard ship can cope with the radiation. The only way in and out is the shuttle." He marched over and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her once. "Let it go."
She said nothing for a few seconds, the blare of the alarm filling the silence. "But it's us or millions," she said, her voice catching as the realisation hit her. Brutal and unforgiving. This was it. This was the end. "You must have a map..." she tried to argue, her voice trembling as she trailed off and felt Yensen's hold slump, his gloved hands slipping off her shoulders.
"And here I thought you weren't looking to die for government propaganda. And it will be just you," he said with a quiet confidence. "- because I'm getting on that shuttle."
She could barely get the words out, so much was hitting her all at once. She wanted to argue, but there wasn't time. "You have a map. A paper one. Those tunnels weren't on the electronic copy, but you knew where I was." She held out her hand, her body set in its stance.
He was still. She swore she could feel his eyes on her through the mask. "These rare moments of intelligence are where I remember you actually passed the Agency exam." he said bluntly. He reached into an armoured pocket on his leg, taking out a folded-up piece of paper. He held it out to her.
She was suspicious but went to take it.
He pulled it away at the last second. "The lobby's just up ahead, you could get out." he began, his voice enticing. "You could quit, finally retire. Who'd it hurt?"
She considered it, of course she did. She wanted to live, and they both knew it. Her survival instinct was screaming at her to go at the top of its lungs.
But she couldn't. She just couldn't.
The war, greed and corruption that really fuelled the 'Earth's empire' she worked for. To run with the elite, or stay to try and help the people no one gave a shit about. Those people were her people, and she was fed up of seeing them suffer to maintain the lavish lifestyle of the parasites in glass houses with too many rooms.
Yensen could tell. "You're being naive, Gate. If you stay, you'll be dying for nothing. All you'll prove is that you're just as stupid as Blete thinks."
That twisted the knife, but she stood her ground. She'd made the decision now, and nothing he could say would convince her. She stubbornly kept her hand out.
She had to try. Because maybe it was more than the moral high ground? As much as there were people who'd made her strong, there were people who'd twisted and beaten her so much she'd broken into tiny pieces. And maybe, deep down, she wanted to prove that what she, herself, had glued back together wasn't a mirror image of what she'd fought so hard to avoid becoming.
Or maybe she was just that stubborn.
He sagged in defeat and took a pencil out from his pack. He opened the map. "We're here." he explained, scribbling something on the paper.
She quickly went to his side, looking over his shoulder.
"The control board for the external power output is here." He scribbled a circle around a small room of the blueprint, quite far from where they were. "You better hurry up. It'll take you a while." He folded the map up again. "You're looking for a leaver - a switch, and a big one at that. You'll have to put some welling into it too." He slapped the map into her open hand. "Or you could leave it, live and let die. Like that song you listen to." Then, without a word, he turned and jogged down the corridor.
It took her a while for her brain to catch up. This was goodbye. For good.
She thought he'd say something more. That she'd have a chance to say more. He'd been her partner for three years. A man from a planet far away from Earth, yet spoke English with a posh American accent. Who's way of saving you from danger was to shoot you before the hostile - and usually in the back.
"I forgive you." she rushed out, shouting as loud as she could.
He didn't stop, his figure slowly disappearing into the darkness.
Her eyes watered, she wanted to say so much more. She wanted time to write it down. Time to figure out exactly what she wanted to say to him. But there was no time. She rummaged in her satchel and pulled out a gravity globe and shook it. Its artificial light filled the space. Slowly, she let go and it floated and dropped - flickering under the strain of the radiation.
Checking the map, she started walking, the globe glitching, fluttering along a step behind her.
She stopped for breath in a large open plan room filled with boxy cubicle offices, each one personalised with pictures and nick-nacks, proof of lives lived.
She pushed on, through a hallway of locker rooms with belongings left haphazardly behind in the evacuation. It was much creepier and eerie with just her footsteps and the alarm, alone in the shadows. From her backpack she pulled out a syringe and jabbed the side of her leg. Time was running out and she'd wasted a lot of it, talking and faffing around. The side effects were strong, and she'd already taken two hits, but she'd not live to worry about them.
That thought caught - this really was how she was going to die.
Finally, she found the right hallway, but as she approached the entranceway she saw shadows flicker. Not from the lights, but from movement. With her hand on her weapon, she peered around the corner.
It was one of the workers. Just one. They looked like a humanoid cross between a scaly dinosaur and an armoured caterpillar. Their skin was raw and weeping from burns caused by the radiation. With increasing frantic desperation, they were trying to activate tall electronic panels to one side of the room, connected to half of a huge metal cog along the opposite wall, which laid horizontally about two inches off the ground, with the other half disappearing through a hole cut into the wall into the next room. All the buttons were flashing and the dials and gauges had all their pointers flickering in the maroon warning section.
She watched them try and poke a broom to a lever on the other side of the electrical panel. The jumpsuit they were wearing soaked with sweat.
Ah, now she knew what they were trying to do.
There were two levers, and below them were metal tracks built into the floor, running to the wall either side of the cog, and disappearing under two thin metal panels. To activate the mechanism, the poor sod was trying to find a way to activate a two-person switch by themselves.
Wordlessly, she moved over to the lever they were trying to reach. When their eyes met, it felt like the whole of time stopped. Like they understood each other's very soul. As if they'd known each other their whole lives - her and this stranger. Why not? They were both the dead walking. They'd both made the choice to stay. And now they weren't going to die alone.
The worker pointed to themselves. 'Glyhriochani Vald-rairkj' They said.
It was protocol never to say her birth name. Time travel and all that. With a birth name, came a birthday, came a planet and place for the Empire's enemies to tow. But fuck it.
'Claire McCarthy' she said.
With that, she gripped the lever in front of her. Glyhriochani did the same. And with another poignant glance, they pushed with all their might.
Blood dripped from Glyhriochani's weeping wounds under the strain, her amour glitched as she battled a wave of nausea. Still, they persevered. The metal from the giant cog creeked and protested as they heaved the levers along the metal tracks. Her feet scraped on the floor.
Come on!
COME ON!
There was a bang, a metal clang. The lever clicked and dropped into some sort of indent mechanism on the floor, locking into place. She looked to Glyhriochani, who smiled.
Good, that was supposed to happen then.
The worker then placed his hand on the switch of the lever, nodding to her to do the same.
She understood. And with both of them sharing another terrified and bracing look, they pulled their switches down at the same time.
A whirring sound, originating from the other side of the wall, made the massive cog on the floor move of its own accord, ticking like it was part of an unseen giant clockwork mechanism on the other side.
Glyhriochani's glance told her it was up to fate now. This was never a guarantee, they both knew that, and yet there fate was sealed.
Now they were going to have to wait until the factory exploded, and the waiting was always the worst, she'd seen enough people die as a medic to at least know that.
The stranger turned comerade seemed awkward, but she was well practiced sitting with the walking dead. It'd just never been her before. She held out her hand, and they took it. Together, they sat on the floor. They didn't know how long they had, and neither of them could speak each other's language. She was prepared to sit and wait until the end, but Glyhriochani had other ideas. They pulled out a photo from their jumpsuit pocket. It was clearly their family, two kids and two other partners. They smiled, with the familiar expression of a dying person whom had no regrets to carry over to the other side. They pointed to the smallest child, telling her something she couldn't understand.
Then everything went dark.
END_OF_FILE...
REPLAY?