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Remnant Who
By ReaderWarrior
I do not own Doctor Who or RWBY.
The Christmas Invasion (A)
Beta'd by: -
As always, please comment! It honestly makes my day to read your thoughts and opinions.
Tell your friends!
Rokko: That's a great idea, and possibly what I will do. However, the idea of exploring the T.A.R.D.I.S seems like a fun idea in of itself!
Shadowpack86: Thank you! I think if they have some time, they'll grow to love 10 as much (if not more) than 9. However, I think I'll disagree with you. Weiss isn't really keeping secrets and Qrow, a part of the Oz-luminati, isn't telling his because those secrets don't matter here. The Librarian keeping them in suspense is the issue - not the fact it was a secret. It's like a friend that won't tell you something. It's a bit hurtful but when the shock ends, they'll enjoy it. The issue is that the Librarian himself doesn't give much information - the Remnants know more about the Doctor's past than the Librarians.
LoneWolf312: Again, the hypocrisy isn't really valid here. And the Librarian knows everything Qrow does too - even more since he's 'watched' the 'show'. And yeah, RWBY does that to Ironwood later. That them isn't this them. The Librarian knows this. However, he might bite back at Qrow when they get back to Remnant.
Honorary (dead) companions:
Clive, Raffalo, Moxx, Jabe, Sneed, Gwyneth, Ganesh, De Maggio, Suki, Pete Tyler, the Controller, Pavale, female producer, Lynda, Capt. Jack Harkness(?)
'Bigger on the inside!'s:
2 (Rose, Jackie)
Fantastic's:
15
Harriet Jones' greetings:
6
Exterminate!'s:
36
The Tyler household is full of festivity but little joy as Jackie moves presents from a pile to the underbelly of a plastic, white Christmas tree. She stops to hold one of the gifts - a red one intended for Rose.
'Merry Christmas, lots of love, Mum' it reads. Jackie sighs and sits down, holding the gift.
"Do you think Rose knows how much her mom misses her?" Ruby asked.
"That's a question you've got to ask yourself," Qrow said. "How much do you miss your dad when you're at Beacon?"
Both of Tai's daughters answered "Lots!"
"Does he hide a red-nosed reindeer?"
Mickey pokes his head up from inside a car engine. He waves at one of the other workers in the repair shop. "Hey, turn that down," he says. "Turn it off, Steve-o. Turn that off!"
The music volume lowers as Steve does and Mickey, closing his eyes to listen, tries to focus on something. Another worker bangs on some metal with a hammer, breaking his concentration.
"John, shut up!" he snaps, earning a blanket of silence to cover the work area. He focuses again, this time hearing the faint wheeze of the T.A.R.D.I.S.
Without hesitating, Mickey bolts out the door.
Weiss frowned. "After everything Rose said, after everything she did, he's still running to see her?"
"He loved her," Blake whispered. "And that feeling, no matter how hard he tries to dispel it, will never fade." Even after all the things I know Adam did… I still think of the good things first.
At the same time, Jackie hears the same sound. "Rose!" she exclaims before running out the door.
Rose's closest family run to the Powell Estate, where the T.A.R.D.I.S had landed before. Jackie notices Mickey looking around and calls out his name.
The man runs towards her. "Jackie, it's the T.A.R.D.I.S!"
"I know!" she smiles. "I know, I heard it. She's alive, Mickey. I said so, didn't I? She's alive!"
"Oh crap," Yang said. Her eyes widened. "The last thing they knew, the Doctor was about to die and Rose had chased after him. They had no idea what happened to her."
Wincing, Ruby paled as well. "Jackie must have been so worried - Mickey too! It must have been so hard for them not knowing."
"We don't even know how long it's been for them since then!"
Mickey tries to cover her mouth. "Shut up a minute!" he says, trying to spot the T.A.R.D.I.S.
"Well? Where is it?"
Like a bullet through paper, the blue box crashes through time and space, appearing suddenly and without warning, above them. Jackie and Mickey have barely enough time to duck as it falls toward them. The T.A.R.D.I.S bounces off a building, then the one opposite, and hits the corner of a third. Jackie screams as it slams into the ground, bumping into a post office van and knocking over some waste bins.
Qrow winced. "And I thought I was a bad pilot."
"You did pretty good with my ship," the Librarian said.
As the two stand up and run toward it, the T.A.R.D.I.S doors open as the Doctor - the new Doctor - pokes his head out.
"Here we are then," he declares. "London. Earth. The Solar System. I did it!" The Doctor steps back on Terran soil and turns to see two people staring at him with slacked jaws.
"I know how that feels," Blake said.
"They've got it worse," Ruby said. "We at least saw the Doctor change. They've just seen a guy wearing his clothes show up with his car."
"Worse. Rose hasn't come out either."
"Jackie! Mickey! Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on." He starts to pace around the two humans. "Wait there. What was I gonna say? There was something I had to tell you, something important. What was it? Hold on, hold on. Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush."
The Doctor grabs Jackie and Mickey's shoulders and leans against them. His eyes widen and a grin spreads across his face. "Oh, I know! Merry Christmas!"
He then collapses to the ground, unconscious.
"Merry Christmas to you too!" Yang cheered.
Weiss elbowed her teammate. "We don't celebrate Christmas."
"Well, yeah. But even though Nondescript Winter Holiday rolls off the tongue better, he's just being nice. It's not like he's being malicious, just sharing the festive spirit!"
The door squeaks again as Rose exits the T.A.R.D.I.S. "What happened? Is he all right?"
"I don't know," Mickey says, trying to pick him up, "he just keeled over. But who is he? Where's the Doctor?"
"That's him. Right in front of you. That's the Doctor."
Jackie looks from the unconscious stranger to her daughter. "What d'ya mean, 'that's the Doctor'? Doctor who?"
"Doctor Him!" Ruby yelled, pointing at the screen. "He is Doctor. The Doctor was he!"
Qrow folded his arms and cast a glare at the Librarian. "I barely believe myself. How's Rose supposed to explain this? The Doctor - the one we knew - didn't even explain regeneration all that much."
On a bed and in a new set of clothes (stripped pajamas), the Doctor continues to lie unconsciously on a bed in Jackie's flat. Rose is sitting at his side, watching him, as Jackie runs in with a stethoscope in her hand.
"Here we go," she says. "Tina the Cleaner's got this lodger - medical student - and she was fast asleep, so I just took it. Though I still say we should take him to a hospital."
"We can't." Rose puts the device on and taps on the end of it. "They'd lock him up. They'd dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race. Now shush!"
Blake grimaced, remembering how Henry van Statten was planning on using his body to make money. "There would be so much chaos and greed. World leaders would keep it to make personal, undying armies."
"But once everyone could regenerate, wouldn't they turn out like the Time Lords?" Yang asked.
The Librarian shook his head. "Time Lord, or more specifically Gallifreyans as a species, grew up with the power. Humans wouldn't. Wouldn't you trust someone more who has trained with their semblance, by those who have mastered their semblances, instead of a novice that got theirs that day?"
Everyone winced and mentally looked back on their first few days with their powers. They had each earned at least a few bruises while training with them.
Rose presses the stethoscope to the Doctor's chest.
Bump bump. Bump bump.
She moves to the other side.
Bump bump. Bump bump.
"Both working."
Jackie looks down and frowns. "What d'ya mean 'both'?"
"He's got two hearts," Rose says, placing the stethoscope to the side.
"Oh, don't be stupid."
"He has!"
As Rose leaves the room for the kitchen, Jackie gives the Doctor's covered body a look over. "Anything else he's got two of?"
Yang spat out her drink and began to couch. Blake and Weiss's faces turned bright red.
"I wouldn't be against it," Qrow muttered.
"Against what?" Ruby asked. "Maybe he's got two kidneys?"
"Everyone has two kidneys," E.L.I said. "I believe they are thinking about his d-"
"MUTE!" everyone roared.
Rose sighs. "Leave him alone."
Shrugging, Jackie chases after her daughter. Neither of them notice the Doctor exhale, nor the golden and humming energy that leaves his mouth as he does. It dances in the air like smoke, moving out of the room, through a window, and into the night sky.
"Is that regeneration gas?" Weiss asked, instantly regretting it as everyone except Blake began to snicker. "Oh my- Would you please grow up?! Especially you two!"
The Librarian and Qrow looked at each other. "Naaah."
Children. I am stuck with literal children.
Jackie finds her daughter rummaging through the fridge. "How can he go changing his face? Is that a different face or is he a different person?"
"How should I know?" she snaps, slamming the door. Rose sighs and bites into the cookie she grabbed. "Sorry. The thing is… I thought I knew him, Mum. I thought me and him were…" Tears begin to fill the young blonde's eyes. "And then he goes and does this. I keep forgetting he's not human."
"But that doesn't mean anything if you love each other!" Blake said.
Yang squeezed her hand. "Hey, I'm sure this new Doctor will like her just as much."
"Will he? Maybe he's not interested in women anymore. Or maybe he finds blondes annoying now."
"Then me and the Doctor are going to have words," Yang smirked, cracking her knuckles.
"The Doctor and I," Blake corrected.
"Great! You too!"
As Rose wipes her eyes, Jackie grabs her hand. She rubs it and does her best to give some motherly comfort.
"The big question is," Rose asks after a moment of silence, "where'd you get a pair of men's pajamas from?"
Jackie quickly pulls her arm free and turns to the sink. "Howard's been staring over," she explains.
"What, Howard from the market? How long's that been going on?"
"A month or so. First of all, he starts delivering to the door and I thought, 'That's odd.'"
"It's been a month at least, then," Qrow said.
Ruby nodded. "Since she last heard from Rose."
"Don't forget Mickey. Maybe he's moved on too."
"Next thing you know, it's a bag of oranges-"
Rose, upon hearing a familiar voice, looks outside of the kitchen. "Is that Harriet Jones?" She asks and quickly steps into the living room to check.
Jackie sighs "Oh, never mind me" before chasing after her.
"Why's she on the telly?" Rose asks, motioning to the screen in the center of the room.
"She's Prime Minister now! I'm eighteen quite a week better off. They're calling it Britain's Golden Age."
"The Doctor's prophecy came true then," Weiss smiled.
"It's not much of a prophecy if he's just reciting history," the Librarian said.
The Heiress' smile vanished. "Isn't that what all prophets do?"
"… Huh."
Jackie nudges her daughter and smiles. "I keep on saying, 'My Rose has met her'."
"Did more than that," Rose scoffs. "Stopped World War Three with her. Harriet Jones."
"Prime Minister," a reporter asks as Harriet Jones stands at a podium in between two Union flags. "What about those calling the Guinevere One space probe a waste of money?"
"Now, that's where you're wrong. I completely disagree if you don't mind."
Rose and everyone in the theatre chuckles at her vocal mannerisms.
"The Guinevere One space probe represents this country's limitless ambition. British workmanship sailing up there among the stars."
The screen jumps to someone new - a man with a balding head and trimmed beard. "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. Our very own miracle."
A digital rendition of the Guinevere One is shown leaving Earth and heading to another planet.
"The unmanned probe Guinevere One is about to make its final descent. Photographs of the Martian landscape should be received by midnight tonight."
"Wait, are there other people out there on other planets?" Ruby asked.
"Ruby, we've been to other planets," Yang said. She pointed at the Librarian. "He's from another planet. The Doctor is too."
"We've been to different versions of Earth! And nothing in the same universe. And I mean now. Or twenty-ten on Earth." Ruby grabbed her head and groaned. "This is all so confusing."
The Librarian laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "It's going to be. In the Doctor's universe, there are hundreds of planets all teaming with life. A lot of Earths do. But some don't. But they still look to the stars and outstretch their arm in the hopes someone with grab it."
"Sounds a little… pointless," Blake mumbled.
"A bit. But humans, Earthlings in particular, are explorers. We discover. We find. We map. From the cave, to the seas, to all the lands - humans have seen it all. So what else could be next except to charter the heavens?"
Qrow nudged him. "Sounds like someone was a dreamer as a kid."
"Yeah. You try watching Star Trek and not get excited at the opportunity of being the first to meet a new group of people."
"You didn't answer the question, though," Weiss said with a low voice. "Are there any aliens from our universe? Or is that another 'surprise' too?"
The man flinched. "I don't know. I haven't looked. And even if I did, your universe could be different from other Remnant universes." As long as we aren't counting the Brothers.
Deep in space, surrounded by nothing but stars, the probe flies towards its destination. Then, suddenly, it stops as something gets in its way. A large rock. Before the Guinevere One can float away, segments of the rock roll away, revealing an orange light. The probe is pulled inside and the rocks roll back into place.
"Something tells me," Yang gulped, "that Harriet Jones' new toy just did a lot more than take some photos."
Ruby held her cheeks with her hands and gasped dramatically. "It's been probe-napped!"
Weiss facepalmed. "Children… Blake, what do you think?"
"I think that the Doctor needs to wake up soon," the Faunus said. "If these aliens are as bad as the Slitheen… Earth is going to need his help."
Qrow nodded and took a small sip from his flask. "Let's hope they're a bit nicer."
"What d'ya need, twenty quid?" Mickey asks as he and Rose walk together down the streets of London.
Rose takes the pound note and pockets it into her coat. "Do you mind? I'll pay you back."
"Call it a Christmas present."
"God," the blonde sighs, "I'm all out of sync. You just forget about Christmas and things in the T.A.R.D.I.S. They don't exist. You get sort of… timeless."
Blake nodded in agreement. "Sometimes it feels like we've been here for almost four years. But it's barely been a week."
"Time means very little when you jump around from whenever you want to be," the Librarian said.
"Oh, yeah, that's fascinating," Mickey says with a heavily sarcastic tone. "Because I love hearing stories about the Tardis. Oh, go on Rose, tell us another one because I swear I could listen to it all day. T.A.R.D.I.S this, T.A.R.D.I.S that."
"Shut up!" Rose smiles.
"Oh, and one time the T.A.R.D.I.S landed in a big yellow garden, full of balloons!"
Rose pushes him softly. "I'm not like that!"
"Oh, you so are."
"Wouldn't anybody?" Yang asked.
Qrow made a pen 'eh' motion with his hand. "There's a difference between sharing an exciting event and bragging about it. Rose probably feels like she's explaining unknown wonders. Mickey's taking that as a reminder of what he's lost or never will have."
"Must drive you mad," Rose says. She and Mickey turn down another street, passing four musicians in red cloaks. They wear masks, hold musical instruments (a trombone, a tuba, and two trumpets), and play a merry tune. "I'm surprised you don't give up on me."
"That's the thing, isn't it?" Mickey mocks. "You can rely on me. I don't go around changing my face."
"Yeah…" Rose turns to look back at the way they came. "What if he's dying?"
Mickey grabs her arm. "Okay-"
"Sorry!"
"Just let it be Christmas," he pleads. "Can you do that? Just for a bit. You, me, and Christmas. No Doctor, no bog-monsters, no life or death."
Rose nods slowly. "Okay."
"Promise?"
"Yes!"
The two smile and turn to look at all the carts laid in front of them. Christmas decorations were everywhere. People stand in stalls with fascinating and unique gifts for all ages. Drinks and food are offered. A large Christmas tree stood in the center of the area.
"It looks so beautiful," Ruby smiled.
"It's called a Christmas Market," the Librarian explained. "More popular in the European countries than anywhere else - especially Germany. People buy stalls to sell homemade gifts from them."
"Have you ever been to one?"
"A few in Newcastle. Got my favorite hat there."
"Right. What're you going to get for your mum?" Mickey asks. "I'm round there all the time now, you know. She does my dinner on a Sunday. Talks about you all afternoon. Yap yap yap yap."
As Mickey talks and shows her around the market, Rose's eyes are drawn to the musicians they passed on their way in. The men in masks are now in the center of the market and seem to be staring directly at Rose.
"As nice as this place is," Weiss said, "those things are creepy. Are they normal for this sort of event?"
"Santa's?" the Librarian asked. "Well, people dressed like Santa Claus anyway, yeah. Carollers too."
Weiss studied their motions. They seem… too good. Like they're playing a recording instead of playing the instruments."
The Santa's stop following Rose. She watches them as they bring the instruments away from their mouths and level them with their chests. The one with the trombone points it at the blonde and fire exhales from it.
RWBY yelped.
"I'm gonna make a huge deduction that this isn't normally a Christmas tradition," Qrow remarked.
People scream as the other Santa's lower their instruments/weapons. Rose grabs Mickey's hand and pulls him behind a stall - foliage and wooden crafts exploding as the trumpets follow their pathing.
"It's us!" Rose pants. "They're after us!"
Blake sighed. "Rose's promise was broken in seconds."
"Sorry Mickey," Yang added. "But this is a lot more fun than just going shopping."
Mickey grabs Rose by the hand and starts to pull her away. The assassins continue to focus their fire on the duo, blowing up stalls, would-be-gifts, and stone columns into dust. He pauses for a moment and makes eye contact with one of the Santa's - the one holding a tuba. He grins and runs behind a tree.
The tuba fires and the large wooden and fur column crashes down on top of him. The other ones dodge narrowly but all that remains of the tuba-player is a metal mask that rattles on the ground.
"Robots! They must be robots!"
Ruby frowned at her partner. "Weiss?"
"Their music, it was too perfect. The notes and keys were exactly correct with no pausing for breath," the Heiress explains. "No living creature can perfectly recreate music. But a recording or a machine could."
"What's going on?" Mickey asks as he and Rose run further away from the market. "What've we done? Why are they after us?!"
Rose notices a black cab driving by and waves it down. She quickly opens the door and pushes Mickey inside. "They're after the Doctor."
"What else?" Qrow said with a roll of his eyes. "Question is how."
Yang tapped her finger against her chin. Either they're tracking the T.A.R.D.I.S. or that regeneration energy he keeps breathing out." She turned to see her uncle gaping at her. "What? I got into Beacon. If there's one thing I know instead of fighting is battle strategy."
"I can't even go shopping with you. We get attacked by a brass band!" Mickey watches as Rose pulls out her mobile. "Who're you phoning?"
"My mum."
Jackie is already on the phone. "She turns up, no warning," she says to the person on the other line as she picks up tinsel and Christmas ornaments from off the floor. "I've got nothing in. I said, 'Rose, if you want a Christmas dinner of meat paste, then so be it.'"
"Get off the phone!" Rose and RWBY cries.
"If they knew how to track Rose and Mickey…" Blake whispered.
"Then they probably know where they live," Ruby agreed. "I hope the Santa's was their only plan."
"Who were those Santa things?" Mickey asks.
Rose pulls the phone away from her ear. "I dunno, but think about it. They were after us. What's important about us? Well, nothing, except the one thing we've got tucked up in bed. The Doctor."
"No, don't come around," Jackie says as she places a mug next to the Doctor's bed. "The flat's all topsy-turvy. Yeah, she just barges in and litters the place. Yeah. No, I'll come round and see you on Boxing Day."
"Boxing Day?" Ruby asked.
E.L.I answered. "Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide. Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part of Christmas festivities, with many people choosing to shop for deals."
As Jackie leaves the room, more golden energy radiates from the Doctor's mouth. She turns down the hall to see Mickey and Rose slam the door shut. "So save us a chipolata," Jackie says.
"Get off the phone!" Rose yells.
"It's only Bev." Jackie holds out the phone for her.
Rose takes it. "Bev? Look, it'll have to wait." She then hangs up the call and tosses the phone aside. "Right, it's not safe. We've got to get out. Where can we go?"
"Smart call," Weiss said. "Since they know nothing about their enemy, their greatest weapon is unusable, the best option is to run away."
"They can't win by running, though," Blake said in a half-whisper. "That'll only prolong the chase. At best, they get far enough away to take a break."
"Maybe that's all they need."
"My mate, Stan," Mickey says with a snap of his fingers. "He'll put us up."
"That's only two blocks away." Rose turns to her mum. "What about Mo? Where's she living now?"
"I don't know, Peak District?"
"Well, we'll go to Cousin MO's then."
No!" Jackie yells, pulling Rose's arm to keep her still. "It's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling about?"
"She's trying to save your life!" Yang yelled. "Now listen to her!"
Rose opens her mouth to answer but pauses as she notices the mess in the living room. "Mum. Where'd you get that tree?" She stares at the green Christmas tree standing in the corner of the room and notices the disassembled white one on the ground. "That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"
"I thought it was you."
"How can it be me?"
"Well you went shopping," Jackie says. They all stare at the tree. "There was a ring at the door and there it was!"
"No, that wasn't me."
"Then who was it?!"
"You're telling me," Qrow said, dryly, "that whatever aliens these are, they had enough time after sensing the regeneration spit to send out some Christmas robots and a send a package through the mail?"
Blake shrugged. "They could have already been here, right? Or maybe it's not aliens, perhaps someone from Earth is at fault for it."
"I haven't seen many coincidences in the world. Much less robots, a magic tree, and a spaceship all happening on the same day."
Under their gaze, the lights of the Christmas tree turn on without any switch thrown. Music begins to play, full of bells, as the flora begins to move.
"You're kidding me," Rose mutters.
In three pieces (the top, middle, and bottom), the tree begins to spin. It starts slow but quickly picks up until a gust begins to blow throughout the room. The trio is forced back against the wind as papers and other knickknacks are thrown in every direction.
"As long as they avoid it, they should be fine," Weiss said.
Jackie lets out a scream as she huddles behind Mickey. The winds become so strong that the tree lifts into the air by a few inches. It tilts towards them, rubbing against a wooden table and turning into sawdust and splinters in an instant.
"Never mind."
Ruby waved her hands. "Run!"
"Get out!" Mickey yells, pulling Rose back and grabbing a chair. He holds it in front of him like a weapon. "Go, go! Get out!"
As the two blondes run for the door, Rose pauses. She turns to look at the Doctor sprawled on the bed and rushes to his side. "We've got to save the Doctor."
Jackie stops in the doorway. "What're you doing?"
"We can't just leave him!"
"Really, Jackie?" Yang growled. "After all you've been through, you're still just going to let the Doctor die?"
"Even if it is just a fight or flight response," Weiss added, "she still had enough sense to try and help Mickey. At least she's not completely sociopathic."
"Not a very high bar for her…"
Sighing, Jackie turns back to the tree. The chair in Mickey's hands presses against the tree but does very little to stop it. "Mickey!" Jackie says as the chair legs are destroyed. "Leave it! Get out, get out!"
"Mickey!" Rose calls.
"Get out of there!" Jackie waves for him to run toward them. After throwing the chair at the tree, he runs down the hall and into the bedroom. "No, leave him, just leave him!"
Mickey grabs her arm. "Get in here!"
Just as the tree begins to round the corner, Jackie stumbles into the room and slams the door shut. They can hear the tree making its way through the flat and destroying everything in its path. With Mickey's help, she starts to move a large wardrobe from the corner to cover the doorway.
Ruby shivered. "That's not going to last long."
"They need to grab the Doctor and run," Qrow agreed. "Break down the wall!"
"Where's the T.A.R.D.I.S when they need it?!" she groaned.
Rose starts to shake the unconscious man. "Doctor, wake up!"
When he doesn't respond, she jumps up, rushes over to a coat rack, and reaches into his leather jacket. The sonic screwdriver falls out and Rose quickly places it in the Doctor's hand.
All the while, Jackie and Mickey struggle to keep the wardrobe up. It's rattling and shaking as the tree tries to cut its way through it and to them. With a hard shove, the wardrobe is destroyed and they fall to the ground.
"I'm gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!" Jackie cries, pressing herself against the wall.
"There's no way this is how it ends for them," Blake said.
Yang closed her eyes and winced - awaiting the inevitable. "No Doctor, no T.A.R. … Maybe Rose should just use the screwdriver herself."
"Is that the lesson she's supposed to learn? That she has to do some things herself without him?"
Ruby closes the Doctor's fist and leans toward his ear. "Help me."
As quick as an eyeblink, the Doctor wakes up. He holds up the sonic screwdriver and it buzzes to life. The tree promptly explodes in a shower of green furs.
"She did it!" Weiss cheered. Then she stopped, cleared her throat, and spoke in a more dignified tone. "I mean, great work."
Ruby wrapped her in a hug. "I knew you cared!"
"I never said I didn't…"
For a moment, everything is quiet. Everyone turns to look at the Doctor - now wide awake.
"Remote control," he says. "But who's controlling it?" The Doctor grabs a robe and tosses it on. The others follow quickly as he leads them out the door and to the railings overlooking the residential parking.
When they look down, they see the three remaining Santa-bots staring at them. One of them has a controller in its hands that drops to the ground.
"That's them," Mickey whispers. "What are they?"
The Doctor, instead of responding, lifts his sonic screwdriver like a weapon and glares at the attackers. They all step back slowly and retreat, vanishing in a shimmer of light.
Yang raised her fist. "Cowards!"
"The Doctor's not in any sort to deal with an alien invasion right now," Qrow said.
"But they don't know that!" She shook her appendage and repeated her declaration.
Mickey pushes his way to the ledge and looks around as the Doctor steps back. "They've just gone. What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offense, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's going to scare them off."
"Pilot fish," the Doctor mumbles.
Everyone turns to face him. "What?"
"They were just pilot fish."
"No," Blake said, "they were robots. Sounds like this regeneration stuff has messed with his head."
Weiss frowned. "I think he's being…" She stopped, noticing the gleam in her friend's eye. "Oh great. Another comedian."
"That was a joke! I'm so proud of you Blake!" Yang gave the Faunus a hug.
"No… it was sarcasm," she said with a smirk. I wouldn't turn down a bowl of fish, though.
Before he can elaborate further, the Doctor coughs and stumbles back in pain. His companions all reach out and try to help steady him.
"What's wrong?" Rose asks.
The Doctor struggles to sit up. "You woke me up too soon. I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." Golden light spills from his lips as he gasps, disappearing into the starry sky. "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 yea-aaagh!"
Qrow's eyes shot up. "Would that work? Could they use the Doctor like a dust generator?"
"They could use his regenerative energy," the Librarian said. "Which is basically the energy of the Time Vortex. That could power an average-sized space station… oh, for a century. Maybe even a few dozen if it's only running life-support systems."
"Damn," the elder Huntsman whistled.
"Yeah. Not to mention the dangers of another species gaining the power to regenerate."
Writhing in pain, the Time Lord falls forward to the opposite side of the hallway. "My head," he gasps, "I'm having a neuron implosion. I need-"
"What d'you need?" Jackie asks.
"I need-"
"Say it. Tell me, tell me, tell me."
"I need-"
"Painkillers?"
"I need-"
"D'you need aspirin?"
"I need-"
"Codeine? Paracetamol? Pepto-Bismol?"
"I need-"
"Liquid paraffin. Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?"
"I need-"
"Is it food? Something simple? A bowl of soup? A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?"
"I need you to shut up!" the Doctor and RWBY snaps.
Jackie steps back and throws her hands up. "Oh, he hasn't changed much has he?"
"Maybe you shouldn't waste his time after leaving him to die!" Yang snapped.
"Maybe that's why she's doing it," Blake offered. "To try and make up for her… cowardice."
Once again, the Doctor falls over in pain. "We haven't much time. If there's pilot fish, then- Why's there an apple on my dressing gown?"
They look down as he pulls out a fruit from his pocket. "That's Howard's," Jackie says. "Sorry."
"He keeps apples on his dressing gown?"
"He gets hungry," she explains.
"What, he gets hungry in his sleep?"
"Sometimes."
Ruby pulled at her cloak. "This is not the time!"
"Aaagh!" The Doctor falls to his knees and grabs Rose's arm. With every gasping breath, he stares into her eyes. "Brain.. collapsing. The pilot fish… the pilot fish mean that something… Something… Something is coming."
And then he fell backward, unconscious.
"WE KNOW!"
Back in bed, the Doctor's eyes remain closed as Rose wipes his forehead with a cloth. He's shaking and covered in sweat.
Weiss frowned. "He doesn't look all too well."
"He looks like Tai after that pepper-eating contest we had for our graduation," Qrow said. "He said his tongue was burning and his stomach was ice."
"I certainly hope our graduation doesn't reflect a barnyard fete."
The door opens and Mickey runs in with his laptop. Rose gives one more dab across the Doctor's forehead before following Mickey.
"Jackie," Mickey warns as he places the computer on a table and reaches for a cord, "I'm using the phone line. Is that all right?"
She nods, now holding a cup of tea. "Yeah. Keep a count of it."
"Keep a track of what?" Ruby asked.
"Ah, the good old days of dial-up," E.L.I explained. "You had to connect to the internet via phone lines. That bandwidth cost money and came out of your phone bill, you didn't want to spend too much."
"It's midnight. Christmas Day," Jackie realizes. Rose walks in and is handed the cuppa. "Any change."
Rose shakes her head. "He's worse. Just one heart beating."
"Which isn't bad, per se… Just suboptimal." The Librarian placed a hand over his heart. "A Time Lord can survive on one heart. But he'll probably be out of breath. It's like having a punctured lung. You can survive with just the one."
The two blondes sit down and turn on the news. BBC News 24 shows a reporter behind a desk, talking about the British probe.
"Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe. They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes."
The camera cuts to Daniel Llewellyn, the Guinevere project manager. "Yes, we are. We're, we're back on schedule. We've received the signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success."
"But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?"
"Yes, we had a bit of a scare," Llewellyn says. "Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it, it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds."
"That doesn't make sense," Blake said. "We saw some… people steal the satellite."
Yang nodded slowly. "So if Earth is getting a signal from it…"
"Then they're only getting what these new aliens want them to see."
He continues to defend the safety of the probe. "She is fine now, absolutely fine. We're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it, thanks." The manager then leaves.
The Tylers turn to Mickey as he waves them over. "Here we go, pilot fish. They're scavengers, just like the Doctor said. Harmless, they're just tiny. But the little fish swim alongside the big fish."
"Do you mean like sharks?"
Sharks. Yummy sharks too.
"Great big sharks," Mickey emphasizes. "So what the Doctor means is, we've had them, now we get that." He waves at an image on his screen showing a (Terran) pilot fish alongside a large shark.
Rose remembers the Doctor's words. "Something is coming… How close?"
"There's no way of telling. But the pilot fish don't swim far from their daddy."
"So it's close?"
"Close enough to teleport a bunch of robots down to kidnap the Doctor," Ruby said.
"Maybe they can teleport from Mars to Earth," Qrow offered. "We've seen weirder."
The hooded girl nodded. "But in the gigantic expanse of space, and the fact that Earth has been exploring so far and hasn't met these aliens before, that makes them close even if it's far to Mars."
Jackie, who grew bored of Mickey's presentation and had turned back to the telly, cocks her head as it flickers. "Funny sort of rocks," she mumbles.
"That's not rocks," Rose says as she slowly walks over to the screen. The flickering begins to die down, showing an alien view.
Or, more specifically, a view of aliens.
"Coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morn…"
A red-eyed and red-skinned alien with a goat-like skull for a head roars through the screen. And everyone, everywhere, jumps back in fear.
Team RWBY did so as well.
"Grimm," Yang whispered.
"It can't be…" Blake said. "The Grimm are black as nightmares. These are red."
Weiss' eyes remained frozen on the still frame of the alien. "On our world, perhaps. But the exposed bone… Those eyes… They're certainly similar. What if there are Grimm in their universe? And instead, they have crimson-blood skin."
"No, no that can't be. It has to be a coincidence." Ruby's voice was shaking, but she did her best to look calm. "The Grimm are animals. There's no way they could achieve space travel."
Unless, Qrow thought, this is what happen to Grimm after they kill everyone. They start looking upward to seek out more negativity.
Many different news outlets, all over the world, report on the broadcast from the Guinevere One probe.
"The face of an alien life form was transmitted live tonight on BBC One," one says.
Another reports: "On the twenty-fifth of December, the human race has been shown absolute proof that alien life exists."
"These remarkable images have been relayed right across the world."
Black cars speed around a corner, turning towards the Tower of London. Armed guards wave them through without hesitation and the vehicles stop inside of a walled-off perimeter. The driver steps out and opens the door for Llewellyn, who looks around confusedly.
"This way sir," a voice calls. Llewellyn turns to see a man in a crisp uniform standing alongside armed soldiers. He follows the man's pointed hand and runs up the steps.
"Twice in one year," Weiss said. "I certainly hope they know better than to invite everyone into one room this time."
Blake nodded agreeingly. "Especially if these are those same people. What did the Doctor call them?"
"He worked for them, he said. U.N.I.T. Probably in one of his previous lives." Weiss glared at the Librarian, who nodded as if to say she was correct.
A short time later, the door to U.N.I.T headquarters opens with a ding. The set of rooms he steps into is full of people walking about at a hurried pace. Papers are stacked on tables, coffee is set aside, and no one even seems to notice the newest arrivals.
Llewellyn and the soldier - a major - make their way to a side room where a familiar woman turns to greet them with a handshake and an unfurling of her I.D.
"Harriet Jones. Prime Minister."
Ruby's smile nearly broke her face. "No longer MP for Flydale North!"
"The world's in good hands, then," Yang agreed with a similar smile. "Not to mention the Doctor."
"Yes, I know who you are," Llewellyn says. "I suppose I've ruined your Christmas."
Harriet Jones shakes her head. "Never off duty. Now, we've put out a cover story. Alex has been handling it." She waves to a man by her side and he steps forward.
"We've said it was a hoax. Some sort of mask or prosthetics. Students hi-jacking the signal, that sort of thing."
Qrow nodded. "Smart. Keeps everyone safe from the truth."
"So you are fine with lying if it leads to a greater good?" the Librarian asked cheekily.
The Huntsman's eyes narrowed at the accusation. "When it's to save lives, yes." Just how much did this traveler know about him? About Ozpin? Or Salem….
"Alex is my right-hand man," she says. "I'm not used to having a right-hand man. I quite like it, though."
Alex smiles. "I quite like it myself."
Blake's mind filled with how her books would detail the relationship between Harriet Jones and the young man. She blushed and covered her blushing face.
"I don't suppose there's any chance it was a hoax?" Llewellyn asks.
"That would be nice," the Prime Minister sighs. "Then we could all go home. I don't suppose anyone's offered you a coffee?"
"Um, no."
Harriet Jones walks over to a table with a coffeemaker and starts to brew a batch. "The transmission was genuine. And this seems to be a new species of alien. At least, not one we've encountered before."
"How alien beatdowns have they done?" Yang asked.
"Harriet Jones? Just the one with the Slitheen, I think." The Librarian rubbed his chin. "U.N.I.T has dealt with quite a few, though. The Doctor spent most of his third regeneration there after being banished."
Llewellyn takes a cup of coffee from Harriet Jones but keeps his focus on her. "You seem to be talking about aliens as a matter of fact."
"There's an act of Parliament banning my autobiography," she chuckles.
"Prime Minister?" The door opens as the soldier who escorted Llewellyn in enters.
Harriet Jones walks through the open door. "I'm with you." Together, the group makes their way to the main area where a large screen shows the aliens in static-less beauty. They stop behind a woman, who quickly gets up and stows her headset.
"Miss Jacob's can explain."
"I don't think we've been introduced. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister."
"Hey! There it is again!" Qrow cheered. "I'm gonna have to make this a drinking game."
Ruby frowned slightly. "Why does she keep saying that? Isn't she the ruler of Great Britain?"
"It's the polite thing to do. She's introducing herself directly," Qrow said.
"Oooh. Why don't you ever do that?"
"Yes," Sally smiles, "I know who you are. The transmission didn't come from the surface of Mars. Guinevere One was broadcasting from a point five-thousand miles above the planet."
"In other words, they've got a ship and the probe is on board," the major summarizes.
Llewellyn steps forward. "But if they're not from the surface, then they might not be from Mars itself. Maybe they're not actual Martians."
"Of course not," the major scoffs. "Martians look completely different. We think the ship was in flight when they just came across the probe."
An eyebrow raised over Weiss' scared eye. "I suppose that was one of the Doctor's previous findings?"
The Librarian nodded. "Yes met quite a few aliens that have come to Earth before. U.N.I.T probably knows about both of them. This is all before the Time War, though."
Sally gestures to her computer. "And they're moving the ship's still in flight now. We've got it on the Hubble array." A visual shows up on the center screen showing Earth, Mars, and the ship - indicated by a red dot.
"Moving in which direction?" Harriet Jones asks.
"Towards us."
"How fast?"
"Very fast."
The Prime Minister nods. "What was your name again?"
"Sally."
"Thank you, Sally," she smiles.
Ruby smiled too. "Even with the world in danger, she's still being nice to everyone."
"I guess the Doctor was right about her," Blake nodded. "Perhaps we need to trust that those whose lives were already touched by him can do what he can't currently."
The happiness fades quickly as they all look up and watch the ship move closer and closer to their planet.
"Rose," Mickey whispers. He's studying the laptop and waves the young blonde over to his side. On it, he has the same model Sally was showing. "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."
"Mickey did get the Doctor's passwords," Qrow remembered. "I'm surprised these U.N.I.T stiffs didn't revoke his privilege."
The Librarian shrugged. "The Doctor helped build U.N.I.T. His login is probably part of the base code. Nobody might not even know it exists."
"Sounds like poor security then."
"Coming for what?" Rose asks. "The Doctor?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's coming for all of us."
His screen, as does the one at U.N.I.T, turns fuzzy before showing the aliens once more. Four of them, standing together in a diamond formation. This time, however, a voice comes through the speakers.
"Gatz tak ka thaa! Ka zu me fedrock, ka zu me Sycorax!"
Mickey, although keeping his eyes on the screen, nudges Rose. "Have you seen them before?"
"No," she answers, also unable to pull her eyes away.
"Well," Yang smirked, "space is pretty big. I'm sure there's a lot of ground to cover."
A groan quickly spread through the theatre. "I think we are going to need some space if that's going to be your go-to pun," Blake smirked.
The voices of these creatures' alien tongues echoes in the U.N.I.T control room. "Adzeek. Kwadra fi peloodza. Kwadra fi milzon bor zu pedra kayi zu bandak," one gargles, its head snapping left and right violently as it 'speaks'. "Zu masak jal ban kulja jiyi sykora jak."
"Talking Grimm," Qrow muttered. "Now I have seen everything."
"Translation software," the major snaps.
Alex jumps up and runs off. "Yes sir."
Ruby smiled triumphantly. "We've got the T.A.R.D.I.S to translate for us!"
Weiss frowned. "Then why aren't we understanding them?"
"… Because we aren't in Rose's point of view?"
"Di-ga gah!"
"I don't understand what they're saying," Rose panics. "The T.A.R.D.I.S translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am."
"I had to jinx it." The red-hooded girl deflated.
"So why isn't it doing it now?" Mickey asks.
"I dunno. Must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's… he's broken."
"That doesn't make much sense," Blake said. "Why would the Doctor's regeneration have anything to do with T.A.R.D.I.S operations?"
"I think the T.A.R.D.I.S is resetting herself," the Librarian said. "At least, some of the settings. Different versions of the Doctor have had different preferences. It's possible the ship, knowing that he might want something different, shut down parts of itself until the Doctor chose what he liked."
"Like giving someone an old scroll," Blake nodded.
"Exactly." But it does sound like Klingon…
In the next room, the Doctor's eyes remain closed as he continues to breathe heavily.
After marching up a set of stairs, the major, carrying an envelope, waits outside a glass-walled room. Harriet Jones sees him from the other side and steps out. They look over the entirety of U.N.I.T from the office.
"I'm getting demands from Washington, ma'am. The President's insisting that he take control of the situation."
Harriet Jones takes a few seconds to choose her words. "You can tell the President, and please use these exact words, 'he's not my boss, and he's certainly not turning this into a war'."
"Yeah!" Yang cheered. "You tell him!"
"It's a global event, Yang," Weiss said. "I'd hope that every world leader is offering some kind of assistance."
"There's offering assistance and then there's taking charge," the blonde said, crossing her arms. "And Harriet Jones is already in charge. Besides, they've got the Doctor!"
"He's unconscious!"
"He won't be forever!"
Pivoting on her heel, she heads back into the office to peer over Alex's shoulder as he works on a laptop. "What have we got?"
"Nothing yet," he sighs. "Translating an alien language is going to take time."
The major joins them (after, supposedly, telling the President to shove it). "How far off is the ship?"
"About five hours." They all turn to look and see that the ship is now halfway between Earth and Mars.
"Is that fast?" Qrow asked.
E.L.I. made some quick calculations. "On Christmas Day, two-thousand-six, just after midnight, the distance between Mars and Earth was ninety-eight-point-thre-nine million kilometers away from each other (61.14 million miles). To cover half of that in five hours would take a speed of almost ten million kilometers an hour (approximately 6 million miles per hour)." [1]
The man whistled. "I didn't think anything could go that fast."
"It's just under one percent of the speed of light," E.L.I agreed.
"Despite claims of an alien hoax, it's been reported that N.A.T.O forces are on red alert," the news states. Its volume is turned up so everyone in the flat can hear it.
Jackie hunches over the Doctor as he continues to shake and sputter. "Come on, sweetheart. What do you need? What is it you need? Tell me."
"Maybe don't interrupt him this time," Weiss muttered.
"Speaking strictly off the record, government sources are calling this our longest night."
Harriet Jones walks over to the major as he is sitting down. He quickly jumps back to his feet. "I don't suppose we've had a Code Nine?" she asks. "No sign of the Doctor?"
"Nothing yet."
"I think we're going to have to change it to a Code Ten soon," the Librarian said with a chuckle.
"You've met him, haven't you?" She nods. "More like the stuff of legend."
A weak smile pulls on her lips. "He is that. Failing him… What about Torchwood?"
The man freezes and his face pales. "I-"
"I know I'm not supposed to know about it," she says with a dismissive hand wave. "I realize that. Not even the United Nations knows. But if ever there was a need for Torchwood, it's now."
"I can't take responsibility," he says.
"I can." Harriet Jones stares down the uniformed man. "See to it. Get them ready." He nods and quickly runs off.
"Torchwood?" Ruby repeated with a slight frown. "What's that? Is it something from the Doctor's past too?"
The Librarian shook his head. "Nope. This is a whole new development."
She raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Would you tell us if it weren't?"
"Yes."
Laptop held up, Alex rushes down the stairs and joins Harriet Jones at her side. "Prime Minister!"
"Has it worked?" she asks.
"Just about." They move to a table as Alex begins to read off the screen. "'People' - that could be 'cattle', 'you belong to us. To the Sycorax.' They seem to be called Sycorax, not Martians."
"I'd be more focused on the cattle part," Blake frowned. "That doesn't sound like a translation error."
Weiss nodded and rubbed her chin. "If these Sycorax see 'people' as cattle, either to be used as food or labor or… worse, then it's safe to assume they are not at all friendly."
"But the Doctor would want some answers first. Just to be sure."
"Yes, he would."
Others, like Llewellyn and Sally, walk over and listen to the translated message.
"'We own you. We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax rock' - as in the modern sense, they rock."
Yang snorted. "You know, the first half had me. But if they're telling themselves they 'rock', then these things aren't Grimm."
"'They' will die?" Llewellyn asks. "Not 'you will die', they will die? Who's 'they'?"
Ah, to be non-binary in 2006, the Librarian thought. Not the best time.
Alex double-checks the laptop and program. "I don't know, but it is the right personal pronoun. It's 'they'."
"Send them a reply," Harriet Jones says. "Tell them… 'This is a day of peace on planet Earth.' Tell them, 'We extend that peace to the Sycorax. And tell them 'This planet is armed and we do not surrender.'"
The trio pauses at her declaration but nods. They run off to send the message, leaving Harriet Jones to watch the ever-closing dot.
"She's changed," Ruby muttered.
Weiss nodded. "Responsibility, especially for a large group of people, changes you."
"Her naivete is gone," Blake agreed. "She's seen what there is out there and now she needs to be ready for it."
Yang smiled and clapped her hands together. "Just like us. We aren't the same girls that came to Beacon. We've learned, we've grown! Harriet Jones has new experiences to guide her, just like us."
"When did you get all grown up?" Qrow asked, touching his niece's shoulder. "Your mom would be proud."
Jackie has fallen asleep at the Doctor's side. Behind them, Rose watches over them as she bites her nails. Mickey joins her, stepping over fragments of wood from the tree.
"The Doctor wouldn't do this," Rose mutters with a glare. "The old Doctor, the proper Doctor. He'd wake up. He'd save us."
"The 'proper' Doctor would have needed time to recover too. He woke up earlier than he should've to save your butts," the Librarian said.
Qrow laughed. "She's like this one girl I saved from a king kaiju attack that got angry at me because I got hit and had to use her bed to recover for a night."
"But you'd still do it again."
"And so would he."
"You really love him, don't you?" Mickey asks. Instead of answering, Rose places her head on his shoulder. Then she spins around and hugs him close. He happily does so back.
Dawn breaks on the London skyline. The London Eye is still and the repairs of the Big Ben clock tower have halted. The entire city seems empty as everyone remains indoors.
Sally, at her desk in U.N.I.T headquarters, takes off her headset and runs over to join the rest of the group in front of the central screen. "They got the message," she says. "Here comes the response."
The screen changes from its tracking of the ship to the Sycorax itself. The one at the front, holding a strange scepter, throws out its hand and twists it. Blue energy glows in its palm and weaves through its finger as a hiss fills the room. Then the screen turns off.
"That's it?" Blake frowned. During her time in the White Fang, if they made a declaration and didn't get what they wanted, their response was always direct. Either as a threat or a restatement. Why waste the time to show off something like that?
"What was that?" Harriet asks. She runs over to the row of monitors. "Was that a reply?"
Alex shakes his head. "I don't know. It looked like some sort of energy or static."
"Almost like someone casting a spell," Llewellyn mutters. Unbeknownst to everyone, Sally, along with several other members of the U.N.I.T staff remained frozen. The blue glow appears around their heads, shining around them like a dome and flickering. "Maybe it's a different form of language, some sort of ideogram or pictographic, or…"
They all pause as all those who had the energy touch them begin to rise and leave.
Ruby gasped. "Mind control! That's scummy!"
"But if they could mind control everyone, why even bother with the message?" Weiss asked.
"Maybe they aren't strong enough. But now they've taken control of U.N.I.T!"
The controlled people push past everyone else toward the lifts.
"What the hell?" Llewellyn gasps. He notices the blue-dome appear over one's head and steps back. "It's the light, it's the same light!"
They all watch as Sally does so too, walking to the other side of the room.
"Sally?" Llewellyn asks, following her. "What're you doing? Sally?" He reaches for her hand but Harriet pulls him away.
"Leave her. You'll hurt her."
The guards at the front door pull out their weapons. "Let them pass!" the major orders.
"Where are they going?" Llewellyn asks.
Yang's eyes widened. "What if this isn't happening just here? What if it's happening… everywhere?"
"Then," Blake gulped, "the Sycorax just got themselves a new army."
"Maybe that means there aren't a lot of them and that they have to resort to stuff like this because they are really weak."
Blake grabbed the blonde's hand. "I hope so."
Rose and Mickey hear shouting from outside the flat door and quickly run to see what's happening. They see a woman in a bathrobe trailing a man in sleeping attire.
"What is wrong with you?" the woman asks, pulling at the man's hand. He, however, continues to march south without any response. "Jason? Jason!"
"Sandra?" Rose asks, drawing the woman's attention away momentarily.
Sandra turns to Rose with tear-stained cheeks and panicked eyes. "He won't listen. He's just walking. He won't stop walking. There's this sort of light thing…"
"If they wanted an army," Qrow said, "there would already be people dead. Either from grabbing for guns or even just barbaric grappling. But that's not what they are doing. They're just… walking."
She realizes that as she's been talking to Rose, her partner has been walking awake. Sandra quickly chases after him, calling his name and begging for him to stop.
Rose and Mickey look over the edge and see dozens of other people marching towards them, with hundreds more confused and concerned loved ones trying to stop them.
"Perhaps," Weiss offered, "they are going to take the Doctor. Before, he could destroy the robots with his sonic. He can't kill humans with that kind of tool."
"The Doctor can't kill people in general," Yang glared. "He's the good guy!"
"Which is why this is such an effective weapon against him."
A trail of the controlled makes its way up a stairwell, with Harriet Jones doing her best to keep up with them. "They're all heading in the same direction," she reports.
Llewellyn joins her. "It's only certain people. Why isn't it affecting us?"
"Prime Minister!" Alex yells, running towards them. "It's happening all over the country."
A residential street is filled with people as crowds open their doors and step outside. One such group, a man and his two children, join the sea of people as his wife tries to pull them back inside.
"Alan, come on, now stop this. It's not funny anymore. Come on, Alan, come back inside the house. Katrine. Katrine, listen to mummy. You come back inside now. And you, Jonathan. You come back in with mummy. Jonathon, come back in with mummy. You're scaring me now! Come on! Alan, help me out here, please."
Yang's fists clenched. "What kind of monsters would do this?"
Qrow, just as angry, glared at the screen. "The kind that refers to people as cattle."
She continues to jump from husband to daughter to son, hoping one of them will answer her. A policeman pushes by. He tries to herd the crowd but they move around him.
"As far as I can tell," he says after grabbing his radio, "they're heading for any sort of high-rise building. Anything with stairs, anything with steps."
"They're going all the way up!" Llewellyn declares as he watches the crowd follow him to the top of the staircase. "They're going to the roof!"
Ruby's silver eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no."
"What is it?" Blake asked.
"They aren't weapons," the girl answered slowly. "They're hostages. The Sycorax answered their message by showing how they could kill everyone with ease."
Everyone froze. The Librarian, however, glared inwardly. You've taught a young girl to think that jumping off a building is a battle strategy… I hope you're happy.
"Just making my way up to the front of the building now," the officer reports. He has to push his way past hundreds of people. "There's hundreds of them. Oh, God!"
The man freezes as he looks up. Every person he had passed is now standing one step away from the open sky on the rooftop.
"They've gone right to the edge! They're gonna jump. They're all gonna jump!"
Blake's eyes crackled green and the ring around her neck floated upward. "Nobody that isn't a monster would do this. No one would threaten so many people. They're just as bad as the Daleks! As the Slitheen! As Adam!"
"Which one?" the Librarian whispered so low only her enhanced ears would pick it up.
"It doesn't matter."
Llewellyn chases after Sally on top of a roof. "Stop it!" he yells, pushing against the wind. Once he's in front of her, he turns around and walks backward in front of her. "It's Danny Llewellyn. Danny Llewellyn. Sally just concentrate. Listen to me. You're being controlled. We need you! Stop it, Sally!"
She doesn't. Sally, along with select U.N.I.T members continue to march to the edge of the roof.
"Jason!" Sandra pleads as she tries to pull him away from the drop. "I'm talking to you! Just stop!"
He doesn't.
Back in the control room, Alex pulls up visuals from all over the world. Harriet Jones joins his side and he whispers hoarsely. "It's not just the whole country. It's the whole world."
All around the globe, people make their way to their city's highest points and march towards the edge. Their loved ones and partners all pleaded with them to stop acting so strange and come home.
They don't.
Then, as they all stop along the edges of rooftops, cliffs, and skyscrapers, they pause.
Team RWBY, who had turned away from the fear of seeing an entire world population take a one-step nosedive into concrete, slowly looked back.
"What… happened?" Yang asked.
Weiss gulped. "Not to complain, but why are they not… dead?"
"Because," Ruby whispered solemnly, "they're hostages."
"And hostages are only worthwhile while they're alive," Blake finished.
"They've stopped," the policeman sighs. He chuckles and speaks into his radio again. "They've all stopped! They're just standing there, right on the edge."
Alex and Harriet Jones continue to watch the feed. "According to reports, it's like a third. One-third of the world's population. That's two billion people ready to jump."
"Surrender," Llewellyn repeats slowly, "or they will die." He glances back at the major, who is as stunned as he is.
"What do we do?" Mickey asks.
"Nothing." Rose turns away from the rooftop and starts to head back down. "There's no one to save us. Not anymore."
"Don't give up!" Weiss snapped. "The Doctor entrusted his safety to you. As many times as he's saved you, you saved him! You can't just… just…"
"Go home?" Ruby asked. "Run away from your responsibilities because they seem too great?"
"Rose has so much potential… She has the T.A.R.D.I.S. She knows who to seek out, and she's not doing anything to save those who need her help!"
The Librarian nodded. "Sometimes the things we are most responsible for are the reasons we don't want them. Especially when it comes to the people we love."
As Llewellyn and the major return, Alex turns away from a monitor and smiles. "Wait a minute. There is a pattern. All these people tend to be father and son, mother and daughter, brothers and sisters. Family groups, but not husbands and wives."
"Oh, my God," Llewellyn groans. "It's Guinevere One."
"How does your glorified camera lead to this?" Qrow asked.
"Have you got medical records on file for all your staff?"
"Of course we have, yes," Alex answers.
As they begin to talk, Harriet Jones ushers the major to a corner of the room. "What about Torchwood?" she asks in a low voice.
"Still working on it," he answers. "Bear in mind they have just lost a third of their staff."
"But do they have what we need?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Tell them to hurry up," Harriet Jones snaps before rejoining her personal aide and the space probe manager.
"At least we know Torchwood is another organization," Blake summarized.
"But for what?" Ruby asked. "Whenever she talks about it… I get a little scared of her."
"But she couldn't hurt a fly. Maybe it's a teleporter? So they can go greet the Sycorax? Or a T.A.R.D.I.S distress beacon?"
"Here it is," Llewellyn says as he pulls up U.N.I.T records. "Sally Jacobs, blood group, A-Positive. Who else walked out?"
"Luke Parsons."
He clicks away at the computer for a moment. "Like Parsons, A-Positive."
"Jeffrey Baxter," Alex throws out. A few seconds later, Llewellyn has it up.
"Baxter," he reads, "A-Positive. That's it! They're all A-Positive."
"A common denominator," Weiss said. "But how does it help us?"
"Sometimes silence doesn't give you the answer," the Librarian said. "Sometimes it gives you an answer to a different one. And maybe that one can help."
"Then instead of asking why they're all A-Positive," she thought aloud, "we should instead think about how they're controlling all of them."
"Ding ding ding!"
The major grabs his chair. "How many people in the world are A-Positive?"
"No idea. But I bet it's one-third."
"What's so special about that blood group?" he then asks.
"Nothing," Llewellyn sighs. "But… it's my fault. Guinevere One, it's got one of those plaques identifying the human race. A message to the stars. I mean, you don't expect anything to come of it, but I put on maps and music and samples. There's wheat seeds and water and… And blood. A-Positive.
Yang nudged her uncle's arm. "That's why the probe was so important. And if they're using that to control all the humans then…"
"All they need to do," Blake said with a growing smile, "is destroy the Guinevere!"
"The Sycorax have got a vial of A-Positive. And, well, I don't know how, but through that-"
"They control the blood," Harriet Jones finishes.
Almost like he couldn't believe it himself, Llewellyn slumps forward and grabs his head. "Oh, my God."
"There's only one more thing I can try," she says. "Major, with me."
Ruby perked up. "Torchwood?"
Rose, Mickey, Jackie, and people all over the world have their TV's show the British Prime Minister sitting behind a desk with two union flags on each side of her and a photo of an elderly woman with a crown.
"Ladies and gentlemen," she greets. "If I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been canceled."
Harriet Jones turns to someone offscreen. "Did we ask about the royal family?" Something makes her look up. "Oh… They're on the roof."
"Royal family?" Weiss asked with strangely bright eyes in a fairly dark room.
"While there is a royal family and monarchy in the sovereign of the United Kingdom," E.L.I answers, "their position is mostly ceremonial. The true governance comes from the Prime Minister and other elected leaders."
"But," Harriet Jones continues, facing the camera, "ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. 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. 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. God help us."
"Is this what it comes down to?" Blake asked. "A cry for help?"
Qrow smiled. "Hey, sometimes that's all it takes. Don't forget, it's your job to answer those cries. Think you've got what it takes?"
Every member of team RWBY nodded.
"Good. Then you're going to make great Huntresses."
Unable to watch, Rose runs back to the Doctor's room. Tears roll down her face as she watches his unconscious form. A few minutes later, Jackie wraps her arms around her.
"He's gone," Rose sobs, her face pressed into her mother's shoulder. "The Doctor's gone. He's left me, mum. Left me, mum."
As Jackie comforts her and starts to pull her away from the room, all the glass windows in the flat shatter. The two women scream and Mickey falls onto the ground.
Everyone covered their ears. "What the hell is that?!" Yang yelled.
It doesn't stop with their flat. Nor did it begin there. Every window in every home, in every building, explodes and shatters all at once throughout all of London. The entire city seems to shake with only the controlled A-Positives unaffected.
Alarms, red and blaring in volume, fill U.N.I.T HQ.
"Sonic wave!" Llewellyn cries as he and everyone remaining hit the ground to avoid being cut by the flying shards of glass. "It's the spaceship, its hit the atmosphere!"
The Librarian pitched his voice upward. "They're heeeere!" he sang creepily.
Save for the T.A.R.D.I.S windows (which Mickey, Rose, and Jackie are now standing near), every bit of glass in all of London seems to have shattered. The trio looks up in shock and horror as a shadow passes across the sun.
From above, it looks like an old, stone arrowhead. Jagged and craggy with sharp points coming from the sides unevenly. A volcano in the sky that draws the attention of every single person toward it. It almost covers the entire city, shadowing all of London beneath it.
The Sycorax has arrived.
"That… That's a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be," Ruby gulped.
Weiss' eyes nearly popped out of her head. "That's bigger than Amity Colosseum! It's… colossal!"
"If the Sycorax came here in that, and have blood control, then what hope do humans have?" Blake asked.
Yang, who had been the one to consistently believe in the Earthlings, felt her fear creeping up on her. "I- I don't know. Maybe it is hopeless without the Doctor."
"Are you kids even watching the same thing as me?" They turned to see Qrow with a sober smile and not as much as a shot glass in his hand. "So they've got a big ship, whatever. We've got Rose. Mickey. Jackie. Harriet Jones. The T.A.R.D.I.S, the sonic screwdriver, whatever the hell Torchwood is-"
"But no Doctor," Blake said.
"Half the time the Doctor doesn't even know what he's doing! Did he know what the Empty Child was at first? No. Did he know Daleks were behind Satellite Five? Nope! Rose was the Godsdammed Bad Wolf. He's going to wake up and save the day, but everyone else is going to get him there first. So let's hobey-ho and see how it's done!"
The room fell silent as they absorbed the Huntsman's words. Qrow. Had belief? Faith? It seemed almost like a miracle.
But it wasn't. It was trust, pure and simple, in someone else to be better.
"Hobey-ho," Ruby whispered.
"Hobey-ho," Weiss nodded.
"Hobey-ho," Blake said.
"Hobey-ho!" Yang cheered.
Then, as one, "HOBEY-HO!"
Huge, huge, thanks to my Pat. supporters:
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[1] - Math time! I'm going to use the metric system because it is more scientific. 98.39 million kilometers divided by 2 is 49.195. Divide that by 5 hours (Speed = Distance/Time) and you get 9,839,000 kilometers per hour. The speed of light, in a vacuum, is approximately 299,792 kilometers per second. Turning hours to seconds those together gives us 2,733.06 km/s and then dividing by the speed of light gives us… 0.00912. Which is 0.912% the speed of light! To put that into perspective, the fasting human-made object is the Parker Solar Probe which reached speeds of 0.064% the speed of light as it approached the sun.
Got this out pretty quickly compared to the last one, huh? Holy crap though, this was long. It's usually like 20-25 minutes of an episode for each chapter. This one was easily 30 minutes. And all the flipping around (I freaking hate RTD news reports) was making me go insane.
But I did enjoy writing how I think RWBY would have reacted to this chapter. This is, pretty much, the last episode of the 'season/series'. So that means wrapping up character arcs - or, at least, getting close to doing so. Ruby's innocence, although important, needs a vaccine against the darkness. Weiss needs to think about her place as a Schnee. Blake, who already moved past her fear, needs to start thinking about how to face it. And Yang… Yang's now realizing that her brawn is all she has and that won't keep her alive.
Oh, and Qrow. He stopped drinking. Easy. Boom. Ha!
Nah, I promise it'll be more than that. I've got the next couple of chapters pretty planned out. Next is finishing up Series 1 (YAY!) and then back home to Remnant for a chapter or two of an original story. Then… pausing, I guess.
I didn't mean to leave you guys hanging for almost six months. University got stupidly hard and unless someone is willing to either novelize the chapters or tutor me in C++, then I can only spend the time to write when I have the time to write.
It won't be a year. Heck, it probably won't even be 6 months. But I do need to focus on what's important and realize that this is something I can only do when I have the time to do it.
Thank you all for understanding :)
Read on, warriors.
As always, I'd like to ask everyone to comment on this chapter (whether or not you are reading this as it updates or a year from then). It helps me improve and gives me even more drive to write!
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