The Doctor pointed his arms at the hand in a jar, directing his glowing golden energy into it. The energy dissipated while his current body remained. The group stared quietly as he caught his breath. "Now then, where were we?" He asked, before walking off. The rest of them stood, staring at him dumbfounded.
He crouched to look at the glowing hand and said, "There now," blowing away the golden glow. "You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as that was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to, why would I? Look at me." He showed off the side of his face, tugging his tie. "So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely, my hand, my hand there. My handy spare hand!" He stood up.
"Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax?" He asked, looking at Rose. "Lost my hand in a swordfight? That's my hand! What do you think?"
Angela felt a wave of adoration for the Doctor wash over her. Rose slowly approached him, leaving Angela behind. "You're still you?" The rush of endorphines went with her. Angela could piece together the type of feelings the woman had for him. It's sudden absence had her longing for her dead boyfriend all over again. She looked away. She needed to stop herself from projecting her emotions to everyone.
He smiled at her. "I'm still me." Rose jumped in for a hug. Donna and Jack smiled with relief.
"You can hug me if you want," Donna said to Jack. He chuckled. "No, really, you can hug me."
After Rose let go, Donna and Jack jumped in to hug the Doctor as well. Angela waited patiently before giving him a squeeze. He sensed her heartache and infused a little more cheer into his returned affection. She gave him a halfsmile of appreciation.
Donna snactched Angela from the Doctor to give her a tight squeeze, "I'm so glad you're doing so much better." Angela did not feel any better, but she smiled and nodded. She knew that functioning was at least an improvement and couldn't deny it.
"Um, hi. I'm Rose. Rose Tyler," she said, waiting for Angela's introduction.
Jack's hand landed on Angela's shoulder, and smirked at Rose. "This is my daughter, Angela Harkness."
Rose's jaw dropped. "Shut it. No way! She's an adult. You can't be serious."
"That's time travel," the Doctor interjected. The room went dark and silent. "They've got us! Power's gone! Some kind of chronon loop." He informed the group, interrupted by a shift of gravity, knocking evryone aboard off their feet.
"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination," Jack told the Doctor.
"You said these planets were like an engine," Donna remembered.
"But what for?" Rose asked him.
"Rose? You've been in a parallel world, that world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?"
"It's the darkness," she answered.
"The stars were going out," Donna quoted.
"One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this travel machine, this… this Dimension Cannon so I could… Well, so I could…"
"What?" The Doctor asked with a little smirk.
"So I could come back." The Doctor smiled wide. "Shut up. Anyway, suddenly it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything."
"In that parallel world, you said something about me," Donna said.
"The Dimension Cannon could measure time lines and it's… it's weird, Donna, but they all seem to converge on you."
"But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick!"
A continuous beep sounded from the screen. "The Dalek Crucible. All aboard," the Doctor informed. The TARDIS was pulled through space into the Dalek Crucible, landing with bang.
Everyone in the console room heard, "The TARDIS is secured." Followed by a deeper, "Doctor, you will step forth or die." Donna stood back, staring on as Rose and Jack waited solemnly behind the Doctor.
"We'll have to go out. 'Cause if we don't, they'll get in," the Doctor said gravelly.
"You told me nothing could get through those doors," Rose said.
"You've got extrapolator shielding," Jack added.
"Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire at the height of its power, experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood."
"What about your dimension jump?" Jack asked.
"It needs another 20 minutes. And anyway, I'm not leaving."
"What about your teleport?" The Doctor asked.
"Went down with the power loss," Jack reported.
"Right then, all of us together. Yeah. Donna?" He asked her. She had been standing still staring off at nothing. She didn't respond until he stood in front of her, whispering her name.
"Yeah," she said, snapping out of her trance.
"I'm sorry, there's nothing else we can do."
"I know."
"Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters."
"Crucible on maximum alert!"
"Daleks!" Rose laughed nervously.
"Oh, God!" Jack joined in.
"It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us, all of it. Everything we did." He looked at each of them. "You were brilliant. And you were brilliant. And you were brilliant. And you were brilliant. Blimey." He walked out.
"Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!" They chanted.
Angela's eyes locked with Jack's. She gave him a hard stare and pursed her lips while she leaned on the console. He gave her a nod. Angela remained in the TARDIS, willing her death to be with her TARDIS over anywhere else.
Rose and Jack walked out, but Donna heard something and stopped before stepping out. The Doctor's group looked up to see countless Daleks floating in formation above them. "Doctor! Behold the might of the true Dalek race!"
"Donna! Angela! You're no safer in there," the Doctor yelled for them.
Donna was about to walk out when the TARDIS door slammed shut. "Doctor? What have you done?" She accused, fiddling with the handle.
"It wasn't me, I didn't do anything!"
"Oi! Oi, I'm not staying behind!"
"This is not of Dalek origin."
"Stop it, she's my friend. Now, open the door and let her out," the Doctor yelled at the Dalek.
"It's not him! It's the TARDIS. She's keeping you here for a reason," Angela tried to explain to Donna.
"What do you mean? What reason? Why me?" Donna snapped back.
"No idea. I suppose we're about to find out," Angela remained calm, leaning on the console.
"This is Time Lord treachery."
"Hey, the door just closed on its own!" The Doctor defended.
"Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon. And it will be destroyed!"
The TARDIS immediately fell through the floor where it had landed.
"What are you doing?" The Doctor yelled as he stared at it, disappearing from his view. "Bring it back!"
"Doctor!" Donna belted as she hung on for dear life. Angela crossed her legs around a branching column.
"What've you done? Where's it going?"
"The Crucible has a heart of Z-Neutrino energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core."
"You can't. You've taken the defenses down. It'll be torn apart!" He yelled with a grimace.
Donna and Angela were hopping around as glass exploded around them and spots of fire burned on the floor.
"But Donna's still in there!" Rose shouted.
"Let my daughter go!" Jack hollered.
"The female and the TARDIS will perish together. Observe!" A view of the TARDIS inside the burning core appeared. "The last child of Gallifrey is powerless."
"Please, I'm begging you, I'll do anything! Put me in their place. You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get them out of there!"
"You are connected to the TARDIS. Now feel it die!"
Donna and Angela coughed from the smoke and wailed with fright. Donna could hear the rhythm she heard before again. She tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. She looked beside her and the Doctor's glowing hand floated in the bubbling jar next to her. She lifted her hand and the golden glow wrapped all around her. Angela watched from where she landed across the room. The hand on the floor near-instantly grew the rest of the Doctor's body. The glow dissipated just as fast.
"It's you," Donna said, eyes wide.
"Oh, yes!" He responded, sitting up in the nude.
"You're naked," Donna complained, looking away.
"Oh, yes!"
"Total TARDIS destruction in ten rels. Nine,"
Rose held the Doctor's hand.
eight, seven, six"
The naked Doctor operated the controls to get them out of there.
"Four, three, two, one." The TARDIS disappeared just as the countdown ended. "The TARDIS has been destroyed. Now, tell me, Doctor, what do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?"
"Yeah."
"Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you?"
"Yeah? Feel this!" Jack shot his handgun, aiming for the large red Dalek.
"Exterminate!" It retaliated with its laser.
Jack yelled in pain. His body fell to the floor. Rose stared in horror. She ran to him. "Jack! Oh, my God! Oh, no…"
The Doctor grabbed Rose's shoulder. "Rose, come here, leave him."
"They killed him."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Escort them to the Vault."
"There's nothing we can do," he said, helping her get up. "They are the playthings of Davros now." The Doctor guided Rose to follow the Daleks, seeing Jack wink with a quick look behind him.
The TARDIS Doctor ran around frantically to get dressed and check on the damage. "All repaired. Lovely. Shhh! No one knows we're here. Gotta keep quiet. Silent running, like on submarines when they can't even drop a spanner. Don't drop a spanner. I like blue. What do you think?"
"You are bonkers!" Donna said.
"Why, what's wrong with blue?" He asked.
"Nothing. The blue looks good," Angela retorted.
"Is that what Time Lords do? Lop a bit off, grow another one? You're like worms!" Donna accused.
"No, no, no, no, no. I'm unique. Never been another like me. 'Cause all that regeneration energy went into the hand. Look at my hand! I love that hand! But then you touched it, wham!" He mimed whacking Donna in the face, startling her. "Shh!" He hissed, eyes wide like a madman. "Instantaneous biological metacrisis. I grew out of you. Still, could be worse."
"Oi! Watch it, spaceman!"
"Oi! Watch it, Earth girl! Ooh." Their chins hung open and their brows furrowed at each other. "I sound like you. I sound all… All sort of rough."
"Oi!"
"Oi!"
"Oi!"
"Spanners! Shh!" He reminded. Donna pressed her lips. "I must've picked up a bit of your voice, that's all. Is it? Did I? No! Ooh, you are kidding me! No way! One heart. I've got one heart! This body has only one heart!"
Donna felt his chest. "Like you're human?"
"Oh, that's disgusting."
Angela's heart ached a tiny bit to hear him say that. She didn't particularly appreciate his Donna style speech either. She took a seat, waiting for the two to finish their rapid-fire back and forth.
"Oi!"
"Oi!"
"Stop it!"
"No, wait, I'm part Time Lord, part human. Well, isn't that wizard?" He said disgusted.
"I kept hearing that noise, that heartbeat," Donna noted.
"Oh, that was me. My single heart. I'm a complicated event in time and space, it must have rippled back, converging on you." He began setting the controls to get them back into the Crucible.
"But why me?"
"'Cause you're special."
"I keep telling you, I'm not!"
"No, but you are. Oh, you really don't believe that, do you? I can see, Donna, what you're thinking. All that attitude, all that lip, 'cause all this time you think you're not worth it."
"Stop it."
"Shouting at the world 'cause no one's listening. Well, why should they?"
"Doctor, stop it."
"But look at what you did. No, it's more than that, it's like we were always heading for this. You came to the TARDIS. Then you found me again. Your granddad! Your car. Donna, your car. You parked your car right where the TARDIS was going to land, that's not coincidence. Oh, we've been blind. Something's been drawing us together for such a long time."
"But you're talking like destiny. There's no such thing, is there?"
"More like the TARDIS had her own plans," Angela answered.
"It's still not finished. Like the pattern's not complete. The strands are still drawing together. But heading for what?
"Activate the holding cells," Davros commanded. A beam of light shined onto the Doctor and Rose, standing before him. "Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained."
"Still scared of me, then?" The Doctor said, pushing on the energy wall that was his holding cell.
"It is time we talked, Doctor, after so very long."
"No, no, no, we're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now. 'Cause the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah? As in dungeon. Cellar. Prison. You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court Jester?"
"We have… an arrangement.
"No, no, no, no, no. I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet."
"So very full of fire, is he not? And to think you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again."
"Leave her alone."
"She is mine, to do as I please."
"Then why am I still alive?" Rose asked.
"You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan." Davros switched on a light, illuminating a Dalek uncovered. It's appendages and tissues draped against it's seat.
"So cold and dark, fire is coming, the endless flames," Dalek Caan said.
"What is that thing?" Rose whispered to the Doctor.
"You've met before. The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected."
"Caan did more than that, he saw Time. It's infinite complexity and majesty raging through his mind. And he saw you. Both of you," Davros explained.
"This I have foreseen in the wild, in the wind. The Doctor will be here as witness at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious children of time," Caan said, ending with a cackle. "And one of them will die!"
"Was it you, Caan? Did you kill my friends? Why did the TARDIS door close? Tell me!" He shouted.
"Oh, that's it! The anger! The fire! The rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion. Show her your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that, too." Davros encouraged. The Doctor took steady breaths.
"I have seen at the time of ending the Doctor's soul will be revealed," Caan said.
"What does that mean?"
"We will discover it together. Our final journey. Because the ending approaches, the testing begins," Davros answered.
"Testing of what?"
"The Reality Bomb. Behold the apotheosis of my genius," Davros answered, turning on a viewing screen.
"But that's Z-Neutrino energy. Flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single string. No! Davros! Davros, you can't! You can't! No!"
The TARDIS rumbled, destabilizing her inhabitants. "It's the planets. The 27 planets!" The Doctor said, finally seeing them all on screen. "Single string Z-Neutrinos compressed into… No. No way!"
"What was it? Doctor, what did it do?" Donna asked. The meta-Doctor stared at the screen.
"Doctor, what happened?" Rose asked.
"Electrical energy, Miss Tyler. Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality Bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone, full transmission will dissolve every form of matter," Davros explained.
"The stars are going out."
"The 27 planets. They become one vast transmitter. Blasting that wavelength…"
"Across the entire universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue breaking through the rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel. Every single corner of creation! This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"
"So, what is this thing?" Donna asked, handing a gun-shaped device with a dish on top.
"It's our only hope. A Z-Neutrino biological inversion catalyser," the meta-Doctor answered.
"Yeah. Earth girl, remember?"
"Davros said he built those Daleks out of himself. His genetic code runs through the entire race. If I can use this to lock the Crucible's transmission onto Davros himself…"
"It destroys the Daleks!"
"Biggest backfire in history!"
"…for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat, can you hear me?"
Martha Jones appeared in the Vault.
"Put me through," the Doctor ordered.
"It begins, as Dalek Caan foretold," Davros relished.
"The children of time will gather. And one of them will die!" Dalek Caan said with glee.
"Stop saying that! Put me through!"
"Doctor. I'm sorry, I had to," Martha said.
"Oh, but the Doctor is powerless. My prisoner. State your intent," Davros said.
"I've got the Osterhagen Key." She held up a square. "Leave this planet and its people alone or I'll use it."
"Osterhagen what? What's an Osterhagen Key?"
"There's a chain of 25 nuclear warheads place in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart."
"What? Who invented that? Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose. Martha, are you insane?"
"The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option."
"That's never an option!"
"Don't argue with me, Doctor! 'Cause it's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these 27 planets for something, but what if it becomes 26? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"
"She's good," Rose said with a smile.
"Who's that?"
"My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."
"Oh, my God. He found you."
A second screen view popped up with Jack and several others behind him. "Captain Jack Harkness calling all Dalek boys and girls. Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons or I'll set this thing off!" He held up a large shining diamond.
"He's still alive! Oh, my God, that's my mum!" Rose said.
"Mickey, Captain, what are you doing?" The Doctor asked.
"I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break the shell, the entire Crucible goes up."
"You can't. Where did you get a Warp Star?"
"From me," Sarah Jane said from behind Jack. "We had no choice. We saw what happened to the prisoners."
"Impossible. That face. After all these years," Davros said.
"Davros. It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith, remember?"
"Oh, this is meant to be! The circle of time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation."
"And I've learnt how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go or this Warp Star, it gets opened," she said.
"I'll do it. Don't imagine I wouldn't," Jack threatened.
"Now that's what I call a ransom!" Rose said. "Doctor?"
"And the prophecy unfolds," hinted Davros.
"The Doctor's soul is revealed! See him! See the heart of him!" Caan squealed.
"The man who abhors violence. Never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor! You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your children of time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this," Davros revealed.
"They're trying to help."
"Already I have seen them sacrificed today for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network."
"Who was that?
"Harriet Jones. She gave her life to get you here," Rose answered.
"How many more? Just think, how many have died in your name? The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you, yourself."
"Transmat engaged!" A Dalek reported. Martha, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane were all teleported to the Vault with the Doctor and Rose.
"Guard them! On your knees, all of you! Surrender!" Davros commanded.
"Do as he says," the Doctor warned. Jackie, Mickey, and Sarah Jane lowered to their knees and put their hands behind their heads.
"Mum. I told you not to," Rose whispered to Jackie.
"Yeah, well, I couldn't leave you," she responded.
The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children all gathered as witnesses! Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now! Detonate the Reality Bomb!" Davros shouted, pointing above him.
"You can't, Davros, just listen to me! Just stop!" The Doctor yelled.
"Nothing can stop the detonation! Nothing and no one!" Davros shouted, laughing like a madman.
A wind kicked up in the Vault. Then the familiar sounds of the TARDIS could be heard approaching. "But that's…" The Doctor said. Dalek Caan laughed giddily.
"Impossible," Davros whispered.
The TARDIS appeared before them all. The Meta-Doctor walked out. "Brilliant!" Jack whispered. The Doctor stared at his copy, jaw hanging open. The Meta-Doctor ran out with a gun shaped device in hand.
"Don't!" The Doctor ordered. Not two seconds later Davros shot him. A blue beam of light struck his chest, knocking him down. The device fell from his hand as he fell to the ground.
"Activate holding cell," Davros said.
"Doctor!" Donna screamed running out of the TARDIS. "I've got it!" She grabbed the device."But I don't knwo what to do!" Davros shot Donna across the room, knocking the device back to the floor.
"Donna!" The Doctor shouted. "Donna! Are you all right, Donna?"
"Destroy the weapon." A Dalek followed Davros's command. "I was wrong about your warriors, Doctor. They are pathetic."
"How come there's two of you?" Rose asked,
"Human biological metacrisis. Never mind that. Now we've got no way of stopping the Reality Bomb."
"Stand witness, Time Lord. Stand witness, humans. Your strategies have failed. Your weapons are useless. And, oh, the end of the universe has come."
Donna sat up next to the TARDIS. Everyone stood waiting for the end. The countdown ended at the last second. "And closing all Z-Neutrino relay loops using an internalised synchronous back-feed reversal loop." She whacked a button. "That button there." She said with a smile.
"System in shutdown!" Said a Dalek.
"Detonation negative! Explain!" shouted the Dalek Supreme. "Explain! Explain!"
"Donna, you can't even change a plug!" The Doctor said.
"Do you wanna bet, Time Boy?"
"You'll suffer for this!" Davros said to Donna.
Donna cocked her head an lifted a lever. His metal hand shocked him up the arm. "Ooh, bio-electric dampening field with a retrogressive arc inversion."
"Exterminate her!" He ordered the Daleks.
All the Daleks in the room headed toward Donna. Before they could reach her, she fiddled with more controls, halting their movements.
"Weapons non-functional!
"Whor! Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix," Donna explained.
"How did you work that out? You're…"
"Time Lord, part Time Lord," the Meta-Doctor finished his sentence.
"Part human! Oh, yes! That was a two-way biological metacrisis. Half Doctor, half Donna," she explained with a wide grin.
"The Doctor Donna," the Doctor remembered. "Just like the Ood said, remember? They saw it coming! The Doctor Donna!"
"Holding cells deactivated. Unseal the Vault. Well, don't just stand there, you skinny boys in suits! Get to work!"
"Stop them! Get her away from the controls." Davros shouted.
"Aaand spin," she said flipping a switch.
"Help me! Help me!" Said the Daleks.
"And the other way."
"What did you do?" The Doctor asked.
"A trip stitch circuit breaker in the psycho-kinetic threshold manipulator!"
"But that's brilliant!" The Meta-Doctor appreciated.
"Why did we never think of that?" The Doctor asked.
"Because you two were just Time Lords, you dumbos! Lacking that little bit of human, that gut instinct, that comes hand in hand with planet Earth. I think of ideas you two wouldn't dream of in a million years! Oh, the universe has been waiting for me! Now, let's send that trip stitch all over the ship! Did I ever tell you? Best temp in Chiswick, 100 words per minute!" She wiggled her fingers for emphasis.
Jack ran past to check on Angela in the TARDIS. And to get their guns.
"Come on then boys, we've got 27 planets to send home. Activate magnetron."
"Stop this at once!" Davros shouted.
Jack ran back out of the TARDIS. "Mickey!" He shouted. throwing him a gun.
"You will desist!"
"Just stay where you are, mister." Mickey threatened Davros, ready to shot Davros in the face.
"Out of the way!" Jack shouted. The other ladies in the room pushed Daleks around.
"Ready? And reverse," Donna said.
"Off you go, Clom," the Doctor said, sending it back.
"Back home, Adipose III!" The Meta-Doctor announced.
"Shallacatop, Pyrovillia and the Lost Moon of Poosh, sorted! Ha!" Donna giggled.
"We need more power," the Doctor said.
"Is anyone gonna tell us what's going on?" Rose asked.
"He poursed all his regeneration energy into his spare hand. I touched the hand, he grew out of that but that fed back into me. But it just stayed dormant in my head till the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros! Part human, part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor. I got his mind."
"So, there's three of you?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Three Doctors?" Rose asked.
"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now," Jack said.
"You are so unique, the time lines were converging on you. A human being with a Time Lord brain!" The Doctor added.
"But you promised me, Dalek Caan! Why did you not foresee this?" Davros accused. Caan cackled.
"Oh, I think he did. Something's been manipulating the time lines for ages. Getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time."
"This would always have happened. I only helped, Doctor," Caan admitted.
"You betrayed the Daleks!"
"I saw the Daleks, what we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed no more!"
"Heads up!" Jack shouted as the Supreme Dalek floated down into the Vault.
"Davros, you have betrayed us!"
"It was Dalek Caan."
"The Vault will be purged! You will all be exterminated!" The Dalek Supreme shot the machine the Meta-Doctor was working at, knocking him down.
"Like I was saying. Feel this!" Captain Jack fired his heavy laser gun at the Dalek Supreme. The large red Dalek was engulfed in flames.
"Oh, we've lost the Magnatron! And there's only one planet left. Ohh. Guess which one? But we can use the TARDIS." The Doctor ran to the TARDIS controls.
"Holding Earth stability, maintaining atmospheric shell," the Meta-Doctor said while messing with switches above Donna's head.
"The prophecy must complete," said Dalek Caan.
"Don't listen to him!" Davros countered.
"I have seen the end of everything Dalek and you must make it happen, Doctor," Caan said.
"He's right. 'Cause with or without a Reality Bomb, this Dalek Empire is big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've got to be stopped," the Meta-Doctor admitted.
"Just wait for the Doctor," Donna warned him.
"I am the Doctor! Maximizing Dalekenium power feeds. Blasting 'em back!" The Meta-Doctor announced, rolling a dial full blast. Explosions began all around them. Dalek after Dalek burst, sparks setting their internal flesh aflame.
The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS when he heard the explosions. "What have you done?" The Doctor yelled at the Meta-Doctor.
"Fulfilling the prophecy," he replied. The Vault shook and began to crumble.
"Do you know what you've done? Now, get in the TARDIS! Everyone! All of you inside! Run! In! In! In! In! In!"
"Angela, you're here! Martha! Sarah Jane! Rose! Jackie! Jack! Mickey!" The Meta-Doctor accounted for everyone in the TARDIS.
"Davros, come with me! I promise I can save you," the Doctor shouted from the TARDIS doors.
"Never forget, Doctor, you did this! I name you forever! You are the Destroyer of Worlds!" Davros shouted before succumbing to the flames.
"One will still die," Dalek Caan warned the Doctor.
The Doctor entered the TARDIS, running to the console surrounded by his comrades. "And off we go!" Everyone held on for the bumpy ride.
"But what about the Earth? It's stuck in the wrong part of space," Sarah Jane asked.
"I'm on it! Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?"
"Loud and clear," Gwen replied. "Is Jack there?"
"Can't get rid of him. Jack, what's her name?"
"Gwen Cooper," he said with a smirk.
"Tell me, Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?" The Doctor asked. Rose leaned in to see the screen.
"Yes, all the way back to the 1800s."
"Ah, thought so. Spatial genetic multiplicity." The Doctor and Rose smiled, giving each other a knowing look. "Now, Torchwood, I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator and send all the power to me."
"Doing it now, sir," Ianto said.
"What's that for?" Rose asked.
"It's a tow rope. Now then. Sarah, what was your son's name?"
"Luke! He's called Luke! And the computer's called Mr. Smith."
"Calling Luke and Mr. Smith. This is the Doctor. Come on, Luke, shake a leg."
"Is Mum there?"
"Oh, she's fine and dandy. Now, Mr. Smith, I want you to harness the rift power and loop it around the TARDIS, you got that?"
"I regret, I will need remote access to TARDIS basecode numerals."
"Oh, blimey, that's gonna take a while." The Doctor stood and scrunched his face.
"No, no, no, let me!" Sarah Jane said, running to the screen. "K9, out you come."
"Affirmative, mistress," the robodog said.
"Oh, good boy! K9, give Mr. Smith the basecode," the Doctor said.
"TARDIS basecode now being transferred. The process is simple."
"Now then, you lot. Sarah, hold that down, Mickey, you hold that. Do you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Rose, that, there. It's designed to have six pilots and I have to do it single-handed! Martha keep that level, but not anymore. Jack, there you go, steady that. Now we can fly this thing… No, Jackie, no, no, not you. Don't touch anything, just stand back. Like it's meant to be flown! We've got the Torchwood rift looped around the TARDIS by Mr. Smith and we're gonna fly planet Earth back home! Right, then! Off we go."
Everyone smiled, doing their part to the flying operations of the TARDIS. Angel sat back and watched, relieved no one else she had loved was killed. Once the Earth was returned to its place, everyone rushed around hugging one another. The Doctor entered new coordinates in and they landed back on the surface. Sarah Jane was the first he dropped off.
"You know, you act like such a lonely man. But look at you. You've got the biggest family on Earth!" She said to him before a final hug. "Gotta go! He's only 14. It's a long story. And thank you!" He waved to her, smiling as she ran off.
The Doctor took Martha and Jack to Cardiff next. Donna took the time to call her family. Mickey said his goodbyes to Jackie and Rose.
"I told you. No teleport!" The Doctor chided Jack, sonicing his vortex manipulator. "And, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."
"Consider it done," she said, smiling at him. Jack gave a salute. Martha followed suit. The Doctor gave a lazy two finger salute back.
Angela and Martha gave one another a quick hug. "Bye for now. See you soon, probably," Angela said.
"I'll ring you so much you'll be sick of me, don't you worry," Martha said with a smile.
Jack wrapped his arms around Angela squeezing her tight and lifting her up in the air. She couldn't help but giggle. "Goodbye, Angela Harkness. I'm certain to see you again, sooner or earlier." He held her shoulder and gave her a wink before turning around.
"You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days. Maybe there's something else you could be doing."
Angela and the Doctor stood and stared at them walking away together. Their mood was bittersweet. Mickey came out, walking past.
"Oi, where are you going?" The Doctor asked.
"Well, I'm not stupid. I can work out what happens next. And, hey, I had a good time in that parallel world but my gran passed away, nice and peaceful. Spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me now, certainly not Rose."
"What will you do?"
"Anything. Brand new life. Just you watch," he said, bumping fists with the Doctor. "See you, boss." He jogged to catch up with Jack and Martha. "Hey, you two!"
"Oh. I thought I'd got rid of you," Jack yelled back.
Angela smiled before heading back into her TARDIS with the Doctor. She sat back down in one of the jump seats. The Doctor hopped over to Jackie.
"Just time for one last trip. Darlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as…" He landed them back on Bad Wolf Bay.
"Oh! Fat lot of good this is! Back of beyond. Bloody Norway! I'm going to have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run. I was pregnant, do you remember?" She asked the Meta-Doctor. "Had a baby boy." They all stepped out of the ΤΑRDIS. Angela stood in the doorway, not setting foot on the sandy beach.
"Ah, brilliant, what did you call him?"
"Doctor."
"Really?"
"No, you plum. He's called Tony."
"Hold on. This is the parallel universe, right?" Rose asked.
"You're back home," the Doctor said.
"And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure. See, I really get that stuff now!"
"No, but I spent all that time trying to find you. I'm not going back now," Rose said, her voice cracking.
"But you've got to. 'Cause we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him. He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own," the Doctor explained.
"You made me," the Meta-Doctor accused.
"Exactly. You were born in battle. Full of blood and anger and revenge." He replied. "Remind you of someone?" He asked Rose. "That's me when we first met." Rose looked at him, her eyes red, welling up with tears. "And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."
"But he's not you," she countered.
"He needs you. That's very me."
"But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you?" Donna said to Rose. "Tell her, go on,"she encouraged the Meta-Doctor. Rose turned back to the Meta-Doctor.
"I look like him, I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except I've only got one heart," the Meta-Doctor explained.
"Which means?"
"I'm part human. Specifically, the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you if you want."
"You'll grow old at the same time as me?"
"Together," he confirmed. She felt for his heartbeat through his chest.
The TARDIS hummed. Everyone looked back, seeing Angela still standing in the doorway.
"We got to go, this reality is sealing itself off forever," he said, turning back to go to the TARDIS. Donna followed.
"But it's still not right, 'cause the Doctor's still you," Rose said, following.
"And I'm him," the Doctor nodded to the Meta-Doctor.
"All right. Both of you, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it."
"I said, Rose Tyler," the Doctor said with a hardened face.
"Yeah, and how was that sentence gonna end?" she asked.
"Does it need saying?" He replied.
"And you, Doctor?" She asked the Meta-Doctor. "What was the end of that sentence?" The Meta-Doctor whispered into her ear. She pulled him by the lapels and kissed him.
The Doctor stared for a moment before turning back and heading to his TARDIS. Angela's heart hurt at the sight of the two in love. It reminded her of Ross and his absence in her future. Donna remembered the lack of love in her own life, but her mind quickly moved onto what adventures they could have next.
"I thought we could try the planet Felspoon. Just 'cause what a good name, Felspoon," Donna announced. The Doctor nodded, staring at the floor. "Apparently it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move, can you imagine?"
"And how do you know that?"
"Because it's in your head. And if it's in your head, it's in mine."
"And how does that feel?"
"Brilliant! Fantastic! Molto bene! Great big universe packed into my brain! You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just tried hotbinding the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary," she paused to gasp. "I'm fine! Nah, never mind Felspoon. You know who I'f like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I bet he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin? Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester? Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction, friction, fixing, mixing, Rickston, Brixton." She doubled over, gasping for air. "Oh, my God." She pressed her temple.
"Do you know what's happening?"
"Yeah," Donna said sadly.
"There's never been a human-Time Lord metacrisis before now." Donna looked at the Doctor. "And you know why?"
"Because there can't be. I want to stay," she said shakily.
"Look at me. Donna, look at me," he said.
She looked at him, tears welling up in her blue eyes. "I was gonna be with you. Forever."
"I know," he said. But he knew this was inevitable. There was always a reason his companions had to leave him. It seemed better for them in the long run. He gave Angela a look, hoping she understood.
"Rest of my life. Travelling in the TARDIS. The Doctor Donna. Oh! Oh, but I can't go back. Don't make me go back. Doctor, please, please don't make me go back," she begged. Angela slowly approached Donna from behind as the Doctor approached head on.
"Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best. Goodbye."
"No, no, no, please. Please! No, no, no!" She continued. Angela embraced Donna from behind, using touch to not only comfort her but also to increase her psychic precision. She needed to get her to relax into a sleep without interfering with the Doctor's work. Not to mention, Donna's sleeping body now needed support.
The Doctor reached his hands up to Donna's temples, blocking away her memories of himself, the TARDIS, aliens, and everyone she met because of him. When he finished he helped Angela get her into a seat before setting off to Chiswick.
The two of them supported Donna from either side, just barely dragging her feet as they approached her front door. They heard an excited shout from the other side after they knocked. But Wilf's excitement died immediately upon seeing Donna unconscious. "Donna?" he asked before feeling for a pulse. Relieved she was alive, he showed them to her room. They laid her on the bed. The Doctor silently said his goodbyes to her before leaving the room.
Sylvia and Wilf sat on the sofa. The Doctor took the seat next to them. Angela stood behind him, in the room, but not really in the conversation.
"She took my mind into her own head. But that's a Time Lord consciousness. All that knowledge, it was killing her," the Doctor informed.
"But she'll get better now?" Wilf asked.
"I had to wipe her mind completely. Every trace of me or the TARDIS, anything we did together, anywhere we went, had to go."
"All those wonderful things she did," Wilf said, sad for her loss.
"I know. But that version of Donna is dead. 'Cause if she remembers, just for a second, she'll burn up. You can never tell her. You can't mention me, or any of it, for the rest of her life."
"But the whole world's talking about it. We travelled across space," Sylvia said.
"It'll just be a story. One of those Donna Noble stories where she missed it all again."
"But she was better with you," Wilf protested.
"Don't say that," Sylvia chided.
"No, she was!" He insisted.
"I just want you to know that there are worlds out there safe in the sky because of her. That there are people living in the light and singing songs of Donna Noble a thousand million light years away. They will never forget her, while she can never remember. And for one moment, one shining moment, she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe."
"She still is. She's my daughter," Sylvia argued.
"Then maybe you should tell her that once in a while," the Doctor replied.
Donna walked through the door. "I was asleep! On my bed, in my clothes like a flipping kid. What did you let me do that for?" She checked her mobile. "Don't mind me. Donna."
The Doctor stood. "John Smith," he said, offering her a handshake. "This is Angela."
"Mr. Smith and Angela were just leaving," Sylvia announced.
"My phone's gone mad! 32 texts! Veena's gone barmy. She's saying 'planets in the sky!' What have I missed now? Nice to meet ya," she said before walking away.
"As I said, I think you should go," Sylvia said.
"Donna, I was just going," the Doctor told her as she yapped on the phone in her kitchen.
"Yeah, see ya," she replied disinterestedly before launching into another excited chat.
The Doctor and Angela stepped out into a torrential downpour. "Ah! You'll have quite a bit of this. Atmospheric disturbance. Still, it'll pass. Everything does." He turned back to shake the man's hand. "Bye then, Wilfred."
"Bye," Angela said with a hug before stepping into the rain next to the Doctor.
"Oh, and, Doctor. What about you now? Who have you got? I mean, all those friends of yours…"
"They've all got someone else. Except for Angela that is. Still, that's fine. I'm fine."
"I'll watch out for you, sir."
"You can't ever tell her."
"No, no," he agreed. Tears flooded his eyes. "But every night, Doctor, when it gets dark and the stars come out, I'll look up. On her behalf, I'll look up at the sky and think of you."
"Thank you." He turned to the TARDIS and held Angela's hand, walking slowly through the torrential rain with Angela. She smiled at him softly, stepping into the TARDIS behind him. The Doctor set the TARDIS coordinates for late 19th century London.
"I'll just go to my room then," she gave him a quick peck on the cheek for encouragement before heading to her favorite place. His eyes watched her walking away. He knew her affection was an attempt to cheer him up, but he was a little surprised it sort of helped, if only a smidgeon.
Angela so longed for her house and her forest. She planned on falling straight to sleep in her bed. But when she opened the door, her forest was gone. All the remained now was a garden and her house. A set on swings, a few trees and a shed now present. She stared, mouth hanging open. Her heart sank. Of course, the TARDIS would make her face reality. She'd been ignoring her situation for months.