It was fortuitous for the unsuspecting Doctor that just as the mind-controlled Nick was about to deliver the killing blow, Jenny appeared in the doorway, having returned to report that the tunnels were now blocked off. Her two hearts both skipped a beat, as she saw Nick with the spanner, about to cave her mother's head in!
"Mum, look out!" she yelled.
The Doctor looked up at the last moment, and she ducked just as Nick swung the spanner down, narrowly missing her. Jenny did not waste a second, as she allowed the combat training given to her on Messaline to take over. She sprinted across the room and threw herself into Nick, tackling him to the ground. Within seconds, the two of them were rolling about on the floor in a tangle of limbs, as Jenny managed to knock the spanner out of Nick's hand and send it clattering away from him.
Jenny had the upper hand, thanks to her enhanced physique and her fighting experience, but Nick's mindless strength still made him a formidable opponent. They struggled on the floor, his eyes glazed over with Zeron control, while she tried to keep her grip on him. Despite her best efforts, Nick managed to squirm free from Jenny's grasp, and he swiftly retrieved the spanner from the floor.
His mind fixated on carrying out the will of his masters, Nick's eyes locked on Jenny with a terrifying emptiness, and he swung the spanner towards her, intending to dispose of her, before he could then finish dealing with the Doctor. But Jenny, with the speed and agility of a gazelle, rolled aside, dodging the blow, and the spanner instead connected with one of the dangling exposed cables above them, causing sparks to fly like a miniature fireworks display. The electric current surged through Nick's body, coursing through him like a bolt of lightning. He convulsed, his muscles spasming uncontrollably, then with a tremendous crash, Nick hit the ground, the spanner falling from his hand.
As Jenny caught her breath, the Doctor rushed over, her eyes wide with concern as she helped her daughter to her feet.
"Are you alright, Jenny?" she asked, her voice filled with a mixture of relief and pride at her daughter's quick reflexes.
Jenny nodded, panting a little. "Yeah, I'm okay, Mum. But what about you?"
The Doctor gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, thanks to you. You know, there are times that soldier training of yours comes in handy."
"It's lucky I got here when I did and spotted him," said Jenny, as she brushed the floor dirt off her jacket. "But what in the world made Nick try to kill you?"
"The Zerons, presumably," reasoned the Doctor. "That energy bolt that hit him must have put him under their influence. It was stupid of me not to realise it sooner."
There came a groan from the floor, as Nick began to stir, his body still smoking slightly from the electrical discharge. His eyes fluttered open, and he groggily sat up, staring around the room in confusion, his gaze finally settling on the Doctor and Jenny.
"Ohh, what happened?" he croaked, his voice hoarse.
The Doctor moved to his side, and gently checked him over, making sure that the electric shock had not caused any serious injury. "You're alright, Nick. The Zerons were controlling you and tried to use you against us. You're very lucky, because that electric current should have killed you, but it instead somehow revived you and freed your mind from their control."
With Jenny's help, Nick got to his feet, still looking dazed and bewildered. "What... you mean I had been turned into a zombie like everyone-else?" he asked.
The Doctor simply nodded. "It's a long story. I'll explain the details later, but for now, I need to get on with my tinkering. The Zerons will undoubtably have realised their assassination attempt has failed. They'll be on the warpath now!"
Sure enough, in their cloaked spaceship orbiting Earth, the Zerons had noticed the failure of their mind-controlled agent on their monitors. Commander Issak's whole frame quivered with rage. "Why hasn't the human eliminated the alien?" he snarled.
"We lost contact with the controlled subject," came the reply from the Zeron technician. "He must have been either incapacitated or destroyed."
"Then we must try Grola's recommendation," growled Issak. "Activate the already conditioned humans. All resistance must be flushed out before we can proceed with the invasion of Earth."
"There are human military bases near to London, Commander," said Grola. "We can use the conditioned soldiers from there to attack the rebels."
"Then do it, Grola!" snapped Issak. "This operation has been disrupted quite enough. I want this 'Doctor', whoever-she-is, dead! Now!"
Grola nodded and bent over the console, inputting the commands. The Doctor and Jenny had no idea of the sheer anger of the hornet's nest they had just kicked, but they were certainly about to find out soon...
In the bustling command centre of the UK military, the conditioned soldiers stationed there began to stir, their unblinking eyes widening as the Zerons' instructions poured into their minds. A young captain sat at her desk, her eyes suddenly going vacant as she too succumbed to the alien signals being beamed directly into her brain. She stood up and announced to her colleagues, "We have a high-priority target. A alien, hostile to our masters, has been detected in the London Underground, and we are to neutralize her. All units are to converge on the underground stations immediately!"
The equally-brainwashed soldiers under her command quickly donned their gear and rallied, forming a convoy of armoured vehicles that sped towards London. Within the hour, they were racing through the city streets, the controlled population moving aside to let them through. The soldiers moved with a cold precision, their rifles at the ready as they marched towards the underground stations. Their orders were clear: destroy the Doctor and anyone with her.
Back in the London Underground control room, the various cleaning crew members had gathered and were watching anxiously as the Doctor continued assembling her device, while Jenny was keeping an eye on the security monitors for any sign of trouble both in the tunnels and at the station entrances. Suddenly, Jenny's gaze sharpened as she noticed a flurry of military activity on the screens.
"Uh-oh! Mum, we've got company! Looks like a whole load of heavily armed commandos heading our way."
The Doctor's hands stilled, her eyes flicking to the monitors. "That's not good. I still need a few more minutes to get this lash-up finished."
"Well, we've already got the trains blocking the tunnel mouths," remarked George, "but there's nothing to stop them from squeezing around the sides."
"I have an idea," said Jenny. "If we set up bonfires in and around the trains, that should make it more difficult for them to navigate through the tunnels."
"Could work," said Tina. "A bit risky starting fires in these tunnels, but I guess we don't have much in the way of other options."
The Doctor nodded in agreement, a hint of urgency in her eyes. "Alright, Jenny, you and the others start setting up those bonfires, while I keep working on this device. We need to buy ourselves as much time as we can."
So, leaving the Doctor to continue her work, Jenny and the small group of humans sprang into action. They gathered up any flammable materials they could find - old wooden pallets, cleaning rags doused in solvent, and even a few aerosol cans. Then they darted down the tunnels, splitting up into groups so that they can cover all the trains they had placed to cover the tunnel mouths.
Reaching Baker Street station, Jenny and Nick clambered onto the carriage there and hurriedly set up the stuff needed for the bonfire. Using a lighter borrowed from George, Nick proceeded to set the fire going, just as the first soldiers came into view on the platform. The flames shot up, casting a flickering light across the tunnel. The heat and smoke grew intense, billowing through the open windows of the train and filling the air with the acrid scent of burning plastic and wood.
"That should do the trick. Let's get out of here!" said Jenny, as she and Nick quickly vacated the train and darted back down the tunnel.
The soldiers marched towards the ablaze train blocking the mouth of the tunnel, coughing and spluttering as they tried to peer through the thick, black smoke and flickering flames. They had expected some resistance from the rebels, but not this fiery obstruction which was now delaying their mission.
"Get that blaze put out," the captain ordered, her voice cold and devoid of humanity. "The rebels must not escape. They must all die."
The soldiers immediately sprang into action, using their fire extinguishers to try and fight the flames. But, despite their best efforts, the fire had quickly managed to build into a raging inferno. The intense heat and smoke continued to grow, and the burning train carriage in the tunnel mouth made it impossible for them to get past.
"It's no good, sir," reported one of the troops to the captain. "The fire's too intense. We can't get through!"
The captain's eyes narrowed as she surveyed the inferno. "We must get through! It is the order of the Zerons!"
"We could try blowing the train off the track with the bazooka, sir," suggested a sergeant. "That would would clear a path for us."
The captain nodded. "Good idea. Do it, and quickly."
The sergeant barked out orders to the troops, and within seconds, a soldier stepped forward, shouldering a bazooka. As the others took cover, the soldier carefully aimed at the blazing train and fired. With a deafening boom, the rocket streaked through the air, impacting the smouldering carriage with a fiery explosion that shook the very foundations of the tunnels. The large metal body was thrown aside, the front of it crashing on top of the platform, and flaming debris rained down on the tracks. The smoke and dust grew thicker, making it difficult to see, but the path ahead was clear.
"Good shooting, Corporal," congratulated the captain. "Everyone advance! Shoot to kill!"
The Doctor had just tightened the last wire on her contraption, when George, Tina and the other cleaners stumbled back into the control room.
"We did it, Doc!" George exclaimed. "The trains are blazing like a bonfire at a summer festival!"
"And not a moment too soon," said Tina, coughing from some smoke she had inhaled in the process of setting the carriages on fire. "Though I sure hope that this won't cause us to get locked up for arson!"
The Doctor looked up from her work, and gave them an encouraging smile. "Great work, team! I've almost finished my device, which will neutralise the Zerons' mind control all across Britain. And believe me, Tina, if this doesn't work, getting a slap on the wrist for vandalism of public transport will be the least of our worries!"
The Doctor flicked a switch on her makeshift device, which hummed to life with a pulse of blue light."Now, this should do the trick," she murmured to herself, as she began to calibrate the settings.
But as she worked, a nagging thought began to gnaw at the back of her mind. "Wait, where are Jenny and Nick?"
"I reckon they're still on their way back from Baker Street," George said, trying to sound more hopeful than he felt.
The Doctor's eyes narrowed in concern. "They should have been back by now. If the soldiers intercepted them..."
"Don't worry, Doctor," said Tina reassuringly, who could see that the mysterious woman was understandably worried for her daughter's safety. "Maybe they just got held up. They're probably on their way back now. I'm sure they're perfectly fine."
As it was, Jenny and Nick were on their way back, but contrary to what Tina thought, they were in some considerable peril. They had just barely managed to put some distance between themselves and the blazing train, when the explosion from the bazooka charge rocked the tunnels behind them.
"What was that?" asked Nick, regarding the loud boom.
"I guess the soldiers must have found a way to break through," said Jenny glumly. "We can't stop them now. Come on, we've got to warn Mum!"
The pair of them began to sprint down the dark passageway as fast as they could, as the terrific sound of gunfire began to echo behind them. Nick's heart was racing faster than he had ever felt before, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Jenny, likewise, could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her legs moving with a speed and grace that seemed almost supernatural. The soldiers, their eyes cold and empty, pursued them with a relentless, unyielding gait, their booted footsteps echoing through the tunnels like the march of doom, as they aimed their guns at the fleeing pair.
"Keep running, Nick!" cried Jenny, as bullets whizzed past their heads. "These guys mean business!"
But their pursuers were gaining ground, their mindless determination fuelled by the alien influence that had turned them into living weapons. And as they rounded a corner, a stray bullet managed to graze Jenny's leg, sending a bolt of pain up her spine. She stumbled, her legs giving way beneath her. Nick's eyes widened in horror as she fell, the sound of her impact on the cold, hard ground echoing through the tunnel.
"Jenny!" he cried, as he raced over to her side.
Jenny winced, her hand pressed against her leg, a spreading crimson patch staining her trousers. Her eyes were screwed shut in pain, but she managed to crack one open to look up at Nick.
"Keep going," she gritted out to Nick, as she recognised she could not run with her injured leg. "I can't make it. You'll have to leave me behind."
But Nick was having none of it. "No way, girl!" he said, his voice filled with steely resolve. "You and the Doc didn't leave me behind when those aliens zapped me. Now, I'm returning the favor!"
With surprising strength he did not know he had in him, he bent down and, with a grunt, hoisted Jenny over his shoulders. Then, he began to hurry down the tunnel, ignoring the pain in his back and the way her weight seemed to slow him down. Jenny clung to his shoulders, her teeth gritted as she tried to ignore the intense pain from the bullet wound.
A little further down the tunnel, the soldiers spotted them, their eyes locking on the fleeing figures. The captain's gaze narrowed as she saw one of the rebels was injured, and was being carried by her comrade.
"Fire!" she bellowed, her eyes gleaming with the cold, emotionless rage of a remorseless machine. The soldiers obeyed without question, their rifles spitting out a hailstorm of bullets, but the curve of the tunnel enabled Nick to get himself and Jenny out of the way in time. The bullets ricocheted off the walls, a deadly symphony of chaotic metal, as the fugitives continued to race down the twisting labyrinth.
At last, the control room came into view, much to Nick's relief. His arms were aching from the effort of carrying Jenny, but the sight of the Doctor standing in the open doorway brought a burst of new energy to him. The Time Lady's eyes widened as she took in the scene - Nick's sweat-soaked face, Jenny's limp body, and the sound of the relentless pursuers growing closer.
"Nick, what happened?" The Doctor's voice was sharp with concern as she hurried over to assist him.
"Soldiers managed to break through the barricade," panted Nick breathlessly. "One of them managed to hit Jenny's leg."
Together, they carefully, but quickly, carried Jenny into the control room, setting her down on the floor. The Doctor quickly assessed her wound, her eyes flicking over the crimson stain on Jenny's leg, as Tina came over with an emergency medical kit.
"It's a nasty graze, but it doesn't look too bad," the Doctor murmured anxiously, as she gratefully took the box from Tina. She quickly pulled out some dressing and antiseptic, setting to work on Jenny's wound.
"Don't worry about me, Mum," Jenny managed to say through clenched teeth as the Doctor worked on her leg. "I'll be okay. But the soldiers are right behind us. They'll be here any second!"
Without waiting for a response, Tina knelt beside Jenny, her hands steady and confident as she took over from the Doctor. "You just lie still, Jenny," she said, her voice calm despite the chaos around them. "Let me take care of this."
As Tina tended to Jenny, the Doctor hurried over to the main control desk, which had been connected up to her equipment. At the same time, the sound of marching footsteps and whizzing bullets outside indicated that the soldiers were heading right for them.
"Doctor, whatever you're going to do, you better do it now!" yelled George, as he slammed the main door shut, even though he knew it was not much of a defence against a squad of determined and well-armed commandos.
With both her hearts beating fast, the Doctor grabbed hold of the main lever. "Okay everyone, here goes nothing!"
Just as the soldiers outside had reached the control room entrance, the Doctor pulled down the fateful lever. There came a tremendous, ear-piercing screech, as a burst of sonic energy shot out of the makeshift device, filling the room with a sound so intense that it was almost tangible.
The Doctor's invention was highly effective to say the least, as it released a tremendous combination of sound waves and psychic frequencies that resonated with the brains of the brainwashed humans. The wave surged through the underground tunnels, spreading outwards like ripples on a pond, reaching every corner. The effect was instantaneous. The soldiers' expressions changed from that of cold, emotionless rage to one of sudden bewilderment, as if they had just been shaken out of a deep sleep. Their rifles wavered, and their eyes darted about the place, as they tried to understand why they were suddenly in the tunnels of the London Underground.
The effect did not stop there, as the pulse of pure sound continued to ricochet off the walls of the tunnels and spread like wildfire through the London Underground entrances, then across the city, and eventually the whole of the UK. The frequency was specifically tuned to resonate with the Zeron control signal, overwhelming it and breaking the mental shackles that had bound the minds of the populace. All across the country, people blinked and stumbled, their thoughts suddenly clear and their own again.
The cleaners in the control room watched in amazement as the Doctor opened the main door and stepped out to address the bewildered commando captain.
"Wha-what's going on here?" asked the captain in understandable confusion. "How did we get here?"
"It's a very long story, Captain." said the Doctor, as she took out her psychic paper and showed it to the captain. "I'm Doctor Joh-, uh, Jodie Smith from U.N.I.T. I'll try to explain everything properly later, but right now, there are a number of trains on fire in these tunnels. Would you be so good as to have them extinguished?"
The captain looked at the paper, her eyes focusing for a moment, and then she stiffened to attention and saluted the Doctor. "Yes, of course Ma'am. We'll see to it immediately." She turned to her troops and barked out orders, and within seconds, the sound of the soldiers' retreating footsteps echoed through the tunnels, fading into the distance as they set off to tackle the fires.
"Phew! Nice going, Doc!" congratulated Nick, as he and his friends came over to shake the Doctor's hand and pat her on the back.
"Yeah, Doc," George agreed, wiping his brow with his sleeve. "You and your brainy gizmo sure have saved the day!"
The Doctor offered a tired smile, the tension of the last few hours finally beginning to ease from her shoulders. She stepped over to where Jenny lay, her leg now expertly bandaged by Tina. "How are you feeling?" she asked, her voice gentle.
Jenny grimaced as she tested her leg, gritting her teeth against the pain. "Better, thanks to Tina's patchwork," she replied, managing a small smile of her own. "But what about our invading friends, Mum? They won't be happy when they realise what's happened."
"Don't fret, honey," smiled the Doctor. "My equipment managed to identify the exact signal the Zerons were using. If they try to use it again, they're in for a little surprise..."
Commander Issak, who had already been in a very bad mood, was now absolutely livid, as Grola reported that not only had the Doctor and her companions survived the attack, but all of the conditioned humans were now free from their control. His appendages quivered with rage, slapping the side of his command console so hard that sparks flew.
"Imbeciles! Incompetents!" Issak raged at all those present. "You are all complete blunderers! All our plans ruined because of one alien female!"
"We are not defeated yet, Commander," insisted Grola. "I have completed the modifications to the subjugation beam. We can now put everyone on the planet completely under our control!"
"Then do it, Grola!" snapped Issak. "We have wasted too much time and effort. Apply maximum strength!"
Grola's arms flew over the console as he activated the new and improved subjugation beam, a sickly green light enveloping the ship's control room. The Zeron vessel hovered ominously over the Earth, its beam shooting downwards to reach out to every corner of the globe. But as the beam touched the planet's atmosphere, something unexpected happened.
"Aaagh! What's happening?" cried Issak, his insectoid limbs flailing, as a loud shrieking sound filled the control room and blue-green electrical discharges danced all over the place.
"It's the subjugation beam, Commander," said Grola as he read the readings on the screen in sheer disbelief. "It's... It's been reflected back onto our ship!"
"Deactivate it, Grola!" shrieked Issak. "Deactivate the beam before..."
But it was too late. As the electric-like bolts grew in intensity, each one of the Zeron crew were struck, and they all began to stumble and tople off their feet, their eyes glazing over as they succumbed to the very brainwashing they had intended for humanity. Within seconds, they were all laid out on the floor in a catatonic state, and the ship was left drifting helplessly in orbit.
"I still don't get it, Doc," said Nick, in the park later that day. "Why haven't those aliens tried to brainwash us all over again and go ahead with their invasion?"
Sitting on a bench next to Jenny, the Doctor grinned. "It's simple really, Nick. When my lash-up neutralised the mind control over the population, it also managed to detect the exact frequency of the beam used to brainwash them. Once I knew the frequency, I was able to send out a counter-signal, so that when the Zerons tried to take over everyone's minds again, their beam would be redirected to target them instead! I imagine they're drifting helplessly in orbit even as we speak!"
"Hoisted by their own petard!" chuckled Jenny, quoting from a production of Hamlet that her mother took her to a few weeks previously in the 19th Century. Her bandaged leg was already stating to heal, thanks to her Gallifreyan physiology, and the pain from the bullet wound had already dyed down to a dull ache.
"Indeed so," agreed the Doctor, her grin growing wider at her daughter's use of Earth idiom.
"But we can't just leave them floating up there," pointed out Nick. "Suppose they recover and try to attack again."
"Relax Nick, I doubt they'll be coming out of their stupor any time soon," said the Doctor reassuringly. "In any case, I've sent a message to the Shadow Proclamation, a sort of galactic police organisation. They'll be coming to take the Zeron ship away, and see that the crew stand trial for their invasion attempt."
As they sat there, Jenny glanced about the park, amazed at how quickly things had gone back to normal now that the British population had been freed from subjugation. The children played again on the slides and swings, their laughter echoing through the trees, and the street performers were once again filling the air with merry music and joy. Even the birds seemed to chirp louder in celebration.
"It's so strange," mused Jenny. "Everyone is behaving as though nothing ever happened."
"Well, in a way, for them, nothing did," said the Doctor. "Their memories of the past week have been wiped clean, like a slate. They'll remain blissfully unaware of all the chaos that's been going on."
"Yeah, though I bet there'll be some annoyance at the Underground being closed for the next few days while all the damage is being sorted by your U.N.I.T. buddies," remarked Nick, watching as one family strolled by, holding ice cream cones and chattering about the heatwave. "Talking of which, I better get back to George and Tina, and help with the cleaning up."
Getting to his feet, Nick smiled and offered his hand to the Doctor. "Thanks for everything, Doc. And you too, Jenny. If it weren't for you guys, we'd all be stuck as mindless sleepwalkers!"
The Doctor took his hand firmly, her eyes sparkling with affection. "It's me who should be thanking you, Nick, for saving Jenny. Without you, she might not be here right now. You're a true hero."
"You can say that again!" agreed Jenny with a warm smile. "Thanks, Nick. You take care of yourself."
With a cheery wave, Nick turned and disappeared into the bustling London crowd, leaving the Doctor and Jenny to sit in companionable silence for a moment, watching the world come back to life around them.
"Well, Jen, when you're leg has finished healing up, how about I give you that London tour I promised?" suggested the Doctor, as she hugged her daughter.
"That'd be great, Mum," beamed Jenny. "But, you know something? Right now, I'm just happy to sit here and enjoy the peace and quiet. After all the excitement today, I think we've earned it."
The Doctor nodded, her smile matching Jenny's, and they continued to sit in the peaceful park, enjoying the moment of tranquility as they watched the world return to its chaotic harmony, the people around them happily ignorant that yet another attempt to invade their planet had just been defeated.
Coming Soon: Tales Of Gallifrey
Hope you all enjoyed reading 'Incursion of the Zerons', the latest story for my 'Family Reunion' saga. As before, I plan in the future to write more adventures for the 13th Doctor and Jenny, which will be posted here when they are complete and ready for publishing.