Prisms of No Color, Ch 15 by rose_of_pollux [Doctor Who, Encore]
Title: Prisms of No Color, Chapter 15: Bringing Down Someone Who's Found
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Theme: 21; Encore, reusing nocturne
Fandom: Doctor Who
Warnings: PG13
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, and the story is.
Summary/Comments: Salamander has one last trick up his sleeve.
Notes: N/A
Cross-posted to fanfiction.net, tumblr, and whofic.com
It was a tense escape for the TARDIS crew; procuring the hovercrafts was a faster means of travel, but it was also far more conspicuous. Everywhere, Jamie and Zoe’s images were posted on walls and light-posts, but the trio, by cutting through alleys and causing damage to more than once back fence, managed to avoid any pursuers.
They all breathed a sigh of relief as they made it out of the city limits, but it was a long, long way back to the mountains. The Doctor saw to it that Jamie kept drinking the water; the glow in his eyes had reduced somewhat-no longer having anymore visions, but not out of danger yet.
At last, they reached the weather machine; it was still as it was before, at the base of the crystals-with the empty canal leading away from the crystals. The Doctor took a look at the machine.
“Aha, I see what’s happened!” the Doctor said. “The rift in the Vortex that caused Salamander to fall through and end up here was minor. It would have repaired itself, but Salamander used this machine to harness to control the weather for his own ends; it requires a tremendous amount of energy-and it’s drawing the energy from the Vortex, storing it right here, in the crystals!”
“And, therefore, displacing the water into the Vortex,” Zoe finished. “Are you able to fix it, then?”
“I believe so!” the Doctor exclaimed, using his sonic screwdriver to open a panel in the machine. “It’s just a matter of reversing the polarity! …I say, that’s a clever phrase; I must remember that…”
“Is there anything we can do?” Jamie asked.
“Yes, actually, there is!” the Doctor said, fishing two small pieces of metal out of his pocket. “We need a large electric charge to make the polarity reversal work, and these will conduct the lightning strikes to give us that charge. Zoe, I need you to clip this one to the top of the aerial here on the machine. And, Jamie, I need you to attach this piece of metal to one of the crystals.”
“Does it matter where I put it?”
“The ideal place would be at the base of that crystal that the canal leaves from-that’s the tallest one, and the one most likely to be struck by lightning.”
“Aye,” the Scot said, stumbling down into the canal. His strength wasn’t back to normal, but he could accomplish this task, he knew.
“Do you need any help?” the Doctor called, concerned.
“No; I can manage,” Jamie called back. He would be happy when this was over-he would no longer have to worry about his eyes or staying hydrated. And the others wouldn’t have to fuss and worry over him.
Zoe soon had her piece clipped to the antenna, and looked to the Doctor as he let out an exclamation of triumph.
“Oh, that’s done it!” he said. “Once Jamie attaches the other piece of metal to the crystal, all we need to do is wait for lightning to strike!”
“Your plan, Doctor, has but one fatal flaw!” a familiar voice snarled at them.
Jamie’s eyes widened as Salamander emerged from behind the largest crystal; Zoe and the Doctor looked sharply in that direction as Jamie quickly scrambled away, trying to climb back out of the canal.
“Jamie, quickly, take my hand-” the Doctor began, holding out a hand to him, but stopping dead as he and Zoe were suddenly seized from behind. “Oh, of all the…!” He trailed off as he realized that it wasn’t mercenaries who were holding him and Zoe, but ordinary citizens.
The piper soon found himself hauled out of the canal by a few more citizens. Soon, they were surrounded by a crowd, and it soon became clear why they had been able to arrive here without too much trouble; Salamander had been rallying the populace against them, knowing that they would be here eventually-and Salamander was here with plenty of witnesses to see them meddling with the weather machine, thus solidifying them as the enemy.
“You see?” Salamander said. “All three of them, caught in the act of sabotage! And it is all the fault of that one!” He glared accusingly at Jamie. “The little demon found this impostor and tried to use him to deceive you while he controlled the weather with his eyes-and disable my machine so that I could not stop him!”
“No!” Jamie said, looking pleadingly to his captors. “No; we were trying to help! It was Salamander who ruined the weather! I absorbed the Vortex energy by accident! The Doctor was just trying to help me-help the space-time continuum before it collapses!”
“See!?” Salamander barked. “He admits that all of space and time is in peril! And what does my impostor do? Put all of us at risk to try to help this demon-boy!”
The growing crowd was mumbling angrily, growing more and more hostile with every word that Salamander spoke.
“Throw him down to me!” Salamander ordered. “I will end this creature’s reign of terror over us!”
“No!” the Doctor pleaded. “Jamie is innocent-if you just give me five minutes, I can prove it-and make it rain again! We’re rapidly approaching the critical point; if I don’t act now, we’re all lost!”
“Who will you believe!?” Salamander asked the crowd. “That impostor, or myself? I have done everything in my power to stop this drought-only to be thwarted by these three at every turn!”
“That isn’t true!” the Doctor said. “Salamander has caused the drought; I’m trying to reverse it before it’s too late! You have to believe me!”
Salamander glanced at the Doctor with a smug expression on his face.
“So sorry, Doctor. They will not believe your lies.”
“But it’s true! Every single word! If you just give us a chance, we can prove it!” Zoe exclaimed. “We…” She trailed off as the people holding Jamie now threw him back into the canal; the piper landed at Salamander’s feet, right beside the base of the crystal. “No! You can’t do that to him!”
Salamander now planted his foot on Jamie’s neck. The piper let out a strangled gasp as the pressure on his windpipe increased. Already weak and light-headed, he was just barely aware of the Doctor’s horrified cry.
“JAMIE!”
“First things first, Doctor,” Salamander said. “The wristband you stole from me? I demand its return immediately.”
“It won’t even work while-”
Salamander pressed his foot down harder, and the agonized gasp for breath from the piper was enough for the Time Lord to pull the vortex manipulator from his pocket and throw it down to Salamander, who caught it with one hand.
“You have it back,” the Doctor said. “Let Jamie go-let us fix this!”
“I think we should leave that decision to the people, si?” Salamander asked. He turned around, glancing over the faces looking at him. “What do you all say, huh? Do we let them get away with this nefarious plot!?”
The angry crowd responded in the negative, and the Doctor’s face fell.
“And what of the demon-boy who caused this entire thing!?” Salamander asked them. “What do we do with him!?”
Zoe’s blood ran cold in her veins as each and every person around them began calling for Jamie’s death; whether it was because they blindly believed Salamander, or whether they were that desperate to do anything to save their own skins, she didn’t know, but not a single voice of dissent was among them.
“The people of Neo Serenity have spoken!” Salamander said, glaring at the Doctor in triumph. “Does the ‘needle’ have anything to say?”
The Doctor’s eyes flashed as Jamie continued to struggle for breath, his arms and legs flailing helplessly.
“Neo Serenity!” he spat. “The name is an utter joke! Here you all are, brainwashed into condoning the murder of an innocent young man to save your own skins-when it will absolutely do no good for the situation!”
“It couldn’t hurt,” Salamander said, offhandedly.
“Oh, that’s where you are wrong,” the Doctor said. “Because this needle will burst more than one bubble if Jamie dies.”
“Please!” Zoe said, tears springing to her eyes. “Just give us five minutes to prove that Jamie is innocent!”
“No!” Salamander barked. “The people have spoken, therefore I will do as they wish of me-” He was cut off by his own agonized yell.
It was then that the Doctor realized that Jamie’s flailing was not without purpose; he had been trying to get his leg near his hand to allow him to pull his knife out of his sock. He had succeeded, and had stabbed Salamander in the shin.
Salamander removed his foot from the piper’s throat. Jamie gasped for air, and then hurled his knife at the base of the crystal, a smile crossing his face as the metal blade stuck into the crystal.
“Oh, well done, Jamie!” the Doctor exclaimed, as he and Zoe grinned, too.
The smiles were quickly wiped from their faces, however, as Salamander grabbed for Jamie, furious.
“Pequeño diablo!” he snarled.
He struck the piper with a crushing blow to the shoulder; Jamie collapsed, but tried to scramble away, knowing that Salamander would try to crush his windpipe again. The Doctor and Zoe tried to come to his aid, but they were, once again, held back by the crowd-some of whom were now descending into the canal with the intention of holding Jamie down while Salamander finished him off.
They were feet from Jamie when a bolt of lightning struck the tall crystal, setting it aglow. Sparks flew from Jamie’s knife, a smaller bolt striking the bit of metal that Zoe had attached to the machine’s antenna.
The crystals grew even more brightly, and, suddenly, the energy stored within them shot towards the swirling Vortex in the sky.
“Jamie, get away!” the Doctor yelled. “Now!”
The members of the crowd in the canal didn’t stop him; they were quickly fleeing, as well. Salamander stared in horror as things all around him-small objects, at first, but then steadily larger ones-began to be pulled up into the Vortex, as well. He, too, retreated, and was near his machine when he began to be lifted off of his feet.
With a panicked cry, he seized the open panel on the machine, which was still being held in place by one screw.
The Doctor now pulled free of his captors as they started retreating, as well; Zoe was soon free, and they both stared as Salamander held onto the panel for dear life. The Gallifreyan took a few steps towards him, staying far enough behind to avoid getting caught in the suction of the Vortex.
“Doctor!?” Salamander asked. “What are you doing!?”
“Well…” the Doctor said, twirling his sonic screwdriver in his fingers. “I was just remembering something you told me earlier. What was that you said about vendettas?” He looked innocently at Salamander as the look of sheer horror grew on his face. “Oh, yes-they are always personal.”
“NO-!”
The Doctor aimed the sonic at the solitary screw.
“Pop!” he said, simply, as he activated it.
Salamander’s ensuing scream of fright filled the air, fading as he vanished, panel and all, into the Vortex. The crowd barely noticed-for, at that moment, rain began to fall.
“You did it!” Zoe exclaimed, jubilant. “Doctor, you did it!”
“Well, I had quite a bit of help!” he said. “Jamie! Are you alright?”
The piper grinned as he got to his feet.
“Aye!” he said, still a little wobbly. “And Salamander is back where he belongs; hopefully, this time, he’ll stay there…” He trailed off, suddenly glancing back up as he heard a frightening noise-and looked up to see an equally frightening sight.
All of the water that had been absorbed by the Vortex as now being expelled from it as the energy stream returned-and all of the canal water was pouring back down all at once.
And the piper’s own words from earlier now returned to his consciousness-
“There was water e’erywhere-swirling all around! So much of it! I couldnae breathe!”
It was a futile effort, he knew, but, out of desperation, he ran for the side of the canal, trying to climb out. The Doctor, horrified once more, reached a hand out to him; they were just barely touching when the piper was swept away.
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Theme: 21; Encore, reusing nocturne
Fandom: Doctor Who
Warnings: PG13
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, and the story is.
Summary/Comments: Salamander has one last trick up his sleeve.
Notes: N/A
Cross-posted to fanfiction.net, tumblr, and whofic.com
It was a tense escape for the TARDIS crew; procuring the hovercrafts was a faster means of travel, but it was also far more conspicuous. Everywhere, Jamie and Zoe’s images were posted on walls and light-posts, but the trio, by cutting through alleys and causing damage to more than once back fence, managed to avoid any pursuers.
They all breathed a sigh of relief as they made it out of the city limits, but it was a long, long way back to the mountains. The Doctor saw to it that Jamie kept drinking the water; the glow in his eyes had reduced somewhat-no longer having anymore visions, but not out of danger yet.
At last, they reached the weather machine; it was still as it was before, at the base of the crystals-with the empty canal leading away from the crystals. The Doctor took a look at the machine.
“Aha, I see what’s happened!” the Doctor said. “The rift in the Vortex that caused Salamander to fall through and end up here was minor. It would have repaired itself, but Salamander used this machine to harness to control the weather for his own ends; it requires a tremendous amount of energy-and it’s drawing the energy from the Vortex, storing it right here, in the crystals!”
“And, therefore, displacing the water into the Vortex,” Zoe finished. “Are you able to fix it, then?”
“I believe so!” the Doctor exclaimed, using his sonic screwdriver to open a panel in the machine. “It’s just a matter of reversing the polarity! …I say, that’s a clever phrase; I must remember that…”
“Is there anything we can do?” Jamie asked.
“Yes, actually, there is!” the Doctor said, fishing two small pieces of metal out of his pocket. “We need a large electric charge to make the polarity reversal work, and these will conduct the lightning strikes to give us that charge. Zoe, I need you to clip this one to the top of the aerial here on the machine. And, Jamie, I need you to attach this piece of metal to one of the crystals.”
“Does it matter where I put it?”
“The ideal place would be at the base of that crystal that the canal leaves from-that’s the tallest one, and the one most likely to be struck by lightning.”
“Aye,” the Scot said, stumbling down into the canal. His strength wasn’t back to normal, but he could accomplish this task, he knew.
“Do you need any help?” the Doctor called, concerned.
“No; I can manage,” Jamie called back. He would be happy when this was over-he would no longer have to worry about his eyes or staying hydrated. And the others wouldn’t have to fuss and worry over him.
Zoe soon had her piece clipped to the antenna, and looked to the Doctor as he let out an exclamation of triumph.
“Oh, that’s done it!” he said. “Once Jamie attaches the other piece of metal to the crystal, all we need to do is wait for lightning to strike!”
“Your plan, Doctor, has but one fatal flaw!” a familiar voice snarled at them.
Jamie’s eyes widened as Salamander emerged from behind the largest crystal; Zoe and the Doctor looked sharply in that direction as Jamie quickly scrambled away, trying to climb back out of the canal.
“Jamie, quickly, take my hand-” the Doctor began, holding out a hand to him, but stopping dead as he and Zoe were suddenly seized from behind. “Oh, of all the…!” He trailed off as he realized that it wasn’t mercenaries who were holding him and Zoe, but ordinary citizens.
The piper soon found himself hauled out of the canal by a few more citizens. Soon, they were surrounded by a crowd, and it soon became clear why they had been able to arrive here without too much trouble; Salamander had been rallying the populace against them, knowing that they would be here eventually-and Salamander was here with plenty of witnesses to see them meddling with the weather machine, thus solidifying them as the enemy.
“You see?” Salamander said. “All three of them, caught in the act of sabotage! And it is all the fault of that one!” He glared accusingly at Jamie. “The little demon found this impostor and tried to use him to deceive you while he controlled the weather with his eyes-and disable my machine so that I could not stop him!”
“No!” Jamie said, looking pleadingly to his captors. “No; we were trying to help! It was Salamander who ruined the weather! I absorbed the Vortex energy by accident! The Doctor was just trying to help me-help the space-time continuum before it collapses!”
“See!?” Salamander barked. “He admits that all of space and time is in peril! And what does my impostor do? Put all of us at risk to try to help this demon-boy!”
The growing crowd was mumbling angrily, growing more and more hostile with every word that Salamander spoke.
“Throw him down to me!” Salamander ordered. “I will end this creature’s reign of terror over us!”
“No!” the Doctor pleaded. “Jamie is innocent-if you just give me five minutes, I can prove it-and make it rain again! We’re rapidly approaching the critical point; if I don’t act now, we’re all lost!”
“Who will you believe!?” Salamander asked the crowd. “That impostor, or myself? I have done everything in my power to stop this drought-only to be thwarted by these three at every turn!”
“That isn’t true!” the Doctor said. “Salamander has caused the drought; I’m trying to reverse it before it’s too late! You have to believe me!”
Salamander glanced at the Doctor with a smug expression on his face.
“So sorry, Doctor. They will not believe your lies.”
“But it’s true! Every single word! If you just give us a chance, we can prove it!” Zoe exclaimed. “We…” She trailed off as the people holding Jamie now threw him back into the canal; the piper landed at Salamander’s feet, right beside the base of the crystal. “No! You can’t do that to him!”
Salamander now planted his foot on Jamie’s neck. The piper let out a strangled gasp as the pressure on his windpipe increased. Already weak and light-headed, he was just barely aware of the Doctor’s horrified cry.
“JAMIE!”
“First things first, Doctor,” Salamander said. “The wristband you stole from me? I demand its return immediately.”
“It won’t even work while-”
Salamander pressed his foot down harder, and the agonized gasp for breath from the piper was enough for the Time Lord to pull the vortex manipulator from his pocket and throw it down to Salamander, who caught it with one hand.
“You have it back,” the Doctor said. “Let Jamie go-let us fix this!”
“I think we should leave that decision to the people, si?” Salamander asked. He turned around, glancing over the faces looking at him. “What do you all say, huh? Do we let them get away with this nefarious plot!?”
The angry crowd responded in the negative, and the Doctor’s face fell.
“And what of the demon-boy who caused this entire thing!?” Salamander asked them. “What do we do with him!?”
Zoe’s blood ran cold in her veins as each and every person around them began calling for Jamie’s death; whether it was because they blindly believed Salamander, or whether they were that desperate to do anything to save their own skins, she didn’t know, but not a single voice of dissent was among them.
“The people of Neo Serenity have spoken!” Salamander said, glaring at the Doctor in triumph. “Does the ‘needle’ have anything to say?”
The Doctor’s eyes flashed as Jamie continued to struggle for breath, his arms and legs flailing helplessly.
“Neo Serenity!” he spat. “The name is an utter joke! Here you all are, brainwashed into condoning the murder of an innocent young man to save your own skins-when it will absolutely do no good for the situation!”
“It couldn’t hurt,” Salamander said, offhandedly.
“Oh, that’s where you are wrong,” the Doctor said. “Because this needle will burst more than one bubble if Jamie dies.”
“Please!” Zoe said, tears springing to her eyes. “Just give us five minutes to prove that Jamie is innocent!”
“No!” Salamander barked. “The people have spoken, therefore I will do as they wish of me-” He was cut off by his own agonized yell.
It was then that the Doctor realized that Jamie’s flailing was not without purpose; he had been trying to get his leg near his hand to allow him to pull his knife out of his sock. He had succeeded, and had stabbed Salamander in the shin.
Salamander removed his foot from the piper’s throat. Jamie gasped for air, and then hurled his knife at the base of the crystal, a smile crossing his face as the metal blade stuck into the crystal.
“Oh, well done, Jamie!” the Doctor exclaimed, as he and Zoe grinned, too.
The smiles were quickly wiped from their faces, however, as Salamander grabbed for Jamie, furious.
“Pequeño diablo!” he snarled.
He struck the piper with a crushing blow to the shoulder; Jamie collapsed, but tried to scramble away, knowing that Salamander would try to crush his windpipe again. The Doctor and Zoe tried to come to his aid, but they were, once again, held back by the crowd-some of whom were now descending into the canal with the intention of holding Jamie down while Salamander finished him off.
They were feet from Jamie when a bolt of lightning struck the tall crystal, setting it aglow. Sparks flew from Jamie’s knife, a smaller bolt striking the bit of metal that Zoe had attached to the machine’s antenna.
The crystals grew even more brightly, and, suddenly, the energy stored within them shot towards the swirling Vortex in the sky.
“Jamie, get away!” the Doctor yelled. “Now!”
The members of the crowd in the canal didn’t stop him; they were quickly fleeing, as well. Salamander stared in horror as things all around him-small objects, at first, but then steadily larger ones-began to be pulled up into the Vortex, as well. He, too, retreated, and was near his machine when he began to be lifted off of his feet.
With a panicked cry, he seized the open panel on the machine, which was still being held in place by one screw.
The Doctor now pulled free of his captors as they started retreating, as well; Zoe was soon free, and they both stared as Salamander held onto the panel for dear life. The Gallifreyan took a few steps towards him, staying far enough behind to avoid getting caught in the suction of the Vortex.
“Doctor!?” Salamander asked. “What are you doing!?”
“Well…” the Doctor said, twirling his sonic screwdriver in his fingers. “I was just remembering something you told me earlier. What was that you said about vendettas?” He looked innocently at Salamander as the look of sheer horror grew on his face. “Oh, yes-they are always personal.”
“NO-!”
The Doctor aimed the sonic at the solitary screw.
“Pop!” he said, simply, as he activated it.
Salamander’s ensuing scream of fright filled the air, fading as he vanished, panel and all, into the Vortex. The crowd barely noticed-for, at that moment, rain began to fall.
“You did it!” Zoe exclaimed, jubilant. “Doctor, you did it!”
“Well, I had quite a bit of help!” he said. “Jamie! Are you alright?”
The piper grinned as he got to his feet.
“Aye!” he said, still a little wobbly. “And Salamander is back where he belongs; hopefully, this time, he’ll stay there…” He trailed off, suddenly glancing back up as he heard a frightening noise-and looked up to see an equally frightening sight.
All of the water that had been absorbed by the Vortex as now being expelled from it as the energy stream returned-and all of the canal water was pouring back down all at once.
And the piper’s own words from earlier now returned to his consciousness-
“There was water e’erywhere-swirling all around! So much of it! I couldnae breathe!”
It was a futile effort, he knew, but, out of desperation, he ran for the side of the canal, trying to climb out. The Doctor, horrified once more, reached a hand out to him; they were just barely touching when the piper was swept away.