Fic: Fearless (Part Six/?)
Title: Fearless.
Author: primeverse
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Eleven, Amy, Rory, Jack, Adam, Shadow Proclamation, Time Agency, incl
Pairings: Eleven/Amy, Eleven/Rory.
Spoilers: The Series 5 Trailer.
Ratings: T+
Warnings: Eventually Character Death, Dark.
Thanks to my awesome beta misshaunted
When the Doctor, Amy and Jack land on a supposedly inhabitable world, they find something hiding in the dark, fighting a war long since lost. And it's fearless.
Chapter Six.
‘I just don’t see how you can be so nonchalant about it!’
The Doctor rolled his head to the left to look at Rory, his face crinkled with confusion.
‘Nonchalant ‘bout what?’
‘THIS!’ he flung his arms around, indicating the vast space of the TARDIS to him, as if the Doctor was not already aware of the fact his machine was bigger on the inside. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, fixing Rory with a careful, pointed stare.
‘Rory, I’ve had this ship for hundreds of years, and I still find rooms that I never even knew existed. Like the other day I walked straight into the swimming pool!’
Rory smirked. ‘I remember laughing at you.’
The Doctor mock-punched him gently on the shoulder: or at least, he’d thought it had been a gentle punch until he noticed Rory wince, trying to hide it.
He was going to take Rory on a trip, just one trip! And it would be a wedding present, because it was either this, or tokens.
‘So, where d’you want to go?’
Rory thought for a minute, then smiled. ‘Venice.’
The Doctor hesitated for a second, staring at him in disbelief. ‘We have all of time and space, anywhere and any-when ... and you choose Venice?!’
The room they had all been crowded into was small - there was barely enough room for two people, let alone the Doctor, Amy, Rory, Jack and a desk, not to mention the small plant and the person sat in the chair who jumped up at their arrival. Black hair, and a face that lit up when they walked in, Adam would not have been recognisable if they had just passed the older lad in the street.
He cocked his head at the people in the room, obviously recognising Jack, but even more obviously searching for the elusive Doctor.
‘Where’s the Doctor?’ he asked, scanning the small room.
The man in question gave a cough and raised his hand, rolling his mouth.
‘You? But you …you can’t be him ...’ Adam narrowed his eyes sceptically and looked at Jack, who gave Adam a slight nod, as if to indicate that in fact, this was indeed the Doctor.
‘But, you look different.’ He stated, dumbfounded. He just didn’t understand how this man could be the Doctor. The last time he had seen the man in question, he was old, with short brown hair and big ears. This oddly handsome man - who walked with the air and grace of a gangly teenager, and whose every calculated step could well have resulted in him falling spectacularly to the ground ... no, surely, this couldn’t be the same man, could it?
‘It’s called Regeneration, Adam. And I’ve been through two since you last met me.’ The Doctor smiled as he watched Adam’s mind boggle over the revelation, amused by the look on his young face.
Amy walked up behind the Doctor, tugging at his elbow patches, so that he turned in one swift movement to face her.
‘Who is he?’
Adam walked around them at this point. ‘You didn’t tell them who I am?’
‘Well, you weren’t exactly my favourite co-companion.’ The Doctor rolled his eyes as he spoke, and Adam couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
He got defensive. ’So I made a mistake, but just look at me now!’
He spread his arms wide, as if to indicate the small office. The Doctor and the others looked around, frowning, trying to seek out just what he was so proud of. But finding nothing of great significance, the Doctor smirked and turned back to Adam, eyes glinting.
‘Perhaps. But look.’ He clicked his fingers, grinning.
The hole in Adam’s head spiralled open, leaving a tunnel through his skull to his brain. Amy cried out, only to have her scream muffled by Jack’s hand which had quickly saved her from an icy glare, her eyes wide as she looked at the man with the hole in his head. Rory, on the other hand, looked like he was going to be sick, and Adam quickly snapped his fingers.
‘Stop that,’ Adam mumbled, self-consciously rubbing at his - now thankfully closed - forehead.
‘Bet that makes a party piece,’ Jack sniggered, even though he knew that it was there, it always amused him to see the Doctor pull something out of a hat, like that. There were things that, even two incarnations later, still reminded him of the first Doctor he had met, and it comforted him.
Jack reluctantly removed his hand from Amy’s mouth, and her hand reached out- not for Rory’s- Jack noticed, but for the Doctor’s, who seemed to know intuitively that she was going for his hand and so held his own back, reaching for hers.
Rory looked at Jack and the older man stared back, two pairs of blue eyes locking for a moment, and then Jack raised his eyebrows. Rory looked back at Adam, and sighed.
‘Adam was an employee of Henry Van Statton, the bloke who ‘owned the internet.’ He liked to collect alien artefacts. His prize piece was, of course, a Dalek. Adam, here, the little boy-genius who managed to log onto the US Defence System at age eight, helped us out that day and I said he could travel with us as thanks. Unluckily for me, he might have been a genius, but he sure was lacking in the common sense and moral decency department.’
Adam made a protesting noise in the back of his throat.
‘So, what you got, here?’ Jack asked, not really interested in discovering what Adam and the Doctor got up to in the universe before he joined them.
‘Well, see, I’m in charge of this mission, because we built this planet- sort of. We made it compatible with human anatomy, so that we could train on it.’
He leaned forward in the chair, animated now.
‘But then people started going missing, and we never found the bodies, and we didn’t know where they went. Until one unit was out on patrol, one night, when they came across one of the missing men.’
His eyes darkened. ‘Only it wasn’t him, not really. Something was using the body, and when we shone the lights in its eyes, they shined silver; like a cat’s eyes. It was fast, too, and it had an incredible set of teeth, it truly seemed fearless. And it went for one of the men, so we shot it dead.’
‘We later found that it was infected, and as more of them turned up we realised they could pass on the infection through blood. If it bit you, or if you got the blood into your eyes or mouth, you had twenty seconds.’
The Doctor absorbed this. ‘So ... you’re saying it’s an infection?’
‘That’s what it seems like.’
‘Are we safe here?’ Rory blurted out, looking around to see if the danger was apparent.
‘We are quite safe until sundown, that seems to be the peak period of infected activity, but we hardly go further than the fence, just in case.’
For the first time, they actually - properly - looked around the office in the underground bunker. The windows were re-enforced with iron bars, the floor concrete, they had passed many armed guards on the way to Adam’s office, and most of the place was barely lit.
‘I’ve arranged somewhere you can stay -’
‘We’ve got the TARDIS,’ the Doctor interjected.
Adam shook his head in protest. ‘ You’re not going back up to the surface now! Night is falling, already!’
The Doctor fell silent and considered Adam’s determined expression, acutely aware that he didn’t have a hope in hell’s chance of arguing with the young sergeant. A lot had changed, it seemed - and not just him.
‘So, if you don’t mind being shown to your quarters ... Jacob will see to it. Got any problems? Tell him.’
Adam nodded toward Jacob who had appeared in the doorway, mouth set in a slight frown. He obviously didn’t really like Adam, and resented being told what to do, but would never tell the sergeant that; he valued his life too much.
‘This way,’ Jacob murmured, indicating the way they had come.
Their quarters were very basic: two beds, a bathroom and a chair. The walls were a dark green that looked very camouflage-esque, and it looked - despite the dirty colours it was painted - quite clean. The light flickered when Jacob snapped it on, then he nodded to each individual and turned to leave, glancing back at the group one final time before shutting the metal door with a clang.
There was a moment’s silence. Then Jack clapped his hands in a brisk, matter-of-fact way.
‘Well, folks, who’s sleeping with me?’
Amy grabbed Rory, pulling him over to one of the beds and the Doctor just looked at Jack.
‘No chance. I’ll stay awake, thanks,’ he replied, grinning as he dropped into the chair, propping his legs elegantly upon the table and folding his hands behind his head.
Jack looked crest-fallen.
My Master List of Doctor Who Fiction. Master List Here.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five.
Author: primeverse
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Eleven, Amy, Rory, Jack, Adam, Shadow Proclamation, Time Agency, incl
Pairings: Eleven/Amy, Eleven/Rory.
Spoilers: The Series 5 Trailer.
Ratings: T+
Warnings: Eventually Character Death, Dark.
Thanks to my awesome beta misshaunted
When the Doctor, Amy and Jack land on a supposedly inhabitable world, they find something hiding in the dark, fighting a war long since lost. And it's fearless.
Chapter Six.
‘I just don’t see how you can be so nonchalant about it!’
The Doctor rolled his head to the left to look at Rory, his face crinkled with confusion.
‘Nonchalant ‘bout what?’
‘THIS!’ he flung his arms around, indicating the vast space of the TARDIS to him, as if the Doctor was not already aware of the fact his machine was bigger on the inside. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, fixing Rory with a careful, pointed stare.
‘Rory, I’ve had this ship for hundreds of years, and I still find rooms that I never even knew existed. Like the other day I walked straight into the swimming pool!’
Rory smirked. ‘I remember laughing at you.’
The Doctor mock-punched him gently on the shoulder: or at least, he’d thought it had been a gentle punch until he noticed Rory wince, trying to hide it.
He was going to take Rory on a trip, just one trip! And it would be a wedding present, because it was either this, or tokens.
‘So, where d’you want to go?’
Rory thought for a minute, then smiled. ‘Venice.’
The Doctor hesitated for a second, staring at him in disbelief. ‘We have all of time and space, anywhere and any-when ... and you choose Venice?!’
The room they had all been crowded into was small - there was barely enough room for two people, let alone the Doctor, Amy, Rory, Jack and a desk, not to mention the small plant and the person sat in the chair who jumped up at their arrival. Black hair, and a face that lit up when they walked in, Adam would not have been recognisable if they had just passed the older lad in the street.
He cocked his head at the people in the room, obviously recognising Jack, but even more obviously searching for the elusive Doctor.
‘Where’s the Doctor?’ he asked, scanning the small room.
The man in question gave a cough and raised his hand, rolling his mouth.
‘You? But you …you can’t be him ...’ Adam narrowed his eyes sceptically and looked at Jack, who gave Adam a slight nod, as if to indicate that in fact, this was indeed the Doctor.
‘But, you look different.’ He stated, dumbfounded. He just didn’t understand how this man could be the Doctor. The last time he had seen the man in question, he was old, with short brown hair and big ears. This oddly handsome man - who walked with the air and grace of a gangly teenager, and whose every calculated step could well have resulted in him falling spectacularly to the ground ... no, surely, this couldn’t be the same man, could it?
‘It’s called Regeneration, Adam. And I’ve been through two since you last met me.’ The Doctor smiled as he watched Adam’s mind boggle over the revelation, amused by the look on his young face.
Amy walked up behind the Doctor, tugging at his elbow patches, so that he turned in one swift movement to face her.
‘Who is he?’
Adam walked around them at this point. ‘You didn’t tell them who I am?’
‘Well, you weren’t exactly my favourite co-companion.’ The Doctor rolled his eyes as he spoke, and Adam couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
He got defensive. ’So I made a mistake, but just look at me now!’
He spread his arms wide, as if to indicate the small office. The Doctor and the others looked around, frowning, trying to seek out just what he was so proud of. But finding nothing of great significance, the Doctor smirked and turned back to Adam, eyes glinting.
‘Perhaps. But look.’ He clicked his fingers, grinning.
The hole in Adam’s head spiralled open, leaving a tunnel through his skull to his brain. Amy cried out, only to have her scream muffled by Jack’s hand which had quickly saved her from an icy glare, her eyes wide as she looked at the man with the hole in his head. Rory, on the other hand, looked like he was going to be sick, and Adam quickly snapped his fingers.
‘Stop that,’ Adam mumbled, self-consciously rubbing at his - now thankfully closed - forehead.
‘Bet that makes a party piece,’ Jack sniggered, even though he knew that it was there, it always amused him to see the Doctor pull something out of a hat, like that. There were things that, even two incarnations later, still reminded him of the first Doctor he had met, and it comforted him.
Jack reluctantly removed his hand from Amy’s mouth, and her hand reached out- not for Rory’s- Jack noticed, but for the Doctor’s, who seemed to know intuitively that she was going for his hand and so held his own back, reaching for hers.
Rory looked at Jack and the older man stared back, two pairs of blue eyes locking for a moment, and then Jack raised his eyebrows. Rory looked back at Adam, and sighed.
‘Adam was an employee of Henry Van Statton, the bloke who ‘owned the internet.’ He liked to collect alien artefacts. His prize piece was, of course, a Dalek. Adam, here, the little boy-genius who managed to log onto the US Defence System at age eight, helped us out that day and I said he could travel with us as thanks. Unluckily for me, he might have been a genius, but he sure was lacking in the common sense and moral decency department.’
Adam made a protesting noise in the back of his throat.
‘So, what you got, here?’ Jack asked, not really interested in discovering what Adam and the Doctor got up to in the universe before he joined them.
‘Well, see, I’m in charge of this mission, because we built this planet- sort of. We made it compatible with human anatomy, so that we could train on it.’
He leaned forward in the chair, animated now.
‘But then people started going missing, and we never found the bodies, and we didn’t know where they went. Until one unit was out on patrol, one night, when they came across one of the missing men.’
His eyes darkened. ‘Only it wasn’t him, not really. Something was using the body, and when we shone the lights in its eyes, they shined silver; like a cat’s eyes. It was fast, too, and it had an incredible set of teeth, it truly seemed fearless. And it went for one of the men, so we shot it dead.’
‘We later found that it was infected, and as more of them turned up we realised they could pass on the infection through blood. If it bit you, or if you got the blood into your eyes or mouth, you had twenty seconds.’
The Doctor absorbed this. ‘So ... you’re saying it’s an infection?’
‘That’s what it seems like.’
‘Are we safe here?’ Rory blurted out, looking around to see if the danger was apparent.
‘We are quite safe until sundown, that seems to be the peak period of infected activity, but we hardly go further than the fence, just in case.’
For the first time, they actually - properly - looked around the office in the underground bunker. The windows were re-enforced with iron bars, the floor concrete, they had passed many armed guards on the way to Adam’s office, and most of the place was barely lit.
‘I’ve arranged somewhere you can stay -’
‘We’ve got the TARDIS,’ the Doctor interjected.
Adam shook his head in protest. ‘ You’re not going back up to the surface now! Night is falling, already!’
The Doctor fell silent and considered Adam’s determined expression, acutely aware that he didn’t have a hope in hell’s chance of arguing with the young sergeant. A lot had changed, it seemed - and not just him.
‘So, if you don’t mind being shown to your quarters ... Jacob will see to it. Got any problems? Tell him.’
Adam nodded toward Jacob who had appeared in the doorway, mouth set in a slight frown. He obviously didn’t really like Adam, and resented being told what to do, but would never tell the sergeant that; he valued his life too much.
‘This way,’ Jacob murmured, indicating the way they had come.
Their quarters were very basic: two beds, a bathroom and a chair. The walls were a dark green that looked very camouflage-esque, and it looked - despite the dirty colours it was painted - quite clean. The light flickered when Jacob snapped it on, then he nodded to each individual and turned to leave, glancing back at the group one final time before shutting the metal door with a clang.
There was a moment’s silence. Then Jack clapped his hands in a brisk, matter-of-fact way.
‘Well, folks, who’s sleeping with me?’
Amy grabbed Rory, pulling him over to one of the beds and the Doctor just looked at Jack.
‘No chance. I’ll stay awake, thanks,’ he replied, grinning as he dropped into the chair, propping his legs elegantly upon the table and folding his hands behind his head.
Jack looked crest-fallen.
My Master List of Doctor Who Fiction. Master List Here.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five.