FIC: Flipped, Book 2 (10/10)
Title: Flipped, Book 2
Rating: heavy T for most contents, but it earns an M for occasional scenes and subject matter
Author: tkel_paris
Summary: David Noble has the biggest challenge of his life ahead - taking care of the new Tenth Doctor. Of course, it's harder because his male friend who was in love with him is now a gorgeous ginger woman... who's caught his eye. Sequel to Flipped, Book 1. Written for tardis_mole.
Required Disclaimer: The summary should be enough to tell you I own nothing.
Dedications: My good friend tardis_mole, for helping me discover my talent at editing and for being an inspiration. You've challenged me to go beyond what I previously thought I would like, and so this is the farthest I've gone from my comfort zone so far. Who knows where I'll go next?
And another important shout-out: sykira, whose LJ post about John Barrowman's comments about how Doctor Who could eventually go was the ultimate spark for this idea. So I suppose that means the ultimate blame for this lies with the Barrowman. I can only imagine what he would think, although I suspect he would heartily approve. :P
Author's Note: Originally spawned from a different idea that split into three, this is a new version of one of those ideas revived as a birthday present. And it's spawned a slightly AU version as a future present. The original prompt from TM boiled down to this: “The Doctor and Donna in a situation that's never been done before.” Ask and ye shall receive, my friend. Enjoy the sequel. :D Happy Belated Birthday, TM! :DDD I really jope you like this. I finally had to start posting because the uncertainty of whether I did well enough was getting to me.
Oh, and if you haven't read Flipped, please go back and do so. As in right now. :)
Special Disclaimer: I refuse to be held responsible for any $2000/₤2000 lattes, spit-takes, fainting spells, workplace/school gaffes, or falling against/from things that might happen if you're not careful while reading this story. Especially in certain chapters. Read at your own risk. (I put this in because I was warned by one of my betas, cassikat, that my emails should come with a spit-take warning. So I'm looking out for y'all. ;D)
Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven / Chapter Eight / Chapter Nine
CHAPTER TEN: JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD
David pulled in to a spot in an alleyway behind H C Clemmens. “No, we could not go any faster! I've seen you drive, and I'm not going to be arrested! Never have been on this planet, and never want to be!”
The Doctor sighed. “Don't count on that holding up. We have loads of adventures still to come, I know it.”
“Get these out of me and we'll talk,” he muttered as they hurried out. He locked the doors remotely, and they ran.
Slipping inside, and noticing that everyone else had gone home for the day, they deactivated the monitors to create a loop to fool security. They hurried through checking the computers, and found the lower basement listed on the lift controls was not on the official plans.
“No wonder it needs a key,” David observed as the Doctor's sonic enabled the lift to journey down there. “Do you think H C Clemmens is involved?” David asked.
“I think he must be part of it,” the Doctor said. “Given how much he seems to have to do with all aspects, and how much he was in on the sale to Torchwood, there's no way I can be convinced he didn't know.”
Getting across the lengthy divide to where they needed to get to involved the Doctor using the sonic to make two segeways fast enough. David grimaced at first, not thrilled to be riding something that was born as a rich toy that seemed utterly useless to anyone outside of certain law enforcement or security agencies. But after a bit, he tried picturing what they must look like to an outsider, and started to giggle.
The Doctor looked over with a grin, trying to catch his eyes. He just shook his head, trying to motion between them as he burst out laughing. It was contagious.
When they rolled to a stop, in a new corridor, the Doctor managed to ask, “What's that about?”
“We must have looked utterly silly on those,” David choked, trying to suppress his laughter.
The Doctor quickly pulled herself together as she opened a door that just beckoned her to open it. Saying something was off-limits was saying the wrong thing to this Time Lord. She saw a ladder reaching high up. “I'm checking this. Keep a lookout for anyone coming.”
“Why don't I go up?”
“I'm faster. Trust me. I'll be right back.” And she scurried up.
He had long enough to watch her climb. Just as she was not as visible, he realized he was not keeping a lookout but ogling her bum. Flushing, he stepped backwards into the doorway and kept looking back and forth.
He stayed put until he could hear the Doctor hurrying back down. He stepped out to let her jump off. “Thames Flood Barrier,” she declared. “Torchwood snuck in and built this place right underneath.”
David rolled his eyes. “You mean there's another secret base underneath a major London landmark?”
“I know. I know, love,” the Doctor added absently, her mind trying to figure out Torchwood's plans.
David opened his mouth to comment or exclaim, but he held it in. Barely. Did the Doctor even know she said that? Uncertain, he followed and remained silent.
The Doctor's sonic led them to pass through another doorway, and they found a laboratory. Huge tanks filled with water and lines coming to and from them dominated the room. ““Oh, look at this! Stunning! Particle extrusion!”
David looked around. “I've heard of this. What are they using it for?” she demanded.
“Hold on...” She rushed over to one of the bubbling tubes and tapped it. “Brilliant.” She leaned to examine it. “They've been manufacturing Huon particles,” she added as she moved around, checking everything she could. “This lot are rebuilding them using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result: Huon particles in liquid form.” She picked up a small test tube, filled with pale golden liquid.
“And that's what's inside me?”
“Let's test it.” The Doctor twisted the top of the vial slightly.
Suddenly David noticed a slight golden glow coming from his own body. “Oh my god!”
The Doctor stopped, reversing it. “Genius,” she allowed. “But the particles need to catalyze inside a living thing, and there's not enough of them to make you ill, let alone risk killing you. I'm certain it's the TARDIS' field that activated the few inside you, thanks to those few inside you from when you became the Healer. But what did they intend for that secretary? Saturate the body and... well, then they'd need something to get the endorphins and similar chemicals cooking inside her. If they got the right combination, shazam! A slew of active huons!”
“So what is it all for?”
A loud clanking noise rang around them, and the wall turned out to be a huge sliding door.
“All in good time, my curious unexpected key!”
The hissing voice, sounding like she was talking through prosthetic teeth, came from nowhere. But neither that nor the huge hole in the ground was the scariest part. Over a dozen cloaked roboforms stood with guns, aiming at them.
“I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!” the voice continued, gloating.
The Doctor acted like it did not phase her. She approached the hole with her hands in her pockets, slipping the vial inside one. “Someone's been busy. And this sounds like typical Torchwood, drilled by laser. How deep does it go?”
“Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!”
“Really? Seriously, what for?
David drew the Doctor back by tugging on her arm. “I'm betting not dinosaurs.”
“Dinosaurs?!”
He would have rolled his eyes if not for the danger. “Do you know how many stupid science fiction movies and stories have dinosaurs living at the centre of the Earth? So it can't be that.”
She thought a moment. “Probably not.”
“Such a sweet couple,” the voice taunted.
David did not want to let that slide, but it had to be. Instead, he took a page from the Doctor's book and taunted the voice. “Last time I checked, the only people who talk to thin air without caring are mad, and you really don't want to see my friend mad. Where the hell are you?!”
“High in the sky, floating so high on this quiet summer night!”
The Doctor put a hand on David's arm to stop him from interrupting her again. “I didn't come here to speak to an intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!”
“Who are you to speak with such authority?”
“I'm the Doctor!”
“Prepare your best medicines, Doctor-Woman, for you will be sick at heart!”
A transport beam bought a creature that none of David's nightmares could have created. But the Doctor knew what the hissing giant red spider with a human torso was. “Racnoss. You're one of the Racnoss.”
“Empress of the Racnoss,” the female creature corrected.
David shook his head, steadying his nerves. “But where are the other Racnoss?”
“I think she's the only one,” the Doctor said.
“Such a sharp mind.”
David closed his eyes briefly in empathy. “The last of your kind.”
The Doctor shook her head. “Don't be so feeling. The Racnoss are from the Dark Times, billions of year ago. They ate entire planets.”
“Racnoss are born starving! Is that our fault?!”
“Wait a minute!” David needed no clarification, but he had say it, just to be sure he was right. “If they ate entire planets, then Earth is in danger!”
The Empress laughed harshly, making incomprehensible sounds.
“You shouldn't even exist!” the Doctor protested. She explained to David, “Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss and wiped them out.”
“Except for me,” the Empress declared.
Neither the Doctor nor David had a change to challenge her, because they got a new surprise. Someone approached the Empress casually, like they had every right to be there. The Doctor's eyes widened. “I should have known! The head of human resources!”
Lance Bennett chuckled. “He wasn't supposed to get involved. It was all for that secretary, who wouldn't be missed by anyone if she'd become the key.”
“But you need months of catalysis to make the huons work to unlock anything,” the Doctor protested. “And there isn't anything down there but solid hot rock!” She paused briefly. “Is there?”
David scoffed. “You're asking them?!”
The Empress looked at Lance. “Who is this questioning physician?”
“I overheard him call her 'Martian girl' on the security system when they broke in.”
The Doctor shrugged. “Oh, I'm more sort of homeless right now. But what do you think you're going to get out of using a human as some sort of key?”
“I think she wants us to talk,” Lance said, sounding like he pitied the Doctor.
“I think so, too,” the Empress agreed.
“Well, tough! This Noble bloke is already making the particles react. All we need is him to dose further!”
“Kill this chattering Doctor-Woman!”
David practically flew in-between the Doctor and the aliens. “You'll have to get through me first!”
The Empress laughed. “My little soldiers won't hurt you, my wonderful key. They are such excellent shots.”
The Doctor shoved David slightly off her. “I should be the one protecting you. And you've forgot an important point, Empress! The particles inside David reacted with my ship. Had you tried to transport him away using them, the stream would have brought him to my ship. Same would've gone for the secretary had she been dosed enough. So reverse it...” She pulled out the vial and turned it, making David glow. “...and my ship comes to him.”
“At arms! Take aim! And-” The Empress cut herself off when the TARDIS materialized around the two, and then suddenly vanished with a flurry of grinding noises. “My key!”
/=/=/=/
David's day was starting to look very bad.
He had helped the Doctor fly the TARDIS to the past, to see what the Empress was digging up. Along the way, he commented on how devastated the secretary would have been to learn that she was intended as a pawn in some sick game. And he vented speculation on what Lance was getting out of condemning his own planet. Assuming he was even human.
Although he was almost distracted by Doctor's announcement of where they had landed. “You mean out there right now is the creation of my planet?”
She beamed as they arrived. “I've never seen it, but always wanted to. Shall we?”
Opening the doors revealed the awe-inspiring sight of the Sol system just being born. His planet not yet formed, just bits of rock and dust. The Doctor had smiled widely. “Makes up a bit for taking you to see Earth Death?”
“More than a bit.”
They couldn't help but trade a few jokes as they tried to locate that first rock. Until they realized just what it was: a Racnoss ship.
And naturally the Racnoss was able to reverse the Doctor's trick and pull them back. Only the Doctor could use something that looked like a stone-based electric guitar to bump them to the side. Enough that they started looking for something to use to stop the Racnoss.
But neither David nor the Doctor paid enough attention. While both were distracted, a Roboform captured him without the Doctor even noticing.
He hoped that was an oversight that would hurt the Empress. But it was hard to focus when he found that liquid containing the huons forced down his throat. He was no match for the Roboforms.
Only when they stopped did he notice that Lance was also in their clutches and also rather wet. “Oi, so one key isn't enough?!”
“If a key is lost, then another must be cut!” the Empress snapped. “Now that I have two, I have more than enough!”
“Well, what the hell did you need him for in the first place?!”
Lance answered first. “I wanted to see the big picture. Thought the Empress could give me a chance to see the size of it all. Isn't that why you travel with this Doctor-Woman?”
“I would never put my own planet in jeopardy just for a little adventure!”
The Empress clearly had enough of their arguing. “Activate the particles! Purge every last one!”
David could barely see past the sudden glow that emerged from him and Lance. He couldn't hear over it, and only knew when it fled his body and travelled down the hole.
“The Secret Heart unlocks. And they will waken from their Sleep of Ages!”
“Oh my god,” David whimpered. “Tiny omnivorous starving human-sized spiders.”
“The web-star shall come to me!” A moment later, the Empress added, “My babies will be hungry. They shall need sustenance!” She looked at the two humans.
“Use him, not me!” Lance screamed.
The Empress laughed. “Oh, my funny little Lance! But I am afraid you have outlived your usefulness.” She waved her arms, and the roboforms holding Lance shoved him into the hole. David watched in horror as the man screamed the whole way, and the tone changed briefly before cutting out.
He hoped the death was quick. No one deserved to die like that.
“Now, David Noble! Lance's investigation of you said that you are something of an inventor. I need many things to tend to my babies, and you shall provide them!”
“Not a chance! I'd rather die!”
“Oh, but Lance found out about your children.”
He froze. “I don't have any.”
“Yes, you do. Joshua and Ella Williams-Hart, and their unborn sibling inside Nerys Williams. You sired all three of them.”
David paled, unable to hide his horror at being exposed.
The Empress flashed a wicked grin. “The Roboforms shall shortly capture your entire family, and if you hesitate to create exactly what I demand, I shall feed them one by one to my babies - starting with your children!”
Before David could panic, the Roboforms suddenly all deactivated and bent over uselessly. And several more appeared at the same moment, also deactivated. Freed, he stepped back and looked for the cause. There, on the stair platform behind them, was the Doctor holding the remote she'd found earlier. “No one threatens his family,” she said coldly.
Wasting no time, David ran to the stairs and frantically sought a way through the rubble that was blocking his way. He was a runner, not a vaulter.
He had just about pushed enough out of the way while the Doctor tried to make the Empress back off when he heard the Empress scream, “They murdered the Racnoss!”
The Doctor's voice - which was all he could make out given his location - was the coldest he had ever heard. “I warned you. This is your doing.”
“No!” the Empress suddenly shouted. She repeated it while David made it over the barrier and hurried up the stairs. When he joined the Doctor's side, he saw some of the baubles flying around the Empress and heard a loud explosion from the side. Soon he saw and smelled the Thames water flooding the room. The change in the pressure in the tubes also meant water sprayed over them from above.
Silent, he watched in horror as the Empress screamed from the fire explosions keeping her in place and from the pain of hearing her children drown. Genocide. The Doctor was committing genocide to protect Earth. But what about them?!
He leaned to catch the Doctor's eyes and froze. Her face was locked in a sightless stare. The horrors of the Time War were revisiting her, had to be, and she had become the Oncoming Storm.
He clamped a hand across to her opposite arm. “Doctor!”
She finally looked at him.
“Stop! Before you kill us both!”
That made her mouth slacken. She looked back at the screaming Empress for a long moment before she threw aside the remote, grabbed his hand, and led him up the stairs. They raced up a nearby ladder in spite of the Thames water, and made it to the barrier to see an explosion in the sky.
“What was that?!” David shouted.
“The web-star. UNIT destroyed it. The Empress might've been inside, having used all her huon energy.”
They stared at the sky, and then looked down as they heard foghorns blaring like screams. They had drained the Thames. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Went too far, Doctor?”
She looked at him, and laughed. He couldn't help but join her.
/=/=/=/
Dried and cleaned, David put out tea for them both. They were back at his house after they were finally able to recover the TARDIS as the Thames refilled, having respectively taken care of their soaked and smelly clothes. “So we each escaped catching Thames Belly? Lucky break.”
In fact, he had called Nerys and asked for them all to come over. He needed to see them, hug them, and just listen to their voices. Even the Doctor sounded like she wanted it. Best of all, they were blissfully ignorant of the danger that had been coming their way.
“Yep, we did. Bit more excitement than I really want in a day. Even I have my limits.”
David had to laugh, with a bit of hysteria from the shock of hearing his own family threatened. “The Doctor, the alien who sought trouble at times, admitting something was too much. I never thought I'd live to see the day.”
She grimaced, but shrugged to concede the point.
The laughter faded. “Doctor, what's going to happen to that company? Won't the authorities have to come in?”
A knock sounded.
David blinked. “That's too soon for them to be here.”
“I suspect it's one of those authorities.” The Doctor stood and went to the door. David followed and watched her open it.
Jack Harkness was grinning at them, but then he let out a low whistle. “Well, hello Doctor! The last you was hot enough, but this you is a sex siren!”
“Jack!”
The groan came from two sources at once.
“Ah, just like the old days.” He smiled sadly and stepped inside. “I won't insist on hugging either of you, especially since the Doctor seems very aware of what happened to me.”
David blinked and swallowed. “I'm sorry, Jack.”
Jack patted his arm. “I know you didn't mean to and wouldn't have. You just lost control. I don't know if anyone could've done it. At least I know why. Won't say I've always enjoyed it, but it's come in handy sometimes in protecting those around me.”
Exhaling in relief but still concerned, David decided to focus on the earlier concern. “So what happens to H C Clemmens?”
“I've applied to the Crown to take control over Torchwood London given how this turned out. Yvonne Heartman and her predecessor, who's still alive, have a lot to answer for. Put it that way.”
The Doctor and David exchanged uneasy looks. That probably meant at least one execution was on the way.
“Don't worry about them. The company will continue, and we'll see about new owners. Meanwhile, got some tea or something stronger?” Jack's grin turned into a leer accompanied by a teasing wink. “This captain would like to catch up with you and see how you, David, have adjusted to this hot number.”
David choked.
The Doctor blushed.
Jack's smile faded as they managed to tell a few stories, although he brought it back upon meeting the children David had helped create. As he watched the interactions he made a few discoveries. One, the Doctor was practically dancing to keep her feelings under regulation - where the bloke with the Northern accent had actively danced to keep David from becoming aware of those feelings. Two, David was aware of the Doctor's feelings, but was doing a very clear dance of denial regarding his own. Jack had been around the block, and there was no mistaking the look of longing in the Human man's eyes whenever he gazed on the Doctor and the twins playing.
Jack sighed quietly. This couldn't go on forever. Sometime had to give. What would it take?
TO BE CONTINUED IN “Flipped, Book 3”
Rating: heavy T for most contents, but it earns an M for occasional scenes and subject matter
Author: tkel_paris
Summary: David Noble has the biggest challenge of his life ahead - taking care of the new Tenth Doctor. Of course, it's harder because his male friend who was in love with him is now a gorgeous ginger woman... who's caught his eye. Sequel to Flipped, Book 1. Written for tardis_mole.
Required Disclaimer: The summary should be enough to tell you I own nothing.
Dedications: My good friend tardis_mole, for helping me discover my talent at editing and for being an inspiration. You've challenged me to go beyond what I previously thought I would like, and so this is the farthest I've gone from my comfort zone so far. Who knows where I'll go next?
And another important shout-out: sykira, whose LJ post about John Barrowman's comments about how Doctor Who could eventually go was the ultimate spark for this idea. So I suppose that means the ultimate blame for this lies with the Barrowman. I can only imagine what he would think, although I suspect he would heartily approve. :P
Author's Note: Originally spawned from a different idea that split into three, this is a new version of one of those ideas revived as a birthday present. And it's spawned a slightly AU version as a future present. The original prompt from TM boiled down to this: “The Doctor and Donna in a situation that's never been done before.” Ask and ye shall receive, my friend. Enjoy the sequel. :D Happy Belated Birthday, TM! :DDD I really jope you like this. I finally had to start posting because the uncertainty of whether I did well enough was getting to me.
Oh, and if you haven't read Flipped, please go back and do so. As in right now. :)
Special Disclaimer: I refuse to be held responsible for any $2000/₤2000 lattes, spit-takes, fainting spells, workplace/school gaffes, or falling against/from things that might happen if you're not careful while reading this story. Especially in certain chapters. Read at your own risk. (I put this in because I was warned by one of my betas, cassikat, that my emails should come with a spit-take warning. So I'm looking out for y'all. ;D)
Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven / Chapter Eight / Chapter Nine
CHAPTER TEN: JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD
David pulled in to a spot in an alleyway behind H C Clemmens. “No, we could not go any faster! I've seen you drive, and I'm not going to be arrested! Never have been on this planet, and never want to be!”
The Doctor sighed. “Don't count on that holding up. We have loads of adventures still to come, I know it.”
“Get these out of me and we'll talk,” he muttered as they hurried out. He locked the doors remotely, and they ran.
Slipping inside, and noticing that everyone else had gone home for the day, they deactivated the monitors to create a loop to fool security. They hurried through checking the computers, and found the lower basement listed on the lift controls was not on the official plans.
“No wonder it needs a key,” David observed as the Doctor's sonic enabled the lift to journey down there. “Do you think H C Clemmens is involved?” David asked.
“I think he must be part of it,” the Doctor said. “Given how much he seems to have to do with all aspects, and how much he was in on the sale to Torchwood, there's no way I can be convinced he didn't know.”
Getting across the lengthy divide to where they needed to get to involved the Doctor using the sonic to make two segeways fast enough. David grimaced at first, not thrilled to be riding something that was born as a rich toy that seemed utterly useless to anyone outside of certain law enforcement or security agencies. But after a bit, he tried picturing what they must look like to an outsider, and started to giggle.
The Doctor looked over with a grin, trying to catch his eyes. He just shook his head, trying to motion between them as he burst out laughing. It was contagious.
When they rolled to a stop, in a new corridor, the Doctor managed to ask, “What's that about?”
“We must have looked utterly silly on those,” David choked, trying to suppress his laughter.
The Doctor quickly pulled herself together as she opened a door that just beckoned her to open it. Saying something was off-limits was saying the wrong thing to this Time Lord. She saw a ladder reaching high up. “I'm checking this. Keep a lookout for anyone coming.”
“Why don't I go up?”
“I'm faster. Trust me. I'll be right back.” And she scurried up.
He had long enough to watch her climb. Just as she was not as visible, he realized he was not keeping a lookout but ogling her bum. Flushing, he stepped backwards into the doorway and kept looking back and forth.
He stayed put until he could hear the Doctor hurrying back down. He stepped out to let her jump off. “Thames Flood Barrier,” she declared. “Torchwood snuck in and built this place right underneath.”
David rolled his eyes. “You mean there's another secret base underneath a major London landmark?”
“I know. I know, love,” the Doctor added absently, her mind trying to figure out Torchwood's plans.
David opened his mouth to comment or exclaim, but he held it in. Barely. Did the Doctor even know she said that? Uncertain, he followed and remained silent.
The Doctor's sonic led them to pass through another doorway, and they found a laboratory. Huge tanks filled with water and lines coming to and from them dominated the room. ““Oh, look at this! Stunning! Particle extrusion!”
David looked around. “I've heard of this. What are they using it for?” she demanded.
“Hold on...” She rushed over to one of the bubbling tubes and tapped it. “Brilliant.” She leaned to examine it. “They've been manufacturing Huon particles,” she added as she moved around, checking everything she could. “This lot are rebuilding them using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result: Huon particles in liquid form.” She picked up a small test tube, filled with pale golden liquid.
“And that's what's inside me?”
“Let's test it.” The Doctor twisted the top of the vial slightly.
Suddenly David noticed a slight golden glow coming from his own body. “Oh my god!”
The Doctor stopped, reversing it. “Genius,” she allowed. “But the particles need to catalyze inside a living thing, and there's not enough of them to make you ill, let alone risk killing you. I'm certain it's the TARDIS' field that activated the few inside you, thanks to those few inside you from when you became the Healer. But what did they intend for that secretary? Saturate the body and... well, then they'd need something to get the endorphins and similar chemicals cooking inside her. If they got the right combination, shazam! A slew of active huons!”
“So what is it all for?”
A loud clanking noise rang around them, and the wall turned out to be a huge sliding door.
“All in good time, my curious unexpected key!”
The hissing voice, sounding like she was talking through prosthetic teeth, came from nowhere. But neither that nor the huge hole in the ground was the scariest part. Over a dozen cloaked roboforms stood with guns, aiming at them.
“I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!” the voice continued, gloating.
The Doctor acted like it did not phase her. She approached the hole with her hands in her pockets, slipping the vial inside one. “Someone's been busy. And this sounds like typical Torchwood, drilled by laser. How deep does it go?”
“Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!”
“Really? Seriously, what for?
David drew the Doctor back by tugging on her arm. “I'm betting not dinosaurs.”
“Dinosaurs?!”
He would have rolled his eyes if not for the danger. “Do you know how many stupid science fiction movies and stories have dinosaurs living at the centre of the Earth? So it can't be that.”
She thought a moment. “Probably not.”
“Such a sweet couple,” the voice taunted.
David did not want to let that slide, but it had to be. Instead, he took a page from the Doctor's book and taunted the voice. “Last time I checked, the only people who talk to thin air without caring are mad, and you really don't want to see my friend mad. Where the hell are you?!”
“High in the sky, floating so high on this quiet summer night!”
The Doctor put a hand on David's arm to stop him from interrupting her again. “I didn't come here to speak to an intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!”
“Who are you to speak with such authority?”
“I'm the Doctor!”
“Prepare your best medicines, Doctor-Woman, for you will be sick at heart!”
A transport beam bought a creature that none of David's nightmares could have created. But the Doctor knew what the hissing giant red spider with a human torso was. “Racnoss. You're one of the Racnoss.”
“Empress of the Racnoss,” the female creature corrected.
David shook his head, steadying his nerves. “But where are the other Racnoss?”
“I think she's the only one,” the Doctor said.
“Such a sharp mind.”
David closed his eyes briefly in empathy. “The last of your kind.”
The Doctor shook her head. “Don't be so feeling. The Racnoss are from the Dark Times, billions of year ago. They ate entire planets.”
“Racnoss are born starving! Is that our fault?!”
“Wait a minute!” David needed no clarification, but he had say it, just to be sure he was right. “If they ate entire planets, then Earth is in danger!”
The Empress laughed harshly, making incomprehensible sounds.
“You shouldn't even exist!” the Doctor protested. She explained to David, “Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss and wiped them out.”
“Except for me,” the Empress declared.
Neither the Doctor nor David had a change to challenge her, because they got a new surprise. Someone approached the Empress casually, like they had every right to be there. The Doctor's eyes widened. “I should have known! The head of human resources!”
Lance Bennett chuckled. “He wasn't supposed to get involved. It was all for that secretary, who wouldn't be missed by anyone if she'd become the key.”
“But you need months of catalysis to make the huons work to unlock anything,” the Doctor protested. “And there isn't anything down there but solid hot rock!” She paused briefly. “Is there?”
David scoffed. “You're asking them?!”
The Empress looked at Lance. “Who is this questioning physician?”
“I overheard him call her 'Martian girl' on the security system when they broke in.”
The Doctor shrugged. “Oh, I'm more sort of homeless right now. But what do you think you're going to get out of using a human as some sort of key?”
“I think she wants us to talk,” Lance said, sounding like he pitied the Doctor.
“I think so, too,” the Empress agreed.
“Well, tough! This Noble bloke is already making the particles react. All we need is him to dose further!”
“Kill this chattering Doctor-Woman!”
David practically flew in-between the Doctor and the aliens. “You'll have to get through me first!”
The Empress laughed. “My little soldiers won't hurt you, my wonderful key. They are such excellent shots.”
The Doctor shoved David slightly off her. “I should be the one protecting you. And you've forgot an important point, Empress! The particles inside David reacted with my ship. Had you tried to transport him away using them, the stream would have brought him to my ship. Same would've gone for the secretary had she been dosed enough. So reverse it...” She pulled out the vial and turned it, making David glow. “...and my ship comes to him.”
“At arms! Take aim! And-” The Empress cut herself off when the TARDIS materialized around the two, and then suddenly vanished with a flurry of grinding noises. “My key!”
/=/=/=/
David's day was starting to look very bad.
He had helped the Doctor fly the TARDIS to the past, to see what the Empress was digging up. Along the way, he commented on how devastated the secretary would have been to learn that she was intended as a pawn in some sick game. And he vented speculation on what Lance was getting out of condemning his own planet. Assuming he was even human.
Although he was almost distracted by Doctor's announcement of where they had landed. “You mean out there right now is the creation of my planet?”
She beamed as they arrived. “I've never seen it, but always wanted to. Shall we?”
Opening the doors revealed the awe-inspiring sight of the Sol system just being born. His planet not yet formed, just bits of rock and dust. The Doctor had smiled widely. “Makes up a bit for taking you to see Earth Death?”
“More than a bit.”
They couldn't help but trade a few jokes as they tried to locate that first rock. Until they realized just what it was: a Racnoss ship.
And naturally the Racnoss was able to reverse the Doctor's trick and pull them back. Only the Doctor could use something that looked like a stone-based electric guitar to bump them to the side. Enough that they started looking for something to use to stop the Racnoss.
But neither David nor the Doctor paid enough attention. While both were distracted, a Roboform captured him without the Doctor even noticing.
He hoped that was an oversight that would hurt the Empress. But it was hard to focus when he found that liquid containing the huons forced down his throat. He was no match for the Roboforms.
Only when they stopped did he notice that Lance was also in their clutches and also rather wet. “Oi, so one key isn't enough?!”
“If a key is lost, then another must be cut!” the Empress snapped. “Now that I have two, I have more than enough!”
“Well, what the hell did you need him for in the first place?!”
Lance answered first. “I wanted to see the big picture. Thought the Empress could give me a chance to see the size of it all. Isn't that why you travel with this Doctor-Woman?”
“I would never put my own planet in jeopardy just for a little adventure!”
The Empress clearly had enough of their arguing. “Activate the particles! Purge every last one!”
David could barely see past the sudden glow that emerged from him and Lance. He couldn't hear over it, and only knew when it fled his body and travelled down the hole.
“The Secret Heart unlocks. And they will waken from their Sleep of Ages!”
“Oh my god,” David whimpered. “Tiny omnivorous starving human-sized spiders.”
“The web-star shall come to me!” A moment later, the Empress added, “My babies will be hungry. They shall need sustenance!” She looked at the two humans.
“Use him, not me!” Lance screamed.
The Empress laughed. “Oh, my funny little Lance! But I am afraid you have outlived your usefulness.” She waved her arms, and the roboforms holding Lance shoved him into the hole. David watched in horror as the man screamed the whole way, and the tone changed briefly before cutting out.
He hoped the death was quick. No one deserved to die like that.
“Now, David Noble! Lance's investigation of you said that you are something of an inventor. I need many things to tend to my babies, and you shall provide them!”
“Not a chance! I'd rather die!”
“Oh, but Lance found out about your children.”
He froze. “I don't have any.”
“Yes, you do. Joshua and Ella Williams-Hart, and their unborn sibling inside Nerys Williams. You sired all three of them.”
David paled, unable to hide his horror at being exposed.
The Empress flashed a wicked grin. “The Roboforms shall shortly capture your entire family, and if you hesitate to create exactly what I demand, I shall feed them one by one to my babies - starting with your children!”
Before David could panic, the Roboforms suddenly all deactivated and bent over uselessly. And several more appeared at the same moment, also deactivated. Freed, he stepped back and looked for the cause. There, on the stair platform behind them, was the Doctor holding the remote she'd found earlier. “No one threatens his family,” she said coldly.
Wasting no time, David ran to the stairs and frantically sought a way through the rubble that was blocking his way. He was a runner, not a vaulter.
He had just about pushed enough out of the way while the Doctor tried to make the Empress back off when he heard the Empress scream, “They murdered the Racnoss!”
The Doctor's voice - which was all he could make out given his location - was the coldest he had ever heard. “I warned you. This is your doing.”
“No!” the Empress suddenly shouted. She repeated it while David made it over the barrier and hurried up the stairs. When he joined the Doctor's side, he saw some of the baubles flying around the Empress and heard a loud explosion from the side. Soon he saw and smelled the Thames water flooding the room. The change in the pressure in the tubes also meant water sprayed over them from above.
Silent, he watched in horror as the Empress screamed from the fire explosions keeping her in place and from the pain of hearing her children drown. Genocide. The Doctor was committing genocide to protect Earth. But what about them?!
He leaned to catch the Doctor's eyes and froze. Her face was locked in a sightless stare. The horrors of the Time War were revisiting her, had to be, and she had become the Oncoming Storm.
He clamped a hand across to her opposite arm. “Doctor!”
She finally looked at him.
“Stop! Before you kill us both!”
That made her mouth slacken. She looked back at the screaming Empress for a long moment before she threw aside the remote, grabbed his hand, and led him up the stairs. They raced up a nearby ladder in spite of the Thames water, and made it to the barrier to see an explosion in the sky.
“What was that?!” David shouted.
“The web-star. UNIT destroyed it. The Empress might've been inside, having used all her huon energy.”
They stared at the sky, and then looked down as they heard foghorns blaring like screams. They had drained the Thames. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Went too far, Doctor?”
She looked at him, and laughed. He couldn't help but join her.
/=/=/=/
Dried and cleaned, David put out tea for them both. They were back at his house after they were finally able to recover the TARDIS as the Thames refilled, having respectively taken care of their soaked and smelly clothes. “So we each escaped catching Thames Belly? Lucky break.”
In fact, he had called Nerys and asked for them all to come over. He needed to see them, hug them, and just listen to their voices. Even the Doctor sounded like she wanted it. Best of all, they were blissfully ignorant of the danger that had been coming their way.
“Yep, we did. Bit more excitement than I really want in a day. Even I have my limits.”
David had to laugh, with a bit of hysteria from the shock of hearing his own family threatened. “The Doctor, the alien who sought trouble at times, admitting something was too much. I never thought I'd live to see the day.”
She grimaced, but shrugged to concede the point.
The laughter faded. “Doctor, what's going to happen to that company? Won't the authorities have to come in?”
A knock sounded.
David blinked. “That's too soon for them to be here.”
“I suspect it's one of those authorities.” The Doctor stood and went to the door. David followed and watched her open it.
Jack Harkness was grinning at them, but then he let out a low whistle. “Well, hello Doctor! The last you was hot enough, but this you is a sex siren!”
“Jack!”
The groan came from two sources at once.
“Ah, just like the old days.” He smiled sadly and stepped inside. “I won't insist on hugging either of you, especially since the Doctor seems very aware of what happened to me.”
David blinked and swallowed. “I'm sorry, Jack.”
Jack patted his arm. “I know you didn't mean to and wouldn't have. You just lost control. I don't know if anyone could've done it. At least I know why. Won't say I've always enjoyed it, but it's come in handy sometimes in protecting those around me.”
Exhaling in relief but still concerned, David decided to focus on the earlier concern. “So what happens to H C Clemmens?”
“I've applied to the Crown to take control over Torchwood London given how this turned out. Yvonne Heartman and her predecessor, who's still alive, have a lot to answer for. Put it that way.”
The Doctor and David exchanged uneasy looks. That probably meant at least one execution was on the way.
“Don't worry about them. The company will continue, and we'll see about new owners. Meanwhile, got some tea or something stronger?” Jack's grin turned into a leer accompanied by a teasing wink. “This captain would like to catch up with you and see how you, David, have adjusted to this hot number.”
David choked.
The Doctor blushed.
Jack's smile faded as they managed to tell a few stories, although he brought it back upon meeting the children David had helped create. As he watched the interactions he made a few discoveries. One, the Doctor was practically dancing to keep her feelings under regulation - where the bloke with the Northern accent had actively danced to keep David from becoming aware of those feelings. Two, David was aware of the Doctor's feelings, but was doing a very clear dance of denial regarding his own. Jack had been around the block, and there was no mistaking the look of longing in the Human man's eyes whenever he gazed on the Doctor and the twins playing.
Jack sighed quietly. This couldn't go on forever. Sometime had to give. What would it take?
TO BE CONTINUED IN “Flipped, Book 3”