DOCTOR WHO/SCC FIC: Lifelines [Martha Jones, Derek Reese | 2/8 | PG]
Title: Lifelines
Author: jinxed_wood
Rating: PG, for language and Armageddon
Characters:Martha Jones, Derek Reese
Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the Beeb, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles belongs to Fox (I think) all I have is my Microsoft Word…
Summary: Martha needs to spread the message... but in order to do that she needs to stay alive - something Derek Reese is very good at.(Set during the year-that-wasn't)
Previous parts: PART ONE
~~~LIFELINES: PART TWO~~~
Martha stood against the wall, her arms wrapped around herself, as she watched Reese huddle with Liz across the room. The atmosphere in the shelter was tense, almost explosive, and Martha couldn’t blame them.
The tunnels outside were even more unsafe than they’d been before. They were literally swarming with Toclafane and the refuge camp was running low on supplies. Food foraging - what Reese had been up to when she’d stumbled across him - had become almost impossible. They’d already lost three men in the two days she’d been here, and people were becoming hungry.
It was all her fault; she had brought the Toclafane down on them. Before, they’d been just another group of refugees hiding underground; now they were the ones who were giving Martha Jones haven. She wondered if this is how the Doctor felt when he brought danger to those around him. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
Reese looked up and caught her eye, as if he knew what she was thinking, and Martha looked away. She didn’t know what to make of Derek Reese; but he’d saved her life, that she now knew. The Toclafane had only pretended to leave, trying to lure her out from under the bridge. It had been a trap.
Martha had quickly discovered why the Toclafane now only travelled in packs in the sewer system. Derek Reese, that’s why. He had found out that the Toclafane needed to retract their armaments in order to fit through the manholes. It was a weakness that lasted only a few moments, but Reese had spotted it, and exploited it... using a blowtorch and some sort of powder, apparently.
Martha squirreled that thought away as her eyes flitted to the huddled duo, and she resolved to ask him what was in the powder; it might come in handy in the future.
She watched as they argued, biting her lip as she noted the worried expression on Liz's face, and the reassuring hand Reese put on her shoulder. There were many things that didn't add up about this place She wondered how they’d been so quick to figure out a way to combat the Toclafane…and how to set up a viable shelter, as well as organise civilians into a recognisable and efficient resistance force.
It was if they’d done this before.
Which was impossible, wasn’t it?
“Jones!” Martha straightened up, pushing away from the wall, and went to join them. He still didn’t call her Martha, but a least he wasn’t calling her kid anymore.
“Martha,” Liz said in greeting, giving her a reserved nod. Martha had been helping them with their wounded, something that Liz was grateful for. There were no medical professionals amongst the refugees, not even a medic. The nearest they got to it was Reese, and his idea of medicine was rough and ready - clean and stitch, hand them some painkillers and hope for the best. Come to think of it, with the few supplies they had, she couldn’t do much better.
“We’re leaving,” Reese told her. “Get your stuff.”
“What?” Martha said, surprised. “Where are we going - and who's we?”
“You and me, that's it, we don’t want to attract attention like your UNIT friends did,” he said. Derek Reese was a bit of an ass, Martha decided, as he stalked off. She turned to Liz, who shrugged a shoulder.
“I’m sorry about this,” she said softly. “But we can’t shelter you here any longer. We’ve been lucky, so far, but this place isn't safe with you in it, and soon they’re going to start bringing down those human hunting teams they’ve begun to train... we’ve got kids here, Martha, and there are so few of them left…”
Liz’s voice drifted off, and Martha nodded, understanding. “It’s okay, Liz,” she said reassuringly. “I couldn’t have stayed here anyway, even if I'd wanted to.”
“Yes, Reese told me,” Liz looked at her, her eyes searching. “Do you really think…?”
Martha heard the hope in her voice. “Yeah, I do,” she said. “In fact-” Martha looked up and around the room, at the huddled people and the children playing silently with marbles against the far wall. She had a mission to fulfil; she might as well start here.
Martha gave Liz’s shoulder a squeeze. “Gather everyone around,” she said. “I’ve got a story to tell.” A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she saw Reese lean against the wall behind her, an inscrutable look in his eyes.
“Make it quick,” was all he said.
~~~*~~*~~*~~~~
She had expected them to go up, and she’d hoped to see the sky for a moment or two, but they’d gone downward instead. Martha wrinkled her nose, and wished she had some nose plugs, as she held onto the rings that had been hammered into the wall of the tunnel.
“I don’t understand, if you had another exit all this time, why didn't you use it before now?” she called out softly into the darkness.
“Too dangerous,” Reese’s voice answered, from the pitch black below her."We're not that desperate yet."
“Too dangerous?” Martha echoed, but didn’t complain. She didn’t feel she was in a position to.
At last, she felt the firm ground below her feet, and Reese turned on his torch for a moment. His hand still covered it lightly, letting its glow bleed softly through his fingers. He didn’t want to make them completely night blind when he turned it off again.
“See this?” he asked, his boot tapping against a small metal plate in the wall. “On the other side of this is a subway platform. If a Toclafane catches us here, they’ll have all the space they need to out manoeuvre us. So we’re going in dark and silent, and you’re going to hold onto my shoulder, right?”
Martha nodded silently.
“Good," he muttered. “Do you know Morse?”
“You mean, other than SOS?” Martha shook her head. “No, sorry.”
Reese sighed. “Right, another thing we’ll put on the list,” he muttered. “Listen, the Toclafane are using the express line to move supplies through the city; weapons, machinery, workers, that sort of thing. We’re gonna hitch a ride but, in order to do that, we’re going to have to drop on top of the train and-”
“What?” Martha squeaked.
“Relax,” he drawled. “It’ll be pulling out when we do it, it won’t be going full tilt.”
“Oh, right,” Martha snorted. “I feel so much better, thanks for that.”
“U-huh,” he said, as he held out a hand gun. “Here, take this, no use against a Toclafane, but it works a treat on the regular human bad guys-”
“Oh no,” Martha shook her head. “The only reason I agreed to this plan was because I figured I wouldn’t have to shoot my way out. No guns, you know that.”
He gave her a long look. “I am going to teach you how to use a gun, whether you like it or not,” he said flatly.
“I’m not going to use it,” Martha said, her voice equally flat. “I may clean one, but I’ll never use it.”
“Maybe not,” Reese allowed. “But you’re going to at least learn how to point one and look as if you know what you’re doing. A show of force will usually get you out of a situation, even if you’re not actually willing to follow through.”
Martha folded her arms. “Not today it won’t,” she said. “So I’m not carrying it.”
Reese gave her one of his long suffering sighs. He liked to do that; a lot. “When I tap your hand, it means there is a drop,” he said shortly, bending down to look at the panel.
Martha watched as he took out a screwdriver and opened it. The Doctor’s face flashed into her mind, and she felt a brief pang. Best not to think about it, she thought to herself.
Reese flicked the torch off and Martha heard him remove the panel. A gentle breeze wafted over her; the panel must open straight onto the tracks. She bent down and felt a hand grab her. One tap… oh, right, that meant a drop.
She felt around with her hands, and pulled herself through the small opening. The drop was immediate, and Martha heard the gravel crunch under her feet as she landed.
Reese reached out again, this time guiding her hand to his shoulder. Martha held on, her eyes vainly trying to adapt to the absence of light. Couldn’t the Toclafane have left the lights on? Of course, if they had, she and Reese would be dead by now. Reese stopped in his tracks abruptly, and Martha almost crashed into his back. She bit down on the sharp retort that had sprung to her lips and waited.
She hear the quiet whir, the one that said a Toclafane was nearby.
He moved, his feet barely making a sound, and Martha tried to copy him as she followed. She wasn’t as quiet as him, but at least she hadn’t done anything embarrassing, like trip over her own feet.
Reese caught her hand and Martha tensed as he moved it, placing it against the coldness of a concrete wall. His breath fell hotly on her ear. “Don’t move,” he said, his voice barely audible. “I’ll be back.” And then he was gone, and Martha stood in the darkness, trying desperately to pick out the sound of the Toclafane, or Reese, or... anything.
Doubt flickered inside her. Was she being stupid, waiting here? Was he really coming back for her, or had he just dumped her here, so that the Toclafane could find her? She really couldn’t blame him; it was quite understandable, really. After all, she wasn’t his responsibility and the kids back in the shelter were-
A hand fell on her shoulder, and Martha nearly jumped out of her skin, her heart thumping wildly. Her brain kicked in and told her it was Reese, and she tried to push down her fear as they started to move once more. Martha wondered what he’d done while she had just stood there, waiting.
A distant rattle echoed through the ground under her feet, and made Martha pause, but Reese dragged her on. A tap on her hand, and she found herself descending a short flight of steps. He led her through a door and then-
Torchlight filled the room, and Martha jumped. “You could give me some warning about things like that,” she muttered.
“As I said, Morse code, next on the list,” he said briefly, as he hurried to a far wall, and pulled a set of shelves away from it. A grid panel, leading into an air vent, lay hidden there.
“You don’t miss a trick, do you?” Martha observed. “Where did you learn all this stuff, anyway, at underground commando school?”
His lips twitched, which Martha recognised as his version of a smile. “Junior high,” he said. “Same difference.”
Martha raised an eyebrow, had that been a joke?
The screwdriver had come out once more, and Martha watched as he made quick work of the grid panel. “Up you go,” he said, hooking his hands together.
Martha obliged him, and let him boost her into the vent. “Hand me the light,” she said, reaching back. The torch slapped into her palm and she shone it down the vent. “Looks clear.”
“Good, now shuffle forward, so I can follow you in,” he said.
They crawled though the vent, and Martha tried not to grin too much as she heard a few muffled curses from behind her. No wonder he'd let her go first, he probably didn’t want to risk blocking the vent. “You all right back there?” she teased.
“I can hear you sniggering, you know,” he answered back, his grumpiness almost making him sound human.
“Sorry,” Martha said, not even feeling remotely so.
“We’re nearing our destination,” he said, a few moments later. “Better go silent…one tap for right, two for left - and turn off the flashlight.”
Sighing, Martha plunged them into darkness. They moved onward, and Martha’s hands felt the vent branch. A tap on her ankle told her to go right and a draft hit her in the face as she turned; she heard the bustle of movement. The vent widened and Martha saw a grid in the floor, lending the space a dim light. She looked down, and saw the subway train below her.
Reese pulled up beside her, and Martha looked at him, raising an eyebrow as she pointed downwards. He nodded. Yes.
I don’t believe I’m about to do this, Martha thought, as she watched the workmen fill the subway train below them under the watchful eye of the Toclafane sentries. A whistle blew, and Reese hastily opened the grid as the workers moved away from the train.
“You first!” Reese said, over the din, as the train began to pull out.
“Who, me?”
He pushed her out bodily, and Martha almost screamed as the train roof seemed to rush towards her. She hit it with a bang, and rolled, nearly falling over the edge as a thump heralded Reese’s arrival, She was so going to make him pay for this.
His hand fell onto her shoulder, and Martha felt him pull her back from the edge. She clung to him as the train gathered speed, wondering if she’d ever do anything this crazy again. She had a funny feeling she would.
“It gets easier,” he yelled into her ear, as the train screamed below them.
She hoped he was wrong
~~~PART THREE~~~
Author: jinxed_wood
Rating: PG, for language and Armageddon
Characters:Martha Jones, Derek Reese
Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the Beeb, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles belongs to Fox (I think) all I have is my Microsoft Word…
Summary: Martha needs to spread the message... but in order to do that she needs to stay alive - something Derek Reese is very good at.(Set during the year-that-wasn't)
Previous parts: PART ONE
~~~LIFELINES: PART TWO~~~
Martha stood against the wall, her arms wrapped around herself, as she watched Reese huddle with Liz across the room. The atmosphere in the shelter was tense, almost explosive, and Martha couldn’t blame them.
The tunnels outside were even more unsafe than they’d been before. They were literally swarming with Toclafane and the refuge camp was running low on supplies. Food foraging - what Reese had been up to when she’d stumbled across him - had become almost impossible. They’d already lost three men in the two days she’d been here, and people were becoming hungry.
It was all her fault; she had brought the Toclafane down on them. Before, they’d been just another group of refugees hiding underground; now they were the ones who were giving Martha Jones haven. She wondered if this is how the Doctor felt when he brought danger to those around him. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
Reese looked up and caught her eye, as if he knew what she was thinking, and Martha looked away. She didn’t know what to make of Derek Reese; but he’d saved her life, that she now knew. The Toclafane had only pretended to leave, trying to lure her out from under the bridge. It had been a trap.
Martha had quickly discovered why the Toclafane now only travelled in packs in the sewer system. Derek Reese, that’s why. He had found out that the Toclafane needed to retract their armaments in order to fit through the manholes. It was a weakness that lasted only a few moments, but Reese had spotted it, and exploited it... using a blowtorch and some sort of powder, apparently.
Martha squirreled that thought away as her eyes flitted to the huddled duo, and she resolved to ask him what was in the powder; it might come in handy in the future.
She watched as they argued, biting her lip as she noted the worried expression on Liz's face, and the reassuring hand Reese put on her shoulder. There were many things that didn't add up about this place She wondered how they’d been so quick to figure out a way to combat the Toclafane…and how to set up a viable shelter, as well as organise civilians into a recognisable and efficient resistance force.
It was if they’d done this before.
Which was impossible, wasn’t it?
“Jones!” Martha straightened up, pushing away from the wall, and went to join them. He still didn’t call her Martha, but a least he wasn’t calling her kid anymore.
“Martha,” Liz said in greeting, giving her a reserved nod. Martha had been helping them with their wounded, something that Liz was grateful for. There were no medical professionals amongst the refugees, not even a medic. The nearest they got to it was Reese, and his idea of medicine was rough and ready - clean and stitch, hand them some painkillers and hope for the best. Come to think of it, with the few supplies they had, she couldn’t do much better.
“We’re leaving,” Reese told her. “Get your stuff.”
“What?” Martha said, surprised. “Where are we going - and who's we?”
“You and me, that's it, we don’t want to attract attention like your UNIT friends did,” he said. Derek Reese was a bit of an ass, Martha decided, as he stalked off. She turned to Liz, who shrugged a shoulder.
“I’m sorry about this,” she said softly. “But we can’t shelter you here any longer. We’ve been lucky, so far, but this place isn't safe with you in it, and soon they’re going to start bringing down those human hunting teams they’ve begun to train... we’ve got kids here, Martha, and there are so few of them left…”
Liz’s voice drifted off, and Martha nodded, understanding. “It’s okay, Liz,” she said reassuringly. “I couldn’t have stayed here anyway, even if I'd wanted to.”
“Yes, Reese told me,” Liz looked at her, her eyes searching. “Do you really think…?”
Martha heard the hope in her voice. “Yeah, I do,” she said. “In fact-” Martha looked up and around the room, at the huddled people and the children playing silently with marbles against the far wall. She had a mission to fulfil; she might as well start here.
Martha gave Liz’s shoulder a squeeze. “Gather everyone around,” she said. “I’ve got a story to tell.” A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she saw Reese lean against the wall behind her, an inscrutable look in his eyes.
“Make it quick,” was all he said.
~~~*~~*~~*~~~~
She had expected them to go up, and she’d hoped to see the sky for a moment or two, but they’d gone downward instead. Martha wrinkled her nose, and wished she had some nose plugs, as she held onto the rings that had been hammered into the wall of the tunnel.
“I don’t understand, if you had another exit all this time, why didn't you use it before now?” she called out softly into the darkness.
“Too dangerous,” Reese’s voice answered, from the pitch black below her."We're not that desperate yet."
“Too dangerous?” Martha echoed, but didn’t complain. She didn’t feel she was in a position to.
At last, she felt the firm ground below her feet, and Reese turned on his torch for a moment. His hand still covered it lightly, letting its glow bleed softly through his fingers. He didn’t want to make them completely night blind when he turned it off again.
“See this?” he asked, his boot tapping against a small metal plate in the wall. “On the other side of this is a subway platform. If a Toclafane catches us here, they’ll have all the space they need to out manoeuvre us. So we’re going in dark and silent, and you’re going to hold onto my shoulder, right?”
Martha nodded silently.
“Good," he muttered. “Do you know Morse?”
“You mean, other than SOS?” Martha shook her head. “No, sorry.”
Reese sighed. “Right, another thing we’ll put on the list,” he muttered. “Listen, the Toclafane are using the express line to move supplies through the city; weapons, machinery, workers, that sort of thing. We’re gonna hitch a ride but, in order to do that, we’re going to have to drop on top of the train and-”
“What?” Martha squeaked.
“Relax,” he drawled. “It’ll be pulling out when we do it, it won’t be going full tilt.”
“Oh, right,” Martha snorted. “I feel so much better, thanks for that.”
“U-huh,” he said, as he held out a hand gun. “Here, take this, no use against a Toclafane, but it works a treat on the regular human bad guys-”
“Oh no,” Martha shook her head. “The only reason I agreed to this plan was because I figured I wouldn’t have to shoot my way out. No guns, you know that.”
He gave her a long look. “I am going to teach you how to use a gun, whether you like it or not,” he said flatly.
“I’m not going to use it,” Martha said, her voice equally flat. “I may clean one, but I’ll never use it.”
“Maybe not,” Reese allowed. “But you’re going to at least learn how to point one and look as if you know what you’re doing. A show of force will usually get you out of a situation, even if you’re not actually willing to follow through.”
Martha folded her arms. “Not today it won’t,” she said. “So I’m not carrying it.”
Reese gave her one of his long suffering sighs. He liked to do that; a lot. “When I tap your hand, it means there is a drop,” he said shortly, bending down to look at the panel.
Martha watched as he took out a screwdriver and opened it. The Doctor’s face flashed into her mind, and she felt a brief pang. Best not to think about it, she thought to herself.
Reese flicked the torch off and Martha heard him remove the panel. A gentle breeze wafted over her; the panel must open straight onto the tracks. She bent down and felt a hand grab her. One tap… oh, right, that meant a drop.
She felt around with her hands, and pulled herself through the small opening. The drop was immediate, and Martha heard the gravel crunch under her feet as she landed.
Reese reached out again, this time guiding her hand to his shoulder. Martha held on, her eyes vainly trying to adapt to the absence of light. Couldn’t the Toclafane have left the lights on? Of course, if they had, she and Reese would be dead by now. Reese stopped in his tracks abruptly, and Martha almost crashed into his back. She bit down on the sharp retort that had sprung to her lips and waited.
She hear the quiet whir, the one that said a Toclafane was nearby.
He moved, his feet barely making a sound, and Martha tried to copy him as she followed. She wasn’t as quiet as him, but at least she hadn’t done anything embarrassing, like trip over her own feet.
Reese caught her hand and Martha tensed as he moved it, placing it against the coldness of a concrete wall. His breath fell hotly on her ear. “Don’t move,” he said, his voice barely audible. “I’ll be back.” And then he was gone, and Martha stood in the darkness, trying desperately to pick out the sound of the Toclafane, or Reese, or... anything.
Doubt flickered inside her. Was she being stupid, waiting here? Was he really coming back for her, or had he just dumped her here, so that the Toclafane could find her? She really couldn’t blame him; it was quite understandable, really. After all, she wasn’t his responsibility and the kids back in the shelter were-
A hand fell on her shoulder, and Martha nearly jumped out of her skin, her heart thumping wildly. Her brain kicked in and told her it was Reese, and she tried to push down her fear as they started to move once more. Martha wondered what he’d done while she had just stood there, waiting.
A distant rattle echoed through the ground under her feet, and made Martha pause, but Reese dragged her on. A tap on her hand, and she found herself descending a short flight of steps. He led her through a door and then-
Torchlight filled the room, and Martha jumped. “You could give me some warning about things like that,” she muttered.
“As I said, Morse code, next on the list,” he said briefly, as he hurried to a far wall, and pulled a set of shelves away from it. A grid panel, leading into an air vent, lay hidden there.
“You don’t miss a trick, do you?” Martha observed. “Where did you learn all this stuff, anyway, at underground commando school?”
His lips twitched, which Martha recognised as his version of a smile. “Junior high,” he said. “Same difference.”
Martha raised an eyebrow, had that been a joke?
The screwdriver had come out once more, and Martha watched as he made quick work of the grid panel. “Up you go,” he said, hooking his hands together.
Martha obliged him, and let him boost her into the vent. “Hand me the light,” she said, reaching back. The torch slapped into her palm and she shone it down the vent. “Looks clear.”
“Good, now shuffle forward, so I can follow you in,” he said.
They crawled though the vent, and Martha tried not to grin too much as she heard a few muffled curses from behind her. No wonder he'd let her go first, he probably didn’t want to risk blocking the vent. “You all right back there?” she teased.
“I can hear you sniggering, you know,” he answered back, his grumpiness almost making him sound human.
“Sorry,” Martha said, not even feeling remotely so.
“We’re nearing our destination,” he said, a few moments later. “Better go silent…one tap for right, two for left - and turn off the flashlight.”
Sighing, Martha plunged them into darkness. They moved onward, and Martha’s hands felt the vent branch. A tap on her ankle told her to go right and a draft hit her in the face as she turned; she heard the bustle of movement. The vent widened and Martha saw a grid in the floor, lending the space a dim light. She looked down, and saw the subway train below her.
Reese pulled up beside her, and Martha looked at him, raising an eyebrow as she pointed downwards. He nodded. Yes.
I don’t believe I’m about to do this, Martha thought, as she watched the workmen fill the subway train below them under the watchful eye of the Toclafane sentries. A whistle blew, and Reese hastily opened the grid as the workers moved away from the train.
“You first!” Reese said, over the din, as the train began to pull out.
“Who, me?”
He pushed her out bodily, and Martha almost screamed as the train roof seemed to rush towards her. She hit it with a bang, and rolled, nearly falling over the edge as a thump heralded Reese’s arrival, She was so going to make him pay for this.
His hand fell onto her shoulder, and Martha felt him pull her back from the edge. She clung to him as the train gathered speed, wondering if she’d ever do anything this crazy again. She had a funny feeling she would.
“It gets easier,” he yelled into her ear, as the train screamed below them.
She hoped he was wrong
~~~PART THREE~~~