The road less travelled...

Title: The Next Doctor and Donna 6/7
Author: katherine_b
Characters/Pairing: The Doctor (Ten), Donna, the next Doctor, Rosita
Rating: G
Spoilers: Everything in The Next Doctor and some things for NuWho S4.

Part VI

It’s like Pompeii all over again.

That’s the first thing Donna thinks as she urges the children towards the nearest exit.

She’s never forgotten the face of that small, terrified boy she had tried to save, before he was snatched away by his mother. She’s thought about him, dreamed about him, and woken up more times than she can count crying for him.

And now it seems as if every child running past them is wearing his face.

“Come on,” she screams at the top of her lungs. “Run!”

The ground seems to be shaking beneath her feet and she can’t help wondering what’s going on. She darts over to the Doctor, puzzles with him over the machine on the wall, and then hears the desperation in Jackson’s voice.

“My son!”

Her heart stops and suddenly everything makes sense.

Ella, she thinks desperately, her heart seeming to stop for an instant. Oh, my baby, Joshua.

And now she knows exactly what would cause a man to lose his mind.

Because, after the Library, she thought she would go mad.

Not that she ever told the Doctor. He didn’t need any more grief, and any mention of children would always remind him of Jenny. But she grieved in private for the family she had never had.

For the husband who had loved her completely and unconditionally, in a way that no one in her life ever had or would again.

For the children who had never lived, except in her imagination, and the feeling of whose arms around her she would never forget.

For the complete and utter happiness she had enjoyed for such a brief instant, before it was torn apart by the truth of the world she was in.

“Those damned Cybermen,” Jackson bellows, and she echoes the exclamation in her heart.

That damned Library.

She’s never been able to decide whether she regrets that part of her life or not.

She certainly isn’t going to be able to make up her mind on that point now, so instead she turns and joins the Doctor in urging the small boy down to the ground.

* * *
Jackson darts past the Doctor to the stairs, but he’s thrown back by an explosion that rocks the room. The Doctor and Donna rush to Jackson’s side, but that man is already on his feet again.

“I can't get up there!”

The Doctor looks around and realises why the explosion happened. “They've finished with the motor. It's going to blow up!”

Jackson is about to rush to the Doctor’s side, but Donna, perhaps realising what the Doctor has in mind, holds him back. “What're we going to do, Doctor?” the desperate father demands urgently. “What are we going to do?”

The Doctor reaches into the pocket of his coat and pulls out the cutlass he put there after his fight with the Cybermen at Reverend Fairchild’s house. Even as Donna says something about “bigger on the inside,” he runs over to a rope and wraps it around his arm.

“You know me, Jackson,” he declares triumphantly as he swings the cutlass. “You know me!”

And then he cuts through the rope and is pulled up into the air, coming to rest on the wooden ledge where the small boy is standing.

“Oh, that's it,” he says as he lands. “Hello!” he adds bending down in front of the little boy so that Frederick can climb onto his back. “Now hold on tight, don't let go.”

He wraps the rope around his arm once more, the other holding Frederick against him, and leaps off the ledge just as another explosion occurs.

“Doctor!” he hears Donna’s voice scream from somewhere below him.

“Coming!” he calls back as they rapidly descend. Then his feet hit solid wood and he moves Frederick into his arms. The boy has silent tears running down his face. “Come on, then,” he urges. “Soon have you back with your Dad.”

He’s thankful both for his excellent eyesight and the fact that Donna continually calls out to him as it allows him to make his way back to them through the smoke.

And then he sees their shadows and rushes down the last few steps, all but throwing Frederick at his father.

“Doctor!” Donna exclaims in relief, grabbing his hand as soon as it’s free.

However he only has eyes for the look on Jackson’s face, and beams.

“Merry Christmas!”

Father and son embrace fervently and the Doctor’s cheeks are aching from the grin on his face. He turns and winks at Donna, who slaps his arm hard.

“You’ve got to give me at least one heart attack a day, don’t you?” she snaps.

The collapse of nearby scaffolding keeps him from answering and the group turns to head for the same exit where they sent the children. However their path is blocked by another explosion.

“The way we came,” Donna yells in the Doctor’s ear, and he nods, pulling her towards the opening in the wall. They only just get into the safety of the tunnel when a ball of fire sweeps through the room.

“This way,” Jackson says, taking charge and running in the direction of his house. They follow, Donna coughing to clear the smoke out of her lungs.

“Bloody Time Lord with your respiratory bypass,” she gasps at one point. “Wish I had one.”

He musters a grin, in spite of his concern, but they arrive in Jackson’s cellar before he can do anything to help her.

“Come on, Doctor,” the home’s owner calls as he runs up the steps and into the house. “Hurry up!”

But the Doctor turns to the dimension vault and undoes the catch so that the moving parts are released. The rifle-like object springs into the air and he catches it.

“Gotcha!”

Then he sprints out of the cellar behind Donna and Jackson.

However they don’t get much beyond the front door when the sound of a female voice and the sight of the massive mechanical man stops them all in their tracks.

“It's the CyberKing!” the Doctor exclaims.

“And the CyberKing means what?” Jackson demands.

“It's a ship, dreadnought class. Frontline of an invasion. And inside the chest a cyber factory ready to convert millions,” he tells the other man.

“And I will walk,” the mechanical voice booms out, and the Doctor recognises it as coming from Miss Hartigan. They’ve converted her after all. She speaks again. “I will stride across this tiny little world.”

“It’s moving!” Donna cries. “Run!”

And they flee from the massive metal feet.

People around them are screaming and fighting to get out of the way. The Doctor makes a decision and stops, holding Donna with him. He turns to Jackson.

“It's heading south.” He nods at the boy in Jackson’s arms. “Take your son, go to the parkland.”

“But where are you going?” the one-time Doctor asks.

The Doctor exchanges knowing glances with Donna. “To stop that thing.”

“But I should be with you!” Jackson pleads.

The Doctor steps forward, frustrated. There’s no time to argue. “Jackson, you've got your son! You've got a reason to live.”

Jackson, horrified, glances at Donna and then back. “What, and you haven't?”

“It’s not like that,” Donna tells Jackson, resting her hand lightly on his arm. “It’s just – he always has to give them a choice. A chance to give up.” She turns to the Doctor. “I’m coming with you.”

He has no time to do anything more than give a curt nod. He couldn’t keep her away if he tried, and, as he feels her hand slide into his, he can’t even regret that fact.

Jackson looks from one to the other.

“God save you Doctor,” he says softly. “God save you both.”

As they run off in the direction of the CyberKing, the Doctor sees Donna glance over her shoulder at Jackson before looking at him. He manages a tiny smile and she smiles back.

“You and me,” he says softly.

“Always,” she replies, squeezing his hand.

They arrive at the stables and the Doctor throws down the dimension vault before flinging open one case. As Donna opens another, a person scrambles to their feet on the far side of the room.

“What the hell is that thing, sir?” a voice asks.

The Doctor spins around and grins. “Oh, good man. Jed, wasn't it? Jed, I need your help!”

Jed’s fear is obvious. “I'm not going out there!” he says firmly.

Donna pulls out a belt of infostamp cartridges, which she slings over her shoulder. The Doctor glances at her and then turns to Jed.

“I'll give you five pound notes!” he promises.

There’s a moment of hesitation before Jed gives in. “Um, all right, what d'you want me to do?”

The Doctor snatches up the dimension vault and follows Donna out of the room in the direction of the yard.

“The TARDIS is gonna fly!” he calls back of his shoulder.

He pays no attention to another statement from the CyberKing, but looks around at the sound of explosions.

“She’s trying to destroy the city,” Donna says, throwing the belt into the basket of the balloon.

Then suddenly she turns to him and grabs the lapels of his brown suit, pulling him towards her.

“Wh-what are you doing?” he demands.

He half-wonders if he’s in for another kiss – for luck, perhaps – but then he realises that she’s grabbed the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He tries to snatch it back, but she’s too quick.

“Hey, what are you doing? Give me that!”

“I need it to make a long enough length of rope that we can get you down again,” she says, fiddling with the screwdriver.

The Doctor guesses that she’s also retained the memory of what all the settings do. She really is brilliant.

“What do you need that for?” he demands. “I can let out enough air to get myself down!”

She looks up and he suddenly realises that she’s frightened. For him.

“And if you can’t?” she asks, her voice trembling slightly. “If you’re injured – or killed? What then? You just stay up there, I suppose. A sitting duck while you regenerate. Or die.”

This is a scenario that simply hadn’t occurred to him. In spite of the immediate danger, he stares at his companion in delighted pride.

“What would I do without you, Donna?”

She shoots him a cheeky grin, which he can see is an obvious front, but he’s even more proud of her for it.

“Probably regenerate more often as a result of your own stupidity. Trip over a brick or something,” she tells him. “Go on then, get up there!”

“You're flamin' bonkers, you are, sir!” Jed proclaims. “And you, ma’am. Both of you!”

Donna laughs shakily. “That's been said before,” she tells him.

The Doctor vaults into the balloon, shaking the dimension vault and listening to the weak blip.

“Aah, not enough power!” he complains, before looking at the young man who is staring at Donna. “Come on, Jed, let her loose!”

Jed runs to the first rope and unties it before suddenly turning to him. “Ever flown one of these before?”

“No,” he says with a grin. “Never”

And then Jed runs up to the basket. “Can I have my money now?”

“Oh, get on with it!” he exclaims in irritation, waving the young man away.

The Doctor begins to toss off the sandbags and feels the balloon lift off the ground. He checks that the ropes remaining attached to the basket are secure and watches as Donna sends Jed to all parts of the yard, collecting whatever rope he can find, which she sonics together into a massive length

She looks up, as if feeling his eyes on her, and manages a watery smile.

“Good luck, Doctor,” she calls, and he suddenly feels incredibly lonely in the basket without her.

He shakes the feeling off and looks up at the massive CyberKing. It seems to take forever for the balloon to rise, and as he gets to the level of head, the enormous creation turns to face him. He can see Miss Hartigan on some sort of bizarre throne, Cybermen and shades on either side.

Snatching up the belt of infostamps, he wraps them around his right arm so that they all point in the same direction.

“Miss Hartigan!” he yells. “I'm offering you a choice. You might have the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen, strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves...”

“I don't need you to sanction me,” she snaps.

“No,” he agrees, “but such a mind deserves to live.” He catches his breath and speaks again. “The Cybermen came to this world using a dimension vault. I can use that device to find you a home with no people to convert, but a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace.”

He’s not being quite honest, of course. He plans to send the Cybermen into the vortex, no matter what she says. But he isn’t going to kill a human being.

However she refuses his offer, as they always do. “I have the world below, and it is abundant with so many minds ready to become extensions of me,” she sneers. “Why would I leave this place?”

He can feel himself stiffen and he no longer yells, knowing that she will still hear him. “Because, if you don't,” he warns her, “I'll have to stop you.”

“What do you make of me, sir?” she mocks him. “An idiot?”

He can’t help feeling terrible sorrow and shakes his head. “No,” he assures her. “The question is, what do you make of me?”

Lifting his arm, he aims the infostamps at the window where she sits.

“Destroy him,” he hears her order.

His voice is quiet – deathly quiet. “You make me into this,” he tells her.

And then he simultaneously breaks the safety catches on all of the infostamps, directing the blue-white beam they produce into the mouth of the CyberKing. He can only hope that it’s aiming for the right spot, as he can’t see properly at this distance, but he’s fairly sure that the cyclo-stone core will also exist somewhere in the crown he’s seen on her head and he hopes that it will attract the beams from the infostamps.

But as soon as he deactivates the infostamps and drops his arm, he hears her voice mocking him again.

“Then I have made you a failure,” she says. “Your weapons are useless, sir.”

He shakes his head, surprised that someone as brilliant as her failed to understand his intention. “I wasn't trying to kill you. All I did was break the cyber connection, leaving your mind open. Open, I think,” he goes on, “for the first time in far too many years. So you can see.”

From his position in the balloon, he can feel the fear beginning to emanate from the CyberKing. Human fear that can only come from the woman in the red dress.

“Just look at yourself,” he tells her. “Look at what you've done. I'm sorry, Miss Hartigan, but look at what you've become.”

She screams, a sound of pure terror, but he’s beyond feeling much now.

“I’m so sorry,” he says.

The Cybermen on either side of her are clutching their heads, blue and white light flickering through their bodies, and they’re shaking so violently that he’s not surprised when they rip themselves to pieces.

The balloon is blown a short distance away by force of the blast, but he can still see what’s happening. The CyberKing is beginning to disintegrate and it totters on its giant feet.

The Doctor looks down, trying to establish which part of London will be crushed, when he suddenly hears an electronic beep and snatches up the dimension vault.

“Now you're ready!” he tells the device in relief, aiming it at the CyberKing.

Familiar light, like that of the time vortex, engulfs the gigantic metal creation, flowing over it in waves. It tilts back and forward, like some grotesque seesaw, and he hopes desperately that Donna is safe, before it finally vanishes in a flash of light.

The Doctor deactivates the dimension vault with a click and lowers it into the bottom of the basket.

He’s suddenly exhausted.

Leaning against the padded arm holding the basket to the balloon, he exhales a slow breath and stares out at where the CyberKing stood.

But then he hears a strange sound – yelling and screaming – from the ground below that makes him tense, wondering if some of the Cybermen have survived to continue tormenting the people of London.

Next Part

Links to earlier parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5