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Post by Sarah Jane on Jul 30, 2011 0:17:53 GMT -5
She thought that Susan would be glad, or at least relieved when she handed her back the Vortex Manipulator. Instead, Susan's expression fell. Sarah studied that porcelain face, trying to figure out what the woman wasn't telling her. Sarah had almost figured it out when Susan's words cinched the deal.
It was so painfully clear now.
Susan was as lonely as the Doctor had ever been, but for reasons of her own. This lead to Sarah's next deduction, and it drew from her a soft, ragged inhalation of understanding.
"Susan, are you telling me that that thing can transport more than one person?!"
Then Susan was tilting her head in the perfect attitude of listening. Sarah went quiet as well, holding up a finger for Susan to give her another moment when she asked if she could hear 'that'. Sarah knew the Doctor's hearing had always been just a tad sharper than her own, and probably Susan's was as well. There it was, slow growing, groaning, thrashing moaning on a giant beat.
"TARDIS" Sarah said in wide eyed whisper to Susan, feeling suddenly breathless.
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Post by The Second Doctor on Jul 30, 2011 9:38:43 GMT -5
In his left hand the Dark Lord clutched his sonic screwdriver, holding it at face-level. His right hand subconciously reached behind him, pulling levers and sending his Tardis into Sarah Jane's house. He stepped out and looked back, his Tardis was a refrigerator, and he was in the kitchen.
After locking it with a key and turning it invisible for good measure, he set off his Sonic. Alec felt his breath leave him, and as if he was being hurled through a black hole, but without any actual physical effect. Glancing outside, he could see that he was in outer space, on a surface not so different from the moon.
But it wasn't the moon. Oh no, this was so, so far away. Well, plus it had an aquamarine tent to it. He believed his Tardis airfield had expanded around the house, but he wasn't sure. "Phase one completed." he muttered, ignoring the fact that his plan wasn't phased.
Dark walked through the house, looking for Sarah Jane. He checked in the living room, no Sarah Jane. The Timelord walked upstairs, hearing two voices as he made his way. There are two? This could be trouble. he thought.
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Post by Susan Foreman on Jul 30, 2011 21:27:36 GMT -5
“Susan, are you telling me that thing can transport more than one person?!” the woman asked. Susan nodded briefly, trying not to let the alarm show on her face. The sound was a TARDIS, but it wasn’t her grandfather’s. Each machine had a distinctive sound – a subtle difference, the way some humans can tell apart their cars from the rumbles of the engine. She forced the pessimistic thoughts behind. She hadn’t heard her grandfather’s TARDIS in such a long time. Sarah Jane would know the sound better than she. Regardless, as she strained her ears for any hint of a sound, she felt unsettled. Despite her inkling of suspicion over whether or not it was her grandfather’s TARDIS, she knew she had heard it before.
She held her breath as the TARDIS relocated; somewhere underneath them. It wasn’t her grandfather – that much she was pretty sure of now. He was often socially awkward, but she doubted that he’d move his TARDIS into someone’s house unless he had permission. There was always the possibility of a regeneration being rude. “Tell me why my grandfather left you, Sarah Jane Smith. You mentioned something about the High Council? Is there a reason they would come after you?” she asked quietly.
Susan took a wary step as the house shifted. “I do not wish to alarm you, but I do believe that things are not quite turning up roses,” she said solemnly, looking out the window. The blue moon shined through the window dully. She sighed pressed her forehead against the glass. “This was needlessly dramatic,” she muttered under her breath. Anger and annoyance laced her voice.
Footsteps.
When she turned around, all hint of warmth and friendliness was gone from her face. She stuck her hands in her pockets, looking cold and apathetic. “Who’s there?” she called, opening the door.
ooc| sorry for the lame post. x.x
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Post by The Second Doctor on Jul 30, 2011 22:50:36 GMT -5
The door flew open, unfortunately. He had been hoping to creep in, but obviously he had been heard.
"Who's there?" asked a woman's voice.
"Alec Harrison," he said instinctively, "Better known as the Dark Lord. And you?"
He thought it better to just answer her. It wasn't like they were going to go run around and post it on the internet. As if they would get a connection. Something seemed familiar about her, but she wasn't Sarah Jane.
He slowly took another step up the stairs. "I'd like to speak to the master of the house," he said, nodding towards Sarah Jane through the open doorway.
Alec raised an eyebrow. She seemed so familiar. "Have I seen you somewhere?" he asked.
His general mental excuse was to know the enemy, but he could just help grinning. He could remember her from something, and she certainly hadn't been an enemy.
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Post by Sarah Jane on Jul 30, 2011 23:22:40 GMT -5
The sound was all around them now. For one second she thought she'd done something to the Vortex Manipulator, but there was no mistaking a TARDIS. There was no mistaking the feeling of Travel.
"It's not the Doctor!" She said, reaching out and clutched Susan by the elbow, explaining even as they were hurtled all unknowingly through a black hole. "the Doctor dropped me off because he couldn't take me to Gaillifrey by the Council . . . ." They landed and her voice dropped to an incredulous whisper. "I don't know why anyone would be after me, except to get at the Doctor."
She let go of Susan and followed her to the window where she stood there dumbfounded by the view.
Susan heard someone, making Sarah stand closer to Susan again, nearly as shocked to see the tall blond man there as she was to see her tiny brownstone transported to some desolate place obviously far from Earth.
When he called her out, she came, though striding out in front of Susan to confront the man.
"Harrison, you can call me 'Master', and you can state your business." She said. If anger could be a lazer, she'd set her lashes on fire. Sarah did her best not to show that she was trembling from the sudden change of events.
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Post by The Second Doctor on Jul 31, 2011 0:12:22 GMT -5
Alec countered Smith's glares with an equally maddening and condenscending dark look. Not a lot could match his blades of the eye, but Sarah Jane came awfully close. However, he could just detect a hint of fright- nothing big, mostly initial shock -in her tone.
"Harrison, you can call me 'Master', and you can state your business."
"Nah, there's a certain Timelord whose title that is. Why would I do that? I'm sure such a clever little mind like yours could work it out." he smirked.
"By the way, I'm not sure why you're so cross. Don't take it personally." he chimed. The Dark Lord dropped his gaze. "Regardly of how utterly personal it is." he said under his breath.
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Post by Susan Foreman on Jul 31, 2011 2:02:52 GMT -5
“It’s not the Doctor. The Doctor dropped me off because he couldn’t take me to Gallifrey by the Council,” the woman explained quickly. Susan frowned at her, unable to piece together the pieces of why someone would choose that night – of all the nights in the world – to place an attack on Sarah Jane. “I don’t know why anyone would be after me, except to get at the Doctor.” she finished.
Susan shook her head, a contemplative frown on her lips. “No, I don’t think this has anything to do with the Doctor. If they were trying to get his attention, they would have done it to you sooner. Maybe when the Doctor left you alone while you were still traveling with him,” she reasoned quietly. The only reason that she could think of was to investigate how the timeline had been severely altered by Sarah Jane’s actions. But removing her from Earth wasn’t restoring it – it was damaging it even further.
But why would someone – especially a Time Lord – want the time line to change so drastically?
As such, when she called out to see who was there, she hadn’t expected an answer. “Alex Harrison,” the man answered, “better known as the Dark Lord. And you? I’d like to speak to the master of the house,” he continued, regarding Sarah. Susan felt her fists clench and she looked away from the man, deciding not to answer his questions about who she was.
Either way she answered – Susan Foreman or Arkytior – he’d recognize her connection to the Doctor. It hadn’t been a secret when they left Gallifrey that the Doctor had taken his granddaughter along.
“Have I seen you somewhere?” he asked her. Susan stared down at her feet, immediately thrown out of her comfort zone by the grin that he was giving her. She raised her eyes icily to him, curling her upper lip in a hateful snarl. There was something terribly familiar about this man, but she brushed it off. The memories weren’t negative, but even if they had been friends before, she was more than willing to lynch him by his spleen now.
She was not happy. All she had wanted was for her favourite Chinese restaurant to have the nice Hairy Fish and the nice Chinese family that greeted her, and now she was out in the middle of nowhere on a blue moon in a brownstone with a human and a renegade Time Lord.
“Harrison, you can call me ‘Master’.”
Susan felt a ripple of nausea pass through her. Faint memories drifted through her mind at the name, but she shoved them down hatefully. She almost told Sarah to never insinuate that she was the Master ever again, but the Dark Lord beat her to the punchline. “Nah, there’s a certain Timelord whose title that is.”
“By the way, I’m not sure why you’re so cross. Don’t take it personally, regardless of how utterly personal it is.”
Susan’s fingers twitched, longing for an iron bar to slam against this man’s head. Her previous incarnation had been greatly opposed to violence – her grandfather’s influence, no doubt – but this one had no such qualms. The Time Agent she’d lifted the Manipulator hadn’t been cooperative, but an efficient blow to the temple had swayed him otherwise.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” she asked. Her voice was cold and flat, as though she could hardly care if they were stranded on the moon, but one glance to the face and one could tell that she was around two seconds from slamming this man down the stairs and taking his TARDIS. “If this is about the Doctor,” and here her calm voice tightened and she spit the name out venomously “you won’t get far. If this is about the time stream, why do such a petty and annoying thing as take us to a moon? Why not kill us? Far simpler.”
She took a step closer to him. “My name is Susan Foreman,” she said flatly, as way of introduction. The man may recognize the name – but he seemed to already know her, just as the memory of him had spurred somewhere inside of her.[/font]
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Post by The Second Doctor on Jul 31, 2011 2:37:55 GMT -5
"What am I doing? I think it's pretty easy to tell, especially for someone of your obvious intelligence." he spat.
"The Doctor? Who cares about him? A fat lot of good he's done for me," he said, crossing his arms, "Last time I had amnesia and tried to contact him, he was too busy, despite the fact that he can be anywhere at anytime."
He could tell she wanted to kill him, and the familiarity alone made him almost offer to take to earth in his Tardis. Well, except that she wanted to kill him. An old friend maybe?
"You won’t get far. If this is about the time stream, why do such a petty and annoying thing as take us to a moon? Why not kill us? Far simpler.”
"I may seem like an idiot to you, but I'm not completely cruel. Sarah Jane, you should at least know why I can't let your future happen." he explained.
"My name is Susan Foreman."
Alec's mouth dropped just enough so that his teeth were visible. This was an old friend. Why couldn't it be any other old friend? "Y-you," he said, his eyes wide, "Not..."
His words were very quite, but audible. "When you escape off of here, I'll have another friend turned enemy, won't I?" he said gravely.
"But moving on, I'm assuming you do want to know why I want to mess up your timeline...?"
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Post by Sarah Jane on Jul 31, 2011 12:46:05 GMT -5
She had known it wasn't a very good line when she said it, but it was the strongest thing she could think to say in the moment. Master. Yeah. Right. Well, she was busy being a bit terrified, beings as the air seemed a bit thin outside today, and she feared she'd never pick up her dry cleaning again.
With Susan a guest in her home, she was feeling rather protective over her, though she was at wits end about just what exactly to do about that. It turned out, for the moment, that she didn't have to figure out what to do. Susan was quite capable of reading this 'Alec Harrison' the riot act without any help from her. Sarah faded back a half step until she was standing side by side with her Allie, heart pounding. For a moment, she was annoyed that these two galactic hard hitters were set on working out their differences in her living room, then she realized that Harrison really had come for her.
"Sarah Jane, you should at least know why I can't let your future happen." The intruder was saying. His words tolled in her ears and her mind, slow, deep and like a mourning bell, words heavy with the weight of a Time Lord pulling the chord."- I can't let your future happen." "-I can't let your future happen."
"- I can't let your future happen."
Susan's rebukes rang back sharp and clear. Just when Sarah had no idea what to do, Susan was leaping into the fray with quite a bit of grace. Sarah did what she could, standing tall as she could beside Susan, though the Time Lady still stood a good hand span taller. Sarah also wore her best defiant face, which wasn't difficult considering she was rather invested in having a future that 'happened'.
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" She almost shouted with frustration.
Turns out, she was taking it rather personally.
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 2, 2011 9:41:55 GMT -5
Despite having known (and been fond of) Susan, the Dark Lord quickly got over it. He had lost so many that day... Susan had been dead for thousands of years. This hardly changed anything. He couldn't just apologize and everyone would be happy. He was too far in.
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" shouted Sarah Jane.
His attention quickly snapped from Susan to Sarah. "Has it been a misconception to you that I care?" he said, at a little under the same volume Sarah had used.
The Timelord hadn't expected a fight- he hadn't even brought a gun -but with Susan's weakly suppressed urges to kill him, which were visible in her eyes, it might become a fight. Sarah Jane seemed a bit shaken, which was good, though she was recovering, and fast. Susan on the other hand, wasn't shaken at all, and would most likely be the first one to strike.
"What exactly do you think I'm going to do? Faint at the sight of meeting Susan again and send you back where you came from?"
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Post by Susan Foreman on Aug 4, 2011 20:56:48 GMT -5
“I may seem like an idiot to you, but I’m not completely cruel,” the man answered. Susan once again felt the urge to take an iron pipe to the obnoxious Time Lord’s head. “Sarah Jane, you should at least know why I can’t let your future happen.”
Susan sighed and rubbed her temples. “There are a few flaws in your reasoning, Harrison. You say you are not cruel, and yet you are content for the both of us to die on this moon? That’s what will happen once you leave. Any air shield your TARDIS has extended will leave with you,” she pointed out, fingers twitching at her side. “And obviously she doesn’t know about whatever grievance she’s caused you because she hasn’t lived it yet,” she snapped.
She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, as though she were punishing a child instead of a man who was holding her hostage. “Y-you? Not…” he trailed off. “When you escape off of here, I’ll have another friend turned enemy, won’t I?”
“Don’t say that like it’s my fault. No wonder you have so many enemies when you kidnap innocent, defenceless women,” Susan growled.
Beside her, Sarah Jane seemed to be sharing the same sort of impatience. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Has it been a misconception to you that I care?”
“Please forgive her. We just thought that since you weren’t completely cruel – your words, you see – you’d at least tell her what got your knickers in a twist,” Susan said simply, raising an eyebrow towards Alec. Her eyes gazed around innocently, looking for anything sharp or blunt she could beat the man into a bloody pulp with.
“What exactly do you think I’m going to do? Faint at the sight of meeting Susan again and send you back where you came from?”
She took a step forward, fists clenched and eyes bright and dangerous. “I don’t know you,” she said as a hiss, each word more hateful than the last and bringing her closer to Alec.
ooc| -yawn- so I just realized Susan accidentally called the Doctor ‘grandfather’ aloud in one of my previous posts. Let’s forget that happened, yeah? XD
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 4, 2011 21:21:59 GMT -5
“There are a few flaws in your reasoning, Harrison. You say you are not cruel, and yet you are content for the both of us to die on this moon? That’s what will happen once you leave. Any air shield your TARDIS has extended will leave with you,”
Alec sighed in fake agitation. "Oh look, I lied. Gee- that's never happened before."
“And obviously she doesn’t know about whatever grievance she’s caused you because she hasn’t lived it yet."
"Woah, let's calm down, Arkytior," he said, reffering to her Timelord name, "You keep acting like you can make me feel bad about it."
"Don’t say that like it’s my fault. No wonder you have so many enemies when you kidnap innocent, defenceless women,”
"D-defenceless?" he scoffed, "Last time I checked, Sarah Jane Smith was anything but."
Alec had no reason to keep talking, but he did anyways. He was every bit a stubborn, insecure, and friendless idiot, but there was no one who cared.
"Please forgive her. We just thought that since you weren’t completely cruel – your words, you see – you’d at least tell her what got your knickers in a twist."
"I'll just leave you with, 'because of her the only person, the last person who cared about me, is dead.' Is that good enough for you?" he frowned. Alec was getting tired of talking to Susan, it was striking his nerves.
She stepped forward, he stepped back. “I don’t know you,” she said, fists clenched.
"You don't remember me. Remember..." he spoke his Timelord, humanly unspeakable name.
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Post by Sarah Jane on Aug 4, 2011 23:11:53 GMT -5
A pair of Time Lords. Both long, lean, and fierce. One dark. One light. One clearly a reflection of alternative culture somewhere. One a traditionalist down to the last stitch of his embroidery. The two of them were getting heavily into it, which was good because Sarah Jane was fresh out of useful arguments.
With Harrison's attention on Susan, Sarah Jane let her eyes dart around trying to figure out what they might need to do next. Her gaze first went out her window to the barren satellite her tiny brownstone was currently parked on. Nothing she could do about that right now. Harrison, standing there looking like some fabled tall Elf right out of Tolkien. Nothing she could do about him. If worse came to worse though and they had to bolt, Sarah imagined grabbing Susan's hand and running flat out for the little brick pantry. The two of them might be able to hold the door shut against the man. She wondered if Time Ladies had that extraordinary strength that the Doctor had. Oh, not that he was a superman, but surely he'd impressed her again and again with what his wiry muscles could accomplish.
She looked at Susan who stood before her and to her left, hands clenching and unclenching as she faced the Time Lord down. Those empty hands she could do something about. Being a young woman living in the city, she was prepared as well. Felling almost smug about it, she gave her knees the slightest bend as she slipped something off the edge of the coffee table behind the couch, palmed it and slid it into Susan's hand. A nice, heavy little telescoping steel baton. It wasn't a Sonic Screwdriver, but it was what she had at hand.
Susan really had come to help her. Sarah was very aware that her sudden champion could use her Vortex Manipulator any time. If Susan left her behind, Sarah bet the Harrison would not bother to follow her. Sarah found herself profoundly grateful.
((Confession- I did a little editing and added the last paragraph. I had to sign off before I was done editing last night. I didn't change anything that affected the action))
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Post by Susan Foreman on Aug 5, 2011 22:14:41 GMT -5
The man didn’t seem at all swayed by her foolproof logic. “Oh look,” he said irritably, “I lied. Gee- that’s never happened before,” the Time Lord finished. Susan narrowed her eyes, this ‘old friend’ wearing down quickly on her nerves. “Woah, let’s calm down, Arkytior.” She bristled at those words, eyes ablaze from the use of her other name.
“I’m not Arkytior anymore,” she snapped, eyeing Harrison carefully. The man knew a little bit too much about her; a clear disadvantage since she knew nothing of him. Susan glanced at Sarah Jane, the subtle movements catching her, but she soon returned the glare full force on the pathetic excuse of a Time Lord in front of her.
“D-defenceless? Last time I checked, Sarah Jane Smith was anything but,” he returned coldly. Susan raised her eyebrow, having half a mind to say to make another snarky response on how he was kidnapping her when she was defenceless. It was just like trying to kill Mussolini when he was a baby; he grew up to be terrible, but it was clearly not the baby’s fault. “I’ll just leave you with, ‘because of her the only person, the last person who cared about me, is dead.’ Is that good enough for you?”
Susan paused, and gripped the steel baton in her grip tighter. “You can’t manipulate time for your own selfish needs,” she said blandly, decided that it wasn’t hypocritical since she was trying to put the timeline back. Albeit for her own selfish needs. Whatever. “Perhaps you should have protected your dear friend better. You can’t blame others for your grievances.”
Hypocrite, her mind muttered.
When he told her his Gallifreyan name, she frowned. She had known him. And the bits of memory were beginning to rise, tantalizingly close to where she could grasp them. She mentally shook her mind clear of the thoughts. Old friend or not, he was kind of trying to kill Sarah Jane at the moment. And – oh look, another selfish reason – if she let Sarah Jane die, the Doctor would never forgive his granddaughter.
She raised the baton in her hand, twirling it between her fingers deftly. “If you let us free, this won’t have to end in violence and a new regeneration for you,” she bargained, her grip tightening on the baton. “But maybe I won’t give you a chance to regenerate. Happened to my son. He never had a chance,” she mused, her eyes locking between her eyes. People died pretty quickly if you got them there. That much she had learned from her late husband.
ooc| fine, fine, you caught me. I’m a huge pacifist. D: [/right][/size][/font]
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 5, 2011 23:05:02 GMT -5
“I’m not Arkytior anymore,” Susan snapped at him.
Alec threw up his hands defensively. "No, of course not. I totally should've known." he said sarcastically.
Alec was drifting to the stairs.
“You can’t manipulate time for your own selfish needs,”
Alec smirked, his face reading 'Yeah right.' "Oh, let me guess, did your grandfather teach you that? The Doctor sure hasn't ever done that."
He felt a small burst of anger. It was growing, like an erupting volcano.
“Perhaps you should have protected your dear friend better. You can’t blame others for your grievances.” she said.
Maybe it was what she said. Maybe it was how she said it. In that snitchy "Worthier than thou" way. Whatever it was, it pushed him over the edge. He turned on her angrily,
"I wasn't there!" the Timelord yelled.
Harrison felt he same violent push that Susan felt, but bit his lip to keep from lashing out. As far back as he could remember, Susan had been his go-to memory. In his darkest times, he remembered his old friend, who had been nice when his family died, on that tragic day. Forget that.
"If you let us free, this won’t have to end in violence and a new regeneration for you,” Susan threatened, “But maybe I won’t give you a chance to regenerate. Happened to my son. He never had a chance,”
Alec had an argument on his lips, something like "That would never happen!" but the he came to a personal revelation, a conclusion. He had nothing to live for, on the contrary a lot of things he should die for. And he knew it.
"Yeah, make my dreams come true, any other day. I have a to-do list. I'll give you my number, maybe you can do it in a more physically and mentally painful way." reasoned Alec.
He knew it came out strange. "Look, I'm a horrible person. I want to die. I need to die." he said, distraught.
The next sound was his feet pounding down the stairs, with one last genuinely apologetic look up to Susan. "I-I'm s-sorry about your s-son." he said.
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