Catalysts Don't Show Mercy (Susan Foreman/The Doc)

[The Second Doctor]

"Dead man walking!" Ace yelled a fired at him.
"Yes, the Doctor is!" Alec replied in childish glee not different from how Susan had been.

He dropped to the ground, rolling out of the way. 
I'm a monster. It didn't bother him.
I'm a killer. He still didn't care.
But no need for two deaths tonight. he jumped up.

"What are you so angry about, kiddy?" he taunted.

[The First Doctor]

The Doctor jerked like a marionette as bullet after bullet slammed into him, solid center-of-mass hits. He had pitched forward by the time the first clip was emptied and just lay there, twitching, as the second and third were emptied.

“Dead Man Walking!” he heard Ace shout, followed by the mystery man's "Yes, the Doctor is!". There were more shots. A lot of them.

Apparently unnoticed by anyone, no blood flowed from wounds in his back or pooled about his form. There were no actual wounds for the blood to flow from.

"What are you so angry about, kiddy?" the mystery man taunted.

Groaning, the Doctor rolled over. He pointed a finger at the Doctor. "Remember. When it's your turn, force fields. Not kevlar. Force fields."

And then he was on his feet, wincing, tearing the guns from Ace's hands before she could reload. "Give me those!" he shouted, angrily. "Guns! Killing!" They joined the Doctor's pistol in the rubbish bin. "Didn't I teach you better than this? To be better than a... a..." He groped for words, then forced himself to be calm. "Don't do this, Ace. Don't be... don't become a, a killer. You're better than this. You'll be better than this."

And then he rounded on the Dark Lord. "You shot me! I mean, I remembered that you would, but you shot me!" He stalked forward, grabbed the Dark Lord by the lapels, and slammed him into the wall. Then he winced again, as sore back muscles tightened over cracked ribs.

"Worse than that," he said, thumping the Dark Lord against the rough bricks a second time, "Worse than that, you! Shot! Me! With! Susan! In! Your! Line! Of! Fire!" Each word was punctuated with another thump against the wall. He stopped leaned close, his words an angry hiss. "What if you'd hit her? 'Cause if I hadn't been prepared, all of those bullets would have ripped right through me and we'd have us a right proper Shakespearean tragedy right now."

He straightened up, wincing, then smiled a little. "Well, at least until we both regenerated. But still, think before you act!"

He released the Dark Lord, and looked over the group. "Now, does anyone else have any dramatic murder-related gestures they'd like to get out of their systems?"

[The Seventh Doctor]

The Seventh Doctor ignores the commotion and causally wanders over to the cube that had crashed into his TARDIS a few minutes earlier and forces it into his trans-dimensional pocket. watching the these events unfold he debates whether he should just slip into his TARDIS and leave this madness behind and in front of of him. No. He chose to come here and he must finish what he started looking at his pistol in the waste bin, he shudders. What was he thinking bring that awful thing with him?! He mentally kicks himself; that was something he swore he never use again. He was glad his future self had disarmed him before he had something he would regret, it seems that his future incarnation still had his Morales, although he does seem to lack his sense of fashion (OOC: throwing a slight bit of comedy in). He proceeds to use his Sonic Screwdriver to send a slight pulse, disabling all guns in the area permanently.

"Just so everyone knows I have come to my senses and disabled all guns in the area, so if you were planning anymore shooting, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

He says placing his Sonic Screwdriver into his pocket once more.

[The Second Doctor]

Alec rolled his eyes, evidently not displeased that his bullets had failed.
"Forcefields. Not admirable, but kudos to you for surviving." he chided.

"Hit Susan?" he gasped in mock-disbelief, "I'd have to literally point the gun downwards."

Just as soon as the Doctor used his Sonic to disable his gun, he dis-dis-able it and fired a bullet at the ninth Doctor. Knowing it wouldn't effect him, he fired again, just for the heck of it.
"And I re-abled mine, so get over yourself."

He fired a bullet in Ace's general direction, almost laughing at the fact that she couldn't fire back.
"Susan, would you like a go at the Doctor? Despite the fact that it won't effect him, I just have so much fun." he said, firing another clip.

[Susan Foreman]

As the Doctor said down in front of her, Susan remained determined to stay still. Angry blue eyes glared into his own, her chin tightening as he asked her to choose the story. When he came to the last – the one about the Daleks destroying the timeline – she looked down, moving her fierce glare to the ground. Her hands were still clenched beside her, and she still felt the overwhelming urge to throttle her grandfather. That would never… ever go away. Her life for the past few centuries had been a series of if onlys as she looked back on the circumstances that led them to the Dalek invasion.

If Barbara and Ian hadn’t followed her home, would they have left 76 Totter’s Lane? If she hadn’t been so insistent about showing off her knowledge? If she hadn’t wanted to settle down on Earth – even though her grandfather had warned her about the dangers? If she and her grandfather had really kept running even despite the wounded caveman – disgusting the humans and making them leave? If only she hadn’t been so… so human she would never have fallen in love with one.

Ha. Love. She’d hardly known what love was. A mere infatuation, maybe. She was so proud of David Campbell and the way he fought so bravely. She had been in love with his heroism. Not with him. But that revelation had come years too late, when she was a bored housewife with a small son. And then the Master had come and ruined everything. Killed her husband and tricked her into his TARDIS. She’d fought with every fibre of her being; not physically. She was rather weak when punch came to punch, but telepathically? She could hold her own, especially when distressed.

Her eyes shifted towards the Manipulator. She could make it explode so easily.

She hadn’t been in love with David, no matter how much she lied to herself and others. No matter how long she pretended to be happy. She’d learned to lie very well about being happy. She’d learn to crinkle her eyes when she smiled, to glance towards him and smile warmly, force that twinkle to her eye. But that hadn’t meant that she hated him. He was her best friend. He was the bright sun that made her cloudy days tolerable. She wanted to love him as much as he’d been in love with her. And then, just like that, his life was stolen because the Master wanted to get to her grandfather.

He obviously didn’t realize that the Doctor cared about as much for her as he did for an empty, broken piñata.

Her son. Her son had been the only reason Susan kept herself together. After David’s death, she tried to be the perfect mother. She doted and loved, teased and tolerated. But he wanted to be like his father. He wanted to make his grandfather – the man he would never truly get to know – proud. So he’d fought against the Daleks and, invariably, died.

“I… was lost?”

The words were quiet and mumbled. Her hands shook in her lap as she unclenched them. Her memories. Was that why they were so foggy and unclear? Was that why she hadn’t been able to know Alec? She was something that shouldn’t exist anymore. She should be gone. Erased. But then how come the memories she did possess were so clear? So vivid? Surely she hadn’t imagined them. She hadn’t imagined her son dying. Hadn’t imagined her husband dying?

Was that why Time wouldn’t obey her?

…he looked for me?

She raised her eyes, suspicion and anger still strong in her eyes. Who had he been to make that decision for her – about whether she needed to go or stay? What would change had she stayed? Obviously she’d be supporting her grandfather, and not her friend.

Susan looked to Alec, anger replaced by curiosity. Why did he hate the Doctor?

Before she had time to react, however, he had emptied his gun into her grandfather. She covered her ears almost languidly, shutting her eyes tightly. Tired of red, of red and blood, tired of blood and the red— more gunshots. She put her forehead against her knees, trying to shut out the noises. It was a far cry from her almost unnatural nonchalance about getting shot at earlier. Earlier… earlier she’d been too angry to bother with the noises, too caught up with her own emotions.

But now? Now she just wanted out. She just wanted to stumble off into an alley, curl up, and die. It was obvious now that her grandfather wasn’t going to be holding any more pistols to her head. She wasn’t going to be able to die unless something else caused it.

Still curled into herself, she glanced up when the guns had stopped and the yelling had begun. Grateful – immensely, beyond belief grateful – that Alec hadn’t gotten himself killed, she hissed out a quiet protest when her grandfather pushed him against the bricks.

“ Worse than that, you! Shot! Me! With! Susan! In! Your! Line! Of! Fire!”

She shook her head, unable and unwilling to listen to the next few, quiet words. “You said that I’m not your Susan anymore. I’m full of hate now. You held a gun to my held. Why would you care if he shot me when you were so ready to do it yourself?” she asked quietly, not willing to fight anymore. She didn’t understand anything anymore. She didn’t know what Alec had against her grandfather. She didn’t know why her grandfather even bothered with her anymore. Why not just let her rot away in her own anger?

It was bound to happen.

She was ugly. If you unwrapped all the pain, all the bitterness, all the selfish and manipulative parts of Susan… she’d be nothing. She thrived on those emotions. She was just the empty shell of someone, left without any redeeming qualities.

No wonder everyone present had threatened to kill her. Well. Maybe not Alec – not yet, at least. He was probably using her hatred to weaken the Doctor. She was a manipulator; she could tell when she was being used. (Well, maybe. She’d never been used enough to know.)

“Now, does anyone else have any dramatic murder-related gestures they’d like to get out of their systems?”

She tilted her body until she landed on her sides, staring silently down an alley. She couldn’t take this anymore. How could she even be in the same general vicinity of the Doctor? She’d sworn to herself that the moment this happened she’d be at his neck with a pair of scissors. But now she could hardly will herself to move. She wanted someone to… to… she didn’t know. She didn’t know what she wanted.

She wanted the Doctor to admit he was wrong. She wanted him to beg for forgiveness, and she wanted to kick it in his face. She wanted… death. She wanted the entire world to be red. The galaxy. The universe. She wanted all the stars to be a murky, unclean blood-stained color.

“Dark Lord,” she said, moving to face him. She uncurled her body slowly, unwillingly, forcing herself to sit cross-legged. She used his formal not out of malice, but because she felt strange being informal around company. “Why do you hate the Doctor so much?” Susan asked.

She wouldn’t be able to stain the entire universe. She couldn’t even manage the energy to stand, much less think straight enough to kill anybody. She clawed at the burns on her arms, irritated by her weakness.

“Susan, would you like to have a go at the Doctor? Despite the fact it won’t affect him, I just have so much fun,” he said, the gunshots making her flinch. She stared up at him quizzically. If she said no, would he think her weak? Most definitely. He’d abandon the weak woman. But if she said yes? Her eyes slid over to the Doctor, and her heart hardened. She couldn’t forgive him. It hadn’t been his fault – maybe, she didn’t know – but all she contained was hatred. If she forgave him, she’d be nothing.

But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t shoot him. The loud noises were frightening, and she much preferred to make someone miserable than dead.

I want him dead.[/color]

That’s what she had said earlier, and it was still true to an extent. But she didn’t want to be the one to kill. You’re going around in circles, Susan, her mind hissed. Pathetic, miserable wretch.

“No thank you,” she said against her kneecaps, fingernails moving steadily against the raw skin on her arm.[/font][/size]

[The Second Doctor]

Alec leaned against a wall- the very same wall he had just been forced against -and held his gun with a sweaty hand. He hardly ever cried, but it wasn't unheard of. He'd cried over friends, enemies even. And he was not going to cry now. More confused than sad anyway. His purpose was useless now. Susan seemed like she was just going to disappear, and a desperate glint in his eye, all he wanted to do was revive the old Susan he had known, and he didn't know where to start.
"Susan, would you like to have a go at the Doctor? Despite the fact it won’t affect him, I just have so much fun,” he said, and until he said it didn't realize how idiotic it was at the moment.

"No thank you." she said, turning towards him.
"I understand." he said, smiling as warmly as he could given the circumstances.

"Dark Lord," Alec cringed at the formality of the words, "Why do you hate the Doctor so much?"
He was a bit confused by this, but kneeled down in front of Susan, palms out and fingers spread wide. With each of his next words he brought one down.
"Because I'm an idiot, I'm a fool, I never practice judgment, I hardly tell the truth, I'm an empty shell, I'm a hated outcast, I'm dead inside, I'm ignorant, I'm a hypocrite, and most of all, I'm not about to let you live your life being bitter."

He looked at his feet.
"I just went about it the wrong way." he admitted.

Alec chucked the gun as far as he could, where it eventually slid down the road and into a gutter. He stood up and leaned back against the wall, his blonde hair falling over his eyes I'm atonement for lack of a hat. All he wanted to do was run from his problems, jump back in his Tardis and fly away. But bit without settling everything with Susan, and check if this was a blue moon on which to apologize to the Doctor.

[Ace]

"Didn't I teach you better than this? To be better than a... a..." "Don't do this, Ace. Don't be... don't become a, a killer. You're better than this. You'll be better than this."
Softly at first “I’m no killer...” gaining in volume some “but what did you expect me to do stand there and let him shoot...”

She felt the bullets hit her in her chest knocking her back on her back. One thing she had done right making sure she wore her own form of bullet resistant vest, she cussed loudly and let out a small cry as she felt one of the bullets rip through her left shoulder and another one through her side in damaged plates that she just hasn’t gotten the time to fix yet, falling backwards onto her back the rest of the bullets kicking like a mule.

God she had forgotten how much those things hurt. Not able to stop herself she curled into a ball for a second, unvelcroing the vest and jerking it off from under her shirt not able to breathe with it on. Coughing she rolled back over onto her back laying there for a second mentally going over her body and listening.

[The Seventh Doctor]

"Ace!" The Seventh Doctor cried. He rushes to her.
"Are you alright?!" He turns to The Dark Lord, seaming with anger his fist clenched as he, slowly makes his way towards Alec the same coldness as before, if not worse burning with inside him, he picks up a rock.

"Do remember what I said to you?"a disturbing smile upon his lips "How you could threaten me all you like? But under no circumstances threaten Ace?"

He slowly gets closer to Alec.

"Well, what I'm about to do to you would is much worse than what I would have done if you threatened her."

He whips the rock towards Alec with all his strength, hoping to make contact.

"You!" He Points at The Ninth Doctor.
"You knew this would happen didn't You?! Why didn't you try to stop it?!"

Mustering all his strength he forces his future self against the wall.

"Why?! Why?!..... why?"

He lets go of his future self. He backs away.

"Why?"

[The First Doctor]

“I… was lost?” Susan asked.

"The entire timeline you were in was lost. I knew you would survive - you're a Time Lady - but I couldn't find you."

And then the bullets hit.

---

He released Alec's lapels, still feeling the frission of rage that had burned through him at the thought that Susan might have been harmed.

“You said that I’m not your Susan anymore," he heard. "I’m full of hate now. You held a gun to my held. Why would you care if he shot me when you were so ready to do it yourself?”

"Ah, Susan," he sighed, shoulders slumping. "I never would have. Not now, not then, not ever." He tried to smile, and failed. "It's called displacement..."

And then Alec shot Ace, and he heard his younger self threaten Alec, and then he suddenly loomed large in his own vision. "You!" he screamed at himself. "You knew this would happen didn't You?! Why didn't you try to stop it?!"

And then he was slammed into the wall, next to Alec, gritting his own teeth against the pain in his back as he bounced himself against the bricks. "Why?! Why?!..... why?"

His younger self released him, and backed away. "Why?"

Deliberately, he straightened his lapels and dusted himself off. "Why?" he asked. "Because - and this is something you should have realized, given how much you pride ourselves on being a master chess player - I've been here before! I know how this opera ends! I know Ace is going to be fine - hell, she's probably less beat up right now than I am!"

He glared at himself. "And do you remember what we tried to tell the Meddler, all those years ago? You can't change time, not one bit!"

"Susan," he said, interrupting. "It's not you. It's not. Displaced anger. It was self-hatred, lashing out." He gave his younger self a knowing glance. "It's always easier to attack someone else than to admit your own problems."

And then he poked his younger self in the chest. "And what are you waiting for? Go make sure Ace is all right, and I'll..." he shrugged. "I'll stand here and try not to alienate what's left of our family any further than we already have."

He looked back at Susan. "I'm not sure what else to say. I'm an emotionally crippled old man with a millennial-long track record of driving away people I love, burning bridges behind me, and running so I don't have to face my problems. I did it to the Archivist instead of fighting for her, and I did it to you and justified it to myself by telling myself I was looking out for you."

He sighed. "I cheat, constantly. I manipulate. I'm trying not to right now, and I don't know if it's working. If you hate me, I've given you reason, and I'd apologize if I thought I could sound sincere and if I thought it would matter."

"So, instead of apologizing, catch." He reached into his coat pocket, produced a chain, and tossed it to Susan. "It's your turn. Take her. Leave me behind, and go travel."

On the chain was a key. Her key, from all those centuries ago.

"It's all I can offer."

[Susan Foreman]

Alec was approaching. She softened visibly, her shoulders loosening and her eyes not quite as cynical as normal. He spread out his fingers, and Susan did the same, unsure of what he was doing. She felt the urge to interlock their fingers, but she refrained, pulling down her jacket sleeve to cover the burns self-consciously. “Because I’m an idiot,” he said, putting down one finger. He was counting down, but what to? Why did this have to do with why he hated the Doctor? “I’m a fool, I never practice judgment, I hardly tell the truth, I’m an empty shell, I’m a hated outcast, I’m dead inside, I’m ignorant, I’m a hypocrite—” and there they were. The last finger.

“—and most of all, I’m not about to let you live your life being bitter.”

She looked down at the ground. None of those reasons involved the Doctor directly. She looked up at the man once more, furrowing her eyebrows as he threw the gun. Her eyes widened and she looked between the younger version of her grandfather and his young human friend. She didn’t trust them. It would be just like the girl to whip out a knife and stab her Alec.

But that human seemed too preoccupied with the bullets that Alec had fed into her, so there was one psychopath out of the way. Susan returned her eyes to Alec, watching him walk away. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but all that came out was a weary sigh. She wanted him to come back.

“I’m not sure what else to say,” her grandfather said. She stared back at him, standing to her feet slowly. Her knees slightly trembled underneath her, but she locked them with enough determination. “I’m an emotionally crippled old man with a millennial-long track record of driving away people I love—”

Huh. Maybe it runs in the family, she thought drily, glancing briefly to Alec before returning her eyes to the man in front of her. “I did it to the Archivist instead of fighting for her, and I did it to you and justified it to myself by telling myself I was looking out for you.”

The Archivist?

“I cheat, constantly. I manipulate. I’m trying not to right now, and I don’t know if it’s working. If you hate me, I’ve given you reason, and I’d apologize if I thought I could make it sound sincere and if I thought it would matter.”

And she’d been so close to forgiving him until those words. If I thought I could make it sound sincere.

He didn’t care. He wasn’t sincere about anything. He was stupid and she hated him and – she hardly caught the key that was flung at her. She flinched, catching it in the nook of her elbow. “It’s your turn. Take her. Leave me behind, and go travel. It’s all I can offer.”

She stared down at the key, face pale. She shook her head slowly and tossed the key back at his feet. Every fibre of her being screamed out for her to grab that key back and run so very far away from here. “I don’t want that. I just want…”

She wanted everything to go back to normal. She wanted to be his doting granddaughter again. She wanted to be the girl that Alec had befriended, the one who held his hand while he went through the grief of his family dying. She wanted to be someone who hadn’t used her manipulation powers to make people die – just to quench her boredom. She wanted the blood on her hands to be forgiven.

“I just want… to die. I think that would solve everyone’s problems,” she said, looking down at her hands. They were clean, but Susan could still see the filth. “Excuse me, please,” she muttered, ambling away into an alley. Maybe she would end up running away. Alec had told her that he’d basically had no reason but for her.

Why would he do something so foolish? Couldn’t he tell that she didn’t want him to die?

And the Doctor wouldn’t have a reason to stick around if the Dark Lord didn’t.

If she had remained dead – lost forever in time – then nothing would have happened. “Why wouldn’t anyone just shoot me?”

ooc| pm if you need me to change anythin.. kind of falling asleep as i wrote it.

[/font]

[Ace]

Ace pulled herself up to a sitting position wincing, it hurt but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She sat there a second watching what was going on and after Susan ran off “She’s your grand daughter professor,” she nodded in the direction Susan ran off to “Go after her” then looked at both of the Doctors respectively but commandingly “Both. of. you.”

Eyeing Alec “We’ll be fine here I think.” standing up Ace walked over to her bike and started rummaging through a backpack that she had strapped to it, and started pulling out the stuff so she could take out the bullets that had connected. “Or I’ll drag your butts over there myself.”

[The Seventh Doctor]

OOC I was wondering I could include my character Flynn Delta to show and talk to Susan in his TARDIS for two reasons: One I don't get to use him that much, and Two I don't think Susan wants to The Doctors, Alec or Ace and a person outside of the conflict might help. so opinions?

[The Second Doctor]

(OOC: If you don't mind Alec tagging along.)

“I just want… to die. I think that would solve everyone’s problems,” she said, “Excuse me, please,”

"Susan, don't..." his voice trailed off.
She was off. Down an alley. And Alec was close behind.

This eerily reminded of his last meeting with the Doctor's granddaughter, just reversed. Maybe now, after their big bad plot against the Doctor, he would have to play her part, to the best of his ability. This couldn't be the end, the death of Susan Foreman. That would solve nobody's problems.

He had back-up this time. And who better than those that dislike him to agree with what he said? Besides, he thought Susan didn't want to die, not really. They all had their problems, in Alec's case ones that nobody cared to solve, but he survived. At least twice because of Susan. He wasn't about to let her go die.

[The First Doctor]

“I don’t want that," Susan said, barely looking at the key. "I just want…”

The Doctor listened in horror to his granddaughter. “I just want… to die. I think that would solve everyone’s problems,” she said, “Excuse me, please,”

His horror - and his shame - mounted as she did just what he did, when things grew too close. When people started to care. She turned, and she walked away.

He felt... hollow. This isn't what he had wanted, not for her. Not for his precious Arkytior. She wasn't supposed to have turned out like this, like him.

He started to follow, wanting to explain. He knew words, words were his tools and his weapons. He could turn armies aside with them, change minds and lives with them. Surely, surely he could find a way to reach Arkytior with them.

But he stopped, shoulders slumping. And then what?

And then the Time Lord called Alec followed her. And he heard Ace say “She’s your grand daughter professor. Go after her. Both. of. you.”

He smiled. "My dear, dear Ace. Sometimes, you understand so much more than I ever did." He looked at her, the misery on his face sliding away. "Never stop being fantastic, Ace."

Squaring his shoulders, he gestured to himself. "C'mon, you. We've got a granddaughter down there." He strolled towards the alley, taking his time. "And a possible grandson, if I'm any judge. So let's not be too hasty."

[The Seventh Doctor]

OOC I will posting later, as Flynn