Five Comment Fics
Jun. 27th, 2011 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emeraldsnakesThieves in the Night
Prompt: the Doctor finds out there's another Time Lord... Nathan Ford.
Words:496
The Doctor knows how to break into places. A few flicks of his sonic screwdriver and doors open for him, camera’s bug out and, if he has a mind to think of it, infrared lazers and motions sensors shut off. If he overlooks something his psychic paper usually solves the problem.
It’s not very often someone steals something before the Doctor can get to it first. Actually, it’s never happened before so as he stands in the Boston Museum staring at the empty column that’s supposed to display the largest Crown of Light diamond (not a real Crown of Light if he’s got the history right - which he does) he wonders what it was he overlooked this time.
“I should have known it was you.”
The Doctor spun around and like a tidal wave it hit him, the awareness and knowledge of whom exactly it was standing at the other end of the room.
“Alpha.”
Alpha inclined his head, a calculating look on his face as he stared into the Doctor’s eyes. The Doctor hadn’t seen the older Timelord in centuries nor had he heard anything about him. He’d assumed Alpha had died before the War or in it.
“You survived. How?”
“Same way I assumed the Master did,” Alpha replied, leaning comfortably against the doorframe. “Chameleon Arc. Torchwood was a bitch in the early days an I couldn’t get back to my TARDIS so I had to hide myself.”
“Why steal the diamond?”
The Doctor knew Alpha well enough to know that he didn’t do anything for the hell of it. Though he was all about masterminding elaborate plans to accomplish a goal, there always had to be a good enough reason.
“What, this?” From his jacked pocked Alpha withdrew the Crown of Light and held it in the palm of his hand. “Its my girl.”
The Doctor frowned. There was probably another Torchwood story to that but it made no sense. He hadn’t come intending to steal (another) TARDIS.
“You thought it was a Quorral,” Alpha summarized.
Quorrals were a swarm of tiny flesh eating bugs that hibernated together in the disguise of precious stones. After a few centuries they would wake and begin devouring everything until their hunger was satisfied. The Doctor always made sure that any swarm that found its way to Earth was removed.
“I took care of that last week,” Alpha added.
Alpha smirked at him, straightened and he looked just about ready to leave except he paused. A pained expression crossed his face and he removed something from his ear. “What you did, Doctor. Was it necessary?”
The Doctor didn’t know if he was talking about the Time War or the Master. He figured it was a little bit of both. “I wish it hadn’t been.”
Alpha nodded sadly, “I figured.”
He turned to leave, “Oh, one last thing Doctor. The name’s Nathan Ford now.”
“And what does Nathan Ford do?” The Doctor asked intrigued.
“What I’ve always done.”
Up To No Good
Prompt: Loki, Gabriel, They bond over their family issues.
Words:265
“Midgard’s not what I was expecting.”
Gabriel snorted, “Nothing is ever how you expect it to be. One day is like every other until bam, your brother goes and fucks it all up.”
Loki, God of Mischief, nodded his agreement. “And dad just sits back, letting it all unfold according to his plan.”
Gabriel laughed mirthlessly, “Yours too? Did he suddenly leave as well?”
“No,” Loki swished his glass and scowled, “He fell into the Odin Sleep.”
“Damn, that’s shit,” Gabriel drank his beer. “This place isn’t so bad, you know. You’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t want to get used to it,” Loki pouted. “It’s not home.”
Gabriel handed him a chocolate bar, “Home wasn’t really home though was it, the way it turned out to be?”
Loki looked away and refused to answer.
Gabriel stared at his Pagan name sake, a being his Father had never mentioned creating. Gabriel had always just though that the Pagan’s of Norse Myth and Loki’s people had been one in the same but to know what wasn’t true made Gabriel question what other secrets his Father had kept to himself. What other beings had he created?
“Relax,” Gabriel changed the topic and hopefully the mood of the atmosphere, “take a load off. Tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to the Midgard versions of the Æsir.”
“Humans?”
“Pagan Gods,” Gabriel replied. “They exist because humans believe they exist and the more humans believe they exist, the more power they have.”
Loki nodded, “Interesting. And then?”
Gabriel grinned, “And then we party the way only Pagans can party.”
Brilliant
Prompt: Sherlock +or/ John, John is a stranded Time Lord
Words:246
“You were humouring Mike when you let him introduce us. Your smile was flat, placating and you were bored but you like Mike so you let him get away with dragging you places you don’t want to go. You don’t like London but you’re more comfortable in a crowd of people and there’s something you keep coming back for but haven’t found yet so you refuse to make a clean break and more some place you might like better.
“I surprise you. You don’t think it’s possible for anyone to read you, to know anything about you except what you tell them. You also don’t like that I can read you but you’re intrigued because you’ve never met anyone like me.
“No, you’ve met plenty of people like me, but no human like me and that’s what sets you apart from everyone else. You’re an alien.”
“So are you.”
“Yes but I’m not alien to this planet Doctor Watson. You’ve been on Earth long enough to adapt to the name but it sill takes you a few extra seconds to respond. You hoped you’d never have to adapt, you went to war to die but you survived and you can’t bring it upon yourself to take your own life.”
“Huh. That’s brilliant.”
“You think so?”
“You said it yourself, I’ve never met a human like you. I think I’m actually going to enjoy this.”
Dark Chest of Wonders
Prompt: AU: The Doctor crashed in Amelia's front yard. The Master? He crashed in Rory's.
Words: 2010
Rory Williams was a sensible child. He always told his parents if he was going outside, he cleaned up after himself, looked both ways before crossing and never talked to strangers. He was usually quite, preferred listening to the people around him talking unless it was something he felt important and asked a lot of questions. He wasn’t an adventurous child either. He didn’t play in the mud, pick up bugs or climb trees just for the hell of it. He wasn’t that sort of child.
But when Rory was seven something happened and he did everything a sensible child did not.
He’d been having a hard time sleeping, that night when he was seven. He kept thinking about a girl at school, Amelia, who had no parents (at least none that he could remember) and always asked adults if they could fix the crack in her wall. There was just something about that which bothered Rory a whole lot.
He was thinking about her, and staring up at his ceiling when he saw a bright flash of something like fire out of the corner of his eye and heard a magnificent crash outside. He threw the covers and ran to his window immediately, looking out into the no longer quiet, clear night and down to his backyard. It looked like the entire yard was on fire, though in reality it was just under half and in scattered patches all surrounding a black box he’d never seen before.
Rory stared at the box in fascination. The only place it could have come from was the sky, except he knew that was impossible since aliens didn’t exist. But staring at the box gave him the same kind of feeling that hearing about the crack in Amelia’s wall did so he wasn’t so sure anymore. If aliens did exist, the why did everyone say they didn’t?
Rory soon became aware than no one else in the house had heard the crash. He debated going outside and looking closer himself over telling his parents and a big part of him wanted to go wake them up. He knew it was the right thing to do but as he walked down the hallway to tell them he passed their door and tip toed down the stairs.
Rory’s house wasn’t very big. Two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and the kitchen, family room and laundry room were on the main floor. There was a short hallway at the front door and the back was a part of the kitchen. He turned the deadbolt of the back door slowly, then the latch and pulled the door open slowly.
It was a warm night, but not too warm and a light breeze ruffled his hair. Rory navigated the yard, taking care to avoid the fire as much as possible and stood before the black box. It sort of reminded him of a phone booth, but the word above the door, stenciled in white, read EXIT. It made no sense. It was an impossible box and yet, Rory raised his hand and knocked.
The black door opened almost immediately and the face of a tall man stared down at Rory in annoyance.
“What? Can’t you see I’m busy?” the man demanded and Rory was reminded of Headmaster Walters whenever he was angry.
“Did you really just fall from the sky?” Rory asked.
The man’s eyebrow rose, he leaned out and looked up at the sky, “Well would you look at that. I hadn’t noticed. Its not like I wasn’t falling around my TARDIS as it crashed.”
He rolled his eyes and slammed the door in Rory’s face. Rory knocked again. This time he got a better look at the man when he opened the door. Tall, medium short brown hair that was pushed back and blue eyes, he wore a suit under a long coat and a purple scarf.
“Who are you?”
“The Master. Now go away, I’m busy,” he went back into the box but this time he forgot to close the door. For reasons unknown, Rory followed him.
Inside, Rory couldn’t fathom what he was seeing. The ship - for if it fell from the sky then it had to be a ship - was really but, but on the outside he was smaller, a lot smaller. It was also round, not box-like. Again, Rory called it an impossible ship and he was beginning to wonder if he was dreaming.
The interior was mostly silver, with floors that felt spongy but were solid and walls that were so clean and shiny they looked like mirrors. There were black columns spiraling out from a central point, hundreds of them in different sizes. Some of them had doors, defined only by a thin silver outline and a red, round door handle. Others had designs on them, circular designs that entwined and were nothing like Rory had ever seen or imagined before. And yet there were others that had faces. Faces of men, faces of women, faces of aliens. There were so many faces and so many different species. Sometimes the faces repeated and sometimes Rory didn’t know if he was looking at one specific faces repeated all the time or if all in the race looked the same.
The centre column was the most elaborate. It had screes and knobs, levers and panels and bright colours entirely around it. The man was looking at one of the screens, reading something that looked quite like some of the designs of the columns and playing with his scarf absently. Rory walked as close as he dared and partially hid behind one of the columns with faces.
“That’s not a real name.”
The man spun around, surprised to see him.
“You’re a child, what do you know of names?” he snapped, voice rising. “And why do you keep bothering me?”
Rory cringed and hid further behind the column, revising his opinion that this man was much worse than Headmaster Walters.
The man didn’t seem to notice Rory’s fear, he just kept talking, having found a rhythm.
“Although, I don’t know why I expected to be left alone. You humans are always so nosy.” he turned back to the console and pulled a different screen towards him, examining his reflection. “Look at this. Look at my face it’s so...so like his. And this hair, it’s exactly like his! Why do I look like him?”
He turned around suddenly and screamed, “And why is it so damn quiet?”
The words bounced off the walls and left a ringing in Rory’s ears. He shut his eyes tight and prayed for it to be over quickly.
“It’s so quite,” the words were whispered this time.
Rory opened his eyes and let out a startled yelp. The Master was crouching right in front of him, staring at him with wild eyes.
“It stopped,” the Master chuckled a little hysterically. “Why? Why now after all this time? It’s too damn quiet.”
He put his hands on either side of Rory’s head and started tapping his fingers in sets of four. Rory stood petrified as he did it over and over again. When he finally stopped his hands moved to cup Rory’s face and he seemed oddly gentle.
“What’s your name boy?”
“R..Rory Williams,” Rory replied shaking.
“Is it quiet in your head?” he whispered.
Rory shrugged, “I don’t know.”
The Master growled softly and knocked their foreheads together. It kind of hurt, like running into something that left a sharp pain at first but dulled soon after. Rory didn’t know why he had done that. In fact he didn’t know why the Master was doing anything he did.
“Silent. Dead silent. Not even an awareness of anything,” the Master gazed at Rory thoughtfully. “Why does he find you so interesting if you’re so boring?”
“I’m not boring,” Rory protested.
The Master snorted and stood, “Your species is very boring. And predictable.”
He walked away, back to the center console, hit a few buttons, flicked a few levers and dinged a bell. “You need to get out.”
“Why?”
The Master glared at him, “Because I’m leaving and I don’t want you coming along.”
Inexplicably hurt, Rory rand from the ship, stumbled around the dying fires and into his house. He didn’t remember to lock the door or be silent as he ran up the stairs and back to his room. He did however, look out the window before throwing himself on his bed and burying his face in his pillow. The black box was already gone.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Rory never really forgot about the Master. Its a bit hard to forget an alien who crash lands in your backyard but as he grew older he remembered it more as a vivid dream then as an actual memory. He dreamt it often, replaying the events over and over always wondering what it might have been like if he hadn’t left. He had other dreams too. Dreams about the ship, what it would be like going through the doors and seeing just exactly how big it was. He would sometimes dream about the faces but they were dreams he could never remember the details to. He always knew what face was involved though.
When Amelia’s Raggedy Doctor turned out to be real and not just something she’d dreamed up, like Rory had the Master, he had to admit, if only to himself because he’d never told anyone, that it had all been real.
Rory was lost in thought that night, after the Doctor had left but before he was supposed to meet up with his mates for the stag party. It all resolved around the Master and who he really was. Someone like the Doctor? They were both using titles for their names, knew a lot about Earth and were weird. And that faces that alien had cycled through on the roof in his search on the Doctor, Rory had recognized some of them from the Master’s ship. He didn’t quite understand how they could hall have been the Doctor. Was it some kind of passing the name down, like the Dread Pirate Roberts? Or was it something else? So many questions that he couldn’t really ask, not unless he saw the Doctor or the Master again and he wasn’t sure that would ever happen.
It was by accident he looked out the kitchen window of his parent’s home, which he still lived in - but that was a totally different story - and saw the black box sitting innocently in the backyard in the exact same place it landed before. Rory stared at it in astonishment for nearly five minutes before snapping out of it and going to it.
He knocked on the door and it opened immediately, almost as if the Master had been waiting for him.
He looked exactly the same, as if no timed had passed for him at all. Same hair, same coat, same suit and the same scarf though it was more firmly in place around his neck. He leaned against the ship’s door frame and regarded Rory seriously.
“The last human I liked shot me.”
Rory frowned, “I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m a Nurse.”
The Master grimaced, “Least you’re not a Doctor,” then added under his breath, “already got one of those pain in the asses.”
“If you even think of shooting me, I’ll kill you,” he said, stepping aside and giving Rory permission to enter which he did, after a moment’s thought. It felt like no time had passed at all, like he was seven again and gazing around himself in amazement. The ship was still so big and full of wonder, he didn’t think he’d ever learn all her secrets.
Rory turned to the Master, “Where are we going first?”
Ankle Biters
Prompt: Nikola's latest plan for world domination includes cloning himself to make an army. Unfortunately he forgot about the baby part of letting the clones grow-up.
Words:329
Nikola Tesla was a genius. He's told hundreds of people, not all of whom believed him and advanced science in countless ways. However, as much as it pains him to admit it, when it comes to World Domination there was always and inevitably one thing he overlooked.
This time it was babies.
Yes, cloning himself was an awesome idea - genius even. Five versions of himself working together towards his goals and eventually accomplishing things not even the Vampires of old had been able to. It would have been great.
In reality, it was not so cool.
"I'm a terrible baby," Nikola pled his case to Helen and her ragtag team. "Look at them, they keep trying to eat me! Ow!!"
Nikola had decided that starting with four clones would be enough and that more could be created when the need arose. The problem was that he hadn't been able to do it as if he were using a photocopy machine. His clones had started out small with the requirement of time to grow. They were now three months old and he was fucking sick of them. Their food source was - obviously - blood but, like this very moment, they turned on him when they were hungry and drank from the closest available piece of skin. And they were always hungry!
"I don't know what it is you expect me to do," Helen said straight faced, but Nikola knew her, she was amused.
"I don't care," Nikola pried the little ankle biter off him. "Just deal with them. They're nightmares."
"Can't imagine why," Dog-boy said under his breath sarcastically. Nikola sent him a withering glare.
He set the baby on Helen's desk and immediately started to cry. Rolling his eyes, Nikola placed his hand on the child’s head and it began to calm.
Helen was smirking, "I'm afraid removing them from your care might not be possible. Looks like you'll just have to endure parenthood."
All four babies gurgled contently.
Prompt: the Doctor finds out there's another Time Lord... Nathan Ford.
Words:496
The Doctor knows how to break into places. A few flicks of his sonic screwdriver and doors open for him, camera’s bug out and, if he has a mind to think of it, infrared lazers and motions sensors shut off. If he overlooks something his psychic paper usually solves the problem.
It’s not very often someone steals something before the Doctor can get to it first. Actually, it’s never happened before so as he stands in the Boston Museum staring at the empty column that’s supposed to display the largest Crown of Light diamond (not a real Crown of Light if he’s got the history right - which he does) he wonders what it was he overlooked this time.
“I should have known it was you.”
The Doctor spun around and like a tidal wave it hit him, the awareness and knowledge of whom exactly it was standing at the other end of the room.
“Alpha.”
Alpha inclined his head, a calculating look on his face as he stared into the Doctor’s eyes. The Doctor hadn’t seen the older Timelord in centuries nor had he heard anything about him. He’d assumed Alpha had died before the War or in it.
“You survived. How?”
“Same way I assumed the Master did,” Alpha replied, leaning comfortably against the doorframe. “Chameleon Arc. Torchwood was a bitch in the early days an I couldn’t get back to my TARDIS so I had to hide myself.”
“Why steal the diamond?”
The Doctor knew Alpha well enough to know that he didn’t do anything for the hell of it. Though he was all about masterminding elaborate plans to accomplish a goal, there always had to be a good enough reason.
“What, this?” From his jacked pocked Alpha withdrew the Crown of Light and held it in the palm of his hand. “Its my girl.”
The Doctor frowned. There was probably another Torchwood story to that but it made no sense. He hadn’t come intending to steal (another) TARDIS.
“You thought it was a Quorral,” Alpha summarized.
Quorrals were a swarm of tiny flesh eating bugs that hibernated together in the disguise of precious stones. After a few centuries they would wake and begin devouring everything until their hunger was satisfied. The Doctor always made sure that any swarm that found its way to Earth was removed.
“I took care of that last week,” Alpha added.
Alpha smirked at him, straightened and he looked just about ready to leave except he paused. A pained expression crossed his face and he removed something from his ear. “What you did, Doctor. Was it necessary?”
The Doctor didn’t know if he was talking about the Time War or the Master. He figured it was a little bit of both. “I wish it hadn’t been.”
Alpha nodded sadly, “I figured.”
He turned to leave, “Oh, one last thing Doctor. The name’s Nathan Ford now.”
“And what does Nathan Ford do?” The Doctor asked intrigued.
“What I’ve always done.”
Up To No Good
Prompt: Loki, Gabriel, They bond over their family issues.
Words:265
“Midgard’s not what I was expecting.”
Gabriel snorted, “Nothing is ever how you expect it to be. One day is like every other until bam, your brother goes and fucks it all up.”
Loki, God of Mischief, nodded his agreement. “And dad just sits back, letting it all unfold according to his plan.”
Gabriel laughed mirthlessly, “Yours too? Did he suddenly leave as well?”
“No,” Loki swished his glass and scowled, “He fell into the Odin Sleep.”
“Damn, that’s shit,” Gabriel drank his beer. “This place isn’t so bad, you know. You’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t want to get used to it,” Loki pouted. “It’s not home.”
Gabriel handed him a chocolate bar, “Home wasn’t really home though was it, the way it turned out to be?”
Loki looked away and refused to answer.
Gabriel stared at his Pagan name sake, a being his Father had never mentioned creating. Gabriel had always just though that the Pagan’s of Norse Myth and Loki’s people had been one in the same but to know what wasn’t true made Gabriel question what other secrets his Father had kept to himself. What other beings had he created?
“Relax,” Gabriel changed the topic and hopefully the mood of the atmosphere, “take a load off. Tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to the Midgard versions of the Æsir.”
“Humans?”
“Pagan Gods,” Gabriel replied. “They exist because humans believe they exist and the more humans believe they exist, the more power they have.”
Loki nodded, “Interesting. And then?”
Gabriel grinned, “And then we party the way only Pagans can party.”
Brilliant
Prompt: Sherlock +or/ John, John is a stranded Time Lord
Words:246
“You were humouring Mike when you let him introduce us. Your smile was flat, placating and you were bored but you like Mike so you let him get away with dragging you places you don’t want to go. You don’t like London but you’re more comfortable in a crowd of people and there’s something you keep coming back for but haven’t found yet so you refuse to make a clean break and more some place you might like better.
“I surprise you. You don’t think it’s possible for anyone to read you, to know anything about you except what you tell them. You also don’t like that I can read you but you’re intrigued because you’ve never met anyone like me.
“No, you’ve met plenty of people like me, but no human like me and that’s what sets you apart from everyone else. You’re an alien.”
“So are you.”
“Yes but I’m not alien to this planet Doctor Watson. You’ve been on Earth long enough to adapt to the name but it sill takes you a few extra seconds to respond. You hoped you’d never have to adapt, you went to war to die but you survived and you can’t bring it upon yourself to take your own life.”
“Huh. That’s brilliant.”
“You think so?”
“You said it yourself, I’ve never met a human like you. I think I’m actually going to enjoy this.”
Dark Chest of Wonders
Prompt: AU: The Doctor crashed in Amelia's front yard. The Master? He crashed in Rory's.
Words: 2010
Rory Williams was a sensible child. He always told his parents if he was going outside, he cleaned up after himself, looked both ways before crossing and never talked to strangers. He was usually quite, preferred listening to the people around him talking unless it was something he felt important and asked a lot of questions. He wasn’t an adventurous child either. He didn’t play in the mud, pick up bugs or climb trees just for the hell of it. He wasn’t that sort of child.
But when Rory was seven something happened and he did everything a sensible child did not.
He’d been having a hard time sleeping, that night when he was seven. He kept thinking about a girl at school, Amelia, who had no parents (at least none that he could remember) and always asked adults if they could fix the crack in her wall. There was just something about that which bothered Rory a whole lot.
He was thinking about her, and staring up at his ceiling when he saw a bright flash of something like fire out of the corner of his eye and heard a magnificent crash outside. He threw the covers and ran to his window immediately, looking out into the no longer quiet, clear night and down to his backyard. It looked like the entire yard was on fire, though in reality it was just under half and in scattered patches all surrounding a black box he’d never seen before.
Rory stared at the box in fascination. The only place it could have come from was the sky, except he knew that was impossible since aliens didn’t exist. But staring at the box gave him the same kind of feeling that hearing about the crack in Amelia’s wall did so he wasn’t so sure anymore. If aliens did exist, the why did everyone say they didn’t?
Rory soon became aware than no one else in the house had heard the crash. He debated going outside and looking closer himself over telling his parents and a big part of him wanted to go wake them up. He knew it was the right thing to do but as he walked down the hallway to tell them he passed their door and tip toed down the stairs.
Rory’s house wasn’t very big. Two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and the kitchen, family room and laundry room were on the main floor. There was a short hallway at the front door and the back was a part of the kitchen. He turned the deadbolt of the back door slowly, then the latch and pulled the door open slowly.
It was a warm night, but not too warm and a light breeze ruffled his hair. Rory navigated the yard, taking care to avoid the fire as much as possible and stood before the black box. It sort of reminded him of a phone booth, but the word above the door, stenciled in white, read EXIT. It made no sense. It was an impossible box and yet, Rory raised his hand and knocked.
The black door opened almost immediately and the face of a tall man stared down at Rory in annoyance.
“What? Can’t you see I’m busy?” the man demanded and Rory was reminded of Headmaster Walters whenever he was angry.
“Did you really just fall from the sky?” Rory asked.
The man’s eyebrow rose, he leaned out and looked up at the sky, “Well would you look at that. I hadn’t noticed. Its not like I wasn’t falling around my TARDIS as it crashed.”
He rolled his eyes and slammed the door in Rory’s face. Rory knocked again. This time he got a better look at the man when he opened the door. Tall, medium short brown hair that was pushed back and blue eyes, he wore a suit under a long coat and a purple scarf.
“Who are you?”
“The Master. Now go away, I’m busy,” he went back into the box but this time he forgot to close the door. For reasons unknown, Rory followed him.
Inside, Rory couldn’t fathom what he was seeing. The ship - for if it fell from the sky then it had to be a ship - was really but, but on the outside he was smaller, a lot smaller. It was also round, not box-like. Again, Rory called it an impossible ship and he was beginning to wonder if he was dreaming.
The interior was mostly silver, with floors that felt spongy but were solid and walls that were so clean and shiny they looked like mirrors. There were black columns spiraling out from a central point, hundreds of them in different sizes. Some of them had doors, defined only by a thin silver outline and a red, round door handle. Others had designs on them, circular designs that entwined and were nothing like Rory had ever seen or imagined before. And yet there were others that had faces. Faces of men, faces of women, faces of aliens. There were so many faces and so many different species. Sometimes the faces repeated and sometimes Rory didn’t know if he was looking at one specific faces repeated all the time or if all in the race looked the same.
The centre column was the most elaborate. It had screes and knobs, levers and panels and bright colours entirely around it. The man was looking at one of the screens, reading something that looked quite like some of the designs of the columns and playing with his scarf absently. Rory walked as close as he dared and partially hid behind one of the columns with faces.
“That’s not a real name.”
The man spun around, surprised to see him.
“You’re a child, what do you know of names?” he snapped, voice rising. “And why do you keep bothering me?”
Rory cringed and hid further behind the column, revising his opinion that this man was much worse than Headmaster Walters.
The man didn’t seem to notice Rory’s fear, he just kept talking, having found a rhythm.
“Although, I don’t know why I expected to be left alone. You humans are always so nosy.” he turned back to the console and pulled a different screen towards him, examining his reflection. “Look at this. Look at my face it’s so...so like his. And this hair, it’s exactly like his! Why do I look like him?”
He turned around suddenly and screamed, “And why is it so damn quiet?”
The words bounced off the walls and left a ringing in Rory’s ears. He shut his eyes tight and prayed for it to be over quickly.
“It’s so quite,” the words were whispered this time.
Rory opened his eyes and let out a startled yelp. The Master was crouching right in front of him, staring at him with wild eyes.
“It stopped,” the Master chuckled a little hysterically. “Why? Why now after all this time? It’s too damn quiet.”
He put his hands on either side of Rory’s head and started tapping his fingers in sets of four. Rory stood petrified as he did it over and over again. When he finally stopped his hands moved to cup Rory’s face and he seemed oddly gentle.
“What’s your name boy?”
“R..Rory Williams,” Rory replied shaking.
“Is it quiet in your head?” he whispered.
Rory shrugged, “I don’t know.”
The Master growled softly and knocked their foreheads together. It kind of hurt, like running into something that left a sharp pain at first but dulled soon after. Rory didn’t know why he had done that. In fact he didn’t know why the Master was doing anything he did.
“Silent. Dead silent. Not even an awareness of anything,” the Master gazed at Rory thoughtfully. “Why does he find you so interesting if you’re so boring?”
“I’m not boring,” Rory protested.
The Master snorted and stood, “Your species is very boring. And predictable.”
He walked away, back to the center console, hit a few buttons, flicked a few levers and dinged a bell. “You need to get out.”
“Why?”
The Master glared at him, “Because I’m leaving and I don’t want you coming along.”
Inexplicably hurt, Rory rand from the ship, stumbled around the dying fires and into his house. He didn’t remember to lock the door or be silent as he ran up the stairs and back to his room. He did however, look out the window before throwing himself on his bed and burying his face in his pillow. The black box was already gone.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Rory never really forgot about the Master. Its a bit hard to forget an alien who crash lands in your backyard but as he grew older he remembered it more as a vivid dream then as an actual memory. He dreamt it often, replaying the events over and over always wondering what it might have been like if he hadn’t left. He had other dreams too. Dreams about the ship, what it would be like going through the doors and seeing just exactly how big it was. He would sometimes dream about the faces but they were dreams he could never remember the details to. He always knew what face was involved though.
When Amelia’s Raggedy Doctor turned out to be real and not just something she’d dreamed up, like Rory had the Master, he had to admit, if only to himself because he’d never told anyone, that it had all been real.
Rory was lost in thought that night, after the Doctor had left but before he was supposed to meet up with his mates for the stag party. It all resolved around the Master and who he really was. Someone like the Doctor? They were both using titles for their names, knew a lot about Earth and were weird. And that faces that alien had cycled through on the roof in his search on the Doctor, Rory had recognized some of them from the Master’s ship. He didn’t quite understand how they could hall have been the Doctor. Was it some kind of passing the name down, like the Dread Pirate Roberts? Or was it something else? So many questions that he couldn’t really ask, not unless he saw the Doctor or the Master again and he wasn’t sure that would ever happen.
It was by accident he looked out the kitchen window of his parent’s home, which he still lived in - but that was a totally different story - and saw the black box sitting innocently in the backyard in the exact same place it landed before. Rory stared at it in astonishment for nearly five minutes before snapping out of it and going to it.
He knocked on the door and it opened immediately, almost as if the Master had been waiting for him.
He looked exactly the same, as if no timed had passed for him at all. Same hair, same coat, same suit and the same scarf though it was more firmly in place around his neck. He leaned against the ship’s door frame and regarded Rory seriously.
“The last human I liked shot me.”
Rory frowned, “I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m a Nurse.”
The Master grimaced, “Least you’re not a Doctor,” then added under his breath, “already got one of those pain in the asses.”
“If you even think of shooting me, I’ll kill you,” he said, stepping aside and giving Rory permission to enter which he did, after a moment’s thought. It felt like no time had passed at all, like he was seven again and gazing around himself in amazement. The ship was still so big and full of wonder, he didn’t think he’d ever learn all her secrets.
Rory turned to the Master, “Where are we going first?”
Ankle Biters
Prompt: Nikola's latest plan for world domination includes cloning himself to make an army. Unfortunately he forgot about the baby part of letting the clones grow-up.
Words:329
Nikola Tesla was a genius. He's told hundreds of people, not all of whom believed him and advanced science in countless ways. However, as much as it pains him to admit it, when it comes to World Domination there was always and inevitably one thing he overlooked.
This time it was babies.
Yes, cloning himself was an awesome idea - genius even. Five versions of himself working together towards his goals and eventually accomplishing things not even the Vampires of old had been able to. It would have been great.
In reality, it was not so cool.
"I'm a terrible baby," Nikola pled his case to Helen and her ragtag team. "Look at them, they keep trying to eat me! Ow!!"
Nikola had decided that starting with four clones would be enough and that more could be created when the need arose. The problem was that he hadn't been able to do it as if he were using a photocopy machine. His clones had started out small with the requirement of time to grow. They were now three months old and he was fucking sick of them. Their food source was - obviously - blood but, like this very moment, they turned on him when they were hungry and drank from the closest available piece of skin. And they were always hungry!
"I don't know what it is you expect me to do," Helen said straight faced, but Nikola knew her, she was amused.
"I don't care," Nikola pried the little ankle biter off him. "Just deal with them. They're nightmares."
"Can't imagine why," Dog-boy said under his breath sarcastically. Nikola sent him a withering glare.
He set the baby on Helen's desk and immediately started to cry. Rolling his eyes, Nikola placed his hand on the child’s head and it began to calm.
Helen was smirking, "I'm afraid removing them from your care might not be possible. Looks like you'll just have to endure parenthood."
All four babies gurgled contently.
