~unedited~
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There was a loud clang as the elevator door opened, Rose, Ella and the Doctor piled in, Ella shamelessly invited Cathica along with them, “come on. Come with us.”
The woman studied Ella, debating, weighing her options, “no.” Immediately after she said that a little flicker of an emotion that she didn’t understand made her heart ache.
The Doctor couldn’t have been happier though, “bye then!”
“Well, don’t mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me.” She turned, heels clicking with her swift exit.
“That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just us,” the Doctor beamed at Ella and Rose.
“Yeah,” the girls smiled back, and the Doctor didn’t notice Ella’s falter.
“Good.” The Doctor typed in the key code and they shot up the space station, the doors opened with another loud clang and the air that greeted them was freezing. “The walls are not made of gold. You two should go back downstairs.”
“You must know that will never happen,” Ella declared as her and Rose walked ahead of him, he stared after them with a calculating look. Soon they found themselves in a room containing a white-haired man and about six other people at computer screens.
“You know, you are fascinating.” The Editor complimented them when they joined him on the platform overlooking the others at the computer screens. “Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three, you don't exist. Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?”
Ella studied the people sitting at screens to distract herself from that oddly poetic line, she made it to the last person. Rose must have seen the same thing because the blonde rushed forward, “Suki. Suki! Hello? Can you hear me? Suki? What have you done to her?” Rose shouted.
“I think she's dead,” the Doctor replied in a monotone that Ella recognized.
“She's working,” Ella’s voice cracked because of how morbid that was. “Is it because of the chips in their heads?”
“Yes, they keep going on. Like puppets.” The Editor marveled at the group.
“Oh! you’re full of information! But it’s only fair that we get some information back because apparently, you’re no one. Do you know how rare it is not to know something? Who are you?” The Doctor as usual brushed off his question, it was difficult to get answers out of him on a good day, so this stranger definitely wasn’t going to be able to. Ella reached for Rose’s hand when the Doctor said it was time to leave but a few of the undead workers grabbed them and held them in place.
Ella huffed in annoyance, “seriously? How often can one be held hostage by zombies?”
“Is that a normal occurrence,” Rose asked while the Editor was still trying to get answers out of the Doctor.
“Not really. But it’s weird that it happened twice.”
“Three times. Remember Charles Dickens?” Rose lifted an eyebrow as she recalled the more detailed story that she was told on one of those many nights the girls spent talking and catching up since Rose boarded the Tardis.
“Can those really be counted as zombies though,” Ella whispered as she focused in on the Doctor and the Editor when the latter announced his boss and drew their attention upwards. The group of time travelers looked up and saw a giant set of teeth connected to a rather large life form clinging to the ceiling.
“What is that,” Rose asked.
“More importantly, why didn’t we notice when we walked in? That thing is massive!” Ella marveled as she tried to wiggle her way out of the hold on her, but the dead people had a rather tight grip on her wrists.
“That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race. For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided. His knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior, your master and humanity’s guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe … I call him Max.” The Editor smiled at the group after his little sermon.
Down on floor 139, Adam hid from Cathica as she had a twinge of doubt, she went over to the mainframe that the Doctor took apart and studied the monitor again. She thought about the look on Ella’s face when she rejected her offer to go to floor 500 with them and she thought about how her ignorance annoyed the Doctor and she didn’t understand why she wanted to impress them now. Cathica stomped to the elevator and typed in the keycode she saw when the others went up. Adam snuck into a broadcasting room to further his plan, he engaged the safety and called his home number once again, the information beaming into his head didn’t feel like before with the computer terminal. It was loud and made him feel like he was full of static but through the white noise he could see everything that he wanted to know.
The Doctor and the girls were put into some pretty hefty manacles and Ella found herself not listening to the speech the Editor was giving about words having power over people. She already knew enough about that because all it took was one article in one newspaper to get the whole country to believe that it was her mom who was drinking the night of the accident and not the other driver. The Doctor’s voice brought her out of her spiraling thoughts, “let me out of these manacles and you’ll find out how much fun I am,” and Ella smirked at that.
“Oh, he's tough, isn't he?” the Editor smiled at the girls like they were old friends. “But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit.”
“It’s like the exact opposite of great,” Ella deadpanned.
“You can’t hide something on this scale, someone must have noticed.” Rose voiced with more force than Ella could muster right now.
“From time to time, someone, yes. The computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can sense the smallest doubt and crush it. Then they just carry on, living the life strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they’re so individual.” A shift in Ella’s peripheral caught her eye and she looked at the reflective surface behind the Editor and saw Cathica listening in. “When of course they’re not, they’re just cattle. The Jagrafess hasn’t changed much.”
“What about you? You’re not a Jagra … uh … belly.” A goofy smile spread across Ella’s face at Rose’s words.
“Jagrafess,” she corrected through a breathy laugh.
“Jagrafess. You’re not a Jagrafess. You’re human.” Rose carried on like she didn’t slip up.
“Yes, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well.” Ella was definitely not a fan of his condescending tone.
“Obviously you couldn't have done this all on your own. You must represent a lot of people with a lot of money, correct?” Ella raised an eyebrow; it was all she could do with her limited movements.
“Yes, I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to, um, install himself.”
“No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?” Cathica’s reflection showed her looking up at the Doctor’s words and finally noticing the massive creature attached to the ceiling.
“3000 years.”
“That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life support system.” Ella noted that the Doctor’s voice has risen a tiny bit, trying to give their only ally not currently tied up an idea.
“And that’s why you’re so dangerous. Knowledge is power and you remain unknown.” He chuckled and snapped his fingers, energy surged out of the manacles and Ella grit her teeth at the familiar sensation. She may not have been conscious when Taludav used the spider on her, but she remembers how the electricity felt when it burned through her body. “Who are you?”
The energy stopped and Ella let out a jagged breath, “Leave them alone! I’m the Doctor, she’s Rose Tyler and she’s Ella Dupont. We’re nothing, we’re just wandering.”
“Tell me who you are!”
“He literally just said,” Ella growled out.
“Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly …” He stops talking as the Jagrafess growls, a creepy smile spread across his face. “Time Lord.”
The Doctor took a second to process that, “what?”
“Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine.” He approached Ella and Rose. “Oh, and his little human girls from long ago.” The Editor looked like he was about to reach out and touch their faces and Ella swore that if he did, she was going to bite him and not in a fun way.
“You don't know what you're talking about,” the Doctor was almost frantic at this point.
“Time travel,” the Editor sounded like all his dreams had come true, which wasn’t good.
“Someone’s been telling you lies,” Ella could hear the venom in his voice.
“Young master Adam Mitchell,” the Editor snapped and pulled up a holo-monitor and there he was, with a hole in his head, screaming as they extracted information from him.
“That dumbass,” Ella almost shouted.
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Okay but like does anyone else who writes fanfic go back to the source material and find it kinda weird that your oc isn't there??? Or is that just me??? -Lilly