The Doctor turned and charged out of the room, running towards the entrance to the hospital. He stopped on a mezzanine above the first floor and crouched behind a large potted plant, the other two copying his movements as they peered down at the floor below.
People began running and screaming as the Judoon marched into the hospital, although one brave man stepped forward and tried to greet them diplomatically, only to get shoved into a wall. They assimilated the English language from his speech, scanning him and marking him as human with a cross on the back of his hand, before continuing further into the hospital.
"Oh, look down there, you've got a little shop. I like the little shops," the Doctor exclaimed, peering over the railing at a little area set into the wall below, filled with cards and gifts.
"What is your obsession with little shops?" Lyssa whispered, pulling him back into hiding. "They just offer overpriced stuff that you can get cheaper literally anywhere else."
He grimaced. "Once you've spent long enough in a hospital, anything they offer as a distraction is welcome."
Lyssa blinked, taken aback. He liked them because he associated them with a reprieve from some kind of emotional or mental pain? She... had honestly not expected that. Though, to be fair, she'd never really expected him to be the type of person to spend a great deal of time in a hospital for whatever reason, unless it was on an adventure, like on New Earth.
"Yeah, never mind that," Martha hissed. "What are the Judoon?"
"Galactic police. Well, police for hire. More like interplanetary thugs," the Doctor said seriously, watching them catalog another poor man who seemed scared out of his mind.
"And they brought us to the moon," Martha pointed out.
"Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated us. That rain? Lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop," the Doctor explained.
"Which should be illegal," Lyssa grumbled before sneezing into her shirt. "They basically kidnapped us - which means they acted on Earth territory."
"You can file a complaint, but it'll get mired in red tape," he told her. "Bureaucracy is the same across the universe."
"What's that about 'galactic law'? Where'd you get that from?" Martha frowned. "If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?"
"If we are, it's only because they kidnapped us and brought us here," Lyssa pointed out, crossing her arms and releasing them with a frown when the action made her chest ache as if she'd strained something, her heartbeat seeming to echo strangely before fading away. "They wouldn't have much ground to stand on in court, although I doubt this lot sees much of the inside of a courtroom. They don't seem to be the type that follows the official rules all that much."
"They're not," the Doctor told her grimly. "And we're not trespassing. But I like that. Good thinking. No, it's more simple. They're making a catalog, which means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me. And possibly Lyssa." He glanced down at her from the corner of his eye. "Depends on how advanced their technology is."
"Why would it be bad?" Martha asked curiously. He just looked at her, making her hesitate before shaking her head. "Oh, you're kidding me." He raised an eyebrow. "Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that."
He grinned, taking her hand and setting it on his wrist, letting her feel his pulse and watching her expression fill with shock. "I have two hearts, Miss Jones. Will that convince you?" he told her, grabbing Lyssa's hand as he stood and pulling her to her feet with him. "Need to find an administration office. How do you feel about running?"
"Do I have a choice?" she asked dryly, gesturing at the mercenaries down below.
He glanced down and had the grace to wince. "Probably not," he admitted. "Still, thought it better to ask. Let's go!" He started off confidently down a hallway, Lyssa standing back and watching him go with a smile.
"Wait! The offices are down this corridor!" Martha called after him, pointing in the other direction.
He turned around and grinned sheepishly. "After you, then."
Shaking her head, Martha led the way down the corridor towards an office halfway down, all of them stopping when another scream rang out, this time filled with pain before it abruptly cut short.
"That wasn't just a cry of fear," Lyssa realized with horror, glancing at the Doctor. She was... familiar... now, with the sound of life being cut off, of people dying, though no more used to it than when she'd first met the Doctor.
He shook his head grimly, reaching out to give her hand a comforting squeeze. "No. It wasn't."
"What do you mean?" Martha asked nervously, eyes flitting between the two of them. "What just happened?"
"The Judoon aren't like the Earth police, Martha," he told her quietly. "They charge you with a crime, judge you, and carry out sentence all at once. If someone attacked them, by their laws, they would be sentenced to death. Immediately."
Lyssa sucked in a breath, heart skipping a beat. "I think... I think I remember this. Someone tried to hit one of them with a pot. He was scared. He didn't even do any damage. But they killed him. He was just scared," she murmured unhappily, eyes falling to the floor.
"They killed someone?" Martha asked in horror. "Wait. What do you mean, remember?" she asked sharply. "How could you remember something that hadn't happened yet? Is it part of that whole..." she lowered her voice, "'Alien' thing you were talking about earlier?"
"This looks like the right place," the Doctor announced loudly, tugging Lyssa with him into the office and avoiding the question. "Martha, go see where they're at. I'm going to try and take a look at this computer, see what I can find out." She narrowed her eyes at him, but obeyed, leaving them alone in the office as he sat down in one chair and gestured for Lyssa to take the other. "You feeling all right?" he checked as he pulled out his sonic and turned it on the computer.
She hesitated, taking a moment to assess how she was doing and rubbing at her chest as the echoing sensation came back. "Well, I don't feel as tired as I did earlier, though that's probably just the adrenaline. A little stuffy, and just... generally off, I guess," she frowned. "It's like there's an... echo, something where it shouldn't be..."
"Headache?" He glanced up in concern. "When they're bad enough, sometimes it seems like you're aware of your own pulse in your head."
She shook her head. "It's weird, but it feels more like... it's inside my heart? That makes no sense, I know, but that's how it feels." She stopped when she saw his face. "Doctor? Doctor, what is it? What's wrong?"
He was staring at her with wide eyes, but at her question, he shook his head and assumed a casual look, concentrating on the computer. "Nothing's wrong. I just - I think I may have figured out what's wrong with you. Maybe. I might have to run more scans to be sure. But if I'm right, then we'll just have to let it run its course."
She frowned. "So, it's something more than just being stressed from Canary Wharf? Like I didn't just catch a space cold or whatever because my immune system just threw up its hands and gave in?"
He mouthed the words 'space cold' with an incredulous expression, but got no further with an explanation before Martha came running in. "They're on the third floor. What's that thing?" she asked, panting.
"Sonic screwdriver," he said casually, still trying to pull up information on the screen.
"Well, if you're not going to answer me properly," she said indignantly.
"No, really, it is. It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic!" he defended himself, waving it around in the air and briefly activating it as if to make his point.
Martha crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at him. "What else have you got, then? A laser spanner?"
He snorted. "I did, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman. And before you ask, no, I don't have a tricorder. It stopped working after Lyssa dropped it in her hot chocolate."
"I said I was sorry!" she muttered sheepishly.
The Doctor frowned as something flashed across the screen before hitting the side of the monitor. "Oh, this computer! The Judoon must have locked it down." He threw himself back into his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. "Judoon platoon upon the moon," he mused, ignoring Lyssa's muffled snickers.
"'Cause we were just traveling past, I swear, we were just wandering," he started, glancing up at Martha. "I wasn't looking for trouble, honestly, I wasn't, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's plasma coils, been building up for two days now. Lyssa wasn't feeling that great anyway, so we made it seem a bit worse than it sounded and checked in. I thought something was going on inside, turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above," he rambled.
"But... what were they looking for?" Martha frowned, leaning against the wall.
"Something that looks human, but isn't," he told her, running a hand through his hair as he stared at the screen.
"Like you, apparently. Or Lyssa," Martha pointed out.
"Like me, but not me. And definitely not like Lyssa," he added.
"Haven't they got a photo?"
He shook his head. "Might be a shape changer."
Lyssa snorted. "Well, that'd be awkward now, wouldn't it. It'd certainly explain why they're cataloging everyone they find. Mark them, so you know it's not them."
"Well, whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find them?" Martha suggested. "I mean, if that's what they're here for."
The Doctor paused in his work to glance up, giving her a grim look. "If they declare the hospital guilty of harboring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."
"All of us?" Martha repeated incredulously. "But, we didn't even know they were here until now! Most of them still don't know!"
Lyssa scowled, glaring at the desk. "They murdered a man who'd only attacked them in self-defense - and one who'd done no damage at that. They invaded the Earth and kidnapped a hospital - a universal concept, by the way, so they know there're injured and vulnerable patients here - and put us in an atmosphere we can't survive in. They'll have no problem with any or all of us dying," she said darkly, recalling how they'd just left the overloaded scanner about to explode, and only the Doctor had kept it from killing everyone in the hospital.
"You know, you're awfully grumpy when you're sick," the Doctor observed. When she switched her glare to him, he made a show of studying the computer. "Anyway, if I can find this thing first, we should be good to go..." he trailed off, focusing on the screen with a frown. "Oh!" He stood up from his chair in a frenzy. "They're thick! The Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records!" He flopped back down in his chair, running his fingers through his hair with a pout. "Oh, that's clever."
"What are we looking for?" Martha frowned, looking between the useless computer and him.
He shook his head. "I don't know. Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up."
"Just keep working," she suggested. "I'll go ask Mr. Stoker. Maybe he'll know."
Lyssa sighed as she watched the girl run out of the room, then turned back to the Doctor, both of them working hard at fixing this while she helpfully... sat. In her chair. Yes, she was sick, but she wasn't that sick. She could help, somehow.
And then the Doctor leapt up in triumph. "I've got it!" he exclaimed proudly before looking around. "Where's Martha?"
"She should be right down the hall. All the offices are in this area," Lyssa informed him, jerking a thumb in the direction Martha had gone. He nodded, helping her to her feet and promptly rushing out of the room. She sighed as she made her way after him "Always with the running. Just once, can't we have, like, a slug monster or something?" she grumbled, picking up the pace until she caught up with him and had to stop short.
He and Martha were both staring at two humanoid creatures covered completely in black motorcycle gear, and wearing helmets with the visors pulled down, obscuring their features. The two creatures tensed, visibly getting ready to attack.
"Slabs," the Doctor breathed, slowly reaching a hand out behind him to take Lyssa's hand, somehow knowing she was there. "Get ready to - run!" he shouted abruptly, spinning around and pulling her back down the corridor, Martha close behind them. They darted down a stairwell, only to come face to face with the Judoon coming up. Making an about face, they dodged through another door onto the fourth floor, still pursued by the Slabs and, slower, the Judoon.
Lyssa struggled to keep up, heart pounding so fiercely in her chest it ached as she gasped for air. The Doctor kept his hand tight around hers, tugging her along and keeping her upright when she stumbled. Behind them, the Slabs kept gaining, growing closer with each passing second.
Then the Doctor pulled her into the radiology room, sonicking the door shut in the face of a Slab. She had just enough strength to get behind the protective shielding with Martha at the Doctor's direction before her legs gave out and she collapsed on the floor, thoroughly exhausted.
Okay, maybe she was a little sicker than she thought. Normally that wouldn't have done much more than leave her a little winded.
The Doctor's eyes flashed to her, but he stayed by the machinery, posture tense as the Slab pounded on the door. "Martha, when I tell you, press the button!"
"I don't know which button! And your - your friend, she's sick!" she called back, torn between scanning the control panel and checking on Lyssa. "Just - try and take steady breaths," she urged, grabbing the manual and flipping through it rapidly.
"It won't matter if the Slab breaks through that door and I can't stop him, so you better find out!" the Doctor shouted darkly, raising his sonic and using it on the machinery, powering it up. The door shattered as it finally gave way beneath the pounding blows, and the Slab charged into the room. "Now!" he shouted.
Lyssa watched with bated breath as Martha slammed her hand down on a big yellow button and the room was lit with a pale blue-green glow before it faded.
"What did you do?" Martha demanded in the ensuing silence.
"Increased the radiation by five thousand percent. Killed him dead," the Doctor said casually, staring down at the still form by his feet.
"As opposed to killing him alive," Lyssa muttered, closing her eyes and resting her head on her knees now that the immediate danger was over.
"Isn't that likely to kill you?" Martha said incredulously, staring at him.
He grinned and shook his head wildly. "Nah, it's only radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out, I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it." He started bouncing and hopping, alternating his feet as he shook his hands wildly. "If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go, easy does it..." He started shaking his left foot. "Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out, ah, ah, ah, ah. It is, it is, it is, it is, it is hot. Ah, hold on." Removing his show, he threw his shoe into a nearby dustbin. "Done."
"You're completely mad," Martha stated flatly.
"Right. I look daft with one shoe," the Doctor stated assertively, removing his other shoe. "Barefoot on the moon!" He grinned, wiggling his now bare toes.
"You looked daft with both shoes on, so I'm not sure that this really helps that much," Lyssa teased, reluctantly pushing herself to her aching feet and joining them. "I mean, I don't think it was the shoes that really made the impression."
"Hey! You're... not looking as well as you did before," the Doctor frowned, offense fading and eyeing her with concern. "Are you feeling worse? Or just tired from the running?" he asked, holding the back of his hand to her forehead to check her temperature.
"I think it's just the running?" she shrugged. "I mean, I've been tired, so I'm not going to be up for as much running as I normally would." She shoved a stray curl out of her face, wishing she'd chosen a more secure hairstyle that morning. "I'm feeling better now. Or at least less winded," she amended.
He frowned, starting to pace, only to be interrupted by Martha. "So, what's that thing?" she pointed down at the lifeless form at their feet. "And where's it come from, the planet Zovirax?" she asked sarcastically.
"It's just a Slab. They're called 'Slabs'. Basic slave drones, see?" the Doctor asked, prodding at the drone with his foot. "Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one heck of a..." he trailed off, clearing his throat. "Anyways."
"It came with that woman, Mrs. Finnegan. It was working for her. Just like a servant," Martha said thoughtfully.
The Doctor nodded, only half paying attention as he glanced at Lyssa again before pulling his sonic screwdriver out of the machinery. It was horribly burned, and clearly no longer usable. The look of heartbreak on his face was enough to make Lyssa have to stifle a snicker.
"She was one of the patients, but..." Martha trailed off, remembering.
"My sonic screwdriver!" he breathed sadly, stroking a trembling hand over the charred metal.
"She had a straw, like some kind of vampire," Martha continued, focusing on the issue at hand.
"I loved my sonic screwdriver!" he mourned, sending a hurt look at Lyssa when she couldn't hold it back anymore and doubled over in laughter. "Lyssa!" he exclaimed in betrayal.
"Doctor!" Martha countered indignantly as Lyssa straightened, struggling to hide her mirth still.
"Sorry!" he apologized, straightening and flinging his screwdriver over his shoulder before smiling in realization. "You called me 'Doctor'."
"Anyway," Martha stressed, ignoring his triumphant look. "Mrs. Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood!"
"Funny time to take a snack," he mused. "You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless, no. Yes, that's it, wait a minute. Yes! Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it!" he realized. "If she can assimilate Mr. Stoker's blood, mimic the morphology, she can register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!"
"Why are we always running?" Lyssa protested as he and Martha ran out of the room, pushing off from the wall and hurrying to keep up with them. "This much running can't be healthy."
The Doctor stopped abruptly two floors down and spun around, pulling them behind a water cooler, as the remaining Slab charged down the hallway towards them. "Not for you right now, it's not," he whispered. "You need rest, and lots of it, or your body will literally force you to rest. As soon as we're done here, you're going straight back to the TARDIS to rest." He glanced up as the Slab passed by them, just missing their hiding spot. "That's the thing about Slabs. They always travel in pairs."
"Is that what Lyssa is to you, then?" Martha asked curiously, studying them both. "Cause, you called her 'Miss Devons', which means you're probably not married, but you said she wasn't quite... human, either."
"Humans!" the Doctor said in exasperation, rolling his eyes. "We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, you're asking personal questions. Come on." He pulled Lyssa to her feet, Martha following close behind as they traveled in the opposite direction of the Slab.
"'Humans'!" Martha mocked him scornfully. "Two hearts don't make you an alien, you know, there are procedures that can leave you with two hearts. You look a lot more human than those Judoon things."
They rounded a corner and stepped right in front of a Judoon, who shone a blue light in the Doctor's face. "Non-human," it grunted, hand falling to its weapon.
"I stand corrected," Martha said faintly, staring at him with wide eyes.
"And again!" the Doctor exclaimed, grabbing both Lyssa and Martha by the arms and turning around once more, ducking their heads as shots began to fly after them. They managed to dodge behind several patients into another stairwell and ran up another flight, locking the door behind them.
Lyssa coughed into her sleeve, struggling to catch her breath when the air felt thinner than usual. But she wasn't alone this time - all around them, people were lying or sitting on the floor, weak and gasping for breath, little crosses marking the back of their hands.
"They've done this floor," the Doctor decided, scanning the area with dark eyes. "Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky," he muttered under his breath, leading the way forward.
Martha stopped halfway down the corridor by a med student who was helping an elderly patient put on an oxygen mask. "How much oxygen is there?" she asked in a low voice.
The woman looked up at them, her eyes frightened. "Not enough for everyone here. We're going to run out."
The Doctor turned to Lyssa, eyes dark. "How are you feeling? Are you all right?"
She nodded. "Well as I can be, given the situation."
He turned to the future companion. "And you?"
She shrugged. "I'm running on adrenaline."
"Welcome to my world," he grinned.
"What about the Judoon?" Martha questioned.
He waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Ah, great big lung reserves, it won't slow them down. Where's Mr. Stoker's office?"
"It's this way," Martha directed, leading the way to an office where Mr. Stoker lay dead on the floor, face unnaturally pale and eyes open wide in fear. Lyssa swallowed hard and looked away as the Doctor knelt by him. "She's gone! She was here, though," Martha protested, looking around for their errant criminal.
"Drained him dry," the Doctor noted, raising an eyebrow as he examined the body. "Every last drop. I was right. She's a Plasmavore."
"What was she doing on earth?" Martha wondered.
"Hiding. On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all," the Doctor frowned, brow furrowed. "We need to find her," he announced, standing up.
"Wait a minute," Martha said softly. The Doctor nodded, wrapping an arm around Lyssa and pulling her to stand by the door as Martha knelt over the dead man and carefully closed his eyes for him, granting him one last dignity that he hadn't been afforded in life.
The Doctor waited until she joined them to begin to pace. "Think, think, think. If I was a Plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" He glanced up, pausing when he spotted the MRI sign. "Ah. She's as clever as me," he breathed, then wagged his head. "Almost."
They all looked up at the sound of heavy tromping. "Find the non-human," the Judoon growled from somewhere close by. "Execute."
The Doctor growled and clenched his fist. "Stay here, both of you. You're going to have to buy me time." He glanced at Lyssa, then down at her necklace with a calculating gaze. "You should be safe. I think it's early enough that you won't register. Just... don't do anything that attracts attention to you. Go along with whatever they tell you, they should register you as fully human." He paused, eyes darkening. "But if they detect anything different, run."
Lyssa nodded mutely, frightened despite herself at the worry in his gaze.
"How do we buy you time?" Martha asked. "Tell them we're working to find the killer too?"
He sighed. "It means nothing to me," he told Lyssa firmly, looking her in the eye. "I would choose you a hundred times over, but I don't want any more attention on you than there has to be."
She nodded slowly, brow furrowed slightly. She assumed he meant he would've kis- done a genetic transfer on her instead of Martha, due to him knowing her better, except he didn't want to risk the Judoon doing a deeper scan. "It's all right," she told him, cheeks heating up despite herself at the thought. "Genetic transfer, yeah?"
He smiled before turning to Martha. "Martha, I'm sorry. It's to save a thousand lives, and Lyssa. It means nothing to me, honestly nothing." He took her face in his hands and kissed her on the cheek next to her mouth then disappeared down the hallway.
Martha stared after him, one hand coming up to touch her cheek. "What? That was..." She turned to Lyssa, voice rising slightly. "What was that?"
"Ah... Genetic transfer?" Lyssa shrugged with a sheepish smile. "You're human, but now have alien DNA on you. It should be enough to distract them. They'll take the time to do a deeper scan, realize you're fully human, and move on. It wouldn't work with me. Sorry for the lack of explanation beforehand, there wasn't time," she apologized, meaning every word of it.
They had just kind of sprung it on her, and while she'd been fine with it in the show, that didn't mean it would still be true here - or that they shouldn't have asked first.
Martha nodded faintly, still visibly a bit dazed. "Right." She blinked, gaze sharpening. "Are you all right with that? I know it was to keep attention off you or whatever, but I know I wouldn't feel happy if my... partner... kissed another girl, even if it was to protect me. I don't want to damage your relationship, or anything."
Lyssa flushed bright red. "What? No! I - We - we're best friends, but we're not dating! He doesn't see me that way." Her hand crept up to fiddle with her necklace unconsciously. "To be honest, I thought he was going to kiss you on the mouth. I thought it was more accurate that way, or something."
Martha raised an eyebrow, a smile playing about the corners of her mouth. "Maybe it is. But he didn't. He made sure to tell you - and me - that it meant nothing, and made a point of not kissing me on the mouth. Not to mention I just met you and I can already see how much he cares about you. Practically every other move he makes is to check on you. You really sure you aren't dating?" she teased.
Lyssa was going to live to be a hundred years old and still die with her cheeks bright red. "Positive," she managed to squeak out. Then the Judoon walked into their corridor, and it was funny how instantly her blush was gone.
"Find the non-human. Execute," the chief Judoon ordered.
Martha bravely stepped forward, blocking the way to Lyssa. "Now, listen. I know who you're looking for. She's this woman. She calls herself Florence."
Not listening, the Judoon stepped forward and scanned her with its light. "Human. With non-human traits suspected. Non-human traits confirmed. Authorize full scan," it ordered, pushing Martha back against the wall. "What are you? What are you?" it demanded.
Lyssa looked up as another Judoon towered over her, flinching away as it scanned her with its light, heart pounding in anticipation of what they would find. It paused several times before finally finishing just before she was about to have a nervous breakdown. "Human," it grunted, taking her hand and marking it with a cross.
The other Judoon finished with Martha's scan and handed her a slip of paper. "Confirmed human. Traces of facial contact with non-human. Continue the search." The next part was directed at Martha. "You will need this"
"What is it?" Martha asked, staring at the unintelligible symbols.
"Compensation," it informed her abruptly.
"No, but wait! I can lead you to the killer!" Martha shouted, dropping the paper and taking off down the hallway towards the MRI room, only for the Judoon to push her out of the way as they charged forward.
Lyssa followed, wincing when a sharp pain sliced through the right side of her chest as if she'd fallen on something sharp. She staggered, slumping against the wall and clutching a hand to her chest. Painful tears pricked her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
She forced herself to push off of the wall, one hand clamped against her chest as if to hold in the blood from the wound she didn't have, and stumbled down the hallway after the Judoon. The air was growing thinner, leaving her chest heaving with each breath as she struggled to draw in enough air.
Then she arrived in the room and froze. An elderly woman stood in the center of the room, an innocent looking straw dripping red held in her hand. And at her feet... lay the Doctor, pale and still. Too still, and her heart gave another painful throb at the sight.
"Now look what you've done! This poor man just died of fright!" The older woman scolded the Judoon, raising a hand to her mouth to wipe away another trace of red.
"Scan him!" one of the Judoon ordered, holding its device out until it beeped. "Confirmation: Deceased," it announced.
Lyssa staggered back against the wall as another sharp pain sliced through her, hardly hearing Martha arguing with the Judoon, before finally taking their scanner and using it on the woman. Lyssa glanced up, catching the Plasmavore's eye as she realized that by assimilating the Doctor's blood, she no longer registered as human to the Judoons' scanners, and gave her a sharp, bitter smile.
"You lose," she pronounced slowly, watching with grim satisfaction as the one responsible for so much death, for killing the Doctor, realized her own greed had led to her downfall. The Judoon declared their sentence in a matter of moments, dissolving the Plasmavore and the Slab when it tried to defend her in a series of blasts from their weapons.
Then her legs gave way beneath her and she slid to the floor, kept upright only by the wall at her back. What was it River had said? She was connected to the Doctor's timeline, which meant that if he died, so did she.
And the Doctor was dead.
The Judoon marched out, their business done, leaving her and Martha alone in the room as the woman shouted after them desperately, the scanner beeping shrilly. She coughed, straining to breathe as the atmosphere continued to thin. She knew the Judoon would bring them back to Earth, but so many things had changed - would they be brought back in time? How many people, already vulnerable, would die from the stress and lack of air?
No longer able to support herself, she slumped over onto her side, looking up with dazed eyes to find Martha doing CPR on the Doctor's still form. But there was a problem, something Martha was forgetting. "Two hearts, Martha," she managed to croak groggily, wincing as another stab of pain shot through her heart. "Need to do it... on both sides." She laid her head back down on the floor, gasping for breath as the med student nodded and switched compressions to the other side.
But then the pain vanished, and she was able to take a deep breath as the sound of deep coughing filled the room. Too weak to bother trying to get up, she rolled her head to the side to look and saw Martha collapse, finally giving in to the lack of air as the Doctor struggled to sit up, his eyes red.
"The scanner. She did something to it," Martha breathed as her eyes fluttered shut.
Still too weak to get to his feet, the Doctor coughed again and crawled his way over to the machine, studying it for a minute before unplugging a wire, stopping the beeping. Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Lyssa rolled onto her back, closing her eyes wearily. Something dragged along the floor and she reluctantly opened her eyes to find the Doctor bending over her, looking almost as exhausted as she felt.
"Hey," she murmured.
He managed a faint smirk. "Hey. I see you were being productive. Testing the strength of the floor?" he teased, voice raspy but quickly - and unfairly - returning to normal.
She would have raised a hand to whack him, but didn't have the energy, closing her eyes sleepily. "It's floor appreciation day, didn't you know? Someone's got to do it."
He huffed a laugh, getting onto his knees and lifting her into his arms, before standing with a pained grunt. "I'm a bit worried about you. Hugging floors, what's next? Chairs?"
"Nah," she murmured, curling into his chest as he slowly walked out of the room. "I think my bed's looking much more inviting."
He snorted, coming to a stop by a window. "Come on, come on, come on. Come on, Judoon, reverse it!" he pleaded, eyes fixed on a distant point, only to relax all of a sudden. "It's raining, fairy-girl," he breathed, a smile gracing his features. "It's raining on the moon."
xXx
Lyssa slowly returned to consciousness, prying open bleary eyes to find herself back in her room, covers drawn up to her chin. She yawned, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as she reluctantly sat up. She was still tired, and half tempted to go right back to sleep, but she wanted to check on the Doctor and make sure he was truly all right after what had happened.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she slid out of bed. After quickly freshening up in the bathroom and pulling her hair into a braid, she made her way to the console room, hoping the Doctor would be there.
She found him laying on the floor holding a book above his head, reading silently, and looking completely back to his usual self, much to her relief. He glanced up as she stepped into the room, springing to his feet when he saw her.
"Lyssa! You're awake! And... leaving," he realized with a frown, shoulders sagging.
She glanced down, noting in surprise the golden swirls forming around her hands and feet. "Oh! I... guess I am. Are you all right?" she checked on him, wanting to know for sure before she jumped.
He nodded, offering her a faint smile. "Wherever you end up, try to rest as much as possible. It's the only thing that'll help."
"I'll try," she agreed wryly. "Tell Martha I'm sorry I missed her, if you see her before I jump back," she said, and he nodded, unsurprised she knew his plans. "But... real quick, before I go, why am I sick? You said you had it figured out," she reminded him as the gold swept up her arms.
He hesitated, looking to the side awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck. "Long answer is too complicated, the short answer will leave you with more questions and is not entirely accurate. But we don't have time, so, the short answer, as concise as possible, is: puberty."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Imma just leave that there for y'all to ponder on XD
Blooper/Deleted Scene as requested by several readers. Or, the real reason the Doctor kissed Martha:
"How do we buy you time?" Martha asked. "Tell them we're working to find the killer too?"
He hummed in thought. "Genetic transfer, it'll distract them long enough for me to work."
Martha frowned. "Genet- what?"
Lyssa shifted, trying not to admit even to herself that she wasn't looking forward to this. Not because she was jealous, that was ridiculous. She just didn't want to awkwardly third-wheel as the Doctor kissed -
And then the Doctor turned to her, one hand wrapping around her waist and pulling her against him, the other rising up to cup her cheek and gently tilting her head up to face him. Her eyes widened, only to fall shut as he leaned forward, his lips brushing against hers. His hand slid back into her hair, cradling her against him like she was something precious as he deepened the kiss. Martha stammered something behind them, but she couldn't make it out, every sense filled with the Doctor.
The shrill whine of a weapon priming reached her ears. "Non-human. Execute."
The Doctor pulled away abruptly, cheeks pink and expression startled. "Oops."
In which the Doctor would get a wee bit distracted if he kissed Lyssa and mayyyyybe forget the original purpose. XD
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Edited January 2023