[IC] Through Time and Space | Kirah and carsgovroom

[carsgovroom]

Nora had almost forgotten about the Doctor. She had been so concerned about Evie and now that she saw that her sister was fine and safe all she could think about was hugging her. In fact the Doctor's sudden voice startled her a bit, which in turn startled Evie, and both sisters turned their head to the other woman while still wrapped in a hug.

Despite having a pretty trying day so far (and it was only around noon) Nora liked to think she kept up with the Doctor's babbling about the sisters being genetically compatible but different enough to mix. Suddenly the Doctor was inspecting her arm that was still holding to Evie, asking her something about the people who had kidnapped her taking blood.

"Ow, hey!" Nora said, frowning a bit as the hug ended and she pulled her arm away from the Doctor. "Look, I don't really remember. I was really out of it when it all happened. I mean they could have taken some blood, but the stuff they gave me was strong." She had started rolling up the sleeves of her jacket and showing her forearms to the Doctor.

Evie's blue eyes looked between the pair before fixing on the Doctor and her brows furrowed a bit. She was obviously still incredibly confused and she inched a bit closer to her sister. "Nora, who is this? What's she talking about? Who took blood from you?"

"She's my, um....The Doctor. She's the Doctor." Nora exchanged a glance with the Doctor, shrugging a bit before looking back to Evie. "Um, the rest is a bit of a long story...do we have time for this?"

Evie didn't look satisfied. She finally took a long look at Nora and her eyes widened. "Nora what happened? You're covered in dirt and your hair...is that a bruise on your cheek?" Evie gazed at her younger sister until she turned her head to look back. Nora's brown eyes were troubled and she was biting her lip, as though hesitant. "You called two hours ago, where've you been?"

Nora was silent for a long moment. "I ran into a bit of trouble getting here. The Doctor helped me out. But I'm fine. Really. Everything's going to be fine now, right Doctor?"

[Kirah]

"It should be. I don't see any signs of blood being drawn." The Doctor glanced at Evie as she looked like she was about to say something, then decided better not. "I'll watch out for any sign of them. I have to go get...the thing." She gestured the general shape of the beeping box she had been running around with earlier. "From...the car...You want your bags? I'll fetch them as well."

The Doctor gave Evie a warm smile. "Congratulations, by the way. Very exciting. Nora mentioned you were getting married." The Doctor started to leave. "Uh, wait Nora, can I have a moment with you?"

[carsgovroom]

"Who is them?" Evie asked, her tone containing a hint of annoyance. She looked at the Doctor, almost mistrustfully, before looking back at her sister. Nora looked like she was avoiding eye contact with her and Evie pursed her lips. "Nora? What is going on?"

Nora let out a slight sigh before turning her head to meet her sister's gaze. "It's a long story. I don't have time to explain it right now, and besides I don't understand all of it myself. Look I'm here now and it's your wedding day and let's just focus on that right now. Can we? Let's just be cheerful and celebrating and when you're back from your honeymoon I'll probably be able to explain everything. But for right now everything's fine and can we just be happy?"

Evie's eyes had narrowed a bit in consideration. She spared the Doctor another glance before looking back at her sister. "It is my wedding day. And it is hard to be mad right now when I'm so deliriously happy and excited." Her lips spread into a smile. "Alright. But we're not done talking about this." She slung her arm over her sister's shoulder and pulled her closer, then looked back at the Doctor. "Thanks for bringing her...Doctor." She said the name a bit uncertainly, but she moved past it. "Let's see if we can't salvage your hair," Evie said to Nora as she started to turn to go back into the room.

"Please and thank you about the bags," Nora said to the Doctor, and Evie nodded in thanks for the congratulations. Nora paused when the Doctor asked for a moment and that stopped her sister from pulling her into the hotel room. Nora looked over at the Doctor before looking to Evie. "I'll be in in a moment," she told her, smiling reassuringly. Evie gave the Doctor one last uncertain look before nodding and going back into the room. Nora turned away from the door and moved closer to the other woman. "What do you need?" she asked curiously.

[Kirah]

"Be careful first of all. If I got you out of there before they got what they wanted..." The Doctor trailed off. "They are going to be coming here. Keep the door locked. If something goes wrong," She pulled a pen out of a pocket. "Call me." And a pad of sticky notes to write down a number (827347). "I'm going to see if I can get the TARDIS running at full again. I won't be long though. I promise." The Doctor handed her the sticky note. "I'll bring your bags and the tracker. I'll keep an eye on it during her wedding. I'll stop them." She was reassuring not just Nora, but herself. She didn't like leaving Nora alone like this with the aliens wandering about. After a quick goodbye The Doctor ran down the hall toward the bank of lifts.

Once back in the TARDIS the Doctor set some basic programs to run while she was out. The consul had stopped sparking at least. She'd have to take the TARDIS to Cardiff for a bit of refueling, why did it have to be Cardiff?

What the Doctor missed as she had been running to the TARDIS to collect Nora's bags, and the tracker, was two burly men leaving St. Mary's church and crossing the street into the Hotel where Nora and her sister were getting ready for Evie's wedding.

[carsgovroom]

Nora reached out and took the sticky note, looking briefly down at the number before looking back up. A corner of her mouth twitched up into a sort of half smile and she nodded. "Thank you, Doctor. For helping her. And me. When you don't even really know me." She looked at her curiously as she said that. It had been the first time she had thought that but it was true. The Doctor didn't know her and she was going through all of this trouble to help. Nora watched the woman vanish down the hall and made a mental note to ask her about it the next time she saw her.

Evie opened the door for her sister when she knocked and she was smiling as she started brushing dirt off of Nora's clothes. "You're filthy," she commented with an affectionate tone.

"Yeah, well, I'll tell you about it when the whole wedding thing is over," Nora said as she shrugged off her jacket, leaving her in a gray t-shirt and jeans. She had the sticky note clenched in one hand and she was now touching her hair with the other, looking at Evie a bit guiltily. "Do you think we can save it without a shower?"

"Mmmm don't think so. Rinse off really quickly and I'll do it for you." Evie had always been better at those sort of things so Nora went into the bathroom with a fresh set of clothes in her arm without much argument and stood under the warm water for a few minutes, letting the dirt slip from her skin and hair. She was out and wrapped in a towel in record time and was quickly dried and dressed in the jeans and sweater Evie had lent her. As an afterthought she slipped the sticky note into her jeans pocket before going back outside.

The brown haired girl plopped down onto the bed and her blonde haired sister crawled beside her, armed with a hairbrush, and began pulling it through Nora's long hair, smoothing any tangles with gentle strokes. Nora closed her eyes and smiled a little. "Did Mum see you like that?" she heard Evie ask and she laughed softly.

"Yeah, unfortunately. What a shame. She probably expected me to arrive looking like a beautiful butterfly or something."

"Well when I'm finished you'll be the most beautiful butterfly on them all. Except for me of course." Nora nudged her sister, and then Evie pushed back and soon there was less hair brushing and more giggling.

[Kirah]

There was a knock at the door to Evie's room.
"Complementary room service for the bride." A bass from the other side of the door announced. The voice was owned by an alien in human form. His kind had been trying for months to get roots set in here on Earth, but things kept getting in the way. Not now. He thought to himself. Today they would finally have the necessary DNA collected that would allow his kind to attach themselves to humans. There were 440 types of mitochondrial DNA and these sisters had the last set they needed. It had to be a set, and they couldn't risk attaching to a person before being compatible with the DNA. It had to be complete.

Once they could attach to humans their parasitic nature would take over and they could harvest the humans at their leisure. One last set.

~~~
The Doctor picked up the machine, flicked it back to locating the Hyiasam signature. It beeped rapidly....there was a signature in the hotel, outside the hotel, in the church. "Oh no!" She dropped the machine into her pocket and ran out of the TARDIS securing it behind her before running as fast as she could back to the Hotel. "Nora don't open the door for anyone, oh please don't open the door."

[carsgovroom]

Nora's hair was half damp and she could barely hear anything over the sound of the hairdryer in Evie's hands. But both sisters could hear the knock at the door and looked up at it with surprised expressions. "Maybe it's Mum," Evie said, switching the hairdryer off and rising to her feet.

"Away from her masterpiece of a ballroom? Unlikely." The deep voice spoke out from the other side of the door and Nora looked up to see Evie's head turned to gaze back at her. The brunette sister's eyebrows furrowed a bit. "Free room service for the bride? Is that a thing?"

"Apparently?" Evie said, shrugging her shoulders and smiling. "I wasn't told anything about it but that's nice of them."

"Very fancy," Nora said with a little smirk as she leaned back on the bed. "Maybe I need to get married soon and get treated like a queen." For a few brief moments she thought nothing of the knock on the door, then right as Evie reached for the door handle the Doctor's warning to be careful seemed to replay in her mind. Nora sat back up again. "Evie, wait..."

She was too late. Evie turned the doorknob and opened the door to peer out at the man in the hallway.

[Kirah]

The man launched forward into Evie tackling her to the ground. His hand holding a cloth covered her mouth. The man was much larger than her, and he was ready for his attack. What he didn't know was that Nora was in the room. She had the upper hand there.

The Doctor rounded the corner. She saw the car parked in front of the church and hotel. One man was sitting in the driver's seat. He looked nervous. Ready for a fight. The Doctor pointed her sonic screwdriver at the car, flicked through a couple settings and then ran into the hotel. She was worried about Nora and her sister. The elevator was taking too long. She had to get upstairs faster. "Oye!" She bolted up the stairs. It was the fourth floor.

[carsgovroom]

Evie didn't have time to prepare, didn't have time for anything, before she was pinned to the ground beneath the larger, bulkier man. She opened her mouth to scream, her eyes wide with fright, before a cloth was pressed over her mouth. She inhaled the same sickly sweet smelling drug that Nora had hours ago and the effects were just as instantaneous. Her blue eyes went hazy, her eyelids drooped, and the limbs that were kicking and pushing against the man on top of her in protest went limp.

Nora had shot up to her feet when she saw the man burst in and pin her sister to the ground. She watched as he drugged her sister like the other man (or maybe this was the same guy) had only a couple of hours previous and she knew that he would just get up and carry Evie off like she had been. Evie would wake up in a dark room, alone and scared. Or Nora herself would be waking up along side her after getting kidnapped again. No way. Either way it wasn't going to happen.

As far as she could tell the man wasn't paying attention to her, or even knew she was in the room. She acted quickly and on instict. She picked up a large and rather beautiful lamp from the bedside table. It was rather heavy. Good. She ripped the plug from the wall and ran forward, lifting the thing as high as she could. When she reached where the man was chocking her sister with drug she swung the lamp down with all of her might until it smashed against it's head. The lamp shattered and Nora stumbled back, away from the man and shards of lamps. Her eyes were wide, as though she just now realized what she had done, The Doctor, where was the Doctor? She should be here...

[Kirah]

Nora could hear footsteps coming down the hall from the lifts.

The Doctor ran up the flights of stairs. One of the men pinging on her machine was running from the lift toward the room Nora and her sister were in. The door was open. Nora! Her heart pounded. She had promised to protect them, and failed. These men were going to take them and Earth would be doomed. She steeled herself. She was the Doctor. She wouldn't allow that.

The man who had struggled with Evie and been hit over the head, saw black spots form before his eyes. He hadn't expected the attack. He looked up and saw Nora standing there over him. The spots grew in his field of vision and he collapsed, still laying on top of Evie, now a dead weight on her small body.

The man in front of the Doctor turned into the room and took a few seconds to assess the situation. The girl in front of him was from earlier, and his comrade was unconscious on the ground. He knew they needed both girls. He wasn't aware that the Doctor was just a few doors down. He started to launch himself toward Nora on the attack.

[carsgovroom]

Nora winced as the man she had hit with the lamp fell unconscious right on top of her sister. She took a step forward, as though to attempt pulling him off of her, when the sound of footsteps filled her ears. The Doctor maybe? She looked up in time to see another unrecognizable man at the doorway. He stared down at the unconscious pair on the ground before looking up and seeing Nora. She went very still, looking back at him as her eyes widened. Then he threw propelled himself forward at her.

She let out a strangled cry as she dodged him. She nearly fell onto her face as she stumbled away from the attacking man, and her head swiveled around, looking for anyplace to go, anywhere to hide. The doorway was no good, the unconscious people made it a messy exit. She saw the open door of the bathroom and decided that it would have to do. Nora threw herself forward and nearly fell into the bathroom. She kicked the door shut after her and braced herself against it as she fumbled with the lock. She heard it click into place, but didn't stop pushing against it, in case he decided to try and kick it open.

Her eyes, which had been closed in concentration, snapped open as she realized she had left Evie alone out there with two men attempting to abduct them. Well, one was unconscious, but the other one might decide to leave him behind and just take her. She wanted to open the door, try to drag Evie to some sort of safety, but if she did she would no doubt get drugged and abducted again. It was too late to go back out and Nora clenched her teeth in frustration. "Come on, Doctor," she nearly growled. She had promised to protect them, where was she?

[Kirah]

A door slammed inside the room. The Doctor hoped Nora was safe on the other side of it. The man said something that Nora's small amount of time on the TARDIS allowed her to understand.
"Open the door and no harm will come to you." A lie. It always is. The Doctor leaped over the unconscious bodies in the door way.

"Well hello there. I believe we haven't met." Her voice was charismatic. She sounded in charge. "I'm the Doctor, and you are not welcome here. This is the bride's room." She gestured to the unconscious woman on the floor.

"I've heard of you. Bed time stories. I thought you were male though."

"Stories don't get everything right." She flashed a grin at the man. "Now see here, if you have heard stories, let me tell you they are true." The Doctor suddenly sounded dangerous. All that weird and unhinged that Nora had been picking up earlier in the day bled through and instead of just unhinged the Doctor sounded completely in control of her insanity. Was just a breath away from all of the universe being under her control if she wanted. This man was an ant in the universe and the Doctor could hold a magnifying glass over him if she wished. "Here's the deal. You leave right now, with your buddy and I won't prove to you how true the stories are."

"Here's my deal, you step out of the way Doctor and when we take this planet we'll let you live."

"Guess it's lucky for me you can't eat me. I'm not human. I'm a Time Lord. You see it's been bugging me, I've been trying to figure out what you are and finally it clicked. You're parasites. Back before the Time War your race was nothing. It had only a single planet it harvested from, but it was a controlled harvest. Now you're like locusts. Eating everything you cross. Everything but Time Lords, we kept you in check."

"And now you don't. Now we eat, and we are so hungry." A cracking sound from the other side of the door, and Nora didn't hear the Doctor's voice again. "Nora, your sister and your friend are coming with us. You have a choice. Come with us willingly, or I will break down that door and drag you out of there. I will drain your air from you, and then we'll take you anyway."

[carsgovroom]

Nora had her ear pressed to the door and she felt a surge of relief when she heard the Doctor's voice. She sounded different this time. More focused, a bit scary. Like she was channeling all of the unhinged, slightly kooky parts of herself into this threat. Nora felt herself shiver at the tone. But other than that the rest of the conversation the man and the Doctor shared didn't make much sense to her, especially when the man told the Doctor that he thought she was supposed to be male. He also didn't seem particularly intimidated by her and continued to say that he and his kind were going to take the planet. But why did they need Nora and her sister to do it? She just didn't understand.

There was a cracking sound and it made Nora jump a bit. "Doctor?" she asked, both hands pressed against the door. "Doctor, what happening?" She didn't hear her voice respond. Instead the voice of the man spoke. She closed her eyes, trying to fight back the fear that was welling up inside of her. Either go willingly or get dragged out by force. Nora didn't want to give up and just go back to the people, the aliens, that had who knows what planned for her and Evie. Something very not good. She could continue to hide but she knew she didn't have the strength to stop them from breaking in.

She stood and took a moment to gather all of her courage. It took everything she had to simply reach out, unlock the door, and swing it open. Nora gazed ahead of her, not looking at where the three people lay unconscious. She only had eyes for the man who was still standing. She stepped out of the bathroom, trying to keep the fear off of her face and clenching her fists so her hands wouldn't shake.

[Kirah]

"Good choice." The man said. He leaned over and pulled the unconscious Evie out from under his friend and tossed her over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes. He then picked up the Doctor. He didn't seem bothered by the weight of the two women. He left his comrade and started walking. "Follow me." He walked away from the bank of lifts and toward the back of the hotel where the emergency exit was. His partner driving the car had orders to meet him in the back after a certain amount of time.

Nora as she was following the man saw the Doctor's hand hanging limply over his shoulder. The hand moved slightly and one finger pointed at the strange beeping machine the Doctor had claimed was a tracking device. The Doctor was faking being unconscious.

The man led the way out the emergency exit. There was the car waiting. He tossed both Evie and the Doctor into the dark back seat. "In." He said his voice very commanding.

[carsgovroom]

There was a terrible little feeling of helplessness that filled Nora until she thought she would just explode. She had watched him lift two women over his shoulders as if they weighed nothing and then start walking. She couldn't fight him, probably couldn't run far enough or fast enough. It was like she had an invisible leash around her neck, because moments after he had turned and started walking Nora felt her feet moving.

She followed, very reluctantly but with the knowledge that she had no choice. Her eyes were downcast and she forced herself to not look around and start screaming for help. How could he possibly be kidnapping three women from a busy hotel and not be seen by anyone? She chanced a glance up in time to see the hand that belonged to the Doctor moving. She blinked and almost made a surprised sort of sound. Then the tiniest feeling of relief came over her. She had thought she was alone, but she wasn't. The Doctor was still very much awake.

They left the hotel via the emergency exit and Nora was faced with a car that was clearly waiting for the man. She felt a surge of anger flow through her as he watched the way he just through her sister and the Doctor into the backseat and she met his gaze as he ordered her inside. She wanted to yell, try to leap at him and hit him, but she knew it would be fruitless. She could do more while still conscious. So closing her eyes to hide her glower and biting back an insult, Nora climbed into the backseat and was left in darkness when the door was slammed closed behind her. She sought out her unconscious sister's hand and held it. Half of her wished Evie was awake, but the other half was glad that Evie wasn't experiencing the fear and confusion just yet.

[Kirah]

"I was worried I'd be late. I couldn't get the car to start." The driver said to the other man.
"It is good you fixed it." He replied.

The Doctor shifted in her seat ever so carefully to not draw attention from the two men in the front of the car.

"Where's-" The driver asked
"He'll catch up." The two of them fell into silence.

The Doctor held a finger to her lips. Then out of a pocket pulled a long metal device, a key, and then lifted the tracking machine from her around her shoulder. She put the key against the machine and a strange noise emitted from the long metal thing. The kidnappers looked back at the trio sitting in the back. As if expecting it the Doctor pretended to be unconscious again just in time.

[carsgovroom]

Nora chanced a quick nod when the Doctor began moving and indicated for her to stay quiet. She could feel her heart pounding and she was finding it difficult to breath. Her gaze slid from the woman to the back of the two men's heads. They were talking to eachother, so far not noticing the fact that there were actually two conscious women in their backseat.

She looked back at the Doctor, moving her head ever so slightly. She saw the device from before in on of the other women's hands and a key in the other. Nora was watching with warped fascination as the Doctor put the two objects together and a noise filled the air. She glanced over towards the front seat in time to see their heads turning and Nora began to act natural. At least as naturally as one could act in this situation. She avoided looking at the two, and gazed down at her sister, stroking Evie's long blonde hair as a reassuring gesture. Evie's lips parted and she let out a soft moan, but beyond that and her breathing she showed no signs of life. Nora doubted she would wake up anytime soon, and even when she did she would be delirious.

"What do you want with us?" Nora heard herself ask, her voice surprisingly steady. She was talking to the kidnappers, obviously, but she was refusing to look either of them in the eye.

[Kirah]

"It doesn't matter what we want. There's nothing you can do to stop us at this point." The main guy told her. The driver was distracted with pulling into a parking lot. Next to it was an old factory.

The main guy opened the back door to the car and pulled Evie and the Doctor, who was still pretending to be unconscious, out tossing them back over his shoulders. "Out and follow me." He directed to Nora. As they walked toward the factory Evie could just faintly hear the noise she had heard just before the Doctor rescued her the first time.

The driver was a smaller guy than the kidnapper and he had to jog a bit to keep up with the larger man. They led the way into the factory and opened the door to the small room Nora had been locked in once before. The men didn't seem to notice the TARDIS sitting in the back corner of the tiny room. The kidnapper dropped Evie and the Doctor unceremoniously onto the floor. "We'll be back in a bit, just sit tight." He shoved Nora back into the room unnecessarily.

As soon as the door was closed the Doctor hopped up to standing. "Well he's an oaf." She opened the TARDIS door and turned to pick up Evie. "I think I'll need a hand, we'll put her on the seat there. Guess it's a good thing I left your bags here."

[carsgovroom]

Nora recognized the room when she was led to it. She had also recognize the wheezing sort of grinding sound when she had heard it and she hid her smile so the men didn't see. She spotted the box in the corner of the little room that had served as a prison for her before and chance a glance at the faces of the two kidnappers. They did not seem to acknowledge its existence.

She made a angry little sound when her sister and the Doctor were literally dropped onto the floor, but then she was distracted by hands shoving her forcefully forward. She stumbled and nearly fell on top of the two women, then spun around as the door was slammed shut in her face. "Arse!" she yelled after them. Then Nora turned as the Doctor got up onto her feet. "He is isn't? How could neither of them notice your magic box right in front of their faces?"

The door of the TARDIS was opened and Nora couldn't help but smile. she darted over to Evie's other side and helped the Doctor pick her up and carry her inside. She took a look around as she went in through the doorway, a feeling of wonder filling her even though she had known what to expect. She laid Evie carefully on the seat the Doctor ha indicated and checked her sister for any injuries. She didn't see any and Evie didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon, so Nora just brushed her blonde hair away from her face and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. Evie was going to be fine.

Nora spared her bags a quick look and asked, "So is my suitcase the reason you were able to bring this thing here without being in it?" Then she got up from where she was kneeling in front of Evie and went over to her. "So. That bad guys. How do we stop them from getting what they want?" She paused for a moment, then asked. "What do they want, exactly? I heard you call them parasites, but what are they really called?"

[Kirah]

"Perception filter. Part of why it appears as a police box. It's stuck that way though. I mean stuck as a police box, not stuck with the perception filter on. Basically I didn't want them to see the TARDIS so they can't." After laying Evie down on the seat the Doctor started messing around at the consul.

"It wasn't your suitcase. When I put the key next to the tracking device I set it up so the TARDIS would be at the last place I parked it. That being where I picked you up. I meant I was glad I left your bags because then I didn't have to worry about them, and they are here for you now." The Doctor was reading a screen as Nora asked how to stop the bad guys.

"That won't be easy. From what I understand they already have most of what they need to connect to the human system. It's a messy process. I haven't come across a group of them in a long time. They are called Torx. They feed and breed by hooking up to the nervous system of whatever race they're attacking. These guys that you've been talking to, they used to be human, but now the Torx is control. He has rewired the human and the only way of getting rid of it is to kill the human too. He can't live without the Torx. Think of them like zombies now, because that's all that is there." The Doctor turned to face Nora. She knew she would be taking this news well.

There was a look of worry on her face. Could Nora handle this? Memories of her other companions flickered through her mind. How would Rose deal with this? Or Donna? Both would want to save the humans...how could he...she. How could she save the humans? Was there a way to reverse the process?