emraldeyedauter | Fic: Envy's Slave Chapter 5/? (Reply)

Milkshakes, Market places, with a helping of slave trade and a dash of green eyed Doctor. It's a recipe for trouble, adventure and maybe love

Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness Plus 2 surprise guests. Adult rating for later chapters.

Many thanks to

naughtybunny23 for the beta.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 5 Summary: The Ninth Doctor and Darcia start the search for Rose. Darcia throws in a surprise of her own.

The longer Darcia spent in the Doctors company, the more she realised that this was a man on a mission. His eyes glittered with steely determination and there was not a hint of doubt. When he had returned from the amenities block a few moments earlier he was smiling like a little boy at Mistlemas (the Lythirian version of Christmas). Finding the transmat's base destination was, in his words, 'a piece of cake.' Working out a plan to get in and rescue Rose however was proving to be a much harder task. Fortunately Darcia had an idea of her own to help out there, that is if she could get the Doctor to stop talking and let her get a word in edgewise.

“It's easy to find the place,” muttered the Doctor almost to himself. “The signal comes from someplace that's about half a kilometre from where we are. The most obvious buildings within that range are the temple, the sports complex and that swanky hotel -”

“Doctor,” interrupted Darcia but the Doctor continued with his monologue as if he had not heard her.

“Now me being brilliant would deduct that they wouldn't take her to the temple ‘cause it's not about sacrifices or the like. Hardly think the sports complex would be useful either so it's got to be the hotel,” he reasoned smugly. “But how to get in?”

“We use the front door,” replied Darcia a little more forcibly.

The Doctor looked at her like she had dribbled on her shirt before responding tartly. “Don't be stupid, they’re not going to just let me in. They know what I look like, for Rassilon’s sake! What am I going to do? Go up, and say ‘Hello, I'm the Doctor. I understand you've got my friend Rose here and I want her back, thanks very much, tah’” he finished bitterly.

Darcia laughed softly. “Sounds good to me except for the saying who you are and asking for Rose back.” Suddenly her smile faded and she gazed at him seriously. “Doctor, how much do you know about my race?”

“Mmm, not a lot; never been there but studied the basics at the Academy of a lot of different cultures including Lythiria. Why?” he questioned sharply.

“Like many races there are amongst them old and ancient families whose ancestry stretches back uncountable years. Along with that history and heritage are whispers of a family gift that also comes and goes through the passing of the years. A gift that sometimes skips total generations and then suddenly is bestowed on two or three individuals in a row.” Darcia paused briefly before continuing almost reverently. “This gift only affects the females of our species. The last person to have it in my family was my great-great-great grandmother. There was no one else until my sister and I were born and with our arrival into this world so returned our family gift,” she finished softly.

“Okay, that's lovely and all that,” growled the Doctor impatiently, “but what the hell are you talking about? What is this gift that's going to help us?”

Darcia glanced around the cafe and sighed with relief. Due to the perfect day outside there were no other patrons inside the shop at that moment; the owners were out of sight so it appeared safe to demonstrate her intentions and, she thought with a smile, shock the hell out of this slightly full of himself Doctor.

“Close your eyes, please,” she instructed him. He did so but unwillingly. The minute he did Darcia closed her own eyes and formed a picture of herself in her mind. If anyone had been there to see what was happening then they would have noticed that the purple haired, brown - skinned girl was slowly transforming into an entirely different looking being.

“You can open your eyes now,” whispered Darcia, a huge smile plastered on her new face.

To say that the Doctor's countenance looked shocked was an understatement. He opened his mouth to say something then abruptly shut it again, speech not forthcoming. This new woman before him had ginger hair swept up into a loose bun; her skin was almost pale white and her eyes were no longer emerald green but drifted towards hazel in colour. Even her outfit was different.

“Doctor, are you okay?” asked Darcia with some concern.

The Doctor looked at her long and hard before finally speaking. “No Darcia, I'm not. I've always rebelled against my race calling them pompous and arrogant and here I am acting in the exact same way. Guess when you’re a Time Lord you can't get away from it.” He muttered the last part almost to himself but Darcia heard it and gasped out loud.

“Time Lord, you’re a Time Lord? But ... but they’re just a myth. I came across a mention of your race once, in a library book at the University. It was mostly a story, a legend about a master race called the Time Lords who lived on a planet called Gallixfree or Galliplay or …” She trailed off.

“Gallifrey, Darcia. My planet was called Gallifrey,” he finished sadly.

“Was?” queried Darcia but the Doctor interrupted her before she could question him further.

“Yeah. Look it's a story for another time, okay? The plan now is to go in and rescue Rose, break up this slave market and you get your story. Listen to me though because this is very important. When you write your story you cannot refer to me as the Doctor or as a Time Lord or use Rose's real name. There may be other things along the way that you will have to censor. I know that goes against the grain for a journalist but you have to understand that the whole of creation could be at stake if the universes became aware of who I am. I need to go about unnoticed. Are we clear?” He paused after the question. When she did not reply straight away he repeated the question with slightly more force. “Darcia, are we clear?”

“Yes, Doctor,” she replied but the disappointment was evident in her voice. “I agree to leave out certain information as instructed by you.”

“Good girl,” he praised gently touching her arm to show his appreciation. “Now can I say how brilliant you are? How … how in the universe did you do that?” he asked in complete astonishment.

“Told you, it's the family gift. Can't really explain it except to say that all I have to do is form a picture in my mind of what I want to look like and it happens. I can hold this form for around 24 hours although with practice I should eventually be able to keep a new shape for up to 3 days. It will be very useful in my particular field of work. But....” she trailed off smirking broadly.

“But what?”

“Well the best bit of this gift is that not only can I camouflage myself but I can also extend my gift to cover one other person.” Darcia paused briefly, watching the Doctor’s face for his reaction. “So, what do you think about that, Doctor?”

“FANTASTIC!” shouted the Doctor in elation. He placed both hands on her shoulders, leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “You, Darcia Entillan, are absolutely fantastic. So glad I met you.” As those words left his lips he suddenly came crashing back down to reality, remembering saying those same words not all too long ago to his precious Rose down in a Cardiff cellar.

As that memory flashed across his Time Lord brain he felt a sudden tug deep within his psyche. At first he did not realise what it was but when it happened again, he was hit with sudden understanding – Rose was trying to contact him. He had told her in their conversation earlier today that he could hear her, feel her presence in his mind. Sadly it was only when they were close that he could hear her voice; right now she was too far apart from him to make contact other than the slight pull he was now feeling. Its presence though was comforting as he knew it meant that she was thinking of him, relying on him to come rescue her. They had been apart for only a couple of hours but already his hand was missing hers, his heart aching for her company.

“Hey, Doctor,” broke in Darcia firmly. “You still with me? You sort of looked like you were far away for a while.”

“Mmm, sorry, yeah, was thinking … I mean I was hoping Rose was okay,” he replied wistfully but then with a whirlwind change of mood he turned his attention back to Darcia's gift again. “You say you can extend your gift to someone else, right?”

“Yep”, confirmed Darcia. “But doubling the images means halving the holding time, so instead of one image for 24 hours, we now have two images for twelve hours each. It also means that you need to stay within a three metre radius of me at all times for me to maintain the shield. If you go beyond that then I cannot hold your form and you will change back to your real self.”

“Right, got it,” confirmed the Doctor excitedly. He clapped his hands, “So we find somewhere private and you do your camouflage thing on me and then we go surprise the neighbours, well the hotel ones at least,” he ended with a grin.

“Hold up one minute. What do we do when we get there?” asked Darcia with some uncertainty in her voice.

“Well, sort of thought I'd make that up on the way, but generally I'll try persuading them first -”

“- Persuade, ah ... okay?” came Darcia's abrupt reply. “Um, shouldn't you bring a weapon or something?

The Doctor looked disgusted. “What is it with the universal love of arms? Horrible things weapons are; only gets the bearer in trouble. Nah, no need for violence. I'm a great negotiator; just use my Northern charm and well, if they give me trouble there's always the sonic screwdriver.” At he mentioned the tool he pulled it from his pocket.

Darcia shrugged her shoulders in disbelief, sighed, then laughed. “Is it always like this with you, Doctor - dangerous and a little bit mad?”

He turned and grinned at her. “Oh yes, and that's what makes it so much fun. Suddenly the grin faded, replaced by a look of complete concentration. “Enough!” he spoke out loudly. “Time to find my Rose!” Without further words, he switched on the sonic screwdriver ready to follow the transmat signal that he had traced earlier. He had just reached the front door with Darcia in tow when the screwdriver went crazy and a dark look settled over the Doctors face.

“What is it?” whispered Darcia fearfully.

“They're here!” He replied harshly. The screwdriver has picked up their transmat signal. They’re here in the cafe somewhere … no wait …” He moved towards the front counter and the signal grew louder. He turned to Darcia and laughed harshly. “It appears that our kidnappers aren't so smart after all. Perhaps they have a fondness for banana milkshakes because they've just transmatted themselves into the cafe's storage area.”

“So what do we do now?” queried Darcia. She felt her insides churning and shivers of fear and excitement coursing down her back. “Do you need me to change you before we face them?”

“No, I won't need to do that now. I already have the element of surprise. So like I said earlier, Darcia … we persuade them.” This time however there was no joking in his words.

A short exchange and flash of the psychic paper was enough for the shop owner to let them pass and approach the storage area door. The Doctor set his sonic screwdriver to a setting that would jam the transmat beams co-ordinates, rendering it useless, so the men could not escape.

“Darcia, do you have a recording device on you?” murmured the Doctor.

It was her turn to look at the Doctor like he had said something completely stupid. She rolled her eyes and responded back in a hushed tone. “Duh, journalist, remember?” and produced a tiny brooch like item that doubled as a camera and video recorder. In one quick moment she had it primed and ready to go. It was an unobtrusive piece of technology that pinned onto her shirt. A pretty piece for all to see but leaving none the wiser of its true nature which, after all, was the whole point of it.

“Now stay behind me, Darcia, but try to record as much as you can. You'll be needing it as evidence when we hand these two over to the local law enforcement.” The Doctor turned to her and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you by the way,” he smiled at her warmly but before she could reply he spoke again, firmly and with full intent in his voice, “Let's do it.”

He flung open the storage room door, surprising the two men inside. One of them immediately moved to initiate the transmat beam but that idea was soon cut short by the Doctor jamming the signal with the sonic screwdriver. After realising that they were stuck, the larger man rushed towards the Doctor fully intent on engaging him in physical combat. Before he could reach him the doctor again adjusted the settings on the screwdriver and used it to unscrew the bolts on some shelving which then came crashing down onto his would be assailant rendering him unconscious. The smaller male backed away from the Doctor, his eyes broadcasting his utmost fear and defeat.

“Right,” uttered the Doctor in a harsh, no nonsense tone. “Now that I have your attention. You stole someone important from me. You get one chance … just one, to do the right thing. Give her back to me!”