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Entry tags:
- !location: planetside,
- !plot: send in the clones,
- daniel jackson,
- dustin brooks,
- eleventh doctor,
- gaignun kukai jr./rubedo,
- hana asakura,
- hit girl,
- howard bassem,
- ildraniath,
- jalith,
- kang,
- kanoe zouichi,
- kon-el,
- lash,
- lex luthor,
- lord zedd,
- lord zetta,
- nightwing,
- querl dox,
- rory williams,
- ruffnut thorston,
- sakura haruno,
- signum
Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)
The plan was...well, it wasn't simple, but it sort of was.
While the CLF attacked multiple Clone Processing centers to distract the government, the group with the CLF would target one particular one in the region that'd once been New Jersey. The group with the government would offer their services in putting down their own people.
In the center, they'd split up into several groups. One would fight a fake fight, create a massive diversion, and blow up the room where the samples their DNA were being kept in the process. Another group would secure a teleporter pad. That team would teleport out other teams to steal a ship, steal some med tech to teleport to said ship, and steal a medical database. Another team would go to the main command center and hack into the government mainframe to down the sensornet around the planet so they could escape. And Nightwing himself would accompany the clones to upload the harvested memories to the Mother Brains, left unguarded because of the diversionary fighting, and make sure that was all they did.
Meanwhile, there'd be a standing order for all teams to avoid killing other crewmates, and avoid killing guards unless absolutely necessary.
It was a complicated plan. If a single part fouled up, they might find themselves dead, trapped, or worse. But if it worked, it'd work pretty spectacularly and leave them with medtech, a medical database, the clones helped, and possibly a grateful Council depending on how the fight went, because of the ones seemingly aiding the government.
In some worlds, things that were a million-to-one-chance (exactly a million-to-one) by their nature had to work. Let's hope this world is one of them, eh, mission crew?
[ooc: Only comment to threads if it says they are open here. All threads: OPEN. Characters may get injuries up to and including 7 on the Injury Scale (scroll to the bottom). Any higher, and they must ask permission of the plot-runners, just to make sure everyone isn't immobilized without enough people to help move them.]
While the CLF attacked multiple Clone Processing centers to distract the government, the group with the CLF would target one particular one in the region that'd once been New Jersey. The group with the government would offer their services in putting down their own people.
In the center, they'd split up into several groups. One would fight a fake fight, create a massive diversion, and blow up the room where the samples their DNA were being kept in the process. Another group would secure a teleporter pad. That team would teleport out other teams to steal a ship, steal some med tech to teleport to said ship, and steal a medical database. Another team would go to the main command center and hack into the government mainframe to down the sensornet around the planet so they could escape. And Nightwing himself would accompany the clones to upload the harvested memories to the Mother Brains, left unguarded because of the diversionary fighting, and make sure that was all they did.
Meanwhile, there'd be a standing order for all teams to avoid killing other crewmates, and avoid killing guards unless absolutely necessary.
It was a complicated plan. If a single part fouled up, they might find themselves dead, trapped, or worse. But if it worked, it'd work pretty spectacularly and leave them with medtech, a medical database, the clones helped, and possibly a grateful Council depending on how the fight went, because of the ones seemingly aiding the government.
In some worlds, things that were a million-to-one-chance (exactly a million-to-one) by their nature had to work. Let's hope this world is one of them, eh, mission crew?
[ooc: Only comment to threads if it says they are open here. All threads: OPEN. Characters may get injuries up to and including 7 on the Injury Scale (scroll to the bottom). Any higher, and they must ask permission of the plot-runners, just to make sure everyone isn't immobilized without enough people to help move them.]
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
Like Molly, like his love for his daughter, like Conner and his love for his son. Like the willingness to do whatever it took to protect those you valued, completely without a pause. Loyalty and friendship and love. He didn't have much, but he knew he had those.
He lifted the device, carefully settling it on his head and closing his eyes as he focused.
At first it was normal, if such a thing could be considered normal, the memory transfer was going fine. Memories of holding Molly, of holding Conner, of talking with Conner about what made a person. Not an accident of birth, but actions. They could determine who they were by their own decisions. Their fates were not determined by how they were created. They were valid, wanted, needed. They could be heroes too.
It took him a moment to realize that something…it felt...something was wrong. There was no build up to it, just a sudden crippling spike of pain as his body bowed, hands gripping the counter in a white knuckled grip, mouth open in a soundless scream.
He was waiting, waiting, always waiting. For Amy, for the Doctor. It was always waiting. "Stay out of trouble." The words escaped but he didn't seem to realize it, body curling in pain. He had a sword, and a gun, and he had to avoid radio signals and protect Amy and that was the most important thing. There were no stars in the sky but he had to protect Amy. Had to do his best. Because Amy could bring back the stars, he knew she could, if the Doctor could save Amy then the stars would come back. Amy dying had killed the stars. Amy dying had killed the stars. Amy was the most important thing in the universe and he had to protect her and that was it. He had to even as his mind crumbled into chunks and nothing mattered anymore but that box and the people that came to him for help.
Had to had to had to.
And then, strangely, not his memory, even though it was about him. About Amy. Some else remembered this and had recorded it. River saying something strange, something that didn't make sense, Amy screaming his name. Melody Pond is a superhero.
The only water in the forest is the river.
Rory cried, silent tears running down his cheeks without his leave of them. There was no sound.
Two thousand years was too much for a human mind to adapt to, even as he ripped the device from his temple, the memories started to fade. His brain's defense mechanisms kicking in to protect itself. But it couldn't close the door completely.
God, who was he? What was he doing here? Where was Amy? He had the horrible feeling that he hadn't seen her in a very long time, but he'd seen her just before he left, left her with Molly and Jamie and River. He'd seen her just before he left. His hands should be plastic and he had to be careful, they were tougher than human hands.
But he'd been waiting a very long time. Waiting, unsleeping, unchanging. Always watching, always waiting. Unable to leave her behind, unable to completely rejoin the world. That much remained.
Rory Williams had waited a small eternity to save Amy Pond. Unconsciously he looked for the Doctor, seeking reassurance. If the Doctor was here, then Amy would be safe, what he'd seen on the ship. What he remembered seeing on the ship was true.
But only if the Doctor was here. He had to be here.
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
“Here. Hang on, I’ve got you,” he said. He reached out and gripped Rory’s arm, letting him know he was real, that yes, he was really right there next to him and the memories were over, as much as any memory could be. The Doctor reached up and touched the human’s cheek, still moist with tears, and then touched his forehead with the back of his hand. Right! Rory probably had far more memories than the average human. All those two thousand odd years and one man to take it all in.
As brilliant as his species was, humans simply weren’t meant to have that many memories. Assuming he could even remember them. Given his reaction, the Doctor was thinking it was likely he remembered at least a good portion of it.
The Doctor stooped so he could gently disentangle Rory from the chair, trying to put his arms around his shoulders so he could help the human up.
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
He had to be strong, didn't he? Conner was here, he had to be strong.
He took a deep breath, leaning on the Doctor and unsteadily make his way to the side of the room. "I...I was waiting...waiting for Amy. I kept waiting for you to come back, tell you I couldn't...I couldn't do it. It was too much. Too much time. So much time, Doctor. Too many wars. There were so many wars, Doctor. They were all pointless. I watched so many people die, Doctor. Little boys grow into old men and get buried by their own children...or worse, go off heroes and come back corpses. God, heroes. I hate heroes. They always die well, but always so young. Who ever thought that was something to aspire too?" The words were soft, husky and strained, the memories were fading but not fast enough for the imprints to vanish. Not fast enough for his brain to stop trying to process everything he'd remembered. "I couldn't sleep, you don't think about sleeping until you can't. Don't think about how much time you spend dreaming until the stars go out."
"She's there, on the ship. She's awake. She's ok. Right? Amy's awake. She's safe, with Molly. They're safe. Jamie will protect them, Jamie and River. I saw her, I didn't remember. She was Cleopatra. Or she was pretending to be. My commander was furious when he found out." The last was delivered in soft Latin, archaic in structure, an unconscious slip with as scrambled as his brain currently was.
Only there was something with River, something he needed to remember. Something she had said that didn't make sense. What had she said?
He shuddered, clinging to the Doctor. It was too much to take in, too much to process. "...Why aren't I still plastic, Doctor?"
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
Right, so probably best to skip the quantum physics and explanations and instead focus on getting Rory more or less situated. He'd always wondered why Rory never really talked about those two thousand years -- which, if he remembered all those years as as plastic man (apparently he did), also put him as far older than the Doctor himself. Rather odd thing to think about, Rory the Elder! Rory the Elder Roman and Future Mr. Pond. Human had a habit of collecting names for himself! The Doctor herded Rory to what looked like a chair of some sort, his arm on his elbow so he could support him.
Rory needed it, judging from the way he was babbling. As babbles went, it was a fairly good one, the Doctor's eyes on Rory's face. He looked a little wan to the Doctor, eyes dilated. Considering Rory had survived those two thousand years with his sanity intact, it was only to be expected that some of those memories would spill up like they were now. Spill over or stew in there and he knew humans and stewing. Big old ticking time bombs. The Doctor sat down next to his friend, primly adjusting the knees of his trousers as he turned toward him.
"Now, Rory Williams! Don't forget how much you've lived. Think of everything wonderful you've seen! Focus on that, there's a good man." The Doctor reached out with one hand again to cup Rory's feverish cheek. Wars. Yes, there were so many wars. Would be so many wars, across countries, worlds. Entire systems. And maybe life wasn't fair. Humans could cope with that. He'd seen them do it, aspire to do so much more despite knowing that.
The Doctor was very careful opening his mind to Rory. It was the lightest of touches, far, far lighter than that time he'd opened everything to Jamie.
I understand.
Two words. Only two and yet there was a swirl of images and impressions, sights and sounds and I understand in the center of everything. It was old, reassuring and terrible at the same time.
Maybe he hadn't seen the exact same people die, all those heroes...but the Doctor had seen it happen across countless planets and systems. The guilt. Oh, the guilt. Knowing you could've done something. Humans could cope with things not being fair...but there weren't that many who were truly comfortable with knowing just how small they were in the universe. Staring it in the face. Death was still that big scary thing in the dark and Rory had seen it over and over. The Doctor fixed his eyes on Rory's, not blinking, barely even seeming to breathe as a long second passed between them and he kept that tiny psychic thread open between them.
Their foreheads were almost pressed together, the Doctor leaning in quite close. "Those stars? They're back and they're back because of you and Amy and River. Remember to focus."
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
Only he didn't have the memories of River and Amy and relighting the universe, the Doctor talked like it must have happened. Had to happen.
If the Doctor said it happened, then it must happen.
He felt like he wanted to be sick, only he didn't know if he could or not.
He shuddered, eyes filling with tears again, unable to stop. Unable to hold himself back from the rawness of suddenly having this many memories packed tight into his head.
I understand.
That was the rub, wasn't it? He'd told people what he was doing, explained his purpose. But even the people who said that, who tried...never could. Never could understand knowing that in what felt like no time at all they'd die and fade from living memory. Humans never liked to think of their own mortality.
"They come back?" The must come back, only they'd been destroyed again, hadn't they? But if they'd come back once, they could come back again. Or he hoped they could. The Doctor and Amy and River and all of the people on the ship...surely there was a way.
"There's something...River, it wasn't my memory. But it didn't make sense. I..."
The Doctor understood, if no one else understood what it felt like to survive, to exist for that long, the Doctor understood. Had lived it. Had lived a stretch of time he had one thought unfathomable.
"That's why the girls, isn't it? That's why people like Jamie. Young people, people who aren't thinking, don't know about what's coming. People who still see it and see it as it is, not with all the darkness swirling around. They still see the stars, not the spaces in between. People who think war and think of a text book or it-won't-happen-to-me." He didn't jerk away from the contact, didn't try to regain his person bubble, still shaking with an overrunning of memories that weren't giving him time to process.
"It sounds so simple when you say it. Two thousand years. They say 'forever' in stories like it's only just tomorrow." But he was calming, or trying to, clinging to the psychic thread like a drowning man on the rope. It was exhausting, being alone that long. Or worse, not being alone, watching friends grow old and die, watching their children grow old and die in turn.
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
Instead he focused on trying to steady Rory. Help Rory steady himself. In the end, Rory would be the one best equipped to do just that. All the Doctor could do was give him a little bit of a nudge.
"Rory," the Doctor said gently, after it looked like Rory was done with another babble (twice as good as the first one, he had to give him that). "I believe I told you to focus. Focus on Amy. Worth the wait, I'd think. Or you thought so."
Oops. Bit of a spoiler there. But in a way, it wasn't, because that inner strength of Rory's hadn't come from thin air over night; it was there all the time, always would be, and the Doctor believed that he could use that extraordinary, wonderfully human will of his to overcome the aftereffects of the memories. The Doctor reached out and pushed Rory so he could lean further back in the chair, not quite liking the way he looked like he could tip over if the Doctor let him go.
Rory had seen the nothing. Not just the void of space. Humans could and would learn to cope with that. The real nothing out there. The truth that you were a speck in the universe and Time itself. That in the grand scheme of things, you had just as much right to existence as that lava snake trying to eat you or that fist sized rock sitting off on the side of the road.
I know.
I understand. He kept up those reassuring feelings through the link between them, their foreheads now touching. He closed his eyes.
There's nothing and then there's everything. It's all a matter of perspective.
The Doctor opened the link slightly larger than before, sharing with Rory the briefest of glimpses of the Medusa Cascade through his eyes. The brilliant swirls of the nebula, the clouds. What it felt like. The sensation of two strong, young hearts thudding in his chest like thunder. Just a boy back then, actually.
The feeling the Doctor had when he first borrowed the TARDIS. It wasn't just nothing. Space wasn't just a backyard then.
And Amy didn't see it as nothing, either. The impressions and feelings turned to what it felt like for the Doctor to look at Amy and Rory and all his other friends across time and space -- what it felt like to see them experience all the wonders of the universe out there for the first time. It made knowing there was that void out there tolerable.
The nothing and everything.
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
Could he call the Doctor 'old' now? He was older, he thought. It was difficult to keep everything straight in his head. Had the Doctor just left him at the Pandorica? Or had he just lived through the War of the Roses (not nearly as romantic as it sounded, that one.) Or was he working as a security guard, fading out for decades at a time to keep people from catching on?
How old was he even?
And why wasn't he plastic?
I understand. He echoed the thought, hand gripping the Doctor's arm as tightly as he possibly could, afraid to let go and have the Doctor vanish.
"Amy. Amy and Molly." His family. He had a family now. He never thought he'd manage that. But he had them, they were waiting for him as soon as he could back. He had Conner, he had a son. A child who he loved despite the odd situation that had put them together. "Worth it. Amy is worth everything."
No matter how crushing it was, no matter how much it hurt. No matter how often his mind had teetered on the edge of shattering into a million pieces of broken plastic and electronic components.
Everything...everything was looking down at an army commander who knew what he was with a temple full of women and children behind him. Everything was knowing that if he blinked, they would be slaughtered.
Everything was watching them decide to walk away and tangle with the immortal another day. The power of rumor and suggestion and superstition.
Everything was the young boy crouched at his feet and asking how to live forever and teaching him how to live well instead.
Everything was holding his daughter and laying in bed with Amy with none of them in any hurry to go anywhere. A perfect speck of something in the nothing, meaningless for most, but everything for them.
And some small part of him knew that something somehow connected to River and unlikely things to that happy place and he didn't know why. River and Melody were tied together, but his brain was too strained and stretched to examine the tiny fragment of information. To understand what it meant.
Perspective. Perspective didn't make it hurt less, just made clinging to the good moments easier. Made clinging to the soldiers and the children and the healers and the leaders who had been good and smart and tried easier than holding tight to the funerals and the loss and the partings.
'Hello' was so much better than 'goodbye'. But 'goodbye' must come for everyone eventually.
He didn't loosen his hold on the Doctor's wrist, eyes shut tight as he focused on the connection. On the understanding. Who else could, really?
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
The Doctor slowly began to shut the link. Rory was stronger than he sometimes gave him credit for -- another one of Leadsworth’s few surprises. While he was still connected to Rory, the Doctor made it a point not to look too deeply across into his mind. Privacy, for one thing. Safety, for another. Rory didn’t need a Time Lord sorting things out in his head, aside from this gentle little nudge in the right direction, and when he felt that Rory was calming down, he severed the connection. The Doctor sucked in a quiet breath and opened his eyes slowly. Rory Williams! Not only just the boy who waited. The boy who would; all the things he was capable of, all the things he would do and think and feel starting this moment on! Tomorrow. Months from now. The future that he knew was laid out before Rory, even if he couldn’t see those tangents anymore himself.
He slowly pulled away from Rory, although he didn’t try to disentangle the human’s fingers from their bruising grip around his wrist. Humans needed a physical contact he’d found. Since most of them weren’t very psychic, it did make sense they valued touch as much as they did.
The Doctor waited for Rory to open his eyes.
“Hello,” he said, offering him a small smile. He reached out and patted Rory’s hand around his wrist. “Now I think you’re getting it.”
Amy and Molly were worth it. Family generally was. Good thing to have, a lovely family and really, you had to focus on what was right in front of you sometimes. Or so he’d heard. Wasn’t much of a fan of it himself. The Doctor rather liked being twenty steps (or more) ahead because anything more…sedate was a little too human for his tastes, thank you. He was confident Rory could recover remembering what was important in his unfortunately short human life. One of the minuses of being his species.
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
He had survived. “I-I’m Rory Williams.” He took a breath, keeping the grip on the Doctor’s forearm. Not the Centurion, not the ‘Lone’ anything, and who had thought that was romantic? The Lone Centurion just sounded lonely.
"I'm trying."
And that was all he really could do, even as the Doctor pulled that fragile string of knowing out of his grasp. He swallowed, trying to brace himself, trying to shore up his mind and all the memories that hadn't slipped away.
It would be so much better if Amy was here, if he could touch her and smell her hair and further confirm that she was here and safe and alive and wonderful. He wanted her to be here. Actually, no, he didn’t. He’d rather be there than to subject her to this.
“It…it must have triggered off…the memory recorder. I’ve been getting these headaches and…” He trailed off, uncertain if he should bother to explain. “It was a very long…long time, Doctor.” Longer than he should have even been able to dream of living, locked in a body that couldn’t change, couldn’t alter in the smallest way.
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
"I know," the Doctor said. He ducked his head, bobbing slightly so he could get a look at Rory's pupils. "You're a bit of a first. Human to Roman to plastic and then back again. Confusing. Or interesting, interesting's better. Now," he reached out and probed along Rory's temples with his fingers, feeling for anything out of the ordinary. Lumps, bone protrusions that didn't have any place belonging on a Homo sapien skull. "You've got a human lifespan to look forward to! I suspect the headaches ought to go away in time."
There was a "maybe" tacked on there at the end, unspoken.
The fact was the Doctor didn't have all the answers. Okay, so yeah, it was practically a hobby at this time to have to save a planet or two or three -- or even a universe, on his good days -- but this was all knew. There was a reason he'd called it Big Bang 2 instead of Big Bang I Lost Count How Many Times I've Done This. Aside from it being easier to say. The Doctor resisted the urge to point out that Rory, all things considered, he was lucky this universe didn't spit him or the others right back out the way they came. After all, they were all intruders. Not every universe or dimension was going to find them compatible.
Giving his friend the mental image of getting sneezed out by a universe might not be the most brilliant thing the Doctor could've done.
The Doctor dropped his hands away from Rory's head. As far as he could tell, Rory was still human.
Re: Subthread 1: Pre-fight Memory Download
"Human to Roman and one thousand, eight hundred and ninety four years, six months, two weeks and four days. Waiting."
He let the Doctor touch him, unbothered by the invasion of his space. One thing that he'd had to adapt to pretty quick was the Doctor's disregard for personal bubbles.
"I broke your nose...or I almost did. I think. It's all a bit muddled. Nothing runs in a straight line just yet."
Hopefully that would fix itself.
He inclined his head, acknowledging the silent 'maybe' with a sigh. The headaches had become a near constant fact of life. Something he had been forced to accept. Their continued existence might be irritating, but he could and had survived them.
"That's all I wanted, you know. A human life, with Amy."
With their children.
Something cold and sick turned his stomach as the fragmenets choose that moment to fit together.
River.
Oh, by the blood the of the gods, what had they done?