Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)

[cityship]

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.]

Comments

[theboywhowaits]

Rory watched him pat himself down, shaking his head faintly. "Doctor...."

So for whatever reason, the Doctor didn't have the Sonic. What had he done with it? He was ignoring the little part of his brain that insisted that the Sonic was obviously in Amy's top pocket in the Pandorica.

The clone look over his shoulder, looking like he might protest the naming, but then fell silent again, trying to figure our what his Doctor might be referring to.

Rory jerked, startled and exhaling sharply as he hit and his head bounced off the ground, something cracked, and he was fairly certain it might be his ribs. "Doctor!"

Well, there was certainly something ironic about this, wasn't there? He'd died for the Doctor very similarly, hadn't he? Once.

He tried to push the cloned Doctor off of him, worried and needing to asses his physical condition. That had been a rocket of some sort. Had to have been. Even the Doctor couldn't absorb that sort of damage. He'd need to act fast or the cloned Doctor--

The clone reacted less calmly, none of the experience, none of the training to handle this sort of thing, voice raw with panic. "Doctor!" He even managed a proper shout, though not the shrieks of some of his predecessor.

[makeherblue]

The Other Doctor didn't put up much of a fight. Or, rather, he thought he did, but it was more a useless sort of fumble against Rory I as Rory II hovered without even a Dying Time Lord Manuel to get him through this. The Doctor's Clone looked down and discovered that he had a rather sizeable wound, ugly and gaping and right where his kidneys should have been, blood staining that boring white shirt every clone had been given, which when you thought about it did answer the question if they were armored or just cosmetic because the Galileans were into that sort of thing.

He thought he would've liked at least a little armor. It occurred to him he was going to miss his kidneys very very soon.

Looking up, almost startled, the Other Doctor tried to meet Rory I's eyes. He opened his mouth as if he intended to say something like "oh dear" or "bit of a mess, isn't it?" but all that came out was a surprised grunt. The blood drained from his face. He couldn't quite make up his mind if he wanted to keep trying to push Rory I away or just sag against him.

Apparently neither of those was attractive.

The Other Doctor coughed and gagged and then there it was: glowing regeneration energy bubbling up as he choked on it. Maybe it hadn't just been his kidneys. Never could tell with how shrapnel liked to bounce around! The regeneration energy swirled and frothed as he trembled on top of Rory I, his hands starting to glow gold like a furnace lighting from the inside out. He fixed the human with a baffled look as he clutched at him.

"Get back!" The Doctor snapped as he pushed his way forward, herding Rory II out of range.

He tried to untangle his Rory out from under his clone: easier said than done when the Other Doctor was going into a full animal panic at what was technically his first death that wasn't a memory...and it was a hell of a lot scarier than he remembered. He winced as his clone tried to psychically grab onto to whatever he could, like a drowning man. There wasn't anything he himself could do to stop what was coming. He could, however, try to make it easier for him, the Doctor trying to pull Rory off from his clone and get closer to him at the same time so he could touch him through the glow. Odd, he hadn't made it a habit to see himself regenerate in the past and seeing it now, with his face, was going to be one of those things he'd remember for centuries to come.

"Get back, the two of you!" The Doctor reached for his clone. At this range, the hurt he could feel was almost like this solid thing, a mass of pain hanging in the air and really, it felt like he had to check he wasn't the one bleeding, it was that invasive. The clone batted his hand away. The Doctor reached again, trying to both reach his clone and also shield the two Rorys from the Other Doctor's psychic death throes.

[theboywhowaits]

Rory was a parent, even if he wasn't the Doctor's parent, either of them. A parent and a nurse, it was his natural instinct to offer comfort when someone was afraid. The raw terror on his face made it through even without the psychic contact. He could feel the Doctor, almost a buffer between them, and he spared some time to feel relieved. The earlier contact had proved that the younger Time Lord knew nothing about control, and he had a feeling being terrified and glowy and possibly dying would definitely eliminate any caution between looking in his brain and destroying it. "Doctor, what's happening to him?" He tried to keep his voice calm and level, bit hard when the face of a good friend was contorted in agony and he couldn't do a thing to stop it.

He reached up, settling a cautious hand to his shoulder, trying to offer what comfort he could in his current position. He needed to get to his kit, needed to try to help, but his kit was trapped under him and he could feel the cloned Doctor's blood staining his shirt, soaking through. It would be a little hard to escape, trapped as he was under the other man. "Trying, Doctor. Little difficult. After this, we need to talk about discrepancies in your medical file." If Time Lord's exploded when they died, seemed rather important to list getting out of range as something that might be necessary for treatment.

The Doctor looked something between panicked and calm, which told him the other Doctor likely wasn't dying. But that really was the only thing he was was reasonably sure of, that the cloned Time Lord might not be dying. What else he could be doing aside from that Rory had no idea.

The clone hovered, eyes wide with worry, obediently staying back a safe distance from whatever was happening to the clone Doctor. Whatever was happening, he didn't like it. His friend was in pain. The one person he felt properly connected to was in pain.

Pretend my image here is Ginger!Claudia Black :|

[makeherblue]

Bit of an educated guess, but the Doctor doubted Rory had enough medical training to pull back a Time Lord from his own regeneration. At least Rory II had the sense to stay back, although he could feel the clone hovering just as well as his original could.

With his own clone pinning Rory to the ground, the Doctor couldn't pull him out in time. All he could do was try to shield the human and brace for impact.

The clone Doctor continued to bleed that glowing gold energy until he stiffened on Rory, his eyes unseeing as the regeneration kicked into that final stage. A final, trembling gasp.

The Clone Doctor exploded.

A blast of that gold light splashed outward, nearly knocking the Doctor flat onto his back as he tried to hold onto Rory. The wind hit him next, the Doctor squinting against the light as his Other Self's cells deteriorated so they could form into something...else. Bipedal, he could make out that much. One head (that was good!). He couldn't quite see the face, but from what he could see of the body, the Clone Doctor was still arched back in agony, his mouth a silent O. Another wave of regeneration energy flooded out with a shriek right through the air, sparks swirling and mixing with the ash already drifting down. The Doctor had to shield his eyes as the light grew too bright even for him.

And suddenly it was over.

The Doctor tried blinking the black spots away as the silence settled. Make that relative silence. True silence was the vacuum of space, not a battleground where they were lucky that it was so chaotic that an exploding Doctor didn't bring any more clones running. He supposed they were all busy. Lucky for them! He lowered his hand. The black spots faded. He stared, not quite gaping because Time Lords didn't gape, but coming dangerously close all the same, conventions be damned and okay, he was definitely gaping on second thought.

A woman sat half-slumped on top of Rory, ginger hair hiding her face. That was the first thing the Doctor noticed -- the general gingerness of it all and he couldn't believe his clone's luck. His first regeneration and somehow he hit ginger on his first go! Incredible! It was then that the Clone Doctor groaned and tried to sit up, groping about on Rory for some purchase so she could push her new body into a more or less upright position.

"I - I...wow," the Clone Doctor said intelligently. She blinked, fussed with her bloody shirt, which was now hanging over her like a tent, and then made as if to sweep the hair from her face. She caught sight of her ginger hair and froze. "Is this...?"

The Doctor nodded.

His clone peered at it critically and then suddenly burst into a great big smile, as if she'd won the best lottery in the universe. "Finally!" She turned and hugged the closest person (Rory) and then lunged from him to hug the Doctor before making a go at Rory II before he could think of getting away. She squeezed him, trying to lift her fellow clone off his feet and twirling him around. "I'm ginger, Rory! And squishy, but let's focus on the ginger part, shall we? Rory, your mouth is going to get stuck open like that."

She suddenly let go of Rory II, reaching up to touch her temples. The Doctor could feel the bleed of their shared memories: compared to before, it was only a trickle and he supposed a whole new body even he hadn't had yet probably had something to do with it. Or it could have nothing to do with it and the fact was nothing changed. They still needed to get to the teleporters and he wasn't too keen on staying around while the others could get injured. It wasn't as if the two Rorys could regenerate and get themselves smaller noses for convenience's sake.

Re: Pretend my image here is Ginger!Claudia Black :|

[theboywhowaits]

The explosion was enough to knock the wind out of him. Leaving him with a very empty pair of lungs and traces of Time Lord glitter in his hair, he was sure. That wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting when the Cloned Doctor had landed on top of him and started bleeding.

He thought he might need to remember this to make fun of the Doctor later. Glittery Time Lords.

That might be the concussion talking, but he rather liked the thought. He'd need to tell Amy the Doctor was made of explosive glitter.

He reflexively hugged her back, dimly registering that she was a her and that she was a ginger. He thought she looked quite a bit like Amy, but then he would always associate long red hair with Amy.

He gaped as that finally caught up with his rattled brain, peering at her like the world had gone completely mental and not bothering to get up, battle field or not, a Time Lord had just explosive glittered on him and turned into a ginger girl. He deserved a moment to process.

The clone looked more startled than anything else, returning the hug with a bit more care and letting her spin him, though he made not attempt to escape her grasp. He hadn't really been hugged before, that alone was a new experience, no memories of being hugged or getting affection, but he made a rather impressive go at it for a complete novice. His Doctor had turned into a girl, which despite not fitting with anything that had been programed into his head was a little alarming all on its own. He touched her bloody shirt, confused and concerned and worried, brow furrowed with the very human emotions. "Are you...I mean, you were bleeding. That's...wrong isn't it? How did you do that? Are you alright now?" The original Doctor might recognize the look from his own companion, a combination of worry, loyalty and ingrained protective nature that was normally reserved for one Ms. Amy Pond.

[makeherblue]

“Time Lord-y stuff, Rory,” the Clone Doctor ran her tongue over her teeth and then licked her lips, trying them out. She glanced over at her Original and his….unfortunate non-gingerness. “That’s it, right? Time Lord-y.”

She patted her shirt down, batted Rory II’s hand away (gently, because she was rather fond of her fellow clone) and then fussed with her gorgeous, amazingly ginger hair. Trying it on for size, apparently. Also possibly showing off for Rory II, because she felt a keen need to impress him with her – well, newness!. Did she even count as a clone anymore? She liked to think she didn’t. All she knew was she liked hugging and she thought Rory II could stand to have loads more hugs in the future too, once they weren’t getting shot and given she finally turned ginger, she didn’t fancy dying again and losing all that hard work. The Clone Doctor reached down to grab the other clone’s hand in hers as she turned to the Doctor.

“Names!” She instinctively flinched as an explosion sounded off close by, showering their little area with grit. Ash powered her hair as she gave it a shake. “But probably not the time, no? No. Funny things, names.”

“Very funny,” the Doctor agreed. “Getting blown up? Not quite as funny. Come on, Rorys. And Doctor!”

He herded them further away from the little patch of blood where his clone had died and gone ginger, the Other Doctor leading a winding path toward the teleporters. Now that his clone turned ginger, she seemed much more willing to help and he couldn’t blame her at all. If he woke up ginger, he’d write it down as one of Those Better Days. Remind him to explain all this to Rory when they weren’t in danger of getting a bomb or one of those powered clones falling on top of their heads. All in all, he thought Rory handled a regeneration literally on top of him extremely well.

The Doctor found himself feeling rather proud of Rory for being so magnificent.

[theboywhowaits]

Rory shook his head, settling the idea in his head and pushing it back to be dealt with later. This was going to be one of those stories Amy needed to sit down to hear, he though. And one that would require the Doctor bothering to explain. He kept a arm carefully around his chest, keeping pace with the Doctor and not speaking up about the ribs he was rather certain he had just broken. "Names? For her or him?" It was easier to split them in his head now, the female Doctor and the male one. She didn't even act like him, or attempt to, she hadn't been really acting like the Doctor before.

But he mostly kept his thoughts to himself. "We should try to stay out of sight, our side or any side is a bad idea to encounter right now, our side might shoot first and ask questions after, and the Government definitely will."

The Clone looked a bit startled and confused by the gesture, holding hands was another new one for him. But he didn't pull away, looking suitably impressed by the Doctor's primping. "Names?" He glanced between her and the other Doctor, deciding he preferred his to the long legged one with the funny hair. But he wasn't Rory, he knew that much. He might look and sound and talk like Rory, but he wasn't Rory. Rory had memories, feelings, family.

Things he had never had.

Rory had Amy Pond picking on him and inspiring him to be better, and he had only the Doctor, with her hand tight in his, and a battle field full of death.