Hunger Moon: Chapter Six

[amberfocus]

banner courtesy of angelfireeast
A/N:  I know I said in the comments that Mickey was not going to show up until chapter ten but it just works better this way.  That's also why I've decided he, Jake and Suzie never recieved their good-bye letter from Rose.  Trying to force things to go as the original outline stated was not working, so I changed things up a bit and now it's flowing again, so obviously the right choice for the story.  This chapter is unbeta'd so if you find any grammatical or spelling errors let me know.  And off we go.

Kidnapped

 

“We’re going to get caught.” Mickey Smith put down his headphones and swiveled his chair around to look at his partner Jake Symmonds.

 

“We’re not going to get caught, Jake. He’s called in. He’s told Jackie he’s spending another night at Torchwood. We’ve got the alarm codes. We have a key to the house for heaven’s sake. We’re fine.” He stared steadily at Jake until the other man got his nerves under control.

 

Jake glanced back up at the monitor. The tiny camera in Sarah’s room showed the child sound asleep, a teddy bear clutched in one hand. He flipped a switch and the image now showed Kyle tossing a bit in his sleep.

 

“We need to do it now,” said Mickey. “I’ll get Kyle out. You get Sarah. She’s lighter if we have to carry them out against their will.”

 

“Oi, I can carry Kyle.” At the affront to his manhood Jake bucked up. “Besides, Sarah might freak out if I go in there. She’s more used to you. Kyle has a steadier mind when it comes to me. Let’s go.”

 

Mickey smiled in the darkness. His psychology had worked to get Jake over his concerns of even going in the house at all. Or so he thought.  “You’re sure we’re doing the right thing?” Jake hesitated one more time.

 

“You know what Pete said. He said if there was even a chance security had been compromised we had to protect the twins at all costs.”

 

“But Pete…”

 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with Pete, Jake. But something is. And I’m going based on the protocols put into place six weeks ago before this program began. Not on what he’s doing now. There was a reason for his warning. I don’t know what’s going on or why, but things are not right. You know it as well as I do. Jackie will forgive us if it means the twins are safe. Now get over it and help me. The sooner we get the kids to Suzie, the better.”

 

Jake nodded acknowledgment. In the darkness they made their way from the van to the side gate, entered the alarm codes and entered the grounds. Mickey tried not to think too hard about what they were doing. If he was wrong they were going to cause Jackie a lot of unwarranted grief. But if he was right they’d be saving the Tyler twins from something far worse. At the service entrance they entered another set of codes and made their way into the house with Mickey’s key.

 

They crept through the kitchen and towards the back stairs, moving stealthily up the steps and down the hallway. Mickey stood outside Sarah’s room and Jake outside Kyle’s, listening for any sound from Jackie’s room. The quiet snores of the woman floated into the hallway and Mickey grinned. Jackie would never admit she snored but she had for as long as he’d known her. It was somehow reassuring.

 

With a hand gesture to Jake the two men moved into action. Mickey slipped into Sarah’s room, his hand covering her mouth while his other gently shook her shoulder. “Sarah, its Mickey. I need you to come with me and I need you to be quiet. Can you do that for me?”

 

The little girl stared up at him with wide eyes as she woke, her brain taking a moment to process what he’d said. Slowly she nodded. “Get dressed. I’ll wait in the hall.”

 

He stepped out into the hallway and a moment later he was joined by Jake who was followed by a grumpy looking Kyle. Sarah emerged a moment later and Mickey grasped her hand. They moved as silently as possible through the dark house and out onto the grounds.


 

 

The Doctor had left Rose sound asleep in their bedroom, the TARDIS having relented and returned it to its former décor. He’d lain with her for a while, but something was still niggling at his mind so he decided to go outside for a breath of fresh air. The moon was full and bright and gorgeous. He wished Rose were awake, watching it with him. Her need for sleep was very annoying. He’d be quite happy when her DNA had altered enough that she was spending more of her waking hours with him. He couldn’t get enough of just being with her, but being with her awake was far more satisfying than watching her sleep.

 

He’d paced around the house several times before coming to a halt and glancing up at Sarah’s bedroom. There was something about the girl’s mind that was bothering him. He’d only had brief contact with it, but she’d definitely had some kind of shield in place, something much stronger than a human being should be capable of in this century. There had been an edge to the shield that had been almost alien and it made him wonder if she hadn’t been tampered with in some way. And why?

 

His mental distraction did not prevent him from noticing the two men that had crept onto the grounds and into the house. He had no idea what they were up to, but they clearly had both alarm codes and a key to the house. He was pretty sure that whatever they were doing they’d leave the same way they’d entered, so he’d parked himself in the bushes near the side gate and waited patiently.

 

Anger had welled up in him when he’d seen them emerge with the Tyler twins. Sarah’s hand was held tightly in the dark man’s grip, but Kyle wasn’t being held by the other man at all. Of course, Kyle might be cooperating because the one man had Sarah under control. Sarah dropped something and stopped. He heard her quiet protest and took the moment to sonic the gate and slip through it. He broke into the nearby van and waited in a dark corner, his eyes scanning over all the surveillance equipment.

 

“In you go, Kyle. Be careful, there’s a lot of equipment.”

 

“It’s dark, Jake, I can’t see anything,” Kyle complained.

 

“Just get in,” Jake said shortly. “Sarah, up you go.”

 

“I don’t want to. It’s too dark.”

 

“Sarah,” Jake began.

 

“Sarah,” said the other man. “You have to trust me. It’s Uncle Mickey. Have I ever steered you wrong?”

 

“But why can’t we tell Mummy where we’re going?” Sarah asked.

 

“Just get in, Sarah. We’ll explain it all later. I promise.”

 

“But--.”

 

“Now,” barked Mickey. Sarah hopped up into the van. Although she couldn’t possibly see him in the dark her head suddenly turned unerringly in his direction, the faint light glittering in her eyes. He felt just the slightest touch of a mind brushing against his and sent reassuring waves towards the little girl, felt her mind settle beneath them.

 

The doors slammed behind Sarah and the noise of the two front doors opening and shutting and the van being started up echoed through the back section. The back was completely blocked off from the front without even a window to see through from the driver’s seat. It had been a refrigerated truck at one time and been retrofitted much later in life, the Doctor noted.

 

“Doctor?” asked Sarah into the darkness. The Doctor flicked the buttons on his sonic screwdriver and pulled it out of his pocket, the device acting as a torch. “Do you know what’s going on?”

 

“Not a clue,” said the Doctor. “Saw them break into your house and take you, thought I’d better come along and keep you safe.”

 

“Oh, we’ll be safe,” said Kyle. “Uncle Mickey and Jake would never hurt us.”

 

“Do you have any idea why they’d take you out of your house in the middle of the night without letting your mum know?” the Doctor asked.

 

“No,” said Kyle.

 

“Maybe,” said Sarah.

 

“Sarah!” protested Kyle.

 

“We can’t do this by ourselves, Kyle. Not anymore. It’s time to trust someone,” she said seriously. “Rose trusts him.” She pointed at the Doctor. “That’s good enough for me.” She kept her gaze on her brother until he nodded in acceptance.

 

She turned back to the Doctor. “There’s something wrong with our father,” she said.

 

“What?”

 

“He’s not our father,” Kyle burst out.

 

“Kyle!” The Doctor felt the shaft of annoyance flung out of Sarah and easily bounced off by her brother. He startled. Until that moment he hadn’t been aware of Kyle’s own abilities, but his shield was twice as strong as his sister’s.

 

“You said it yourself, Sarah. His mind’s not right. It doesn’t feel right. It’s not Dad,” Kyle said.

 

“We’re not supposed to talk about…mind things,” she said.

 

“You’re telepathic,” said the Doctor. “Both of you. Aren’t you?”

 

“It was an accident,” Sarah said. “I’ve always, you know, felt things, but…”

 

“Rose says Sarah’s an empath. She feels stuff hard. I’ve been able to pick up her feelings my whole life but no one else’s,” Kyle said. “She can tune into anyone if she tries. Sometimes if she doesn’t try.”

 

“But we weren’t neither of us mind readers. Not before,” Sarah said.

 

“Before what?”

 

“Before we found the Sphere of…what did Daddy call it?”

 

“Influence,” said Kyle promptly.

 

“The Sphere of Influence. Kyle held it and he looked at me and suddenly I could hear him thinking. When I touched it he could hear me. At first it only worked when we touched it, but after awhile we didn’t need to be touching it anymore,” said Sarah.

 

“Then we could hear Mum and Dad,” said Kyle. “And then the servants, our teachers, our school mates.”

 

“It was fun,” said Sarah. “At first it was fun.”

 

“But then it got scary. When Dad found the sphere in my room he took it away. Said it was alien. Took it to Torchwood.” Kyle shuddered.

 

“He was different when he came back. He’s not been…Daddy since then,” said Sarah.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“He wears my Daddy’s face,” said Sarah. “But it’s not him. Inside, it’s not him.”

 

“Can you help us, Doctor?” Kyle asked. “Can you help us find our Dad?”

 

“I can try,” said the Doctor. The van pulled to a halt and a moment later the doors were flung open. The Doctor leveled his screwdriver at the two men and said calmly, “The two of you better have a damn good reason why you stole these children out of their home in the middle of the night.”

 

“Bloody hell! Doctor? What are you doing here?”

 

 

 

“I didn’t kidnap them! Well, maybe I did but it wasn’t safe there. I’m not out to hurt the twins. I’m trying to keep them safe.” Mickey had managed to talk the Doctor into letting Suzie bustle the children into the safe house and into bed. “Something’s wrong at Torchwood. I don’t know for sure what, but six weeks ago Pete Tyler came to me and he charged me with keeping the twins safe if anything should happen to him. He didn’t specify what might happen, only said if he started acting out of character to see it as a sign and the first chance we got, snatch the kids.”

 

“And you put them in a Torchwood safe house, knowing Pete can find it?” the Doctor asked.

 

“It’s not a Torchwood safe house. It’s a remnant from our Preacher days when we were fighting the Lumic occupation. No one at Torchwood knows it exists. And speaking of existing, what the hell are you doing existing in this universe and you know…looking like that?” Mickey asked. “Rose watched you change. I thought you couldn’t change back. And more importantly, does she know you’re here? On this Earth?”

 

“Yes, I’d say that my wife does indeed know I’m here,” he said dryly.

 

“Wife?” gasped Mickey.

 

“Wife,” he repeated firmly. He didn’t know why he was enjoying the other man’s astonishment quite so much. “It’s a bit hard to explain, but the short version is that I’m a different version of the Doctor that you knew, one that exists in this universe and I haven’t yet regenerated into my tenth form.”

 

“Wait a minute. You’re not even the same man and she married you?” Jake asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“But Rose has only been missing a month,” said Jake.

 

“He has a time machine,” Mickey reminded his partner. “They could easily have been gone years.”

 

“Nope, just the month,” said the Doctor helpfully. “Wait, missing?”

 

“Yeah. Missing. Torchwood put out an APB for her,” Jake said.

 

“But she left you a letter telling where she’d gone,” the Doctor protested.

 

“We never saw it,” said Mickey grimly.

 

“Jackie knew Rose was with me. She didn’t tell you?”

 

“I haven’t spoken to Jackie in over a month. Pete won’t let me anywhere near her,” admitted Mickey. “I tried calling, but the calls were always intercepted and something is interfering with her email. I haven’t been able to get through to her. Pete’s been behaving more and more erratically at work. Whatever’s happened to him, he’s not the same man. It’s like he’s been possessed. Like someone’s occupying his body but Pete’s no longer home.”

 

“Know of any alien races that can do that, Doctor?” Jake asked.

 

“Several. And not one of them is good,” he muttered. “Tell me, is Jackie safe?”

 

“She seems to be. But my priority is to protect the children.”

 

“And what about Rose?” asked the Doctor.

 

“Pete, before he changed, Pete was certain that if he was affected, it would be the twins and only the twins who were in danger. There was an accident with a telepathic device that changed the way the twins think. Rose isn’t telepathic. She’ll be just fine.”

 

“There’s only one problem with that,” said the Doctor. “Ever since we bonded, Rose has the ability to communicate with both me and the TARDIS telepathically. If this thing that’s changed Pete is attracted to telepathic energy, then no, Rose won’t be just fine. She’ll be in just as much danger as her siblings.”

 

“Or quite possibly,” said Suzie entering the room, “More.”

Ch. 7:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/35052.html

Comments

[angelfireeast.livejournal.com]

Brilliant update! I knew as soon as Mickey name popped up the twins where safe. Mickey would never go dark side:D The Doctor rocks jumping in to save the children:D I love that the Doctor gets annoyed that Rose needs so much sleep. He just wants to spend more time with her:D And for some unknown reason he feel all smug telling Mickey Rose is his wife:D

I can't wait for the next update. Jack is going to freak and Rose going to too. Someone might even get slapped:p

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Ah, you obviously haven't read OTVB yet, then. Mickey goes dark side in that one. I'd wait until it was finished before reading it, though. I have serious writer's block on it.

I loved sending the Doctor off after the kids without him even thinking. Just, twins in danger, must go. And the bit with his impatience at her sleeping so much, glad you liked that. Felt like a normal thing for him to think. Yep, he doesn't even know Mickey and he already enjoys winding him up!