HELTER SKELTER
Chapter Ten "You want us to go with you?" Carol said to Paul as she and Devon stood in the doorway of their flat. "Yes," he said. "I want to take you somewhere where you can be safe until this gets sorted out. I have my car and I'll take you to my friend's house. It's a very safe location." Paul had agreed to come along so he could take his car. He wore his ear bud so the others were listening in while he urged his friends to come with him. Behind Carol and Devon, Ian was sitting on the sofa, listening quietly. Paul glanced at him. "Him as well, he's a target also," Paul said. "I'm sure the last thing he wants is to go back into captivity." "No, I don't," Ian said. "Well, come with me. I can take you to a safe place. Just pack an overnight bag and get what you absolutely need and I'll wait." Meanwhile, back at the TARDIS, William was on the TARDIS phone calling the wives and friends of the other Beatles, exchanging information. Margaret sat on the chair behind him watching quietly. She was waiting her turn to call her husband to let him know what was happening. While they were doing that, Martha sat and waited patiently at the front door, staring at it quietly. The Doctor came into the room, saw her and smiled as he walked over to her. Martha, hearing the sound of his footsteps, turned her head and went to him. He bent over and scratched her ears. "Don't worry, girl, your master'll be back soon, yeah?" he said to her. He knelt down and rubbed her sides while she licked his face. He looked up when he saw a shadow fall over him and saw Margaret looking down at him. "I'm worried about Paul. I don't know if he should be risking his life like this…or William for that matter," she said to him as he stood up. "Isn't there another way?" "If I can talk to Ian, see what he knows then perhaps we can find a different solution," the Doctor said gently. "If not, then it's up to Paul and William. They're both adults and it's their choice if they want to risk their lives or not. I'm not forcing anyone to do anything, Mrs. Asher." "Margaret, please. Mrs. Asher is too formal for my liking," she said. "Besides it's hard to be formal when you have a potential son in law who's a long-haired weirdo, right?" The Doctor smiled at that. "Nothing wrong with being a long-haired weirdo," he said. "No, I s'pose not. I know there are a lot of people who look down on people like Paul and his friends but that's because they're only looking at their appearance and not their hearts. Besides, I can't really say much. My son, Peter, is also a musician and Jane's an actress so I'm used to show business people around me. But, what about you? You just go around and find humans who are willing to risk their necks for you?" "I don't encourage them to risk their necks but that comes with the territory," the Doctor said. "My people, some of them, kept watch over time and space but they never interfered. They just let atrocities happen and I couldn't do that. I couldn't stand by and let things that could be fixed happen so I decided to be a renegade of sorts and make a difference in the universe. At first I traveled alone but it got boring after awhile so I started finding people I could take with me, people I could show the wonders of the universe. Most of them have been humans although there have been some from other planets. Like I said, Margaret, I love humans. There are many things you do wrong but there are many more things you do right and I admire your creativity, your intelligence and your courage. I decided to go against the rules and invite some along so I could open their eyes to the beauty of the universe. But unfortunately, there is also danger amidst the beauty, but I've never forced anyone to stay with me. The decision to help me fight evil is all theirs. Paul and William actually made that decision without me. They were gonna do this on their own and I decided that I and the people who are currently traveling with me would assist them since all of us want the Illuminati gone. But I told Paul that if he needs to be somewhere with his band, I can use my time machine to allow him to rest and take him to whatever point in time he needs to go. The Beatles are one of the most successful, most important bands in human history and the last thing I want is for them to break up before it's time." "Before it's time?" Margaret said. He chuckled. "Everything has an ending, Margaret. Even something as wonderful as the Beatles must end someday," he said. "I know you're worried and I will give you my word that I will do everything in my power to look after them and assist them but like I said, the decision to risk their lives is theirs and I won't interfere with their right to determine the course of their lives." Margaret nodded. "I agree with you, Doctor. It's because of you and Rory and Amy that Paul's alive at all and I'll always be grateful to you for saving his life and freeing William. He's become like family now and I don't want him falling back into their hands either. But if they trust you, I will trust you as well." "Thank you. I promise I won't betray that trust and…" He looked down when Martha whined and began pawing the door. "Is Paul here, Martha?" he said while Margaret chuckled. Martha began leaping up and down and barking. "Guess so," the Doctor said to Margaret. "Is that you, Martha?" they heard Paul say which made Martha bark louder as she pawed and scratched at the door. The Doctor took hold of her. "Come on, love, gotta get back for the moment so your master can come in the door," he said as he urged Martha away from the door. Both he and Margaret held Martha while they told Paul they were holding her. The Doctor clicked his fingers and the door opened. Paul grinned when he came through the door and Martha broke free and jumped up on him. "Alright, I'm back!" he said, rubbing her sides while she barked happily. "You can stop worrying now." He turned and stuck his head out of the TARDIS door. "It's okay, come inside. This is his ship," he said to the others as the Doctor and Margaret held Martha back. "You told them already?" the Doctor said. "I gave them a very brief explanation," Paul said as he beckoned them in, "enough for them to understand what's going on. It's okay, come inside." Devon and Carol entered and hesitantly looked around, their mouths agape at the enormous interior. They walked past Paul and the Doctor greeted them warmly. Then Ian came inside and immediately Martha began to growl at him. Paul frowned. "It's alright, girl, he's with us," he said. He stared at her when her growling increased and he tried to lunge at Ian while Margaret held onto her collar. "Martha, stop that!" Paul said sternly. Then without warning, Ian's eyes glazed over and he turned and lunged at Paul, seizing him by the throat. Paul gagged as he was propelled back against the wall. Margaret yelled and let go of Martha as she and the Doctor, Carol and Devon ran to help. William dropped the phone and ran to the edge of the platform, leaping off it and hurrying to help his friend while Ian tried to choke Paul to death. "Die, Paul McCartney!" Ian screamed as Paul tried to fight him off. "Die in the name of the Illuminati!" Ian screamed in pain when Martha sank her teeth into his right leg. The Doctor brought his fist down hard on the top of his head. Ian, stunned by the blow, let go and the Doctor grabbed him and pulled him away while Margaret grabbed Martha's collar. The dog barked furiously and tried to lunge at Ian while Paul gasped and gagged for air. Amy, Jane and Rory, hearing the commotion, ran through the back door just in time to see the Doctor turn Ian and put his fingers to his temples. Ian instantly became docile and Paul fell to his knees, calming his dog while they watched the Doctor close his eyes and probed Ian's mind. Martha calmed down, although she kept up a low growl while she watched Ian warily. The Doctor finished what he was doing and took his fingers away while Rory closed the front door. Ian stood frozen to the spot, his eyes distant and unseeing. "Who are you? Tell us your name!" the Doctor said to Ian. "Robert Johnson," Ian said in a dull voice. "Who is Ian then?" the Doctor said. "The man I replaced." "What?" Carol said to Paul. "Replaced?" "He's a double for someone else, like William was going to be a double for me," Paul replied. "Who is this Ian though? Was he the one that worked for the Bank of Zurich?" the Doctor said. "Yes. I was chosen to replace him." "I see. So what are you doing here then?" "I was given a new assignment. To lure Paul McCartney and his double into a trap so they could be recaptured. If that failed, I was to kill him, those were my orders." Paul cursed under his breath while Jane neared close to him and put her arms around him. "So, you're a sleeper agent then?" the Doctor said to Ian. "That's one way of putting it." "Sleeper agent?" Margaret said. "Someone who is chosen to lay low until he's given a signal to attack," the Doctor said. "What was the signal then? If you were chosen to lure Paul and William into a trap, why did you suddenly attack him?" "I was told that if the Time Lord tried to take me into his TARDIS, I should eliminate him, McCartney and the double." "So you were after me and William as well, you just started with the man nearest to you." "Yes." "Why the TARDIS, because they know I can help you and they figured if you were in the TARDIS, I must be trying to help free your mind?" the Doctor said. "Yes." "Well, they were right because that's what I'm going to do but…you are going to help us first. You will tell us everything you know about this island and how to get to it, not to mention any weaknesses they might have and…" The Doctor trailed off when Robert suddenly bit down hard on his bottom molar and black smoke began to issue out of it. "No!" the Doctor said when Robert inhaled the smoke deeply. "What's going on?" Carol said when Robert suddenly went into convulsions. "He's poisoning himself, committing suicide so he won't give us information," the Doctor said while Robert dropped to the floor, shaking and convulsing. Rory started to run back to the med bay to get some medical equipment but the Doctor called to him. "No, there's no need for that. He's dead," the Doctor said. Rory turned and saw Robert lying motionless on the floor while the others backed up to get away from the black gas leaking from his lips. He backed up when the TARDIS put a force field over his body until the gas continued to leak out. Then she neutralized the poison gas and got rid of any remnants of it outside the field before she dropped it. Paul sighed angrily. "Yet another life wasted," he said. "I'm getting really tired of the deaths." "Trust me, Paul, I know exactly how you feel," the Doctor said as he bent down next to him. "I saw into his mind. I didn't probe deeply but enough to know that he's been a prisoner longer than William was because his brainwashing was more deeply entrenched. When they held you prisoner, William, your suffering was more along the lines of starvation and torture, not much hypnosis?" "Yeah," William said while Amy laid a hand on his shoulder, "I think at first they were more concerned with breaking my will and then towards the end, they started with the hypnosis and brainwashing." "Which was why it wasn't hard for me to break their mental conditioning and bring you back to yourself. But him, he's had to have been their prisoner for years because it would take me a long time and a lot of tricky maneuvering to undo what they did. I don't know if he was even telling us the truth about being Robert Johnson. That might have been another identity they forced on him. I would venture to guess he didn't even know what he was doing when he attacked Paul. They just trained him to attack without a thought and then kill himself if he was stopped." "And these are the people you want to willingly surrender to?" Margaret said to Paul. "If I don't do something, they're just gonna keep on coming after me and William and everyone who's associated with me until we're all dead or enslaved. I might as well make a stand and fight back now before everyone I care about ends up like him," Paul said, pointing to Robert's body. "I don't fancy being their prisoner again but at least this time we have some semblance of a plan and they're not just running me off the road and kidnapping me and Amy. I have less than 24 hours now before they put John, George, Ringo and Roger to death and after seeing all the deaths, including this one, I'm completely convinced they'll do it. Being famous won't save them, not if they're a means to an end. They were willing to kill me to put William in place so I know they won't spare them if we don't do what they say. So I'm going to take a chance and trust that everything will turn out okay like it did the last time because if I don't, it'll be the other four who'll land up with the so and so is dead legend." "I think I might be able to help you further then," the Doctor said to Paul. He glanced at Robert's dead body and looked up at the ceiling. "TARDIS, can you put a barrier back over his body and make it soundproof just in case he has hidden listening devices on him?" The TARDIS grunted. She put another barrier over the body. The Doctor saw it and nodded, satisfied they were protected from a possible listening device before he continued speaking to Paul and William. "If you and William do want to go through with this, I will give you both perception filters so if you need to escape, you can use them. Hopefully, since the perception filter is basically a modified key, you can tell them it's the key to your house or the studio or what have you and they won't think anything of it. I can also give you a more discrete communicator, one this is so small it'll fit right inside your ear and be undetectable. We'll wear ours and we'll be able to keep in contact like before. And…if by chance, they don't use a lorry, I'm going to carry a homing device on me that I can slip under the car or whatever they take you away in so we can track you. Okay?" Paul and William nodded. The Doctor looked at the corpse and sighed. "Rory, can you help me carry him back to the med bay? If the rest of you want to rest or eat or make phone calls, feel free to do so." The TARDIS took down the force field and he and Rory picked up the corpse and took it away. The others watched them go and then Amy looked at everyone when they were through the back door. "Come on, follow me and I'll show the new people where everything is," she said to them.
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