HELTER SKELTER
Chapter Twelve They found William and he told them that he was ready to go when they were. The Doctor checked his watch and noticed it was nearing 11 p.m. "Hold off on contacting them until we get Jane's father in here," he said to them. "After that, you can say goodbye and get well wishes before you go." They nodded. The Doctor told them to wait in the console room while he went to get Jane and Margaret. Paul walked over to the console while William sat down in the chair. "Blimey, how does he even fly this thing? I don't even see any proper switches or buttons, just a bunch of doodahs," Paul said, looking at the console. "I s'pose he knows by memory what everything does," William replied. Paul walked around the other side. "Heh, he has a typewriter here," he said as he pointed to it. "Wonder what that does?" "Fires a torpedo?" William said, grinning as he shrugged. Paul laughed at that. "Fire torpedo, click, click, click, click, click!" he said, miming typing on the typewriter while William snickered. "Somehow, I don't think he has torpedoes on this thing. He was opposed to us using the blasters, you know." "I wouldn't mind having one of those blasters right now." "You scared, mate?" Paul asked. "A bit. I'm not really scared of dying; I'm scared of being brainwashed again and ending up like Robert or whatever his name was. Being a mindless killing machine is the last thing I wanna be." "The Doctor said he had a way to protect our minds from that rubbish." "But what happens if they figure out he did that? Then do we get put to death because we're useless as mindless zombies?" "Don't talk like that, William. We're not gonna die. We just have to tell ourselves that and stay focused in there," Paul said. William nodded and Paul walked over to him. "The Doctor said he'll take you to get your eyes fixed. I'm glad. I'm glad you didn't end up like Robert. You're one of my best mates now and I'm glad you're here." "Thanks, I'm glad you accepted me. Especially since it must be strange being friends with someone who was gonna replace you." "Well, yeah…" Paul said while William chuckled. "But now that I know you, it's not so strange anymore. You're a good man, a very good man. Not like I envisioned the first time I saw ya when I called ya an ugly Jewish shit faced man." "What?" William said while Paul bent over laughing. "I'm what? Jewish? I'm not Jewish!" "I just thought you kinda looked…Jewish…a bit. Amy had a little postcard of the Sergeant Pepper album and I was going by that." "And what was the other one, shit face?" William said. "Thanks a lot, Paul!" "I'm sorry, really I am. I thought at first you were willingly helping them and I was angry that someone came up with this daft idea of replacing me so I sat there with Amy in my cell and we had a laugh to relieve some of the tension and defuse my anger. It's just that even with the plastic surgery; you didn't look much like me. At least I didn't think so and I couldn't believe people fell for it. But that's behind us, water under the bridge so, William Campbell, I'm sorry I once referred to you as a Jewish shit faced man." "Okay, apology accepted, I s'pose," William said while Paul chortled. "Any other titbits you wanna let me know about before we go marching to our deaths?" "No, I think that was it. Once I found out you were a victim, I changed my mind about ya." "Well, thank God for that," William said while he laughed. "Nice to know I look Jewish to ya and my face apparently looks like shit. You certainly do know how to bolster someone's spirits before they go walking into Hell." "Yeah, well, too much time spent around John, that's all I have to say about that." They looked over when the Doctor came into the room with Margaret and Jane while Martha tagged along. "Do you need us to go with you?" Paul asked. "No, you just relax, love," Margaret said to him as they walked on by. "We'll handle Richard. Can you call your dog though?" "Martha! Here, girl! Come here!" Martha turned when Paul whistled for her and bounded up the steps. Paul scratched her head and held on to her collar when the Doctor opened the door and the three of them went outside. He waited until the door shut before he released his hold on the collar. William petted Martha while she sat down between them. "I asked the Doctor to look after her and Janie and her family if we don't make it. And if you make it and I don't, I asked him to look in on you as well." "Paul, don't say that. We're gonna escape this. They'll be with us or at least they'll be able to track us and we'll have those perception filter things and the communicators. We won't be going in alone and unarmed this time." Paul nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad we had time to plan something and they didn't just ambush us like last time. Bastards owe me an Aston Martin." "Sure? You sure you didn't wreck it like the moped?" "Hey! Don't you start that shit!" he said while William laughed. "Bad enough Pond constantly makes shitty driver jokes without you adding to it." "Sorry, couldn't resist," William said, holding up his hands. Paul chuckled. "Yeah, well, I s'pose I shouldn't have been lookin' at the moon while I was drivin'. But it was a pretty moon that night." He lapsed into silence for a moment while William petted Martha. "Mate, the last six months…with all that's happened…I suddenly realized that the so-called halcyon days are over." "What do you mean?" William said. "I mean that I'm growing old and I'm not a crazy kid anymore. In the last six months I realized that there was a group of aliens trying to rule the world, I was in a car crash, abducted and nearly killed, saw several deaths happen in front of me, Tara died in a horrible car crash that could have been my fate if Jones and Brown had hit my car harder and ran me into a tree or something. Not to mention all the fame and money in a few short years. When we were young and in Hamburg, I doubted I would have volunteered to go on a possible suicide mission to stop a worldwide infestation of aliens. I would have said you were daft if you told me I was gonna do that when I was 24. But…now I'm not only in a band that's one of the most successful there ever was, I've volunteered to help an alien defeat evil and I'm getting married. I've grown up so much in so little time, I just realized that and it blows my mind." "Everyone grows and changes, Paul, not just you. I've done the same. I had to grow up the moment I got thrown into prison and they started torturing me." "I know. But you and I are both young, it's shitty that we can't spend the rest of our 20's partying, eh?" he said with a wink. "Nah, more to do and see out there than just go to parties. Personally, I would rather do what the Doctor does and go and see time and space rather than just lie around and get stoned." "I agree. Maybe that's the other reason why I'm daft enough to go headlong into Illuminati headquarters. I want adventure and excitement. You can't have many thrilling adventures standing in a recording studio all day singing the same songs over and over." "In other words, this is another attempt to hold on to your reckless youth," William teased. Paul laughed and nodded. "Yeah, nothing like outrunning aliens to get that old adrenaline pumping. Fountain of youth, that is. Takes years off ya when you're trying to avoid being killed," he said. They fell into silence for a moment. "William, what did they do to you? How did they torture you?" he said. "Oh, mate, you don't wanna know," William said. "No, I do. I need to prepare, yeah? What did they do?" William looked down at the floor while Paul gave him a sympathetic look. "Lots of things. Beat you, whip you, burn you, starve you, put you in a room with bright lights and loud noises to keep you awake and drive you crazy. There were some people I knew of that had their bones broken and were broken on the rack and other medieval type torture devices. That laser thing Amy spoke of. I knew about that because they would put some people on a table and slice off bits and pieces or cut them open. I was lucky; I was going to replace you so I was important enough that they went easy on the torture. Some people went through more hell than I did." "All this because you decided one day you looked enough like me to enter a lookalike contest." William let out a mirthless laugh. "Yeah. And I won, lucky me, eh?" he said, glancing at him. "Yes, but you did win in that you're here now and you have friends that care for you. At least that much came out of you winning that contest." William grinned. "Yeah. All this," he said, gesturing around him. "You, the others, that does make up for the suffering I went through. And then after finally getting a bit of happiness, I learn I'm a Jewish shit faced man." He grinned when Paul laughed hysterically. "Don't feel bad, mate. According to that cartoon they run in America, I have buck teeth and big doe eyes that make me look stoned so I s'pose if you're Jewish Shit Faced Man, I'm Buck Teeth Perpetually Stoned Man." "Or…if we're going by the Yellow Submarine cartoon, you're Egyptian Eyes Wacky Tie Severe Part In The Middle Of The Hair Buck Tooth Man. Never mind, use the other name you came up with because that one's a mouthful," William said while Paul laughed harder. While they were laughing, Amy peeked out the back door. Paul groaned when he caught sight of her. "Oh God, it's Piss Off, Pond come to spoil our fun," Paul said. Amy flipped him off before she came into the room and climbed the stairs. "Has the Doctor come back with Jane and her parents?" she asked them. "Nope. I'm sure Jane and Margaret are trying to calm him down and convince him that the Doctor isn't a part of some alien invasion force," Paul said. She hugged William and William smiled as he hugged her tightly. "I also was looking for him since I already spoke with you and gave you hugs and I need to hug my other brother and wish him luck," Amy said to Paul. "I asked the Doctor about being allowed to stay here and he said it was alright," Paul said to her. "Told ya," Amy replied. "What's that?" William said. Paul explained his request and William grinned. "That sounds great. I wouldn't mind staying here. It's a fab little ship." "And there's a lot of different rooms to explore in," Amy said. "Rory and I did that and that's how we found the Beatles room he had." "Which is what led you to this point," Paul said. "Yup! If it wasn't for me, you'd be Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him," Amy said. "Ugh, I owe my life to Piss Off, Pond, how humiliatin'," Paul said. William laughed when Amy tried to smack him. Martha leapt up and tried to put his paws on her chest. "That's it, girl, knock her down and lick her to death!" Paul said. They looked up when the door opened. They all stood up and watched while the Doctor, Jane and Margaret led a stunned Richard into the TARDIS. The Doctor noticed the three up by the console. "Don't go anywhere. I need to do that mind block I mentioned so you'll be protected. Wait a tic though. Just come this way, Mr. Asher, your wife and Jane can show you around." They escorted him out of the console room while the Doctor bounded up the stairs. "Is he okay?" Amy asked the Doctor. "Well, once he got over the initial shock that he had been friends with an alien all this time, yeah, things went pretty well," the Doctor said. "I think he'll be alright. It took a bit of explaining but I think he'll adjust just like everyone else has. Now…about the two of you, do you want me to do the mind block now? I can put the communicator in your ears at the same time so I don't forget." They nodded. "Amy, check on the Asher family while I'm doing this, okay?" "Yup!" She gave Paul and William quick hugs and then hurried down the steps. The Doctor, Paul and William followed her as she hurried through the back door. He led them back to his med bay. Paul looked around and noticed Robert wasn't visible. He asked the Doctor where he was. "He's in storage for the moment till we can figure out what to do with him," the Doctor said. "Whoever wants to go first, get on the table." Paul got on the padded examination table and laid back. The Doctor brought over a tiny silver tray. On a white towel were two tiny silver discs that were about an inch wide and a pair of tweezers. The Doctor picked up one of the discs with the tweezers and put it on his index finger. Then he leaned in and put it behind Paul's left ear near his hairline. He checked to make sure it was secure and then moved the tray onto a nearby table before he walked back to Paul's side. "This won't hurt. I'm going to go into your mind and put up some mental blocks and barriers that will keep you safe from brainwashing techniques. If you don't want me to see a particular memory, imagine a door in front of the memory and close it, I won't open it." Paul nodded. He relaxed while the Doctor put his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. He saw flashes of memories, life with the Beatles, all the awards and accolades he won, the thunderous applause and sounds of screaming girls. It made him smile knowing that he was seeing the memories of one of the people he had always admired. It was one of the perks of being a Time Lord, meeting your heroes and occasionally becoming friends with them. He began to put up barriers around these precious memories and sealed Paul's personality away, protecting the true him from intrusion by outside forces. He also added a little something extra, did the same thing to Paul's mind that he did to Donna's and added a psychic booby trap that would trigger if someone tried to force their way in. He figured if it worked with Donna against the Master, it was worth trying again. For a moment the thought of Donna triggered an ache in his hearts that he quickly silenced and buried. He continued working and after ten more minutes, he told Paul he was done. Paul sat up while the Doctor reached into the pocket of his jacket and gave him one of the perception filters. Paul slid off the table and put the perception filter in his pocket while the Doctor called for William to come and take his place. As before, the Doctor put the other communicator behind his ear while Paul stood back and watched. Then he began the mind block. He had seen some of his memories before when he bypassed the Diablon's brainwashing but this was more in depth and he saw the cruel things they had done to him. He witnessed all the torture, all the pain and suffering and marveled at the man's inner strength that allowed him to keep his sanity after the Doctor did away with the brainwashing. As before, he put up barriers and blocks around his memories and personality, preserving and protecting the true him from any more intrusions. When he was finished, William sat up and accepted the perception filter from him. "Okay, that's done," the Doctor said. "Now all that's left is to call the Illuminati."
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