HELTER SKELTER

Chapter Thirty Eight

"Hello there," the Doctor said to the Diablons, "I'm the Oncoming Storm and this…is the oncoming flame. Paul, Jane, duck your heads!"

Paul and Jane ducked and Lucifer and Lara screamed and ran towards the back of the room while the Doctor turned on the flamethrower and swept the room. He hurried past his companions towards the Diablons while they tried to get away from the flames. Paul and Jane looked up and Paul laughed as the two Diablons cowered in a corner while the Doctor slowly and casually advanced on them, the flame fanning out in front of him.

"What's the matter?" the Doctor yelled to them over the roar of the flamethrower. "I thought you lot were demons from Hell, surely you're used to a little flame!"

Paul and Jane stood up and watched while the Doctor held them at bay with the flame.

"Now! I believe it's your turn to get on your knees and surrender yourselves before you get barbecued!" the Doctor yelled at them as he swung the flamethrower side to side.

Paul glanced over at the door and smiled when the rest of his friends and family peeked inside.

"Burn em, Doctor!" John yelled. "I'm feeling a bit peckish. Never had demon meat before!"

Paul and Jane walked over to them as they came inside and watched. George glanced out the door and saw several slaves running towards them.

"Head's up, mates. More of the brainwashed lackeys!" he said to them.

They all ran further inside the room so they could let the slaves see what was happening. Once they ran inside, they froze and stared at the Doctor in shock while he menaced their masters with the flamethrower. John stomped up to the stunned slaves.

"On your knees or you'll all be next," he growled at them.

Shocked, the slaves numbly fell to their knees and stared in disbelief at the Doctor while he taunted the Diablons over the roar of the flamethrower. Then the Doctor ordered his captives to their knees and laughed triumphantly when both of them instantly fell and began to beg for mercy.

"Mercy? Why should I show you mercy? Did you show mercy to the humans you incinerated?" the Doctor yelled at them. "Were you going to show Paul and Jane mercy? Why should you be any different?"

"You can't do this!" Lucifer said. "You aren't capable of burning us alive."

"You don't know what I'm capable of," the Doctor snarled at them as they shuddered. "My people hunted you lot to near extinction. What makes you think I won't do the same? Stop!" the Doctor yelled when more slaves ran through the door and stopped in a stunned silence. "Fall to your knees and surrender or your lord and master and mistress perish in front of your eyes."

"DO IT!" John roared at them.

The slaves, confused and afraid, did as commanded. The small group knelt there, staring in disbelief as their master and mistress visibly quaked at the sight of what they thought was one lone human with a flame thrower.

"Now!" the Doctor said, "if you surrender and do it willingly and order everyone on this ship to do the same, I will spare your worthless lives. Otherwise, you will burn alive in front of everyone and I will make an example of you to your buddies wherever they may be. Which is it?"

"We surrender!" Lucifer said. "Please, spare us."

"Cowards," the Doctor said with a look of contempt. "Willing to kill others to further your plans but when it comes to your own hides…"

He turned off the flamethrower and before Lucifer and Lara could react, he ran forward and hit them with the flamethrower, knocking them both out. The Doctor turned to the slaves who were visibly frightened.

"I will not hurt you as long as you obey me and do what I say," he said, walking over to the slaves. "You will come with us, you and any others in this place and you will not resist or…"

The slaves gasped when the Doctor pointed the flamethrower at the ceiling and turned it on, showering the ceiling with flame for effect. He turned off the flamethrower and raised his eyebrow as he stared at the slaves.

"I believe I made my point," he said to them.

Everyone helped round up the slaves and got the unconscious Diablons inside the TARDIS after the Doctor went inside their minds and put them into a deep sleep. The Doctor occasionally turned on the flamethrower and aimed it at the ceiling, flicking a flame or two to keep the slaves from turning against them. He hated to do it since he knew they were only brainwashed humans but he knew of no other way to corral the humans and keep them from attacking him and his friends. He managed to keep them from harming others and got them into individual cells along with the Diablons. Once the brainwashed humans were secure, he activated a sleeping gas in case any of them had the same suicide device that Ian had and also so he could bring them out one at a time and see if he could mend their minds. Once that was done, he and the others made a quick search of the ship to make sure that no one else remained aboard. When they found the ship was clear, the Doctor moved his TARDIS to the ship's control room and ran a cable from his console to the ship's console, downloading the databanks into his ship's databanks so he could examine the information from inside the safety of his ship. Once that was finished, the Doctor found a distant black hole and programmed the ship to fly towards it. Locking it on course for the black hole, the Doctor and the others got back inside the TARDIS and left the ship.

The Doctor flew the TARDIS into the vortex and gathered everyone inside the console room after unsealing the room where the others were staying.

"I want to go back down to the island and make a search of it," the Doctor said to everyone as they stood and sat around the console. "But first…I believe we have a couple of things that need to be done and I want to do them first since I can go back to any point in time to the island. William and John, do you still want the eye surgery?"

"In the worst way," William said.

"I second that," John said.

"Good. We'll do that and after that's sorted…Paul and Jane, would you like to go ahead and do a commitment ceremony somewhere so you can be married. We can always do an Earth wedding later."

"Yes, I want to marry Jane, I don't want to wait," Paul said while Jane nodded in agreement.

"Good. That'll be second then. And finally, I have a proposition for the friends and family of Paul. I've been giving it some thought and I thought that perhaps one way we can keep you lot out of the Diablon's reach is to take you to an Earth colony on another planet at some point in future. I know of several that are similar to Earth. They have advanced technology but nothing you lot couldn't figure out. You can be safe and still live in an Earth-like environment. That way you can live somewhere other than the TARDIS and if you so desire, when this mess on Earth is cleared up, I can take you back within seconds of the time you all left so no one will be the wiser. It's your decision, of course. You're welcome to stay here if you want but this is another option."

"What do you think, love?" John said to Cynthia. "You and Jules wanna try living on an alien planet?"

"Yeah!" Julian said while John sniggered.

"Figured you'd like that. Cyn?"

"This place, it'll be like Earth?" Cynthia said to the Doctor.

"I'll find a colony similar to Earth, yes," the Doctor said.

"I wouldn't mind then but John, do you mind staying with us for a bit and helping us get adjusted?" Cynthia said to him.

John frowned and looked at the Doctor.

"If you want to do that, I can give you a mobile like Paul has and you can ring me if you need to work on recording songs or if you want to travel with me."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to do that then," John said. "I wanna make sure that Cyn and Jules are alright."

The Doctor nodded. He asked the others and Maureen and Patti agreed to it if Ringo and George stayed to help them adjust. The Doctor made the same promise to them he gave to John and they agreed. He asked Roger and his band and Roger chuckled.

"Nah, I wanna go back to Earth. I think we'll be alright," Roger said while his band mates nodded in agreement. "It's Paul and his family they're really after. I don't think they'll bother us."

"And how about you, Richard and Margaret and Jim. And Devon and Carol as well."

"I wanna go back home," Devon said while Carol nodded in agreement.

"Dad, why don't you go with John and live with him. John can look after ya," Paul said.

"You're not coming, son?" Jim said.

"I wanna do this. I like traveling with the Doctor. My place is here for the moment."

"And my place is with him," Jane said.

"And so is mine," William added.

"How 'bout it, Mr. McCartney? Leave the Three Musketeers and room with me?" John asked. "And Janie's mum and dad as well. We'd love to have ya."

"You'll phone, won't you?" Margaret asked Jane.

"I will. I promise. Please go with John, you'll be safer on another world than on Earth, at least for the moment," Jane said.

The three parents glanced at each other and nodded.

"Very well, we can find something big enough to accommodate all of you," the Doctor said. "And Paul, Jane and William, you are more than welcome to stay and travel with me. You've more than proven yourselves worthy. So…that's all I have to say then. Any comments?"

The adults shook their heads.

"Right then, I'll take William and John and drop them off for their eye surgeries before I take the Who, Devon and Carol back to Earth," he said as he inputted coordinates into the computer.

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