WRAITHS OF THE RIPPER

Chapter Ten

John stood by the TARDIS door, keeping an eye on his friends while Ten walked around the console room, taking it in. Rose was standing near her fiancé, watching while Ten walked under the glass floor and looked up through it. Rose hesitated a moment before walking over to him. Ten glanced at her and smiled.

"This is rather nice," he said, pointing to the glass floor. "I like my TARDIS's interior but the futuristic design is appealing as well."

Rose nodded absentmindedly. Ten studied her for a moment.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Just worried," she said. "Worried about you, worried about everyone."

Ten smiled sadly and walked over to her.

"You've always had faith in me, even when I didn't," he said. "You saw only goodness in me but there's far more darkness in me than you'd like to believe."

"Is that why you left me with John? Because you feared he had the same level of darkness?"

"Partly and partly, as I told you before, I thought you and he could grow old together. How long has it been since you last saw me?" he said.

"Um, a little over a year," Rose said. "Wait, you just said you left Donna behind."

"Two days ago," the Doctor said. "I wondered how you two had managed to find a flat so quickly. Now I realize that the TARDIS brought me further into your future. Maybe she did that so I would arrive at a point where John was no longer cross with me."

"I was never cross with you to the point I would smash your face in, Doctor," John said. "If anything, I was more upset you left Rose behind without saying goodbye properly. But as I said before, water under the bridge. Now I'm more concerned about keeping everyone alive and sorting out this mucked up timeline."

He opened the door a bit and stuck his head out.

"Do you think we can sort it out, Doctor?" Rose asked him.

"I don't know. I hope so. All those people my other selves killed…Peri, Mickey, Jackie and who knows who else. I want whoever is doing this to stop this and restore them and the timeline."

"Doctor, I think we have a problem," John said, sticking his head back inside. "Those Jacksprites, I think a bunch of them have surrounded the Doctor and everyone else and they're about to attack them."

"We need to help them," Rose said.

John and Ten looked at each other.

"I think the need to help is greater than Donna recognizing us," John said.

Ten nodded.

"We need weapons though," John added. "These people do have the surgical knives strapped to their fingers."

Ten rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then snapped his fingers.

"Got it," he said. "Come, my friends, we'll make a quick diversion to the TARDIS cupboard before going out."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Eleven stood with the others and stared at the Jacksprites in silent shock. It wasn't because the teens had ambushed them, it's because at the very back, standing a few feet behind the others, Rani was standing there. She was very thin and her long hair was matted and dirty. Unlike the five other teens, who were menacing them and waggling their finger knives like Freddy Krueger, she was standing there, staring directly at Sarah Jane with a guilty look on her face. He looked at Sarah Jane. She was staring right back at Rani, fury on her face. Eleven scanned the other teens, three boys and two girls, but Luke and Clyde weren't among them. One boy, an Arab boy, painfully thin and dirty with matted black hair, stepped forward from the others and leered at them.

"So…out for a stroll, duckies?" he said with a slight Arab accent. "How unfortunate for you, eh?" he added, waggling his fingers at them.

Eleven glanced at Donna. She was still inside, watching everything through the gap in the door. Donna caught the Doctor's eye.

"Get inside now," she hissed at him.

"No, I'm not backing down from this," the Doctor said.

"Nor I," Sarah Jane said. "Rani, what do you think you're doing?"

The other Jacksprites turned their heads and eyed Rani suspiciously. Rani glanced at them, looked at their finger knives and feigned indifference.

"Piss off, bitch," Rani spat at her. "I barely know ya."

The Doctor sighed angrily and stepped to the front.

"Right, you lot clear off and go find something else to do before I get physical," he said to them.

The Jacksprites looked at his tweed jacket and bow tie and everyone except Rani burst into laughter.

"You threatening us, Boffin?" the Arab boy said, wagging his fingers at the Doctor's face. "Shouldn't you be teaching a class somewhere?"

"Why does everyone think I'm a university professor?" the Doctor said in exasperation. "They're not the only ones who wear tweed jackets. But that's beside the point, go away. Well, not Rani, Rani can stay but the rest of you, clear off!"

The Jacksprites once again turned their attention to Rani and eyed her suspiciously.

"What's your dealings with this lot?" the Arab boy said to her.

"Nothing. I don't know any of them except the old lady in the back and that's only because she's Luke's mum."

"Where is Luke…and Clyde? Where are they?" Sarah Jane said to her.

"I don't know so piss off!" Rani said.

"Oh please, Rani, enough with the bad girl act," the Doctor said.

"Oi! You don't talk to her, Boffin, you talk to me. I'm the leader here!" the Arab boy said.

"Oh yes and you're definitely leader material, especially since you're disheveled with matted hair and you smell like you've been rolling in poo. You lot would definitely give Donald Trump a run for his money alright," Eleven said, rolling his eyes.

"You think you're man enough to take me on, Nerd Boy?" the boy said.

"I don't think, I know I am," Eleven said.

The boy told the others to back up and when they did, he turned his attention back to Eleven and grinned manically at him.

"Fine then. You and me, let's dance," he said, pointing a finger knife at his face.

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