| |
| Project Shatterpoint | |
|---|---|
| Featuring | The Doctor The Meta Rose Tyler |
| Enemy | Nimrod The Forge |
| Setting | Secret Base Florida, Gulf of Mexico |
| Writer | Centauri |
| Participants | Centauri Wolfe Thallie |
The Doctor goes after the Dimension Canon that Rose Tyler used to break back into the normal universe. Unbeknownst to him, he's being tracked by the Metacrisis and said Rose due to a severe hiccup in their relationship. Together, the three of them deal with an old enemy to try to send the Dimension Canon into oblivion. Can two brothers set aside their differences while having to put up with each other's thoughts and emotions through their shared twin bond?
Summary[]
Once upon a time, in a certain alternate universe... nearly a decade ago. A crack was discovered in the fabric of reality - this crack floated about ten stories above ground-level in the middle of Canary Warf... from this crack several voices and pieces of ancient technology fell through... almost all of it was useless or damaged beyond repair... save for one device, a jumble of aging Dalek technology that would eventually become known as the Dimensional canon. Now, that universes version of Torchwood began to use this device to widen the crack - not realizing that the Dimensional Canon was a tool invented by the Daleks that was sucked through with their void ship when they fled the time war.
The widening of the crack caused by Torchwood was discovered by the Torchwood in our universe - they too began to widen the gap using various types of energy. Because their dimensional 'wedge' was far more rough and unstable than the Dimensional canon; our universe was exposed to the void far slower than the other universe. Unfortunately, before contact could be made by our version of Torchwood... the Torchwood in the alternate universe was... deleted. An uprising of Cybermen, facing extinction, captured Torchwood Tower. Upgraded the people they captured... and fled into the void. From our universe - since the crack was smaller - it took the Cybermen almost a year to complete the crossing. During that time, Pete Tyler and his rebuilt Torchwood harvested the tools left behind by the Cybermen... and made the crossing themselves.
After the climactic event that would become known as the battle of Canary Warf, the dimensional canon - in Pete's universe, as it came to be known, was deactivated and mothballed... or so it was thought. Because time moved faster in Pete's universe Rose Tyler and Pete Tyler became aware that the stars in their universe were going out - their universe was unraveling... even worse, the walls between dimensions were breaking down and their Earth was beginning to burn. Racing against time Pete and Torchwood reactivated the Dimensional Canon, installing a number of safeguards to protect against more tearing, and began to broadcast Rose, Pete, Mickey and several other alternate Torchwood operatives through the void into alternate dimensions... searching for the one man who could stop the crumbling of their worlds and all other worlds.
The Doctor.
Unfortunately, the canon began to destabilize - until only Rose's link remained functional... when her link jumped a time-track and was shifted into an alternate reality catered around Donna Nobel Torchwood was FINALLY able to find a stable link between our universe and Pete's universe (Donna) that allowed Mickey, Rose and several alternate Torchwood operatives to cross over. Pete's place on the team (s he'd not been at the base when the link had been made) was given to Jackie when she followed in an attempt to stop Rose. While Mickey and Rose focused on finding the Doctor, the rest of the Torchwood operatives confined themselves to limiting the Dalek invasion of Earth... an objective in which they failed... all save one, one operative was kidnapped during the fight by an organization known as the Forge.
The Forge, having long known of the alternate Torchwood, had made several failed attempts to gain access to the dimensional canon in that universe. Only now they had finally found the object they needed to complete the capture. Wiring their captive up to a dimensional magnet they intended to use her body - coated with Void radiation - as a magnet that would drag the Dimensional Canon into our universe the next time it was used... except that it never was. When the Daleks were defeated and the Children of Time taken home the Forge was seemingly robbed of it's chance... but the Forge has always been patient. When a huge blast of temporal energy (dubbed the sling-shot by most scientists) surged through every reality the cracks were opened one last time - just wide enough for the Forge to use their human magnet to pull the dimensional canon through and into the Forge Delta base.
Unknown to the Forge, the Doctor had traced the Dimensional canon being drug through the crack - along with several other people and tools that had been inside Pete's Universe. The Doctor, having given Rose Tyler - what he called - a life. Didn't bother tracking her down (as he knew John would take care of her) however the Doctor knew that the dimensional canon was a problem - it had vanished when the Forge grabbed it. It SHOULD have appeared near the Tylers as it was covered in the same version of Void Radiation as they were. Unfortunately, the Forge had taken it and no matter how hard the Doctor tried he couldn't find it... not that that mattered, as he believed he could find it later... as he suddenly landed on the planet Mars outside Bowie Base One.
About a year later - The Doctor in his new form, with Amy Pond in tow, took his new friend and Rory on a trip to the Universes Biggest Theme Park... and discretely vanished. The thing was, the Doctor had been picking up several 'blasts' of background radiation - Void Radiation - that was being pulled into our universe. Tracking the radiation the Doctor had discovered a new base in use by the Forge . Hidden UNDER the Coast of Florida the Forge had 'concealed' its new location by rupturing several oil pipelines along the coast - hiding it's signals and experiments amid a tangle of rescue workers and environmentalists it had begun to use the Dimensional Canon.
Now the Doctor knew what the Forge did to people, he also knew what it had cost him the last three times he'd dealt with the Forge. To that end he'd 'spirited' Amy and Rory away to keep them safe - he intended to come back, but he knew the only way he could guarantee that was if he dealt with Nimrod and the Forge on his own... or so he thought. Landing in the Delta Bast the Doctor fumed when he watched the toxic oil-leak spilling out of the pipe just beyond the Forge's cloaked observation deck... just as a tell-tale whoosh-thump could be heard behind him. Spinning around the Doctor watched as another TARDIS materialized - as it landed it seemed to take several different shapes but finally settled... on a pipe organ of all shapes. The TARDIS appeared young... not that the Doctor really dwelt on that for long as he saw John Tyler poke his head out of the ship - followed by the Pink-and-yellow trouble-maker herself, Rose.
The Doctor - infuriated that John had not only tracked his TARDIS, but brought Rose along. Tries to ignore the couple as they both shout at him at once. The Doctor yells back at them for coming here - telling them that he'd washed his hands of both of them and they SHOULD have been happy because of that. Whatever they do with their lives - as much as he wants it to be good - it's not his job - or desire - to interfere anymore. He's a Doctor - not a marriage councilor. Hearing boot-steps the Doctor yelps and used his Sonic Screwdriver to unlock an air vent. Helping John cram Rose into the vent the Doctor shoves John in after her and then climbs in himself.
As they watched an almost seven-foot-five man with various metal attachments surveyed the Doctor's TARDIS and smirked. Commenting that he was here the man seemed taken aback by the appearance of a pip-organ and when he placed his hand against it the young TARDIS began to squeal and wail as the man 'burnt' his metal palm into it. Holding John and Rose back - telling them to be quiet - the Doctor listened as the man stopped torturing the ship and smirked, saying that the Doctor must be slipping if he brings in help from his own species. Nodding to the ten or twenty guards (all much like the man save that their 'augmentation' is less obvious) the man watched as the two TARDISes were hauled away and glanced around the room before stomping off.
Realizing that Nimrod - as the Doctor identifies him - had brought him here on purpose... the Doctor begins to wonder just WHAT was that purpose? Leading John and Rose through the vents the Doctor is irritated that he can't find the room he is looking for until John produces the copy of the Doctor's old sonic screwdriver he was given, along with the piece of TARDIS coral. And proceeds to lead the way towards the energy surge the Doctor has been unable to find... unfortunately John is unable to find the signal either - until Rose points out that maybe the reason their going in circles is because the energy signal is all around them. Popping the floor of the vent open the Doctor grins as he watches several scientists all examining and experimenting with the dimensional canon they'd been trying to find.
Following the vent to a storage cupboard the Doctor, Rose and John don lab coats and purposefully walk out of the closet. The Doctor goes for the dimensional canon while Rose and John try to find the two TARDISes - when the Doctor tries to bluff his way past the guards around the canon he is caught using his psychic paper (which, of course, every Forge operative is conditioned against) and manages to trip every single security alarm - trapping Rose and John in the storage section with the two TARDISes while the Doctor has to hold up his hands and surrender as Nimrod comes marching up towards him. John and Rose are left to argue over going after the Doctor or leaving the Doctor listens as Nimrod explains that the dimensional canon is unstable - rather than shifting people into alternate dimensions, is 'shifts' their bodies into physical copies of their alternate selves. The last person that tried to use the canon ended up six months pregnant - and he'd been male before the machine was activated.
What's worse, the canon is beginning to fall 'through' our dimension back into the void - having become so soaked in void stuff that it weighs 'too much' to remain in a corporeal dimension. Nimrod wands the Doctor to stabilize the canon AND anchor it to this dimension - warning him that he knows full well what Nimrod can and will do if the Doctor doesn't do as he asks. The Doctor yawns and asks Nimrod how he managed to track him - Nimrod pointing out that the Doctor is painfully predictable... besides, the Forge has records on every regeneration the Doctor has or is ever GOING to have - Nimrod tells the Doctor that, if this is REALLY his eleventh life, then he's REALLY sorry for what he ends up with in his next life. The Doctor scowls and jumps up - walking over to the canon he begins to make the adjustment Nimrod asked for, saying that Nimrod has 'obviously' beaten him... just him, and glances at Nimrod when he asks why the Doctor brought TWO TARDIses which the Doctor's comments as being 'one for work one for Sunday best' which makes Nimrod laugh... just as he is shot straight-on with a blast of ice from the vent above him.
Laughing as Rose and John come flying out of the vent - blasting off cold-charges from the Ice Canons the Doctor 'borrowed' off of the Madame de Pompadour the Doctor ducks as they use the ice to subdue Nimrods soldiers. As for Nimrod himself he ends up frozen solid. Adjusting the dimensional canon to fire a massive blast the Doctor grins as the weapon begins to pull itself AND the base into the void. When the Doctor turns around he see's a trail of ice leading towards the hanger. When he asks John where Nimrod is - both John and Rose now out of fire are forced to say they don't know, the Doctor goes running towards the hanger and finds a submersible hidden above on the catwalks... only to receive a huge belt to the face and then end up tumbling end over end towards the inky-black void of the sea bellow him. As he falls the Doctor grabs hold of a chain hanging from the ship Nimrod was trying to escape into and is forced to watch as Nimrod begins to cut the chain.
Suddenly John comes flying down the hall and throws himself onto Nimrod - sending the cyborg spinning to the ground John displays a remarkable forte with venisian akido... until Nimrod grabs his arm and nearly breaks it in half with his superior strength. Just as Nimrod is about to sever the chain AND John's throat... who should come swinging into save the day - hanging from a fire-hose - but Rose Tyler. Slamming into Nimrod feet-first she manages to knock him backwards - allowing John to kick him in the stomach and sent him tumbling end-over-end to the sea bellow. The pressure outside of the station will surely kill him... at least that's what John says - though the Doctor isn't so sure, as Nimrods 'surely been dead' before. Being hauled back up to the catwalk the Doctor ducks as the station begins to turn inside-out as the canon continues to pull the station and itself into the void. Leading Rose and John back to their TARDISes the Doctor crams the lovers into his TARDIS, links his computer with their TARDIS and tows it out of the exploding base.
Finding Rose and John in the infirmary - mid kiss - the Doctor laughs and asks if they've solved their problem, leading Rose to comment that there's nothing like a little near-death to bring you close to someone. Grinning the Doctor asks where to drop them off as he leads the two on a tour of the newly restructured TARDIS one last time... confident that, in this world and with love... surely they can make it work.