Well I am keeping to my promise and my god did I miss the Doctor and the Stone, I've started to write small pieces for the Protector Chronicles, coming back to see the Stone after writing for the Protector and Hollie feels a little bit weird... anyways! Here's the second chapter for a town called Mercy, enjoy!
-----
"It was stupid of me, I realise that now," Jex said sitting on the edge of a table. "I just thought I'd put you all in enough danger. Perhaps if I left-"
He was cut off by an angry Time Lord entering the room with his wife. "He's lying." He said making them all look at him. Jenny's eyes brightened seeing her parents.
"Mum!" She said running up to the ginger Time Lady who tightly hugged her.
"Are you okay?" She worryingly asked.
"I'm okay but Jex tried to use me to escape. Something about the Gunslinger not shooting if I was with him."
"That won't happen." She reassured kissing the blonde's forehead.
The Doctor closely watched both of them before nodding. He could see that Jenny was okay, he turned back to Jex his eyes grew dark once more. "Every word, everything he says, it's all lies." He stepped closer. "This man is a murderer."
"I am a scientist." He protested standing up.
"Sit down." The Doctor quietly ordered. "Sit down!" He burst out shouting making even Jenny jump. The Stone placed an arm on her shoulder in comfort. "Tell them what you are."
"What am I?" He asked. "A war hero."
"Okay, somebody want to tell me what is going on?" Isaac cut in.
"The Gunslinger is a Cyborg."
"A what?"
"Half man, half machine." The Stone explained. "A weapon that Jex built. He and his team took volunteers, he told them they'd been selected for special training, then experimented on them, fused their bodies with weaponry, and programmed them to kill."
"Okay." He slowly nodded as Jenny sucked in a sharp breath in shock, a hand flew to her mouth in horror. "Why? Why would you do that, Doc?" Issac questioned.
"We'd been at war for nine years. A war that had already decimated half of our planet. Our task was to bring peace, and we did. We built an army that routed the enemy and ended the war in less than a week. Do you want me to repent, to beg forgiveness for saving millions of lives?"
"And how many died screaming on the operating table before you had found your advantage?"
"War is another world. You cannot apply the politics of peace to what I did. To what any of us did."
"What happened then?" Rory asked. "How come you're here?"
"When the war ended we had the Cyborgs decommissioned, but one of them must have got its circuitry damaged in battle. It went offline and began hunting down the team that created it until just two of us were left. We fled, and our ships crashed here."
The Doctor shook his head and turned towards his wife and daughter. Walking over to them he hugged Jenny. "I'm sorry that I scared you by shouting."
"It wasn't you shouting dad I on edge already, Jex tried to use me like a shield to help him escape."
The Doctor swallowed hard and nodded. "My Jenny." He closed his eyes. "Never would I have allowed that he would have to burn me alive to stop me from protecting you."
"So, what do we do with Jex?" Rory whispered to Isaac and Amy.
"What do we do with him?"
"Yeah. I mean, he's a war criminal."
"No, he's the guy that saved the town from cholera, the guy that gave us heat and light."
"Look, Jex may be a criminal and yeah, kind of creepy-"
"And still in the room." He cut in.
"But I think we should put aside what he did and find another solution."
"Another solution?" Rory scoffed. "It's him or us."
"When did we start letting people get executed?" Amy asked. "Did I miss a memo? Doctor, tell him."
"Hmm?" He hummed. "Yes. I don't know." He waved a hand having not really been listening. "Whatever Amy said."
Jex chuckled darkly. "Looking at you, Doctor, is like looking into a mirror, almost. There's rage there, like me. Guilt, like me. Solitude. Everything but the nerve to do what needs to be done. Thank the gods my people weren't relying on you to save them."
The Doctor growled and let go of Jenny. He stalked towards Jex and the Stone knew the man should have held his tongue. "No. No, but these people are." He gritted his teeth. The Stone narrowed her eyes at the man's words. He was out of line and now the Doctor was even angrier than before, there was no telling how far the Doctor would go now. "Out! Out! Out!" He ordered pulling him up from the chair and forcing him out. Jenny's eyes widened at what her father was doing as the Doctor pushed him out of the building.
Rory held a hand out to them, stopping the three from moving out of the Marshals office after the Doctor, Jex and Isaac left. "Oh, you're really letting him do this?" Amy questioned
"Save us all?" He asked. "Yeah, I really am."
The Stone shook her head pushing through him. "He's my husband and I'm not letting him do something he will later regret."
Jenny went to leave but Rory went to stop her. "Just try and stop me." She shot him a look that made him let her go.
"No!" Jex cried as the Doctor tightened his grip on the man, shoving him forward and following after him.
"Go on." The Doctor ordered with a crowd now forming and following the two aliens towards the edge of the town.
"What are we going to do?" Jenny asked the older Time Lady who was behind the Doctor.
"Your father can sometimes forget how much anger he can hold inside of him."Â The Stone explained. "We need to calm him down."
"I think I know how."
"Okay, you better be fast, I honestly don't know how far he will go."
"Trust me, mum."
"Always will."
The Doctor pushed him over the line. "Get over, and don't come back."
Jex turned around and met a gun the Doctor grabbed from a mans holster pointed in his face.
"You wouldn't."
The Doctor looked around to find the Stone beside him, she gently squeezed his hand making him look down momentarily.
"Sweetheart, please don't."
The Doctor closed his eyes for a second in shame, wishing she wouldn't witness this. "I genuinely don't know."
"Doctor." Isaac shouted. "Doctor!"
A gun was fired into the air that made the Doctor turn around. "Dad." The Jenny said gun still pointed into the air, her face showing slight disappointment. "Let him come back."
"Or what?" He asked. "Jenny I know that you won't shoot me."
"No I won't," she confirmed lowering the gun in her hand, "Because someone taught me that violence wasn't always the answer, he taught me that there were better ways at stopping wars. That was you, dad, you taught me that, back when all I knew was how to fight."
"We can end this right now." He protested with the shake of his head. "We could save everyone right now."
"But that isn't what I learned from you dad." Jenny replied.
"Jex has to answer for his crimes."
"And what then?" She questioned. "Dad if that's your logic then you're going to have to hunt down everyone who's made a gun or a bullet or a bomb."
"Including me." The Stone added making the Doctors eyes widened and his head snap to look at her. "Don't you remember what I did during the Time War?"
"No-" He shook his head. "That's different, you're different."
"The only difference is that I regret what I did." The Stone softly replied. "I am not proud of what I did during the Time War, so are you going to hunt me down?"
"No." He shook his head again. "But they come back, don't you see?" He looked between his wife and daughter. "Every time I negotiate, I try to understand. Well, not today. No. Today, I honour the victims first. His, the Master's, the Dalek's and you, all the people who died because of my mercy!"
"But we have to be better than him, it's who we are, it's who you made me," Jenny added. "Dad I'm who I am because of what you and mum taught me, you made me see a better way. Before this, all I knew was how to fight and be a soldier but you and mum made me a better person.
The Doctor stared at his daughter for a moment, the cogs practically visible as they turned in his head before his features finally softened and the Doctor sighed. "Oh Jenny." He shook his head dropping the gun. "Oh, my sweet Jenny."
Jenny opened her mouth to reply before staring behind Jex as something shifted in the distance.
The Doctor turned around and held out a hand to Jex. "Jex, move over the line. Now." Jex slowly turned around to see the Gunslinger as he appeared right behind him.
"Make peace with your gods."
"Kahler-Tek, isn't it?" Jex asked. "I remember all your names, even now. I'll never hurt anyone again. I'm even helping people here."
"Last chance." He warned. "Make peace with your gods."
"No!" Isaac shouted and pushed Jex out of the way. The crowed gasped in horror, the Stone hugged Jenny to her who shreiked as Isaac was shot.
"Isaac." The Doctor quickly moved to his side. "Isaac. Isaac. It's okay, it's okay. We can get you to Jex's surgery. He can save you."
"Listen to me." He croaked. "You've got to stay. You've got to look after everyone."
"It won't come to that, Isaac."
"Protect Jex. Protect my town. You're both good men." He grabbed his badge. "You just forget it sometimes." The Doctor bowed his head and felt something metal in his hand. Standing up he pinned the badge to his jacket.
"Take Jex to his cell." He ordered. "If anything happens to him, you'll have me to answer to." He turned to the Gunslinger with narrowed eyes. "This has gone on long enough."
"You are right. You've got until noon tomorrow. Give him to me or I'll kill you all." He vanished and the Doctor turned around. "Dad, you're the Marshal."
"Yeah." He nodded walking towards Jenny, the Stone right beside him, "and you're both my deputies."
---
It was soon dark and with Jex still in his cell the Doctor stood in the Marshals office with his two deputies, the Stone and Jenny.
Someone hammered on the door, shattering the silence and made them all look up. "Come in."
"Marshal." The Preacher entered nodding at the Doctor. "Ma'ams" he greeted Amy, the Stone and Jenny before looking at Rory and pausing unsure what to actually call him. "Fella." He settled on. "You need to come outside."
"Why," the Doctor frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Just come outside." The Preacher repeated then nodded at a gun belt. "And you should put that on."
The Doctor followed the Preacher outside where a crowd had gathered in the night. "What's going on?"
"He in there?" The boy who was in the bar the day before asked. "Leave the keys and take a walk. By the time you get back, this'll all be done."
The Time Lord shook his head. "I promised Isaac I'd protect him."
"Protecting him got Isaac dead." The boy protested. "Tomorrow, it's going to be us all, dead."
"We thought Isaac was right to fight, but it's different now." The Doctor crossed his arms.
"We've got to say, all right we lost, and give that thing what it wants."
"What it wants is to kill our friend." A woman spoke up.
"We don't got any ill feeling towards the Doc. We just thinking about our families. Hand him over and we all safe again."
"You know I can't do that." The Doctor replied.
"We got us a problem."
"Please don't do this." The Time Lord asked.
"Why, reckon you're quicker than me?"
He scoffed. "Oh, certainly not, but this? Lynch mobs? A town turning against itself? This is everything Isaac didn't want." The young man drew his gun and cocked it. "How old are you?" The Doctor asked not seeming fazed.
"Nearly nineteen."
"That's eighteen, then." He answered slowly walking forward. "Too young to have fought in the war, so I'm guessing you've never shot anyone before, have you?"
"First time for everything."
"But that's how all this started. Jex turned someone into a weapon. Now that same story's going to make you a killer, too. Don't you see? Just like Jenny said." He looked around to the blonde and smiled, "violence doesn't end violence, it extends it, and I don't think you want to do this. I don't think you want to become that man."
"There's kids here."
"I know, who I can save if you'll let me."
"He really worth the risk?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Don't know. But you are."
The man nodded and lowered his gun then walked away, the crowed followed.
"Frightened people." The Doctor muttered shaking his head and walked back to his family. "Give me a Dalek any day."
---
The Doctor removed the gun belt. "Fresh coffee, Marshal." The undertaker poked his head through the door. " For what it's worth, I know you're going to save us. Isaac made you Marshal for a reason, and if you're good enough for him, you're good enough for me." He set the cup down. "Reckon you should know that."
"Thank you." He nodded.
The undertaker continued to take his measurements, however. "Oi." The Doctor warned. "Get out of it." He nodded and left.
"Let me guess." Jex stood up in his cell. "The good folk of Mercy wanted me to take a little stroll into the desert. You could turn a blind eye. No one would blame you. You'd be a hero."
"But I can't, can I." He countered glancing at Jenny beside the Stone. "Because then Isaac's death would mean nothing. He Just another casualty in your endless bloody war. Do you want me to hand you over? Is that what you want? Do you even know?"
"You think I'm unaffected by what I did?" he chuckled darkly. "That I don't hear them screaming every time I close my eyes? It would be so much simpler if I was just one thing, wouldn't it? The mad scientist who made that killing machine, or the physician who's dedicated his life to serving this town. The fact that I'm both bewilders you."
"Oh, He knows exactly what you are." The Stone walked forward and narrowed her eyes. "I see this reformation for what it really is." She crossed her arms. "You committed an atrocity and chose this as your punishment. It's a good choice. Civilised hours, lots of adulation, nice weather, but, it doesn't work like that. You don't get to pick and choose when and how your debt is paid."
Jex looked at the Time Lady. "In my culture, we believe that when you die your spirit has to climb a mountain carrying the souls of everyone you wronged in your lifetime. Imagine the weight I will have to lift. The monsters I created, the people they killed. Isaac, he was my friend. Now his soul will be in my arms, too. Can you see now why I fear death?" He asked them. "You want to hand me over." He looked at the Doctor. "There's no shame in that. But you won't. We all carry our prisons with us. Mine is my past. Yours is your morality."
The Doctor stared out into the distance for a moment. "We all carry our prisons with us." He smiled. "Ha."
---
Growing close to noon with the plan he and the Stone had created in place the Doctor stood outside the town hall in the middle of the town waiting for the gunslinger to arrive.Amy, Jenny and the Stone stayed in the Marshals office, watching out the bottom of the window. The Gunslinger appeared in front of the line of rocks and wood, stepping over as the clock struck twelve.
He stopped a few feet away from the doctor and readied his gun. The Time Lord held his right hand to the gun holster while his other held his screwdriver. The gunslinger raised his weapon and the Doctor activated his sonic, disrupting his systems and aimed it at the windows, causing the glass to shatter. He then ducked to escape as the Gunslinger shot, missing him but hitting the clock tower.
---
"Ready?" Amy asked as Jenny checked outs the window again before nodding at the redheaded human.
She then unlocked the door.
---
Rory stood with Walter, both of them had replicas of Jex's identification mark on their faces. "Ready?" He asked. Walter nodded and ran out. Confusing the Gunslinger as Jex escaped.
The Doctor ran out of the saloon where his own replica of Jex's mark was being painted when cries of those hiding in the chapel were heard. Jex also stopped at the sounds. "Go!" The Time Lord ordered. "Just go. I can't save them while you're here." Jex nodded and ran while the Doctor closely watched before hiding behind a building when the Gunslinger left.
Jex managed to reach his ship and the Doctor had his mark finished. He ran past the gunslinger who identified him and switched to manual mode, seeing him hiding through the building wall he walked up to him.
"Right." The Doctor swallowed raising his hands as the gunslinger pointed his weapon at him.
"Where is he?" The gunslinger asked making him stand.
"He's gone."
"Where?" There was no reply. "Answer me."
"Away from here. Look up. Any second now you'll see the vapour trail of his ship. This is their home, not the backdrop for your revenge. Lookup, go after him, take this battle away from-"
He was cut off by Jex using his technology to hack into speakers around the town. "Kahler-Tek. Kahler-Tek."
"Jex." He hissed. "Coward. Where are you?" The gunslinger asked.
"I'm in my ship."
"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked ducking under the Gunslingers gun as the Stone and Jenny ran out of the Marshals office. "Just go!"
"What's he doing?" Jenny asked running up to her father.
"I don't know." He shook his head.
"Where are you from?"Jex asked. "Where on Kahler?"
"Really?" The Stone questioned. "You're really going to ask him this now?"
"Gabriah." The gunslinger asked both of them ignoring the Time Lords.
"I know it." Jex replied. "It's beautiful there. When this is over, will you go back?"
"How can I? I am a monster now."
"So am I." Jex muttered a reply.
"Just go!" The Doctor shouted. "Finish this."
The gunslinger looked up. "I'll find you." He warned Jex. "If I have to tear this universe apart, I will find you."
"I don't doubt that. You'll chase me to another planet and another race will be caught in the cross-fire."
The Gunslinger grew angry. "Face me! Face me!"
"No." Jex stated. "You've killed enough. I'm ending the war for you, too."
There was a faint voice that came through the speakers. "Count down to self-destruct resumed."
"What's going on?"
"The count down." The Stone muttered.
"What's going on?" The Doctor shouted. "Jex."
"Thank you, Doctor, Stone." He said. "Thank you for trying to help as well Jenny but I have to face the souls of those I've wronged. Perhaps they will be kind."
The countdown must have ended as there was a sudden explosion and the smoke could be seen from the town. The four looked over at it and the Gunslinger bowed his head. "He behaved with honour at the end. Maybe more than me."
"We could take you back to your world." The Stone said as he shook his head walking off.
"You could help with the reconstruction."
"I will walk into the desert and self-destruct." He stated looking at the floor. "I'm a creature of war. I have no role to play during peace."
"Except maybe to protect it." Jenny spoke up making them all look at her.
---
After sorting everything out the Doctor ran out the Marshal office with the Stone, Jenny following behind them. "Okay, so, our next trip." He said spinning around as Amy and Rory followed them as well. "Oh! You know all the monkeys and dogs they sent into space in the fifties and sixties? You will never guess what really happened to them."
"Could we leave it a while?" Amy asked. "Our friends are going to start noticing that we're ageing faster than them."
"Another time?" The Time Lord's face fell a little. "No worry."
Amy and Rory walked inside the TARDIS. "Hey, you can still take me," Jenny told him making the Doctor smile at her.
"Yeah, we can." He looked over at the Stone who chuckled at her husband and daughter.
The Doctor nodded and mocked a draw with Walter who lost. The man tilted his hat and the Doctor saluted before they all entered the TARDIS that dematerialised in front of the people of Mercy.