Rogue 2.6
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I'm honestly not even sure how he did it, but with a wave of his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor and I were down on the ground of the street before either the Captains or Mouse Avenger could strike. Probably was whatever teleportation machine that got us up there. Whatever it had been, it felt a lot more natural than getting teleported via cape power.
The Doctor waved his sonic once more. "I've disabled their transmat system, and hopefully stalled them a tick."
I glanced up at the building as glass burst out the side. "They have superpowers. Disabling the… whatever… won't matter."
"Right," said the Doctor as he followed my gaze. "Then run!"
The alien turned and ran, and I followed as quickly as I could. Once again, I was grateful that I'd kept myself in shape, even without my powers. I didn't know how fast the Captains could fly or what triggers Mouse Avenger needed in order to teleport, but I could only hope that whatever the Simurgh had them doing, they could at least try and act for themselves a bit.
We passed confused people on the street pushing through throngs as necessary. It was quickly clear that none of them knew what was going on, and thankfully, none of them appeared to be any sort of cape. Unfortunately, the Captains quickly closed on us, but they followed along the city streets, only floating thirty feet above them.
"Doctor, where are we going to go?" I really missed my bugs. A good swarm here, and the Captains wouldn't be able to see. They wouldn't be able to move without swallowing something. They wouldn't be able to br—okay, I wasn't going to go there. It might have been necessary, but I still wasn't proud of what I did there. It didn't matter now. What mattered was the Doctor's answer.
"To the TARDIS. She's only three blocks away." The Doctor reached into the pocket of his jacket, and he pulled out a spherical metallic something. It looked like it might be some sort of tinkertech, which given it was the Doctor, that meant it was alien. "Yes, this should do. Taylor, catch!"
The Doctor tossed the ball to me, and it was all I could do to reach my arm up and snatch it from the sky. "What the heck am I supposed to do with this?"
"When the Captains get close, depress the button with your palm, and toss it," said the Doctor. He must have seen my questioning look, even though we were running. "Neural disruptor. It should temporarily break the link between them and their prosthetics, disabling any powers they have at the moment and any acting on them."
"Why didn't you use one of these in the bank?" I asked, slipping my hand around so I could reach the button. "It would have been useful against the Morlocks."
"Well…" The Doctor said, somehow managing to keep that pace while running. "You seemed to have things more or less in hand."
"That better not have been a pun," I said. Then it occurred to me. "You only have the one disruptor."
"Yes, and—"
"Stop! Murderer!" Captain M's voice rang out as she sped toward us. "You won't get away, Taylor! The punishment for that crime is death!"
I missed my proprioception. I actually had to turn my head toward the advancing cape, to time this right. With only the one disruptor, I couldn't just hit the one. Captain M was at my six, Captain D flew in at seven, but I still didn't see Mouse Avenger anywhere.
"Halt, villain!" Mouse Avenger's voice came from directly ahead. She'd appeared between me and the Doctor. "Come with me quietly, and we will make the punishment swift."
"Let's not," I said, and I kicked the Mouse-themed hero in the stomach. Mouse Protector might have been one of my favorites as a kid, but this controlled knock-off just wasn't cutting it. She swung a fist at me, but I ducked it, and I slammed the disruptor into her back, pushing her toward the Captains.
"You fiend!" Mouse Avenger started to draw her sword, but I hit her hand off with the disruptor. Two hundred feet.
I pivoted on my left foot and brought up my right to snap-kick Mouse Avenger's advancing form. I had no clue how invulnerable the Captains were precisely, but Mouse didn't have any sort. My kick struck true at her solar plexus and sent her stumbling back. "I really didn't want to have to do this."
"Now, Taylor!" yelled the Doctor, and I pressed the disruptor's button and tossed it at Mouse Avenger. The beeping sound that came from it told me it worked, and I turned to run with the Doctor. I made it five strides before the beeping turned rapid and a small bursting sound happened. I glanced back in time to see both Captains and Mouse Avenger hit the ground.
"It worked!"
"For now. Keep running!" The Doctor urged me on, and I narrowed my eyes.
"For now? What do you mean for now?" I ran around the corner of the nearby building. The telltale blue of the wooden police box that was the Doctor's ship was clearly visible. It was maybe one hundred meters away. My heart started racing. It wasn't like this was the first time I'd run from danger, but I hated having to depend entirely on the Doctor. Without my bugs, I was next to useless here. Heck, I was even without an arm.
"It only lasts about three point four five three seconds before the links are reformed," said the Doctor. "Long enough that we'll be able to get the TARDIS doors open and inside before they catch up."
"What do you mean, 'get them open?' Can't you just open them remotely?" I asked.
The Doctor just shot me a look. "You're the second person to ask me that. Come on!"
My time for a hundred-meter dash might not have made a Mover blush, but it was the best time I'd had so far. Adrenaline can do a lot. Of course, the Doctor beat me there. His longer legs probably helped, but the fact he was fishing a key out his pocket had me a little nervous.
"FIND THE MURDERER! TAYLOR HEBERT!" Captain D's screamed order made me even more so as I saw him and his other Alexandria Package peeking over the roofs. Shit. Could they see us from there? Judging from the direction they were flying, I was leaning toward a yes.
"Get it open, Doctor!" I urged.
"Almost…" There was a click and the creaking of a wooden door opening. "Got it. Get in!"
The Doctor made it in before me, and I stepped in, just as Captain D came hurtling toward us. He really seemed to be building up speed. Was he seriously just going to try and paste me right there? Why would the Simurgh want me dead? It wasn't being controlled by Eidolon anymore.
"Close the door!" The Doctor ordered, and I did so, locking it.
The ground under me tilted, and I had to grab the railing to keep from falling. The door hadn't even budged. I made it down to the control console, where the Doctor was pulling levers and spinning some sort of crank as he looked at the screen. As he hadn't flipped whatever switch, we weren't going just yet.
The TARDIS rocked again, and I used my hand to grab the console. "Doctor, they're trying to get in!"
"Ah… That's not a problem," said the Doctor. "The old girl has stood up to heavier attacks than a few would-be superheroes trying to break in. We'll be fine."
The ground rumbled again. "Will we?"
"Just need to turn on the stabilizers…" He flipped a switch about two away from his right hand's previous position, and the rocking stopped. "Hmm. I'll need to remember that one."
"Does that work when we're traveling too?"
"That?" The Doctor asked. "Oh, no, no…. maybe… no, definitely not. But that doesn't matter. What matters is this!"
He turned the screen around, showing me the display. On it was something that looked like a sound equalizer, separating different sound waves from each other and spreading them out.
"What am I looking at?"
"You're looking at a telepathic interference wave, and that, Taylor Hebert, is what is controlling our good friends, the Captains and Mouse Avenger," said the Doctor.
"A telepathic interference wave," I repeated. "So, it's what's making them come after me?"
"Yes," said the Doctor, and a grin came to his face. "Oh, yes. Very much so. It's repeating in their heads, through their links to their prosthetic implants, 'Taylor Hebert is a murderer. Taylor Hebert is a villain. Kill Taylor Hebert,' over and over and over again such that it takes over their actions. They have to believe it because it's in their mind, telling them it's the truth."
That… didn't exactly sound like the Simurgh. If the Simurgh really wanted me dead, it wouldn't be so blatant with its Ziz bombs. This sounded a lot less delicate, more brute force, really. "So, what's causing it?"
"Good question. I've been scanning for the signal source since we left the building." The Doctor pulled the screen back. "It's coming from around one wing of the hospital. I've nearly got it locked on, but… there's just something I can't figure out. And I'm clever, so something that I can't figure out is a bit odd."
Ah. Well, he wasn't lying when he mentioned his intelligence. "What do you mean?"
"The reason for targeting you. I picked you up in London, approximately Spring 2010. You didn't have any residual Arton energy on you indicating any sort of time travel, but for some reason, this signal is specifically targeting you. It's like whoever is sending the signal knows you personally, and unless they did some travel of their own, that's highly unlikely. Of course, there's your reaction to the superheroes. You're unfazed by them, perhaps even familiar… Is there something to the signal? Are you a murderer?" the Doctor asked, looking me right in the eyes.
I wasn't quite sure how to answer that. Not because I didn't know the answer. I'd certainly killed people. Too many people. I'd sacrificed people that I'd never even know the names of in order to save humanity from Scion. I'd never even cared about whom I used there. They just needed to distract the Entity. I still felt guilty about that, but I wasn't sure I'd considered that murder. That was just… casualties of war. There were four deaths caused by me that I'd actually consider murder. Of the four, only one really weighed heavily on me. Two of the remaining three I wish hadn't been necessary, but the fourth one definitely was. I never enjoyed it though. The killing. Fighting. Winning. Those were enjoyable. Killing was just messy and… unfortunate.
I could have lied to the Doctor. It wasn't like I was unpracticed at it. Honestly, I probably could have lied to him and even gotten away with it, but it wasn't the right thing to do. Since coming to Earth Resh, I'd attempted to, at least, try to be better. So, I had to do this.
"Yes," I said, closing my eyes. I'd have to accept whatever fate the Doctor chose to give me. "I've killed before. I'm a murderer. A villain, maybe."
"Okay then," said the Doctor, and he flipped a switch on the TARDIS console, and it thrummed to life, wheezing. I couldn't really read his face. As human as he looked, his reactions were definitely alien.
I could feel the TARDIS move from where we'd been. "Don't tell me we're leaving."
"Oh, no," said the Doctor. "What is it you Americans say? Something about a right to face your accuser?"
I blinked. "You can't mean…"
"Oh, yes!" The Doctor flipped the switch again. "Whoever it is, right outside those doors is where we'll find them. And you, Taylor Hebert, are going to have the chance to deal with this appropriately."
"They want to kill me," I said. "Whoever it is, they want me dead."
"There's more to your story, Taylor, and I want to hear it." The Doctor came over and lightly placed a hand on my bad shoulder, careful of my stump. "Don't worry. We'll face them down, together."
