hello, there. sarge or tender or tj, she/he/they/xe/w/e
my ao3 is here and (most of) my fic on tumblr is here. this is very much a multifandom and multi-interest blog.
my main fandoms (currently) are btvs; star wars/clone wars; the old guard; teen wolf; and a little bit of sense8 and agent carter. i prefer some ships (spuffy and spuffsilla, codywan, PLATONIC booker&nile, scallisaac, kalagang and rajalagang, peggysouson and gay cartson); however, i'm really a multishipper.
atm i'm watching series4 doctor who and (eventually gonna get back to) rewatching moon knight. it's also baseball season (padres + firebells).
ask if you need me to tag triggers or spoilers. thx.
wait ok this is actually one that has caused some contention before when I've talked to people about it. reblog and tag whether or not you check the weather prediction every day before going out
There's a burst of light, blue lightning and noise in enclosed space, and two people are standing in an alley where there used to be no one.
"Alright," the Black man says. "Which one do you figure this is, then?"
"Dunno," the white woman says. They're both about the same age, maybe mid- to late twenties. "Suppose I'll find out." She shoulders the fuck off gun she's holding so she can embrace the man.
He kisses her hair. "Good luck," he says. "Watch yourself."
"Always do," the woman says. There's another flare of light, the man leaps out of sight, and she's alone.
: :
The Doctor's dead.
Donna hadn't wanted to believe it, but then she'd seen the body. It had been him, and he hadn't been moving, or breathing, or talking, and his eyes had been closed. She had wanted it to be trick of his, but she just sat there for about forty minutes and he had stayed still and cold, and she knows.
That's when she calls Martha.
Martha arrives with a man named Captain Jack. About an hour later, a woman named Sarah Jane Smith arrives and talks in whispers to Martha for a while, before sitting next to Donna.
Martha insists on doing her own examination of the – of the body, looking at the injuries, face set, eyes full. Sarah Jane asks Donna questions.
"I don't know," Donna says to her. "I wasn't there. I was – I was at home. I found out later."
They said he'd been hit by a lorry. If the Doctor'd been taken out by a regular old lorry, Donna would eat her shoe, but there's no other explanation offered.
He's missing his sonic screwdriver, too, but they simply can't find it anywhere. It must've been lost however it happened.
Captain Jack goes a bit bonkers, yelling at the Doctor about regenerating, and coming back, and not being done yet. Martha grabs one of his arms; Donna grabs the other. They manage to shut him up before they're thrown out of the morgue.
Eventually, Captain Jack quiets. He apologizes to them and sits down, looking adrift. Donna steps outside to get some air.
She'd wanted to be alone, but there's a girl sitting on the side of the road outside, blonde head tucked between her knees. Despite herself, Donna is concerned.
"You alright?" she asks.
The girl looks up. It looks like she's been crying, but she stopped a while ago.
"Yeah," she says. She's not really a girl; she's not that much younger than Donna, really. She just seems young. Pretty, too. Her eyes focus on Donna's face. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Donna says. "Lost someone. Someone important." They're at a morgue. She figures it's not uncommon.
"He was important," the young woman agrees.
Donna blinks. "Excuse me?" she asks. There's something familiar about this woman. "Do I know you?"
"Not yet, Donna Noble," the woman says, and gets up and walks away.
"Excuse me!" Donna bellows. "Excuse me!" But the woman is gone.
: :
Captain Jack and Torchwood are going to handle the Doctor's – body. Martha and Donna watch, stony-faced, as they take him away.
"We'll take care of him," Captain Jack promises them.
"Right," Donna says, and leaves with Martha before she vomits.
In Martha's rented car, she tells her about the cryptic woman she met.
"And you knew her?" Martha asks.
"No … not exactly," Donna says, thinking about it. "It was more like she was someone I'd seen on the street, years ago, or in a dream, or something. Like I've seen her, but never met her."
They've stopped at a corner. In an alley off to their left, there's a familiar rush of light, of air, of sound.
Martha slams the car into park and they both scramble out, running to the TARDIS. Donna's heart is in her throat. If he's not – if he's still –
The same old blue box is there, parked crookedly at the end of the alley. The young blonde woman is stepping out of it. She's got the Doctor's sonic in her hand.
"Oh, hello!" Martha says, accusatorily. "Who are you!" It's not really a question.
The blonde woman stares at them, then smiles, big and wide and charming, tongue sliding along her teeth. "Hello," she says.
"Who do you think you are," Donna snaps, furious. "Going off and taking the TARDIS?!"
"Well," the woman says. "She was lonely. And she asked me to come along with her."
That draws both Donna and Martha up short. The Doctor was the only one that could communicate with the TARDIS, as far as Donna knew.
The woman's also got a big phaser-rifle-cannon thing strapped to her back. Martha's squinting at it. She says to the woman, "Who are you?"
"I'm a friend," the woman says. "If you'll let me be."
"Did you know the Doctor?" Martha asks.
The woman's face goes briefly heartbreakingly sad, before she smiles again. "Yes," she says. "He was one of my favorite people. I – I traveled a long way to get here, and I was very upset to find him gone when I arrived." Her smile trembles, and she looks down.
"What's your name?" Donna asks.
The woman is quiet for a moment. Then she says, "I'm called Bad Wolf."
: :
After the woman leaves, Martha drives Donna straight to Torchwood offices, all the way in Cardiff. There's a brief series of introductions, and then Donna and Martha tell Captain Jack about the woman that has taken the TARDIS.
"She must be a Time Lord," Martha says. "The Master was the only other person that could control the TARDIS."
"And he warped her," Captain Jack says. He's got his arms crossed.
"I don't think she's hurting the TARDIS any," Donna says. "She said that she asked to travel together. Surely the TARDIS wouldn't ask for that unless she wanted it?"
"This woman," Captain Jack says, "she didn't give a title? Time Lords go by titles, not names, in my experience."
"No, she did!" Donna says. "But not a regular one. She called herself the bad wolf."
The change that comes over Captain Jack's face is startling. He looks like he's going to faint dead away.
"Jack?" Gwen asks, looking concerned.
"Does that mean something?" Ianto asks.
Captain Jack dives for his desk and starts rummaging. They watch, confused, as he digs a small box safe out, frantically undoes the lock, and pulls out stacks of confidential and important documents and throws them aside without looking.
Finally, he gets to what he wants. It's a small black and white photograph on thick, yellowing paper. He shows it to Donna and Martha.
"Is this her?" he asks.
The photo shows Captain Jack and a young woman. Captain Jack's not in the greatcoat that he wears like a cartoon character; he's in a neat, 1920s sort of suit and hat. The woman is wearing a beaded dress and a feathered cap. They've got their arms around each other and are beaming at the camera.
"Yes!" Donna exclaims. "Yes, this is her!"
Captain Jack sits down heavily. He looks like someone's hit him over the head with a cast iron pan.
"Who is she?" Gwen asks.
"Someone I used to know," Captain Jack says, slowly. Then, even slower: "Donna, did the Doctor still have that jar with his hand aboard the TARDIS?"
"Yeah," she says.
"Can we use his body to flip my Doctor detector and reverse-track the hand?" Captain Jack asks.
They all look at each other. Then they look at Captain Jack.
Then they get to work.
: :
The TARDIS touches down in Cardiff again for a refill and that's when they strike.
Well. She's empty and locked up, when they get there. Donna bangs on the door for a while, and they decide to leave Gwen and Ianto as a lookout. Donna, Martha, and Captain Jack pop around the corner to get something to eat.
They're walking back from the kebab shop when Captain Jack stops dead in his tracks. He's staring in the window of a little fish and chips place. Donna looks where he's looking.
Bad Wolf is sitting at the counter, staring back at Captain Jack through the glass. There's a chip hovering halfway to her mouth.
"Oh," Captain Jack says.
Bad Wolf drops the chip and runs.
Captain Jack gives chase, Martha hot on his heels, Donna trailing behind. They duck through three alleys and down a side street and then, just as they're turning the corner to where they left Gwen and Ianto with the TARDIS, Captain Jack goes sprawling to the ground with a cry.
"Jack!" Martha says. Gwen and Ianto are there, with their sonic pistols or whatever drawn. They have Bad Wolf surrounded.
Captain Jack rolls to his knees. Bad Wolf had tripped him. He looks up at her.
"You weren't quite quick enough this time," Captain Jack tells her.
Her brow furrows. "This time?" she echoes.
Then she reaches out, grasps his hands and pulls him to his feet. The two of them stagger, awkwardly holding each other in a loose embrace. They're both staring.
"I saw the Doctor leave the Game Station," Captain Jack says, rather wretchedly. "Carrying you. I didn't know – and then Canary Wharf, I thought you were dead. The Doctor told me, a few years ago, that you survived, but were trapped in another dimension –"
Martha gasps and hits Donna's arm excitedly.
What? Donna mouths at her, not wanting to miss any part of whatever absolute mess this was shaping up to be.
Bad Wolf looks at him with big, shocked eyes. "You saw the Doctor leave?" she asks. "You were – you went after us?"
"I ran," Captain Jack says.
Bad Wolf blinks at him, then twists her face away suddenly.
Captain Jack stares at her. "That's not what he told you," he says, a horrible certainty in his voice.
"No," Bad Wolf says, and laughs. It sounds forced. She looks back up at Captain Jack. "Erm, he … didn't tell me much, actually. But not that."
The two of them stand there, still half-holding each other, silently for a long minute. They're gazing deep into each other's eyes. Then, like it's by a pre-arranged signal, they both step apart.
"Right," Bad Wolf says briskly.
Captain Jack clears his throat.
Donna is not going to let them get away with pretending whatever that was just didn't happen, but Martha blurts out, "You're Rose Tyler!"
Donna looks at Martha, then looks at Bad Wolf. She'd known that Rose was blonde, and that the Doctor was crazy about her, and that she was still alive, but somewhere beyond reach. This fiery young woman with her peroxided head and her big wet eyes and her travels from an alternate dimension certainly fits the briefing, although she's still a surprise.
She reminds Donna of the Doctor himself, a bit.
"Who's Rose Tyler?" Gwen asks.
She coughs, smiles at her and says, "Everybody really calls me Bad Wolf, now."
"I bet they do," Captain Jack says.
Bad Wolf grins at him, licking her teeth.
: :
The inside of Bad Wolf's TARDIS is pink.
It feels oddly like being at a disco or something. Fun and girly, in a way that the Doctor's TARDIS never was. Donna finds herself smiling, despite it all.
They get Sarah Jane on a webcam, and she exclaims at seeing Bad Wolf again – Rose! It's really you! – and then all settle down to talk.
"There's a bit of good news and a bit of bad news," Bad Wolf says. Her shiny, lip glossed mouth twists. "With the Doctor being – gone, this dimension's at risk. I've been to other dimensions, a whole load of 'em, and the ones without Doctors aren't generally good ones."
"Dimensions without Doctors?" Sarah Jane asks.
"Yeah," Bad Wolf says. "Where he died, or never existed, or where he turned out – wrong. It makes the whole world bad. But I think because we're at the point that it's happened so recently, and we know about it, we might have a chance to steer this world towards the better."
"What does that mean?" Donna asks her. She imagines Bad Wolf as the captain of a great big pirate ship, with a hat and all, and has to stifle an inappropriate giggle.
"I've been trying to do Doctor-y stuff," Bad Wolf says. She sounds frustrated. "I know a bit of what your future's like, and it helps that the TARDIS trusts me. But it's … harder than I thought."
She looks tired. She needs help, Donna thinks suddenly. She needs a companion.
"Alright," Ianto says. "So, what's the good news?"
Bad Wolf blinks at him. "That was the good news," she says. "The bad news …"
She trails off, staring out into a point in thin air for a moment.
Captain Jack says, "Sweetheart, talk to us."
"I haven't been traveling dimensions for fun," Bad Wolf says heavily. "There's something coming. Something swallowing worlds whole. We've been calling it the Darkness, but no one knows what's behind it. I've been trying to warn people, so they can get ready. So they can fight it."
They all absorb that.
Then Martha says, "But it's not here yet?"
"No," Bad Wolf says. "It hasn't reached us yet."
"Then we'll prepare," Martha says. Her chin comes up. "Even without the Doctor, we'll defend the world. All of us."
Donna's chest feels full of something hot and expanding, like the exploding star the Doctor once showed her from a distance. Bad Wolf looks at Martha with big, shining eyes.
"Yeah," she says. "Yeah, right. Yeah, we will."
Donna looks around at all of them – Gwen and Ianto, and she knows the rest of their team, led by dashing Captain Jack, and Martha and her colleagues over at UNIT, and Sarah Jane and whoever she brings along, too. She's sure, suddenly, that there are more people who will fight the good fight than just them. Before this week, Donna didn't even know Bad Wolf existed in this dimension. And she's here.
"What do we do now?" Donna asks Big Bad Wolf Rose Tyler.
She smiles widely, tongue curling. "We're saving the universe," she says.
also river song shows up and says she's donna's wife and donna says, "but i'm straight!" and the doctor says, "ehh" and donna says, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, EHH"
done with dw series 4 and i dont CARE about ten i dont care i was cheering when we thought he was gonna regen and i booed when he didnt. i literally only care about this au that lives in my head where donna's bug thing on her back wasnt real but what WAS real was that she never met the doctor and he died. ate it. for good. and rose came all this way to find him dead, only maybe she came all this way and STAYED this time, and she had her fuck off gun, and she managed to befriend donna, and save martha with sarah jane's help, and work with torchwood. rose and her gang #HerGang avert various end of days all leading up to the darkness. also this au exists in a world where dw isnt a show that hates + fridges + torments women for no reason.
Idk if you're still into marvel, but in the new doomsday trailer, Steve looks a lot like he did in infinity war. Makes me think if they're going to go with the angle that something happened and the steve we saw in endgame was not then real Steve.
steve in endgame wasnt the real steve and peggy poisoned him to death week two of their marriage. i'm calling it
Friendly reminder this Moon Landing Day that this website exists, where you can drop yourself at any point in the mission where the crew are awake and they'll probably be bantering with Houston.
A real-time interactive journey through the first landing on the Moon. Relive every moment as it occurred in 1969.
I'm actually scheduling this for a week early - the site lets you watch the whole mission if you want to, and the shuttle took off 5 days before they got to the moon!
