first_in_time | Copy Cat

The taxi pulled up outside a rather tall and grand looking hotel. Barbara stepped out to stare upwards. There were tall buildings in London but there was something about being in a different city which made the buildings unique and fascinating. Despite how tired she felt after such a long flight, she could almost go for a walk to see some more but there would be time for that later.

A finely dressed man dashed toward the from where he had been standing next tot he doors. "Shall I take your luggage?" he asked Ian and Barbara once the cabbie, or taxi driver, had hauled it out of the boot.

"Yes, thank you," Barbara replied. She reached out. For Ian's hand and offered him a smile before they walked into the hotel lobby together.

Once they had signed in at what appeared to be a marble desk, taken the lift up to near the very top, and stepped into their room, Barbara turned to thank the man for bringing their luggage. She gave him a small tip, since she didn't have a lot of money on her, and shut the door behind him.

"Would you look at this!" she said to Ian, gesturing to the entire room. "You must be valuable to have the board so generously pay for you to stay here!"

Barbara trotted over to the window to look out, passing a bottle of champagne and a note which wished them both a happy first anniversary.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

splendid_roman

At least he could be sure this clone wasn't Barbara. But as he struggled in her grip he shivered. "Barbara!" he called out through the earpiece. "The clones are coming to find you."

Another of the clones stepped forward to hold on to him. Knowing he was going nowhere, he stopped struggling to conserve his energy. The green men were doing well against the clones, but how many more clones were there? Even if the green men beat this lot, there could be more on their way.

"Barbara, get out of here." He wanted her off this ship and safe. Or safer than being on the ship at any rate.

From:

first_in_time

"Ian? What's going on? We can't get out - the door is locked!" said the Barbara in his ear.

The Barbara in front of him put on a look exactly like Barbara's when they laid next to one another, exausted and happy. "It's no use, Ian Chesterton," she purred, "we're-"

She was cut off by a blast that ripped her apart, spreading her around the room.

"Good distraction," said one of the men once they had Ian free.

From:

splendid_roman

Ian said nothing for a moment, staring wide-eyed at the place the clone of Barbara had been. It had gone past disconcerting to downright creepy. "Make sure it stays locked," he said to Barbara, hoping she couldn't hear the way his voice shook.

"The room is ours," he heard one of the green men say. When Ian looked around he could see there were no more clones here - unless they were hiding, but Barbara could tell them that. One of the green men locked the door.

From:

first_in_time

"We push forward," another of the men said, "but we'll have to use more stealth." He pointedly broke off to glare at Ian. "Should we be detected, it'll be over for all of us and the others will win. I don't think I need to express how cataclysmic that will be."

The green men nodded in agreement and left their fallen brothers to move forward and enter the next stage of their assault.

From:

splendid_roman

It was hardly his fault the clones were fixated on him. And if it was for releasing Barbara, then he wasn't going to apologise for that. "Where to next?" he asked. "Earth?"

"Most of the clones will return to fight here," the green man at the back of the group replied. "But that is where we are ultimately headed."

"People on Earth don't know about aliens and they won't understand if you turn up and start blasting clones. They don't know they're clones, it won't give your people a good reputation."

From:

first_in_time

"Reputation is not everything," he replied, "not when we do not associate with the planet in question." It seemed simple enough to him, and he moved to stand with the rest of his group.

The other doors slid open silently and the green men stepped through so quietly that it was like watching ghosts.

From:

splendid_roman

"It is to me." He grabbed at the last man in the group and the others looked round to glare at him for making a noise. "There's got to be another way. Can't you make the clones work for you?"

The green man at the front worked his way to the back, not happy with Ian's objections. "No, we can't. You can go back to the control room." He plucked Ian's earpiece from his ear and motioned for two of his men to march Ian back to the room they'd left Barbara in.

"You said you needed me for my local knowledge," Ian shouted back over his shoulder. "I'm giving you my knowledge and now you're ignoring it!"

From:

first_in_time

Ian didn't get any response from the men. Instead they continued to drag him away.

"Ian? I can't get a clear picture of you - what's going on?" Barbara asked over the ear piece.

A few yards ahead, around the corner from where Ian was being dragged, clones worked at the complex lock placed upon the door which Barbara and the other original copies were being kept behind.

Edited Date: 2013-11-28 10:37 am (UTC)

From:

splendid_roman

Not having his ear piece on, Ian couldn't answer. And none of the green men did either.

"Much as I appreciate you saving the planet, why can't you listen to me?" Ian shouted, angry that the green men were going to make a mess on Earth that he and Barbara were going to have to live with.

He broke off from that train of thought when they rounded the corner. "Barbara!" he shouted, just as the clones broke the lock and open the door.

From:

first_in_time

The green men that held Ian so tightly dropped him to run forward. It wasn't that they had ties with the individuals in the room, but more that the original copies would be stuck back in the Copier if the clones weren't stopped. Their mission couldn't afford that.

Barbara was hunched in her chair as the door opened. For a moment, she thought that Ian was returning to take her home but that wasn't what she saw. She didn't recognise those who advanced toward her, smirking.

From:

splendid_roman

"Barbara!" Ian shouted. He ran toward the clones that were advancing on her, but two of them had hold of her and were dragging her out of her chair by the time he got there.

"Let her go." He stood in front of the clones holding Barbara and shouted the order at them.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara tried her best to wriggle out of their holds and prise their tight grip off but they were too strong. She looked up at the both, frightened.

One of the clones scoffed and let go of Barbara to advance at Ian. He went to swing a punch at him but changed at the last moment to strike at Ian's stomach with his boot.

From:

splendid_roman

Ian was focusing too much on Barbara and not concentrating on what the clone was doing. So he was caught out by the kick, and folded over with a groan, his arms protectively round his stomach.

The clone laughed. "Going to stop us, are you?"

From:

first_in_time

The men which had been dragging Ian exploded into chunks of green goo, which hit the walls and covered the back of Ian's head. The clones laughed and Barbara struggled as much as she could. She called out her husband's name as she saw him bent over and clutching his gut.

All hope was lost. She was being painfully dragged back to the machine she had been saved from, and she didn't even have the strength to stand on her own, let alone break free.

And that was when she heard: "self destruct in fifteen minutes."

From:

splendid_roman

Despite the self destruct warning the clones didn't stop what they were doing. A couple of them grabbed Ian and started pulling him over to the machine too. He'd recovered from his stomach kick enough to struggle in their grasp, but not enough to break free.

Just as the clones were putting Barbara in a pod, the machinery suddenly shut down. The clones dropped her and Ian to race around trying to get it working again.

Since they weren't paying attention to them any more, Ian went over to Barbara and took her hand. "Let's see if we can find our way back out of here," he said quietly.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara lay panting and looked up at Ian. She grasped his hand as tightly as she could. "Yes but please, help me up."

From:

splendid_roman

He leaned down to put his other hand around her shoulders and help her sit, and then to get out of the pod. "You alright?"

From:

first_in_time

"I will be," she replied softly after being lifted so easily. "I just need to eat a good meal and sleep for several weeks. You?" Barbara chuckled a little, then coughed. With help from Ian, she got to her feet and swayed a little.

From:

splendid_roman

"I'm fine." His stomach still hurt and he was glad he hadn't had breakfast this morning, but other things were more important. He let go of Barbara's hand so he could put an arm round her and support her as they made her way out of the room, hoping they wouldn't attract any attention on the way.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. She had Ian now. Everything else would be alright, but they had to get out of there.

The clones at the machine were too busy attempting to fix it to notice their captives limping away. And with all sirens blaring, most clones were far too preoccupied to pay much more attention as they sprinted past the couple in them Ian corridor.

From:

splendid_roman

They reached the door to the cupboard without any trouble. When Ian opened it he let go of Barbara, so she could step through, but then he hesitated. "There are other people in there who've been cloned. I have to go back for them."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara wanted to scream at the sight of herself dead on the cupboard floor, but she only managed a frightened squeak, and reached out for his hand.

"I'm not going to disagree with you," she said, "but you've only got five minutes until the place explodes!"

From:

splendid_roman

"I know." He took her hand long enough to kiss her and say, "Wait here. I won't be long." Then he turned and went back along the corridor.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara looked around the small cupboard. It was littere with brooms and mops, and other cleaning supplies. She had to do something about the dead clone on the floor. Aside from possibly tripping over it on their way out the hotel staff could come in for a dustpan and stumble upon it. Then what might happen?

Although she didn't have the strength, she had to try. Barbara reached downwards to take hold of her hand, when the door opened quite suddenly. A group of men and women dressed in black blinked at her. Barbara blinked back. What should she do?

"Well well well, Mrs. Chesterton. Almost an entire year to the day. I hope this doesn't become a regular marriage celebration," said a familiar American man. Captain Jack Harkness stepped forward and took off his black cap to grin at her. "If you actually are Mrs. Chesterton, that is."

In the silence, a voice rang out from the ship: "self destruct in three minutes."