fracturedrp | Mending the Rift

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Mending the Rift

The universe was crumbling again. Once again at the source of it all was a crack...and once again, it wasn't a problem any one person could fix. Rose would have almost felt nostalgic, if it didn't mean they weren't all about to die again. Since the original shock wave, she'd been spending most of her time working with the metacrisis Doctor, trying to figure out just what happened, and what they could do to fix it.

As it was, their closest guesses still hadn't gotten far enough to fix anything by the time the Rift started to fracture. Fortunately, they weren't the only ones looking. Everyone was, including that strange blue suited Doctor who kept mostly to himself and never stopped looking for a way to fix the universes.

During the chaos, they both ran into each other and exchanged notes. Now that it's settled, they had a plan...but even with a Doctor, a Rose, a Metacrisis and two TARDISes between them, they still needed help.

Lacking a sub-wave network, they did the next best thing. They parked in Cardiff, and sent their own number a fax.

NEED YOUR HELP. HAVE FIX FOR SPLINTERING RIFT.

It wouldn't alert everyone, certainly, but any Doctors--or helpful people--it missed ought to spot the two TARDISes parked under the Rift enough to come and investigate on their own.

[OOC: Another gathering post, people. The details are in the OOC board. Sections will be updated as necessary! Other than that, the usual thread-jacking rules apply, with the exception that only the people in each group can communicate with each other.]

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Handy didn't see the meta-meta sticking his tongue out, but caught the other meta-crisis pointing at the blond. He furrowed his brow, glancing back at the meta-meta to make sure he wasn't doing anything untoward (which he wasn't, by the time Handy had turned around), and turned back to raise an eyebrow at the meta-crisis as he joined him by the console.

He reached into his jacket pocket to get out his brainy specs, more to feel brainy than to correct his vision. "Quite the puzzle," he admitted. "How are you planning to monitor the results?"

The metacrisis gave an indignant huff, but kept his attention on the console, for the most part.

Rose wandered up next to the other, and crossed her arms. "We'll be coordinating with someone who can observe th'effect of the move."

Handy smirked to himself at the huff, not completely unsuspecting of what the meta-meta might have done. "From where?" he asked. "Here?"

She nodded. "Not here, but Cardiff, yeah. Need to be able t'see what the adjustment does."

"...Do you have someone who's going to do it?" he asked, suddenly concerned that she was going to ask him to stay here and monitor communications instead of going to where the action was. He reached out and grabbed the meta-meta's hand without looking away from Rose's face, stopping the double meta from touching one of the control knobs on the console.

That was a good idea, because while neither she nor the TARDIS were particularly disinclined toward the meta-meta, no one but she and other Doctors were allowed to touch the console without direct permission. It was a security feature she'd never disengaged, and would have meant the console zapping the poor double-metacrisis.

"I assume Torchwood should be able t'do it. They've got the equipment already set up for it."

Handy would probably have liked to have known that - and if she didn't tell him, he'd probably get zapped later himself, even if the meta-meta didn't. He'd just done it to stop the meta-meta from touching things he shouldn't in general.

"Makes sense," he said, nodding. "If anyone's set up to do it, it's them." He let go of the meta-meta's hand after giving it a warning squeeze, and was satisfied to note (this time turning to make sure) that the meta-meta sulked off in a direction away from the console.

Given as fond as they were of him, and that he had the Doctor's face, he might have more leniency. Or he might just have a warning shock instead of a zap.

"Yeah, s'what I figure. It'll be the easiest ay to measure how far it'll have moved."

"I'll check the numbers," he said with a nod, relieved that he shouldn't be needed on the Cardiff end of things. He spared a glance for the meta-meta, to check to see that the other man wasn't getting into anything he shouldn't, before turning his attention back to the monitor.

"Tell me what y'come up with." She nodded, and input a few more coordinates for the calculations, before moving to help her metacrisis gathering and tweaking the equipment.

Handy was quiet for a few minutes as he ran the numbers several different ways, testing possibilities and their projected consequences. Some of these options were...bad. Really, really bad. He managed to tighten it up, bringing it closer and closer to the ideal set of values that wouldn't crack the rift, but struggled to find something that wouldn't still cause at least a little damage.

He gave a little start when the meta-meta came back up behind him and whispered something in his ear, pointing at the screen. "What?" he asked quietly. "No, no, that can't be right." He put in the numbers anyway, though, just to show the meta-meta how wrong he was - he was sure he'd tested that set before. When the results came up, though, it was the best possible solution he'd seen yet.

"Rose?" he called. "I think I've found it - don't touch that!" This time, though, he was too late, and the meta-meta let out a yelp as he was shocked by the console.

She glanced up when the Doctor spoke, and then jumped at the meta-meta zapping himself. Or she jumped at that deep thrum of disapproval the TARDIS gave to accompany it. "Oi! Don't touch the console!"

The metacrisis spoke then, looking up from where he sat on the ground. "I told you you'd need a sign if you were letting anyone else in."

She tossed the unhelpful man an annoyed look before standing and walking over to get a look at the meta-meta--to see if he'd been hurt. "S'he alright?"

The meta-meta responded to Rose's concern by shrinking away and growling, eyes wet. It wasn't even that it had hurt that much - he just really hadn't been expecting it, and as much as anything else it was his feelings that had been hurt.

[Handy tag next]

Handy jumped when he heard the zap and the yelp, and it took him a moment to understand what had just happened. When the meta-meta started growing at Rose, he gave the shorter man an annoyed look and took him by the shoulder so he'd stop backing away. "Stop that," he said. "You knew you weren't supposed to touch it."

He grabbed the meta-meta's hand and forced him to uncurl it so he and Rose could have a look, less gentle than he could have been. There were uneven reddened patches on his fingers, but he seemed unharmed. "Your TARDIS electrocutes people now?" asked Handy testily, not looking at Rose.

She frowned at the Doctor's tone. "It's a security measure. Y'get sick of people trying to steal her every time you let them in." As if it happened more than once. But the once left enough of an impression on her to count.

After a glance at the meta-meta's hand, she ducked under the console long enough to grab the med-kit from it. "I've got a tissue regenerator for that if y'hold still?"

"A little warning would have been appreciated," said Handy, softening a little but not entirely mollified. It irritated him that Rose would have a measure like that in place but not tell him about it when he had a handsy meta-crisis in tow, that the meta-meta had touched it when he'd known better, and that he himself hadn't stepped in quickly enough to stop it from happening. The meta-meta squirmed and made a noise, and he realized belatedly that he was holding the other man's burnt hand much too tightly and loosened his grip. "Sorry," muttered Handy quietly. "Hold still for her."

"I didn't expect anyone to touch the flight controls while you were running calculations." It wasn't something she advertised, partly because she didn't trust it couldn't be overcome...and partly because she didn't trust. It was a far distance to fall from the Rose who'd teach everyone she traveled with how to co-pilot with her, but without anyone--save a certain metacrisis--around to call her on that, she assumed people knew better by traveling with the Doctor.

Still she offered the meta-meta an apologetic smile before sweeping the tissue regenerator over his hands. It didn't take long, since the TARDIS only meant to warn, not to harm. "There. All better. D'you want a biscuit? I've got some fresh ones in the kitchen."

"He's like a child," Handy reminded her, watching over the meta-meta's shoulder as she passed the tissue regenerator over the injury. The meta-meta, for his part, seemed to have calmed down now, and Handy let go of his hand and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "He's like if the Master were a child and half me. Of course he's going to try to touch everything." He offered her a small smile, though, to let her know he was at least trying not to be angry about it.

The meta-meta watched as the faint burn marks faded away. He knew the technology by memory, but he'd never actually felt it for himself before, and he was intrigued.

More intriguing, though, was the offer of a biscuit. At the word, his eyes snapped up to look at Rose, and he gave a quick nod. "Yes," he said a moment later, to be sure.

"Keep him away from the console. If I knew he were coming round, I could have deactivated it ahead of time." She offered the meta-meta a small smile as she stashed the regenerator away again, before gesturing over her shoulder at the metacrisis. "He'll show you the way, then."

"I've been trying," replied Handy. "Anyway, I don't think he'll touch it again now - will you?" The meta-meta, however, was ignoring him as he tottered off in the direction of Rose's meta-crisis, giving him an expectant look.

Handy still thought, however, that she ought to have warned them so the meta-meta would have known the consequences before he tried anything. If he'd known he'd be shocked and touched it anyway, it would have been entirely his own fault.

The eleventh metacrisis tutted and gestured down the hallway, making to lead the meta-meta to the promised biscuits.

Rose frowned the Doctor for a few moments, before turning to the console without a word. Her own metacrisis had been nagging her to trust her allies more...and to spend more time with them. He hadn't really been all that successful, but...well. She was predisposed toward trusting metacrises over Doctors.

Theta, after all, might have been a murderer, but he'd never lied to her or betrayed her.

"It won't happen again. She'll recognize you two, now." Rather than dwell on the wisdom of allowing one of the few Doctors without TARDISes free access to the console (moreso than even the Doctors who were very charming to the TARDIS were generally afforded), she glanced up at him expectantly. "What were you going to show me?"

"...Thank you." Handy was surprised - he knew Rose's attitude toward even letting him in the TARDIS, so he genuinely had not expected that she would do that for him and the meta-meta. He was glad, though, that she'd waited until the meta-meta was out of the room before she'd said anything about it, as Handy knew he'd have to work even harder to keep the blond's hands off the console if he was aware he wouldn't be shocked for it anymore.

"Oh!" he said, remembering and stepping quickly toward the screen. "I think I found it - we found it, the meta-meta helped." He gestured toward the calculations on the screen.

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Mending the Rift

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