Balance 1/1; Doctor, Martha, Torchwood 3; G

[scarfman]

Title: Balance 1/1
Author: scarfman
Characters/Pairing: Doctor, Martha, Torchwood 3
Rating: G
Setting/Spoilers: Early Season 2008, early Torchwood second season
Disclaimer: This work is derivative of property of the BBC. No profit shall be made and no market of the owner(s) is infringed upon.
Summary: What he does.
Much as I enjoy the plethora of post-Season 2007 groveling-for-Martha stories, as I've stated before I think a balance needs maintaining.
crossposted scarfman dwfiction lifeonmartha

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Owen waved his diagnosty thingy over Jack. "Your femur is knitting as we speak."

"I thought you didn't know where that came from!" Martha objected.

"I don't," said Owen, "but I can still read it." He showed her the screen, tiny on the cricket-ball sized and shaped alien artifact, like the window in a Magic 8-Ball. The graphic on it did indeed look almost, but not quite, exactly like a human femur magically reknitting itself with energy from the Time Vortex (allowing for the low resolution).

There was an explosionish noise out in the plaza and the three looked up. The thirty-meter multicolored patchwork android had stepped on some middle-sized car or wagon that was now flat enough that it couldn't be told whether it was a car or a wagon, nearly completing a solid ring of destruction circling the edge of the plaza. Civilians had been evacuated; Gwen was still harrying the android with her briodizer, unlike Jack quick enough to dance around its lumbersome feet without getting clipped by them. Tosh was firing her briodizer from behind sensible cover.

"We're containing it, but that's all we're doing." Jack's teeth were gritted, with pain or impotence. "Martha, I know how you feel, but I'm afraid it's time."

"He's going to think I want to come back, and I'm not ready for that," Martha complained, though she was already dialing her mobile.

(When Martha had signed on, Jack had asked her, "You can take orders, can't you?"

("Except I override you on medical matters, like Dr. McCoy."

("You drive a hard bargain." Certainly observation had made plain that Owen didn't have the same deal.)

The Doctor picked up on the first ring. "Martha! Marthster -"

Gwen had tripped and Tosh's briodizer was making the whining noise that meant it was charging and couldn't be fired. Martha dashed away from Jack to avoid drawing attention to him and Owen, and fired on the android as it raised its foot to crush Gwen. "HiDoctor 'vemissedyou Cardiff giantandroid help kthanxbye." Now the android was tracking on her, away from Jack and Owen as she intended, and now both Gwen and Tosh were firing on it again and it turned away from Martha. Poorly programmed as it might have been, Martha didn't think she was alone amongst her Torchwood co-workers in preferring another scenario than playing tag with it till its power ran out, since they had no way of knowing whether its power could run out. But now the old familiar mechanical wheeze of air displaced by chronons was sounding back in the direction where Martha had been standing when she phoned.

She sprinted back that way as the Doctor burst out of the TARDIS, peering around for Martha. He waved at Jack, but kept looking. His face lit up when he saw Martha but she could only yell, still approaching him at a run, "Android!", pointing at the plaza.

The Doctor looked in the indicated direction. Taking it in, the Doctor scrunched up his face, not looking pleased. "Aw, criminy!" he exclaimed as Martha ran up. He grabbed the diagnosty thingy from Owen, who said, "Hey!"

Coat flapping heroically, the Doctor bowled the diagnosty thingy at the giant android, at its chest, striking it on a red circle in the middle of its chest about twice the diameter of the diagnosty thingy. The android not facing the Doctor head-on, the diagnosty thingy bounced off toward Tosh, with enough force to drop all the way behind the crushed newsstand she was using for cover, where she caught it. Meanwhile the android was slowly grinding to a halt in mid-step, finally freezing entirely off-balance but, somehow, in violation of the laws of physics, neglecting thereby to fall over.

The Doctor turned back to Martha and Jack wearing his best stupid-apes face. "Big red button on the front? Right on the front? None of you thought?"

"My diagnosty thingy!" Owen cried.

The Doctor spared a second glare each for Martha and Jack (Owen, apparently, was beneath notice), charged past them back into the TARDIS and disappeared in a huff.

Gwen and Tosh ran up, Tosh still holding Owen's diagnosty thingy, which Owen seized back (and which turned out not to have been damaged in its adventure). "Was that him?" Gwen asked.

"Blue box," Tosh gasped. "Blue box."

Jack and Martha grinned at each other. "Damn, he's good," said Jack, and Martha could only nod.

fin

Comments

[dukesfreers.livejournal.com]

That was fantastic!!!! I love the "diagnosty thingy"... the way you describe things is wonderful!

[adaliazandra.livejournal.com]

This is marvelous! Funny and so in character and just... marvelous!

"Big red button on the front? Right on the front? None of you thought?"

That is so Ten. Marvelous! :-)

[pescivendolo.livejournal.com]

Bwah! I love that he storms back inside, disgusted. That's hilarious.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Nice - very funny... Loved the speed of Martha's delivery in her call...

[pherber-m.livejournal.com]

LOL - and he didn't even stop for a cuppa. Rude git!

[eryaforsthye.livejournal.com]

Excellent.
I want this for an episode of Torchwood next year.

[evil-hobittess.livejournal.com]

LOL. I love how you've totally captured the Doctor's character here. And Martha, and Jack, and - well, all of them, really.

Best line ever: "Big red button on the front? Right on the front? None of you thought?"

:D

[padawanpooh.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Love it - I can totally see this happening ;-D

[ladyrutile.livejournal.com]

Lordy. I laughed until I cried!

[ramkat.livejournal.com]

Loved it, though I'm on the Doctor's side. They only want him to rescue them. They deserved him storming off afterwards:-)So many great lines.

[whywastewords.livejournal.com]

Oh that was so funny.

"Diagnosty thingy" - it's so Torchwood to name something in such an unnamey way.

[akeyoftime.livejournal.com]

That was a lot of fun.

"Except I override you on medical matters, like Dr. McCoy."

Should *would* drive a bargain like that!

[akeyoftime.livejournal.com]

Just to let you know, I've recced this story over at my journal and will probably do the same with several of your Season 4/Donna conversations.

[scarfman]

Rec away, thanks. And don't worry about warning me. I write to be read.

Big Red Button

[syreene.livejournal.com]

Hah hah hah...cute story!

[lunaserenade.livejournal.com]

That was just perfect! Probably one of the most in character fics I've read in a great while. I loved it!