When Stars Collide, a BH6 x Dr Who crossover

Chapter Fourteen: Explanation Please

Hiro breathed a sigh of relief as they safely made it back to Fred's place. After realizing they were being followed, Heathcliff, who happened to be driving, (Hiro didn't know why.) managed to lose them. It was quite a feat, especially since they were in what Hiro thought was the most obvious of cars. But he'd somehow done it.

The ride had been rather awkward, with everyone squished inside. Fred and his other friends had continued to glare at Jack, who looked less than comfortable. And no one had said anything. That was probably the worst part. And there was so much Hiro wanted to know, so many unanswered questions. He still didn't know why they hadn't told him about the genetic mutation. Was he going to sprout a third eye or something?

Safely at the manor, everyone seemed to relax a bit, until the Doctor gave Jack a very meaningful look. "All right, Jack," he said, getting down to business the moment they entered a spacious sitting room. "What've you gotten into and how does it relate to what's going on?"

Jack settled back on one of the sofas. He let out a sigh of contentment as he sank back into the cushions while the others situated themselves on various chairs and couches. Well, except for Baymax. He opted to stand near Hiro.

"A couple of days ago, we detected an unusual bit of space traffic entering earth's atmosphere," Jack began. "Seemed to come out of nowhere. The Crown was worried, so we were called in to investigate, what with all the recent threats and everything."

Rose leaned forward to speak to the San Fransokyo natives. "When he says Crown, he means the Queen of England," she whispered. "Jacks' part of an organization that tracks unusual alien activity."

The small group nodded in understanding, Hiro placing three fingers in his mouth, probably chewing on his nails. It was hard to tell, though.

"Upon further investigation," Jack continued, "we discovered a small tear in space, which is where we believe the asteroid came from. Before we could look further into that, however, the rip closed."

The Doctor nodded, glasses back on as he leaned forward, one elbow on his knee, that hand supporting his chin. Tears in space happened from time to time. They used to be closely monitored by the Time Lords, until most of them were wiped out. He hadn't detected that rip, but he was also apparently a bit late to this particular game.

"What about the asteroid?" the Time lord asked. It hadn't been all that long since an alien ship, masquerading as space junk, had paid earth a visit. That was right after he'd regenerated, of course. And he really doubted that particular race was stupid enough to send another ship to this part of space.

Jack shook his head. He knew about the incident, even though he'd not been there. "No life signs, but we did detect a large level of energy coming from within. Pretty sure we weren't the only ones who noticed it, though."

Honey, GoGo, Wasabi, and Fred exchanged glances. Baymax watched Hiro, who was now studying his feet.

Rose gave Jack a look. "What makes you think that?" she asked, pausing to accept a cup of tea. Heathcliff had brought in a teacart and had begun serving out cups.

Accepting a cup, Jack set his down on a nearby table. "We were tracking its movements when a missile came out of nowhere and knocked a good chunk off. Most of the debris fell over this area, so we packed up our bags and came to look into it."

The Doctor sipped his tea as the captain talked. "One question. Did you manage to track the trajectory of that missile?"

Jack looked a bit wary as he replied. "We did. We even sent men out there to investigate the launch site. It was somewhere in the Chinese mountain regions. But they didn't find much. Whoever fired that missile didn't want anyone to find out who they were or why they'd done it."