Struggling To Adjust (Book Three of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

The Oncoming Storm Against The Goddess of Time

The worst part about that part was that the Bad Wolf tensed right back. "All right," she said easily. "But can you let me go first?" The Doctor glared at her before taking his arms away and moving to the other side of the console. The Bad Wolf took a deep breath. "Thank you."

"Thank me if I don’t decide to drop you off next time," the Doctor muttered.

Martha’s eyes widened. "Drop her off?" she repeated.

"You wouldn’t do that!" the Bad Wolf shouted.

The Doctor’s head shot up. "The Daleks on the Game Station," he said darkly, and even though it made no sense to Martha, it apparently did to the Bad Wolf, because she froze where she stood. "And this time it was the pig men. You killed them all, and you expect me to keep a serial killer?"

"A serial killer?" the Bad Wolf repeated, her voice getting higher in pitch. "A serial killer?!"

"What’re you talking about?" Martha asked, feeling lost in the loop.

The Doctor ignored her, flipping switches to fly the TARDIS. "Funny thing is, though, I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, you were an assassin before I picked you up!"

"I was not an assassin!" the Bad Wolf protested. "I was a federal agent!"

"On the Avengers, which take out lethal alien forces," the Doctor retorted. "If I came dropping by, would you have put a bullet through my chest?"

The Bad Wolf shook her head, wrinkling her face. "Hold on, what does you visiting SHIELD have anything to do with this?"

"Everything," the Doctor said simply. "After all, if you had stayed where you belonged, there’s a certain agent there who wouldn’t be dead."

The Bad Wolf’s face instantly drained of color, and she stumbled back to the railing. Martha’s jaw dropped, and she shot a look at the Doctor. "What was that for?" she shouted. "She didn’t deserve that!"

"No, I did," the Bad Wolf muttered, panting and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Because if I had gone, Grant might still be alive."

Martha looked back and forth. "Someone explain this to me right now."

"Bad Wolf was part of an elite group of agents for a time being," the Doctor replied, not taking his eyes off of the Bad Wolf’s face. "She had to report back to the Director of SHIELD for something, but she didn’t want to leave the team. But after he threatened her a little, she finally went. The very next day, the team she was on was called out to bring down the man called the Clairvoyant. Had she been there, maybe Agent Grant Ward wouldn’t have died."

Martha blinked. "Grant Ward? I know that name."

"Yeah," the Bad Wolf said, choking out a laugh. "Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised. The news was all over the place."

Martha raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "And you’re blaming her for his death?" she asked to clarify, pointing at the Bad Wolf.

The Doctor glared at her. "Maybe I could have let it slide . . . had she not died on me as well."

And the Bad Wolf nearly literally exploded. "Oh, so it’s also my fault that I died?" she shouted, straightening up and walking right up to him. "What if it had been your lever that had the problems? Huh? Would the Void have closed in time?"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I died," the Bad Wolf said slowly, "was because I was giving everything that I had into my powers. If I hadn’t, I would be stuck in that Void, stuck literally in hell, and there would be no way for me to get back. Would you rather that had happened?"