Revenge of a Time Lord

Chapter 14

'How are you exactly going to get Rose back?' Jack asked after a long and awkward silence in the control room of the TARDIS.

The Doctor turned around slowly to face Jack, he had been thinking all that time. He had been weighing his options on how he could get back to Rose.

'I'm not sure yet,' he answered.

'You should let her go, she is gone,' Jack said softly.

'Don't say that! She is not gone. She is still out there somewhere. Besides, I can do anything, so I am going to get her back. Whatever it takes, am I clear?' the Doctor snapped.

'Are you... are you going to go back in time? Take Rose from her own timeline?' Jack asked, knowing what the Doctor was up to.

'Only if there is no other way, yes, I will do that,' the Doctor answered.

'But you could change history!'

'Jeez, you really can be annoying, you know that? Do you honestly think that I haven't thought about that already? Of course I can change history, but I decided that time is under my command. Time will do what I want, therefor history will do as I say. I can shape history, I can control it and I can change it.'

'Then what about your own history? Your own timeline will change as well,' Jack tried again to make the Time Lord change his mind.

'I live in the vortex, my own timeline is already fixed and can't be changed anymore. Stop pretending that you know anything about timelines, Harkness. Remember who you are talking to,' the Doctor said.

'Don't give me that nonsense. Of course your own history will be altered, think of what would have happened when Rose wasn't there on Satellite Five. You would never have regenerated, maybe you would be dead. You are grieving, and that makes you unstable. You need to stay rational and think of what you are doing. Get rid of your anger first,' Jack said calmly.

'Are you now pretending that you know better? As if I would not know what I am doing. Stop talking to me like that or you will regret it,' the Doctor growled, slowly coming closer to Jack.

Jack shifted nervously and he swallowed, knowing that he should take the fury of a Time Lord seriously. He had seen it before and he shouldn't mess with the Doctor right now. But something told Jack that he still had to try, as long as he stayed calm. He was the only one in the TARDIS right now.

'Just... try to relax a bit. Try not to think about anything,' Jack suggested.

The Doctor glowered at him, not believing that Jack was still talking to him. He was seriously considering to abreact his frustration at Jack.

'I can't. With Rose gone, I feel empty inside. And that emptiness is filling itself right now with an indescribable rage, rage you would never start to understand. It is boiling inside me, it is almost breaking me up. Without Rose, that anger I feel now is taking over.'

The Time Lord took a moment to think about what he had just said. What Jack said, about getting rid of his anger, was not a very stupid suggestion.

'You are right,' the Doctor decided. 'I should get rid of my anger, of my frustration. And I know exactly how to do that, I want to let the universe feel what I feel. I want to make it pay for taking Rose away from me. The universe is to blame, all this time people I ever loved have been taken away from me, but no more. The universe shall know my name. People shall tremble when they hear my TARDIS landing on their planet, knowing that I am coming for them. It is my time to have fun now. I promised Rose to stay with her, to protect her, so I will make the universe safe. And you will help me with that.'