TIVPB Chapter two

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June answered the door before they were able to dig out Neal's key. “Samantha saw you pull up,” she explained. She saw the two that followed them in. “Hello,” she greeted.

“Hello,” River returned, “River Song, and this is the Doctor.” She motioned to the man that was investigating one of her vases. He waved without taking his eyes off the vase.

“June,” she introduced.

“Please, tell me a few stories about Neal. I haven't seen him in ages.” The two women walked toward the back of the house while the three men went upstairs to Neal's apartment. First thing Peter did was sit Neal on the couch before going for the ibuprofen. The Doctor examined things around the apartment while Neal shrugged off his jacket and placed the glasses on the table.

“Excellent reproductions,” he commented, looking at the paintings, “I can barely tell the difference, but I was at the painting of this one,” he pointed out Van Gogh's almond tree he had just started on, “And he did not like it when I started picking the flowers. He also took them away from me and gave it to Amy.”

Neal didn't believe him at all, so he focused on the person he mentioned. “Amy?” he asked.

“Amy Pond, your uh,” he stopped, trying to figure out how to explain it, “She's a close friend. Her and her husband Rory.” He looked at the others that were drying. “A lot of Van Gogh's.”

“Yeah, he's been stuck on my mind since I heard about someone having an unknown painting and they want me to authenticate,” he explained.

“What painting?”

“The Exploding Box,” he revealed. The Doctor stared at him at that comment, but Peter walked back in with an unopened bottle. A glass of water was handed to him before two pills were knocked out. “Thanks.” He took them quickly and slowly drained the glass.

The three of them kept to relative silence before Peter started asking the questions that had popped up. “Why are there files on you?” he inquired.

“I uh, well, I get involved in certain events that are classified for 'national security' reasons,” he mocked.

Neal stopped Peter before he could ask about 'national security'. Just because they had the Intersect didn't mean they had a very good security clearance. “Why the time?” he asked.

“Oh, it's an important time. Got married yesterday to River at that exact minute,” he explained, “There's probably a better way to put that.”

“Oh, it'll be part of the explanation that we have to give the both of them,” River mentioned, walking into the apartment. “But, while we're waiting for Bryce, so we don't have to explain twice, what about this computer program inside Neal's head?”

“We can't,” Peter denied.

“We really can't. National security and treason,” Neal added.

“We deserve to know what database has our files,” The Doctor argued.

“Then go through the proper channels,” he countered.

The Doctor looked over at River. “I see where he gets that from,” he commented.

“Oh, don't you start,” she snapped back, “They get a lot of their tendencies from you as well.”

“Like what?” Peter asked.

“Stealing things,” she mentioned.

“Oi! You've done it as well.”

“Great, felonies run in the family,” he lamented. River and Neal started laughing.

0=0

Bryce felt better when he stepped off the plane and walked into the terminal. The three of them only had carry ons, and didn't waste any time getting to the rental car area. Sarah took behind the wheel of the specialty car the CIA had ready.

“Bryce?” Neal answered.

“Hey,” he greeted into his phone, “We're in New York. About half-hour away from June's.”

“Great, we've decided on going out; the apartment's too small. There's this Chinese place that makes great dumplings; we trust the owner and we're going to go there.”

“Sounds great,” he told him, covering to tell the two others, “Chinese? Neal trusts the place.”

“There's no sizzling shrimp, but I'm okay with that,” Chuck said.

“If Neal trusts it, so do I,” Sarah sided. “Do we meet him there?”

“Let's go to June's first.”

The ride went faster when the traffic got a little lighter. They pulled up to the mansion just as Neal decided to walk out and greet them. “Hey,” he smiled.

“Neal,” Bryce greeted. Sarah shook his hand and Chuck threw an arm around his shoulders.

“Why don't we head upstairs?” he motioned, using his left, Governor eclipsed arm to wave them in. “Just watch it when they introduce themselves.”

“You flashed?” Chuck muttered near his ear.

“Yeah, she's not bad, but his was made up of corrupted files along with complete ones,” he explained, “And I flashed on him first.”

“Ouch,” he winced in sympathy. Neal was the first to walk into his apartment. Chuck caught the woman and the man talking to Peter over something about a stolen ship. Sarah slipped over to the side, carefully watching the two.

The second Bryce caught sight of the man, his personality disappeared. Memories were wiped out and the true purpose of the body surged forward. Bryce Larkin no longer existed in that body anymore. The only thing that it remembered was to kill the Doctor.

The gun was immediately grabbed out of its hand, but there were two throwing knives attached to its ankles.

“Sarah, what's going on?” Chuck asked as she started fighting back against him. Matched due to their hours of sparring with each other, they kept each other at full attention. She couldn't answer.

“Doctor, do you think this is...” she began.

“Yes,” he answered.

“This is what?” Peter questioned.

“Is there any way to knock him out?” Neal asked Chuck.

He almost said no, but then he thought about one thing that might work. Instead of telling Sarah of what he was going to do, he grabbed the weapon from behind, locking his arms against the body and then tumbling to the floor, using his legs to trap it. Sarah figured what he was doing, and pinched a specific part of the neck. After a few seconds, it fell unconscious.

“What is going on?” Neal asked, “Bryce doesn't attack random people.”

“This isn't random,” River told him. Then, she turned to the Doctor, who was scanning while Sarah tied its wrists and legs. “Is it....”

“It's Flesh,” he reported.

“What's Flesh?” Sarah questioned.

She looked at Sarah before turning her attention to Chuck. “River Song,” she stated.

The Intersect kicked up the same files Neal previously viewed. When it stopped, Chuck reviewed them, not missing anything. “Whoa,” he gasped, “Aliens are real.” He grinned, lost in the moment. “Morgan is going to freak when he finds out about this.” Then, he looked over to the man. “He's the Doctor, isn't he?” That brought up the second set of files.

“Shit,” Neal muttered, helping Sarah get him into a chair. “His files are corrupted. That's why I warned you.”

“We'll talk to Orion,” Sarah noted.

Chuck inquired, “Does anyone have aspirin?”

“Ibuprofen,” Peter waved, the bottle still in his hand.

“Not allergic,” he confirmed. A glass of water was passed along with two pills. “Thanks.”

Peter turned to the other two people. “Can we get an explanation on what the Flesh is?” he pointed back out.

“Biological material that can take on the form of humans and other species,” River simplified, “It has to be directed to do so. Someone must be controlling it.”

“Both of you have experience with this,” Sarah accused.

Neal looked over to the two of them. “Who was it last time?” he inquired.

“The Church, while they were working with someone named Madame Kovorkian,” she informed, “They've tried this before. Killing him. It didn't work; he figured out a plan. A way to fool people into thinking it worked.”

“They've used this before?” Chuck brought up.

“Using a Ganger to kill him, no. They used one to replace someone; she was pregnant. They took the child and turned her into a weapon to assassinate him.”

Neal was watching carefully the time they were talking. The Doctor was looking over at River, sorrow in his eyes as she described the events. “It was you,” he claimed.

“I was the child,” she corrected, “The woman is my mother.”

The information shocked everyone. The only interruption was the slight movement of the Ganger. Sarah immediately checked to make sure it wasn't waking up. After they realized it was starting to wake back up, Chuck asked, “What are we going to do?”

The Doctor got up and started pacing, rapidly thinking about plans. After three minutes, he stopped. “You're staying here,” he insisted, pointing at the agents and Neal, then turned to River, “We should check the station where they held Amy.”

“We're going with you,” Sarah argued, “Bryce is our responsibility.”

“No! No, you need to stay here,” he countered, “Besides, you won't be able to deal with the things that we'll have to do.”

“We've dealt with people like her before,” Chuck voiced, “Or, well, people that act like her. We've taken out terrorist groups and bad people. We've stopped assassinations and big plots. We can help you.”

“No! I refuse!”

“Doctor!” River yelled, getting his attention, “They're his friends. They're trained for this; they can help.”

He was torn. He did not want anyone new around when he went on the warpath. But, he needed help. River alone would not be enough to go and get Bryce. While he was thinking, the Ganger was regaining consciousness faster than a normal human would. It started moving toward a forgotten knife.

Chuck looked down at the right time and picked it up. “We need to figure it out soon,” Chuck brought up, “If they're monitoring this Ganger, then they would have known he's been in contact with you and they would know you're not dead. And he's getting more aggressive. That trick probably won't work again.”

“We have to act soon,” Sarah continued, “Run an extraction on Bryce and get him someplace safe.”

“The TARDIS is the safest place we can keep the two of them,” River added, then turned to the Doctor, “They can help us. There are things you will not do that they can. To protect Bryce, to protect Neal. Allow them to help us.”

“We have someone else that can help out as well,” Chuck mentioned, “We would need to pick him up.”

“Amy and Rory would also be helpful,” she suggested, “And they would not like to miss out on meeting them.”

“All right, fine,” he decided, “But there will be rules and limitations. We don't just kill everything on site. Unless it's the Silence.” He hurried out the door. “Stay here, I'll bring Sexy around.”

Chuck looked over to River. “Bring Sexy around?”

“The TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space,” she smiled.

He turned to Sarah and grinned wildly. “How is this possible? Aliens, a time machine, wait, a time and space machine.” Then he remembered the Ganger at their feet and became sad. “Kinda sucks we have to learn about it this way.”

She rubbed his arm, keeping her worry down. “We'll get him back, Chuck. We've done it before,” she said, “I'm going to call Casey and warn him we're arriving soon. So he won't shoot anyone.”

River nodded, “Excellent idea.” Sarah moved toward the bathroom so she could have a bit of privacy. “Who else are you planning on inviting?”

“Inviting?”

“I'm guessing that there's going to be more people that you'll think of that can help, and you're planning on talking to them when we get there.” Chuck nodded in agreement. “So, who?”

“Mom and Dad,” he admitted, “Dad could get through computer systems at about the same rate as me and Mom would be in the same position that Sarah is.”

“Someone on each team,” she concluded, “Clever.”

“Where is the Doctor going to park the TARDIS?” Neal inquired.

“Possibly just outside on the terrace,” she mentioned, then added when he started worry, “The TARDIS won't land on anything.”

“You're sure?”

“I've never really known her to land on anything but firm ground. But he is piloting,” she pondered. Peter and Neal didn't look reassured at the last sentence. Sarah came back into the room just as sounds reverberated outside.

Chuck was the first to see the TARDIS appear in view. He grinned madly and waited for it to fully appear before walking over. “This. Is. Awesome.”

The doors opened and The Doctor poked his head out. “Well, what are you waiting for?” he demanded, “Inside. And make sure the Ganger can't do anything.”

0=0

Casey had no idea what to make of the call Sarah had just placed. What the hell does she mean an extraction? And why the hell would she need Orion and Frost? Annoyed, he started cleaning his service weapon to calm down, after sending a text to Orion, asking him and his wife to meet in Castle.

He just has the barrel wiped clean and was about to start on some of the smaller pieces when the strange sound of metal grinding on metal sounding through the halls. “What the hell?”

0=0

Sarah had walked in first, planning on securing the room. And then walked back out in confusion. Chuck had just immediately walked in and stared in wonder over everything in sight. Neal followed behind, looking around at the same things before walking over to the console. There was a small nagging in the back of his mind and when he passed his hand over a switch, it exploded and told him what the switch did.

River was behind him when he jumped at the mental intrusion. “It's okay. The TARDIS is just helping out. You haven't quite been around telepaths to understand,” she explained.

Peter hadn't gone in yet when his cell phone went off. “Burke,” he answered.

“This is the Marshals office. Caffrey's anklet is malfunctioning; we believe he's tampering with it,” a male voice accused on the other side.

He looked over to Neal and saw the anklet was blinking red. “I'm with Caffrey. He's doing nothing to it. It's getting interference from a nearby device,” he reported.

“Could you please identify and remove whatever is causing the interference?”

“I'll try,” he lied. Ending the call, he then walked in. “The, uh, TARDIS is interfering with Neal's anklet.”

The Doctor looked over at Neal, pulling out a gold and silver tube with a green light and aiming it at the device. After a few loud noise disruptions at it, it turned back to green. Peter didn't know what he did to it, but if the Marshals thought it was back online, then he was okay. “That is going to be problematic,” he pointed out, “It would probably be safer if the item was removed for the time being.”

“Not exactly my thought,” he muttered, but ignored his greater instincts. “Neal.” He unhooked the key and waited for him to find a place to raise his leg so he could remove the device. “Don't run off.”

“Not planning on it, Peter,” he confirmed, “Besides, Sarah'll catch me. If Casey didn't, or if Chuck didn't notice and talk me out of it.”

He looked over at River and the Doctor. “No encouraging words?”

“Oh, we would get him back to you,” she started.

“After we went to Barcelona,” he broke in.

“And met Van Gogh,” she added.

“Ooo, Space Disney,” he mentioned.

Peter stared at the two of them while they went through destinations. Sarah nudged him in the back and he helped her get the Ganger secured to a pillar. The Doctor and River worked on the console and waited for the door to close.

“Where do you want us to land?” River inquired.

Sarah moved over to give her the coordinates of Castle. The Doctor pulled out a strange alignment of wires and nodes and moved over to the Ganger. It glared at him and tried to bite him when he started placing the ends at the temples and other places along the body. “Uh,” Chuck voiced, “Huh?”

“In order for them to be controlling him, sending a template to keep it in Bryce shape, there has to be a signal,” he explained, “And these will help track him quicker. Last time, I didn't think about tracking her, I just destroyed the flesh that had taken her place. It took a while to get to her.”

The sorrow and regret that showed through his voice caused Chuck to become silent and sad. So he didn't bother him more while he put the rest on and walked back to the console. Sarah noticed his emotional state and stood next to him, trying to pass on peace to him. “We'll get him back, Chuck,” she whispered.

The Doctor became a bit more excitable when the machine he hooked up started scanning for the signal to follow it. “Now, before we pick up your friend, quick thing, what's the computer program inside yours and Neal's head?”

Chuck and Neal just stared at the back of his.


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