#jimmy stone .................. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

regenderate-fic · 2 years

Text

Fire in Her Veins (Knew It Wasn't Rage)

Fandom: Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Ships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler Characters: Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor, Kennedy, Dawn Summers, Jimmy Stone Rating: General Series: Ready to Be Strong Word Count: 5,084 Other Tags: Post-Chosen, AU - Vampire Slayer, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Past Abuse

Read on AO3

Summary: It's May of 2003. Rose Tyler is seventeen years old. Jimmy Stone hits her and she hits back. Hard.

Two years later, she finds out what really happened.

(Slayer Rose AU.)

NOTES: this is deliberately compliant with my slayer yaz au but of course the slayer yaz fics and this fic can stand completely separately (i am of course working on the associated yazrose fic)

Rose is sixteen years old when Jimmy Stone sweeps her off her feet. He looks at her in a way that gives her butterflies— and it’s her he’s chosen, even though she’s only sixteen, even though she’s got acne and hasn’t figured out how to bleach her hair properly and is still sort of waiting for her body to fill out a bit. He makes her feel older, like she’s better, for being loved by him. She runs away with him, shares a little place and does his laundry and makes him dinner, all in exchange for feeling just a little bit better.

Of course, it doesn’t last.

One month in, she starts to notice that he’s spending all his money on alcohol— two months, and she’s not feeling older so much as stupid . Three months, and she’s convinced she can make him better. Four, and she’s starting to realize she can’t, but she’s given too much to stop trying now.

Five months, and he hits her.

Five months, and she hits back.

Rose runs back to London, back to the Powell Estate, backpack slung across her shoulder, the image of Jimmy’s bruised and bloodied face burned into her brain. He’s fine, she reminds herself, tells herself over and over as the bus bumps over potholes on the way back to London, jostling Rose’s head against the window. He didn’t even go to the hospital. He fell to the ground, and she stood over him, her breath heavy, until reality hit her and she fell next to him, desperate to make sure she hadn’t hurt him. And that was when he rolled over, sat up, and spat out blood, staring at her with sheer contempt as he told her it was over.

It’s good riddance, probably. But five months ago Rose was so sure she’d be with him forever— sure enough to run away with him, sure enough to get a flat and do his laundry and make him dinner. And then he hurt her, and then she hurt him.

She doesn’t want to be someone who hurts people. (She doesn’t want to be someone who gets hurt.)

And she doesn’t want to be someone who comes home, tail between her legs, with a stammered explanation of what happens. But she’s seventeen, and she doesn’t have a job, and she doesn’t have school, and she doesn’t have any other options.

Her mum’s jaw drops when she opens the door. She stares at Rose for one second, two, and then she pulls Rose into a hug. Rose almost squeezes back as hard as she can— but then Jimmy’s body on the ground fills her mind’s eye again, and she holds back.

She holds back a lot. She barely realizes she’s doing it— it’s just that when she turns off her alarm clock, what feels like a tap winds up acting like a slam, and when she pushes buttons on the microwave she has to be careful not to break it, and when she turns the doorknob she has to be careful not to wrench it out of the wood. She’s always being careful, it feels like. She’s so angry, these days: angry at Jimmy, angry at her mum, angry at her school and her friends and the entire world. Maybe it’s a manifestation of her anger, this sort of strength. She certainly never had it before, and she certainly was never this angry before.

She gets used to it. The anger becomes a simmer, and she stops worrying about tearing the door off its hinges. She’s figured it all out. She gets back with Mickey, and she gets a job in a shop (she’s given up on A-levels), and she settles into a routine. It’s boring, and she’s starting to despair that this might be all there is to life, but at least it’s something— at least it’s safe.

It’s not safe. The truth, it turns out, is much more exciting than that.

Rose can’t help but be thrilled.

It’s terrifying, to be sure: her job blows up, there’s plastic that can move around and think for itself, and she winds up chasing down a conspiracy theorist just to find more information about it all. But… underneath the Thames, with the strange alien Doctor trapped, with the threat of plastic taking over all of London, Rose finally feels like she knows what to do. There’s fire in her veins, pushing her forward, and when she leaps onto the rope, she feels alive in a way she hasn’t managed in years. She remembers her childhood gymnastics team— swinging on the rope, flying across the gym, grinning wide— and she remembers standing over Jimmy’s limp form, breathing heavily, for a brief moment satisfied at having given him what he deserved.

As she swings back and into the Doctor’s waiting arms, she can’t help but grin.

She sees so much. The far future— the distant past— for a moment, she’s worried she’s done it again: run away with a much older man, ruined any chance she had left of a half-decent life, destroyed all her stability. But she finds a new stability here, with the Doctor, as hard as it is to explain to her mum or to Mickey.

They’re on another planet, touring the inside of a volcano, when it happens. Rose has wandered away from the Doctor to look at an interesting rock formation. She’s about to wander back when the earth starts to shake, and she watches in what seems like slow motion as the walkway between her and the Doctor begins to crumble away, falling into the lava below. Rose is trapped— the chasm is wide, and the rock keeps crumbling away. The ledge Rose is standing on is starting to seem more and more precarious.

“Rose!” the Doctor yells, and she can see in his face how worried he is, how he doesn’t have a way out. She scans the gap between the ledge and the remaining walkway, between her and him, and she starts to smile.

“Doctor!” she calls back. “Stand back!”

“Rose, you can’t—“

Rose isn’t listening. She steps as far back as she can— there’s not much room, but it’ll do. It’s two steps, and then she’s in the air, launched across the lava. This should be terrifying. If she misjudged— if she isn’t strong enough, or if she lands wrong, or if she stumbles— she’ll be dead. Really properly dead, forever dead, and she’s faced down plenty of moments like this in her travels, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still give her nightmares.

But… she’s not afraid. In fact, she’s exhilarated . She’s grinning as she soars through the air, laughing as she lands, bouncing on bent knees. The Doctor rushes to meet her, and she falls into his arms, and they’re both laughing now, even as they start to run.

They barely make it out of the volcano. Rose falls on the floor of the TARDIS, still laughing as she rolls onto her back. The Doctor’s next to her, his hand still in hers as they come down from the adventure.

Finally, they’ve both stopped laughing, and the Doctor turns onto his side.

“You shouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Rose faces him with a frown. “What do you mean?”

“That gap was way larger than any human can cross,” the Doctor says. “You should be dead.”

A couple months ago, maybe, the Doctor’s blunt statement might have bothered her, but now she’s seen him face down the last remnants of the Time War with fire in his eyes, and she knows his bluntness is just a smokescreen. Sometimes, if Rose is delicate, she can slip past the smokescreen and see how he really feels, when he’s let his defenses down. But now isn’t the time for that. “Suppose all this running must be good for the legs, yeah?”

The Doctor shakes his head. In another second, he’s on his feet, tugging Rose up with him, and they’re walking through the TARDIS corridors. “I need to make sure there’s nothing wrong. Nothing in your blood or anything. Have you done that before?”

“What, jumped across a sea of lava?” Rose scoffed. “Not like there’s much of that to go around in 21st century London.”

“No. I’m talking about displays of strength.” A door slides open, and the Doctor ushers Rose through. It’s the infirmary. She rolls her eyes.

“Doctor, I’m fine. Feel just the same as always, promise.” But she hops up to sit on the edge of the hospital bed anyway, kicking her legs as she watches him pace.

“That’s what I’m worried about.” He’s already opening cupboards, pulling out boxes, sorting through them. “You don’t remember when it started?”

“When what started?”

The Doctor gestures at her. “The strength.”

“Oh.” Rose frowns. “I don’t know. Didn’t know anything was different.”

The Doctor hovers for a moment, and then he opens another cupboard and pulls out a wooden board.

“You just had that in there?” Rose asks, staring.

“TARDIS might’ve helped.” He turns to her. “Hit this. Hard as you can.”

Rose eyes the board. It’s not too thick, but it’s rigid— she’s half-expecting to break her hand.

“I won’t let it hurt you,” the Doctor promises. Rose turns her skeptical gaze on him, but after another moment, she nods.

“No holding back?”

“None.”

Rose winds up the blow. It’s instinct: she draws her elbow to her side and makes a fist, her eyes focused on the board, and then her wrist is twisting as her fist shoots forward. She has half a second to process what she’s doing, and then her fist hits the board with a thwack, and the board cracks in half. Her arm reaches its full extension, and she holds it there for a second, staring at the two pieces of wood in the Doctor’s hand.

“How often do you hit like that, Rose?” the Doctor asks.

Rose’s hand falls. “I don’t,” she says, staring down at her denim-covered knees. For a second, she sees Jimmy Stone again, limp on the kitchen floor. “Or— I did. Once. Only once. Wasn’t expecting it to be— like that.”

“And when was that?” The Doctor’s voice is soft now, kind. Rose always feels like she’s about to melt, when he talks to her like this.

“Few years ago,” she says. “Just turned seventeen. Was still with Jimmy.” She’s told the Doctor a little bit about Jimmy, just the bare bones— he knows that she ran away with him, knows they lived together, knows it was a mistake. He doesn’t know exactly what happened, or why it fell apart, or how Jimmy made Rose feel.

Although— from the way his expression becomes stony and hard, maybe he can guess.

“Jimmy,” he repeats. “What year was that?”

“I don’t know,” Rose says. She counts back in her head. Would’ve been two years before she met the Doctor— “2003?”

“What month?”

Rose remembers that. She remembers the smell of springtime around her as she trudged to the bus stop, remembers the buds on the trees as they went by. It was barely a month after her birthday, too— her worst birthday to date, really. Jimmy forgot it, and Rose spent the whole day thinking maybe he would surprise her, only for him to come home late at night, drunk, without the slightest inkling of what had happened. She reminded him the next day and was answered with nothing more than a grunt. And she remembers coming back to the Powell Estate and realizing her friends were just about to get out of school for the summer, and realizing she wasn’t because she hadn’t been in school, because she’d run away with Jimmy Stone instead. She still feels the aching emptiness in her stomach.

“May,” she says. “It was May.”

The Doctor nods once. “May 20th, by any chance?”

“I don’t know. Might’ve been.” Rose shrugs. “Why? Something happen on May 20th?”

“Rose,” the Doctor says, “I think you’re a vampire slayer.”

The words hang in the air for a moment as Rose processes them— but then what she processes is so ridiculous that she scoffs, shaking her head. “A what?”

“Vampire slayer.” The Doctor looks her up and down. “You don’t believe me.”

“’Course I don’t believe you,” Rose laughs. “What in the universe is a vampire slayer ?”

“Er—“ The Doctor looks puzzled at that. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Doctor, vampires aren’t real.” Rose’s eyes widen. “Are you telling me vampires are real?”

“Suppose I am.” The Doctor takes a deep breath. “Look, Rose, I need you to suspend your disbelief for me, all right? Just long enough for me to explain. Can you do that?”

Rose rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I think I can suspend my disbelief long enough for my alien mate who takes me for adventures in his half-sentient time machine to explain vampires to me.”

“Excellent.” The Doctor straightens up, adjusting his stance as he prepares to explain. “The thing is, you on Earth coexist with all manner of creatures. Not aliens, either. Vampires. Demons. Leprechauns.”

“No way.” Rose shakes her head. “Leprechauns?”

“No. That was a joke.” The Doctor raises his eyebrows. “But I’m not kidding about the vampires and the demons.”

“Right,” Rose says. “Suspending disbelief. Go on. Suppose these vampires go around drinking blood and all that?”

“Exactly. Drinking blood, turning humans into vampires, all that.” The Doctor waves a hand. “Normally, it’s not really my area. Especially in your time. But— well, that’s what I’ve got to explain.”

“Right,” Rose says. “The slayer thing.”

“Exactly.” The Doctor pauses. “Basically, thousands of years ago, some humans decided that they needed to do something about the whole vampire and demon situation. And their brilliant solution was to give magical superpowers to a single teenage girl so she could fight them off. That’s the Slayer.” He looks right at Rose. “’Course, she’s never been the only one fighting off vampires and demons. But she’s been a pretty major player. And the way it’s worked is, if one Slayer dies, another one gets the powers right away.”

“So… is that what happened to me?” Rose asks. “The last girl died, and I got the powers?”

The Doctor shakes his head. “May 20th, 2003. There’s someone intent on getting rid of the Slayer entirely. There are two active Slayers, but thousands, maybe millions, of potential Slayers. Girls who could get the power, but probably never will. The two active Slayers team up with a powerful witch—“

“A powerful what? Doctor, how come you never told me there was real magic?”

He raises his eyebrows at her. “Not my area. Anyway, any highly advanced science is going to look like magic to an outside observer, isn’t it? What’s the difference between real magic and my TARDIS?”

Rose considers for a moment. “Fair point,” she concedes. “Right. Two active Slayers— won’t ask how that happened— powerful witch. What happens next?”

The Doctor grins. “Ah, that’s the best part.” He gestures widely with his hands. “The witch takes the Slayer power and unleashes it. Gives it to every single potential Slayer in the world. It’s a brilliant move. But it awakens girls all over the place. Girls who never would’ve known they had the potential if they hadn’t suddenly developed super strength. Twenty years on, they’re still finding them.”

“And that’s what you think happened to me?” Rose draws her knees to her chest. It would make sense— a little too much sense. She remembers thinking she would break everything she touched, feeling that pent-up power. She’d thought it was rage.

The Doctor nods. He sits down next to her on the bed, taking both her hands in his. “I can take you to the Slayers,” he says. “Have them explain. You can join them, if you like.”

“What does that mean?” Rose asks.

“You’d have to ask. I’m given to understand it involves a certain amount of monster hunting.”

“But… on Earth.”

“You wouldn’t have to,” the Doctor rushes to say. “It’s volunteer, as far as I know. And you’re always welcome in the TARDIS.”

“All right, then,” Rose decides. “Let’s talk to the Slayers.”

The next day, the TARDIS lands in Cleveland, Ohio, just outside what appears to be a large-but-ordinary suburban home.

“Sure they’re not going to tow this away?” Rose asks, looking at the rows of nearly-identical lawns.

“Perception filter.”

“Oh, right.” Rose’s eyes turn back to the house they’re parked in front of. “So, this is it?”

“Think so,” the Doctor says, already stepping forward. “Unless I’ve misremembered. In which case we may have to pretend to be selling cookies.”

Rose rolls her eyes, even as she follows him. “Oh, that’ll go over well.”

“Good thing my memory is foolproof, then.” And he knocks on the door.

They’re greeted by a girl who has to be somewhere around fifteen— she’s in sweats, her hair pulled back, and she looks confused for half a second before she sees Rose and understanding sets in.

“Hang on just a second,” she says. Rose exchanges a look with the Doctor as the girl turns around and yells, “Kennedy! New recruit!”

There’s the sound of footsteps, and then a girl who looks about Rose’s age pops up in the doorway. “Oh, yeah?” She looks Rose up and down. Something about it reminds Rose distinctly of the way girls in her secondary school would use a single lingering look to decide who was worth hanging out with— but there’s not nearly as much judgment in Kennedy’s eyes. “You’d better come inside.”

Rose follows Kennedy through the house, the Doctor close behind. They pass a few open doors— to a kitchen, a living room, a study— and when Rose glances through each, she sees girls cooking, lounging on the sofas, staring at the pages of formidable tomes. The room Kennedy leads them to, though, is empty, with a few chairs around a rectangular table, resembling a corporate sort of conference room more than anything.

“All right,” Kennedy says, sitting down. “I’m assuming if you’re here, you know what we are.”

“Sort of,” Rose says. She glances at the Doctor. “I mean— you are the Slayers, yeah?”

“Yes.” Kennedy smiles. “Welcome to the Cleveland chapter of Slayers International.” She hesitates. “Or something along those lines. The name’s not official. Yet.” She leans forward. “C’mon, sit down. Tell me your name.”

Rose sits, and the Doctor takes the chair next to her, pulling it just a little closer.

“Rose Tyler,” Rose says.

“And how’d you wind up in Cleveland, Rose Tyler?”

Rose hesitates. “Suppose I heard this was where to come,” she hedges. The real answer, of course, is that the Doctor told her the Cleveland location was established first, and therefore the most likely to actually have resources she could use right away; the Slayers would have other locations, he said, but two years after their inception, things are still a bit up in the air.

“Well, you’re right about that.” Kennedy leans back in her chair, her eyes still on Rose. “So, what’s brought you here? Getting attacked by monsters on the street? Caught up in some strange magical dealings?”

“None of that,” Rose says. “I just… found out I’ve got more strength than I’m supposed to.”

“Wow, that’s a first,” Kennedy says. “Most of the time girls find us after some major trauma. Y’know, demons after them or something.”

Rose chews on her lower lip. “Er— I was sort of the one who attacked. The first time.”

Kennedy raises her eyebrows. “Oh, yeah?”

“Got hit,” Rose explains. “Hit him back. Harder than I meant to. But he was human. Regular strength. Barely left a bruise. And I hit him, and he— he crumbled.” She’s keeping the tears out of her voice, but they’re threatening to encroach anyway. She never lets herself think about this. There’s a reason she never lets herself think about this. She’s learned to control her strength, after all: it won’t happen again. There’s no good in lingering.

“Right,” Kennedy says slowly. “When was this?”

Rose tries to remember when they are. “Two years ago?”

“And you didn’t realize it was out of the ordinary until now?”

“Thought it was adrenaline,” Rose explains. “People can do all sorts of things, when there’s feelings involved.”

“But you still had the strength,” Kennedy points out.

Rose shrugs. “Didn’t notice it was different,” she says. “Sort of thought I was just angry at everything.”

Kennedy nods. “Interesting. Well, we’ll have to give you a test, just to make sure you really are a Slayer. And then we can give you the full briefing. History, present goals, training, all that.”

“Do I have to—“ Rose hesitates. “I mean, if I’m a Slayer. What happens then?”

“That’s up to you,” Kennedy says. “We get lots of girls coming through here. Lots of them want to help us. But lots of them have their own lives. Some girls come by after school to train. We’ve had a couple graduate high school and decide they want to make Slaying their career. But you can choose how involved you’re willing to be.” She narrows her eyes. “You’re British?”

Rose nods.

“Buffy and the rest are setting up a chapter in London,” Kennedy says. “You could work with them. Give as much or as little of your time as you like. We can pay, too. For some of us, it’s a calling or a destiny or something, but for lots of us, it’s just a job. Dangerous job, but still.”

“And if I worked with you,” Rose says. “What would that be like?”

Kennedy shrugs. “It’s all a bit up in the air right now. You learn how to fight, for one thing. Go out on patrols to kill vampires. Those are scheduled. Sometimes we get a big apocalypse thing, which can be inconvenient if you’re trying to keep a schedule, but from what Buffy says it’s a lot easier now we’ve got so many people to help.” She hesitates. “You’d work with Buffy and Faith, probably. If they stay over there. They’re good teachers. They work together well, now they’re not fighting all the time.”

“But I don’t have to,” Rose says.

“No.”

Rose takes a deep breath. “All right. What’s this test you have to do?”

“It’s a magical thing,” Kennedy says. “Honestly, I don’t fully understand it. But it doesn’t hurt or anything.”

“Sounds promising,” Rose mutters. Next to her, the Doctor chuckles. Rose shoots him a glare. “So, what do you have to do?”

Kennedy stands up. “All I have to do is get the kid who actually knows how to do it.” She steps around the table and sticks her head out the door to yell, “Dawn? Are you up?”

“Just a second!” a voice calls back.

Kennedy turns back to Rose. “She’ll be here soon. Don’t worry, it’s a simple process.”

Rose nods. She fidgets in her chair for a moment before the Doctor reaches over and takes her hand; she gives him a reassuring smile, and he nods back. He seems tense— but of course, this is a strange process for both of them.

A few minutes later, a teenage girl comes in. She’s wearing a turtleneck, with long brown hair falling in sheets around her face. “What’s up?”

Kennedy nods to Rose. “New Slayer.”

“Oh, you need me to run the spell?”

“Yep.”

The girl— Dawn? —turns to Rose. “Okay. Just give me a moment to get the crystal.” She leaves again, and Rose hears footsteps on the stairs. A minute later, Dawn is back, holding a translucent pink crystal in one hand. She offers it to Rose, and Rose takes it, apprehensive.

“What is it?” she asks.

“It’s just to help us reveal the energy,” Dawn explains. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt. Basically, every Slayer has the same spell running through them, and so we can amplify the spell to see if you’re really a Slayer. Most of the time, it’s really obvious already, but we have to check just in case. A couple times, we’ve had girls with super strength, but it turned out they were on this magical drug— anyway.” She kneels next to Rose. “Can I take your hands?”

Rose nods. Dawn reaches out: her touch is professional, bordering on clinical. It’s not quite what Rose expected from the teenager she sees in front of her, but she’s beginning to realize that this is a place where young girls grow up fast.

She can get that.

There’s a warmth in the crystal, and then a heat: Rose almost drops it. It’s glowing, a yellow gleam shining through the translucent rock, and Rose stares.

“That’s— that’s me?” she whispers.

“It’s your power,” Dawn says. She lets go of Rose’s hands, and the heat disappears with a snap. Rose does drop the crystal then, letting it tumble to the floor, and Dawn snatches it up before standing. “Definitely a Slayer.” She glances at Kennedy. “You need anything else?”

“Not right now,” Kennedy says. “Might come bother you later about that Greek text you were translating.”

“Oh, right.” Dawn grimaces. “Turns out it’s majorly confusing. Especially if you don’t really know Greek.” She shrugs. “I’m working on it. Hopefully by next week I’ll know more Greek.”

“Hey, you know way more than me,” Kennedy replies.

Dawn gives her a tight smile. “See you later.” She leaves, and Kennedy turns back to Rose.

“Okay,” she says. “I’d better give you the full briefing.”

Half an hour later, Rose feels like she understands maybe a tenth of what goes on in this house. She’s gotten a quick rundown of the Slayers’ recent history, with maybe a little extra detail on the parts Kennedy was apparently there for, and an explanation of their current organizational structure, and how the Slayers are currently spreading into as many countries as they can manage.

“Of course, all the old resources are in Britain,” Kennedy says. “That’s why Buffy’s there now. But eventually, we’re hoping to be all over the globe.” She leans forward, resting her arms on the table in front of her. “And if you want to join, we’d love to have you. But there’s no pressure.”

Rose shakes her head. “Sorry,” she says. “It’s just—“ She glances at the Doctor. “I travel a lot. I’m not really in the same place long enough to join any organizations.”

Kennedy leans back again. “Of course. No worries.”

“Thanks.” Rose chews her bottom lip. “Is there— I mean, is there anything I need to know? About the whole Slayer thing?”

“You might find monsters come after you,” Kennedy says. “They can sense it or something.” She pulls open a drawer behind her and takes out a business card. “Take this. It’s got our number. We’ve got it set up so you can call from anywhere in the world and be matched to our closest representative.” She offers it to Rose, and Rose tilts it in her hand. Slayers , it says, with just a phone number printed underneath.

“Impressive,” the Doctor says.

Kennedy and Rose both stare: it’s the first thing he’s said this whole visit. It’s really for Rose, after all: the Doctor is just moral support.

“What?” he asks, staring back. “That sort of network— it’s amazing. I didn’t know humans—“

“He didn’t know it was possible,” Rose interrupts.

“Right. That.”

“It’s Willow’s doing,” Kennedy says. “Our witch. The network’s magical. Don’t ask me how it works, ‘cause I couldn’t tell you.” She pauses. “Actually, Dawn might know.”

“Well, maybe I’ll just give you a call and ask,” Rose jokes.

“You do that.” Kennedy seems serious. “It’s not just for emergencies. Anything you need, you call us. Got it?”

Rose nods. “Anything else?”

“Take some stakes before you go,” Kennedy says. “Just in case you need them.” Rose must look confused, because she adds, “Best thing for killing vampires.”

Rose glances at the Doctor. “Don’t know how likely I am to be meeting vampires where we’re going.”

“You never know,” Kennedy says. “It’s good to be prepared.”

“Okay.”

“And you’re welcome to stay as long as you like,” Kennedy adds. “Get to know some of the other girls.”

“That’s all right,” Rose says. “I mean— nothing against the girls. I’m sure they’re great. I just—“ She waves a hand. “Just want to get back to my life.”

“You sure?” the Doctor asks quietly. “Could be good.”

“No, that’s okay.” Rose lets out a breath. “It’s just— this is all kind of a lot.”

“Back to the TARDIS?” the Doctor asks.

Rose nods. “Thank you,” she says to Kennedy. “For explaining.”

“Of course.” Kennedy stands. “Thanks for coming by.” She nods at the card, still in Rose’s hand. “Remember to call if you need anything.”

“’Course.” Rose gets to her feet, shoving the card into her pocket so she can take the Doctor’s hand. “I’ll see you.” She shakes Kennedy’s hand, and then she and the Doctor are stepping out the door and back into the TARDIS, stake in hand.

Rose sits in the jump seat, brand new wooden stake in her lap, turning Kennedy’s card over in her hand. She’s already programmed the number in her phone— but she can’t quite let go of the card, tangible evidence of the Slayers’ existence. The Doctor’s at the console, launching them into the vortex, but then he hesitates, looking over his shoulder at Rose.

“You all right?”

Rose nods, still staring at the card. “Yeah.”

The Doctor sits down next to her, slinging an arm around her shoulders, and Rose burrows into his chest. It’s a relief, to have him here with her, to feel his chest warm against her cheek, even though layers of leather and wool.

“It’s just new information,” the Doctor says, his voice low. “Nothing’s changed.”

“Guess not.” Rose takes a deep breath. “Feels like it has.” She hesitates. “Doctor, should I have stayed with them?”

“’Course not,” the Doctor says. “What would I have done then?”

Rose manages a laugh. “But, I mean— what if I’m supposed to be helping them?”

“Nah.” The Doctor pulls her closer against him. “You heard that girl. They’ve got more than enough people. Besides, there’s a whole universe out there for you to help, if that’s what you want. All right?”

Rose considered for another moment. “Yeah,” she said, almost a whisper. “All right.”

Somehow, it was.

#doctor who #my fic #fanfiction #rose tyler #doctorrose #ninth doctor #ninerose #slayer au #buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #kennedy #jimmy stone #dawn summers #ready to be strong

1 note · View note

longwuzhere · 4 months

Text

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Easter Eggs

Welcome to another week of My Adventures with Superman and what a great episode this one was! I CALLED IT THAT WE'LL BE SEEING A CERTAIN CHARACTER SHOW UP SINCE EPISODE 1 SEASON 1!!! OK lets get to the easter eggs!

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here.

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here.

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here.

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 10 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

Spoilers if you haven't seen it yet.

At the start of the episode we see Clark discover a new power of his to protect a person (we'll talk about him soon) during a fire. What we are seeing here is Clark using his Bio Electric Aura. Superman's Bio Electric Aura was first introduced in Superman #1 (1987) where Superman is investigating an abandoned laboratory where stats on Superman are plastered over the computer monitors and he finds the body of the scientist who's neck was snapped by something powerful. So in order to to keep the things inside safe and way from bad people (we'll talk more about this later), Superman does this (W&P: John Byrne, I: Terry Austin, C: Tom Zuiko, L: John Costanza:

He takes it up to space so the vacuum can keep it preserved. But Superman is able to lift such a large piece of land thanks to his Bio Electric Aura. What it does is help protect the Bio Electric Aura user from damage and enhance their strength, speed, and durability. The user extends their aura to whatever object they are interacting with, in Superman's case, this giant piece of land, and be able to lift it up without IRL physics affecting them. Check out All-Star Superman to see how far Clark can use his bio electric aura!

Clark was able to save the man's life from the fire started by Livewire (I talked more about her here). But before the reveal, we have a fun name drop in the scene! The man Clark saved was Silas Stone, the father of Victor Stone aka Cyborg of the Teen Titans/Titan (yeah I know Cyborg was with the Justice League sometimes but he fits with the Teen Titans/Titans more)!

Silas Stone made his first appearance in DC Comics Presents #26 (1980) [W: Marv Wolfman, P: George Perez, I: Dick Giordano, C: Adrienne Roy, L: Ben Oda] as a STAR Labs scientist. After his son's accident, Silas had Victor rebuilt with new cybernetic parts in order to keep him alive, a move that strained his relationship with his son. Here in the pages Raven was showing the Teen Titans that Silas was in trouble trying contact this protoplasmic cell.

Speaking of Victor, we get a reference to him after Livewire threatened his life and Victor was forced to delete the files he had on AmerTek (we'll talk more about that later).

Victor Stone makes his first appearance also in DC Comics Presents #26 (1980) [ W: Marv Wolfman, P: George Perez, I: Dick Giordano, C: Adrienne Roy, L: Ben Oda]. Robin and the rest of the Titans gather at Titan's Tower but for some reason Robin can't recognize the team.

The title for this episode is a nod to Hiromu Arakawa's manga/anime Fullmetal Alchemist, IMO the gold standard when it comes to action manga/anime. Fantastic read and watch highly recommend either watching the anime, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and the first Fullmetal Alchemist just to see how the two are different, but also read the manga because its just that good! A very appropriate title for what we will be discussing next!

Finally the one character I hope would show up in MAwS, John Henry Irons! In MAwS like his comic book counterpart worked for AmerTek, but in MAwS Irons hoped he could use AmerTek be beneficial for his neighborhood, Bakerline (which I talked more about here.)

John Henry Irons makes his first appearance in Adventures of Superman #500 (1993) [First Sighting: Man of Steel segment - W: Louise Simonson, P: Jon Bogdanove, I: Dennis Janke, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley] during the start of the Reign of the Supermen storyline where we see John be buried under rubble after saving one of foreman coworkers and with the help of Superman was able to save both of them. However Doomday attacked the city and John was ready to pay Superman back by helping him fight Doomsday as well but the building John was in collapsed burying him.

Like his comicbook counterpart, John don's a suit to help out Superman later in the episode. In the comics John wears the Steel armor in Superman: The Man of Steel #22 (1993) [Cover art by Jon Bogdanove and Dennis Janke]. After Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday, John builds the Steel suit in order figure out why the weapons he created but ultimately destroyed were in the hands of the gangs of Metropolis. He later learns that Amertek Industries, his former employer was still in business distributing the weapons.

As Clark is running late for a date with Lois as Waid's cafe (I talked about this reference here and you hear a bit of the MAwS leitmotif in the cell jingle.

At the AmerTek demo, Lois is in the crowd to see what they have for their showcase and we see Thomas Weston demonstrate the Metallo, two DC characters from the comics.

Thomas Weston and AmerTerk makes their first appearance in Steel #2 (1994) [W: Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, P: Chris Batista, I: Rich Faber, Andrew Pepoy, C: Gina Going, L: Pat Brosseau]. In the comics Thomas Weston is a Colonel and CEO of Amertek Industries where it is a weapons manufacturing company for the government but upon seeing the weapons be used in the streets of Metropolis, John Henry Irons quits his job as their engineer and destroys all the schematics he had on the weapons, but Amertek Industries was still able to steal John's armor designs for soldiers. If you want to check out John's adventures as Steel give Death of Superman, Reign of the Supermen, Steel, and the current series Steelworks, a read. They're all pretty awesome! Also if you like John Henry Iron's premise give Milestone Comics' Hardware a shot too, same with the current Hardware series too!

Metallo's name was first used in World's Finest #6 (1942) [W: Jerry Seigel, P&I: John Sikela) where Metalo, here aka George Grant, was a scientists who wore a metal suit to rob a train.

The next Metallo was John Corben who first appeared in Action Comics #252 (1959) [W: Robert Bernstein, P&I: Al Plastino], the same comic with Supergirl's first appearance. Here, John Corben's car swerved off a cliff and Professor Vale was able to replace his limbs and heart with metal while his heart is powered by uranium until John Corben learned that Kryptonite would be a better substitute because his uranium heart can only last for a day, while Kryptonite would not need to be replaced at all.

The next Metallo is Roger Corben who first appeared in Superman #310 (1977) [Cover art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Bob Oksner]. Here, Roger Corben was part of SKULL who engineered Roger's death in order to create a second Metallo just like his deceased brother, John Corben. SKULL manipulated Roger to blame Superman for his misfortune and to seek revenge for his brother.

The more modern Metallo returns this time as John Corben again post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, in Superman #1 (1987) [Cover art by John Byrne, W&P: John Byrne, I: Terry Austin, C: Tom Zuiko, L: John Costanza]. Here, Metallo was built by scientist Emmet Vale, who transferred John Corben's brain to the robot body after Corben's car accident, and using technology stolen from Clark's rocket ship that brought him to Earth. He found bits of Kryptonite and coined it that which is used to power Corben's new body.

At the presentation Vicki Vale tries to get the story from Lois and I talked a bit about her here and she later name drops Palmer Tech. While not in the comics Palmer Tech is a reference to Palmer Technologies from the CW Arrow-verse where it is specialized in nanotechnology founded by Ray Palmer (played by Brandon Routh who was formerly Superman in Superman Returns and Superman again in the CW Arrow-verse) which segues to...

Ray Palmer aka the Atom who first appeared in Showcase #34 (1961) [Cover art by Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson, and Ira Schnapp]. Ray Palmer is a professor from Ivy Town. He stumbles upon a White Dwarf Star fragment which when shot with ultraviolet light can cause anything touching the light to shrink, however after a few minutes later that shrunk object would explode. When Ray used the fragment on himself though, he was able to shrink fine and returned to his normal height. It's hypothesized that his Metagene is what made it safe for him to shrink and grow and as a result he built a device to control the size shrinking and growing on his belt and thus the Atom was born.

Later in the episode Clark and Jimmy meet up with Flip and John comes in to greet the former two and name drops his niece, Natasha.

Natasha Irons makes her first appearance in Steel #1 (1994) [W: Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, P: Chris Batista, I: Rich Faber, C: Gina Going, L: Pat Brosseau] where she greets John who arrived back in Washington DC. Years later in Action Comics #806 (2003) [W: Joe Kelly, P&I: Karl Kerschel , C: Guy Major, L: Comicraft] where after facing the news of her uncle John retiring the Steel mantle, Natasha discovers the hammer and unlocks a recording he made where he discussed the new suit he built. Natasha dons the cool as hell new armor and takes up the Steel name. Fingers crossed Natasha gets to show up and suit up as well, maybe even team up with Kara in the future if that happens?!

At the end of the episode Lex unfortunately buys out AmerTek and renames it to LexCorp. LexCorp was first mentioned in Superman #416 (1986) [W: Elliot S. Maggin, P: Curt Swan, I: Al Williamson, C: Gene D'Angelo, L: Duncan Andrews] where Superman encounters a hologam message from Future Superman telling him to not pursue Lex who will save a child that will cure him of his obsessive hatred for Superman which then leads to Lex using his brains to benefit humankind like the holocaster that is mentioned in the panels. The later iteration of Lex where he is a shady businessman when John Byrne took over the Man of Steel and Superman titles helped establish LexCorp to what we know today in pop culture (fantastic runs btw definitely recommend reading them).

And with that episode 3 is done! Come back next week for episode 4's references and Easter eggs!

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs ad references in My Adventures with Superman post is here