A Special Prescription

V owned by ABC

Doctor Who owned by the BBC.

A bit that popped into my head immediately after seeing the "V" finale so obvious SPOILER ALERT. All comments welcomed.

Erica Evans had known fear in her life. It came with her job. She'd known worry, she'd known anguish, she'd even known despair. But she'd never known defeat. Not until now.

She didn't want to face it but it was there. It had seemed to be going so well. Discovering the existence of Ares, that the governments of the world knew the Vs were up to no good, that was something she'd been wanting for so long. Finally, the resistance wasn't some rag-tag group who caused as much trouble as they could stop, they had the backing and hopefully the numbers to truly expose and defeat the Vs. But now…now it finally seemed too late.

"Jack? Jack, please, wake up, please!" She shook the priest, trying as best she could to snap him out of whatever trance he seemed to be in. But like everyone else, he was staring upward with a smile on his face, his eyes wide with rapture. The white light from above shone across the night sky, filling the skies above the entire Earth. Erica looked around, frantic to see if anyone else was unaffected but all she could see was a sea of humans, all staring up with the same loving expressions. She knew the effect was the same around the world going from what the Ares technicians had been reading. Those underground in the complex had been unaffected; perhaps you had to be outside when it hit for it take effect. It didn't truly matter what the causes were, what mattered was the result. And that seemed to be that humanity was not only completely helpless before Anna but ready to fully accept her as their queen.

Erica was fighting off the tears that wanted to come out, trying to steel herself. She kept telling herself there had to be a way, there had to be some kind of salvation. But in her heart, she knew it was over. Even if Ares was safe, their numbers were too few against the V fleet and technology, not to mention the stockpiles of weapons on hand. She bowed her head, taking a deep breath as she realized all she'd fought for in the last few months had been in vain. All the struggles, all the deaths and in the end…Anna had won. And humanity had lost.

"Not good, not good, not good…"

At the soft British accent, Erica twisted her head around. Standing nearby was a man who appeared to be examining one of the entranced people with an odd device. He appeared to be in his twenties, clad in brown trousers and coat, his dark hair looking rumpled and a bright red bow tie around his throat. He pursed his lips as he moved from one person to the other, examining each with a troubled expression. "Nope…no…nothing there either…" He moved to Erica, examining her as if not noticing how she wasn't staring upward. "Ah hah! Here we are then! Yes, yes, I see regular brain activity, full possession of faculties, no doubt able to speak and, oh, my, that is very nice how your eye is gleaming while you glare at me…"

Erica's hand went to her gun and the man backed up, holding up his hands. "Hang on, hang on, I mean no harm here!"

"Who are you?" Erica demanded her hand on her revolver, ready to draw it.

"Right now, I'm the only other person besides you who isn't being drawn to the big night light up there," the man said, motioning upward. "Sadly, that larger number includes a couple of good friends of mine, which is what brought me out here in the first place."

"It's Anna," Erica breathed. "She's….she's doing something to bring people under her control. The Bliss, that's what Ryan calls it and now she's extended it to the rest of the world…"

The man nodded. "Ah, that explains it." He paused. "And…Anna might be?"

Erica stared at him dumbly. "Anna. The queen? The leader of the Vs?"

"V as in victory or the Roman numeral?"

Erica's stare continued. "Are you kidding me? The Vs! How can you be on this planet and not know about the Vs?"

"Well, I only just arrived," the man said in a nonchalant tone. He started, his brow furrowing. "Hold on, hold on, I know this…The light, the mass telepathic connection…" He looked at her. "These Vs, they wouldn't happen to be lizard creatures who like to don human skins, would they?"

Erica nodded and the man snapped his fingers. "Valasars! I should have known, the little minxes never can get the message the first time around." He glanced up at the ship high above and then began marching through the streets. Erica looked after him for a moment before realizing he was leaving and raced to catch up to him. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Anna's the key, the source of the Bliss," the man answered her as he placed the device back into his coat pocket. "She's the one holding the world in her claws or nails or what have you. She's also the one who can end it."

Erica narrowed her eyes. "We kill her, would that break it off?"

The man stopped in place, turning to face her with a questioning look. "Are you law enforcement or military?"

"FBI."

"Ah, that explains it. Never underestimate how quickly the shoot-first mentality settles in with training." He turned to walk again, Erica following. "That can do it, but personally I rather hope we can avoid that sort of thing. How long have they been here?"

"The fleet arrived a few months ago," Erica answered. "But they've had agents undercover here for decades."

"Wouldn't be the first time," the man shrugged. "You'd be amazed how easily alien species can blend in here, worse than Casablanca." He was making his way toward an alley, brushing past people staring upward. "Let me guess: they left their world because they ran out of resources, you're the first civilization they've met, they promise peace and prosperity with technology to fix all your problems and settle in nice and easy?" He shook his head. "Honestly, it'd be so refreshing to meet a planet that's smart enough not to fall for that one. And considering how many times they've used it on you lot…"

"Wait a minute," Erica said, grabbing his arm to stop him. "You know about the Vs?"

"We've had…history," the man evaded both her arm and her question. "Right now, it's time to settle some of that."

"You're going to the Mothership?" Erica asked as they walked down the alleyway.

"Indeed I am," the man confirmed. He stopped to face her. "I'm sorry, I missed your name."

"Special Agent Erica Evans, FBI."

The man offered a hand with a wide smile. "Pleased to meet you, Special Agent Erica Evans, FBI. I'm the Doctor." He shook her hand vigorously before turning the end of the alley. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a queen to meet."

Erica was too busy staring at the object before them. It looked slightly larger than a phone booth, bright blue panels and the words POLICE BOX along the top. The Doctor was using a key to open the door, entering the box. "Don't you worry, Erica Evans, FBI, I'll have the situation fixed post-haste!"

"Listen, I don't know what game you're playing here," Erica began as she marched forward, pushing on the door before the Doctor could shut it and entering the box. "But my son is on that ship and-"

She stopped, her words dying in her throat as she froze in place. She has stepped into a room that was easily a hundred times larger than the box should have been. It was gleaming with various yellow lights along the walls, the colors shifting a bit around her. A rampway and stairs led to a large platform that held a console with a plethora of buttons, levers and monitors, a tall cylinder in the middle of it all. The Doctor was bounding up the stairs, throwing a few switches and the cylinder began to move with a loud groaning sound filling the chamber.

Even after everything she'd seen since the Vs came to Earth, this was beyond Erica's comprehension. Her jaw opened and closed as she waved a hand around. "What….what is this?"

"The TARDIS," the Doctor easily answered. "Yes, yes, bigger on the inside, I know, no time for the full discussion now, though." He adjusted a few levers and checked a monitor nearby. "Right, should be able to land this right on their doorstep, provided I don't hit that nasty little temporal flux that pops up now and then but oh, well, nothing ventured and all that."

Erica slowly stepped forward, her mind starting to accept this and clicking things into place. "You're…you're not human…are you?"

The Doctor looked up with a warm smile that set her at ease. "We're not all that bad, believe me." He adjusted a few of the controls. "I have to say, am amazed at how easily they were able to win you folks over. Did the Dalek and Cybermen invasions teach you nothing?"

"The what?"

The Doctor looked at her, confused for a moment before his face cleared up. "Oh, right, wibbly-wobbly time changes. Sorry, since I restarted the universe, a bit out of sorts on these things." He turned back to the console. "Well, push that aside for now, we've got an invasion to stop." He looked over to a clearly worried Erica and smiled. "Don't worry. I'm an expert at these things."

For a being whose body was designed not to have tear ducts, Lisa had cried quite a lot in the last several minutes.

To come so close to undoing Anna at last only to be outwitted was bad enough. Seeing Anna murder her own mother in cold blood was worse. But to see that twisted copy of her ravish Tyler, then…then…

She bit her lip, wiping at her face as she tried to pull herself together. She knew her options were limited but there had to be something she could do to stop Anna. If not for Tyler, then her people because she knew that if her mother continued on this path, it would end up destroying them all.

It took her a few moments to realize that the air in the room was starting to blow slightly. Her head rose in confusion as a loud groaning filled the space around her. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she saw a large blue box begin to materialize out of thin air. It finally solidified, the sound and air fading as it seemed to settle in. Something about it, stirred a memory in Lisa but before she could pin it down, the door opened to reveal an oddly dressed young man followed by…"Erica?"

Erica blinked in confusion as she saw the alien girl. "Lisa? What are you doing here?"

"What am I….where are we?" Erica asked. She looked around the room, frowning before turning toward the Doctor. "You landed us in a prison cell? What kind of spaceship is this?"

"I got us here, didn't I?" the Doctor defended himself. He turned to Lisa. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, and you are?"

Lisa stared, her eyes going wide in shock. "The….Doctor?" She stepped back from him. "You…you can't be, the face…"

"I've had work done," the Doctor brushed off. He glanced at Erica. "Anna's daughter, am I right? Well, I suppose we could use the help here." He brushed past her to examine the door, Erica moving to Lisa. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Lisa looked at her, swallowing. "Tyler…he…."

"What?" Erica asked, instantly alert.

"My mother made..a copy of me and sent her to him…They….they…" She swallowed again to push past it. "And then she…bit at him…she…" Her eyes welled up with tears. "I'm so sorry, Erica…"

"Oh, God, no," Erica whispered, feeling the agony only a mother could understand.

"Now, now, no tears," the Doctor declared as he removed a device from his coat. "I highly suspect the lad may not be as gone as you think."

Both women turned to him in confusion. "What?"

"Well, the whole point was to have him mate with her daughter, or that reasonable facsimile of same," the Doctor intoned as he aimed the device at the door and activated a whining sound. "You just don't waste a perfectly good source of DNA like that." With a click, the door opened. "So I'm sure that this Tyler lad is in relatively good shape."

"Are…are you sure?" Erica pressed.

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, guessing really but I'm trying to be more upbeat about these sorts of things." He led the way into the hallway. "So, shall we, ladies?"

Erica looked over at Lisa. "You know who he is?"

Lisa nodded. "He…he's a legend among our people. The reason we left our home in the first place is because of him…of how a man from beyond stopped us from feasting upon our neighboring world…forced us to move among the stars to sustain ourselves." She wiped at her face. "I…never dreamed he was real."

Erica bit her lip, unsure how to take this. Her gut told her the Doctor was still the person to trust in this…but couldn't help worrying she might be trading in one threat for another. But then the image of her son came to mind and she remembered she had a much bigger task at hand. With a determined expression, she followed the Doctor as he made his way down the hallways of the ship…only to pause to turn to them. "I don't suppose either of you have a map handy, do you?"

Triumph was one emotion Anna was more than willing to experience in full.

She had changed into a white power suit, framing her perfect body, those lips pulled into a smirk as she stared out the windows of the bridge of the mothership. She saw the lights filling the world outside, the effects still strong in the humans. She could also see the shapes of two more ships as they entered the New York area, moving toward the city. "Are they all in position?" she asked.

Her aide Marcus stood nearby, his face impassive as ever to match his dark suit. "Awaiting your command, Anna." He checked the pad in his hands. "I should warn you, we are detecting some of the planet's military arms still on alert. It would appear the humans had some resistance prepared after all."

"They do not matter," Anna said, staring outward with the smile growing. "They will not use nuclear weapons on us with so many of their populace exposed. They will realize it is futile to resist and join us. And this planet shall finally, finally be ours."

"You know, it's rather amazing," a chipper voice cut through the room. "So many different species and yet conquerors are so unoriginal when it comes to the gloating clichés."

Anna whirled around to see a man in a suit and bow tie enter, next to Lisa and Erica. The latter had her pistol already out, firing a round to cut down one of the guards. The man in the middle frowned at her as he pulled out a device, aiming it at the other guard. A high-pitched whine went out and the V frowned as his weapon appeared not to be working. The man pushed him aside easily as he walked up to the middle of the room to smile at Anna. "Then again, I suppose you should be enjoying the moment since you won't be staying long."

Anna glared at him. "Who are you?" Her hand moved to her desk but the man held up the device and another whine created a shower of sparks that caused Anna to jump back from her data center. "Ah, ah, no need to cause more violence around here, just want a civil discussion."

Anna's eyes moved to Lisa and the smile returned. "You appear worse for wear, traitor. You are still such a disappointment. At least my new daughter is more inclined to obey." She turned her eyes to Erica and the smirk grew. "Did you think I had no idea what side you were truly on, Agent Evans? You did your job well in playing into my hands and advancing our plans but I believe it is time to end this little game."

"Game?" Erica spat. "This is our planet."

"No," Anna shook her head. "It's mine."

"Actually, it's not," the man said. "Technically, not the humans either but that's a long discussion for another time. Right now, here's what's going to happen." He began to tick off his finger. "First, you are going to heal Agent Evans' son." He held up a hand to cut her off. "Oh, don't bother, we both know you have him in stasis right now after healing the damage. After all, be a shame if after all that effort he ended up misfiring in your little clone, right? You've got him fixed, healed and ready to mind-wipe for another go if need be. You're going to be letting him go. Then, you're going to tell your fleet to stand down. After that, you reconnect that 'Bliss' of yours and undo all the damage you've done to the populace and finally, you and your people, and that includes all your sleeper agents down there, are going to get on your ships and you're going to fly off and you are never, ever going to come back."

Anna stared at him for a long moment before letting out a laugh. "I…why would I possibly agree to this? What gives you the right to make demands of me, human? You are nothing. You are an insect before our might. You are-"

"I'm the Doctor."

Anna stopped, her mouth open. Marcus' eyes widened as his own jaw dropped open and the guard immediately scurried back in terror. Erica felt more out of place than usual even as she kept her gun aimed at Anna. The alien leader was too busy staring in horror at the Doctor to notice, however. "No…"

"Yes," the Doctor said as he stepped forward, the joviality gone from his voice. "I am the Oncoming Storm. The Lonely God. He Who Stands Alone. I am the man who brought disaster to your race once before, the Black Angel of the Skies. I'm the one who gave your priests nightmares for generations. Who convinced you it was easier not to believe in any God than accept me. I'm the man you mention when you want to give your recruits the fear of…well, you. I'm what your young think of when you try to explain to them what death is." His eyes narrowed slightly even as a light smile came to his mouth. "You were attempting genocide on another world rather than accept changing your policies to your own. I didn't want to do what I did but there was no other choice. I was in a rather bad place at that time and I'd like to think I've outgrown that sort of thing. It's why I haven't done anything to shut down your little path of conquest over the decades." The smile hardened. "But I'm rather fond of this planet. I'm not going to let you drain it dry and leave it a husk like you have before. So you're going to do all I told you or…"

Anna's face was a wonder for Erica to behold. Sheer terror was wrestling with anger before that same defiance came back to her. "No…No, not again. You will not ruin us again!"

"You ruined yourselves," the Doctor snapped. "All you had to do was alter how you consumed energy, take better care of your planet but oh, no, you found it so much easier to just wipe out other places rather than accept a change to your lifestyle. Even after all I did, you keep up with that and refuse to see how you can benefit others." He sighed softly. "You know, I feel sorry for you. Really. Hating is so easy but no, pity is what I'm feeling. You could have led your people to a new destiny, a new way of life but instead you just kept the same cycle going all over again."

Anna hissed, her lizard tongue briefly extending from her mouth. "Oh, that's really not very pretty," the Doctor noted.

"You are too late," she spat at him. "At my command, our fleet is ready to wipe out any human on the outside! We are in control here, Doctor…"

"Right, about that…" the Doctor reached into his pocket to remove a golden pocket watch on a chain. He flipped open the face to look at the timepiece. "What are…" Anna began only to have the Doctor hold up a finger. "And…now."

A loud alarm began to ring throughout the room. Marcus jumped before looking to a pad, his eyes widening in shock once more. "We have reports from ships…engine failures, weapons are down, communications…It's the entire fleet!"

"That's the problem with connecting ships via networks," the Doctor mused as he placed the watch back. "It's so easy to disrupt everything when you hit the right access panel." He smiled back at Anna. "Now, about that proposal I was making?"

Anna glared at him, her jaw setting. "Oh, don't do it," the Doctor said, his voice almost pleading. "Please, don't do it. I really don't want to end it like this."

Anna opened her mouth, showing her rows of gleaming fangs.

"I'm giving you a chance," the Doctor pressed. "I really want you to take it."

Anna lunged, her tail extending out and aiming right at the Doctor's chest. He stood his ground as she came forward, his face one of sad acceptance. Anna was reaching for him when the booming sound of a gunshot echoed across the room. She gasped as she froze, a blotch of red on her immaculate white dress. She stared down at it in disbelief before another bullet ripped through her upper chest. She gazed up at the figure holding her gun in her tight hands, the expression cool as she leveled the pistol down. "You?"

A final blast ripped through the air as a bullet tore into her forehead. Anna remained in place, staring out with a look of utter disbelief on her face, as if not able to accept this had happened as blood ran down the hole at the center of her brow. She then keeled over, collapsing onto the ground in a heap. The Doctor turned his head to where Erica stood, her gun still raised, her expression calm. He looked down at the dead Anna and let out a long, sad sigh. "Why can't it end much better than this?" he whispered.

Lisa looked over to Erica, her face serious. "I should have done it," she whispered.

"No," Erica said, lowering her gun and facing her. "You want to prove you're not your mother? Don't do what she did."

"Very sound advice," the Doctor noted. He glanced over to Marcus, who was staring stunned at Anna's body. The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he stepped forward. "I may not be up on the minute details of your culture," he said in a tone laced with restrained anger. "But I do believe that means this young lady," he nodded to Lisa. "Is now in charge. Am I correct?"

Marcus opened and closed his mouth so the Doctor moved in. "I said, am I correct?"

Marcus looked at him, seeing the expression deep in the man's eyes. He slowly turned his head and bowed it to Lisa. "My Queen."

The Doctor nodded. "Good, smart man." He turned to Lisa. "It won't take long to get your fleet back up to speed and then you can exit this planet. I enjoy it when things work out simply, don't you?"

"They can't just leave."

"And get annoyed when they don't." The Doctor looked to Erica. "I'm sorry? I was under the impression that you've been fighting to get the Vs off Earth and now you're saying they can't? That's giving rather mixed messages there."

Erica stepped forward. "They leave now...It'll be chaos, more than when they arrived. People still believe in them, they still have their technology on Earth. We wanted to expose them, show who they really are and why they had to be stopped. But to just let them leave, people will still be worshipping them. Anna still wins."

The Doctor took that in before slowly nodding. "Right, then." He moved toward Anna's desk, examining it for a moment before raising his device. He let it activate and the center of the room lit up from a circle on the floor. The Doctor stepped into it, taking a moment to brush his coat and adjust his tie. The light seemed to cover him in a ball as he smiled. "Hello? Hello, can you all hear me? Hello, there!" He frowned and Erica could hear the chatter of voices echoing across the ball. "Look, it's just some minor technical difficulties, it can be sorted out fast and…Excuse me, I'm trying…May I have your attention because I'm the Doctor and I am talking!"

That got silence and he smiled. "Thank you very much. Now, I should begin by announcing that Anna has met with a slight accident by way of bullets. The queen is dead, long live the queen, circle of life and all that. However, we have far more important issues at hand, which is how you're going to be conducting yourselves from now on. It's been brought to my attention that sending you lot off isn't the easiest answer available to us. So your plans are now changed. First of all, there will be no argument over Lisa as your new ruler, you will do what she says without question. That includes actually working with these humans, not setting them up for fodder in more ways than one. It's long past time you lot got off your arrogant high horses and assume you're the most superior race in existence because I can tell you point-blank you are not. Far, far from it.

"The truth is, there is a lot you can learn from humans, despite all their flaws and together, you can achieve a lot more than apart. I'm going to urge you to take this opportunity because otherwise, I'm going to be rather cross and I believe you all remember what happened the last time that happened to me. I'm sure some of you will want to go on the conquest path and others will want to just leave Earth now but I suggest you stick around for a bit. Oh, I know it'll be hard once it gets out to the world what you've really been up to but never underestimate how offering up some advancements that truly benefit a society can smooth things over. If you don't, if you decide to make a fuss and invade or run off…I won't take it very well. And when I get upset, very, very bad things tend to happen to other people, things I don't like but don't always regret either.

"What it all boils down to is one very simple question. Who would you rather take your chances with? Six and a half billion angry humans…" He leaned forward. "Or me?"

He backed up as the light faded, cutting off the connection. He turned to the others, his face filled with a bright smile. "I believe that takes care of that." He walked forward, shaking Lisa's hand. "Good luck to you, my dear. I do believe you'll be able to aid your people far better than you dreamed." His smile stiffened slightly as a flash of something dangerous came across his eyes briefly. "Trust me, there will be people watching if you don't."

That edge vanished as he turned to Erica, to shake her hand. "Special Agent Erica Evans, a pleasure to help, even if I did wish it had ended differently. Love to stay but I have a couple of friends to pick up who should be back to normal now. Of course, with them, hard to tell how shifting up the brains can hurt…" He shrugged. "Oh, well, burn that bridge when we come to it. Ta ta then!" With a wave, he confidently walked out of the room with a brisk step.

Erica moved to Marcus, her face hard. "Where's my son?"

He backed up under her glare. "Medical bay three. They fixed him up, he should be in perfect health now."

Erica let out a sigh of relief before toughening herself up again. "Get him here as fast as you can." Marcus couldn't move faster as he raced to his data pad. Erica moved over to Lisa, who was staring at Anna's body with a somber expression. "Are you okay?"

Lisa nodded. "I don't understand. I hated her. I did, I hated what she did, what she stood for and yet…Seeing her dead…I feel…"

"Like you still didn't want it to happen," Erica softly said, putting a hand to her shoulder. "Mixing emotions is what we call being human."

Lisa turned to smile at her. "That doesn't sound so bad, does it?"

Erica looked out the window and sighed. "It's going to be crazy for a while. When you tell the truth, the world isn't going to react well."

"They have to know," Lisa said with determination. "Hiding it isn't going to help us at all. It's time we truly earned the world's trust, even if that means being hated at first."

Erica smiled at her. "Taking on responsibility despite the consequences. That's another very human thing." She looked over to the doorway. "Who was he?" she asked softly.

"The last of his kind," Lisa answered. "We called him the greatest nightmare our race has ever known." She gazed out to the landscape of the world outside and smiled. "But now…He's given us a new chance. And perhaps it's time we made use of that."

The two women stared out together at the brave new world opening up before them and for one brief second, saw what looked like a blue box passing by before taking off to parts unknown.

All comments welcomed.