shivver: (Five with key)
shivver13 ([personal profile] shivver) wrote2017-08-17 08:57 am

"Extinguished"

Title: "Extinguished"
Fandom(s): Doctor Who
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Donna Noble
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Genre: Sci-fi, adventure
Word Count: 550

Summary: Another day, another alien vulnerable to common household objects.

Author's Note: Written for [livejournal.com profile] who_contest's drabble challenge, "Eyes".


Clutching the cherry red fire extinguisher to her chest, Donna edged through the doorway into a workshop off the main hangar, hoping to find the Doctor and ready to blast any slimy grey aliens in her way. Who’d’ve thought they’d be vulnerable to such a common object?

“Carbon dioxide, Donna! Good ol’ See-Oh-Two,” the Doctor had exclaimed, grabbing the canister from its sconce beside the tool cabinet on the main production floor and tossing it to her. “Harmless to us, but poison to the Kolzaks.”

“Can’t be!” she protested as she pulled the pin on the handle and hefted it up. “That stuff’s all around us. They shoulda keeled over the moment they landed.”

“Nah,” he growled, dismissing her with a flick of his hand as he dashed over to another extinguisher. Inspecting its label, he shook his head and turned back. “Atmospheric concentration’s too low. Probably tickles but not much more. Now, that,” and he wiggled a finger at her makeshift weapon, “that’ll sting something fierce.”

Donna had to agree. When a Kolzak had grabbed her and hauled her off to ask the usual “Who are you? What are you doing here?” questions, it had cringed in pain at her shouts in its face, and she’d taken the opportunity to make her escape. Her mum always said that her voice was a lethal weapon, but hadn’t meant it quite like this.

She crossed over to the cluttered workbench to check for alien devices, then jumped and whirled as the door on the opposite side of the room banged open.

“Ah, Donna, there you are!” The Doctor swept in, hands buried deep in his blue pinstriped pockets. “Still locked and loaded, I see.” He ducked to peer out of the grimy window, then flashed a grin back at her. “I found their base of operations. Let’s shut ’em down. This way.” He strode across the room to her, then jerked his head toward the main hangar. “Come on.”

Hesitating, she peered up at him with pursed, worried lips. “Doctor?”

“What is it, Donna?”

She winced a little at his sharp tone. “We’re mates, yeah?” she murmured.

His expression softened as he gazed at her. “Best mates, Donna,” he declared, his smile brilliant. “To the end.”

“Just checkin’.” Lifting the canister, she squeezed the handle and hit him full in the face with a long burst of gas. Shrieking in agony, the Doctor curled in on himself, his clothes and hair dissolving into his skin, colours fading to unctuous mottled grey. It batted feebly about its head with thick, clay-like hands and its mockery of a human face glared at her as its features melted away, its watery black eyes filled with malice and fear.

“Shift!” she yelled, brandishing the extinguisher, and it spun and scuttled away. “That’s right. Go on. Serves you right, thinkin’ I couldn’t tell. You’re the spittin’ image of him, but those eyes… You can’t copy the Doctor’s eyes. Not with all that evil and hatred in your heart. Not in a million years of tryin’.”

Straightening up, she pulled the extinguisher’s nozzle up and blew across it with the pride of a job well done. “Thinkin’ you can fool me. Ha!” With that, she crept back into the hangar to search for her real best mate.

[identity profile] jennytork.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Well done!! Love this!

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Why, thank you very much!!

[identity profile] dm12.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Donna has three lethal weapons here: her shouting, her extinguisher and, most of all, her brilliance!

Ha! Always look into the eyes for the truth. You can't imitate that!

Carbon dioxide this time, and Slitheen had a problem with vinegar (or other acetic acids), right? What's good for one is poison for another.

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Donna is absolutely brilliant and perceptive. Don't ever try to fool her.

Thanks for reading! :)

[identity profile] dm12.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
She is brilliant and definitely not naive. She catches the details the Doctor misses.

[identity profile] tkel-paris.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Hah! Yeah, him being sharp with her happens rarely, and not under those circumstances. So a dead giveaway. The Doctor will be even more proud of her. :D

Glad to see a post. Reminds me that I need to update my latest story soon.

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-19 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
Oh yes. I came up with the idea for the story first, then thought about which Doctor and companion to use, and honestly, there's no other modern companion that fits. None were observant and perceptive like Donna.

[identity profile] roseglade.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I love Donna! You got their voices perfectly. Great job with this one!

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-19 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I do so love writing for those two! :)

[identity profile] matimae03.livejournal.com 2017-08-17 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
This is beautiful! Such a fun story, I love how you portrayed Donna, just perfect!

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-19 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks! Donna kind of writes herself. :)

[identity profile] romanajo123.livejournal.com 2017-08-18 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
*claps happily* This was great! Who could've imagined that use for a fire extinguisher? And it sounds like them. :-)

("Not exactly a kettle and some string" :P I totally want to read (and/or write) the story of how he saved the day with that eventually)

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-19 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks!

Actually, I have seen one story that had Five saving the universe with a kettle and some string; unfortunately, I do not have a link to it. And I cannot imagine that's going to be an easy Google search. :)
bas_math_girl: Doctor Come With Me (D/D yeah right!)

[personal profile] bas_math_girl 2017-08-18 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose if she hadn't had an extinguisher to hand she would have had to keep blowing up a balloon to release in their face.
Stupid Kolzaks thnking they can put one over on Donna. Tsk tsk. She knows the Doctor too well for that.

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-22 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
I can see this idea of a CO2-vulnerable alien could easily devolve into a circus of new silly ways to deliver the gas. :)

[identity profile] dtstrainers.livejournal.com 2017-08-18 10:43 am (UTC)(link)
The efficiency with which you write always astounds me. Never a misplaced or extraneous word, every single idea, clear and concise on the page, not a detail out of place while you're reading the first time through, but when you go back and reread, you can see those tiny little details building to something glorious. Pitch-perfect characterization and intricate, original plot lines always leave me hungry for more.

(More of this? More Blue Rain?)

Thank you.

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-22 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much for your frankly amazing and flattering comments! Word economy was a necessity in this piece, since it was written for a word-count limit, but, well, I don't know what to say - it's something that I strive for, for clarity of image and characterization, and it's heartening to hear that I've been successful. Thank you, thank you!

I've been working on some Blue Rain things off and on. I do want to expand on that AU - I have some ideas of where the world goes next but I don't have an actual story, but in the meantime, there's plenty of Jon and Donna to work with. :)
arcanetrivia: glowing blue circles and hexagons on a dark blue background (doctor who (TARDIS scanner))

[personal profile] arcanetrivia 2017-08-18 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Her mum always said that her voice was a lethal weapon, but hadn’t meant it quite like this.

Ha!

You can’t copy the Doctor’s eyes. Not with all that evil and hatred in your heart.

D'aww...

[identity profile] shivver13.livejournal.com 2017-08-22 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
<3 Sylvia. She keeps Donna's life interesting (to put it mildly).

Thank you so much for the rec! I squealed when I saw that!

[identity profile] a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com 2017-08-29 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
Just perfect, honey! Spot on, too! Gods, I love Donna!!

*HUGS*
ext_13288: pre-raphealite (drwho-donna)

[identity profile] paynesgrey.livejournal.com 2017-08-29 03:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha, very enjoyable, and Donna's so clever. You have her character spot on here. Fantastic job.