Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I'll be back home in an hour," a short woman with dark brown curly hair says into her phone. She hangs up and puts it in her pocket.

It is 3:00 in the afternoon.

The woman's name is Marion Henson. She is wrong. She is not wrong on purpose. She does legitimately intend to be home in an hour. She won't be. But this is not her fault.

Today is a Friday, and she has no classes today. She has spent most of the day washing and folding clothes, cleaning the kitchen, and going through her closet to determine which sweaters do and do not spark joy. Having a cleaner, more organized house is good for one's mental health. She knows someone told her that at some point. Also, she is supposed to have guests.

Some friends are coming over to her apartment, and she wants to take a quick walk before they do. Unfortunately, she's been feeling a little nauseous all day and her headache isn't helping matters. She thinks it might be because of the cleaning supplies she used. (She's wrong.) Marion and her friends are meeting to beta-test the Doctor Who Powered by the Apocalypse table-top system they've been working on via Discord. She knows from experience that she's a bad DM when she's feeling sick and she doesn't want to have to cancel. Her friends have been looking forward to this and she has no idea when they'll be able to meet up in person next.

She hopes that the 25-minute walk in the nice (if not problematic) 60-degree winter air will be enough to make her feel a bit better. If it doesn't, well she'll just pick up some ginger ale and Advil at the convenience store.

Or at least she will if she makes it there. But she won't make it there. This is for the best.

It's 3:15.

She's halfway to the store when she feels something brushing against her arm. Or at least she thinks she does (she does). She turns to see if anyone is there (there isn't).

'Must've been a branch or something.' she thinks to herself. She knows that that can't be right (it isn't). There was only one bush that could've brushed her like that, but the family that moved in there a month and a half ago had trimmed it down.

But still, she can't think of anything else it could be so she decides to keep moving and not think about it at all. (This is how she handles a great many upsetting things.)

She comes to a fork in the road. She can either continue on the sidewalk or walk through the woods on the edge of the park. She picks the park path. It's nice outside, and because it's supposed to be about 20 degrees colder than it actually is, there will likely be fewer bugs then it would during the time of year it's supposed to be this warm out.

Also, it's slightly faster.

As she's walking, she continues to feel something brush on her arm. It's 3:18. She convinces herself that it's just trees. 'Even if it's some quick-moving weirdo, I can take 'em', she thinks. If a person did come at her, she probably could. Ever since the incident back in camp when she was 8, she's gotten an interest in martial arts and could hold her own against most people.

At the age of 8, Marion attended a summer camp in DC. There was a boy in the camp who had spent the previous month taking judo lessons. Like most 9-year-old boys, he wanted to show off. He invited people to grab his wrist. Marion, who had always been of the curious sort, did indeed.

When she was 8, she got back up, slightly jarred, but interested. At the end of the day, when her dad picked her up at 23rd street, she got in his blue Saturn, and with her eyes shining like Axinite she said "Dad, can I do martial arts camp next week!"

She shifts so that her messenger bag is in one arm and she's holding the strap with her other hand. She's concerned, but not anxious.

It's 3:19. No one is in the woods but her.

She wants to keep moving but suddenly, she is unable to. That "brush" against her arm is no longer a brush. Someone is holding onto her upper wrist. She turns, planning to grab whoever grabbed her by the forearm, flip them over her shoulder, and then run to a more populated area. However, when she reaches out, she doesn't grab anything. She still feels like someone's holding onto her arm and keeping her in place. What happened all those years ago felt much like what was happening to her now. A tug on the wrist, then a yank on the shoulder, then everything shifting suddenly, and finally, a hard slam on the ground. "What the actual f-"

She does not finish her sentence because whatever grabbed her arm suddenly tugs and she falls backward.

It's 3:20 No one is in the woods.

Marion had always said jokingly to her friends, "When I disappear under mysterious circumstances. Make sure I'm discussed exclusively by teen girls with true crime podcasts. I wish for them to write my legacy," Who knows if she got her wish, but she did in fact disappear. At least from her universe's point of view anyway. But that universe is none of Marion's concern anymore.

"-UCK" Marion shouted. That was not the beginning of that sentence. She felt her body hit the ground and realized that her eyes had closed. When she opened them, she was quite confused by what she saw.

It should be noted that the forest near Marion's home was rather large. It was filled with birch and oak and dogwood and a couple of cherry blossom trees that someone had gotten from transplanting cuttings from the D.C. festival. The forest was for the most part quiet, but she could sometimes hear birds in the trees if she stood very still.

It didn't have a metal grating or brown walls covered in circles nor did it have a soft, mechanical hum.

"Marion, there you are. I'd wonder when you'd turn up,"

It ALSO didn't have anyone but her in it at the time.

The man who had spoken was a tall man with spiky brown hair in a brown pinstripe suit.

He reached out a hand towards her and she, on reflex grabbed him by the arm and flipped him on his back.

"Who the hell are you? Why do you know my name? And where is this? People are going to know if I'm missing you know," Marion shouted.

"Is this the first time you're meeting me then?" The strange man in the pinstripe suit said, seeming unphased by the fact he was on the ground with her knee pressed into his back. This was not an answer to her question.

"What kind of question is that?" she said, getting up and backing away.

"Doctor, she did say that the next time we met would be the first time for her. She's clearly young. Look at her hair," another person in the room said. She was a pretty woman, with long, dark-colored hair and warm brown skin.

"What are you-" her eyes caught something and she trailed off, not believing her eyes.

It was a large hexagon shaped panel and covered in buttons and switches and knobs. In its center, a large tube glowed slightly green,

"What the..."

Marion finally got a good look at her surroundings.

"No," she said. This was NOT the TARDIS no way, no how. That was impossible.

"Yes!" the man who she flipped said getting up. Seemingly unphased by her actions.

"This can NOT be rea!l" Marion said.

"I'm afraid that it is"

"That's nonsense!"

Marion had gone through a phase in which she was highly interested in lucid dreaming. The forums always mention little tests that one could perform to see if it was really reality. She decided to try some of them. Marion counted her fingers. Ten. She counted them again, still ten. She attempted to press her finger through her palm. Nothing. None of the reality tricks showed signs of her being asleep.

Marion considered the implications of this. There were three possible answers.

She was being kidnapped by some weirdo who thought that if they dressed like the Doctor, she would go along with them.

She was being kidnapped by some weirdo who legitimately thought he was the Doctor.

She was in the TARDIS and had somehow left her universe and this was the Doctor.

These options were all upsetting even if for different reasons.

Which is why she turned towards the doors and started to leave.

"Nope", she said under her breath "absolutely not,"

"Where are you going Marion" the man in the pinstripe suit called after her.

"Away from here. Either you're a weirdo pretending to be the Doctor or actually the Doctor. Either way, I can't deal with this right now," She didn't bother asking how he knew her name. That wasn't important.

"I really am the Doctor" the man pretending to be the Doctor shouted. He seemed...not panicked at the idea of her leaving, but it was obvious that he did not want her to go.

"Prove it,"

"I've got two hearts!", he reached out to grab her hand. She moved farther away from him.

"Nice try dude, I'm not letting you that close to me unless I can get some answers out of you,"

"Then open the door and see," he responded flippantly.

"Fine! I will then," she threw open the doors to find nothing. The dark black abyss speckled with billions of white dots. Stars. Space. She was in space.

"Wha..." she said, baffled. "Is this some kind of VR thing? Are there a bunch of screens outside here or something,"

"I knew that you'd be skeptical, but I didn't think you'd be this bad," the man said.

"Doctor, the Associate did tell us that she'd be this way. Remember the message she left?" The woman with long black hair said.

"What message? What Associate?" Marion said, closing the doors once more.

"The message! OH, Right, the message, the message," He moved away from Marion and, rather than answer her question, retrieved something from inside his coat. He pressed it against the "TARDIS" console until it buzzed.

Before she could take another step, a projection appeared in front of her.

She was perhaps an inch taller than Marion (although that might've been her thick-soled shoes). And her hair reminded Marion of the tortoiseshell cat a friend had found outside his house once: primarily dark brown with patches of blonde and light brown all over her head. The skin on her hands, around her neck, and around her right eye was slightly discolored and overly smooth. It looked too even to be scar tissue, and more resembled pigmented vertigo.

One of her eyes, the right one had a slight orange tint to it, and the pigment shifted slightly as if the iris were a cup of water that a brush-covered in orange paint had been placed in. But disregarding those differences, Marion knew who this was. She recognized the body language, the way the projection stood, how her hands moved with her speech, and how despite being stationary, the projection's legs moved as if she were pacing. And she recognized the voice from recordings. It was her own.

"Hello Marion," the projected woman, "I'm you, from the future"

Marion was doubtful. Sure the lady looked like her, and moved like her, and sounded like her but there was probably enough footage of her on Instagram and the like for a dedicated so-and-so to make a hologram deep-fake of her...

"Prove it," Marion demanded.

"You have a crush on Sky from Intro to Modern History. Their hair looks super soft and they have the prettiest eyes you've seen in your life," the projection said.

Marion hadn't told anyone that. There was absolutely no way for a person to know that. This had to be some kind of weird dream right?

"This isn't a dream, it's all real. As you've probably already figured out, I'm you. This won't be the first or last time that you or...I mean I..or we communicate to past or future versions of ourselves. To make it simple, the older of us from our personal timeline is the Associate and the younger one is Marion. Otherwise, it gets confusing,"

"What's going on? Why am I here?"

"Marion, I'm a recording. I can't hear you. I CAN, however, remember vaguely what I said when I was in your shoes. Listen up, I'll answer everything I need too," said the Associate's projection.

"What's goin-"

The projection cut her off.

"Once again, I can't hear you. Anyway, you're not in your universe anymore Marion. That spikey-haired pinstripe nerd is the Doctor and the really cool looking woman with him? That's Martha Jones. And you? You've got a mystery to solve! Why are you here? How did you get here? I know the answer to one of those and you'll have to learn it yourself!"

"Do I have to stay here?"

"You need to stay with the Doctor. It's very, very, very important that you do. I can not stress this enough. If you aren't with the Doctor...I can't tell you any more, just try to stick around with him okay?"

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because when I was Marion, the Associate didn't tell me,"

"Why is that?"

"Because when you're in a universe where you know nearly everything, it's nice to have at least a little something you still have to figure out on your own right? Here is what I can tell you: at least until you get to be my age, everything is going to work out so don't stress it!"

The projection blinks out for a second or two.

"Oh shoot, I almost forgot! Who has two thumbs and the ability to experience the Doctor's timeline in chronological order? Not us!" the Associate punctuates this statement with finger guns and blinks away.

If there was any doubt regarding the projection's identity, that solved it. It was definitely herself.

The thing he placed falls over and the Doctor picks it up and hands it to her,"

"Here you go. Sonic Pen,"

"Thank you I guess,"

"You ought to thank the Associate. She looked in the mirror and realized that she recognized herself from that message you saw and frantically finished making this before she disappeared left. You left it to the last minute apparently,"

That sounded pretty on-brand for her.

"Why a pen and not...?"

"A screwdriver? The Associate told me not to tell you that. The pen is supposed to be a reminder of something that you learned and didn't want to forget, but you also didn't want it told to you. The Associate said, and I quote 'Doctor, when I figured it out myself, I felt amazing. I don't want to take that realization away from Marion. Just give it to her. She'll figure it out.'"

Marion examined it. It resembled a pen in much the same way that a sonic screwdriver did not resemble a screwdriver. It was slim and made from some kind of silvery metal. It had a clip on its side so she could put it on her clothes or in her pocket without it getting lost and a small button on top of the clip. There was an orange crystal and a round hole in the center of it. She pressed the button on the other end of the pen and found that this pen could actually function as a pen. She pressed the side clip down and the orange crystal glowed softly as the whole pen made a buzzing noise. She pressed it a couple of times. And then pressed the button on the back of the pen to see what color the ink was, and suddenly she began to write.

Like many girls, Marion had gone through a paranormal phase. Holding onto the pen felt a bit like automatic writing as she almost unconsciously began writing citrine colored words in the air.

"She didn't even say anything to me. She just looked around, panicked, and tried to leave,"

"Well Martha, you can't blame her. She's in a strange place that seems unreal. It's not shocking that she'd hyperfixate on one thing. You know how she is,"

A few realizations hit Marion one after another.

First, that the pen was auto transcribing words in the area.

Second, that the conversation that it was transcribing was happening in real-time.

Thirdly, that Martha and the Doctor were talking about her.

And Finally, that she was being a bit rude.

"Shoot. Martha. I'm so so sorry. I know you've met me but I think I should still introduce myself. My name is Marion Henson and it's lovely to meet you," Marion stuck out her hand to shake. Martha took it.

"It's fine. The Associate told me that you'd be a little off when we met you,"

It was going to be interesting to get used to people casually talking about a future version of yourself.

"I'm still 30% sure that this is some kind of dream but on the off chance it's not, I'm not going to be rude to you," she said bluntly, she turned to the Doctor, "well then, where are we off to now"

"You'll see", he said, turning a lever. The TARDIS stopped.

"There we go, perfect landing, which isn't easy in a tight spot," the Doctor said opening the door.

"The two of you should be used to tight spots by now. Where are we" said Martha.

"The end of the line, no place like it,"

Martha walked out of the TARDIS and found herself in her room.

Marion followed behind her. Looking at the box she exited from 'Well, I can cross out some lunatic who thinks he's the Doctor at least.' she thought, looking around it.

"Home", Martha breathed, "you took me home!"

"In fact, the morning after we left, you've only been gone 12 hours. No time at all really"

"Trust me, Martha, he can and has done much worse," Marion said.

"But all the stuff we've done. Shakespeare, New New York, Old New York?"

"Yep, all in one night, relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was. Books, CDs, laundry. So back where you were, as promised. "

"This is it," said Martha,

"Yeah, we should probably er,"

Just then the phone began to ring.

"It's your mom on the phone," Marion said.

"Hi I'm out, leave a message," said the recording of Martha.

Martha's mother's voice came through the speaker.

"Martha, are you there? Pick it up, will you?"

"How did you know it was my-"

"Shh, she's about to say something interesting"

"All right then, pretend that you're out if you like. I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV. On the news of all things. Just thought you might be interested," Martha's mom's voice said through the speaker,

Martha turned on the TV to see Tish, next to her, a man was talking..

"...the details are top secret,".

"How could Tish end up on the news?'' Martha thought aloud.

"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device that will redefine our world," The man, who from what Marion remembered was called Lazarus spoke from the TV. He looked vaguely like an annoying great-uncle who ruins Thanksgiving every year with his awful takes on immigration that make everyone (especially your brother's new girlfriend) rather uncomfortable and is only allowed to come because the dinner is hosted at his house every year.

"She's got a new job. PR for some research lab"

"With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human," Lazarus announced.

"Professor! Professor!" called the press.

Martha turned off the TV and turned to the two of them.

"Sorry, you were saying that we should..."

"Yes, yes we should. One trip is what we said"

"Mmm. These things seem to happen to me a lot,"

"Thank you for everything, it was my pleasure. Let's go, Marion," said the Doctor.

"Alright" she replied to the Doctor. To Martha, she whispered, "Give him a second, we'll be right back,"

She followed him into the TARDIS and stood by the door as then tell-tell grinding for dematerialization sounded and just stared at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm missing something obvious. You always get that look in your eye and just sort of stare at me until I figure it out myself.

"I do?" she asked. She for a second had almost forgotten that assuming he was telling the truth and that projection of her future was legit, he'd known her for a while. She wondered just how long.

"What am I missing?" the Doctor said under his breath, his hands in his hair.

"Give it a second, Doctor,"

The Doctor froze for a moment, and then it was like a lightbulb blinked overhead. He turned back to the TARDIS console and piloted it back to Martha's bedroom seconds after they left and he walked out followed by Marion

"No, I'm sorry. Did he say he was going to change what it means to be human,"

(Next Chapter: What Can and Can't Be Foretold.)

Chapter Text

"It goes without saying that we're going to investigate then?" Marion said sitting on the couch. To be honest, it would be more than they were investigating and she was merely sticking around with them. If this was a dream, then it was one that she wanted to enjoy for a bit. If it wasn't a dream, then she would still want to stick around. If this wasn't a dream, then the Associate was, in fact, her future self and it seemed plenty adamant that she sticks around with the two of them. That future her was alive, so she'd probably be fine. She wondered if she was able to tell them straight up what was going on.

"We ask you questions and if you can answer them without spoilers, you do,"

"We set up a system where any companions and I can ask you three questions but they need to be answerable with yes/no, a number, or a simple sentence. You can refuse to answer a question though if you think knowing something too early might cause problems," the Doctor explained.

"That works, do you have any questions for me right now?" she asked.

"My sister, is she in danger?" Martha asked.

"She will likely be fine, we should still check things out I suppose," Marion didn't think she was allowed to go more in-depth than that,"Doctor, this is a fancy event and I'm dressed for a walk around town, can I borrow something from your closet?"

"Of course, a good amount of the stuff in there is yours actually. It's more like our closet if I'm being honest!"

"Okay, here's the plan. We change into something a bit more formal and then we go to the reception and make sure nothing goes wrong. If anyone asks, Martha is there because her sister is head of PR and we're there because we're her friends,"

"My sister isn't the head of PR Marion,"

"Oh isn't she?",Marion said with a wink as she walked into the TARDIS. She paused and called back the way she came.

"Uh, Doctor, where exactly is the-,"

Marion turned a corner and came to an open doorway.

"Nevermind!"

The TARDIS wardrobe was a tall room with a single clothing rack pole in a spiral around the perimeter completely covered with clothing on hangers of various types, colors, and sizes and no obvious organizational theme. In the middle of the room, was a large spiral staircase that allowed one to travel to different levels. It's the kind of closet you'd end up with if you were a ship that had had over 50 passengers over a few centuries or so including one who's body type was capable of dramatic changes and also were only vaguely aware of what organization was.

'Let's see, it's the mid-late 2000's so I'd probably want to go with a dress yes?' Marion thought to herself as she looked at the different clothing items, 'and I want something easy to move in with pockets'. She looked around the room at the different racks until she finally spotted something that seemed promising. It was a floor-length pale green dress with mid-length sleeves. She felt it, it seemed soft enough and it did indeed have pockets.

"This'll do!" she said and found a small room off to the side to change in. The dress fit right. She lunged in it trying to see if it messed with her she ran a bit to see if it was hindering to move in. It seemed like a good dress to run from things in. She grabbed a pair of biker shorts to wear under it. She found a very comfortable pair of black slip-on flats. She managed to make her way back to the main control room of the TARDIS where the Doctor was waiting.

"Well, let's go then!" She said and walked out the door. "You look great! Let's go!" Marion said to Martha with a wink.

They headed out Martha's house and over to the reception. It wasn't too far, so they chose to walk.

"Oh, black tie. Whenever I put this on, something bad always happens," said the Doctor, fidgeting with the collar of his tux.

"It's not the outfit, it's just you," replied Martha.

"A firefighter's red hat doesn't inspire arson," Marion responded.

"Anyway, it suits him doesn't it?" Martha said to Marion.

"Yeah, he looks like regular James Bond" she joked,"

The Doctor stopped for a second. "James Bond? Really? Haven't been called that in a while,"

Marion sped up ahead of him and to the entrance, "Well, come on guys. We've got some science to see,"

The place where the event was to take place was roughly the size of a high school gym with large windows behind tall white walls. The room was heavily blue and white with pillars holding up the ceiling. There was an upper platform in the back corner of the room, surrounded by guardrails with a staircase leading down.

"Oh, look, they've got nibbles! I love nibbles, would you like some Marion," the Doctor said, grabbing some food off the tray as a waiter walked by carrying a plate.

"Absolutely, I am starving," she said, reaching for the platter. She had spent most of the day nauseous with a headache and hadn't eaten. But she felt better now and was hungry. She grabbed a couple of the foodstuffs of the tray and took a bite.

"These are actually really good," her words partially muffled by the food in her mouth. She swallowed, "what's in this?" she asked aloud.

"Hello," a woman's voice said from behind her.

"Tish," Martha said, giving the woman a hug.

"You look great. So what do you think? Impressive isn't it?"

"Very"

"And two nights out in a row for you. That's dangerously close to a social life,"

"If I keep this up, I might end up in the gossip columns,"

"You might, actually. You should keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum, she's coming too. Even dragging Leo along with her,"

"Leo in black tie? This I must see. This is, er, the Doctor"

"Hello"

"And Marion"

"This is a great event you put together!" Marion said, eating her second appetizer.

"Are they with you?" Tish asked her sister.

"But they aren't on the list. How did he get in?"

"I decided to bring a couple of friends with me,"

The Doctor cut in "So this Lazarus, he's your boss?"

"Professor Lazarus, yes, I'm part of his executive staff,"

"She's in the PR department" Martha explained.

"I'm the head of the PR department, actually"

"You're joking," Martha said

"I told you", Marion mouthed.

"You put this event together didn't you Tish? It's really impressive, I especially love the food" Marion said to Tish

"Nevermind that", the Doctor interrupted "So do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight? That looks like it might be a sonic micro field manipulator,"

Tish sighed, "He's a science geek. I should have known. Well, I've got to get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later," She turned around and left to go speak with the other attendants.

"Science geek? What does that mean," the Doctor asked, watching her leave.

"That you're obsessively enthusiastic about it," Martha said.

"That you're a nerd," Marion joked at the same time.

"Oh, nice...HEY". He realized what Marion had said.

Martha's mother and brother approached them, Francine still lecturing Leo.

"Your father's caused me enough heartache already with his menopause and his trophy girlfriend"

"Yeah, Mum, I know. It's just something he said last night,"

"Martha," Francine said, turning to her daughter.

"Mum!" Martha said, giving her mother a huge hug. Understandable. From what Marion remembered, Martha had been through what could charitably be called, "some serious shit" and likely had no idea if she would see her again.

"All right, what's the occasion?" Martha's mother said, returning the hug.

"What do you mean? I'm just pleased to see you, that's all,"

"You saw me last night,"

"I know, I just miss you. You're looking good, Leo,"

"Yeah. If anyone asks me to fetch him a drink, I'll swing for him," he said in response. If you asked Marion, he looked less like a waiter, and more like a member of the high school choir. But no one asked her, so she said nothing, just listened.

"You disappeared last night"

"I just went home,"

"On your own?"

"I went home with some friends, this is The Doctor and Marion"

"Hello", greeted Marion politely as she held out a hand.

"It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones. Heard a lot about you,"

"Have you, what have you heard, then?"

The Doctor realized he'd just been caught. "Oh, you know, you're Martha's mother and...Marion, you tell her,"

'Shoot, shoot, what do I know. Why would he saddle her with this.'

"She told us that you were her mom, and also that you had three kids including Martha...I'm sorry we've been busy. Not much time to chat you know?" Marion said fidgeting with her hands.

"Busy? Doing what exactly?" Francine pressed.

"Oh, you know. Stuff", said the Doctor.

"And things," Marion added.

Before Francine could ask more, Professor Lazarus tapped on the side of his glass to get people's attention. Standing by him was Lady Thaw. She was a tall woman with short grey hair in a ponytail with a face that looked like she had been tricked into eating a piece of sour candy but didn't want to give the prankster the satisfaction of a reaction.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch in wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world that will change forever," After giving this speech, he stepped into a large white machine on a raised white, circular platform shaped vaguely like a mall photo booth. Surrounding it, were 4 columns that were curved towards the top. Towards the middle of the columns, was a black tube with twinkling blue lights. A scientist working for him pressed a small red button resting on a smaller black pillar.

It briefly occurred to Marion that, in about 90 or so minutes, Lazarus along with a few other people in the room were going to die. Lazarus was going to kill them and then he would die himself. Could she save any of them? Lazarus was a lost cause obviously but if she could help others…

She was drawn out of her thoughts when an alarm went off.

"Something's wrong. It's overloading," shouted the Doctor.

"Go and fix it, I need to talk to someone and quick!"

The Doctor rushed over to the control panel and took out his sonic screwdriver and began scanning over the walls and Marion went to speak to Lady Thaw

"Ma'am, I need to talk to you-" she was cut off.

"Someone stop him. Get him away from those controls!" Lady Thaw shouted, attempting to call security.

"If this thing goes up, it'll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?" the Doctor yelled back

"GRAB THE POWER CABLE" Marion shouted to him.

The Doctor ripped out the big central power cable and the machine began to slow down and stop. Martha and Marion ran towards the machine.

"Get it open"

Martha and Marion pulled at the door. It was surprisingly lightweight for a machine of this size.

'This door would've slammed open if you'd bumped into it wrong!' Marion thought to herself.

Out of the door stepped Lazarus. Except for his hair, formerly fading and grey was now longer and blond. Most of the wrinkles on his face had disappeared with the exception of furrows around his eyes. He now looked less like a great uncle, and more like your annoying older cousin who can't have a peaceful holiday dinner without dragging someone into a debate about the Star Wars Sequels. It's the haircut.

Lady Thaw looked excited. 'She won't be excited about much for long if I'm not able to warn her.' Marion thought.

"He did it, he actually did it" Lady Thaw exclaimed.

Marion tried talking to her again. "Ma'am, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Not now. Can't you see how busy I am,"

"Please, it's important,"

"Well, I suppose,"

"Do not ask how I know this. But it needs to be said. You will meet Lazarus in his office. You will have a conversation. At some point, he will say the phrase 'No, my love. That I learnt from you. You have a gift for it.' When he says that, you need to run,"

"What are you talking about-" Lady Thaw said, slightly angered.

"I can't go into it any more than that, just listen to me," Marion pleaded. She then turned and went back to where Martha and the Doctor were standing.

"It can't be the same guy. It's impossible. It must be a trick" Martha said, gesturing towards the now young Lazarus talking to people around the room.

"Oh, it's not a trick. I wish it were," the Doctor said, sounding distracted.

"What just happened then?" asked Martha

"He just changed what it means to be human,"

Marion rejoined their group and grabbed a couple more appetizers from a nearby waiter. "Hey guys, if you want any more of these, you probably want to get them now. Just a thought. That spoiler's a freebee,"

Lady Thaw and Lazarus walked towards the group to greet them like the rest of the attendants.

"Excuse me. That was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen. Look at you,"

"This is only the beginning. We're not just making history, we're shaping the future too!"

"Think of the money we'll make. People will sell their souls to be transformed like that. And I'll be first in line," Lazarus then froze. He looked like his body was held together by strings that had suddenly been tightened. He grabbed a tray from the nearby waiter that Marion had grabbed her food from and ate off the tray until there was nothing else on it.

"Richard" Lady Thaw admonished

"I'm famished" he offered as an explanation.

"Energy deficit. Always happens with this kind of process," the Doctor said gesturing to him.

"Or in other words, that machine of yours sped up your metabolism, so now you're hungry,"

'I could try to convince him to go home...no...even if I could do that, he'd still go on a rampage. And who knows how we'll kill him then.'

"The two of you speak as if you see this every day, Mister..."

"Doctor. And that's my Associate Marion. And well, no, not every day, but I have some experience of this kind of transformation," The Doctor replied. Moving his head slightly as he spoke.

"That's not possible,"

"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That's inspired"

"You understand the theory, then,"

"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables"

"No experiment is entirely without risk,"

"That thing nearly exploded. You might as well have stepped into a blender,"

"You're not qualified to comment," Lady Thaw cut in.

"I am" Marion stated, "it was a bad idea which could have serious consequences,"

"If I hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded," The Doctor nearly yelled.

"Then I thank you, Doctor. But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less," Lazarus said in a matter-of-fact sort of way.

"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests,"

"Look at me," Lazarus said, holding out his arms and gesturing to himself, "I'm all the proof you need,"

"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially," Lady Thaw said as if it was supposed to reassure them.

"Commercially? You are joking. That'll cause chaos," Martha said. She, as an actual medical doctor, knew the implications of that. Hint: not great.

"Not chaos, change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve,"

"This isn't about improving. This is about you and your customers living a little longer" the Doctor shot back.

"Not a little longer, Doctor, A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely," replied Lazarus. Almost sounding like he was giving a sales pitch.

"Richard", Lady Thaw said, touching Lazarus's shoulder. "we have things to discuss, upstairs,"

"Goodbye, Doctor", he turned to face the Doctor fully, "In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were,"

He kissed the back of Martha's hand and left with Lady Thaw.

"Please! Remember what I said," Marion called out the Lady Thaw as they left.

"Oh, he's out of his depth. No idea of the damage he might have done. Marion, how serious is this going to become?"

"Is that a Question?" she asked.

"Yes,"

"One person is going to die and two or more might," Marion said seriously. She hoped that Lady Thaw would listen to her and that she would be able to save the woman in the reception that Lazarus killed. But she didn't know.

"You're doing your best to save who you can right?" Martha asked her. It seems less like a question, and more like a statement. Much like how a friend might say, "I'm ordering a pizza, you want some breadsticks, right?".

"Right," Marion responded with a nod of her head.

"So what are we going to do now," Martha asked.

"Well, this building is full of labs and he," she pointed a thumb at the Doctor, "is a nerd. We've got some tests to run,"

"Oh, but we'd need a sample to test then," the Doctor replied.

Martha held up the back of her hand where Lazarus had kissed her, "Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then isn't"

"Oh, Martha Jones, what would we do without you?" The Doctor said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing of substance," Marion replied. "Now, let's find ourselves a lab before someone notices us sneaking about."

The three of them made their way around the facility and into the labs. The Doctor took a swab from a clear cabinet and rubbed it on the back of Martha's hand. He sat down in a desk chair and pulled up a program of some kind. He placed it into a machine and a progress bar on the computer appeared. Martha and Marion stood by the door looking out. Marion noticed that the progress bar was moving quite slowly. She moved away from the door and towards the Doctor.

"You know that I could just tell you what the results are going to say right," Marion said leaning forward and pressing her elbow on the table, "Like, I know what the report is going to come out as I can always just tell you,"

"It's better for me to do my investigations myself. Your information isn't always reliable,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marion said, her voice getting slightly higher in the middle of the sentence.

"Well, you've described your knowledge to me as 'encyclopedic' you know most things but not everything and you've forgotten a semi-important detail or two. That's not even bringing up how things will change in response to your actions," the Doctor responded looking down through a microscope and not at her.

"How does that work?"

"Well, you know how you spent years studying my timeline?" the Doctor said, to offer an explanation.

'That's an interesting way to say "You spent most of your pre-teen and teenage years watching a show following my adventures,"' Marion thought. Did she er… the Associate tell the Doctor that she studied his timeline rather than telling him that she came from a world where he was just a TV show character?

She wondered if it'd be a good idea to tell him the truth before deciding that she'd better not. It'd be existentially terrifying to discover that your world was merely just a story written by someone else. Marion didn't know what she'd do if she suddenly discovered that she was merely a character, written by someone else and inserted into a universe not her own.

.

.

.

.

.

.

ANYWAY

"Yes, that's what I did. What about it?" Marion asked.

"Well, that timeline was similar, but not 100% identical to this one. It's more like 95% the same,"

"What's the 5%?"

"According to the Associate, there are a whole bunch of tiny differences, but there were about three main ones. One of them is your presence,"

"And the others?"

The Doctor paused, "I don't know. The Associate refuses to tell me,"

She wondered what it was that she would in the future refuse to tell the Doctor. Perhaps there wasn't anything at all. Maybe it was a lie, like the timeline lie! But then again, it seemed very important to the Associate that she stuck by the Doctor. Perhaps the differences were, in some way, related to that?

Just then, the computer beeped; catching Marion's attention. She looked over the Doctor's shoulder and leaned over him.

"Looks like this isn't one of the 5%. Hey Martha, come look at this"

"What?"

"Lazarus's DNA"

Martha walked over to the two of them and looked at the screen.

"I can't see anything different," Martha said, confused.

"Give it a second," said Marion.

On the screen was a double helix strand of DNA. Every few seconds, it shifted slightly before returning to normal.

"Oh my God. Did that just change? But it can't have,"

"And yet it did," Marion chimed in.

"It's impossible," said Martha.

"Nothing's impossible dear, just really, really, unlikely"

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure, then a metagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands. Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate," the Doctor explained. He sounded both horrified and impressed.

"But they're still mutating," Martha pointed out.

"Because the human genome is more complicated than a website or a video game. You can't just add a couple of lines of code and end up with immortality. He messed with something he shouldn't have. We've got to go right now" Marion said rushing towards the door.

"Where are you going Marion!" the Doctor shouted.

"Upstairs. C'mon!"

"Please, tell me that she listened. Please please please,", she said under her breath as she turned a corner.

Eventually, she found Lazarus's office. The Doctor and Martha were not far behind her. Marion looked around the room. She saw a skeletal pair of legs sticking out from behind the desk.

"Oh," she said. She thought that maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to save one person. But she couldn't. But then again, so what if she couldn't save one person. This was just one person. Lady Thaw wasn't the only person to die today. The blonde woman at the reception. She WOULD save her. She had too.

"Is that Lady Thaw?"

"It used to be," The Doctor stated. He waved his screwdriver over her and looked at the scan.

"Now she's just an empty shell. She's had the life drained out of her. Why didn't she listen to me?" That last part was said softly under her breath.

"What happened?" Martha asked, horrified.

"Lazarus happened. He sucked the life out of her. Let's go back to the elevator. Quickly," Marion was already heading for the door.

"What? Why?"

"Lazarus is going to shift again and I've been informed that there is a 5% chance that I'm wrong about your sister being safe. Let's bounce,"

Marion raced to the lift and pressed the down button repeatedly. "C'mon. C'mon, C'mon". The lift opened and she ushered Martha and the Doctor inside before frantically pressing the "close door" button and holding down the button labeled "G".

(If she had been less frantic, then she might have noticed Tish and Lazarus stepping out of the lift. As it is, she wasn't, so she didn't.)

"Please tell me I'm not too late," Marion said under her breath looking around the room.

"I can't see him," Martha said.

Leo walked up to them, "Hey, you all right, Marth? I think Mum wants to talk to you,"

"Have you seen Lazarus anywhere?"

"Yeah, well, he was getting cozy with Tish a couple of minutes ago,"

'Son of a bitch' Marion thought, 'we missed them'.

"Ah, Marion, Doctor," Francine said, finally finding them.

"I'm sorry ma'am we don't have time to go Tish might be in terrible danger right now. We'll talk later," Marion grabbed the Doctor and Martha's arms and said, "come on, hurry," They seemed to have the idea because there was little resistance or hesitation before they hurried along after her. In the process, the Doctor knocked over Francine's drink.

"Sorry!" Marion called back.

"Martha, come back here when I'm talking to you!" Francine shouted.

"Not now Ms. Jones, I'm trying to save your daughter," Marion said as she ran back into the elevator.

"They're on the roof. Doctor. Scan to make sure though. The fluctuation of his DNA should give something off" Marion said, putting a hand in her hair. She had a nervous habit of scratching her head when she felt anxious. The Doctor took out his screwdriver and scanned the area.

"She's right, something is coming from the roof,"

They could hear Lazarus talking to Tish. "I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect. There's always something to surprise you. Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act-"

"Falls the Shadow," the Doctor said

"For Thine is the Kingdom," Marion finished.

"So Ms. Marion and the mysterious Doctor know their Eliot. How impressive," Lazarus said.

"It's a popular poem. Anyone who's taken an English Lit class would know it," Marion said with a shrug.

"Martha, what are you doing here?" Tish said through gritted teeth at her sister.

"Tish, get away from him" Martha yelled.

"What? Don't tell me what to do,"

"Seriously," Marion said, "it's not safe. He's not safe,"

"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus, what with you being busy hacking reckless at your genetic code,"

"You're right, Doctor. One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more I'll get done in two or three or four," Lazarus retorted smugly.

"It doesn't work like that. It's not about how long your life is, it's about how you use it," Marion responded.

"But, if you use it for great things, then imagine the gift a long life could be,"

"Gift!' Perhaps if you're speaking German!" Marion retorted

"Who are you to judge me?" Lazarus said coldly.

"Over here, Tish" Martha called.

"You have to spoil everything, don't you? Every time I find someone nice, you have to go and find fault," Tish shouted at her sister. Unaware of what was happening behind her. Lazarus collapsed and began to spasm.

"Tish, he's a monster"

"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones,"

"Tish, look behind you and move towards us," Marion said, backing up slowly.

Lazarus had transformed into a monster. It looked like a scorpion except, instead of chitin, it seems to be made of ribcages, stretched skin, and nightmares. It still had a human face, but it looked like the face was a flat image stretched with cold dead eyes. All in all. It was a big yikes.

"What's that!" Tish screamed.

"Run!" shouted the Doctor.

Once everyone was off the roof, he locked the door and ran down the stairs. They paused for a second to catch their breath.

"Are you okay!" Martha asked her sister.

"I was going snog him," Tish said, in shock.

The lights started to flicker and they heard a loud "bang" against the locked door.

"We can worry about this later guys. Right now, we need to get everyone out of here before-" before Marion could finish, a voice was heard over the intercom.

"Security One. Security One. Security One,"

"That happens," Marion said flatly.

"What's happening?" Martha asked.

"An intrusion. It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts, seals the exits," Tish replied.

"Stairs. Now. Let's GO,"

They heard a crashing sound behind them And an awful sort of growling. There was something wrong and awful about the growling. It made Marion's stomach sick and filled her with an urge to flee. It was like when she was going up the stairs at night and halfway up. When it's dark and quiet. And suddenly, you know that looking behind you is a bad idea and so is staying on the stairs for more than a couple of seconds at a time.

"GO GO GO GO GO GO GOGOGOGOGOGOGO" Marion yelled.

Marion practically flew down the stairs. The blonde woman! The woman in the reception room. She couldn't save Lady Thaw, and that was fine. It was FINE. But she could save that woman right? She was able to save some people. She had to be able to do at least that. It'd be easy. Just break her out of shock and pull her out of the way.

Marion had to believe this.

Leaping over the last of the stairs, she ran into the reception room.

The other three were not too far behind.

"Marion, is there another way out of here?" the Doctor asked?

"Tish, there's an exit in the corner over there right," Marion said, looking at Martha's sister.

"Well, yes, but it'd be locked,"

The Doctor tossed his screwdriver to Martha, "Setting fifty. Hurry,"

"Listen to me! You people are in serious danger. You need to get out of here right now!" the Doctor said from on the raised platform that acted as a stage.

"Don't be ridiculous. The biggest danger here is choking on an olive," said the woman with blonde hair in the gold dress standing in front of them.

Just then there was a loud "CRASH" as the thing with Lazarus' face burst through the door. The people in the room scattered.

Martha and her sister raced to the door along with everyone else. Martha used the sonic screwdriver on the door and it opened up allowing everyone to flood out.

"Mum! Get back," Leo shouted before being sent flying to the floor by a table to the face.

"Leo!" Francine screamed as Martha finally got the door open.

Marion saw the woman with the blonde hair frozen and fear and she ran like hell towards her, shoving her out of the way and them both to the ground.

"Come on Miss. Get up!" she said, pulling the woman to her feet and dragging her to the door.

The monster turned to Leo and Francine on the floor.

"Lazarus, Leave them alone," the Doctor yelled from next to the machine getting the thing made of bones and skin and hubris's attention.

"Come on, stay with me you're okay," Martha said as she and her sister pulled their brother to his feet.

"What's your name?" Marion asked the still shaken women.

"L-Lucy," the woman said.

"That thing is a mite larger than an olive huh,"

The woman glared at her, "I nearly died and you're cracking jokes about it," Lucy said through gritted teeth.

"Well, if you're angry at me, you're less likely to think about how close you came to death," Marion said, trying to sound calmer than she was.

Marion brought the woman to Martha and her family.

"That thing would've eaten me wouldn't it have. I-I almost died!"

"You're going to be fine Lucy, don't worry," Marion said patting her on the shoulder.

"What's the point?" the Doctor taunted, "You can't control it. The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool. A vain old man who thought he could defy nature. Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!" He glanced at Marion, and then took off running down the corridor, leading the Monster down it.

"What's the Doctor doing?" Tish asked.

"Trying to buy us a little time. Let's get out of here. Your brother has a concussion and the Doctor can only hold him off for so long," Marion spoke. Let's go.

"Aren't you going to run after the Doctor?" Martha asked her.

"Why would I do that?" Marion asked confused.

"You...uh...the Associate, never seemed to let the Doctor out of your sight when it came to dangerous things," Martha said with a shrug before leaning back over her brother.

"He'll be fine," Marion replied. 'Plus, I've got to stay with Martha and them in case the control panel's been soundproofed or something like that.' Marion thought to herself.

They made their way down a flight of stairs and to a set of locked glass doors.

"We can't get out. We're trapped," Tish said.

20 8 5 4 15 15 18 23 15 14 20 15 16 5 14

"Martha, use the sonic on the override switch on the panel. It's towards the back. Third from the top on the left," Marion shouted. She felt odd and anxious, and she wasn't quite sure why.

Martha soniced the control panel and the door opened. People poured out and fled. Suddenly, that anxious feeling got worse and worse.

8 5 23 1 19 20 15 15 6 1 19 20

She felt dizzy, and suddenly, her arms started hurting. Her chest felt like someone was sitting on it despite her being fully vertical. Then she felt herself falling forward slightly as her vision got wonky. It was a bit like when she stood up too fast after not drinking enough. She shook her head. Martha was talking with her family about going back for the Doctor. Her mother wasn't thrilled about her daughter risking her life for a man she just met. Marion walked shakily over to them. "Are you okay?" Martha asked, looking at her.

20 8 5 4 15 3 20 15 18 8 5 4 9 5 4

"I'm okay," Marion said. This is an obvious lie to anyone who looked at her. "You look sick,"

20 18 25 1 7 1 9 14 13 1 18 9 15 14

"I really am fine. Maybe I ate something off," she lied again. Marion's vision darkened fully and she stumbled forwards.

She blinked to clear the black from her eyes, then she was back in the reception room. Leo was lying on the floor and surrounded by the Jones family and she was holding Lucy's arm.

"That thing would've eaten me wouldn't it have. I-I almost died!" Lucy said, sounding like shock was setting in.

"You're going to be fine Lucy, don't worry," Marion said patting her on the shoulder. " before pausing 'Wait...I already did this.' she thought.

She looked up and noticed the Doctor was still standing by the machine and taunting Lazarus. "The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. "

'What's going on here'

(Next Chapter: A Lesson In Physics)

Chapter Text

What had happened? It almost seemed like time had looped around somehow. What had triggered it? She didn't think that it was anything on her end? Perhaps it was something that happened with the Doctor?

'Well, if it was something with the Doctor, then I suppose I'd better stay with him this time. Oh but what about Martha and Tish! I'll leave them a note I guess.'

Marion reached into her bag and found an old receipt from some convenience store. She grabbed the first pen she could find. It was the Sonic one. She clicked the pen and wrote: "Hi Martha. Exit Door will be locked. Override panel towards the back. Third from the top on the left side. -M". The orange ink glowed slightly on the paper and the letters seemed to hover on the page. She folded the note and handed it to Lucy.

"Lucy," she said, looking at the woman. "Give this to Martha. She's the woman in the purple dress with the silver tube with the blue light. Stay with them". She pointed to where they were. And then, Marion ran after the Doctor to help him distract the Thing.

"You really thought that you of all people could cheat death?, You're nothing but a miserable pile of rib cages and hubris. No one is going to remember you," she shouted. She grabbed the Doctor's hand as she ran past him and the two of them ran down a white-walled corridor, leading Lazarus away from everyone else.

Marion intended to ask the Doctor what exactly had happened, but she knew that there were more pressing matters right them. For example, the murder scorpion crawling above them.

"He's climbing on the ceiling Doctor!" she said. "Stay sharp Pinstripe!"

"Oh, so you do the nicknames this early huh!"

"Not the time,"

The two of them ran until they came across a ladder. Marion pointedly put a finger on her lips and then pointed downwards.

The Doctor nodded and the two of them went down the ladder. They silently crept along the pipes.

"You two can run all you like," Lazarus growled out as his shadow grew darker against the wall, "You can't stop me,"

"Are you as confident in that as you are in your machine being functional," Marion called back creeping around a control panel.

"You can't stand in the way of progress,"

"You call feeding on innocent people progress? You're delusional!" the Doctor yelled.

"It is a necessary sacrifice," the monster with a human? face growled back.

"And who says that you're the one who gets to make it," Marion said back, looking upwards to catch his shadow as she and the Doctor crept through the...what was this place? Some kind of boiler room maybe?

The two of them were walking when the lights flickered on. Marion tugged on the Doctor's sleeve and then pointed upwards and then to the exit. The Doctor, looking upwards to where she was pointing saw the monster.

In Marion's opinion, if it was bad to look at from afar, then it was even WORSE at close distance.

"Peekaboo," it said in a mock sing-song voice. It lunged down at them but the two of them had already made their way through the door and down a corridor. The reached a door where, ideally, the Doctor would have opened the door as he sprinted out. However, he was instead just pressing the door opening bar without anything actually happening.

"Hey Doctor, why isn't the door open?" Marion said in that calm yet terrified tone normally reserved for when you say, "Hey, you did your part of the group project yesterday," To the member of your lab group who is only there because they were too busy calling their boyfriend to pay attention and you and your friend were the only group of two.

"It won't open," he said, pushing the door push button repeatedly.

Marion heard the sound of the monster getting closer and her stomach twisted.

"What do you mean 'it won't open'?" she asked through gritted teeth, putting a hand in her hair and tugging slightly.

"I mean it will not open!"

"Try the other doors!"

"They won't open either,"

"Should I use this?", she asked, holding up her new pen.

"Why would a pen open a door,"

"I DON'T KNOW! It's Sonic,"

The monster getting closer and the feeling of dread grew.

"Dammit", Marion said as she punched the door in frustration.

The fear she felt faded to surprise; the door not only opened but fell to the ground. 'Christ who built this door? This is a secure lab, not a public school bathroom stall.' she thought to herself.

The monster was right behind them. The Doctor grabbed her arm and they ran over the fallen door and into yet another corridor.

Once they were a considerable distance from the monster, they ducked into another lab.

"I'll get the lightbulb, you get the gas," He jumped on top of a table and started to tamper with the wires. Marion looked around for bunsen burners. She supposed that he was used to her knowing what he was going to do before he was going to do it and didn't feel the need to elaborate.

'That door wasn't supposed to be locked,' she thought, twisting the nozzle and unleashing a hiss of gas. She heard a loud crash in the distance. 'Is it just me, or did Lazarus get here quicker than he was supposed to? Must've been the delay at the door.'

The crashing grew closer so she yanked out an orange tube and she crouched behind a bench. The Doctor joined her and she and the Doctor made their way around turning on as much gas as possible.

"More hide and seek? How disappointing. Why don't you come out and face me?"

"Have you looked in the mirror lately," The Doctor before standing, standing.

"Why would I want to see a face like that?" Marion asked rhetorically. The monster charged towards them but by the time he was close, they were nearly at the back door. Marion hit the switch as they passed it and she shoved open the door. The room exploded right behind them and the heat propelled the forward and onto the ground.

"That's not going to do much more than annoy him is it?" the Doctor asked Marion, knowing the answer, already.

"Nope,"

"So we should..."

"Leave pronto? Absolutely,"

They ran through the corridor and the Doctor nearly ran Martha over.

"What are you doing here?" he said, holding Martha by the shoulders and looking her up and down.

Martha held up a sonic screwdriver, "I'm returning this. I thought you two might need it,"

"How did you..."

"I heard the explosion and I guess that it was you two,"

Just then they heard a rumbling.

"This meeting is going super, but that rumbling means that there is a giant murder monster strong enough to treat an explosion like it was a nerf dart to the face is both angry and heading right towards us,"

Marion looked across the balcony and saw Lazarus preparing to leap across.

"Let's go," they raced around the corridor and ended up back in the reception room.

"What now? We've just gone around in a circle,"

The Doctor looked towards Lazarus's machine which Marion was already moving hastily towards. Marion got in first, moving towards the back of the machine with her back facing the sides so that there would be room for the other two. The Doctor held open the door for Martha before following her in just as the monster made it close to the door.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze.

"Are we hiding?" Martha asked.

"Not quite," Marion said, "we're basically gambling that his desire to kill us isn't as strong as his pride over his machine. He hopefully won't be willing to break his masterpiece, even if it's to get to us,"

"But we're trapped,"

"Well, yeah, it's a slight problem," said the Doctor

"You mean, you don't have a plan?"

"His plan was to get inside and then come up with another plan,"

"You know a plan right Marion?"

"Yeah, hold on a second. Which coat pocket is your sonic in Doctor?"

"Same one it's always in,"

"And that one would be..."

"Left inner pocket,"

"Okay,"

She reached across between the two of them and grabbed it out of his pocket and handed it to him.

"Here. There's a removable panel under our feet. You should be able to rewire the machine to reflect energy,"

"Brilliant," he said, sliding down the side and towards the panel. He began messing with the wires down there.

"I still don't understand where that thing came from. Is it aliens?" Martha asked

"No, for once it's strictly human in origin," the Doctor said quickly

"Human? How can it be human?"

"Well, there are a whole bunch of evolutionary possibilities that a species can express. In this timeline, we went for the bipedal sort of ape look. In another timeline, perhaps we went for the 'giant death scorpion' look. No matter what option got picked, the one we didn't was still in our genetic code," Marion explained, eyeing the shadow cast by said giant death scorpion moving around the machine.

"Evolution rejected that option for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake,"

"It's like Pandora's box," Martha said, understanding.

"Exactly, but instead of all the world's evil, it's scorpions,"

"Nice shoes by the way," the Doctor said. Marion could hear the sound of buzzing and a spark as he moved the wires around.

Marion saw the shadow of Lazarus move towards the activation button. And the room filled with blue light.

"Oh, That's just super," Marion deadpanned.

"Marion, what's happening?"

"He switched the machine on,"

"That's not good is it?" Martha asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well, it's not great," Marion said.

"I was hoping it was going to take him a little bit longer to work that out," said the Doctor pulling up some wires and sonicing them.

"I don't want to hurry you, but..."

"He's almost done. Right Doctor?"

"Nearly done. I just need to...there,"

From the machine, there was a loud bang as the force of its energy output pushed Lazarus backwards. Finally, when it was quiet, Martha, Marion, and the Doctor exited the machine. Lazarus was no longer a monster, but merely a man lying face down on the floor.

"I thought we were going to go through the blender then," Martha said as she shakily moved from the box.

"Nah. We made out with at least 30 seconds to spare. Well done Doctor," Marion.

"Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice" said the Doctor as he stepped out. They saw Lazarus's naked body face down on the reception room floor where he had been thrown by the energy output.

"God, he seems so human again. It's kind of pitiful," Martha said, looking down at him.

"Eliot saw that, too. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper,"

Marion felt like she was forgetting something, but she couldn't quite figure out what. She continued to have this feeling as they made their way to the front entrance and used the phone to call 999. And she continued to have this feeling as they walked down the red carpet.

"She's here! Oh! She's alright," Tish said, embracing her sister.

Francine walked up to the Doctor with the kind of power walk that would make most people wary of what would happen when she got to her destination. The Doctor was not most people.

"Ah, Mrs. Jones. We still haven't finished our chat," he said.

"Wait Doctor look-"

Francine slapped him across the face.

"-out," Marion finished sheepishly.

"Keep away from my daughter! Both of you!" Francine shouted at them.

"Always the mothers," the Doctor said rubbing his face.

'Wonder what the Master's goons told her about me.'

"They're dangerous. I've been told things," Francine said, putting her hands on her daughter's shoulder and staring into her eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look around you. Nothing but death and destruction,"

"That's not on him ma'am. The Doctor rarely causes this kind of disaster. He's more of a 'solving problems on accident' kind of man. It's not his fault that disaster seems to follow him," Marion said, attempting to placate her.

"This isn't his fault. He saved us, all of us!" Martha's voice rose a bit as she spoke.

"And it was Tish who invited everyone to this thing in the first place. I'd say technically, it's her fault," Leo said almost jokingly.

Tish elbowed him in the side and there was a crashing coming from the ambulance.

'Son of a fuck! So that's what I missed' Marion thought as she and the Doctor ran towards the sound of the crash.

The back of the ambulance was open and inside, where two humanoid shapes that looked like they were made of brown terracotta clay. The former paramedics. 'How did I forget about this?' she thought. 'I didn't even remember Lazarus being put into an ambulance let alone killing the paramedics.'

"Lazarus, back from the dead, I should've known really," the Doctor said. Rather than take out his screwdriver, he looked to Marion.

"Marion, question three, where is he headed,"

"That building right there," Marion said, pointing to the church to the left of the ambulance.

"Cathedral. It's Southwark Cathedral. He told me,"

They made their way into the church.

"Why would he come in here?" Martha asked as the four of them moved quietly through the sanctuary.

"He feels like a scared little boy. This is where he went back when he actually was one," Marion said softly as she made her way towards the front of the church, beckoning the other three over with her hand. She found him there. Crouched down behind the altar was Lazarus covered in the red ambulance blanket, shivering.

"I came here before, a lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat here, just a child, the sound of planes and bombs outside," he said sounding as if he had just run a marathon.

"The Blitz," the Doctor said, looking down at him.

Lazarus looked the Doctor up and down. "You've read about it?"

"Marion and I were there,"

"You're too young,"

"So are you,"

Lazarus laughed and then his body made a gross kind of noise. It sounded like when someone cracks their knuckles but instead of knuckles, it was his whole body.

"In the morning, the fires had died, and I was still alive. I swore I'd never face death like that again. So defenseless. I would arm myself, fight back, defeat it,"

"That's what you were trying to do today?" The Doctor said, walking around Lazarus and looking towards the ceiling.

"That's what I did today,"

"All you did is make yourself look a bit younger!" Marion said sharply. She understood what had led this man to cheat death, but at the same time, couldn't abide by it," 'Defeat death?' With the people you killed? You merely became it yourself,"

"Those people were nothing. I changed the course of history,"

"Any of them might have done too. You think history's only made with equations?" the Doctor stopped walking. "Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that,"

"No, Doctor" Lazarus sneered, "Avoiding death, that's being human. It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fiber of being. I'm only doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more successful," Lazarus leaned back and shrieked, his bones making a noise like oil in a frying pan.

"Is that the sound of success then?" Marion said, trying not to throw up. "Your bones sound like they're on fire,"

"It's the sound of progress. I'm more now than what I was. More than just an ordinary human,"

"There isn't a single human who is truly ordinary on earth!" Marion shot back.

"He's going to change back any minute," Martha whispered.

"I know. If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work," the Doctor whispered back.

"Up there?" Martha said looking upwards.

The Doctor nodded.

Lazarus looked up from the floor, "You're so sentimental, Doctor. Maybe you two are older than you look,"

"I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle, tired of losing people that matter to you, tired of watching everything turn to dust," said the Doctor.

Marion crouched down to look at Lazarus, "A life where you have to kill constantly to keep it isn't much of a life is it?"

"That's a price worth paying,"

"Is it?"

"I will feed soon,"

"We aren't going to let that happen," said Marion.

"You've not been able to stop me so far," Lazarus responded.

"That's not true and you know it," Marion said, thinking about Lucy.

Lazarus began to slowly move towards the Doctor and Marion until Martha offered up a distraction,

"Leave him, Lazarus! He's old and bitter. I thought you had a taste for fresher meat," she ran away in the opposite direction of the Doctor. Tish ran after her and Marion ran after them, Lazarus close behind. They ran up the spiral staircase before briefly catching their breath. They heard the sound of bones cracking and shifting around.

"Did you hear that?" Tish said as she came to stop.

"Yes. He's shifting back into a monster again. We have to keep moving!" Marion said to the sisters, urgency in her voice.

They ran the rest of the way until they came up to some windows looking down into the cathedral.

"MARTHA!" they heard the Doctor call out.

"Doctor!" Martha said.

"Take him to the-"

Marion cut him off, "Yes, yes, the very top of the bell tower. Get to the organ room. We'll be at the bell tower in a second,"

"Then what do we do?"

"Well right now, we should MOVE!" said Marion, seeing that Lazarus was right behind them.

She grabbed their arms and ran up one more flight of stairs and through a short corridor. This led to a small, circular room with a bell hanging above a large circular hole taking up most of the room. The hole was surrounded by a wooden guardrail.

"There's nowhere to go. We're trapped!" Tish said looking around frantically.

"It's all part of the plan," Marion said carefully, making her way away from the door.

"All right, so then we're not trapped. We're bait," Tish said.

"Well," Marion said, "if you want to look at it that way, then yeah. But the plan is going to work. You'll be fine. Promise". She looked through the entrance trying to see how far away Lazarus was.

Not very.

"Ladies~" she heard as the bone scorpion as it walked into the small room. She quickly moved to the opposite side of the room from the entrance. He put a leg on the wooden guardrail as if to leap over it. Tish backed herself against the wall with Martha in front of her and Marion in front of both of them. Marion stood with her arms out.

"Ok so...there is a 5% chance that this plan does not work, and in the event that is the case, you too can make a run for it. I'll probably be able to hold him off long enough for the Doctor to come up with a plan B,"

The monster grew closer and swiped it's tail at them trying to sting them.

"Duck!" Marion altering the women to move down so that the tail would swing over their heads. It was then that they heard it. Loud, church organ music.

'Thank GOD!' Marion thought to herself. "Couldn't have come a minute sooner,"

"Sit tight everyone!" Marion said, "the plan is almost working," Just as she said that Lazarus managed to knock over part of the guardrail. He swung his tail across the room nearly hitting Martha in the face. Marion knew and expected this and so, she grabbed and pulled Martha down so that the tail went over her head and didn't knock her over the edge.

What she didn't expect, however, was for Lazarus to go for a third swing. And she didn't expect said swing to hit her in the middle of her back and send her flying. The swing had knocked the wind out of her, and she was unable to grab a hold of the ledge and so, she fell out to hole and towards the ground.

"MARION!" Tish screamed.

'I had to die somehow.' Marion thought to herself as she realized what was happening, 'I guess pushing someone out of the way of a bony scorpion monster and being shoved off the bell tower walkway and falling to your death in a cathedral while booming organ music plays is at least, dramatic.'

Let's talk about physics and why falling headfirst 60 meters onto marble is, scientifically speaking, not a great thing to do.

Obviously, a fall from a great height is deadly, but why?

What you have to understand, it's not the fall itself that kills you. The longer something falls, the more it's velocity increases assuming that you are not in a zero-gravity environment. Earth is not a zero-gravity environment, and the gravity on this planet makes falling objects accelerate at an average rate of 9.8 m/s². When a falling object eventually hits the floor, its velocity will go from whatever it had been as it was falling to 0. This sudden and erupt change and the energy from it needs to go somewhere. This 'somewhere' is the surface that is landed on and the object that landed on it. If that force it too much, then it can prove fatal. This is why high heights are deadly. It's not the fall, it's the landing.

Now the obvious next question is, how screwed exactly is Marion?

With the distance between where she started, (the walking platform) and where she will end up (the cathedral floor) being roughly 60 meters, Marion will fall for about 3.5 seconds and will reach a speed of 34.3 m/s right before she hits the ground. Marion weighs roughly 58 kg. And so, when she collides with the cathedral floor, she will hit it with a force of 34.104 kJ or, 34,104 Newtons. It takes 4000 Newtons to fracture a femur, a bit over 3000 to fracture the spine, 2500 Newtons to fracture the skull, and much less make the not bones in a body go to smush.

Scientifically speaking, about 3.5 seconds after she is knocked off the platform, Marion will be dead and her story over.

But just because that's what SHOULD happen scientifically, doesn't mean that that's what will happen does it?

(Next Chapter: The Sound of Clocks)

Chapter Text

As Marion fell, time seemed to slow down. Over the sound of the organ music, and a person's (probably her own) panicked screams, she could hear the sound of a clock.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. It started out fast, but soon but as the ground grew closer the clock slowed down.

Tick….Tock….Tick….Tock….Tick…..Tock…..Tic…..Tock…..Tick…..Tock…..Tick…...Tock…...Tick…...Tock…...Tick…...Tock.

She closed her eyes and held out her hands in front of her as if to brace herself before she hit the ground. She heard something snap and felt something warm and wet and felt pain.

Everything was dark.

It was then that she heard the sound of the clock again despite the fact that, as just discussed, she really shouldn't have been hearing anything.

Tock…...Tick…...Tock…...Tick…...Tock…..Tick…..Tock…..Tick…..Tock…..Tick….Tock….Tick….Tock….Tick..Tock..Tick..Tock.. . .Tick.

Everything was dark.

She felt something cold below her and something warm and wet on the top and back of her head. She felt that wet thing re-enter her skull. She felt her head and her arms and her back, and her neck. They hurt. They hurt a lot and she felt them move and shift, but for some reason, they hurt less and less the more they moved. She felt the cool thing that was below her suddenly tremble.

23 1 11 5 7 21 1 18 4 9 1 14

She realized that she could hear the sound of the organ again. She opened her eyes and blinked slowly to see something falling to the left of her. It took her a couple seconds to realize that it was Lazarus's monster form falling to the ground. She saw him hit the floor face down and then return back to his human form, surrounded by splintered wood.

Marion heard a voice, "DOCTOR! MARION FELL!"

"I'M OKAY" Marion called out. And she was, surprisingly. She didn't even have a headache or feel sore. If anything, she felt just a little dizzy.

Marion pushed herself up on her elbows and shakily made her way to her feet.

"I'M FINE! NOT SURE HOW, BUT I'M FINE! YOU CAN COME DOWN NOW," she cupped her hands to her mouth and called up to them. "I'D ADVISE TAKING THE STAIRS INSTEAD OF GOING MY WAY THOUGH!"

She saw the Doctor running towards her. "Did you know that I could do that?" Marion asked quickly, "Because I think I just died? But I'm not dead. But I think I felt my skull break earlier. Did I die and come back to life or something? Can I do that?" she asked him.

"That's not it," he softly said to her as he leaned down to close Lazarus's eyes. Marion blinked and he was an old man again. Marion would've normally marveled at that, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

'What does he mean "That's not it"' she thought, panicked. She looked at where she fell 'I don't see a body there. Can you see your own body if you're a ghost? No I think I'd know if I was dead right?'. Marion decided that this was another thing that she would ask about later because if there's one thing that Marion Henson is good at, it's delaying potentially life-changing conversations.

"We can talk about this later, before, I want to meet with Martha and Tish again. Okay?" she said getting up and running to meet them. Martha ran and gave the Doctor a huge hug and Marion held up a hand for a high five.

"I didn't know you could play!" she said looking up at him.

"Oh, well, you know, if you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up,"

"Hmm. Especially about playing loud," Martha said jokingly.

"Sorry,"

Tish cut in. "Marion I saw you fall!"

"I know! I was there. Lazarus would have knocked Martha over the side. She would've been able to hold on long enough for you to pull her up probably, but I wasn't willing to risk it you know,"

"But Marion-"

"I was just lucky Tish! You hear about it sometimes. Someone falls from a plane and ends up with just a scratch," she said quickly trying to sound like she was flippant and casual and not like someone who was 101% sure that she'd felt her blood rushing back into her skull a few minutes prior. She turned to the Doctor and Martha. "Shall we go then? Before people start to wonder why we're in a church with a dead guy,"

Marion was mostly on autopilot as they walked back towards Martha's home. 'Neither Martha nor the Doctor seem phased or concerned by what just happened. The Doctor I get but Martha? What's going on!' she thought as they walked.

The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS and put the key in.

"Something else that just kind of escalated, then," he said.

"I can see a pattern developing. You should take more care in the future. And the past. And whatever other time period you find yourself in,"

"I'll see that he does," Marion said, attempting to hide the fact that she was bouncing her leg.

"It's good fun, though, isn't it?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah," Martha responded. They laughed.

"So, what do you say, one more trip?", he glanced towards the TARDIS.

"No. Sorry,"

"What do you mean? I thought you liked it?". His voice seemed a little higher than usual as he spoke and he glanced at Marion out of the corner of his eye.

"I do, but I can't go on like this. One more trip. It's not fair,"

"What're you talking about?"

"I don't want to be just a passenger anymore. Someone the two of you take along for a treat. If that's how you still see me, I'd rather stay here,"

"Ok then. If that's what you want," the Doctor stood in front of the TARDIS and Marion leaned against it.

"Right. But we've already said goodbye once today. It's probably best if you just go,"

Martha turned to find them still standing there.

"What is it!"

"You said you didn't want to be a passenger anymore, and the Doctor said okay," Marion said with a smile.

"Okay," the Doctor said again, nodding towards the TARDIS.

"Oh thank you, thank you," Martha ran towards them and pulled them both into a hug.

"Like you were ever just a mere passenger Ms. Jones" Marion laughed. The Doctor opened the door and the TARDIS disappeared from the bedroom.

Martha thanked them once more and then went the hallway, presumably, her room.

"Hey, Doctor. I ask you something?"

"Is it about what happened in the cathedral?"

"Yes, it's about what happened in the cathedral. What did you mean when you said 'you didn't'? Did I not survive? Am I a ghost?", her voice got a bit higher as she said that last part.

"No. You were never in danger of dying in the first place,"

"Doctor. I'm pretty sure I felt my skull crack. I should, at least, have a headache and I don't. Was I just super lucky with how I fell or..." Marion asked, confusion in her tone.

"No. Well...Yes, you are lucky, but it wasn't just that you fell in a fortunate way. That's not it either," the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a yoyo. "Imagine that my hand is being alive, and when you touch the ground, you die. Now when most people do something that ought to mortally wound them, this happens," He let go of the yoyo without putting his finger in the string's loop and it fell on the grating with a clatter. "See? Dead. However, when you experience that kind of thing, you do this," Picked up the yoyo and let it go. This time, he properly yanked it upwards right before it hit the ground? "Does that make sense?"

"So I just get really, really close to dying and then I don't?" she said confused.

"More or less, you do end up with some lasting physical effects though. It just messed with your hair a bit this time,"

"My hair, what about my hair?" The Doctor handed her an open compact mirror and held up another one so she could see the back of her head. The hair towards the top of her head was slightly lighter than the rest of the hair around it. "Is that where I hit my head when I fell?" she wondered aloud.

She handed the compact back to the Doctor and suddenly remembered something else.

"There was another thing Doctor! You know how I helped you distract Lazarus, well, I think I ran with Martha and her family to let the people out before I did that. And then I felt kind of sick and then my vision got dark and I decided to go with you instead. What's that about?"

"That I don't know," he said with a shrug.

"Are you kidding me! How can you not know?" she crossed her arms, "Wait...do you know, but you won't tell me because of spoilers? Because you could just say that instead of claiming that you don't know,"

"I'm not claiming anything. I'm telling you that I have no idea. The Associate never told me. I know that you do it sometimes because I can feel the time distortion, and I know that it has something to do with you and that you'll figure it out eventually, but whenever I asked her what was going on, all she would say 'spoilers' and poke me on the nose,", he paused like he was thinking about something. "It's possible that she wrote you a note offering some kind of explanation although I doubt it. She would've put it in your room. Probably on the desk,"

"I have a room? Where is it?" Marion asked.

"First door on the right," the Doctor said, "the TARDIS always moves it really close to the front of the hallway so that you can find it easily. She likes you. Somehow always has,"

"I'm going to go check. I'll come to find you once I look. Where will you be? The console room?"

"Nah. Martha and I'll be in the kitchen. You can ask the TARDIS where she's put it. She'll tell you,"

"Okay!"

Marion left and went to the hallway. The Doctor was right, the room was quite easy to find. She had barely walked more than a couple of inches before she saw a burnt orange door with a fancy "M" carved into the door. 'It's a good thing I don't hate the color orange. If I walked into a universe where everything was yellow, I think I'd assume I was in hell.' Marion pushed open the door and found a room that reminded her of one of the model homes she'd seen her mom would take her and her brother to go "looking for inspiration" because she didn't know what Pinterest was: decorated, but lacking evidence that a real person actually used it.

There was a bed pushed against the wall with three fat pillows and a dark grey quilt patterned with pale silver constellations. One the wall next to the bed was a bulletin board that Marion could tell had papers pinned to it connected together by yarn on one side and a bunch of photographs on the other. Next to it, was a dry erase board that had something written on it. However, the more she looked at the boards, the more her vision blurred as if she was trying to stare at her nose. She looked away from it. 'Whatever is on there, I'm not supposed to see it'.

At the foot of the bed was a chest of drawers that had pajama pants, some sweatpants, a couple of shirts of various lengths and sizes, a few pairs of jeans, socks, and a white puffy blouse. On top of the drawers were a pair of boots, a pair of slip-on shoes, and slippers.

Across from the bed was a wooden desk with a swivel chair. There were two thin drawers built into the desk. One had an M messily carved into it as if the desk hadn't come with such engraving and the person who wrote it merely had a pair of scissors and determination. The other drawer had an A carved into it with similar finesse. On the desk was a couple of (non-sonic) pens and a thick, spiral, notebook. Hanging on the chair was a messenger bag that looked to be slightly thicker than her own. On top of the notebook, was an envelope that said "READ ME" an orange cursive that floated slightly above the paper leaving a shadow. Marion opened the envelope and looked inside to see a note written with the same orange writing in the messy, almost illegible handwriting she recognized as her own when she was in a hurry.

Hey! Don't worry about the bulletin board or the whiteboard. It's where you? I? We? It's where we keep photos, notes and other stuff that we want to display that'd be spoilery. It's got a perception filter on it. If you don't remember putting something up there, you won't be able to perceive it. That way, I can display things from my friends without messing up your timeline.

The M drawer is for messages from me, the future you to you, Marion past you. Gosh, that's confusing. This is why we use Marion and Associate. There's nothing in it right now, but, if I need you to know or have something with you or something, you'll find it in the M drawer. If I ask you to grab something for me, put it in the A drawer so I can pick it up. The laws of time and space don't seem to care about bootstrap paradoxes provided they're properly resolved, so make sure to check that drawer whenever you can.

I know that room looks pretty empty and bland, that's because most of our stuff is kept in our bags. Putting the same kind of perception filter that is on the info boards on all of our stuff would be a hassle. You can find the bag that you'll eventually give to yourself when you become the Associate way in the back of the TARDIS wardrobe, but you didn't need to worry about that. The bags are a lot roomier than ours ;). You can fit a heck of a lot of stuff in there and don't worry, you'll be able to carry it just fine.

The silicon band is a watch I found. It's designed for miners, submariners, and other folks with jobs that mess with the circadian rhythm. It'll let you know when you've gone too long without eating or sleeping. Please don't do that.

That notebook on the desk is blank. It's for writing notes and filling out adventures. It helps you to keep track of what's going on and also, works as paper for when you have to pass notes to people you aren't able to be with.

You may have guessed this, but 9/10 times, that person should be one of the companions and not the Doctor themself. Try to stick with the Doctor when possible. This timeline is almost identical to that of the show but the "almost" is crucial. Speaking of a show. Don't tell the Doctor they're just a fictional character. They aren't a fictional character here and telling a real ass person that they're fake is kinda weird you know? They won't be taking the knowledge well. On the off chance you slip up, do what I did and come up with as many wacky explanations for how you know their future as you can. That way, if you do slip up, they'll assume it's yet another goof.

You probably have more questions, not the least of which being why you ended up back in the reception room, but this is all that I remember reading so this is all that I am writing. The rest of the mysteries are ones for you to solve for yourself and I wish you good luck.

-A

Marion folded the note. She wondered how much of the Associate's withholding of information was because of maintaining the timeline and how much if it was her future self going, "Well, if I didn't get the information, then neither does Marion," She grabbed the bag off the chair and looked it over. It was a nice, thick, dark blue canvas bag. She opened the flap and looked inside. It was definitely deeper on the inside than out and had rows and rows of inner pockets. Marion moved the things (wallet, Sonic Pen, non-sonic pens, a pencil, a phone, battery pack, music player, wireless headphones, assorted chargers, a granola bar, a non-sonic pocket screwdriver with removable heads she'd gotten at a utility themed secret Santa, and a small cloth sack full of screwdriver heads) out of her original bag and into this new one along with the spiral notebook. She slung the new bag over her shoulder.

She placed the armband on her wrist and it buzzed for a second before two sets of numbers appeared. They both blinked at zero as if waiting to be set. The top number had a small image of a fork next to it and the bottom number had a crescent moon. 'Let's see, not counting the appetizers at the reception, I ate a little bit of toast and some fruit about 7 or so hours ago maybe. I woke up just before that at around 11 ish that day so let's say 13 hours?' Marion tapped a button on the side to confirm. The numbers on the eating clock turned orange and the sleeping clock turned yellow. 'I guess orange means that I should eat something soon.' She exited her room and put her hand on the wall.

"Excuse me, Honey,", she really didn't feel comfortable with calling anyone or anything "Sexy", "could you show me where the kitchen is? I'd like to get something to eat," She felt a hum under her fingers much like when you're running too many things on a computer at once and you can hear the sound of the computers whirring. The hum began to move along the wall. "Do you want me to follow it?" she asked. She felt the hum grow a little bit louder and so, with her hand on the wall, she followed it. The kitchen wasn't too far away and Martha and the Doctor were already inside. Martha was sitting at the table and the Doctor was leaning on the counter. Both were eating some kind of sandwich and there was a third one still on a plate by the stove.

"Hey-o," she greeted, "do you mind if I grab that?" she asked, pointing to it.

"No by all means. It's yours," Martha said. Marion grabbed the sandwich and sat on the counter across from her. The armband had a button that said "reset meal timer" and so Marion tapped it twice and it turned back to zero and began counting up. As she ate, she felt something brush against her leg. 'It's the air current or something.' she thought to herself. 'No wait that doesn't make any sense. Didn't I feel something brush against me before I got here?'

"Hey Doctor, what does it mean if I feel something brush against my leg?" she asked, trying not to sound nervous. "I felt something brush my arm before I got here,"

"Well, usually, it means that you're about to head elsewhere in my timeline,"

"Is that s-oh," she was cut off as she was yanked by her leg off the counter by an invisible force and into some other time and space. She thought that she could hear the Doctor laugh.

For a split second, her vision went red as if someone was shining a bright light in front of her closed eyelids.

Marion landed on her feet and then lurched to the side. She was in another console room, "Thirteen's" one to be precise. The Doctor, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham were holding onto the console for dear life as the Doctor tried to navigate them through the vortex. She attempted to hold onto one of the pillars to keep from being shaken about.

"Are you sure you've got this under control?", she heard Graham as the Doctor who was fiddling with the controls.

"Totally. New systems. Just running them in," the Doctor replied.

Finally, they seemed to level out and the shaking stopped. Marion let go of the orange pillar and collapsed to the floor and pulled herself back up. Finally, the people at the console seemed to notice her.

"Marion!" the Doctor called waving at her in greeting.

"Hold on," Yaz said, "didn't you just say that you were about to leave? You suddenly let go of the console and fell backwards and then you disappeared,"

"Oh. That was the Associate. I haven't properly met y'all yet. I'm Marion Henson. Nice to meet you," she said with a wave.

"Where did you just come from? Judging from the dress, you just came back from some kind of party" the Doctor said, looking towards Marion, "It's early in your timeline right?"

"I just came from the Lazarus incident," Marion replied, "now, let's get these people home yes?"

Marion turned to Yaz, "You can open the door. She landed in the right spot,"

Yaz opened the TARDIS and poked her head outside. "We're home. We're actually home!" she shouted excitedly. The Doctor walked outside and looked around as well. "Yes. Result. See? I told you I'd do it,"

Ryan walked out of the TARDIS after the Doctor and Marion walked out after him. "We're at Park Hill," he said, looking around.

"That's my flat," Yasmine said pointing up to a window a few floors up.

"Wait, you live at Park Hill? We're just up there,"

Yasmine opened her phone. "And I've got mobile signal again. But no messages,"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Marion said, "you've only been gone for half an hour,"

"What, half an hour since we were with you in that warehouse?" Graham said looking at her confused.

"Yup! Half an hour. The T in TARDIS stands for Time you know,"

"So... I suppose this is it," the Doctor said, looking down and a bit sad.

"Yeah, I suppose it is,"

"Got you back. Guess we're done. Nice having you aboard,"

Graham, the Doctor, and Ryan continued with their goodbyes. It was quite clear that neither party actually wanted to go their separate ways, but both parties were convinced that the other didn't feel the same. Finally, Yaz realized that she was able to save this interaction.

"What're you two going to do now?"

"Oh, you know. Back in the box. There's loads to see," the Doctor said gesturing to the TARDIS's open door.

"Just you two until Marion disappears again?"

"Yeah, I suppose,"

"Do you want to come for tea at mine?"

"Definitely," the Doctor said almost before Yaz could finish the invitation closing the door., "Yes, I would. Thanks. I love tea. Tea at Yaz's?"

"From where I'm standing, I can't tell if that's social awkwardness, a crush on Yaz, or both...it's both I bet" Marion thought as she watched the Doctor power walk to follow Yaz. The Doctor turned to look at Ryan and Graham.

"Amazing. Are you coming? Are we all going for tea at Yaz's?"

"She didn't invite us," Ryan called back.

"Don't be daft, course you're invited," Yaz said over her shoulder.

"All right then,"

"Graham?" Yaz called, noticing that he hadn't moved from by the TARDIS.

"I think I'll nip home first, Yaz. Maybe join you later, if that's all right?"

'Does that mean that I can't save Grace?' Marion wondered. 'Well, maybe he really is just going back to his house for a second before meeting up with us again. Come to think of it…'

"I'll meet back up with you guys too," she gestured to herself and her long green dress, "I should probably change out of this. And also, I need to check something," With a wave, Marion walked back into the TARDIS.

Now that the TARDIS wasn't lurching around, she could get a proper look at the console room.

It looked like a magical cave of ice and rock salt. The room was mostly lit by a series of blue hexagon-shaped lights that floated around the center. There was a series of three concentric platforms each taller than the last that glowed orange from beneath. On the highest platform, were seven glowing pillars that looked like they had been grown from orange rocksalt. In the center, was a metal almost steampunk looking console. Another orange crystal grew from the center of it and a crystal stalactite hung from the ceiling. The seven pillars curled around the center like the fingers of a seven fingered hand grasping at it.

She tried to find the hallway leading to the bedrooms, but couldn't. She pressed her hand to the wall. "Hey Honey, would you mind leading me to my room? I can't find the hallway". She felt the TARDIS hum and all but one of the claw-like pillars dimmed. "Is that pointing to my room?" The hum grew stronger. "Thanks, Honey!" She followed where the pillar was pointing to a small corridor. The wall pushed in slightly and then turned a corner making it look like an alcove if you weren't looking close enough, and Marion hadn't been looking close enough until the TARDIS pointed it out to her. The burnt orange door with the "M" was right on her left, and she pushed it open. The room looked pretty much the same, except maybe the bulletin board might've had a few more photos on it that it did before.

'I'll check to see if I left myself any notes and then I'll grab one of the outfits from out of the drawer.'

She grabbed a pair of thick jeans and a long-sleeved grey shirt with a fallen hourglass on the front. She put a pair of socks and boots.

She put the flats she had been wearing where the boots had been and went over to the desk. And folded the dress and placed it on the bed. On top of the desk was what was clearly an address. 'Probably Yaz's place' The "M" drawer had a small pocket knife, a bandana, and a shaker of garlic powder,"Why would I need..." she paused, "wait, this is the episode with the giant spiders, isn't it. Christ,"

Next Chapter: The One With The Spiders

Chapter Text

In Marion's humble opinion, spiders were objectively pretty rad. They ate bugs that messed with crops, made cool webs, and (for the most part) were harmless. Their only real flaw was that subjectively they were fucking awful to look at and the prospect of having to deal with a giant spider at ANY point filled her with a sense of terror. But… 'I trust future me, and if she says to stay with the Doctor, then I'm going to stay with her.'

Taking a deep breath to mentally prepare herself for what was to come, Marion left the TARDIS and walked to the apartment building she had seen the Doctor, Yaz, and Ryan go into. She checked the address on the note "Number 27 on the seventh floor. Seventh floor as in the British seventh floor. You'd call it the eighth floor. Because words don't mean anything,"

She could see the Doctor, Yaz, and Ryan on the balcony walk into an apartment block that wasn't too far ahead and so she jogged a little bit faster. She pressed the open elevator button and hit the number 7.

"Number 27 right?" she thought to herself. She noticed an oversized cobweb in the corner of the wall and walked just a little bit faster. She made it to number 27, but before she could knock on the door, Yaz beat her to it.

"Sorry I'm a bit late Yaz, I had to grab a couple of things," Marion said apologetically.

"It's not a problem," she could hear Yaz's dad say from the kitchen, "You're one of Yaz's friends, aren't you. She rarely brings friends around you know,"

"Dad, don't," Yaz called back, stepping aside to let Marion in.

Yaz pulled her aside, "My mom just called me and told me I had to meet her at work. Do I need a note? Is she going to be okay?"

"A note?"

"A note, you know, like the ones you...The Associate keeps pressing into our hands like this one. She gave me this one to give to you in fact,"

Yaz handed Marion a folded note in the familiar paper, she unfolded it part of the way and saw that it said, "Folded notes work great to give information bit by bit," She unfolded it a little bit more. "Give Yaz the garlic powder so she can protect herself,"

She took the note and placed it in her pocket. "One moment Yaz," She grabbed the spiral notebook from the bag and her pen, ripped out a page from the notebook and folded it in fourths. Easily visible she wrote, "Your mom is going to be fine," When the note was unfolded a little bit more, it read, "Brace yourself when you see the bedroom,", and fully unfolded, the note read, "Spiders won't want to cross garlic powder. Make sure everyone sticks together,"

She refolded the note. "Here," she said, handing the note to Yaz, "and here," she said, giving her garlic powder. Yaz looked like she wanted to question why she would need garlic powder, but decided to just put the note in her pocket and keep the powder on hand.

Marion walked into the apartment to overhear the tail end of the Doctor talking. "...turned out to be a training camp for the Quiston Calcium Assassins. Marion tried to warn me about that one but I wasn't the kind of person to turn down a fun hat," she trailed off, noticing a package on the couch side table.

"Going off on one again," Ryan said with the tone of someone who was used to hearing the Doctor go on tangents.

The Doctor seemingly ignored him, instead, focusing on the red postage slip. "Ooo, you've got a parcel to pick up. Left with a neighbor,"

"Yeah, I've been trying to get that for days. Couple of doors down. No reply," Yaz's dad called from the kitchen.

"Do you want me to go get it while you make your terrible pakora?" The Doctor said gesturing to herself and the door with the slip.

"Oi. Doctor that's a bit rude isn't it!" Marion looked at Hakim, "I'm sorry. I'm sure you make great pakora,"

"He doesn't," Yaz's sister said, not missing a beat.

"Let's go to the neighbors about that package," Ryan said, getting up from off the couch as if he was anxious to leave.

As they walked out the door Ryan checked his phone over and over again. 'Probably trying to see if he has a text from Graham.'

"As far as I know, Graham's fine," Marion assured Ryan, "and I don't mean fine in the sense that he's technically in danger, but I know it turns out okay, he's properly fine,"

Jade was of course, still at the door when they got to number 34. "We work together at the uni. She hasn't been in for a few days. Didn't call in sick, isn't answering her messages. Thought I'd drop by, see if she's okay," the Doctor crouched down to look into the mail slot. "I'm Jade," Jade introduced herself.

"I'm Ryan, that's the Doctor, and that's Marion,"

"Hello there!" Marion said.

"Hello, Anna? It's next door but one. Have you got a parcel for us?" the Doctor called into the mailslot before standing up and reaching into her hip bag, "I mean, I could open the door,"

"What? Like, break it in?"

"No, just sort the lock. If you thought it was appropriate. If you're worried about her,"

"I am,"

The Doctor waved her sonic over the door until it clicked and the door opened to reveal huge, monstrous cobwebs all over the wall. The only lighting in the house was coming from the closed blinds which were covered in cobwebs.

'Cool. Cool, this is great. I love how this is a dark spooky room with cobwebs and at least one giant spider. A giant spider that's killed a woman who is in the basement. That's just. Super.' Marion thought to herself as she followed Ryan inside. She took the bandana from inside her bag and tied it around her hair to cover it. "Here's to hoping that I don't get this nonsense in my hair," Marion's hair was thick and curly and she knew that if she got any web in it, she'd look like a bush outside a family home on Halloween.

"Anna? How long did you say it'd been since you'd seen her?" the Doctor asked, noting the plethora of cobwebs.

Ryan attempted to flick the switch to turn on some light to no avail. "Don't bother Ryan. The power's out," Marion said.

"A few days," Jade said, answering the Doctor's question.

"Lot of cobwebs for a few days," Ryan said looking around.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," the Doctor said.

They made their way into the living room/kitchen. The fridge, the plant, the window, the sofa, were all covered in cobwebs.

'I fucking hate this,' Marion thought, trying to make sure not to touch ANYTHING.

Jade walked towards the spiderwebs against the window and pulled it towards her to examine it.

"Did Anna ever mention she had a problem with spiders?" the Doctor asked.

"Personally, if I had a spider problem this bad, I would move. And also torch the place," Marion said, trying to listen for the sound of spider scuttling. It should be under the bed, but just in case...

"Should we look downstairs?" the Doctor asked, seeming to glance at Marion as she did.

"Let's go," she said, looking at a small flight of stairs. They came to a closed-door at the bottom of the stairs. The Doctor opened it. 'Anna's body is in there.' Marion thought. 'There is a dead woman in here wrapped in cobwebs.' The Doctor noticed the figure on the bed. "Anna, you okay?", she asked.

Ryan opened the curtains to let some light in the room revealing the dead body of Anna. He turned around and jumped, "Oh, my days," he exclaimed.

"Oh my god, Anna,"

Marion, knowing what was under the bed, made sure to move carefully as she approached the body and used the pocket knife to cut away some of the webbing around her face. She put her hand above the woman's nose and mouth in hopes that maybe, Anna was still alive, just severely dehydrated. Nothing. She shook her head.

"She's dead," she pronounced.

"Spiders don't do that. Do they?" Ryan said.

"Normally? No. No, they don't. But one clearly did and based on the fact that we didn't see it upstairs..." she trailed off.

"Is it still here?"

"Ninety-five percent sure it is.."

The Doctor and Ryan moved towards the wardrobe. "One...two..three…." They threw open the thing to reveal mostly nothing but clothes and a pair of shoes.

Ryan turned away from the wardrobe and looked under the bed. The spider that was under it made a sort of a churring sound and walked out from under the bed. It took basically everything in Marion's body to turn tail and run. Seeing a spider the size of an adult suitcase come out from under a bed from the other side of a tv screen? Scary, but fine. Seeing one in real life? Blood chilling. The four of them moved slowly to the door, facing the spider, not wanting to turn their backs to it for even a second.

"Look at the size of it," Ryan hissed.

"No sudden moves," The Doctor said in a calm and even voice.

"It's domestic but it's way too big. It's not harmful," Jade tried to assure them.

"Your friend Anna might disagree, you know...if the spider hadn't gotten to her," Marion snarked back.

Sarcasm was one of many things Marion did when faced with stressful situations. Sarcasm, messing with her hair, and/or filing the problem away to deal with later.

"Let's put a door between us," the Doctor said slowly, "When I say now, quick as you can,". She put her hand on the knob and slowly opened the door.

"Go, go, go... GO!" the Doctor ushered the three of them out and shut the door behind them.

"Ryan, keep it in there be back in a sec.," the Doctor said. By then, Marion was already halfway up the stairs, and in the kitchen. She shivered slightly as her fingers brushed against a spiderweb as she moved it out of the way. She grabbed a kitchen chair and moved it in front of the counters so she would be able to do more than just feel around in the cabinets.

"Garlic and vinegar, Garlic and vinegar," she said under her breath, "I know you've got vinegar SOMEWHERE! Where is it?"

"IT'S COMING THROUGH", Ryan yelled up the stairs.

Jade began to join in the search, "Can't keep it in the bedroom..." she noticed the trash chute against the wall, "Rubbish chute. Maybe that's how it got in. Could we drive it out through there?"

Marion finally found a bottle of white vinegar and passed it down to the Doctor wordlessly before hopping back off the chair as the Doctor retrieved a small green tube of garlic puree from inside the fridge.

"And set it loose across the city? No, we need to keep it isolated here," the Doctor replied quickly, she called down the stairs for Ryan to get back up there.

The Doctor surrounded the perimeter of the walkway with a thin layer of garlic and dowsed the area with vinegar splashing Ryan in the process. She passed the half-full bottle of vinegar to Marion, who, not knowing what much else to do with it, put it in her bag.

"Oi, you just covered me in vinegar,"

"Means you won't have any spiders crawling on you. They don't much like acetic acid and vinegar is full of it," Marion said, considering if perhaps, it might be worth it to take the remaining bottle of vinegar out of her bag and splash it on herself.

"Also, spiders' feet are their noses and they hate the smell of garlic. They won't be crossing that line," the Doctor elaborated.

The Doctor scrunched her face up a bit and leaned down. From downstairs, the group heard the sound of the bedroom door give in. I don't think you need another physics lesson to know that spiders, typically, are not and should not be, able to knock a door down.

"Where is it?" Ryan asked.

Marion, knowing where it was and not wanting to look or even think about a spider the size of an adult male torso on the ceiling, averted her gaze away from the scene and pointed upwards towards it. She could still see the Doctor crouching down in front of it out of the corner of her eye.

"Hi. We don't mean you any harm. You're not supposed to be this big and you're definitely not supposed to attack humans. You stay here, until I figure this out. Deal?". The Doctor turned from the spider to them, "Let's go,"

The group couldn't seem to get out of the apartment fast enough and as soon as they were out, the Doctor Soniced the door closed.

"Oh, I did not like that," Ryan said, his voice trembling slightly.

"I think I can still feel cobwebs on my hands. Urgh," Marion said, shivering.

The Doctor got up from looking into the mail slot and turned to face Jade.

"Jade McIntyre, who are you exactly? I saw you check those cobwebs and you weren't surprised,"

Before the Doctor could continue her interrogation, Graham ran up to them. "Hey! You'll never guess what I just found in the loft room,"

"It better not be a massive spider," Ryan said, already knowing and fearing what was up.

"Yeah. Like a big spider had just shed its skin,"

"A woman has died, and I think you know more than you're telling," the Doctor said sharply, continuing her interrogation.

"This isn't the first incident. Something's happening with the spiders in the city. They're out of control," Jade said seriously.

The Sheffield Hallam University Biology Lab was about the size of a well funded high school science classroom with terrariums full of live spiders and dead ones sealed in resin. One the side of the wall there were shelves filled with chemicals and reagents, likely for testing. There was a desk towards the back of the room with a few computers. On the walls behind the desks were posters of spider anatomy. Marion looked around a bit, trying not to be creeped out by spiders. 'Giant spiders are the only ones that can hurt you remember. Normal-sized ones are FINE.' she thought over and over again.

"We reckon there could be around 21 quadrillion spiders on the planet in total," Jade said in that tone that research students get when they finally get a chance to talk about a topic that excites them.

"So what sort of research are you doing here?" the Doctor said turning around from a Tarantula in a terrarium she had been looking at.

"We're interested in utilizing the genetic strengths of arachnids. Ordinary spider silk is as strong as steel or as tough as Kevlar," Jade replied.

"Still doesn't make me like them," Graham responded with a snort.

"I'll be honest, spiders terrify me, but they are interesting and helpful creatures for the most part," Marion said still looking away from the arachnid filled walls.

"Ooo, fun fact, if you weave dragline spider silk as thick as a pencil, it's strong enough to stop a plane in flight," the Doctor said.

"You're kidding," Graham said in disbelief.

"I'm not. I've had to deal with it. Well, me and Amelia Earhart. You'd like her, she's a right laugh,"

"Where was I for that?" Marion asked curiously.

"Taking a nap. I decided to kip out for a bit. Took a wrong turn and ended up in 1937. I tried to wake you up to take you along, but you shooed me off,"

"Huh," Marion turned to Jade, "You're studying something having to do with the lifespan of spiders right? Most domestic ones live for what? A couple of years?"

"I've been working on an enzyme to increase the lifespan. Spiders can keep growing for as long as they live,"

"That spider in Anna's flat was way bigger than a normal household spider"

"Yeah," Jade said almost apologetically.

"Did Anna have access to your experiments?" the Doctor asked.

"No, she was on the admin team. Everything we do here is secure. We discard all carcasses responsibly through a specialist company," Jade paused for a second as if an idea had come to her, "Unless... she was taking things without us knowing, but... she's not that kind of person. I should notify the police," she said looking down.

"You wanted to show us something right Jade?" Marion asked.

"Reports of unusual spider activity in Sheffield over the last three months, from the police, pest controllers, and to us here," as Jade spoke, she walked towards a rotating whiteboard covered in diagrams of spiders and flipped it to reveal a map of Sheffield. The map was covered in green, yellow, and red pins making the different odd arachnid phenomena. Marion noticed that there were a lot more pins than she thought there would be.

"Rare sightings, an increase in numbers, spiders you don't normally see at this time of year," Jade explained.

"Something's wrong with the spider ecosystem in South Yorkshire,"

"Exactly. We started investigating when we got a call a few months ago telling us to look into reports about spiders in the area. We weren't sure where the call came from, but we checked into it anyway and something is clearly wrong, but we don't know what. The spiders have nothing in common. Different species, different quantities. Some are large massings, some have been a profusion of web-building. I can't work out if they're confused, or angry or scared.," Jade gestured to the board.

"Or trying to send a message," The Doctor said, taking a marker pen. She drew lines connecting the dots to each other until she ended up with something that looked like a very messy web with an opening in the center.

The Doctor pointed the pen at the center. "Where's that"

"It's a newly constructed hotel. Also, it's where Yaz's mum works," Marion said, "We should go there and investigate,"

"Marion, I have a Question," Marion could feel the capital letter in the word. "What's making the spiders like this?" the Doctor asked. Marion tried to figure out how to answer that wouldn't spoil. Already, she had noticed, a phone call had been placed to the lab that she did not remember having happened. She supposed that that was a positive change, but she had no idea if she might accidentally say something that caused a negative one. How could explaining the issue in-depth cause a negative change? Marion had no idea but somehow, the thought of saying too much made her feel like she had only eaten breakfast, skipped lunch, and dinner was in another hour; slightly nauseous with a major headache.

"The hotel was built on a bad spot", she paused trying to figure out how to end the hint, "It's the owner's fault that it's bad,"

"You can't tell me any more than that," the Doctor said it less like a question, and more like a statement of fact.

"Not without spoilers no,"

They made it to the under-construction hotel to find that the doors were locked. The Doctor patted at her coat before looking to Marion.

"Let me see your phone," the Doctor said holding out her hand. "I doubt that it'll work, but sure," Marion reached into her bag and found her phone way at the bottom. She unlocked it and handed it to the Doctor, not noticing Jade's look of confusion at the fact that she had clearly gone up to her shoulder in the back when the bag itself seemed barely deeper than her elbow. The Doctor took out her screwdriver fidgeted with it for a few seconds before handing it back to her. "Call Yaz and ask her to open the door, I fixed your phone to work here,"

Marion looked at her phone. It looked the same except, where the five connection bars had once been was a white infinity sign, "What's the number?"

Ryan seemed to remember something and reached into his pocket retrieving a folded sheet of paper. Marion looked at it and sighed, "Let me guess. The Associate gave you that note?"

Ryan shrugged and handed it to her. 'Jesus. Why am I giving myself so much stuff to keep track of for later.' Marion called the number and waited for someone to pick up.

"Marion? You aren't gonna believe this,"

"Giant cobwebs? I think I might. Yaz I need you to do two things for me if you can,"

"What?"

"Remember the garlic powder that I gave you? Spiders hate garlic and won't want to cross a line of it. Keep it on hand and don't set it down,"

"What's the other thing?"

"We're outside the hotel, can you let us in?"

After a few minutes, Marion saw Yaz and her Mom enter the unfinished lobby. The Doctor cheerfully waved to them and Marion tapped on the glass a few times to get their attention. Yaz turned and made eye contact with them before speed walking over to the door and opening it. Marion, Ryan, Graham, Jade, and the Doctor went through the door and to the other side of the large plastic curtains keeping the public from being inside.

The Doctor made eye contact with the woman with Yaz and gave her a brief hug. "Hi, Yaz's mum,"

"Najia," the woman introduced before turning to her daughter, "Yaz, they can't be here,"

"Najia, you made a very awesome human. Something is going on with this hotel,"

They heard the sound of screaming and gunshots. Marion, realizing that she had forgotten about yet ANOTHER person, took off in the direction of the bathroom.

"What that gunshots?" Ryan asked.

"YES" Marion yelled without turning around, "NOW LET'S GET A MOVE ON!"

'Okay, okay, okay. Even if I was too late, spiders eat their prey alive right? So there's a chance that he might be physically fine. Traumatized? Sure. But fine.'

Marion heard Kevin's scream and managed to turn the corner just as Jack Robertson fled the room and slammed the door behind him. The Doctor and co were just behind her.

"You're joking!"

"No way!"

Ryan and Graham said as they realized who they had just bumped into.

"Oh no," Jade said, also realizing who they had bumped into.

The Doctor grabbed two leather wallets shaped things out of her coat pocket and tossed one to Marion and flashed the other one in front of Robertson's face.

"Crisis investigators. You just ran really quickly out of a room looking really scared. Tell me exactly what's going on, omitting no detail, no matter how strange," she said quickly, only flashing the psychic paper for a moment.

"A giant spider just smashed through my bathtub and took out my bodyguard, Kevin," the man said in near hysterics.

"Well," Marion said, "that certainly does sound like a crisis. Luckily, that's our jurisdiction. Shall we check the bathroom?" Marion flashed the psychic paper herself and tried to think as many official crisis investigator-esque thoughts as she could before closing it again and putting it into her jean pocket for quick access. Marion opened the door that Robertson walked out of and gestured for Yaz and the Doctor to follow her. The Doctor and Yaz looked around while Marion attempted to keep the bathtub in constant view.

"The room next door is covered in cobwebs, top to bottom," Yaz explained to the Doctor.

'Come to think of it, isn't it a bit odd that this room isn't?' Marion thought to herself.

"Just like your neighbor's house," the Doctor replied to Yaz.

"What?"

"We went to drop off a package at your neighbors. Everything was utterly covered in cobwebs,"

'Including your neighbor' Marion only thought that last bit.

"Big spider problem in this city right now, Yaz. Glad to be home?" the Doctor said creeping towards the destroyed bathtub. The Doctor waved her sonic screwdriver over the huge hole and got a reading that she clearly didn't like. The kind of reading that comes when you pick up a giant and possibly murderous spider. She gestured towards Yaz and Marion to be quite before leaning forward far enough to get her head down into the pipe for a closer look. Marion moved closer to the Doctor in case she had to pull her away in a hurry or something. Marion heard a hissing sound and the Doctor say, "Hi. I'm looking for Kevin,"

After a second or two, the Doctor shot back up backed away from the tub.

"Did you see it?" Yaz asked.

"Really close,"

Marion splashed a bit of vinegar on the ground in front of the tub and quickly left with Yaz and the Doctor.

(Next Chapter: Not Sure If That’s Legal, But Go Off)

Chapter Text

Marion quickly shut the door behind her.

"Did you see it? Did you find him?" Robertson asked frantically.

"Yes, and no," Marion answered his questions as quickly as he asked them.

The Doctor got really close to Robertson's face, "Where's Kevin," he finally asked.

In lieu of an answer, the Doctor said, "We need to move out of this area, quick. It's too dark, too deserted. Spiders love that. We need to go somewhere bright and busy,"

"No, no, no, no, no. We need to get as far away from that thing as possible,"

"I'm with him," Ryan said pointing to the man who spoke.

"So's the Doctor. That's more or less what she just said!" Marion said with a sigh.

"I know the way out!" Najia spoke up.

"Everyone follow Yaz's mum"

Najia reminded the Doctor that she had a name that wasn't "Yaz's mum," and the group followed her out of the hallway.

"Hey Doctor," Marion said, "about that psychic paper that you tossed me, can I keep it, or was it just for the illusion. Do you need it back?"

"No. It's yours. Honestly, I can't think of a time when you didn't have it. You used to wave it about when one of my stories wasn't quite adding up. 'The ultimate fake ID' you called it. For the longest time, I thought that it was some clever thing you'd invented yourself until-" the Doctor stopped talking as if she had caught herself saying something she shouldn't.

"Until what?"

"Nevermind. Don't worry about that,"

The Doctor said it with a smile and in a tone that should've made the statement sound like the kind of thing a person might say when asked why their game history suggests they were up at 5:00 AM playing Animal Crossing when there's a Midterm that day; but her eyes made it seem a bit more serious.

Marion knew that this particular incarnation of the Doctor was currently going through a phase where she dealt with negativity by shoving negativity in a box, tossing it into the sea, and hoping that no one is nearby when it eventually washes back to shore and decided not to press her on it and therefore her assertion that there was "nothing to worry about" a was iffy at best. However, now was not the time to call her out on it.

It didn't feel right to demand explanations from the Doctor. Sure, the Doctor might have known her for at least a few thousand years if what she said was to be believed, but Marion had only known the Doctor for 8, maybe 9 hours. Somehow, it was surprisingly easy to act casual around the Doctor as if she'd known her for more than that, but even so, Marion didn't feel it was her place to get the Doctor to open up. Besides, perhaps the Doctor felt that same way as she did at the thought of telling the future in-depth. And even if that all wasn't the case, now was simply not the time.

Najia led them back towards the main entrance and they began to head down the escalator.

The Doctor and Najia made it on the ground first and stared at the door in horror. Ryan looked where they were looking, trying to see what all the fuss was about. "Oh, that's bad,"

The entrance to the hotel was covered by curtains and curtains of cobwebs. There were so many streams of nearly translucent white that it looked like a sprinkler system with the water spray frozen in mid-air. The outside of the hotel could only barely be seen through the silk, and that was only because there was still daylight. Had it been night you would've clearly been able to see nothing at all.

The Doctor strode over to the webs to take a few readings from it with the rest of the group not far behind.

"We just came in that way. How have they done so many webs so fast?" Yaz asked in disbelief.

"Doesn't matter how they did it. What matters is that we were only away for about 10 minutes and they managed to do so," Marion said, attempting to listen for the sound of spidery feet just in case.

"Never mind that, let's just get through them," reasoned Graham.

Robertson looked at the webs in what he surely thought was a critical way as he assumed that he had "solved" the mystery. "No, this can't be happening. This is a protest. One of those eco-protests, huh? This isn't spiders. Spiders can't do that,"

"We've passed the realms of 'can' and are firmly standing in the realms of 'did'. And with all due respect, if you're doing something that you think might make people protest in a way that's THIS elaborate, you should probably stop doing it, but that's beside the point. This," Marion gestured to the veil of cobwebs, "was done by spiders. Not humans, spiders,"

The Doctor stopped scanning and looked at the readings on her screwdriver, "Not normal spiders, and not normal cobwebs. They know we're here and they're trying to seal us in,"

"They're trying to make the whole hotel their web," Jade said in horror.

"And we're the flies!" the Doctor realized looking at Jade. She turned back to the rest of the group, "We have to find out why they're here and stop them getting any further. We need to find a safe haven. Yaz's mum?" she turned to Najia, asking her if she knew of any place.

Najia thought for a second, "Kitchen?" she offered.

The hotel's kitchen was a large, long room. To the left of the entrance were the stoves and hot plates, and further back, a corridor filled with metal shelves with kitchen stuff to prep for the grand opening. Across from where they came in was a silver service elevator. The walls and ceilings were white and seemed even brighter due to the fluorescent light bars on the speckled ceiling. In the center of the room were two long metal counters one being black and one being dark grey.

The Doctor made her way farther from the doors, "Ah, good. This'll do. Okay, thinking. Need to be quick, spiders are moving fast. Why is this hotel the epicenter of spider activity?". Instead of bringing up the fact that it was probably his fault, Robertson began shouting.

"Wait! Nobody talk until you tell me what you're all doing here," he paused as if finally realizing what the blonde woman had said, "Spiders. Plural?"

"Very plural," the Doctor leaned over the counter, "Sorry, I don't know who you are,"

The man laughed in that way that very annoying people who think that their super important and everyone and their mother should know and respect them. "Oh, really? Cos you must be the only person on the planet that doesn't"

"Are you Ed Sheeran?" the Doctor said in a way that could almost seem genuine if not for the overdramatic way she moved, "Is he Ed Sheeran?" she turned to Marion with an exaggeratedly questioning look "Everyone talks about Ed Sheeran round about now, don't they?"

Robertson explained who he was in a grandiose tone; all the while staring at the Doctor in irritation as she leaned on the table gave him a glazed over look like he was a teacher giving a lecture on something that she'd already learned twice and hadn't cared about the first time, "I am not Ed Sheeran. I am Jack Robertson and this is my hotel. Just one hotel in an incredibly successful chain of hotels, which is just one small part of my business portfolio, as featured in Fortune Global 500. Does that ring a bell?"

"Should I look impressed right now? Is that impressive?" the Doctor asked Marion in the same tone she had asked if she was speaking to Ed Sheeran.

"It depends on if you care about that sort of thing," Marion said with a shrug.

"Do you?"

"No,"

"Should you?"

"Probably not"

"He's running for President in 2020," Graham offered.

"Ed Sheeran?"

"No! Him. Robertson, aren't you,"

Robertson was clearly becoming even more frustrated. He gestured with his hand towards Graham, "I haven't declared my intentions yet. But, look, we're talking about spiders!" he said the last part through gritted teeth.

"See? Typical politician. Avoiding the question," Graham said as Ryan nodded in agreement.

"I am not a politician. I'm a businessman and I know how to run things,". His eye twitched slightly as he spoke.

"I've heard you're only running cos you've hated Trump for decades," Jade said, shaking her head.

"Please...don't mention that name. Look, I was just attacked by a spider the size of a bathtub, and it's all her fault," he said pointing at Najia.

"I told you. I know nothing about this," the woman in question pleaded.

"Mum, don't even talk to him. He fired you," Yaz told her mom, raising her voice slightly as she spoke.

The Doctor moved to stand in front of Najia. "What? He didn't. You didn't. You can't be President if you fire Yaz's mum,"

"Najia" Najia reminded her.

"She's right you know, you can't legally become president if you fire Yaz's mom. It's written in the constitution. Invisible ink you know," Marion joked.

"I thought you said this was only your second trip?"

Marion looked at the Doctor in confusion. "What? Did I actually write that?"

"You snuck something on the paper in invisible ink, I know that much,"

"Well, now I've got to do that don't I,"

Robertson's level of agitation seemed to grow. "I don't know what you're talking about. But once again, let's talk about spiders and how my hotel is full of giant ones. I Hate spiders, phobia hate,"

"Oh, man, me too. And there's loads knocking about right now," Ryan replied.

"I will not have them in my hotel,"

"Well, what do you expect us to do then?" Marion asked sarcastically, "write a formal cease and desist? Who would we even send it too? Spiders don't own property. They haven't got a mailing address. High school doesn't even offer Araneaen as an elective anymore. It was the first to go along with Home Ec. and 'shop,"

"You know, you're running for President, it could be espionage, you know, targeted directly"

"At you by Russians", Ryan cut Graham off.

"That's possible. There are a lot of people that would like to see me dead," Roberston replied slowly, looking like he was mentally going through a list of such people.

"Funny, that,"

"See?" he said pointing at Najia.

"They don't need giant spiders. They'd just pop a tiny poisonous one on your pillow," Jade replied in a matter-of-fact sort of way.

Marion and Ryan flinched at the thought.

"You've really got to stop saying things like that," Robertson said nervously.

"So what do we do now," Yaz asked turning to the Doctor and surprisingly Marion.

"Why are you asking them?"

"Cos they're in charge, bro,"

"Says, who?"

"Says us," Ryan, Yaz, and Graham said at the same time.

"How do you all know each other", Najia asked.

"They met on a train,", Marion said without missing a beat.

"Right, we need two things. Plans of the hotel and a captive spider," The Doctor started looking around at the group. All eyes turned to Robertson.

He realized that people were looking at him and raised his eyebrows,

"I'm not going near that spider,"

"Here's the plan," Marion said, putting her palms together and pointing them outward, "Jade, Ryan, Graham," she pointed to the three of them, "You're on spider duty. Robertson, The Doctor, Najia, Yaz, and I will find the plans. He," Marion gestured towards Robertson, "does not strike me as the kind of man who keeps his stuff well organized, so we're going to need extra eyes looking through the paperwork,"

Marion spoke quickly and tried to sound as convincing as possible so hoping that they would take her word for it and that Team Spider didn't need another member. This was partially because she wanted to stay with the Doctor, and partially because she, and this may come as a big shock, wanted to delay personal confrontation with spiders for as much as possible.

' I mean, sure there's going to be spiders either way, but I'd rather deal with spiders that I can run from instead of spiders that I'm advised to run towards...'Planet of the Spiders is going to SUCK isn't it,"

"What are we waiting for," she clapped her hands, "let's GO!"

The hotel's office was a large room. There were three lamps. One of the walls, one on the desk still wrapped in plastic, and one on the floor. The one on the floor wasn't bright, but that was okay seeing as there was plenty of natural light coming in from the window. The walls were brown with a large art piece on the wall made of grey, square, stones. There was a plant in the windowsill and in the corner. There was a computer monitor on the desk and the room had several grey chairs. On the opposite side from the plant, there was a filing cabinet that would, presumably, contain the paperwork.

"I'll get the keys," Robertson said moving towards the desk.

"No need!" The Doctor cheerfully said as she waved her sonic at the cabinets, making them come open with an audible click.

Robertson looked like he was about to say something when Marion cut him off, "Instead of asking how she did that, how about you focus on finding the plans," Marion grabbed a grey file and slapped it on the desk in front of him before grabbing a file of her own, sitting on one of the grey chairs, and flipping through the papers. " Employment Contract, Employment Contract, Invoice, Construction Bill, Material Invoice"

The Doctor grabbed a slate grey folder and flipped it open. There, folded in quarters, were the plans for the hotel. She opened it and began to examine the plans.

"That can't be accurate. It doesn't even have my panic room marked on it," Robertson stated looking over her shoulder. The Doctor and Yaz looked up at him in annoyance.

"Eh, sometimes plans won't include panic rooms for secrecy reasons," Marion pointed out with a shrug.

The Doctor looked up from the blueprints and at Najia, "Any issues with spiders before today, Najia, here or at home?" she said in that quick and serious way of hers.

"My home?" Najia asked in confusion.

"One of your neighbors had a spider problem. The link between both places is you,"

"I knew it," Robertson said pointing aggressively at Najia, "And I'm going to litigate you until your last breath, Nadia.,"

"It's Najia. And I've done nothing,"

"Are you sure?" the Doctor said, looking down at the plans.

"I'm sure," Marion said quickly, "this isn't Najia's fault,"

"Sorry, but who are you? How'd you know my daughter? Why have I never met you before?"

"Oh, not now," Yaz sighed at her mother.

"Yes, now. It's not a difficult question,"

"It's a bit of a long answer,"

"Well, I've got time,"

"But I haven't, not right now," The Doctor said sharply.

"They met on a train a while ago," offered Marion.

"Are you two seeing each other?" Najia asked, looking between her daughter and the blonde woman.

Yaz let out an embarrassed groan. The Doctor paused for a second to look at Yaz, squinting her eyes slightly as if in thought, "I don't think so..." she scrunched her nose in confusion, "are we?"

Yaz shook her head in disbelief, "We're friends,"

"Hmm," the Doctor nodded.

"I owe the Doctor my life, quite a few times over. Marion too," Yaz said looking up at her mother.

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

"Please can we not have this conversation now?" Yaz glanced at Roberston, "And not in front of him,"

"Oh, I'm enjoying this," he stated.

"Please shut up," Marion said, looking up from a document she had found. A building permit of some kind. ' Just in case he tried to deny that he knew about the coal mine, there's got to be SOMETHING in here proving 100% that he knew about it.'

"How long did it take you to build this hotel?" the Doctor asked.

"Five years. We have fifteen of these hotels throughout the world now. Repurposing former industrial sites into luxury leisure venues," He sounded like he was talking to a potential investor as if he didn't know how to talk about his hotels without pitching the idea of them to someone.

"Repurposing?" the Doctor asked, "What was the site before?"

"I don't have... clarity on that," It didn't take knowledge of the future to know that he was lying.

"I do," Najia said, calling attention to herself. Everyone turned to look at her. "I do. Coal mines. This was mining land,"

"I don't think-"

"That's true, you don't," Marion stood up from the couch and held up the documents she had been searching through and began speaking quickly, "As you know Robertson, these days it's hard to find real estate that isn't over a coal mine here in the UK so of course your hotel is on top of one. Another thing that I'm sure you know is that you can't really do that without building permits, inspection notes, documents, that sort of thing. In short, you'd have to fill out a lot of paperwork,"

Marion pointedly shook the sheet she was holding, "This is an inspection note verifying that this mining land is structurally sound enough to build a hotel with 15 or less floors. This one has 11 so you're in the clear. And what's this" Marion, gasped in mock surprise, pointing at cursive squiggles at the bottom of the page "your signature. Now, I could ask you why you tried you lie to us, but I'm not really interested in the answer,"

"What I'm interested in," the Doctor said, getting close to Robertson's face, "is what's in these mines, and how do we get to them,"

Like always, Najia took the lead. The entrance to the mine was at the end of a long and winding service corridor which they had to go through an employees-only entrance to get through. The fluorescent light bars gave off an electronic hum that was just loud enough to be annoying and they occasionally flickered. They passed a door that their guide took note of.

"We've just passed the entrance to the back of the spa. We should be here now,"

"You're not going down there. It's too dangerous," Robertson said from the back of the line where he had remained since they left his office.

Marion reached into her back pocket and held up the wallet without opening it. "This is all part of the crisis investigative process," she said walking backward for a couple of seconds so that she could face him.

"I eat danger for breakfast," the Doctor said over her shoulder. She leaned down to talk to Yaz.

"I don't, I prefer cereal. Or croissants. Or those little fried Portuguese," she trailed off "Never mind, it's not important,"

Just a little bit further and Robertson began to speed up so that he could be in front of them. He pushed past them and walked towards the door, "Ha! See? Look at this," he pointed to a number of signs, "Keep out. The danger of death. You are not authorized to go in here,"

"That's what you think," Marion said putting emphasis on the word, "you,"

"Dude," the Doctor reached into her coat and pulled out her screwdriver. "I've all the authorization I ever need," she pointed it at the keypad and it sparked.

She turned to Marion and beamed, "I call people dude now! You've rubbed off on me haven't you!" she joked, bumping her elbow against Marion. This probably would've meant more to Marion, if not for the fact that, as you know, Marion has only known the doctor for about half a day vs. the Doctor's 1.3 million.

' Wait, that doesn't sound right mathematically. A human can't live that long unless maybe I only show up for adventures and then leave? Then again, a human typically can't survive having her head cracked open on a cathedral floor.' Marion was drawn out of her thoughts by a noise behind her that made her turn.

They heard footsteps behind them and turned to see Jade.

"Marion, Doctor, I need to speak with you,"

"You can tell us on the way, Jade," Marion said, "The only thing more suspicious than a door with a do not enter sign is a door with a do not enter sign that someone denied existing. We're about to investigate and you're welcome to come!"

She pushed open the door and held open for the Doctor, who walked through.

"Oh, sure, it's a party. Everybody can come," Robertson said mockingly as he held open the door and beckoned Yaz and Jade inside.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "I think I've seen these spiders before,"

"But you," Robertson snapped slamming his hand in front of the door to block Najia from entering.

"You're not the boss of me anymore," Najia said and ducked under his arm and into the room. Robertson followed after her.

Yaz reached up into a circuit breaker box and flipped on the lights making the rest of the shaft visible. It looked the part of a mineshaft, a rounded tunnel made of grey stone with yellow lights guiding the people inside through the shaft. There was an odd rotting smell in the air. ' The Landfill' Marion's brain supplied.

"Nice work Yaz!" the Doctor complimented"

"No, not nice work. None of you are allowed down here," Robertson growled.

"We're crisis investigators Robertson. Remember?" Marion said slowly as if talking to a small child.

"Are all your hotels built on repurposed sites?" the Doctor questioned.

"Well, that's the business. I mean, every city in the world, big or small, has an area that they want repurposed. Maybe it's not too pretty, maybe it's never been used, maybe it's an industry that's died. We go in and we help them figure it out. We get a good deal, but we give them world-class facilities. It's a win for everybody,"

"A network of mining tunnels could explain how the bigger spiders are moving. The question is, does that make your hotel their target or their base?"

"Base," Marion said quickly, "It's their base,"

Najia scrunched up her nose, "What is that smell?"

They passed through a tunnel into the cavern where something hung upside down, covered in cobwebs. There was something off about this, but Marion couldn't quite put her finger on it. The Doctor approached it slowly.

"You guys, stay back. Keep an eye out for me Marion," The Doctor turned the cocoon to find an exposed face,"

"It's my bodyguard, Kevin. Look what they did to him!" Robertson said, covering his mouth.

Yaz looked at the cocoon more closely, "Why are they being stored in cocoons"

"Food," Mutely, she wondered why she wasn't as scared as she should have been. She walked towards Kevin and put her hand near his note.

"He's alive," she exclaimed, "the spiders didn't cover his nose or mouth or anything. Help me get him down!"

Marion handed the Doctor the knife and held up Kevin by his shoulders. She heard the sound of silk snapping and repositioned herself so that she was carrying the man and keeping him from slamming into the ground and breaking his neck. She gently placed him on the ground in the middle of the room away from the walls.

"He's not awake yet, and we're going to need to be running around. We can't carry him. It won't be safe. Yaz, pass me the garlic powder,"

Yaz handed it to her and went to investigate a nearby tunnel.

"What the hell are you doing?" Robertson yelled.

"Shut up," Marion said without looking at him. She twisted off the top of the shaker and shook a large circle around the still unconscious bodyguard.

"We can't take him with us I'm afraid. But this'll keep him safe. Spiders don't like garlic or vinegar, remember. A sprinkle of this and a splash of that could keep him from getting eaten,"

She wrote him a quick note letting him know to stay in the garlic circle and not to smudge it. She was thankful that her pen's ink glowed slightly. Assuming he was literate, Kevin would easily be able to stay safe until the authorities could arrive. As an afterthought, she left behind the bottle of vinegar with a note telling him to douse himself with it just in case.

"Spiders don't eat people," Jade said, sounding less like she was trying to remind them and more like she wanted to convince herself.

Marion got back to her feet and put the empty garlic shaker back into her bag, "They haven't eaten them yet. They're bigger than they should be and incredibly confused about what's going on,"

"Guys?" they heard Yaz calling from another tunnel.

"You don't need to go any deeper!" Robertson called after them, trying to keep them from seeing what he had done.

"How many times do I have to ask you to shut up?" Marion asked with a glare. Behind her, she heard his clothes move. For a second, she thought to tell him not to grab the gun, but ultimately, decided against it. ' That spider is doomed to die either way. It seems wrong to let it suffer. Then again, we're all doomed to die...but then again, the death isn't from our own bodies crushing us to death from our own weight but then again..." Marion realized that she was messing with the bandana enough for it to come loose and so she re-tied it and rejoined the group.

"It's landfill," Jade said.

"Is that what that smell is? It goes on for miles," Najia exclaimed.

The Doctor waved her screwdriver, "And down," she said, reading how deep it must go.

"Your hotel is built on a landfill," Najia said to Robertson in disbelief.

"I have a lot of companies, okay? JLR does corporate waste disposal. They're very efficient, very highly rated internationally," Robertson replied once again sounding like he was giving a pitch.

"You fill up disused mines with landfill waste and build a luxury hotel on top?" the Doctor said sharply, looking down into the pit.

"Smart business planning. Perfect vertical integration,"

"All your hotels are built this way?" Nadia asked. Before Roberston could give an answer, The Doctor tore him a new one.

"Not quite perfect, I'm afraid. Not quite efficient. A blocked-in site pumping out methane and sulfides and trichloroethylene, never mind the specialist material that hasn't been properly preserved. A soup of toxic waste, incredibly badly managed. I mean, there's no outlet for it. It's just building and marinating and becoming more and more toxic. It's a botched job," she turned to Marion, "Is what you were talking about when you said, 'The hotel was built on a bad spot'?"

"Yes," Marion responded with a nod.

"I didn't-" Robertson suddenly, realizing what the Doctor had said, turned to Marion, "How did you know about this. Are you the one who told Frankie? Was it you that she was on the phone with?"

Marion was confused, "What do you mean 'on the phone with'?" she asked.

Najia answered, "When I walked in, Frankie was telling Robertson all about this. Then, her phone started to ring. She picked it up and then said that she had to leave and that it was important and she was gone,"

' Another mysterious phone call.' she thought to herself.

"No," she flippantly, "I have my sources. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that this," She gestured towards the landfill. She paced a bit as she spoke, her words getting faster and her voice rising in pitch ever so slightly like it always did when she was angry or frustrated, "is horribly unsafe, not to mention probably illegal. Aren't you supposed to at least toss a few tons of dirt or concrete over a landfill before you build something over or near it? I doubt that just the mines would be enough. I mean barring the door and the tunnels, this is all more or less exposed. I don't even want to think about what this is doing to the local water table and the SOIL CONAMIN-."

"Okay, all right, you're right," Roberson waved his hand to cut her off, "That's why I came here. Apparently JLR was a little overzealous in cutting corners and worried about keeping the bottom line instead of doing the right thing. But I just sign the contracts, okay? I expect other people to do their jobs. This is not on me,"

"It is on you!" Marion said, all but shouting, "You sign the stuff, you put the name on the stuff, you fund the stuff, you should at least check it over for fuck's sake. Don't you care? I doubt you let the people you buy property from you use that excuse! You plan to run for President? You think you can get away with not reading that shit!" Marion had very little tolerance for environmental damage caused by negligence and even lower tolerance for it from a man who claimed to be running for office in her country (and even lower tolerance for the man that was currently president but that wasn't important).

Robertson scoffed, "Look, I'm going to pay you all off. You'll never have to work again,"

Marion made a frustrated noise.

Najia turned sharply towards him, "I like working. Do you know the worst thing?" She pointed at the landfill, "bits of this is leaking out above here. It's in my kitchen. My husband's right, it is a conspiracy. Do you have any idea how annoying it is when my husband's right?"

"Look, I've never even been down here. It doesn't even add up,"

"It does for me," Jade said, understanding dawning on her, "JLR Disposal. JLR takes the waste from our lab. Our aborted experiments and our spider carcasses,"

"And they're all in there," The Doctor said with a gasp "Your spider carcasses in his toxic waste,"

"Not my fault! I didn't know anything about spider carcasses!"

"Course you didn't. You just avoid taking any responsibility," Jade turned her back to Robertson and began pacing. "I'm running through our work, stuff we shut down. Spiders bio-engineered for stronger cobwebs, prolonged life,"

"Because spiders can keep growing as long as they live," the Doctor said in realization.

"What if," Jade said in horrified realization, "our waste included something that we thought was dead, but was still just alive?"

"And with enough food in all that waste to survive, and enough toxicity to mutate and to keep on growing,"

"In other words," Marion said turning to face Robertson, "Thanks to your poor business practices, the hotel, and south Yorkshire is infested with giant spider mutants. I hope that you bought something real nice with the extra buck-and-a-half JLR saved from cutting corners,"

Next Chapter: Where DO, I Know You From

Chapter Text

After sneakily taking a few photos of the area with her phone just in case Robertson actually tried to run for President, Marion and the rest of the group ran back into the kitchen to regroup.

The Doctor ran in first, followed by Yaz who shouted to Graham and Ryan

"We've found out what's going on!"

"Massive spider in the ballroom!" Ryan shouted at almost the same time as Yaz did. Both he and Graham were breathing heavily, probably from running all the way back here.

"How massive?" the Doctor asked.

"The size of a large van," Graham answered, crouching down with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily.

"Wow!" Marion said in a faux-excited tone, "I hate that!"

"It must be the mother and the rest are the babies,", Jade reasoned aloud "Some stayed here, some went out into the city, their pheromones disrupting the spider ecosystem, causing other spiders to behave abnormally,"

"Of course. Najia, you weren't the link," the Doctor turned back to Jade, "Your colleague, Anna. What if she had the same pheromones on her, accidentally calling out to a spider that had gone out hunting from this hotel? All these spiders answer the same call because, in the end, every living thing has the same instinct. To come back home,"

"That's very touching. But there's a plague in my hotel and it needs to be fixed," Robertson shouted.

'I'm getting sick of this dude,' Marion thought to herself.

"Take us to your panic room," Marion ordered.

The panic room was at the end of yet ANOTHER long winding corridor. Said corridor was dark and the only light coming from the soft glow of the locking mechanism. There was a red thumbprint sensor next to a green retinal scanner. Robertson leaned down to present his eye to the scanner as he pressed his thumb against the sensor. The retinal scanner made an odd whir noise as the laser-scanned his eye until the light turned off and the door began to beep.

"It looks like a bank vault," Graham commented.

Robertson pulled a final lever and pushed the door open. He gestured with his hand inside the room.

"My lockdown palace," he walked inside of the vault "I have one in every hotel, just in case it's needed,"

The group followed Robertson inside. Yaz entered last and closed the door behind her.

The panic room was a decent sized room. It's curved concrete walls and the way that it was lit made Marion think of the metro station. There was a large flatscreen tv against the wall and the room was filled with black unopened crates.

"What's in the boxes?" Ryan asked.

"Food, water, entertainment system, a book. I could survive here for six months if I needed to. And I've got a huge stash of weapons, enough for all of us. Enough for two guns apiece,"

"Oh, mate", Ryan said pointing to the Doctor, "She's not going to like that,"

"No, I'm not. You are not shooting those creatures,"

"Told you,"

"They're mutants," Robertson tried to reason.

"Caused by you," Jade reminded him.

"Your carcasses, lady, not mine,"

"Your poor business management," Marion said, "Not hers,"

"Whatever happened", the Doctor cut Marion off before she could go on yet another rant, "there are living, breathing organisms out there and we treat them with dignity," The Doctor could tell from his expression that she wasn't going to be getting through to Robertson, and therefore, she turned her back to him and addressed the more reasonable and less bull-headed members of the group, "So here's what we're going to do..."

"SHOOT THEM", Robertson shouted.

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up before you listen, Robertson!", Marion shouted back, she calmed her tone a bit and took a deep breath, "Your decision-making skills or lack thereof are what caused this mess. Do be understanding if we don't trust your idea of how we get out of it. We are not going to shoot those poor spiders," she said sharply.

"What's wrong with you people? What is wrong with this country? Why don't you do what normal people do? Get a gun, shoot things, like a civilized person. And you? You're American. Why aren't you with me on this?" Robertson retorted.

"First of all, I don't think that the firearms that you have are even legal in this country. Second of all, who needs guns when she's got a plan?" Marion pointed to the Doctor, "You Do have a plan right Doc?"

"Right Marion," Perhaps it was just Marion's imagination, but the Doctor seemed to smile slightly when she called her "Doc". (Of course, since it's being brought attention too, it must not be her imagination, but that's neither here nor there.)

"Spiders are roaming this hotel searching for food. We're going to lure them in here with the promise of food, then deal with the spider mother in the ballroom," the Doctor paused for a second and then said more or less to herself, "Oh, that sounds like the best novel Edith Wharton never wrote,"

"Once they're in here, what happens?" Nadja asked.

"We shut them in and isolate them," Jade replied.

Robertson held up a finger to call attention to himself, "You're going to let spiders use my panic room?", he said in disbelief.

"They deserve a humane, natural death,"

"Shooting's quicker,"

'He must be a lot of fun at the ICU,' Marion thought to herself.

The group stared at him for a second in shock that he would seemingly miss the whole point of what they were saying. Instead of responding, Graham sighed.

"So how are you going to lure them?" he asked.

"Spiders gravitate to their food through vibration," the Doctor thought aloud before coming up blank. "Any ideas? Marion?"

"Ask Ryan, I know he's got a good one,"

Ryan thought for a second,

"Easy, Raze," he turned to Yaz who looked up at him in confusion. "Am I right?"

"I don't know what you're saying"

Ryan waved her off, "Yaz, you're so uncool right now,"

A moment, later, Ryan had hooked his phone up to one of the speakers which began to blast...music. It had lyrics, and a beat to it, and some music in the background, which is what music is after all. It was loud enough to make Robertson flinch back from the speaker and recoil at both the volume and the content playing at said volume.

'You know what,', Marion thought to herself bouncing her foot slightly, "this music actually kind of slaps.,

As RAZE blasted "music" through the sound system and into the hotel, Marion could hear the thundering sound of dozens of giant spiders. It sounded a lot like thunder but with spiders instead of lightning. They made their way back to the kitchen which at this point had become almost a home base for the group. The Doctor, Nadja, and Marion crouched behind one of the kitchen counters and watched the procession and Ryan and Yaz by one of the doors. Marion yawned, unable to stop herself and checked her band to see how long it had been since she slept. The number glowed dark orange nearly red.

'God, I'm going to have to take a nap once I get back into the TARDIS. I was barely in 10's for half an hour when I ended up here. Hope I'm able to stay longer this time. At least long enough for a bit of sleep,"

Sleep deprivation aside, the plan seemed to be working fine. All the spiders were marking their way towards the panic room in droves. After all of the spiders had cleared out of the room, the Doctor waited for a second and Marion tried to listen to see if any more were coming.

"The coast should be clear," she said after a moment.

"Right," the Doctor said standing up from behind the counter, "phase two then,"

Between the ballroom and the kitchen were the spa area and part of the spa was a large swimming pool. Marion pointed to the Yaz, her mom, and Ryan.

"You three, go into the spa and get as many essential oils as you can. The stronger the smell the better," she snapped her fingers, remembering something, "If it's too much to carry them all and they have lemon and minty smells get those. Peppermint, Tea Tree Oil, Lemon. Get plenty of that,"

"What are we going to do, spa it into submission?" Nadja asked rhetorically.

"Precisely. The Doctor and I will meet you at the entrance to the ballroom,"

The ballroom looked like most fancy hotel ballrooms. It was a large room with patterned carpeting. The walls were dark brown and the color was only broken up by the white rectangular pillars sticking a bit out of the wall. Between each pillar was a large door, the same color as the walls.

Marion could imagine the room filled with round fancy, folding tables covered in white or dark-colored tablecloths. With people filling the room and sitting at the seat with the name in front of it; their glass of water seemed to get refilled every time they took a sip and looked away for a second. She could imagine young children getting dragged to fancy parties they don't want to be at and their parents dragging them.

Marion tried to imagine these things being there because with all the hustle and bustle, she had for a moment forgot that instead of a wedding, an athletics banquet, or even an especially lucky girl's sweet sixteen, all that was in this room was a spider with a body the size of a double bed not even counting the legs. She adjusted the bottle of diluted peppermint oil she had on her hip

"Ooo! Very big spider," the Doctor said aloud,

"What have we got?" Ryan asked, shaking his bottle.

"Diluted peppermint and tea tree oil. Spiders hate it for about the same reason that they hate garlic. It smells really, really, really, strong," Marion explained.

"I'm hoping that this will help us herd it out," the Doctor said walking with a purpose towards the spider. The rest of the group walked with them.

'You know, spiders are somehow less scary when they're big.' Marion attempted to convince herself.

"You want us to herd out a giant spider?" Graham said in disbelief, "They're attacking people," he reminded them.

They walked a little bit closer when Jade held out her arm.

"Stop a second. Can you see that?" The spider climbed a bit and then fell back down. It was a lot like watching a spider try to climb up a bathtub although except Marion didn't think she had a cup big enough to carry it outside.

"It's grown too big," the Doctor said, looking at the spider with pity.

"She's suffocating. She's got too big to breathe efficiently. Even moving around in here, it's using up what little oxygen she can absorb. She won't survive for long. She's more scared of us than we are of her,"

"Poor thing," Marion said softly.

"I'm so sorry this has happened to you," The Doctor said in a way that reminded Marion of the person she had been three faces prior.

They watched the spider continue to try to climb the wall and continue to fall back down.

"So what do we do," the Doctor turned to look at Graham as he spoke, "just leave her?"

Just then, the door that they had come out of swung open and there was Robertson, brandishing a gun and walking into the ballroom in a way he probably thought made him look like some kind of action hero.

"No. Absolutely not," the Doctor said, she ran towards the spider and attempted to put her body between Robertson and the spider. Robertson began to walk closer and closer to the spider.

Marion was torn, 'He's an asshole, but what's worse, suffocating to death or being shot?'

"My hotel, my rules. I am the future President of the United States," Robertson declared. He aimed the gun "how's this for fire and fury,"

'There's got the be a more humane way to put her down right'

Thinking quickly, Marion grabbed Robertson's arm and yanked it downwards, throwing off his aim and making him miss. He shoved her aside and made her lose her balance making her hit the ground. Before she could stop him, he took another shot, this one, hitting the mark.

The spider fell on it's back nearly knocking the Doctor over. It screamed and hissed and writhed as the Doctor looked down almost in shock. Marion got back to her feet and snatched the gun from Robertson's hands. She would have dropped it on the ground, but seeing that as an American, she had a basic understanding of gun safety, she merely set it on the ground and kicked it away with her foot before moving to look at the dead spider with the Doctor.

"She wasn't a real threat. She was dying anyway," the Doctor said to Robertson. Tears could be heard in her voice and she sounded furious.

"Ah, well, then it's a mercy killing," Robertson replied cruelly.

"That wasn't mercy, it was just killing," Marion said, regretting that she didn't stop Robertson from grabbing the gun in the mineshaft.

"I don't need either of your approval. This is what the world needs right now. This is what's going to get me into the White House,"

Robertson left the ballroom.

"God helps us all," Graham said. Nobody spoke for a bit, and then Marion said,

"That gun was most certainly under 30 cm. Maybe Kevin had a permit but I don't think that he did. That's illegal, right? Not to mention the apparent stockpile of guns he had in his bunker..." she trailed off, "although I suppose in order to get proof we'd need to open up the spider bunker...nevermind,"

"Someone should go get Kevin," Marion said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

Marion and the Doctor stood in the TARDIS. Well, to be precise, the Doctor stood. Marion was sitting on the stairs facing the TARDIS doors.

"They should be here soon Doctor," Marion said softly, "any minute now,"

"Are they going to want to stay, or am I going to find someone else along the way," the Doctor asked. Marion noticed the use of "I" instead of "We". She also noticed that it was a Question.

"As far as I know, they'll want to stick around," Marion paused for a moment, she often knew what she was trying to say but had no idea how to word it. She sometimes found it hard to speak in a non-rambly way, especially went she felt anxious.

"On the off chance that they don't. I-I think you still need a companion, someone not me. I...know that it probably feels weird lookin' at me. You look at me and hope to see 'the Associate'. A person you've apparently known for centuries and I look back at you instead, and you can tell that I barely know you. I-I can't imagine that that feels good. I think that no matter what, you need a person who can meet you properly in order...you know? And...and I hope that when I disappear, the Associate that you meet shares a few more of those memories you know especially since the older you get, the less of those you see I imagine,"

The Doctor didn't respond for a bit. And then she let out a small laugh, "You're not wrong about you being a little bit different from the way you will be and I can't help that, but honestly, things like what you just said show that you aren't that different from how you'll be in the future. You've always said that kind of thing to me, reminding me to pick up companions that aren't you, reminding me that everyone matters. Reminding me that I've got to have someone that meets me in the right order along with you," she turned to look Marion in the eyes, "You know, you haven't changed all that much. Sure the Associate acts a bit more familiar and a bit more confident, but you're still my brilliant Miss Marion," she said that last part with a wink.

Marion might have replied, but then there was a knock on the door.

"It's them," Marion said. She grabbed ahold of a small knob on the side of the console, "this opens the door right Doc?"

The Doctor looked up from where she had been fidgeting with the console and nodded her head.

Marion opened the door and Yaz, Ryan, and Graham walked into the TARDIS.

"Proper goodbye this time," the Doctor asked, not willing to look up from the console.

"About that..." Ryan said.

"Do we have to?" Graham asked, stepping forward, "You see the thing about grief is it needs time. I don't want to sit around my house waiting for it to go away, cos that house is full of Grace and it makes it so much harder. But, er, being with you two and seeing all these things out there, it really helps,"

'I'm going to fail to save Grace.' Marion thought to herself, 'or maybe...maybe I can fake her death somehow? Well, I'll have to try something anyway...or maybe I already tried something and it failed?'

The Doctor moved away from the console and closer to the group, "What about you?"

"Do you really think I want to go back to working in that warehouse?" Ryan shook his head "No way,"

"Yaz, you wanted to come home,"

"I know. I love my family, but they also drive me completely insane. I want more. More of the universe. More time with you. You two are like the best people I've ever met,"

"You're pretty awesome,"

"You're alright I suppose,"

Marion didn't want to dissuade them, god forbid, but she also wanted to make real sure that they knew what they were getting into.

"I can promise that I'll do the best I can to keep you safe, and Question limit be damned if there is something you need to know that's a matter of life and death, I'll tell you. But you've got to understand, even I'm not 100% or what's going to happen next once we flip that lever,"

"We know," Yaz said simply. Marion supposed that she had told them this before. Yet, the Doctor chose to press the point, "Do you? Really? Cos when I pull that lever, we're never quite sure what's going to happen,"

"That's okay," Ryan said.

"You're not going to come back as the same people that left here,"

A small part of Marion wondered if this speech was directed at her as much as it was to them. Marion caught the Doctor's eye and nodded.

"But that's all right. I think that's good," Graham replied.

"Be sure. All of you, be sure," the Doctor said, trying to give the group a chance to back out.

Yaz, Ryan, and Graham all assured the Doctor that they were in fact, positive that this was what they wanted to do.

The Doctor smiled widely, "Look at you. My fam," she scrunched her nose. "No, still doesn't quite work. Team TARDIS? I used to not like that name much, but you know, it is growing on me. How about it, Team TARDIS,"

"I know I like it," Marion said. The Doctor gave Marion a look that said, "You would,"

The rest of the group looked to mull it over for a bit before Yaz said, "We'll take that,"

The Doctor smiled brightly before turning and running towards a large lever. The dematerialization switch or, if you want to be pedantic about it, the parking brake.

"Do you want to do it together?" she asked excitedly, "You too Marion,"

The five of them each put a hand on the lever.

"I love this bit!" the Doctor said with a smile in her eyes. The five of them slammed the lever down and the TARDIS made the telltale grinding noise as the box disappeared from Earth and who knows where.

Perhaps it was the hum of the TARDIS or the rhythmic grinding of the console, but Marion felt incredibly tired. She had eaten some kind of soup made with tomatoes, spice, and some kind of meat that as far as she knew wasn't of earth, but tasted somehow like beef, and the band on her arm showed a cheerful green hue which contrasted greatly with the harsh red hue of the number informing her that sleep was of the essence. As if she needed a number when she had zoned out so hard in the TARDIS showers that she had to stop herself from falling over. She changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and made her way to her room.

Like always, her room was around the corner and to the right on the left side of the wall. Had she been more aware of her surroundings, she might have noticed the fact that the bathroom was in fact, NOT located in the same spatial location as the console room and therefore, her room shouldn't have been in the same relative location relative to both of them.

However, she was too tired to really think too in-depth about this. She just put her hand on the bedroom wall and offered a quick thank you to the TARDIS. She couldn't see where the light the room was coming from, she didn't see any switches.

Too tired to really worry about this, and content to just get down, deep enough in the covers that this wouldn't be a problem, Marion climbed into the bed and under the grey covers. If she hadn't conked out as soon as she soon as her head hit the pillows she would've seen the TARDIS lights dim slowly until there was only a faint light, barely brighter than the light of a full moon.

9 19 20 8 1 20 8 5 18

Marion is back on the path where she had gone on her way to the convenience store. In front of her, she could see herself. It was funny how that happens sometimes in dreams.

25 5 19 4 5 1 18

You knew you were looking at yourself, but you also knew that you were the one looking.

25 15 21 18 5 19 21 18 5

Y our brain do es n't make up faces. It makes sense to see yourself.

25 5 19 4 5 1 18

Marion decides to follow herself walking along the path and after a few seconds, choosing the one leading to the woods. Their shoulders touch briefly as she moves in front of them.

20 8 5 14 20 1 11 5 8 5 18

She follows the dream into the clearing in the middle of the forest. She sees herself take a look around the beautiful forest. It's a lovely place with the cherry blossoms and the dogwood and the sweet smell of the woods in spring. She remembers this, not what happens after.

25 5 19 4 5 1 18

The air behind the her that she's viewing glows orange for a split second to form a rift about 45 degrees to the ground. Through the rift, she sees stars and galaxies. Something like tangible smoke moves from the rift and brushes against Marion's arm.

The Associate watches as Marion turns around but if she sees the rift behind her, she does a convincing job of acting like she doesn't. She ignores the rift and continues moving forward. The smoke makes itself seem just a bit more tangible and the edge of it wraps around her forearm almost like a cuff.

Marion now seems to notice that something is off. She attempts to walk forward but is held in place by the smoke. She looks confused. The Associate wonders if it's because she can feel the smoke, but is unable to see it. Suddenly, the smoke moves swiftly into the rift taking Marion with it.

There is no one in the woods but the Associate. And then she wakes up.

One might say that Marion woke up with a start, but that'd be incorrect. She woke up the way that most people do after a good night's rest. She realized that her eyes were closed, except she wasn't sleeping, and there was an odd feeling in her mouth. She stretched her body out slightly and yawned. She tapped the button on the band twice until it went from dark red to the bright green symbolizing that she wouldn't need sleep for a while yet.

She stuck a foot out from under the warm grey comforter and dragged herself out of bed. Her dream was already slipping away from her mind. 'Something with blue smoke...and was there a forest? I think I heard people talking maybe.' She shook her head. Sometimes, dreams were just dreams.

She made her way to the chest of drawers at the foot of the bed and rummaged through them for something to wear that day. As far as she knew, the show never showed what happened right after team TARDIS flipped the switch, and she wanted to be prepared for everything.

'It's doubtful that we're going to be going anywhere fancy, so it'd be for the best that I grab something comfortable and mobile on the off chance that I've got to do a lot of running. That's not much different from what I normally wear if I'm being frank.' she thought looking through the drawers for something to wear.

She eventually decided on dark grey-colored pants made out of some odd fabric that was thin and soft but seems very sturdy. With it, she wore a chocolate brown mid sleeve of similar material.

She was about to head out the door to say good morning (or whatever time it currently was) when she felt a brush against her arm. She felt that at this point, she knew the drill quite well and knew what was about to happen. So, before she could be sent somewhere else, she grabbed onto her bag and made sure that it was securely over her shoulder. She used the pen to write a quick note letting the gang know that she had left and was sorry that she was unable to properly tell them goodbye before she left and, realizing that that sounded a bit dramatic, added a postscript letting them know that she wasn't about to like, die or something. Feeling the tug get a bit stronger and realizing that she was likely going to be unable to leave her room before she left. She turned the letter into a small airplane, opened the door, and threw it outside.

She thought that she heard the Doctor's voice, but she definitely didn't see anything. The second the note left her hand, the hand in question was grabbed by some unseen force and it pulled her back. She was falling and like she had done many times before, she closed her eyes but not before seeing a glimpse of something blue.

Next Chapter: Sometimes, Pretty Girls Like Sand

Chapter Text

'One of these days' Marion thought, feeling her face slam into the floor, 'I've gotta fall in a way that's more dignified.' She got to her feet, leaned a hand against the wall, and rubbed her nose with the other hand. The gentle hum under her fingertips told her that she was, at the very least, on the TARDIS, but for once not directly in the console room. The TARDIS was a large place, and she didn't want to wander around in it forever, and so, unlike a suburban dad in a minivan, she chose to ask for directions. She placed her hand on the wall and felt the hum getting a bit stronger.

"Hi Honey," she said softly, "could you please show me where the Doctor is. I don't know my way around and I'd hate to get lost."

She felt the hum move slightly, and she followed it with her hand until she came to an open hallway that turned right at the end of it. On the side of the wall, was the door with an M. She decided that she should stop into her room real quick to see if there was anything she needed to grab from the "M" drawer. She didn't want to take too long, so she didn't examine the room for differences. (If she had, she would have noticed no real changes except for what was on the bulletin board). Surprisingly, there wasn't a note in the drawer this time; just a large roll of ace bandages, a couple of door stoppers, a silver-colored pry bar, and some kind weird flash drive-like object with what looked like a magnet in it. Not wanting it anywhere near her phone, she put it in one of her pants pockets. Not seeing anything else in the drawer, she closed it again and left the room, closing the door behind her. She followed and turned the hallway once more until she could see the console room.

"Thanks, Honey," she said to the TARDIS before walking closer to get a better look.

'Oh!' she thought, 'I do go far back in his timeline', recognizing the TARDIS interior as from the Fourth's era.

Instead of a large brown dome dotted with round bits with coral structures and brown grating or a dark blue room lit by blue hexagons and orange crystals, this was a smaller wood-paneled room that, if Marion was honest, looked less like a spaceship and more the waiting room of a chiropractor or the place where you sit in a crowded restaurant while you wait for a table to be available.

The console was smaller too, barely ¼ of the size of the consoles she had been at previously. It didn't have the temporal column or whatever it was called in the center of it, and it looked a bit like a hexagon-shaped end table. To be fair, although, it was the secondary console room, so it made sense that it would be a little bit smaller than the main one.

The control panel for the TARDIS stood atop a small raised platform with thin, copper guardrails along the edge of it, just close enough for a person to hypothetically put their weight on it while still being able to reach the controls.

Marion obviously wasn't along in the control room. The Doctor, the fourth one, leaned over the controls to TARDIS; clearly having to lean slightly due to the shorter height of the console and his large height. Closer to the entrance to the hallway, stood Leela, determinedly making a yoyo go up and down. When Marion walked into the console room proper, the Doctor looked up from what he was doing and gave her a wide smile.

"Hello, Marion! Where'd you run off to? You just said you were going to grab something. You've been gone for a bit. You didn't get lost did you?"

"Sorry Doctor," she said, "that was the Associate. I believe that she jumped away. I've no idea where she went."

"Oh," he said going back to what he had been doing, "where'd you just come from then?"

"Way, way, way, off in your future. I haven't met this version of you yet," she pushed herself up on one of the curved metal guardrails and held onto it with her left hand to keep from falling over "This is the earliest I've been. And also, the third time I've met you, so please, no spoilers!," Marion wagged her finger at him before turning to Leela.

"You can stop yoyoing now if you'd like,"

Leela continued yoyoing, "And I won't die if I let it hit the ground?"

Marion could almost hear a record scratch, 'What one earth is she..,' Marion remembered the metaphor that the Doctor had used when she met his tenth (or eleventh if you could the War Doctor and chose not to think about the Timeless Child), the one with the yoyo.

"Oh...oh no. I think you misunderstood the Associate's metaphor, your life isn't tied to a yoyo dear. A yoyo is just that, a yoyo. A toy."

Leela dropped the toy and it hit the floor with a clatter. "He said, I had to keep it going up and down. And you," she pointed at Marion, "said that when the yoyo hits the ground, you die. I thought it was some kind of magic."

"Magic Leela," the Doctor said his eyes wide, "Magic"

"I know, I know, there's no such thing as magic." Leela sighed as if she'd been told this 100 times already.

"Magic is just a simple way of saying, that you know the what and maybe the how, but there's no way to find the why." Marion said.

"So," Leela said looking at Marion, "explain to me why this TARDIS is able to be larger on the inside than the out."

"The Doctor promised the laws of physics 30 bucks if they would agree to look the other way for a second, and then once he stuffed the interior inside of the exterior, he left before they could change their minds," Marion responded quickly.

"Really?"

"No. You'd have to ask the Doctor how he's able to do this. He's the one who knows how any of this works."

"Doctor?" Leela said, looking at the man.

"Hmm? Oh. I'll show you." He walked to the cabinet just behind the console. "It's because insides and outsides are not in the same dimension."

The Doctor held up two shiny black boxes.

"Which one is larger?"

Leela pointed to the one in the Doctor's left hand.

The Doctor walked towards the two of them placing the larger cube down in the middle of the console as he made his way over. He held up the smaller cube in front of him so that Leela and Marion could see it.

"Now, which is larger."

Leela pointed to the one still on the console. "That one."

"But it looks smaller."

"Well, that's because it's further away," Leela said.

"Exactly. If you could keep that exactly that distance away and have it here, the large one would fit inside the small one."

"That's silly," Leela said.

"That's transdimensional engineering, a key Time Lord discovery."

"Probably discovered by the person who realized that the laws of physics were bribable." Marion joked.

"Hush you," the Doctor said, poking her.

Marion yelped.

Just then, they heard the groaning sound of the TARDIS landing. The Doctor looked up for a moment before rushing to the center console and setting down the cube.

"This is the exciting bit!" he said quickly, fidgeting for the TARDIS controls.

"What's exciting?" Leela asked

"He gets to find out what's outside," Marion answered as the Doctor turned on the monitor. The monitor in this console room looked less like a small tv screen or a scanner, and more like a window into the outdoors. Marion supposed that this was built to look more like a window than the normal tiny tv set. Window or not, the monitor revealed nothing but metal walls.

"I don't...it's metal. We've landed inside something metal." the Doctor said in disbelief. He started to move around the TARDIS, looking at the atmospheric sensors and the like.

"But how can we? How can the TARDIS be inside something metal?" Leela asked, clearly confused.

"The TARDIS just disappears and reappears. When you can do that walls and ceiling aren't even close to being a concern," Marion said.

"Just a box in another box," the Doctor said, walking around the other side of the console to check on something, "I just explained it to you."

"It wasn't very clear,"

"Well, it's a rather dull subject anyway. I wonder where we are?" the Doctor asked, "Marion, where'd we land this time." he said, tugging on his coat.

"You were the one piloting this machine. Are you unable to control it?" Leela asked with a laugh.

"Of course, I can control it," the Doctor said defensively. Marion looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "most of the time anyway."

Marion shrugged and figured there wasn't any harm in telling him. "We're on a desert planet rich in some kind of mineral or metal or something. We landed in a mining rig."

Leela picked up the Tesh weapon.

"You won't need that," the Doctor said quickly, heading towards the door.

"How do you know?" Leela asked, lowering the weapon.

"I never carry weapons. If people see you mean them no harm, they never hurt you."

Leela put the gun on the ground.

"Nine times out of ten." the Doctor said under his breath.

"You really won't need that gun Leela," Marion got real close and pushed herself up slightly to whisper in Leela's ear "definitely keep the knife with you though,"

Marion and Leela followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS.

Right outside the metal walls, the TARDIS could see from the doorway, was a tunnel made of grey stone. The Doctor, Marion, and Leela traveled along down it. At the end of it, not too far from the TARDIS was a metal wall with a rounded square-shaped hole in it, a bit off the floor.

The Doctor was able to step up to the hole with minimal difficulty due to his long legs, but Leela and Marion more or less had to climb slightly. He put his hand against one of the walls and told the two of them that whatever it was, it must store something that comes under some incredible pressure due to how it was scored.

Marion heard the sound of moving sand and a noise that meant that the TARDIS was probably being taken by the large claw.

"Doctor," Leela whispered

"This is all very interesting don't you think?" the Doctor said, seemingly ignoring what she had said.

"Back there I heard something."

'That would be the sound of the TARDIS getting stolen Dear.' Marion thought but didn't say.

At the very end of the hall, were a set of shutters. Through them, they could see the endless expanse of orange sand. Suddenly it hit Marion all at once.

"I'm on an alien planet!" she said, looking out at the sand with her eyes wide.

The Doctor looked at her confused for a moment, "Of course you are Marion. I thought you said that you traveled with me before."

"Yes. But both those times were on Earth not even in the distant past or future or anything. Just normal 21st century earth. I've never been on an actual alien planet. Honestly, I've barely left the US except for in the Summer of '18."

"What is that out there then?" Leela asked. Marion could see a smile on her face as she looked out into the sandy sea. Marion didn't know what appealed to Leela about the desert seeing as Marion herself preferred the coasts and pretty forest of her youth. (She did know that Leela had a very nice smile but that wasn't the point.)

"It's a dessert. A lot of sun mixed a lack of moisture. Scorching during the day and freezing during the night."

"Where are all the trees?" Leela asked.

"There's no water, so nothing grows. Nothing at all, by the look of it." the Doctor explained looking out into the orange expanse.

"It's beautiful," Leela said with a sigh.

"Bit garish for my taste."

"I'm glad that at least you like it. What I don't like is that sandstorm over the horizon," Marion said pointing through the shuttle.

The Doctor squinted to look where Marion was pointing and then paled,

"Come on, let's get out of here. Come on! This is a sand miner. We're in one of the scoops."

"What does that mean?" Leela asked.

"The storm could be traveling at a thousand miles an hour. The sand will cut us to pieces unless we get back to the TARDIS. Come on!" the Doctor shouting, turning away from the shutters and heading back down the way they came.

"Good News and Bad News, the Bad News is that the TARDIS has been stolen," Marion called finished her statement just as the Doctor made it back to the hopper where he had parked.

The Doctor looked around in confusion, "You're right! It's gone,"

"I told you that I heard something!" Leela said.

"Marion! Why didn't you say something! If there isn't a manual control on the shutter then we'll be killed." the Doctor raced back towards the shutters and looked all over it for a switch or a lever, or a button of some kind.

"That's the good news. Watch,"

Right as Marion said this, the shutters closed shut keeping the sand from flying into the tunnel and ripping them to shreds. If she was being honest, a small part of her had been terrified that she would be wrong. That for some reason, the shutters would stay open and they'd all die. If she was being less honest, she'd say "Told ya!" and smile as if she hadn't been scratching her head for reasons other than the sand.

"Told ya!" Marion said to the Doctor and Leela, "the people running this rig figured out something was in the scooper and closed the shutters."

Leela ran back to the hopper that they had come from followed by the Doctor and Marion who followed slowly behind them. Marion could hear the sound of the sandstorm outside roaring and it made it hard for her to make out what Leela was saying.

"-RDIS is, Marion?"

"What?"

Marion got closer.

"Sorry, could you repeat that Doctor?"

"Do you know where the TARDIS is Marion?"

"I'm not 100% sure and I don't want to send us on a wild goose chase. We'll find it though!"

Leela must have noticed something out of the corner of her eye because she quickly turned around.

"Watch it!" she called to them.

From the tunnel they had just come from, came two figures. They were about an inch or so shorter than the Doctor and much, much taller than Marion. They were a very, very desaturated green color and looked like their design reminded Marion of a higher budget animatronic at a science museum. The kind that was expensive, looked pretty cool and was in an almost constant state of being surrounded by a white curtain labeled "Out of Order. Under Repair,". V17 and D84 were written on their chests in white letters. The robots got closer and closer to them until one of them, D84, was chest to chest with the Doctor.

'Oh right.' Marion thought 'These episodes had green killer robots in them.' Then she blinked,

'These episodes had green killer robots.'

"You will come with us," V9 said in a way that wasn't a question at all.

"Okay."

The two robots led the group into a corridor leading to a crew cabin with V9 leading the way and D84 keeping up the rear; likely to make sure that the three of them didn't try something funny like making a break for it.

"How do you know they're not hostile?" Leela asked.

"Because robots are programmed to help people, not hurt them." the Doctor said stepping up into the room they'd been led to. "You won't hurt us, will you?" the Doctor asked V9.

V9 ignored the question, "Please wait here." he said before walking out the door. The door slid closed behind them.

"And even if, say, hypothetically they were, in fact, hostile robots. It would be a bad idea to let them know that we know that they are hostile robots." Marion said, plopping down on a couch that looked like it was made of layers and layers of rolled bread dough and speaking in a very soft voice knowing that V9 was listening from behind the door.

The Doctor crouched down so that he was eye level with her on the couch, "And, is that in fact, a hypothetical?" he whispered.

"Hypothetically? No." she whispered back.

Leela had been drawn towards a table covered in different odds and ends.

"It's for mineral extraction. It's like when you sift a bucket through the sand looking for seashells 'cept, instead of seashells, they're looking for some kind of valuable mineral. Like I- nevermind,"

At first, Marion was about to say, "Like I said on the TARDIS" but then she remembered that V9 was behind the door listening in.

"But those creepy mechanical men…" Leela began.

"I don't think they're that creepy. Whoever designed them did well to ensure they looked human enough to be familiar, but not so human that they were hard to look at."

"I've seen a similar sort of thing on Korlano Beta," the Doctor said walking away from the door. "The mine passes over the surface searching for useful ores. Naturally, the heavier elements tend to sink into the substratas, so a really good sandstorm is a bonus. It stirs things up a bit."

"Sometimes you talk like a Tesh." Leela said from where she had joined Marion on the couch.

"Thank you."

"It was not well-meant. Are the mechanical men friendly?"

"Robots don't have feelings. It's the people they serve we must hope are friendly," the Doctor examined the table for clues and the like

"I wouldn't say robots don't have feelings, Doctor. You might turn out to be wrong and offend one."

"Is that a spoiler, Marion?" the Doctor asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Maybe there are no people here," Leela said in a low voice.

"What? Robots don't need chairs, and certainly not padded ones."

"Because they have no feelings?" Leela said with a smile.

Just then, the door to the room that they were in opened and a robot walked into. This one looked just like the others only instead of being green, this one was silver. It made Marion wonder if perhaps they were made of some kind of copper adjacent metal that tarnishes easily and that this one was new. She also wondered if this robot was the real robot or the one that was a dude in a robot suit.

"Please identify yourselves." the robot said in an even voice.

"I'm the Doctor," said the Doctor, "and that's Marion," Marion did a little wave, "and Leela. I wonder if it's possible for us to speak to the person in charge? I'd like to thank him for saving our lives."

"I command."

"Well, thank you for saving our lives."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well, the other mechanical man told us to wait," Leela said.

"What were you doing in the scoop?"

"Trying to get out of the scoop and leave," Marion responded.

Marion could now see the robot's name as he moved closer to the exit,

"Please wait here," the robot, SV-7 said and then he left.

"Talkative," Leela commented. The Doctor waited until the doors were properly closed before getting to his feet and heading towards the door. Marion followed after him.

"No. He said we must wait here." Leela said, attempting to stop them.

The Doctor sonicked open the door and then he and Marion looked left and right down the corridor.

"First we find the TARDIS, then we have a little scout round, and we'll be back before they know." the Doctor whispered and began to walk away, looking around to see if anyone was nearby.

"It's best that for the time being, we stick together, Leela," Marion said with a shrug and followed after him.

"Doctor! Marion!" Leela said. She hesitated, and then followed after them, holding a knife in one hand.

They walked down a corridor covered in what were either thick pipes or support columns (although based on their presence on the ceiling and walls, they were probably both). The floor was some kind of off-white linoleum like material and the walls were mostly a tan color except for dark grey horizontal stripes. Marion wondered how the hell she was going to be able to save some of these people. 'They already are going to think that we're murderers and if I come around warning that people are going to die and knowing things that, as far as they know, only a killer would...well that's going to make things a little sticky. '

At a certain point, Marion glanced behind her to find that Leela turning around to look through a door. Marion decided to follow her.

'The Doctor'll be fine without me.' she thought. "He's got that metal straw and I don't think I've done anything that could make the Robots more hostile than usual. They'll get him out of the hopper just fine. I want to go with Leela,"

She turned around and walked through the blue doorway into the storage room after her. The storage room was mostly full of blue industrial shelves with crates and plastic jugs that were just translucent enough for Marion to tell that they contained something, but not enough that she had any idea what was inside of it. Marion waved to let Leela know she was there. The two of them crept silently through the room until Leela brushed against a mint green sheet of fabric while trying to examine something on the shelves which made it make a crinkling noise. Leela gestured towards herself, the plastic, the room as a whole, and at Marion.

Marion's highschool might've gone back on its promise to teach ASL for all four years, but that didn't mean that she didn't know what was being told to her. Leela was going to check out the plastic sheet and she wanted Marion to keep watch. Simple enough.

Marion kept her eyes out for approaching robots. The great thing about this task was that it made it so Marion did NOT have to look at a dead body. In Marion's humble opinion, any plan that made it so she had to spend as little time looking at a corpse as possible was in fact, a good plan. An ideal one in fact. Any good "Plan A", she thought, would allow her to look at 0 cadavers. (This is why Marion despite her love for Forensic science and good grades in the class in high school, she had not even considered any kind of job where those skills would have use.)

Marion heard the sound of the plastic moving and knew that Leela must be now seeing the body.

'If my timing is right, the robots should be coming back in about 60 or so seconds.'

"Leela, would you mind covering the poor man up again, the robots are about to come to pick him up and I don't think that him being exposed will go unnoticed," she whispered.

Leela covered the man back up and the two of them hid behind shelves. It would have been very easy to find them if the robots had been properly looking for the two of them. Fortunately, the Robots were more concerned with moving the man's body elsewhere, and so it was quite easy for the two women to hide unnoticed.

When the Robots left the room, the two of them stood up and out of their hiding place.

'I think I must've stood up a bit too fast.' thought to herself. She blinked for a bit, waiting for her vision to return to normal. After a moment, it did and she and Leela snuck out of the room to see where the robots were going. The robots continued down the hall and turned a corner. Leela put her back against the wall and leaned to look down the corridor still holding a knife. She grabbed Marion's hand and the two of them continued down the hall.

They lost track of the robots, and so they made their way back to the room where they were supposed to be the whole time. Leela let go of Marion's hand and walked slowly into the room.

"Doctor!" she called out.

"He's not here. He's fine though." Marion said. She wasn't 100 how she knew this fact or why she was so confident in it. All she really knew was that it was a fact and that she was sure that he was okay. Well, about as okay a person could be in the current situation.

Marion and Leela saw the curtains rustle from what Marion knew was another dead crewmember. She tried to wrack her brain to see if there was anything she could have done that would have helped him, but try as she might, she couldn't think of anything.

'Best to spend more time fretting over what you could've done then what you couldn't've I suppose.' she thought to herself.

"You were right about them being hostile Marion. You saw the robots move the bodies to a different place. Yes."

'And there's another body in here.' she thought. She didn't say it aloud because she wasn't sure of how close D84 was. Leela pulled back the curtain and recoiled. The man, Cass, if Marion was remembering right, had been propped up behind the curtain, and slumped over like a child's doll.

They heard the door open and both turned away from the body and towards the large, green, robot now standing in the middle of the room.

'Christ, I was listening for him and didn't even see him approach.'

For a couple of seconds, none of them moved or said anything. Leela brought out her knife and held her hand out as if to push it away if it got too close. Marion, knowing that the robot was unlikely to hurt them, took a breath in hopes of maintaining a calm composure as it walked slowly over to them.

Leela attempted to lunge at the robot. It grabbed her knife arm and held it out away from her while putting a hand over her mouth. Marion took a step backward and held up in hands in a way that she hoped suggested, "I am not a threat. Don't hurt me."

"Please do not cry out. It is important that I am not found here." D84 said.

"Obviously," Leela said, her voice muffled.

"You're holding my friend hostage at the moment and if you wanted to kill us you'd've done it already, so we'll be quiet." Marion quickly said. As far as she knew D84 was a pretty chill robot, and she didn't feel the need to call attention to him.

"Your friend is correct," the robot said, "if I had killed that man, would I not have killed the two of you as well?" He moved his hand away from Leela's mouth.

Marion held out her hand to the robot. "Well, since you're apparently not going to kill us. It's ever so nice to meet you. I'm Marion."

D84 looked down at her, and then at her outstretched hand, and shook it.

"Enough introductions Marion." Leela turned to look at the robot, "Explain what you're doing here"

"You have not explained what you were doing here."

"Oh, well I was looking for the Doc-" she stopped herself, "I don't have to explain anything to you. You're just a mechanical man. You're not real."

"That's a bit rude Leela," Marion said, "we didn't mean to be here, we just got rather lost."

"That doesn't explain how you got on this Sandminer,"

"Like I said, very lost,"

"You were found in the scoop deck of a Sandminer an otherwise uninhabited planet"

"Very, very lost."

Marion was pretty sure that if the robot had been given the capability to do so, it would have blinked slowly at her in confusion.

Instead, it reached down and grabbed the hand of Cass's body. The ones with the red marker on it.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked.

'Yes'

"No"

"No, not at all."

D84 moved from the higher deck near the corpse.

"I must ask. I must ask that you tell no one about me," he said walking closer towards them.

'Ohhh. He's asking because if he was found to be able to talk, they'd probably put one of those markers on him wouldn't they,' Marion realized.

"I won't tell," Marion said.

"Is there anyone left alive to tell?" Leela asked.

Suddenly, hearing the Captain approach the room, D84 grabbed both of their arms and if possible, his posture and mannerisms went from human people with minimal visible emotion to actual machines.

"Oh," the Captain, Uvanov said slowly, "we caught two of them."

'Wow!' Marion thought seeing him walk into the room, 'it's like someone looked at traditional Gallifreyan robes and thought "how can I make this worse?".'

Next Chapter: Does This Look Like The Face Of A Killer?

Chapter Text

There is a fine line between high fashion and clownery and all the Commander needed was a red nose. Maybe, on another person, that robe and hat would look okay, but it made the Commander look like a rejected Emerald City background character.

Marion, of course, didn't say that. He looked away from her and Leela and noticed Cass's dead body in the alcove. He walked towards it and pressed his finger to feel the man's pulse. The Commander turned to them and walked down the stairs to them.

"But not soon enough!" He slapped Leela and might've gone to slap Marion if Leela hadn't kicked him hard enough to send him onto the couch.

"We didn't kill him. Ask this thing." Leela said, gesturing to D84.

"He can't ask him, Leela, the robot can't talk, remember," Marion pointedly.

"Who are you!"

"I'm Marion and this is Leela, and you are...," Marion said, gesturing with the hand that wasn't held in place by a robot.

This brought the Commander's attention to her. He got very, very, close to her face

"Why did you kill him!"

"Easy, we didn't."

"Why did you kill him!", the man demanded again, louder.

"We didn't!"

"Tell him!" Leela commanded D84.

"That is a single function labour robot, D class. D for dumb. It can't speak."

"Has anyone told him that?" Leela said sarcastically. D84 squeezed their arms tighter for a moment.

"You have cost me and the company a great deal of money and you have killed three people. Can you think of any good reason why I should not have you executed on the spot?"

'Christ, Not a fan of how he seems too put the company and money above his workers. Not that I'm surprised. I hope it's just him who's like this and not the majority of business folk in the future. I wonder if he'd speak that way if there was a representative from the company.'

Marion suddenly got an idea, an idea that would fix a few problems if it worked, and cause several problems if it didn't.

"Yes. I've got a reason, would you mind if I retrieve it.?", she slowly and deliberately, reached into her blue bag with the hand that wasn't being held by a robot and felt around for the ID case with the psychic paper.

This plan of hers involved a couple of what Marion assumed were safe gambles The first was that neither Commander Uvanov nor his crew could see the paper for what it was. The second was that the Robots had jammed communications so that confirming their identities was impossible.

Then, there were the riskier bits of this plan the main one being that Marion was only about 75% sure that she knew how to actually use psychic paper and if she messed up then it would only make them more suspicious.

From what she remembered, you just had to make sure that while you were showing it off, you had convinced yourself that you weren't lying at all and that everything was perfectly legit. It was a bit like rolling persuasion check with advantage using an item that the DM had forgotten about until you mentioned it.

Marion was very, very, good at sounding like she knew what she was talking about and making shit up as she went along. As long as the paper didn't go on the fritz and D84 didn't suddenly decide he wanted to talk around the crewmembers, she would be able to get away with this.

Probably.

Perhaps it would be much safer to simply go with the flow but, if she already had them trusting her, Leela and the Doctor, well, it'd be a hell of a lot easier to get them to stop being stupid and to get to safety right?

The Commander got closer to her as if ready to snatch the weapon out of her hand should she pull one out and seemed confused until she maneuvered a leather wallet like thing open with one hand and held it out to him.

"Sorry I didn't pull this out, to begin with Commander Uvanov. This was supposed to be a surprise and I wanted to see how far you'd go with this. I'm Marion Henson and this is my Colleague Leela."

"Inspectors from the company?" the Commander asked, astonished.

'Sure, let's go with that,'

She turned the paper where Leela could see it and made it say, 'Just go with it!' before closing it and putting it back in her bag in case her thoughts wandered.

"We came here to do a random inspection into the facility you know, making sure everything is clean, professional, productive, and stuff like that. Oh and also that the amount of mineral that you're finding is the amount that you're reporting. That's also important. I'd appreciate it if you'd ask D84 to unhand us."

The character Marion was playing was simple. A diligent if not slightly scatterbrained bureaucrat.

"Let them go," Uvanov said quickly, his attitude changing entirely, "Why were you found in the scoop. You should've said something earlier. If we'd have known you were comin-."

Marion interrupted him. "Well, we didn't mean to be in the scoop. The boys at the transmat got the coordinates a bit wrong. We landed a bit west of where we intended to be. We wanted to start the inspection by seeing how well your security was and you know how it is." Marion shrugged, "Honestly, you were doing rather well until my colleagues were able to sneak out of this room unnoticed, you really must make sure to keep a robot trained on suspicious individuals that you find. Then we found a dead body here. And what was that accusation? Are there three dead bodies?" Marion clicked her tongue, "I'll be honest. That's not going to look pretty on the report. What do you think, Leela?"

"Your security here is very lax," Leela said, realizing what Marion was trying to do.

Marion pointed to the robot that had been holding them, "Although this lad did make an attempt to detain us until you could arrive so that does account for something I think."

A man ran into the room.

"We've caught one of the killers. Seems he killed Kerril," he noticed Cass' body, "Where these two working with him?,"

"No, no, Poul. These two are from the company. They're doing some kind of inspection of the Sandminer,"

Poul looked skeptical until. Marion flashed the psychic paper at him just long enough for him to catch a glimpse of what he hopefully saw as a professional and legitimate-looking ID. The whole psychic paper business, Marion quickly found, was just social engineering with a tool to add credibility. It was a bit like a smart suit and a clipboard except more powerful.

"Sorry for the surprise. Part of the inspection was testing how well you were finding intruders before they could cause any sabotage. Being able to get a preliminary look-see before drawing attention to ourselves was an added bonus. We tried to dress like somewhat suspicious individuals" Marion gestured towards Leela, "that bit was her idea. She is a security advisor after all,"

She turned back to Poul, "But enough about that, what is this I hear about a murder? And four apparently? And you've found the culprit you say?" Marion said, pretending as though she didn't know exactly who they were talking about.

"They're taking him to the crew room now."

"Understood,"

Poul lifted the hand of Cass to show the red marker on the back of their hand.

"Why do you think that he uses these,"

"And those are..." Marion asked walking a bit closer to fill the role of a curious bureaucrat that her choices had led her to assume the role of.

"Robot deactivation discs. There was one on Kerril, too."

"Hmm, interesting, interesting. Well, take us to the crew room then."

The crew room was, fortunately, not too far from the cabin which gave Marion time to rehearse what she was going to say when she got there. Probably something to signal to the Doctor what the current plan was.

As they approached the door, it slid open allowing them through. Poul was at the front with Marion and Leela behind him with D84 taking the rear.

Marion walked towards the Doctor, "Is this the 'killer' you were talking about?" she asked. She knew the answer of course, but part of her the roll she was assuming was of one who didn't.

"Yes, Inspector Henson. He was found in the hopper with the dead body of one of the crewmembers.," Poul said.

"Inspector?" the Doctor mouthed in confusion looking at Marion. Marion made an exaggerated sigh and turned to the Poul.

"Well, you'd better keep looking then. This man is the Doctor, my other colleague. We split up. He was trying to see how far into the facility he could get before you noticed. You found him soon enough I see. That will be a positive point in your review, although there is the matter of there apparently still being a killer on the loose. Not to worry, you all put your heads together and we'll figure out who did it and I can add that as a big bonus to you lot in my report,"

Marion wondered if her excessive mentioning of reports and reviews was getting to be a bit too much.

"Who exactly are you," Borg asked.

"Sorry, sorry," Marion fished the paper out of her bag, "I'm Inspector Marion Henson, these are my colleagues Security Advisor Leela and our maintenance expert the Doctor." She held it out long enough to be seen, but not so long that there was concern that someone might see through it.

"We're here to make sure that everything is running in tip-top shape, you know, no health and safety concerns, proper productivity, honest reporting, that sort of thing. We didn't announce ourselves because we wanted to check out your security and make sure that everything was up to snuff as it were. You caught us rather quickly at first although we were able to leave the designated room. Then again, your security team did find us before we could put chalk on the walls or anything like that. I'd probably give you a near-perfect score if it weren't for, you know..." she spun her wrist in a motion universally meaning, "all this."

"Rather poor timing," Zilda commented, "all this happening just as the company was doing inspections,"

"Yes, rather poor indeed," someone else responded.

"Are you sure that he didn't kill them?" Borg said, pointing at the Doctor.

"No, I didn't I just found the body,"

"Maybe you were hiding the body and got trapped when the hopper turned on!"

"I wasn't hiding that body, I was finding it, and I'd say it was put there for precisely that reason. Someone wanted to kill me, too."

"But why would someone want to kill you?" Zilda asked.

"They are conducting an inspection. Perhaps there was something that someone else didn't want to be found out," Marion noticed Poul glancing towards Uvanov as he said that.

"I wonder why now of all times the company is conducting inspections,"

"Who knows?" Marion shrugged, "We don't get paid to ask questions,"

"Well," the Doctor said, "we do, but not questions to the company, questions to the people we're investigating. Speaking on which, when did the murders start happening."

"A few hours ago, right before you three showed up. We thought that you were responsible."

"Maybe it was him," Poul said, pointing to Borg, "he did mark Cass for death,"

"And what do you mean by that?" Marion asked. She knew what it meant, but wanted to ensure that the crew would think that she had gotten her information from them.

"He did put a corpse marker on him."

"The red deactivation disks? Yes, I did remember seeing one on the body we found in the crew room, did all the bodies have one on them?"

"Yes, they did,"

"Interesting,"

"I didn't kill him," Borg rushing towards her, "I swear I didn't."

"I think I believe you," Marion said holding her hands up, "Well, this doesn't fall completely in our jurisdiction, but my colleagues and I are willing to help you investigate. Right Doctor? Leela?"

"Yes of course,"

"Yes. I will help find the one who killed your friends,"

Marion walked towards the door, "Well come on, we have some investigating to do," she suddenly remembered something, "Poul, Zilda, I'd very much appreciate it if you could come with us. We've still got normal inspection things to conduct after all. Everyone else, stay here please!"

The five of them left the room.

"So, where did you find the first body?" the Doctor asked Poul,

"In the storage room, here."

They turned into the room where Leela and Marion had been earlier when they saw the men under the plastic sheet being carried away by the two Robots.

"Tell me about what happened you two. What was the victim's name?," Marion said softly.

"His name was Chub, a government meteorologist. I don't know much about him, he wasn't part of the team." Poul said.

"He came to study this planet's storms," said Zilda.

"Who found him?" the Doctor asked,

"I did," said Poul, "I heard him scream. I came looking. It was odd, that because he was strangled like the others."

"That means that he couldn't have been caught by surprise. You can't scream while you're being strangled, you don't have enough oxygen." Marion

"Which means that whoever killed him was strong. Too strong for him to resist."

"What was he doing in this room?" Leela asked.

"There was a sandstorm coming. He went to get some instruments for one of his weather balloons," Zilda explained.

"And he was found lying here?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, I found him on the floor over there," said Poul, pointing to an area near the shelves.

The Doctor pointed to one of the shelves, "Is that one of his packages?" he asked pointing to a series of crates closed with black tape.

"I think so," Poul moved to look close, "Yes, yes it is."

"Good now, imagine that you're Chub and there's a storm coming up. Pass me one of those packages."

Poul reached for one the crates and found that, to his confusion, the box wouldn't move. "It seems to be stuck," He yanked at it like a highschooler trying to open the (locked) door to his 4th period Math Class before he got caught in the hall out of class and ended up in ISS for tardiness. But all he managed to do was make Marion warily look at the shelf to make sure that it had been properly bolted to the wall. Poul turned back to the Doctor, "It must be jammed at the back."

Marion put her hands together, "So let's say that you're Chub. You've got no idea how long this storm is going to last, and are in a hurry. You need to get these instruments out and they won't budge. What do you do?"

"Well, I'd," Poul's eyes widened in realization, "I'd call for a robot. Surely you aren't suggesting..."

Zilda spoke up, "Do you remember what Chub told us about earlier, the Voc from Kaldor city? The one that tore a man's arm off?" she turned to them, "Do you seriously think that the robots are behind this?"

Marion nodded. "It's the only explanation,"

The group left the storage closet and made their way back to the crew room. As they walked, the Doctor walked slightly slower so that he can Marion could talk.

"So, it really wasn't just a hypothetical, was it? The robots being hostile?" he whispered.

"No. No, it wasn't." she replied, "Let me tell you, this investigation process is a whole lot easier since as far as they know, we're here for company business and aren't you know, murderers. Makes keeping people safe a hell of a lot simpler,"

"Ah! So that's what happened in your Omega Timeline then?" It must have been obvious by the look on her face that Marion had absolutely no idea what the Doctor was talking about.

"A person's Omega Timeline is the timeline where they don't exist; the absence of a person's influence in the world. It's the timeline that you saw when you were young."

'Ah. Another one of the many, many, half-truths that the Associate told the Doctor in the event that I slip up and tell him he's from a TV show. Got it.'

"Oh right! That. Yeah. Also, in the Omega Timeline, Zilda would be getting killed by a robot right now. That's why I asked her to come with it. At least for right now, I don't think they'll come after people who are in groups with other people. Speaking of Zilda...," Marion looked around the room. "Where, is she?"

She stopped whispering, "Poul? Where's Zilda? Do you know where she went?"

"While you and the Doctor were talking, she went off somewhere."

"Well. Shoot,"

"That's fine!" Marion said, taking a deep breath and trying to hide the fact that this was in fact NOT fine. It was about as fine a shattered glass window, "You could probably help me anyway. Mechanics and such are the Doctor's whole business. I still have my other jobs to do. Could you direct me to Uvanov's quarters? I'm supposed to check each of the crew's rooms for doctored datasheets and the like,"

"Datasheets?" she saw the Doctor mouth to her.

Marion glared at him.

"I've got to go by the control room to let them know what happened. It's on the way, I can show you," Poul said. Marion guessed that he was far too shaken by the thought of killer robots to see that the finer details Marion's fake identity was about as well put together as an IKEA wardrobe put together by a person who doesn't believe in using screws.

"Thanks!"

Poul and Marion left, leaving Leela and the Doctor in the crew room.

'The robots won't attack people who are together yet.' she repeated like a mantra in her head. She had no proof of this, but it was a comforting thought that she chose to hold onto.

"It's down that hall there," Poul said pointing.

"Thank You. Your helpfulness will be noted,"

And the two of them parted ways.

Marion walked down the hallway in question for a bit until she came across a hallway that looked familiar from what she saw in the show.

"Are you authorized to be in this hallway?" the familiar mechanical voice of the robot said.

Marion froze. 'Please be D84, Please be D84, Please be D84,' she thought before turning around to see who was talking.

'Son of a fuck!'

The letters on the robot's chest, unfortunately, said V45, not D84. IThe robot who from what she remembered, had been sent to kill Zilda. He was even holding a deactivation disk in hand. Marion glanced at it and hoped that V45 didn't notice her doing so.

Suddenly, a huge downside to the plan she had come up with flashed through Marion's mind like when a teenager gets home from school, takes out their calculator, and realizes, to their horror, it was in radian mode when they took their Trig midterm.

In another world, there are two trespassers found in the sandminer. They have no identification, and due to their appearance coinciding with the deaths of some of the crew members, they are deemed as suspicious by some and murders by most.

The robots and their leader do not attempt to kill the two humans until their plan is unfortunately discovered. After all, humans find it much easier to believe that the murderer is a fellow human than a robot that shouldn't be able to harm them and even easier to believe that it's an outsider that they don't know. As long as these two intruders are up and about, the robots are free from suspicion. Why would ANYONE suspect a diligent and obedient robot over two strange individuals that came from nowhere?

However, this is not another world.

In this world, there are three individuals found in the sandminer. One of them is able to produce legitimate-looking identification that suggests that she and her colleagues were sent by the company for investigation and inspection purposes. Of course, (as far as the robots know) they are not here to investigate the robots exactly but it's not out of the question that they might find something as they sniff about.

In other words, while in another world, the surprise guests are an opportunity. In this one, they are a threat.

This is not something that Marion considered when she first made her plan. The only thing that she considered was the fact that her plan would make moving around and saving people like Zilda easier.

"Oh. I was just here to check to make sure the numbers are in order. I don't think the company is going to be willing to excuse a lack of proper paperwork just because of some unpleasantness brewing you know?" she said quickly. Attempting to put some distance between her and the robot. The robot moved closer to her.

"You are in the wrong hallway. Shall I escort you?"

Marion weighed the pros and cons of staying here or following the murder robot.

'If I leave with the Robot, it'll be away from Zilda but the Robot might strangle me. If I stay, the Robot might also strangle me. Hmm'

Marion was too busy thinking that she didn't notice the robot getting closer and closer and closer to her until her point no longer mattered. It was like in a telltale game where if you take too long to pick an option, the game picks for you and picks the one that ends with you not saying anything and getting strangled by a robot.

Marion didn't even have time to scream before metallic hands were clenched around her throat and lifting her off her feet. She could feel her heart pumping in her ears and her chest pounding. Even knowing it was useless, she tried to kick at the robot but she didn't have the leverage to do so.

Her vision started to blackout and as it did, heard something that she hadn't since she was falling from the cathedral.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Like a mechanical heartbeat. The noise got louder and louder until her vision went completely dark and she felt herself hit the floor.

9 4 9 15 20

Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.

It had never been harder in Marion's life to not cough. Instead, she focused on breathing through her nose. She didn't want the robot to know she was alive and try again. She was alive and able to make, what she figured might be a controversial statement is some circles: getting strangled sucked.

It didn't take long for her to feel her breathing become more even. Her headache has receded. The soreness of her throat receded and all that remained was the pounding of her heart and the corpse marker on her hand. She dropped it on the ground. Right now it wasn't safe for the living to go carry those about with her. That was when she realized that the door to Uvanov's cabin was open.

She could hear Zilda crying.

"You filthy murderer!" she screamed.

Zilda must've read about her brother's death.

Marion stood up and looked inside the cabin. The robot's back was to her and it had no reason to think that she was still among the living. Marion quietly snuck into the cabin. The robot was getting closer and closer and closer to Zilda and Zilda didn't seem to notice.

"Zilda!" she shouted, "look out!"

Both Zilda and the robot turned to look at her. Marion grabbed Zilda's arm and put herself in between the V25 and Zilda.

"Run ZILDA! GET HELP." Marion said in a tone that brooked no argument. Zilda, noticing the corpse marker in the robot's hand, ran. She heard the sound of quick-moving footsteps fading away and Marion stood facing the robot.

'I've got to keep it from running at Zilda. This robot can't do much other than strangle me and if he does that, I'll just get back up again!.'

Marion ran at the Robot. What she assumed was going to happen, was that she would run into the mechanical man, be stopped, and, in all likelihood, be strangled once again.

The robot reached out for her and, on reflex, she grabbed his wrist. It was like she was nine and taking classes again.

She held onto the robot's arm, and pivoted on her foot to the side, and attempted to pull him over her shoulder. The robot was incredibly heavy and for a moment, Marion felt a sharp pain in her arm. The pain quickly subsided in a way that reminded Marion of how her neck had stopped being sore after the clocked stopped ticking in reverse and she didn't feel like she was lifting anything at all. It was like someone had flipped a switch. The robot slammed into the ground with a thud and Marion attempted to do the thing that you are supposed to do after you slam an opponent to the ground; twist their arm a little.

Marion had done this a few times in practice, but her teacher never taught her what to do in the event that the arm in question twisted off. (This isn't because he was a bad teacher mind you, it just never came up in the lesson plan.) This arm twistedly tore off in a way that Marion that looked less like the result of taking away a Barbie's limb and more like something had gone wrong. It looked like the metal had been ripped. Marion didn't think she had been pulling that hard? Had she? Perhaps the robot was poorly made?

'Wait, I've had this thought before.'

She remembered the door in the lab that seemed to kick open like a bathroom stall door and the way she, a 5'1" woman managed to carry the deadweight of a 6 foot tall man wrapped in web with relative ease; and now, how she twisted off the metal arm of a robot like was nothing!

She slammed the doorstop point first into the robot's head with her foot. It sparked for a second, and she could hear the sound of footsteps charging into the room.

She imagined that it must look like quite the sight. A destroyed robot in front of her missing an arm and her loosely holding the missing arm in her left hand. In came Poul Uvanov, and Zilda.

"Inspector Henson! You're okay!"

"That robot sure isn't," Marion said, attempting to lighten to mood. Marion guessed that she had been afraid she'd left someone for dead like Uvanovhad done to her brother.

"Inspector, if you hadn't been here, I might have died! Why were you here in the first place."

"I was checking to make sure that all the crew's paperwork was in order and there wasn't any discrepancies. Just luck that I chose to check out Uvanov's paperwork first."

'Was that the story that I told Poul earlier? God, I hope so.'

"Zilda!" Poul shouted, "what happened."

"The Inspector said that the robots were killing people and she's right! That one", she pointed at the robot on the floor of the cabin, "came at me with a corpse marker ready to strangle me. If she hadn't gotten my attention and distracted it there might've been a fifth dead crewmember"

'No might've about it.'

"Rather interesting isn't it, that when the two of them tried to investigate your office, a robot tried to kill them. Especially when Zilda was just talking on the intercom about how she had apparently found something terrible" Poul said, turning on Uvanov.

"What are you suggesting?"Uvanov asked,

"I'm suggesting that you had something to do with this."

"Don't be a fool. Get out of my way." he went to leave and hit the back of the neck by Poul, knocking him out.

"God man! Did you have to do that?" said Marion.

Marion made her way back into the crew room still holding the arm in her hand. She just hadn't thought to let it go.

The Doctor ran up to her? "Marion! Are you alright? What happened to your neck?" he said looking her over.

"It's fine Doctor, surely you know that I beat death at a game of Tic-Tac-Toe back in grade school and can't be-"

Marion realized what he had said, "Sorry, what about my neck?"

The Doctor handed her a small mirror from inside his coat. Around her neck were what looked like- what were the imprints from a hand grasping her throat.

"Hope that those three didn't notice." she thought.

"I'm sorry Marion. It didn't occur to me that you hadn't gotten that yet. Every Marion I've met had it. I thought that you'd gotten it earlier in your timeline and were just covering it up with something like you always do."

Marion examined her neck, "Well, I am going to have to cover this up eventually. It's certainly a look though. I'll give it that much." Marion held up the limb "I disarmed the other guy,"

The Doctor put his head in his hands, "Well, you can't have been shaken up that bad if you're making jokes like that."

Marion put the arm in her bag. Marion didn't know what circumstances would lead to her needing a detached robotic arm, but like she hadn't learned from girl scouts, always be prepared. The Doctor sat back down on the bench he had been sitting on when Marion had walked in.

Leela suddenly looked around as if hearing something.

"Doctor? Marion? Something's wrong."

"That's true."

Leela walked around the room as if trying to find the source of the issue.

"No. There's something different. Something that could destroy us all."

"You're letting your imagination run away with you." the Doctor said through his hands.

"Can't you feel it, Doctor"

"No, I can't. By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." he said from behind his hands, sounding frustrated, "No, I can't, and neither can you."

Marion sat on the couch and braced herself as the whole Sandminer pitched and sent everyone sideways.

The Doctor got up from the floor where he had fallen.

"Please don't say I told you so,"

"Did you know that human beings are very good at recognizing patterns and unusual changes in said patterns. It's a feature leftover from hunter-gather days when being able to notice a predator in the bushes was a matter of life and death. Considering her background, Leela is likely very, very good at it." Marion reminded, "When it comes to her sensing danger, it'd be in your best interest to listen to her. Just a tip from me to you."

"What happened?" Leela asked,

"The sandminer pitched off a small cliff. You probably felt us wobble a bit before we fell."

"Then let's go to the main deck and see what's wrong." said the Doctor, leaving the room.

Marion leaned towards Leela and whispered conspiratorily, "He's probably a bit embarrassed."

And they two women followed after him to the control room.

(Next Chapter: Insert Joke About Connor From Cyberlife)

Chapter Text

By now, the three of them knew the way to the control room quite well.

The Doctor had run up ahead of Leela and Marion. He rushed into the room just as Marion and Leela turned the corner leading up to it.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Oh good, you're here. We're out of control. It's all I can do to keep her upright." said Toos, a woman dressed in gold with a headpiece that reminded Marion of a sideways spiderweb flattened out and gilded.

Marion walked into the room to see that the room was filled with robots that reminded Marion of that time about 20 minutes ago when she was strangled by a robot. She stood by a wall where she could see all of those green metallic men. She brought a hand to her head and scratched anxiously.

'They have to be tampered with to become murdery right?' she reminded herself, 'Although I'm not sure how I'd even know they'd been tampered with. Do their eyes stay red once you mess with them or do they just turn red for a moment and then go back to normal? I don't think that SV7 has been turned yet, but I don't know about the rest.,'

The Doctor moved next to Toos to look at a pale green translucent sphere embedded in a dias which, based on a quick glance, was showing symbols and figures that would probably mean something to someone who from a later century than she was and had some kind of technical knowledge, for example, the Doctor.

"You'll have to cut the power," said the Doctor walking towards the main panel in the control room.

"Are you sure?" protested Toos "If we do that we'll sink,"

"If you don't, she'll blow herself to pieces." replied the Doctor.

"And us!" Leela reminded.

A voice chimed in through the speaker.

"Hello, Toos?" the voice called.

"Dask, what's happening down there?" Toos called up.

"I've found Borg. He's dead. Strangled."

'First the ambulance workers, then Borg. How many people are going to die because I straight up forgot that they existed or did anything,' Marion groaned to herself.

"But what's happening to the motive units?" Toos asked.

"The drive links appear to have been sabotaged. I'll need a delta repair pick."

"No Dask," Marion said, "come back to the control deck. Quick as you can!"

Toos looked at her, "I'm sorry. This is a poor time for an inspection, isn't it? I promise that things normally run much smoother,"

"Well, it seemed like you're doing the best you can in an odd situation. That should count for something." Marion offered.

She had to raise her voice to be heard. It was loud enough in the control room that people had to shout in order to be heard.

"May I remind you we'll all go together when she blows if you don't cut the power!" the Doctor yelled shouted to Toos.

"V14, stop all motive units!" Toos ordered the robot.

"Motive units will not stop. Control failure indicated." the robot responded.

"Someone's sabotaged the controls!"

"What's the limit before the motive units explode?" the Doctor asked.

"Should be around 90% and I think we're somewhere around 70-75% ish," Marion said quickly.

"Severance kit. Severance kit, quickly." the Doctor raced towards a panel and gave it a tug.

"I can't get a good grip on it!" the Doctor said, tugging futilely on the side of the panel.

Marion remembered the pry bar and fished it out of her purse. "Here!" she said, holding it out to the Doctor, "Try with this."

The Doctor, realizing what she was holding, beamed and took it from her hand. He pried the panel open and dropped it to the ground revealing three ribbed tubes and several small wires. He handed the pry bar back to her and she returned it to the purse.

Just then, Dask ran into the room with a pair of what looked like the lovechild of a bolt cutter and a set of garden shears.

The Doctor took the bolt cutters from him and cut a wire that was hanging in front of one of the three ribbed tubes. There was a spark and the Doctor glanced back at Marion (who was standing a reasonable distance away) for a second before cutting another wire farther to the left side of the box.

Once he had cut it, the lights in the sandminer dimmed slightly before brightening back up again.

"All motive units closing down. All readings falling to safety," said V16.

"Good," said the Doctor, looking upward, "Now our troubles really begin."

"No momentum, shifting sands; the Sandminer's going to sink if someone doesn't fix the damaged motive units." Marion said, putting her hands in her pocket. Her fingers brushed against the flash drive like object the Associate had grabbed for her. She decided she'd ask the Doctor what it was later, just in case it was something important.

"Surface scanners inoperative."

Dask walked to where Leela was standing and looked at the orb, "The Inspector is right. We're sinking at a rate of 2 meters per second,"

It took Marion a couple of seconds to remember that she was the Inspector.

"I like a man who stays calm, Dask," Dask looked up at the Doctor, "but this isn't the Titanic."

"I do not understand the allusion, Doctor."

"The Titanic was a boat from the 20th century. It's synonymous with the concept of sunk and doomed ships. Unlike that ship, this one is repairable. If you can fix the damaged motor drives, you'll be back to tip-top shape in no time at all!" Marion beamed both trying to psyche him up and also trying to remember if by sending him to work maintenance, she was sending him to his death.

She didn't THINK that she was, but wasn't as certain of this as she felt a person should be before (potentially) sending a person to their deaths. All she really remembered was him putting a deactivation disk on a robot, who would then change, have blood-covered hands, and cause poor Poul to have a panic attack.

"I will go work on the repairs," Dask said tilting his head to Marion and heading out the door.

The Doctor went to follow Dask, "I'll give you a hand with the diatrodes."

"That will not be necessary." Dask said, stopping the Doctor in his tracks, "You repair the remote controls," he said and left the room.

The Doctor went to a large piece of machinery that rose at an angle. He took a panel off the side of it and began to attempt to fix what Marion assumed was the remote controls. Seeing as her technical knowledge wouldn't allow Marion to do much more than block out some of the light while the Doctor was trying to work and lean over his shoulder attempting to figure out what he was doing, she joined Leela in pretending that she understood the readings that the screen on top of the machinery.

"There isn't much time, Doctor. Pressure on the hull is increasing." Toos said, joining Marion and Leela looking at the monitors displaying numbers, symbols, and multicolored bars that might have meant something to someone who wasn't Marion and was from the current century. Like, for example, Toos.

Leela rubbed the back of her neck and looked upwards,

"It's getting warmer. The air smells different," she commented.

"The refrigeration and filtering systems are broken." Toos offered as an explanation. Just then, the communicator on her wrist beeped.

"Pilot Toos," she answered quickly.

"SV7 here. Commander Uvanov is injured. Chief Mover Poul instructs that he be restrained. Confirmation is required."

"Confirmed. I want damage control teams in all sections. I want a full scale mine integrity survey carried out at once. Clear?" as she said this, she turned her wrist for emphasis and winced in pain as she did so.

"Yes, Commander."

"Let me see that," Leela said, gently grabbing the other woman's wrist, "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I'd too much to do."

"You've got nothing to do now, Toos," the Doctor called up from his work, "Look after her, Leela."

"Here," Marion said, remembering the roll of bandages and removing them from her bag, "use these."

The Sandminer wasn't yet completely submerged in the sand, but it was sinking and the group minus the Doctor, who was finishing up some last-minute repairs.

Toos held out her wrist as Leela wrapped her arm.

"My tribe has a saying. If you're bleeding, look for a man with scars."

Poul and Zilda walked into the room breathing as if he had run the whole way there. Of course, that could have been in part because of the air filtration system being broken. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

"Thank you very much," Toss said to Leela. She then turned to the person who entered, "Poul, why is Commander Uvanov under restraint?"

"He tried to kill Zilda, I think he's responsible for the deaths of the others too," Poul accused.

"No," Toos said in disbelief.

"It's true," Zilda said, "Ten years ago, Uvanov left my brother to die outside for fear of missing out on a promising storm,"

"I saw the," Paul caught himself as if he was just about to say something that he shouldn't have, "I was there. And so was Kerril, and he's dead now, of course."

"But there'd have been an enquiry," Toos looked towards Marion, "He'd have been stripped of command wouldn't he,"

"Well," Marion said trying to come up with something that made some amount of sense, "I suppose depending on what he said during his enquiry, who he was speaking to, and how much money he was making for the company, it's very possible that they let him off the hook with nothing more than a stern 'don't do that again'," she tried to make herself look embarrassed and apologetic like when the younger cousin of a Facebook employee asks them why they keep dropping the ball on protecting the data of their users at Thanksgiving dinner and their uncle is looking at them expectantly.

"A note on his confidential biograph and that was it," Poul said, pointing "Case closed. Until Zilda turned up, of course. I should have recognised her before. She looks just like her brother. "

"And the moment I found out", Zilda said, clearly angry "one of the robots came towards me with a corpse marker. Uvanov's somehow been getting the robots to break their programming to attack the crew," Zilda turned to look at Marion, "He sent it after Inspector Henson too. Probably because she might've found something in the records he didn't want to be exposed."

"What happened to the robot?" Toos asked.

"The Inspector knocked it to the ground and managed to disarm and disable it,"

Toos looked at her, "How'd you manage that?"

Marion didn't think that "I don't know" would be a good answer, nor did she think that she could get away with simply not saying a word.

Fortunately, it was then that the Doctor finally joined them in the crew room.

"She grew up in the Ross colony and was visiting family before being called on inspection. It's got stronger gravity than this planet so the robot wasn't as heavy to her, as it might've been to you,"

Toos seemed to accept the explanation as did the rest of the surviving crewmembers. Marion didn't know if it was because it sounded plausible in their ears, or if it was because the Doctor said it was such conviction and certainty, that even she wondered for a moment if she was in fact, from this Ross colony and had been sent to earth as a baby. Had the Doctor offered an unintentional clue as to what was going on with her?

The answer to this question by the way is no.

Leela rubbed the side of her neck, "It's getting harder to breathe!" she commented. As soon as she said this, the room was filled with a creaking noise. It was loud enough that even when one of the robots said over the intercom system:

"Hull pressure now five hundred atmospheres."

The creaking could still be heard clearly.

The noise made Toos, Poul, and Zilda leap to their feet.

"Listen..." said Toos, holding up a finger.

"That sounded like the hull," said Zilda.

"It could go any minute!" said Poul, horrified.

'Good thing that Dask just fixed the motive units then,' Marion thought.

The Doctor leaned out of the crew room and looked into the hall looking for something before returning to the room.

"Do you know what I think?"

Whatever the Doctor had been going to say was interrupted by Dask talking into the intercom.

"Hello, Toos?"

"Dask, what is it?" Toos said, fearing the worst.

"I've repaired the damaged motive units. I'm starting up again now."

When she heard this, Toos hung her head back and sighed in relief.

"I think he's very clever." the Doctor said, finishing his thought.

Dask was quite clever. Marion could feel the sandminer rising and knew that soon they would be back on the surface and going along their merry way. At least until all of the robots tried to kill them.

Marion sighed.

Poul, Zilda, and Toos sat around a table eating a meal. Seeing this made Marion remember that she had been... Sent? ...Brought? Unceremoniously yanked backward like a gmod ragdoll?

The point was that she had woken up, put on some clothes, written a note, and had been taken from the 13th Doctor's TARDIS to the 4th's and started on her merry way with no time for breakfast. She didn't have to look at the band on her arm to know that she should probably eat something. She remembered the granola bar in her purse. It hadn't been in there for that long. She had put it in there as a snack if she was hungry on her way to or from the convenience store. She hadn't gotten to eat it before…

Marion took it out of her purse, unwrapped it, and ate it. She crumpled up the wrapper and put it back into her purse. She sat down next to Leela on the couch before she noticed the Doctor silently tilt his head at the two of them, silently beckoning them to come to him.

She and Leela got up and walked close to him.

"You're going to check out D84 right?" Marion said in a lowered tone.

"Exactly," the Doctor said, "Leela, you stay with Poul while Marion and I investigate."

"Leela, don't let him out of your sight, and if he tried to leave the room stop him. I said that you were the security advisor, try seeing if you can use that to keep him here." Marion said, knowing that once Poul left, he would see the robot with the bloody hands and panic.

"Do you think that he's lying?" Leela whispered, glancing back at Poul.

"He's not telling the whole truth," said the Doctor.

"He's scared of the robots and the idea that some of the robots here are capable of murder makes him uneasy," Marion explained.

Leela nodded and walked back to speak with the crew while the Doctor and Marion left the room.

"So where will we have to go to find our robotic friend,"

"Well..."

Marion had to think about this for a bit

'Well, he's supposed to be in Uvanov's cabin room, except he was only there to look at Zilda's body. Zilda isn't dead, so I suppose that he must be somewhere else. Possibly checking on Cass's body. Seeing as they seem to cover the bodies in the green sheet at their place of death...'

"I think he'll go to the crew cabin to check on the body," Marion said, "It's the room where they put us when they caught us,"

They entered the room to find it completely empty if not for the body of the late Cass lying

The Doctor put a finger in front of his mouth, gesturing for Marion to be quiet and pointed his finger towards the little alcove where Cass's body had been hidden and walked towards it.

Marion noted how, much like his older and spikier haired incarnation, he seemed to assume that she already more or less knew what he was planning and all he needed to do was to point out that he was doing the plan right then.

Well, he wasn't incorrect in his assumption, now was he?

Marion followed close behind him. The alcove was just the right size for two people so sit side by side so long as they didn't push their elbows or knees too far out to the side and also didn't mind their sides bumping against each other too much.

The Doctor was tall enough that all he had to do was lean back into the alcove like he was sitting on a slightly taller than average barstool while Marion had to pull herself up and turn around. They scooted back a bit until when they pulled their knees back and closed the curtain, it was hard to tell that they had been there at all.

As they were sitting, Marion suddenly remembered something. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the odd drive with the magnet.

"Hey Doctor, do you know what this is? The Associate left it with me, but I don't know what it's for,"

The Doctor took it from her hand and examined it for a moment.

"It looks like Proxima Centenarian Autodrive," he said. He scanned it with his screwdriver, "doesn't seem to have anything saved on it."

"Doctor," Marion asked,

"Yes, Marion?"

"What's a Proxima Centenarian Autodrive?"

"It's a type of secure external hard drive. See that strip, well it can stick to anything metallic that's got 1's and 0's, and an electric current running through it. It automatically creates a perfect backup of whatever it's on and continually updates itself. You see, on Proxima Centauri B..."

To make a long story (slightly) shorter, the drive was designed to make complete digital copies of whatever thing it was hooked up to, but was typically used for learning programs. They were commonly hooked up to machines that were programmed for tasks that required human-level pattern recognition or other kinds of self-awareness in situations where there was concern of the machine being destroyed in a situation where a constant digital connection to the cloud was either impossible (search and rescue when the vast caverns of the planet had a cave-in) or undesired (customers who wanted to make sure their data was up to date but feared hooking it up to a digital cloud for fear data being hacked).

To make a shorter explanation into a simple sentence; it was a magnetic black box for securely storing AI. Marion tried to figure out how she was going to get it onto D84. If she could keep him from dying to save them, then she most certainly would.

As soon as the Doctor had finished his explanation, they heard the door to the room open and the sound of footsteps. The Doctor silently pulled back the curtain and the two of them watched the robot pull back the green sheet and examined the body under it. He didn't seem to see them and when he put the curtain back, that's when the Doctor called attention to himself.

"Professional interest or morbid curiosity? Which?" he asked with a huge beaming smile as if he was merely talking about the weather or asking about a good book.

D84 didn't say anything because he was still pretending to be a good Dum droid.

"Which? There are three types of robots aboard this mine. Dumbs, Vocs, a Super Voc, and then there's you. Would you care to explain that?" the Doctor asked, sounding more serious.

"I know that you can talk D84, you spoke to me, and Leela earlier remember," Marion said, trying to sound soothing.

The robot continued to not speak.

The Doctor leaned forward and got out of the alcove and made motions like he was going to leave the room.

"Perhaps I'd better tell SV7 you can talk."

"Please, do not," D84 said. Marion could hear a slight hint of desperation in his tone. At hearing him speak, the Doctor smiled.

"That's better,"

When the robot refused to say anything else, the Doctor moved away from the door and closer to the robot. He turned his head as if inviting the robot to whisper in his ear. Marion jumped down from the alcove and moved to join them.

"I cannot explain," D84 replied.

"Oh, but you can," the Doctor assured, "you can."

"Can you explain why it is that the three of you have been impersonating company officials when there is no record of anyone with your names and/or physical descriptions working for the company let alone being licensed Inspectors or Maintenance Experts,"

'Ah, beans,'

Marion had almost forgotten that D84 would know that she had been lying. It was likely only the fact that D84 had been posing as a being unable to speak that had kept him from exposing Leela and her earlier.

"Ah...well...the thing is..." Marion said before sighing, "I knew that there was a killer onboard and I also knew that the killer wasn't me or my friend. I thought it'd be easier to save lives and solve the mystery if people thought that I was doing a kind of inspection. It'd give me more access to the Sandminer and keep the crew from being so focused on thinking that I or my friends were the killers that the real killer was able to kill again. I did succeed though! The killer went after both me and Zilda and neither of us is dead,"

Marion didn't think that there was a need to bring up the fact that she was pretty sure that her neck had been snapped and her body, tossed to the ground and that, had it not been for whatever was causing her to hear that mysterious ticking noise, she would have been dead. It wasn't that it wasn't important. It was more that she didn't really have a way to prove that she could be strangled and get back up again. Well, besides the obvious way but she wasn't really willing to do it.

"You pretended to be a Dum Droid. You also lied about what you were. You know that we aren't the killers, so what's the harm," the Doctor pointed out.

To Marion's surprise, this worked.

"You seem to have the same interest as me in finding out who has been killing crew members. In return for you not revealing that I can speak, I will tell you why I am here. A little over eight months ago, just before the Sandminer was due to begin its expedition, the company received a threat in the mail. It was too close to the beginning of the expedition for it to be canceled, so I was sent to investigate and suspicious behavior on the sandminer and to give a report if it turned out that the threatening letters turned out to be more than just idle threats,"

Marion snapped her fingers, "That explains why they gave you self awareness and made you look like a Dum type. If people think that you can't repeat what you hear and wouldn't even if you could, then they'd be more likely to say something incriminating to them. Is that not correct?"

"Yes. That is the reason that they had me pose as D84,"

Marion and the Doctor explained their suspicions regarding the robots onboard and Marion explicitly mentioned the one that was seemingly sent to kill both her and Zilda.

"Hmm," the Doctor said, "you're a robot detective then?" He gestured towards the body of Cass, "What does your computer mind make of this?"

D84 looked down at the body, "Strength is indicated," he looked back up at the Doctor, "but not beyond human capacity."

"Typical robot. No imagination," the Doctor dismissed.

"I don't know Doc, I think robots can have plenty of imagination. Surely you remember New Houston don't you?"

"Those were extenuating circumstances, Marion,"

"In any case," D84 cut in, "when it comes to conclusions, I require", he paused, "I require evidence. Your suspicions are not evidence, nor are lunatic threats of a robot revolution."

"The company took those threats seriously enough," said Marion, "I mean they put you on board. Your ability to reason is pretty sophisticated. I doubt they'd send you here if they didn't think there was something suspicious afoot,"

"A simple precaution. Those letters were signed by Taren Capel."

"Taren Capel?" the Doctor pivoted on his foot towards Marion, "Taren Capel. Who's Taren Capel,"

"He's a scientist who excels in the field of robotics. He disappeared a while back."

The Doctor turned back to D84, "Taren Capel, a scientist, in the field of robotics?"

"Correct."

The Doctor smiled let out a short, wheezing laugh, "And you're still looking for evidence?"

"If I was to tell you the world would end tomorrow, would you merely accept my word?" D84 asked. Despite the fact that his tone hadn't changed, Marion could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Perhaps," Marion said, leaning on the railing overlooking where the Doctor and the robot were talking, "perhaps if you had a history of telling me things that turned out to be true. If that were the case, I'd at least hear you out and if need be, take precautions."

There was a personnel file in the crew cabin room. The Doctor looked through it.

"What does Taren Capel look like?" he asked, flipping through the dossier with it's pictures of the crewmembers.

"There are no records. From childhood, he lived with only robots."

The Doctor let out a disbelieving laugh, "Oh, that's dim. Even for a Dumb, that's dim."

"I think he's on the ship. What do you think, Marion? Is Taren Capel on board,"

This was a Question. Marion was sure of it. And so she answered as such. "Yes. He's here,"

"No he is not," D84 said in a tone that was probably as angry and frustrated a person could make without being able to properly emote with one's voice, "I have checked extensively. There are only the crew, and you three."

"But you don't know what he looks like," the Doctor reminded me.

"But I know what they look like," D84 stated.

"Is it possible that you think you know what one of them looks like but he swapped out with someone and you, therefore, think that he's that someone when in fact he's someone else?" Marion questioned. She knew the answer. Capel was disguised as an extra SV-7 if she remembered right. She hadn't the foggiest how to tell which was which one.

D84 froze for a moment, considering what the woman had just said. For a robot who was supposed to lack the ability to emote, he really was good at expressing emotions. Desperation, sarcasm, frustration, and now, that special emotion that one feels when they realize that they've missed something that should have been obvious to them. This was an emotion that Marion was about to experience for neither the first nor the last time.

"I had overlooked the possibility of substitution,"

Marion connected the dots in her head and together, the dots came together to create an imaginary dunce cap that planted itself atop her curls.

"Seems like you did," said the Doctor, not realizing that D84 wasn't the only person who was just realizing that they had overlooked or forgot something important.

'Ah, fuck'

Both D84 and Marion were currently feeling that particular emotion.

'It's Dask. It's Dask! I spent several minutes racking my brain to see if I was sending him to be murdered and was the murderer all along. How did I manage to forget that! If I don't manage to somehow forget how to breathe, I'm jotting everything down in a notebook and adding more as I remember. This is ridiculous!'

D84 turned away from them to face the wall, "I have failed,"

'I feel the same way. I don't think I would've been able to save the other four either way, but it's a damn good thing I could save Zilda otherwise I'd be even more pissed at myself than I am now!'

"Yes," the Doctor said, still looking down at one of the files. The plans to the ship if Marion was remembering correctly. He noticed the dejected robot and got up from his seat, "Yes. Oh, come on. Don't be upset. Yes, you failed, you failed, but congratulations. Failure's one of the basic freedoms," he pointed to a space shown on the plans, "Listen. Do you think that looks like a likely place?"

"Likely for what?"

"Well, if Taren Capel is on board, he'd have a workshop, and we must find it before it's too late," the Doctor turned to leave the and was nearly out the door. Marion tugged on his arm to stop him and turned to face D84.

"Hey. Would you like to come investigate with us?" she asked, tilting her head in an inviting, "C'mon" motion.

"Yes please!" D84 said.

"Good!" the Doctor said, "then let's go."

(Next Chapter: Red Eyes? Take Warning. Also, Run.)

Chapter Text

The Sandminer was filled with robots. Seeing as Marion was far less confident in her ability to remember who (or what) was dangerous and what was not than she was before she had realized she had forgotten a murderers identity until it was too late; she felt that it was best to assume that any robot that wasn't D84 was interested in inducting Marion and her friends into the corpse corps. As such, Marion, D84, and the Doctor moved carefully around and through the tan and brown corridors.

Marion could hear the sound of Leela screaming which, assuming that she could remember THIS right...(Side Note: Real funny how she could remember minor timing details but not that the man she had felt concern for was the murderer she had feared he might be killed by). Marion grabbed the Doctor by the back of his coat and pulled him backwards and behind a wall. She pointed and two robots walked past. The Doctor looked at Marion, nodding towards the corridor and asking if it was safe to continue along it. Marion shrugged but moved into the main hall anyway. She looked down either end of the hall and couldn't hear.

She gave the Doctor a thumbs up and he moved slowly behind her. They walked further down the hall until she heard the Doctor cry out. Marion spun around to face him quickly, trying to see what was wrong. Recent events led Marion to finally understand what it meant to be only 95% sure. If you were confident about something, there was a 1/20 chance that you were wrong.

Fortunately, this was one of those 19/20 times.

"I heard a cry," said the robot that had startled the Doctor.

"That was me," the Doctor said in a low, semi embarrassed tone. The Doctor took a deep breath and moved from the wall that he had been leaning against.

"I heard a cry," D84 said again.

"That was me!" the Doctor growled out again.

"Maybe," said Marion, "but it also might be Leela. I told her to keep an eye on Poul to keep him from leaving, but it's not impossible that he still managed to give her the slip and shut her in the crew room," Marion paused for a second, "The noise still might have been you though Doc."

The Doctor poked her in the side.

"Oi!" she said, jerking away from him.

The way to the room in the blueprints wasn't too bad. They just went along the hall until they came across a stairwell that took them to a lower level.

The Doctor moved to put his hand against the door's support pillars as if to look for the room in question, but aborted the motion because he saw the entrance. It looked like any other door on the Sandminer. It was gray, slid, and had a pin pad next to it.

Marion put her fingers on the bottom row of the keypad and pushed. The door made a series of clicking noises and then slid open. The room wasn't as well decorated as other rooms in the facility, but that's to be expected, it was a hidden workshop. It's not like Dask was an interior designer on the side. The only things in the room were the three of them and the dark brown metal machine that turned the robots into murder machines.

"Yes, this is the place," the Doctor said, examining the room.

"How do you know?" asked D84.

"About this?" the Doctor asked, "Well, it's a reasonable assumption."

"Why"

"Because," Marion said, "The room is full of machinery and out of the way. It's a great place to do something involving mechanics and crime,"

"You wouldn't do something like this standing around out in the open would you?" After speaking, the Doctor grabbed ahold of something he took off the mind editing machine.

"Do you know what that is?" he asked D84?

"It is a Laserson probe. It can punch a fist-sized hole in six-inch armour plate or take the crystals from a snowflake one by one."

"Yes that's right, a handyman should never be without one," the Doctor brushed his fingers against the business end of the probe.

"It's been used. Perhaps we're too late," he looked up from the probe, "Somehow we've got to warn the others."

D84 held up something from his hand, "This is a communicator. It can function on either robot or human command circuits. Would you like to use it? I cannot speak."

Marion held out her hand for it.

"I've got this,"

The communication was about the size of a stage mic and worked the same way. Marion twisted the top so that it was in the "On" positioning and held it to her mouth.

"Toos? Hello Pilot Toos?"

"Who is it?"

"It's Inspector Henson. I've figured out who the killer is: a robot. Someone has managed to reprogram them."

"More Robots? I thought you said you had dismantled the one that was faulty?"

Marion sighed, "I did, and I did. But there are more than one. All but one robot has been compromised. I will send someone to get you. If you can lock your door, do it. If not, please barricade it with whatever furniture is in the room you are currently in,"

Marion heard the sound of movement.

"I think there's a robot outside of my room," Toos said, in a terrified whisper.

"Stay calm, lock the door electronically, and barricade it. I'm sending D84. He's one of the only robots on this Sandminer that hasn't been reprogrammed for murder. He'll guard the door until I can get there. Under no circumstances are you to open that door. Do you understand me?" Marion put special emphasis on that last bit.

"Yes, Inspector," there was a pause, "please hurry,"

Marion put the communicator down. "D84, please go retrieve Pilot Toos,"

D84 nodded and left the room. Marion walked towards one of the Laserson probes and looked it over. It seemed like something that would be useful in the future. She considered placing one of them in her bag. And then she did so. What were they going to do about it? Arrest her?

As she did that, she heard the sound of footsteps and turned to see Commander Uvanov in the doorway, minus the hat.

"What are you going in this room?" he asked.

He didn't sound furious and that's probably because he wasn't under the assumption that the two of them had framed him for murder.

"Oh, this and that. Investigations, that sort of thing. What are YOU doing here?"

"I followed you down here. What is this I keep hearing about the robots murdering the crew?"

"Uh..." Marion was about to answer, when she saw the robot coming down, moving into place behind him from the left side.

"Ah. I'd come over here, if I were you. Slowly," the Doctor said.

Uvanov turned around and jumped back. The robot held a red marker and one hand and the shadow cast by the door frame made it look like it had black pits for eyes.

"Now either it followed you," the Doctor pointed to Unavov, "or else it homed in on this," he pointed at the machinery, "It depends which of us is going to be killed first. That is, you or me,"

The Doctor and Unavov continued to step back. Marion, who had been on the other side of the room, attempted to get between the Robot and the two men but by the time she was close enough, there was no way to squeeze in.

The robot approached them; its eyes filled with the red static that was present in all the turned robots.

As the robot drew closer, Marion felt a feeling of dread and anxiety as if the robot had been marching towards her instead. It started in her chest and spread throughout her body like when you wash your hair and then, turn the water to cold you that you can make sure you get all the soap out. The warmth is slowly but surely replaced by the cool feeling of the water and you can feel it on your scalp as it happened.

"Kill the Doctor," the robot repeated over and over again "Kill the Doctor. Kill the Doctor."

The robot backed its target in a corner and the feeling of anxiety steadily increased. Marion froze as it placed it's hands around the Doctor's throat and lifted him up. The Doctor tried uselessly to claw at the metal hands holding him. Her vision spun slightly as she began to feel dizzy.

Then, Marion felt something in her body, urging her to, for the love of God, DO SOMETHING.

And so, she did.

Anxiety's a type of fear and after all, fight is just as common a reaction as flight.

She took a single step closer to the robot and the dizzy feeling faded some, although the anxious feeling in her chest seemed to remain.

There was no scream of rage. There was no loud exclamation of "GET AWAY FROM HIM,".

There was only a woman with anger in her eyes, shakiness in her hands, and the sound of footsteps.

Uvanov ran to retrieve one of the probes but Marion, seeing as she already held one in her bag, was able to move to the Doctor's aid much quicker; much, much quicker. She retrieved the probe from inside of her bag and pressed the button on its side. Another two steps and with her last one, she used her momentum to jump up and jab the probe into the head of the robot.

"KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL,"

The robot still didn't stop saying its mantra.

The gravity from her descent allowed her to dig the probe in deeper. The probe went to the hilt and then, left a dent in the head of the robot. Her feet touched the ground and she continued to jab her arm downward. For a moment, her arms burned as she struggled to pull but the pain faded as quickly as it had come. Marion pulled downward, the metal offered little resistance as the probe sunk deeper. Marion grabbed the fingers of the weakened robot and peeled them away from her friend's neck. She shoved the robot across the room, making it fall to the ground.

Marion began to breathe heavily more out of reflex than her feeling out of breath. The last of that anxious feeling in her chest faded away. She hadn't realized that her hands were shaking until they weren't any longer.

She turned around to face the Doctor. He put a hand on her shoulder to support himself and rubbed his throat.

She didn't blame him. She knew how much getting strangled sucked from personal experience.

"You're okay?" she asked. The Doctor nodded and leaned forward slightly in a way that made Marion have to support most of his weight as he caught his breath. As he leaned on her, she heard the sound of something begin to hum in his chest and afterward his breaths became less shallow and a lot more regular.

'Must be his respiratory bypass. It certainly took its sweet time kicking in.,' she thought.

Marion saw something out of the corner of her eye. The robot had gotten up.

"Uvanov!" she helped the Doctor stand up straighter, "Try to finish it. But watch out. It might try swinging at you."

As she said that, the power went out and the robot stopped moving.

"The probe stopped," the Doctor looked at Uvanov, "Can you do it?" he asked, seeing as Uvanov was much closer than the two of them to the robot.

Uvanov held the probe that he had retrieved earlier and moved towards the robot. However, just as he was about to jab it into the robot, it swatted at him, making him fall to the ground.

Luckily, the robot was zeroing in on the Doctor and ignoring the fallen Commander. The robot was moving slowly. Marion and the Doctor waited until it had gotten closer to them and then they ran around it. The Doctor stopped to pick up Uvanov. Marion stopped as well to make sure that the robot didn't get too close while he was doing so.

Once the commander was securely the Doctor's arms, he moved carefully down the corridor with Marion moving along with him, looking behind them in case V4 was able to get to them sooner than he was supposed to. It wasn't that difficult to know when that particular bot was nearby seeing as he wouldn't stop repeating "Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill." over and over and over again.

Eventually, they came across an intersection in the hall. To their left SV7, to their right, V5 and based on the monotone voice Marion could hear coming up behind them, V4 was right behind them well.

"Don't just stand there, Seven," the Doctor said nodding his head towards the silver robot with the blue static in his eyes. "Give me-"

"Don't bother," Marion said, cutting him off.

The static in SV7's eyes turned red and the robot turned to V4. "Kill them,"

The Doctor quickly moved towards a wall and set down Uvanov. He still looked a bit unsteady, so Marion put his arm over his shoulder.

"Just how fast are these robots?" the Doctor asked.

"They can outrun a human. They never tire." the man responded out of breath.

"But," said Marion, knowing what the Doctor was really asking, "they aren't very nimble."

"I hope you're right Marion."

The Doctor ran forward leaving Marion to hold up Unavov. He slammed his hat on top of V5 head with it leaning forward slightly to cover the robot's eyes and put his scarf on top of the thing to weigh the hat down. He then backed away from the robot and ran back towards them. The Doctor put Unavov's arm over his shoulder, Marion had Unavov lean on her and the three of them quickly left while V4 was busy attacking V5, V5 was busy being attacked by V4, and SV7 was busy trying to get the two of them to quit it.

As they took advantage of the distraction and moved down the hall, Marion heard SV7 call for V6 to get there immediately which made Marion sigh in relief.

'Good so Toos is okay.'

The three of them made their way into the control room. There, they found that there was nothing in the room except for a pair of robots that were frozen in place. Unavov, who had recovered on the way, tapped the hand of the robot to find them immobile.

"Oh good. Somebody's had the sense to hit the robot deactivator switch. Probably Dask. As Chief Fixer he has second-line authority on it." the man said.

"Of course. There had to be one. I should have thought of that before." the Doctor responded looking away from the panels and switches on the wall.

"You mean you didn't know?" Uvanov said incredulously "I thought that's why we came here!"

Before the Doctor could say anything, Leela, Toos, and Zilda rushed into the room.

"DOCTOR! MARION!" Leela's voice rang throughout the room. In rushed Leela with Zilda and Toos following close behind her.

"Inspector, you were right!" Toos said, moving towards him before being intercepted by Unavov with a hug. "V6 tried to kill me. The only reason he didn't was that he was ordered to go elsewhere. We're in danger!"

"Not anymore. We're quite safe now," Unavov said in the happy and cheerful tone that must've been the inspiration for the phrase, "Ignorance is Bliss"

"Safe. Safe?" the Doctor said, looking up in bafflement.

"Well, we'll have to send up a satellite distress beacon to get back to base, but there's no trouble."

"Uvanov, you remind me very strongly of a lady called Marie Antoinette. There's a robot revolution going on out there and you say we've got no problems."

The man shook his head, "Doctor, every single robot has been switched off. There's not one of them working."

"I'm going to have to contradict you there," Marion said with a sigh. She held up three fingers in a countdown motion.

Three...Two...One…

When only her pointer finger was up, she pointed towards the door to reveal D84 carrying Poul in his arms.

The robot carried the man to a black leather bench with the place where you would put one's head tilted slightly upwards. The poor man was clearly out of it, but still conscious judging from how he moved an arm above his head once set down.

Uvanov looked at the scene in confusion.

"I don't understand," he exclaimed.

"Simple. There are three types of robots on this sandminer. The deactivated ones," Marion gestured to the statuesque figures, "D84," Marion gestured to the figure in question, "And the robots who've had their programs rewired by Taren Capel and want to kill us," Marion paused her explanation to look at Toos, "Please close the door,"

"But how was he able to reprogram them?" Uvanov asked.

"I can't say for sure, but I imagine that he shifted the priorities of the three laws and made 'obey orders' higher on the priority list than, 'do not harm humans',"

"Why didn't what he did affect D84?"

"Because Poul and D84 were undercover agents from the Company investigating a threat."

D84 turned to look at Poul who was shifting around on the couch as if he was having a nightmare while fully awake.

"Poul is damaged. I do not understand what has happened to him. This may be because I am not human." D84 said. D84 sounded saddened by this.

If one were to ask Marion later how she would go about describing D84's emotional displays, she might liken it to a Lacroix. She could tell that there was something there, and could figure out what it was based mostly on available context clues, but it was incredibly faint. Still, if you gave her a Lemon Lacroix and a bottle of sparkling water, she's still be able to tell you which was which and if you gave her a Raspberry Lacroix and the Lemon one again, she's still be able to taste the difference.

"And you know this because you three were also sent by the company right?" Toos asked.

"Riiiight," Marion said. She had originally planned to come clean at some point, but felt like the way things were currently going, honesty would complicate things. Was lying okay if the lie didn't hurt anyone and it made it easier to keep people safe? Maybe.

"Do you know what's wrong with Poul, Uvanov?" the Doctor asked.

"Robophobia,"

"That's right. The Loid call it Grimwade Syndrome."

"I have seen it, Doctor, once before," Unvanov moved to put a hand on Poul's forehead. Poul had opened his eyes and was trembling. "My very first command. A young kid just ran outside the mine. I tried to save him, but I couldn't. I'll never, ever, forget the look on his face."

"That was my brother!" Zilda said in realization.

"Your father had it all hushed up. He was afraid his son would be thought a coward," Uvanov turned to the Doctor and Marion "But robophobia is a mental thing, right?"

"Oh, yes, yes, it is," the Doctor said sarcastically, "until one gets its hands around your neck."

"And even if it was just a mental thing, it doesn't make it any less serious. The brain's an organ just as important and prone to issues as any other organ in the body. You wouldn't discount a kidney condition, and you shouldn't discount a brain one," Marion said seriously.

If Marion remembered correctly, (and that was a big if) Poul was going to spend the rest of his life panicking at the sight of anything robotic and, eventually, this fear was going to lead to him getting someone else killed. Poul seemed like a decent enough person, and Marion didn't think he deserved that.

"I mean it!" she said holding out a hand in the direction of the man in question, "You best make sure that this man gets some kind of therapy after this. Otherwise, he might hurt himself and others,"

"I don't suppose there are any weapons on this..."

Before the Doctor could finish this statement a high pitched chime filled the room. It sounded different then the noise that normally went off along with the PA and Marion was at least 85% sure that it sounded grating on purpose.

"This is SV7. We know you are all on the Control deck. You have five minutes to surrender. If you do not come out you will be destroyed." said the voice.

"And if we give ourselves up we'll be destroyed anyway, is that what you're saying, 7?" Uvanov yelled into his communication band.

"Humans feel pain. Our Controller orders that you will die slowly if you do not surrender. You have, I repeat, five minutes."

"Five minutes. And the anti-blast doors will hold another ten." the Doctor paused, realizing something, "Anti-blast."

"Do you carry blasting powder aboard this mine?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes," said Zilda, "The ship's got six Z-9 electron packs"

"What," the Doctor said, looking around the room "in here?"

Toos pointed upwards, "Up there in the locker,"

The Doctor looked up to where Toos was pointing, "They might work, Uvanov. If you could pass a positive charge through the metal plate, you'd be able to magnetise them and have anti-robot bombs."

"That would work," said Zilda, "But you would need to get close enough to the source or it wouldn't mean anything"

"That's fine," said Marion, "we'll handle that," Marion and the Doctor headed towards the door.

"Where are you two going," Toos asked.

"The robot mortuary. Toos, lock this door after us and don't let anyone in, is that clear?" said the Doctor

"Understood,"

As they said this, the Doctor walked towards the exit door.

The Doctor called Leela and D84 over to them. Before they left, the Doctor turned and said ina serious tone:

"Remember, Toos. If we don't come back, you'll have to find some other way of warning the outside world,"

"Also," said Marion, "Don't let anyone into this room ESPECIALLY if that person is Dask,"

Before Toos could respond to that, Marion, Leela, D84, and the Doctor were already making their way down the hall.

Robots marched past and the group crouched down behind the wall that acted as a guardrail. Marion was uncertain of the reason that the company chose to use solid walls instead of a simple handrail, but if she ever met the designer who was the source of that particular architectural choice, she'd buy them a drink. They watched the robots march past, thankful that they had all been programmed and there wasn't a risk of them looking to the right and spotting the group.

"Ten robots," the Doctor observed in that low voice that he tended to do instead of whispering.

"That's what I counted," Leela observed.

"I think Capel has already gone to where he was going" Marion mused, answering the question she knew that the Doctor was about to pose.

Seeing all the the robots that weren't D84 were on their way to attempt to break into the control room to murder the surviving members of the Sandminer, the four of them were able to make their way to the security storage area with relative ease. Against the wall and bound by metallic straps was a robot with a head so dented that wires were exposed and bloody hands.

The Doctor looked at it for a moment, then turned to D84.

"D84, do you know the storage bay where Chub kept his equipment?"

"Yes" the said D84

"There are some canisters of gas there. Fetch me one, please, as fast as you can."

"That will be a pleasure."

"Thank you!" Marion called after him.

Marion couldn't be sure, but she figured that D84 had been sent away as much so he could grab the helium as so he wouldn't have to look at one of his brethren with a caved-in skull nor would he have to watch as the Doctor took said skull and explored its wires like a weird forensic science major who had taken up the role for the exact reason that Marion hadn't.

Leela crouched down and examined the robot's hand.

"Look at his hand," she exclaimed, "That's blood."

"Yes, Borg's at a guess. He was strong enough to put up a struggle."

'Sheesh. How do I keep forgetting about the man. Did I ever even hear him speak?'

"Well If Poul saw that…" Leela trailed off.

"Yes. That's likely what caused him to break down."

The Doctor grabbed the head of the robot and began to examine it.

"What's Robophobia,"

"Well Leela," Marion decided to explain it since the Doctor was busy examining the head,

"Remember when I said that they looked human enough to be familiar, but not so human that they're creepy? Well, not everyone has the same uncanny valley threshold as I do. You see," Marion began to move her hands as she spoke, "Humans like to look at things that look exactly like us, but we also really like things that look nothing like us. However, there's a certain point where things look too much like us for them to appeal to us in the nonhuman way, but too little like us to seem familiar and it instead makes us anxious. That's what we call the uncanny valley, Now, Robots, their faces are fine. But their bodies? They move smoothly like a person, but they don't emote or give off any real body language. For people who are perceptive to body language, the sight of something that looks human but isn't giving off any signals is frightening,"

"It's rather like being surrounded by walking, talking, dead men." The Doctor had removed the tape from the robots and was now taking the head apart with same precision and nonchalance a bored middle-schooler would take apart a retractable pen.

"That's what Poul said," said Leela.

The Doctor continued to take the head apart and he also broke open the communicator.

"Yes. It undermines a certain type of personality, causes identity crisis, paranoia, sometimes even personality disintegration,"

"It's tragic really," said Marion.

"Robophobia. At least, that's Grimwade's theory. Hold this."

The Doctor handed the half of the head that he wasn't looking through to Leela.

"What are you doing?" Leela asked.

"I'm going to try and patch this communicator into Dask's private command circuit."

"Yes. Taren Capel. If I can discover where he modified this. Do you have to talk so much? Marion rarely asks this many questions."

"Sorry," Leela said annoyed.

Marion poked the Doctor in the side, "Don't be rude. It's good that Leela asks questions. The only reason I don't ask them is because of the 'Omega Timeline'," Marion added air quotes when she said that.

After about a minute or so, the Doctor managed to combine the communicator with the half of the robot head that wasn't being held by Leela.

"There, that should do it." the Doctor said, holding up his creation.

"So Dask turned off all the friendly mechanical men," Leela said.

"Precisely, his plan was to modify and activate them later after everyone else is dead."

"Today the mine, tomorrow the world. Right now he must be a happy little maniac."

Marion heard footsteps and she got up and turned to see D84 return to the room.

"Is that what you wanted?" he asked, holding up a white canister.

"Yes. Well done, D84. Now you're going to have to stay here." the Doctor said quickly.

"I cannot do that," said the robot. It made Marion wonder if perhaps the third law of robots ought to be moved to second priority instead of where it currently was.

"D84, The Doctor has a plan that could make your head explode. I don't mean that in the exaggerated way. This could kill you,"

"I am not important." D84 droned.

"What?" the Doctor said, "I think you're very important."

"My duty is to the Company,"

Marion's eyes twitched. How could-. She remembered the auto-drive, "Not true, you are very important. So important in fact, that I want you to put this on your…" she waved a hand, "Well, not skin. Uh...whatever part of your frame isn't just clothes and press the button. Maybe don't put it on your head though."

She held the drive out.

"It'll make a continuous secure backup of your files. If the worst does happen, and your brain does go," she closed her hands into fists by her head and opened them to mimic an explosion, "I'll be able to use this to save you and upload you into..."

Marion paused.

"I don't know. A new robot body. If they figure out how to put AI into flesh...I don't know. But I'll keep trying until you find a new body that you like. If this goes wrong I mean and your head explodes,"

D84 looked at her and took the drive from her hand. He rolled up a sleeve and placed the drive on a metallic arm. A small light on it blinked repeatedly for a bit before remaining stable. The light around his eyes flashed yellow for a moment, but it was just that, a moment.

"Thank you," he said, "But, I must remind that I am- "

Marion interrupted him, "Yeah yeah, 'You're not human nor are you technically alive'," Marion said attempting to copy D84's cadence when he spoke, "But, I don't know. Humans are really good at looking at other things and saying 'that's right there, is shaped like a friend' maybe you aren't a person, maybe you are just lines of code that are good at mimicking one but if that's the case then you mimic one well enough that if there's way to keep your head from exploding...," she sighed, "Just keep the drive on you just in case. At minimum, it can be used to send information about your findings to the company. Okay?"

D84 didn't speak, he just nodded.

"Still," said the Doctor, "Just because you have that drive now doesn't mean that you shouldn't be careful."

"I will"

"Good. Come on."

The Doctor left the security storage and the rest of the group followed close behind.

Next Chapter: To Save A Friend

Chapter Text

It was obvious to both the Doctor and Marion that Dask would, at some point, return to the lower level storage closet. In the Doctor's case, this was because of his deduction skills. In Marion's case, it was her ability to predict the future like a time traveler with a B average in World History.

'Actually, come to think of it, that's not a far off comparison.' Marion thought.

When they reached the door. The Doctor quickly ushered them inside with Marion going in last. She looked down either end of the hall and glanced up the stairs. She didn't see anyone, and so when she walked into the room she gave the Doctor a thumbs up. He reached over and tapped a button. The door made a clicking noise and then closed.

The Doctor handed the communication thing that he'd rigged to D84.

"Hold this, D84, and don't press anything,"

"What is your intention?" D84 asked.

"To mess up maniac's plans by causing a few problems on purpose," Marion answered for the Doctor before moving to help the man in question remove the panel.

"He's bound to come back here to convert more robots and when he does..."

When he took it out, he handed it to Marion. Not knowing what much else she was supposed to do with it, she set it on the ground. The Doctor looked at the small crawl space that he'd revealed and then looked at Leela.

"Do you think you could fit in there, Leela?"

"Why?" Leela asked in confusion.

"The Doctor's got a plan," Marion said, "C'mon, see if you can fit,"

Leela was just able to fit in the space provided that she pulled her legs up a little bit.

"Comfortable?" the Doctor asked.

"No,"

"You might be a bit more comfortable if you sit to the side so your legs have more space," Marion advised. Leela shifted slightly so she could stretch her legs out a little more. The Doctor handed Leela the white helium canister.

"Now this is a cylinder of gas. When Dask comes in, I want you to turn the valve, so,"

'So?" Leela put her hand on the nozzle as if to turn it. Then the Doctor put his hand on top of hers.

"No, when Dask comes in,"

"What will it do,"

As the Doctor clicked the panel back into place, Marion answered her.

"Helium is about 4 times as light as oxygen. If Dask inhales it, his voice will get higher,"

"When a mixture of air and helium is breathed, it alters the resonance in the larynx. Didn't they teach you that in the jungle?"

"So the robots won't recognize Dask's voice. They won't obey him."

"Precisely," Marion said fingering gunning in Leela's direction.

Marion turned and jumped to see D84 standing right next to her.

'Geez. How come he's able to be so quiet,'

"Come on, D84, Marion," the Doctor said.

"Where are you going?" asked Leela.

"Robot hunting!" said the Doctor.

D84 walked towards the door.

"WAIT," Marion called out, rushing towards the door. She grabbed ahold of D84's wrist and pulled him back from the switch.

"Capel and V6 are behind that-"

The door, like many doors, could be opened from both sides, especially if the room in question was your room that you knew the key too.

For example, if you were a homicidal maniac and the room in question was your crime workshop, the only difference between you opening your door and someone else opening it for you is the drama of it all.

"-door," Marion finished lamely.

Capel stabbed the Laserson Probe into D84's head. And he staggered to the ground. Marion, crouched down to see if he was okay, making sure not to glance at or brush her fingers over the Autodrive for fear that it would draw unwanted attention to it.

"D84!" the Doctor shouted and rushed over to them.

"Watch ou-" before Marion could finish the warning, V6 punched the Doctor in the stomach making him double over. V6 moved to pin the Doctor against the wall to choke him.

"Hey!" Marion shouted. She got up from where she was crouched and ran to grab V6. "Get your hands o- ahhh," Whatever Marion had been about to say was cut off by a quick shout as her body crumpled to the ground like her spine had been severed by a laserprobe.

Which in her defense, was a perfectly natural response to having one's spine severed by a laserprobe.

Marion, had been so busy focused on D84 and then the Doctor, than she hadn't noticed Capel sneaking up behind her nor did she consider the fact that he might be pissed enough about her ripping the arm of one of the robots to (attempt to) kill her directly.

It didn't help that the dizziness that Marion had been feeling on and off all day had reared its ugly head.

"Do not kill him. Not yet. Bring him to the bench." she heard Capel say from her place on the floor. The dizziness she felt faded as V6 stopped pressing the Doctor's neck against the wall. She also heard a hissing noise coming from the crawl space. Leela had opened the canister she hoped.

Marion found herself unable to feel much other than the cold of the floor on her cheek and an ever-increasing sense of dread.

'If anytime were a time for me to hear that damn clock, now would be it,' the thought. Unfortunately, Capel seemed to have managed to stab her in a way that wasn't immediately fatal. The bastard. She wanted nothing more right then to punch him in the nose, but she couldn't even move her hand to scratch the ever-persistent itch on her back.

'Wait, do you still feel an itch on your body if you're paralyzed?'

Marion didn't think so. Marion focused on making her hand twitch even if only slightly. And she felt both movement in her hand, and the itchy feeling in her back increase. Marion attempted to move her hand again but ended up with the same result.

'I think that itchy sensation is my spine fixing itself. Best not to move until things are back at 100%.' she thought. It sure was taking its sweet time though. Maybe her body healed quickly when the alternative was death but was much slower when there was a lack of mortal danger. Or maybe it was taking longer because the spine was more complicated than a skull or a windpipe. Whatever the case, Marion couldn't move and she wasn't enjoying not being able to move.

From the floor, she could hear the sound of the restraints moving to hold the Doctor's head into place as he woke up.

"Hello, Dask. Nee Taren Capel," she heard the Doctor say.

"I'm glad you have recovered, Doctor,"

"Oh? Why?"

"You came close to ruining my plans. It's fitting I should make you suffer for that. You might like to know that Inspector Henson was so busy focused on you, she didn't notice me creeping up behind her. She's been dealt with, and so will you,"

'You're going to be in for a big surprise pal,' Marion thought. She didn't say this though. The itching in her spine had fortunately stopped and was replaced by the painless, but greatly unsettling feeling of a body regrowing bone.

It was like getting a cavity filled while on 50 cc of novocaine. No pain, but she definitely felt a change and knew that something was going on back there. She could move her hands just fine but didn't dare stand up until the feeling faded for fear that her spine was boasting the structural integrity of a pegless lego house. Luckily the sensation was gradually decreasing, however, so she figured that she'd be able to get back up soon.

Marion heard a clicking sound coming from where Capel and the Doctor were.

"I see. You're one of those boring maniacs who's going to gloat, hmm? Are you going to tell me your plan for running the universe?"

"Oh no, Doctor. I'm going to burn out your brain. Very, very slowly," Marion chose to look at the positives in any situation. For one thing, she knew for a fact that the helium gas was working.

She heard a noise to her left and saw D84 creeping towards the repurposed communications machine.

Marion quietly shifted to her back from her side in hopes that her back being fully on the ground might make it easier for whatever her body was doing to do it.

During all this, she could still hear voices from above her.

"Dask. Dask! You look ridiculous in that outfit. Not half the robot your father was."

"You insolent animal!"

Marion heard the sound of beeping and heavy breathing of someone who was in a lot of pain but was doing their best to not sound like they were because they didn't want to call attention to themselves, give the person hurting them the satisfaction or both. Bright lights flashed on the wall and neither that nor the beeping sounds helped any with Marion's dizziness. Marion focused on breathing quietly and not throwing up.

When the beeping and the lights stopped, so did the dizziness. Marion felt the sensation on her back slow down until it was like she had just decided to take a perfectly normal non-injurious nap. She turned over on her stomach so that she could move closer to where D84 was.

"Losing your calm, Dask, hmm? That's not the robot way. It was your verbal and physical precision that made me spot you. Robot upbringing?"

"Yes, Doctor. I was brought up a superior being. Brought up to realise my brothers should live as free beings, and not as slaves to human dross."

Marion thought about the robots of New Houston and how the people had democratically decided that robots should be allowed to be citizens and she thought about K9 and D84.

And then she thought about how Capel was using the robots he claimed to care about not as revolutionaries, but as murder weapons.

She wondered how D84 felt about this.

Speaking of whom, Marion realized that D84 was only seconds away from the communicator.

A second too late, Marion reached out to stop him and quickly swung the arm in front of her eyes to block the coming explosion.

"Goodbye my friends," D84 said, the last word that that particular voicebox would form.

Marion moved her arm away from her face and looked down in shock at the smoking husk that had once been D84.

Quickly, she sat up and pushed up one of D84's sleeves. The metal still felt slightly warm from the explosion, but she found the drive; its yellow lighting shining merrily as if the source of its data hadn't just gone and exploded. Marion placed it in her pocket and made a mental note to find someplace more secure for it. It contained a copy of a friend after all.

Speaking of friends. She got to her feet, feeling slightly lightheaded as she did so. Likely because of the helium. She moved closer to the bench and when Capel took the probe off the rack to finish off the Doctor and he lifted up his hand to prevent it, Marion grabbed Capel by his wrist and held it in the air, preventing him from lowering it into the Doctor's face.

"That's impossible," Capel said in disbelief.

Knowing that, at this point, she had likely breathed in enough helium to make anything she said, no matter how cool, sound ridiculous, she instead gave him a toothy smile that reached her cheeks, but not her eyes.

There was a noise at the door; SV7.

"Kill the humans,"

Its presence was distracting enough to Capel that his grip on the probe loosened to the point where the Doctor was able to tear it out of his hands. Marion pushed him away from the Doctor and to the wall near where Leela was (or, more importantly, where the concentration of helium would be the strongest) and went about figuring out how to free the Doctor.

Marion was somewhat aware of Capel unsuccessfully ordering the machine to let him go and to obey him, but she wasn't offering it much attention.

'Shoot, is there a switch or a catch or something on this thing?'

As reading her thoughts, the Doctor tapped on her hand to get her attention and then pointed to a spot she had missed along the band pinning his chest down. Marion nodded, took the probe, and rammed it into the spot. It clicked open and Marion grabbed the Doctor's hand to help him up.

She turned to the entrance just as SV7 pulled the Z-9 charge from Unavov's, tossed it across the room, and went to wrap his hands around Zilda's neck.

'Nice try!' Marion jumped up to give herself some more height and jabbed the probe into the top of it's head.

Its mantra of "Kill the humans" was reduced to just repeating the phrase, "Kill the, Kill the", over and over again. Its voice got high pitched as if it too was being affected by the helium. Marion noticed the robot getting too close to the Doctor and she pulled him out of the way. After a few more seconds, the robot powered down completely and Marion moved towards the crawlspace where they had left Leela and pulled away the panel.

"I was wondering when you two were going to remember me!" Leela said, her chipmunk like voice reminding Marion why she wasn't speaking.

"Ah, a mouse in the wainscoting," said the Doctor.

Marion grabbed ahold of Leela's wrist and steadied her as she shakily climbed out of the crawlspace. Helium inhalation wasn't necessarily toxic to humans, but it did make it so it was harder for oxygen to get into one's system.

"Well squeaked little mouse," the Doctor said with a grin, "Marion, you've been oddly silent, what's on your mind,"

Marion was about to answer, but then noticed the look in the Doctor's eye. She smirked and walked outside of Capel's side room and into the hall. She made a point of taking in big, oxygen-rich, breaths before saying.

"Sulfur Hexafluoride does the opposite of helium. It makes the voice deeper. Wonder what would happen to someone with a voice like yours Doctor,"

Marion wasn't sure where Toos, Uvanov, and Zilda had gone off to. She assumed that they had gone to the control deck to check on Poul. The three of them were moving with purpose back towards the ore processing deck with the TARDIS.

"Shouldn't we stay and see that Uvanov and Toos and the rest of them are all right?"

"They'll be fine," Marion said, "a rescue ship is on its way,"

"It's time we were on ours."

The Doctor put his key into the TARDIS and pushed open the doors. Before they could enter, Leela stopped him,

"Doctor, why didn't the helium make your voice go squeaky?"

"Because I'm a Time Lord. I've been around, you know. Two hearts, respiratory bypass system. I haven't lived seven hundred and fifty years without learning something. "

"And what about you Marion?"

"Oh. I just straight up didn't speak. I knew how my voice would sound and didn't want it too," she pushed past the Doctor and into the TARDIS, "Come along then! Adventure awaits!"

Later, in the console room, Marion could be found sitting. on the set of stairs leading from the entrance to the TARDIS door. She turned the auto drive in her hand. Interesting how something so small could hold the things that it held. She looked down at it wondering how she was going to go about getting D84 in a new body.

She heard movement and was aware that someone, likely the Doctor, had sat down next to her.

"I know that look. Jellybaby?"

The Doctor held out the white paper bag full of candies. Marion put the drive back into her pocket and held out the hand that hadn't been holding it. The Doctor shook a couple of them into it. She tossed them into her mouth.

"Now, penny for your thoughts?" the Doctor asked.

"I guess I didn't think about what I'd do next,"

"Oh? About what?"

"About D84. He's saved on this see but-," Marion stopped, an awful thought coming to mind. "He's- the data wasn't corrupted was it?"

'What if, what if him suddenly exploding led to the files getting deleted or corrupted. What if my desire to change a person's fate led to that person getting a much worse fate. Is it then my fault. The reason why they're suffering is purely because of my interactions with them. Is being corrupted painful. What have I-'

"-arion,"

"Hn?"

"Let me see the drive. I'll be able to tell if anything's wrong with our dear friend, D84 eh?" The Doctor held up the sonic screwdriver with one hand and held the other one out to her. Marion placed the drive in his hand and scanned over the autodrive.

"Everything seems alright, no data corruption to be found," he handed it back to her, "Nothing's wrong with it,"

Marion looked back down at the drive.

"Still, I don't know what I'm going to do with him."

"You do plan on putting D84 into a new body don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Marion shouted, "But I don't want to do the wrong thing you know? I guess I didn't think to ask if there was a kind he wanted. I mean, obviously, I'm going to put him in something that can move itself about. Wouldn't be right to install him into a phone or computer you know? But I also can't forcibly install him into a moving and living robot because wouldn't that be murder?"

"Marion!"

Marion began to tug on her hair. If she heard the Doctor she didn't acknowledge that she did.

"But even if D84 isn't alive or whatever, it still wouldn't be right for me to install him into a robot that's already functioning right? And what if I install him into a body and he hates it? He wouldn't tell me if it did I bet, and I will have put him into a body that he's not comfortable with! I don't want to do that. But at the same time, I can't not put him in a body because I made him a promise and I'd like to keep my promises to people. I know that you don't think that robots should count as people which is weird because you've already seen some things that should convince you otherwise but then again, you're going to me-"

Marion hadn't noticed the Doctor move from on the step next to her to facing her from the bottom of the short flight of stairs with his hands on her shoulders.

"Marion, I need you to breathe for me,"

Marion stopped talking and took in a deep breath.

"Are you with me Marion?"

"Yes?"

"Good. Then listen. You're going to find a new body for D84. He's going to like the body. You won't have to dismantle any already functioning robots to do it,"

"Did the Associate tell you that?"

"Not directly no,"

"But?"

"I've heard her mention it offhandedly before. But even if that wasn't the case, in the 325 years I've known you, I've never seen you break a promise unless it was something utterly impossible for you to keep,"

That made Marion pause.

'Three hundred and twenty-five?'

"And how much of that have I actually been around for? I just pop in for an adventure and then run off elsewhere right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm human, aren't I? I've got about 70 more years if I'm lucky. Even if I'm, you know, fit and able for all of that there's no way that I'd be able to be around that often. Especially considering I've been a few thousand years head in your future. It's not humanly impossible,"

Marion paused, "I am a human right?"

"I don't know what you are,"

"What's the supposed to mean,"

"You could be a human with extreme healing abilities, or you could be some other species altogether,"

"Wow," Marion deadpanned, "I'm thrilled that we've managed to narrow things down that far. I'm either human or something else. Astounding,"

"Don't be like that Marion. I thought you liked having mysteries to solve,"

"Well," Marion shook her head, "Don't change the subject. Am I really around for a few thousand years?"

"I don't know about that Marion, but I do know that I've known you for around 325 years and you're here more often than not,"

"Hnn," Marion turned her head to the side, "Well, then how doesn't matter so much I guess, I know the 'what' anyway. Apparently, you're stuck with me,"

"I've managed so far,"

Marion snorted. "Thanks for getting my mind off the autodrive Doctor,". She stood up and stretched, "I was starting to freak out about it,"

After walking into the hall, Marion held a hand out and brushed her fingertips against the wall.

"Honey? Could you-"

Before she could finish her question, she had turned a corner to an there was an open doorway.

"Thanks a million, Honey!"

The TARDIS kitchen looked different from the ones from 10 or 13s TARDIS, but it still looked like a normal (if a little bit dated by her standards) kitchen. The only thing that didn't look like it was straight from the 1970s was a shiny chrome piece of machinery with a folded paper note on it along with a number pad. Marion took it off of the chrome surface and read it.

"Input 427560389. Trust Me -A"

Marion shrugged and did as she was told. The machine produced a small grey block about the size of three strips of spearmint gum stacked on top of each other.

'OH! This is the food fabricator isn't it.'

Marion grabbed the block with her pointer and thumb. She shrugged and took a bite out of it. Marion's eyes widened and she quickly ate the rest of the block (and typed into the machine for a couple more). It tasted like the butter chicken she used to make at home from a recipe she had found online. Her family wasn't Indian, so it was obviously not "authentic" or anything, but it still tasted good. It tasted like tomatoes and chicken and the dozens of spices she had dumped in there because she couldn't find the one specific "special" seasoning the recipe asked for, so she added a bunch of stuff to try and make up for it.

Marion had finished her second block and considered getting a third when the TARDIS began to wheeze.

Marion, figuring the TARDIS must have landed somewhere, left the kitchen and returned to the room where she had left the Doctor. Leela was already there.

"Ah. There you are Marion, the Associate just-"

Marion held up her hand, "I just went to the kitchen to get something to eat. We just had a talk about my mortality or lack thereof. So, where did we land?" She thought about what came after "Robots of Death". "Are we going to Victorian England?"

"Good guess, Marion," the Doctor shook his head, "but no".

"Then where?"

"You said that the last planet was the first alien planet you'd been on, right?"

"Yes? What about it?"

"Here's the second" the Doctor pressed the button to turn on the scanner revealing an unfamiliar planet that Marion did not remember ever seeing before. It was covered in light grey, almost silvery sand with a shimmering blue ocean lapping onto the surface.

"Where's that?" Leela asked.

"There's nothing on the planet except for a large beach about two kilometers wide going around the equator. Nothing but sand and water in the whole place. No life there whatsoever"

"Are you sure that there's no life on this planet, or for that matter, it's even safe here?" Marion asked.

"Course I am! When haven't I been sure about something I said,"

Marion stared at him and blinked slowly.

"Honestly! The planet's peaceful and uninhabited. I thought that you might like it. You haven't even seen the best part. Come along!"

Leela followed after the Doctor. Marion shrugged and went to follow them.

The first thing Marion felt upon exiting the TARDIS was a sense of calm. Despite being at least millions of miles away, the ocean still smelt like home to her. Marion took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out.

"It's gorgeous!" Marion said.

"You haven't seen the best part, look up," the Doctor said.

Marion hung her head back and gasped. The sky was positively peppered with stars. More than Marion had ever seen and more than anyone on earth could see even if they climbed to the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

"Woah!" Marion exclaimed looking up.

"What is it?" Leela asked.

"I've just never gotten to see so many real stars at once before," Marion responded in wonder, still gazing up at the sky.

She sat down, not caring that the sand was getting on her pants.

The Doctor sat down with her.

"Do you see that spot right there?" the Doctor asked, pointing to a white dot in the distance.

"You mean that one right there?"

"No," the Doctor grabbed her arm and moved it.

"Oh, I see it. What's so special about it?"

"One of my personal favorites,"

"Oh?"

"Earth,"

"Of course," Marion let out a small laugh.

Marion looked to the sky and found a cluster of 17 stars one of which looking especially bright.

"Is that Orion?" she asked.

"What?"

"I mean, the constellation obviously is going to look different from this angle but is it?"

"Where?"

Marion moved the Doctor's hand so it was pointing to the small group of stars.

"That? No that's not Orion. I don't believe that the stars of Orion are close enough to look like much of anything from this planet,"

"Then what constellation is that?"

"Kasterborous," the Doctor said softly.

"Huh," Marion said softly in response.

'From here, those stars almost look like a perfect circle. I wonder what legends would appear behind them when this planet finally evolves some life,'

Marion didn't talk much after that. She was aware of the Doctor unwrapping his scarf, taking off his jacket and joining Leela by the ocean, but she was just as content to lie on her back and gaze up at the starry sky inventing her own constellations.

Marion couldn't be positive about how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been more than 10 or so minutes when she felt a tugging on her arm.

She reached with her other arm to make sure that the strap on her shoulder was still secure.

"DOCTOR!" she called out.

"Is something the matter Marion?" the Doctor ran to her side.

"No, no, it's just that I'm about to leave,"

"How soon do you think you are going to go?"

"Well," Marion said, rising to her feet, "seeing as I'm being dragged upward by arm to my feet, it's right about..." Marion felt the tugging sensation in her arm change directions suddenly.

"Now!"

Marion fell backward, but her body never touched the sand.

(Next Chapter: Of Blatant Lies)

Chapter Text

Marion wasn't sure what force was dragging her across time and space. She didn't know if it was an entity or the universe itself. She didn't know if it was a she, he, or they. She didn't know if it was all of or none of the above.

What she did know was that it either hated her or thought that they had a good enough relationship where it could do funny stuff like drop her so her torso was over a railing of a stairwell and nearly making her fall over.

Either way, it was a dick.

Marion let out a little "Oomph," noise. The landing on the bar had knocked the wind out of her. She pushed herself down so that she was safely on the platform of the stairs and took in several deep breaths.

She took this time to get a look at her surroundings.

'Ok, first observation, not glaringly white with round thingys so that narrows it down, it's not brightly lit in here at all, so that narrows it down a bit more,'

She took in the fact that she was on a stairwell (another point narrowing things down) leading down to the console and the tan color of basically everything except for the bright green accents coming from the temporal column and giving off a soft green glow (yet another narrowing point).

All in all, Marion was 95% sure that this was the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS, likely from earlier one. Pre-Uncle at least.

"Now do you believe me?" Marion heard a voice say.

Correction. Marion was 100% sure that this was the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS. She brushed some of the sand off her clothes and walked down to join Amy and the Doctor.

"Okay, your box is a spaceship. It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space! What are we breathing?" Amy sounded excited as she spoke.

"The Doctor activated the air shell. Worry not Amy!" Marion called, making her presence known.

The Doctor and Amy turned around.

"Hello, Marion! Where've you been?" the Doctor asked, noticing the sand still stubbornly clinging to her pants and in her hair.

"That planet with nothing on it but a mountain and a beach. Before that, the Sandminer and the killer robots,"

Marion turned to the woman, "Before I forget, nice to meet you, Amy,".

Amy looked at the hand in confusion, "Marion, we've already met,"

"Oh well from your point of view, sure, but I experience time in a different order than you do. You met the Associate, that's the me who I'm not yet. I'm just meeting you for the first time,"

Amy looked at Marion in confusion.

"Let me explain. I'm somehow connected to this guy's," she thrust a thumb towards the Doctor, "timeline," she turned to the Doctor, "If you know, don't tell me," she turned back to the redhead, "Only, here's the tricky bit, I don't get to experience it normally. I meet him and everyone who hangs out with him out of order. The number of times you've met me is rarely going to be the number of times I've met you and, even if it was, that doesn't mean I've met you at the same times that you're thinking of. Am I making sense?"

"Sort of," Amy said, sounding like it in fact, didn't make much sense.

Amy turned away from Marion. Something had caught her eye, and she looked down, below the TARDIS "What's that down there?"

Amy crouched down at the TARDIS entrance and the Doctor joined her. Marion remained standing.

"Starship UK," Marion said without looking,"

"Now that's interesting," the Doctor commented, "Twenty-ninth century. Solar flares roast the earth, and the entire human race packs its bags and moves out till the weather improves. Whole nations,"

The Doctor moved away from the door and moved to the console. Marion grabbed Amy by the wrist and pulled her inside the TARDIS and away from the door before it could close and trap her outside.

"Some put themselves into hibernation for thousands of years on satellites with carefully selected crews until the earth was habitable," Marion said, "And others...,"

"They migrated to the stars," the Doctor said, flipping switches on the console to bring the TARDIS closer, "Isn't that amazing?"

"Well, come on. I've found us a spaceship," the Doctor directed them towards the raised platform where the main TARDIS console was. The Doctor pointed to the large circular porthole shaped scanner in the wall of the TARDIS. He looked at Marion for a moment and then turned back the scanner.

"This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland. All of it, bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship, that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and shopping. Searching the stars for a new home,"

"Can we go out and see?" Amy asked, bouncing on her toes.

"Course we can. But first, there's a thing,"

"A thing?"

"An important thing. In fact, Thing One," the Doctor brought a magnifying glass to his eye, "We are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to in all my travels. I never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets,"

Marion snorted.

"What was that Marion?"

"Nothing,"

Marion looked over at the smaller scanner resting on the TARDIS console. She saw little Mandy in her red sweater, sitting alone and sad.

Marion moved towards the TARDIS exit without a word.

When she was at the door, she heard the Doctor say, "Ooo, that's interesting," letting her know that he had seen the same thing that she had. She walked out of the TARDIS.

The London Deck of the starship reminded Marion of the courtyard at the hotel in her state where all the nerd conventions happened. The only real difference was that the hotel was surrounded by too much light pollution for there to be that many stars visible through its skylight. Ordinarily, the sight of so many stars might have thrilled her. But considering what she knew of what was below deck…

It was hard to just gaze at the night sky. She turned her head away.

The Doctor joined her just outside the TARDIS.

The Doctor walked over to the crying girl.

"Hello Miss, Are you-" before the Doctor could finish, the little girl left. The Doctor moved to follow her, probably to 'bump' into her to get her ID.

"No need," Marion said, "her name's Mandy,"

"Welcome to London Market. You are being monitored," said a voice over the intercom as Amy stepped onto the deck.

"I'm in the future," she said, looking around in astonishment. "Like hundreds of years in the future, I've been dead for centuries,"

"Oh, lovely," said the Doctor "You're a cheery one,"

"Never mind dead, look at this place. Isn't it wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

The Doctor grabbed Amy by the shoulders and spun her around, more or less dragging her around to look at the different sights. Marion had to run quickly to keep up with them, but she wasn't unused to this. She stopped growing in eighth grade and was used to having to keep up with fast-moving people with long legs.

"Come on, use your eyes. Notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?"

'Well, the way it's moving for starters,' Marion thought, looking at the ground, 'But it's not like everyday people can "see" that,'

"Is it the bicycles? Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles," Amy reasoned.

"Says the girl in the nightie,"

Amy looked down at herself, "Oh my God, I'm in my nightie,"

"You're fine dear," Marion assured her, "most people won't know it's a nightie unless you tell them,"

"Now, come on, look around you. Actually look,"

The Doctor started to talk quickly sounding like he was both talking to the two of them and thinking out loud.

"Life on a giant starship. Back to basics. Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me,"

He rushed away from there and to a table where a man and a woman sat. They looked baffled as he took a glass of water from their table and set it on the ground. The water settled and then remained still.

Marion looked at the couple apologetically. The Doctor looked back up at the two people staring at him in confusion.

"Sorry. Checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish.,"

He turned back to the two women and they continued walking.

"Now where was I?"

"Police state?" Marion reminded him.

"Why did you just do that with the water?" Amy asked the Doctor, missing nothing.

"I think a lot," said the Doctor "It's hard to keep track. Now, police state. Do you see it yet?"

"Where,"

"There," Marion nodded her head towards Mandy, sitting alone and crying on a red bench. She sat on the bench not too far away from Mandy, but close enough that they could see her and was joined by the Doctor and Amy.

"One little girl crying. So?" Amy asked.

Marion reached into her bag, and pulled out her pen and her notebook and started to write. "It's not that she's crying, it's that she's crying silently and when the Doctor went to ask her what was wrong, she moved."

"Children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that,"

"Are you a parent?"

The Doctor stared at Amy silently for a second. Perhaps thinking about Susan and/or whoever Susan's parents were.

Marion didn't look up from the notebook as she spoke."There's got to be a large number of parents walking around on deck right? None 'em stopped to ask her what was wrong. It can't be that none of them care, so they must already know. So if they know what's wrong, why hasn't anyone comforted her?"

"Simple," the Doctor said quickly, finishing Marion's thought, "It's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

Marion saw the Smiler's head turn to the side.

Marion clicked the Sonic Pen and looked down at her note.

"Don't worry," it read, "Timmy is safe. Scared perhaps, but safe. You'll see him later again today. -M"

She folded it in eighths and wrote, "Mandy," on the outside in orange letters. The little girl left upon hearing the elevator door "DING"

"Deck 207" she handed Amy the note, "Take this would you? You can open it if you want, but it's important that it gets to Mandy,"

"Who's Mandy?" Amy asked, confused.

"The little girl; her name's Mandy."

"How do you know that?"

"The same way that I know most things," Marion responded as if that answered everything instead of offering more questions.

"Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths," the Doctor said, pointing to a nearby smiler, "They're everywhere,"

"But they're just things,"

"Sure but they're clean," Marion pointed out, "This is a city. Normally, either everything is kind of dirty, or everything is more or less clean. Those booths? Them and the area around them is much cleaner than the things that surround them. If they were just cleaned, then why not clean the windows and street?"

"No one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Look. Ask Mandy, why are people scared of the things in the booths?" the Doctor told Amy.

"No, hang on," Amy sputtered, "What do I do? I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed,"

"You're dressed well enough!"

"It's this or Leadworth. What do you think?" the Doctor got a bit closer to Amy's face and while Marion put an elbow on her knee and leaned facing Amy with her chin resting in her palm,

"Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose?"

After a bit of intense eye contact, Amy turned away from the Doctor and stared straight ahead.

"Ha ha, gotcha," the Doctor laughed, he looked down at his wrist, "Meet us back here in half an hour,"

"What are you going to do?"

"What I always do. Stay out of trouble,"

"And you Marion?"

"Making sure he doesn't get into trouble,"

The Doctor vaulted over the back of the red bench while Marion just walked around it. Before the two of them could get too far away, Amy called to them.

"So is this how it works?" Marion and the Doctor turned around to face her, "You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?"

"Yes,"

"That's about right,"

Amy turned around and so did they. After walking for a bit, the Doctor leaned down and asked Marion quietly,

"Something really really bad isn't it?"

Marion stopped walking, "Anything, in particular, that makes you ask?"

"There's a huge skylight full of visible stars and you're either looking down or straight ahead. If everything was fine, you'd have moved under the skylight and planted yourself with your head bent back gazing up at them. If something at the normal level of bad was going on, I'd at least catch you glancing at it every now and then. But you've hardly given it a glance. Something else is on your mind. You haven't talked much, so whatever's distracting you can't be something good otherwise you'd be telling me about it. It's not something from where you were before, because if it was, you'd be fidgeting with the Autodrive in your pocket. I'd say it's just the current police state of affairs, but that doesn't seem like the whole reason. No, something is happening on this ship and you don't like it,"

Marion was silent for a moment. While no one except for weirdos on public transport who didn't understand that a woman with headphones in her ears staring out the window and/or at her phone didn't want to talk to them would describe Marion as an "Ice Queen", Marion didn't exactly wear her heart on her sleeve true, but she wasn't exactly stone faced. When she felt a certain way, it showed even if only in her eyes and body language.

That being said, it still felt super weird to have a person that she had seen on TV for years, and who'd only known for a couple of days to clock her mood that easily.

Marion scrunched her nose, "Something bad is happening. You're right though. It's more than just a police state. I don't think I can tell you what it is though, not this early. What I can say is that it'll make you angry,"

"On a scale of one to ten?"

"Eight,"

"Any hints?"

"Someone's going to make a choice. She'll think it's the right choice, and she'll make the choice with the best intentions but," Marion said, thinking about Amy "the choice will make you angry, very angry. Please, forgive her,"

The Doctor looked as if he was considering what she had said, "I'll keep that in mind,". He stopped leaning down and stood up straight.

"Well then Marion, where to next?"

"Well," Marion said, "Shall we investigate the engine room?"

The engine room was surprisingly easy to get to. It was at the end of a short alley and marked with an "ENGINE ROOM. UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL PROHIBITED". The door itself wasn't even locked when the Doctor pushed it open.

'I suppose that makes sense. Everyone here is too scared to go where they don't belong and even if they weren't, it's not like there's anything in here to guard,'

The room behind the door was about the size of a janitor's closet with grey metallic walls and the concrete floor. There was nothing of note about the room save for a service ladder leading downwards. "I'll head down first," Marion said, looking at the ladder. She looked down, it was only a dozen or so feet. She made it to the bottom with ease. The lower level of the "engine" room had walls made of brown metal instead of dark grey and, due to a lit panel on the wall, was awash with a warm yellow glow. Across the room was a corridor that was dark save for a cool blue panel. Marion could hear the hissing of the steam, but for obvious reasons, couldn't hear the low rumbling that would come with being this close to an engine room.

Marion leaned against the wall, noting the lack of vibration against her back as she watched the Doctor climb down the ladder himself and jump down, skipping the last couple of rungs.

"Hey Doc, something feels off," Marion commented, gesturing to the wall. The Doctor put his hand on the wall and looked at the wall in confusion. Marion moved out of the way. The Doctor put his ear against the wall, knocked on it twice, put his hand in a different spot, and moved his ear away. He looked at the wall in confusion.

"There's nothing!" he said, baffled, "But it can't be. That doesn't make any sense," He took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the room. His eyes widened slightly. The Doctor looked down to the floor and noticed a glass of water. The Doctor got down on the floor, partially supporting himself with his arms like he was getting ready to do a push-up, and examined the glass of water. Like before, the water didn't move despite the fact that, if this had been a real engine room the water line should be shaking. Marion, already knowing what was going to be found and why it was found, remained standing as a woman approached. The woman had dark curly hair and wore a deep red cloak and a white mask. The mask obscured most of the woman's face save for some gaps through which Marion could see her eyes and dark skin.

"The impossible truth in a glass of water. Not many people see it. But you two do, don't you?" the woman asked in a whisper, partially muffled by the mask.

The Doctor looked up from the glass to see who was talking and did a double-take. He seemed to examine the woman for a moment. Marion didn't know what he was looking for, but he didn't seem to see it. "Do you know us?" he asked finally.

"Keep your voice down. They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the glass,"

"Who says I see anything?" the Doctor responded.

"Don't waste time. At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"

"Water doesn't move," Marion responded, "in the glass I mean. An engine's vibrations would make water in a glass shake if you placed it on the floor. And yet, the water's still,"

The Doctor walked towards a circuit cabinet and opened it. "It doesn't make sense," he exclaimed. "These power couplings, they're not connected. Look," he opened another cabinet "Look, they're dummies, see?" He moved across the room and pounded his fist against the wall, "And behind this wall, nothing. It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was..."

"No engine at all," all three of them said at the same time.

"But it's working. This ship is travelling through space. I saw it," the Doctor said, moving back to the two women.

"The impossible truth. We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly,"

"How?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know. There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us Doctor, Marion. You're our only hope. Your friend is safe. This will take you to her. Now go, quickly!"

The woman handed a Marion small machine about the size and weight of a digital camera.

"Thank you," Marion said, he held the beeping machine up so that the Doctor was able to see it as well. The woman turned to leave. Before she did, the Doctor called out to her.

"Who are you? How do I find you again?"

"I am Liz Ten, and I will find you," the woman responded.

The lights in the room flickered as the yellow light washing over the area flickered. The Doctor looked around in confusion, but Marion leaned against the wall and didn't take her eyes off Liz as she left back the way that she came. By the time that the Doctor turned back around, Liz was gone.

The Doctor held out his hand and Marion handed him the device without looking at him. She figured that he knew more how to use it than she did.

"Can we trust her?" the Doctor asked Marion, "Is she telling the truth?"

Marion considered this question with a tilt of her head, "She's telling the truth. As far as she is aware anyway,"

Marion pushed herself off the wall and began to climb up the ladder. When she was halfway up, she heard the Doctor call to her.

"Hm?", she stopped climbing.

"Does this," Marion couldn't see him, but had a feeling that the Doctor was referring to the engine room when he said "this", "have anything to do with the 'really really bad thing'?"

"It's got everything to do with it," Marion resumed climbing. Once she got close to the top, she pulled herself up the rest of the way and brushed the dust off her pants.

"Let's just go to Amy,"

The tracker led the pair to a small hall that reminded Marion of the waiting room in a courthouse. Across from one of the rooms was one of the many red benches that were found all over Starship UK and on that bench sat Mandy. When they were about a few feet away from the door, they stopped running. Above the door was a sign showing that the room was occupied. Along with it, was a green strip informing them that voting was in progress. A few seconds after they got there, the strip flickered off and the door opened. Mandy stood up from the bench and the Doctor and Marion moved to the door's entrance.

"Amy?" the Doctor asked, opening the door.

Marion could hear Amy's recording beginning to repeat itself. "You've got to find those two and-."

Amy shut off the recording.

While she understood her motives, Marion would be lying if she said that she agreed with Amy pressing the "Forget" button. However, she also knew that it was easy for her to think that from her perspective; that being an outside observer who had been brought in.

"What have you done?" the Doctor asked. It sounded more like a statement. Amy didn't answer. She just stared straight ahead.

"Erased her memory," Marion said, "Check out the thing hanging over her chair,"

The Doctor scanned the light fixture looking device.

"Marion's right. Your basic memory wipe job. Must have erased about twenty minutes,"

"But why would I choose to forget?" Amy asked.

"Because everyone does. Everyone chooses the Forget button," said Mandy from outside of the room.

"Did you?" the Doctor asked, crouching down to be closer to eye level with the girl.

"I'm not eligible to vote yet. I'm twelve. Any time after you're sixteen, you're allowed to see the film and make your choice. And then once every five years,"

"People see what's in the video, and they wish they hadn't. Luckily, there's an option to unsee it," Marion said, pointing to the forget button, "They give the people what they want,"

'I'd be lying if I said that I didn't sometimes wish that videos on the internet had a 'Forget you saw this' option," She said, side eyeing it.

"How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?"

'Sorry love, you're a face early,'

"Oh, I'm way worse than Scottish," the Doctor said, a smile in his voice, "I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me. Doubt it'd play for Marion either," He continued to examine the voting booth.

"It played for me," Amy replied.

"I'm American," Marion said, "Also, come to think of it, I might not legally exist. And even if it did play for me, it wouldn't play for him," she pointed her thumb towards, the Doctor, "He's not considered human,"

"Why not?" asked Amy. The Doctor looked away from the four screens of the booth. "You look human," Amy moved closer to the Doctor.

"No, you look Time Lord. We came first,"

"So there are other Time Lords, yeah?"

Marion stood behind the Doctor, tilted her head, and shook her hand back and forth near her neck trying to communicate to Amy to drop the topic. Either Amy didn't see her, or, and this was more likely, Amy had seen her too late.

The Doctor stopped messing with the console and looked up, " No. There were, but there aren't. Just me now. Long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened. And you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever. Because this is what I do, this is what WE do every time, every day, every second. This. Marion, you do the honors?" The Doctor pointed to the white button with the word, "PROTEST" written on it in thick, black letters.

"Certainly," Marion said. She moved the autodrive to a pocket in her bag far away from her phone.

"Back up Mandy," Marion called to the girl who was still standing next to the door. Marion slammed her fist on the button.

"Try forgetting THAT babe,"

The door slammed shut, fortunately, despite the fact that the door opened outwards, it didn't clip Mandy as it closed. They heard a mechanical sound behind them and the three people turned to the smiling figure whose head was turned to reveal an angry-looking scowl and red eyes. They moved towards the wall as a mechanical sound emerged from the floor. It pulled back, revealing a long drop from which, a sinister red light appeared.

'WOW,' Marion thought, 'Nothing says "Democratic Process" like "Pick what you want. If we don't like, it, you'll see an angry face and we'll hurl you down into a fuckin' hell pit,"'

"Say Wheee," the Doctor shouted.

"Whee!" said Marion, grabbing the Doctor's left hand.

"AHHHHHHH," Amy screamed as the Doctor grabbed her hand with his left. Marion felt her stomach drop as the three of them freefell down into the place below the deck of the ship.

(Next Chapter: Understanding Does Not Equal Agreement)

Chapter Text

Before they had fallen too far, the pit moved from being a sheer drop to an angle. Compressed air pushed at the trio's backs, pushing them through another tube. Marion held onto her bag, attempting to keep it from landing in the muck when they would eventually land.

Marion came out of the tube feet first. She managed to land on her feet. She windmilled her arms, trying to keep from falling over and to keep from slipping in the gross sludge that went up to her ankles. She moved away from the shoot so that she wouldn't be knocked over by the Doctor.

This incarnation of the Doctor, like all of them, was significantly taller than Marion. This meant that his center of balance was a little bit higher than hers was which was why he was sent sprawling to the ground. Fortunately, the Doctor was able to get up on his own. He took his screwdriver out of his pocket and began to scan the "room".

It was dark except for some red lights embedded into the walls making the area look like a Virtual Boy game. Only in this case, nausea came from the knowledge of the location that she was in. She hoped that Star Whales were naturally bioluminescent internally and that they hadn't screwed lights into the mouth of this poor creature, but she had no way of knowing one way or another without investigation.

As Marion was thinking about this, she heard a shout.

'Amy,' Marion thought.

Amy landed on her feet like Marion did, but unlike her, she was unable to keep her balance and slid onto her back with a gross slushing noise.

"High-speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel," the Doctor said, offering an explanation. Marion grabbed Amy's outstretched hand and, with much difficulty pulled her to her feet without falling to the ground herself.

"Where are we," she asked.

"Six hundred feet down, twenty miles laterally, puts us at the heart of the ship. I'd say Lancashire. What's this then, a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave," the Doctor whipped around, "Is this a cave Marion?"

"So here's the thing," Marion put her palms together and clicked her tongue, "no,"

"It's a rubbish dump," Amy swatted a hand to shake off some of the gunk "and it's minging!"

"Yes," replied the Doctor "but only food refuse. Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship,"

"The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed," Amy observed.

"But feeding what, though?"

Amy leaned down to press her hands against the floor.

"You might not want to do that!" Marion called to her. She had chosen not to move for fear of her falling over. Amy ignored her.

"It's sort of rubbery, feel it. Wet and slimy,"

The Star Whale made a groaning noise in the distance. The Doctor, who had been leaning down to investigate what was on the floor shoot up to his feet.

"Marion?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"This isn't a-?"

"Yep!"

"So we're-"

"Unfortunately, yes,"

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, getting up from the "floor".

"This isn't a floor, it's a, So…," the Doctor trailed off.

"You're not going to like it, Amy," Marion called.

"You probably want to take a moment, get yourself in a calm place. Go omm,"

"Omm," went Amy.

"We're in a mouth and this is a tongue,"

"A tongue?" Amy said, hopefully thinking about how she should maybe listen to Marion from now on when she told her not to touch weird stuff.

"A tongue. A great big tongue," the Doctor sounded oddly excited at the idea.

"This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?" Amy shouted that last part.

"Yes, yes, yes. But on the plus side, roomy,"

"Big or small Bowtie," Marion called, "It's still a mouth,"

"How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous. Blimey, if this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach," exclaimed the Doctor, unphased by what Marion had said. The Star Whale made a growling noise "Though not right now," the Doctor amended.

"How do we get out?" Amy asked.

'Shame that only Amy and I have our priorities in order,'

"Okay, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance," the excitement in the Doctor's voice stopped as he saw the huge wall of teeth covering the mouth "is closed for business,"

"We could try, though," Amy said optimistically. She walked towards the exit. She didn't get far before the ground began to shake.

"Wait!" it was too late. Amy and the Doctor fell to the ground. Marion fell as well, although she was able to keep her bag above gunk.

'For fuck's sake. Why didn't I think to leave my bag with Mandy! I hope this thing is waterproof and washes easily,'

"Too late," the Doctor said. He held his screwdriver in the air.

"What has?"

"It knows there's something in its mouth and it wants to swallow,"

"What are you doing Doctor?" Amy said, getting to her feet.

"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors,"

"The chemo what?"

"He's triggering the vomit response,"

Marion said. She turned to face the mouth.

"Right, then," the Doctor said, turning to face the wave head-on, "This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!"

"Ahhhhh"

"If you plan on screaming with your mouth open, maybe don't face the vomit wave!"

Marion felt something (that she didn't want to think too much about) slam into her back and she along with her friends was propelled out of the mouth.

"Well that sucked," Marion proclaimed, she had landed face down on the rounded surface of the overspill pipe. She felt a sharp pain in her nose which had obviously, had taken some issue with her biting the concrete. Her nose felt like it was running, but she didn't want to dig through her bag for a tissue with a vomit-covered hand. Judging from how the pain faded the longer she wasn't face down on the ground, she doubted that it was broken; likely, just sore.

Speaking of her nose, something stunk. That thing likely being the three of them. Her clothes were covered in vomit and she didn't even want to THINK about her hair.

'Why couldn't future me have left me a shower cap!'

At least there was a silver lining, the stuff slid off her bag like water on wax paper.

'That's something at least,'

The Doctor got up and walked to the door. Green light and buzzing let Marion know that the Doctor was working on the panel under the...they were called Smilers right? Marion heard something behind her. Amy was stirring. Marion leaned down to look at her.

"No broken bones," she looked into Amy's eyes, "pupils are normal. You're fine. I'd advise a hot shower though,"

"Where are we?" Amy asked, getting up. Marion grabbed Amy's hand and helped her to her feet.

"Overspill pipe, at a guess," the Doctor replied.

The overspill pipe was a circular tunnel with dim red lighting. Marion considered that the consistent red lighting was purposeful. Make protesting seem like a hellish option so that if someone does do it and you give them the option to change their mind and forget it they jump to it. The protest pit leading to the inside of the Star Whale's mouth was part of it as well.

"Oh? You feel bad about us torturing an innocent animal to make this city move? Fuck you! A bunch of robots are going to scowl at you and we're going to toss you into a hell pit! What's at the end of the hell pit? The creature you felt bad over the torment of. Now it's going to eat you. Don't you feel fucking stupid for protesting? Oh, what? You're not dead? Just vomit-covered? Well, I'm sure you've learned your lesson. Let's just forget this ever happened. I better not see your dumbass in five years,"

"Oh, God," Amy said, scrunching his nose "it stinks,"

"That would be the vomit,"

"Oh. Phew. Can we get out?"

"That depends," said Marion, joining the Doctor at the door.

"On what?"

"We forget everything we saw. Look familiar?" the Doctor pointed to the white "Forget" button embedded into the door.

Amy gasped when she saw it.

"That's the carrot," the Doctor said, pointing to the button. The echoey "click" of activated industrial lighting rang throughout the tunnel. The Doctor and Marion spun around.

"Ooo, here's the stick,"

At the end of the hall was a pair of smilers in their booths.

"There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. And something about it is making my friend anxious. What is it, and what is it. What's it doing there?"

The smilers' head turned with a sound, not unlike stone grinding against stone.

"No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?"

The heads turned once again to reveal an even angrier face.

"Careful!" Marion said, stepping forward, "Y'all aren't the first robots I've taken out today. I've got the arm to prove it!"

"I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting, and what are you fellows going to do about it?" the Doctor said sarcastically, "Stick out your tongues, huh?"

The booth slid open and the two robots got up and out.

"Guys?" Amy said, concern and fear in her voice.

They moved towards the group, threateningly. Amy, the Doctor, and Marion moved back slowly. Marion moved slower than the rest of them. She took her bag off her shoulder and held the strap in her hands, ready to swing it if Liz didn't show up in time.

Luckily, it didn't come to that. A hydraulic hissing noise sounded behind them. Marion, knowing who was on the way and uninterested in any more of her hair lightening, moved out of the way as the woman in question fired two shots into the chests of each of the smilers. She spun her gun and dropped it in her holster.

Marion was a simple woman. She saw a woman with curly black hair, dark skin, a cool outfit firing a laser blaster at a pair of robots, and making it look almost effortless and stared at the new arrival for perhaps a moment longer than necessary.

'Were it not for the circumstances, we would have no choice but to stan,'

"Look who it is," said the Doctor "You look a lot better without your mask,"

"You must be Amy," Liz said, introducing herself "Liz. Liz Ten," she shook Amy's hand.

"Hi,"

"Yuck," Liz said as she realized that Amy was covered in vomit. "Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick," Through the still open door, a little girl walked out,

"You know Mandy, yeah?" said Liz "She's very brave,"

"How did you find us?"

"Stuck my gizmo on you. Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"Maybe you might've known," said Marion, "If you hadn't voted to forget about it,"

The Doctor glanced at her.

"I may be over 16, but I never voted, not technically a British subject."

"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?" the Doctor asked, sounding, not angry, but like he might get angry if he was given a bad answer.

"You're a bit hard to miss, love. The both of you. Two mysterious strangers. A man with an M O consistent with higher alien intelligence," At this the Doctor preened, "and the hair of an idiot," this made the Doctor brush his hair back defensively, "And a woman with thick curly hair, eyes that know too much and a mouth that'll say whatever needs to be said so that knowledge will protect people, I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was,"

"Your family?" the Doctor questioned.

Marion heard a whirring noise behind her and turned around. "The smilers are going to get back up soon,"

Everyone turned to look. The smilers twitched like a person on their stomach trying to get up without using their arms or legs and made a noise like when you turn the pedals backward on a bike with hand breaks.

"They're repairing," exclaimed Liz, "Doesn't take them long. Let's move,"

Liz led them through a large room that reminded Marion of a warehouse. It might've been one come to think of it. It was definitely used for storage.

"The Doctor and Marion. Old drinking buddies of Henry Twelve. Tea and scones with Liz Two. Vicky liked Marion well enough, but she was a bit on the fence about you Doctor, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy,"

"Liz Ten!" the Doctor said in realization.

"Liz Ten, yeah. Elizabeth the Tenth,"

Marion heard the clicking-whirring noise behind them.

"DUCK,"

"And Down,"

Liz turned around a gun in each hand. Marion, Mandy, Amy, and the Doctor ducked allowing her to fire at the smilers.

"I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule,"

The Doctor shoved open a metal door which led them down an industrial-looking corridor. The rest of the group followed after them with Liz closing the door behind them. "There's a high-speed Vator through there," she said. The room was filled with the constant and repetitive sound of something clanging against metal. Like in blacksmith's hammer slamming against an anvil or, in this case, like a prisoner banging against the wall of their cell. They didn't need to get too far into the room before they could see the source of this noise. "Oh, yeah. There's these things,". Liz moved out of the way as one of the Star Whale's scorpion-like tentacles slammed against the bars. The vertical bars across the grating reminded Marion of a prison which was fitting considering the Star Whale's situation. Marion sighed.

"Any ideas?" Liz asked.

"Doctor, I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through like a root,". The Doctor scanned the tendrils and checked the readings on his screwdriver.

"What, like an infestation? Someone's helping it," Liz gritted her teeth "Feeding it. Feeding my subjects to it," she stormed off, "Come on. Got to keep moving," Mandy followed behind her.

The Doctor didn't move to follow Liz at first and Marion remained standing next to him. Marion looked through the grate and squeezed her fists together. The worst part about all of this, was that she honestly, truly, couldn't blame Liz and the heads of the Starship UK for doing what they did. She disagreed with it yes. But at the same time, they had no way of knowing that the Star Whale would've helped them without them forcing it to. If she had been put in a situation, where she was given the same kind of choice, capture and torture an animal, or watch as her whole nation burned to death, she didn't know what she might have done.

Still, it made her sad and angry to see the tendrils slam into the walls.

"Doctor? Marion?" she was aware that Amy was speaking.

"Oh, Amy," the Doctor said softly looking up through the bars, "We should never have come here,"

The Doctor turned and followed after Liz and Mandy. Marion sighed.

"We should've come here for this exact reason," she followed after the Doctor.

Liz took them to her quarters. It was a large room with a high ceiling. Wood paneling went up half the wall and the rest of the wall was cream-colored. On the floor was a black and white pattern and a red carpet. Liz flopped down dejectedly on her bed. In the corner of the room, was a mirror and on the floor in front of the mirror were dozens of filled water glasses and a fallen chandelier. Amy stood in front of the mirror and pinned up her hair. Marion didn't want to think about the current state of her hair. Marion sat on the carpet in such a way that it looked like she was looking at the glasses when she was, in fact, examining Liz. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor stepping over some of the glasses so that he could examine them closer.

"Why all the glasses?" the Doctor asked.

"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what,"

"In ten years, you have to have learned something," Marion murmured.

"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice but to sneak undercover. Ten years I've been at this. My entire reign. And you've achieved more in one afternoon."

"How old were you when you came to the throne?" the Doctor asked, holding up the white porcelain mask.

"Forty, why?"

"What, you're fifty now?" Amy said in disbelief, moving away from the mirror "No way,".

"Yeah, they slowed my body clock, Keeps me looking like the stamps,"

'I wonder if my body clock is slowed down. That might explain why I'm around for so long,' Marion pondered.

The Doctor sat down on Liz's bed. Amy and Mandy say down on the couch at the foot of her bed. Marion remained standing, partially facing.

The Doctor held up the white mask. "And you always wear this in public?"

"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting..."

"Air-balanced porcelain," the Doctor observed.

"There's no strap to keep it on. It'd have to be perfectly sculpted to your face,"

"Yeah? So what?"

"Oh, Liz. So everything,"

Marion might've said something else, but the door to Liz's Suite opened with a loud creaking noise. Marion turned sharply towards the door. She took half a step forward and put a hand on the strap of her bag. Through the entrance hall of the room, walked several men in long, black cloaks over purple tunics with amulets with a golden wind-up key.

"What are you doing? How dare you come in here?" Liz said in outrage. The Doctor set the mask back down on the bed and stood up and stared down at them.

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now," said the man at the front of the group. He had been the man who'd reported their presence if Marion remembered right.

Liz jumped up from the bed and stared the man down, "Why would I do that?"

The man's head rotated 180 degrees to reveal the red-eyed scowling, Smiler face bolted to the back half of his head.

"Christ!" Marion shouted. It was one thing to see that on TV (or well, computer screen). But seeing it in person accompanied by that clicky-grinding-whirring noise. It was the opposite of ideal.

'Wow, I hate that!"

"How can they be Smilers?" Amy said in horror.

"Half Smiler, half-human,"

"All nightmare,"

"Whatever you creatures are," Liz said, sounding very much like a royal, "I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?"

"The highest authority, Ma'am,"

"I am the highest authority,"

"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am,"

"Where?"

"The Tower, Ma'am,"

The longer they walked through the grey brick and stone walls, the lower into the ship they went, the closer they got to the Star Whale, the more Marion felt like she was going to throw up. Marion could tell they were getting close. The *clang* *clang* of the poor Star Whale slamming against the grating echoed through the stairwell louder and louder.

Eventually, the Winder leading them stopped in front of a door. He lifted the key from around his neck, put it into the lock, and turned. There was an audible *click* and the door opened.

The room looked much like a typical medieval dungeon. It had been one before the Starship took to the skies after all. The only real difference was the grates exposing the Star Whale's tentacles, the raised circular platform exposing its brain, and the multicolored screens against the wall. Likely allowing the people here to monitor the Starship UK and its sensors.

"What is this place?" Marion heard Amy ask.

"The lowest point of Starship UK," the Doctor held out his arms and spun around. "The dungeon," He sounded 'calm' but in that way that a very very very angry person will sound calm.

A man walked forward. His hood was down, and Marion could see that he at least didn't have another face bolted to the back of his skull.

"Ma'am," he said, addressing Liz.

"Hawthorne," Liz walked closer to the man, "So this is where you hid yourself away, I think you've got some explaining to do,"

From the other side of the room, a group of children walked past to the other side of the room. The sight of them made Marion even angrier.

"There's children down here. What's all that about?" the Doctor asked, patting a boy's head as he walked past.

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," Hawthorn said as if that explained everything.

"Who the f-"

Marion took a deep breath. There were several reasons that she was furious and one of them was because of what was happening to the children. Children who were within earshot. Had they gone through enough that a tiny furious American woman with the mouth of a sailor would be nowhere near the worst thing they'd heard? Probably. Did that mean she was going to swear in front of them? She didn't remember if she'd sworn in front of Mandy, but she hoped not. She tried not to swear in earshot of children under the age of 13.

"Who do you think you are deciding that a - that a CHILD is of limited use?" Marion's voice got higher and faster and her accent moved farther south, "They're for- THEY'RE CHILDREN! NONE of them look older than 11 or 12! How in the- how does anyone get to decide that they're of limited use? Test scores? Test scores are-," Marion paused, trying to come up with either another way to express herself or a word for how she felt about standardized test scores in general that didn't involve the word "shit". Hawthorn took this pause as a chance to cut her off.

"Perhaps the beast feels as strongly as you do. For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky,"

Marion felt her right eye twitch.

'In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth,'

"Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle," As the Doctor spoke, he sounded just like he had earlier when he was leading them around the shopping center of the Starship, but something was off; something was different. It was something in his movement, the way his hands moved as he spoke and walked towards the hole covered by a raised wall and a guardrail.

Marion had seen "the Beast Below" several times. She's seen it enough to be able to use in her philosophy class to give an answer to the question "What an example of utilitarianism in media in which a single individual is made to suffer greatly for the sake of others," that wasn't "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,". She's seen it enough that apparently, her future self didn't think she needed to send her a note. She'd seen it enough to know Mandy's address right off the bat without needing the Doctor to "borrow" her ID card.

The point is, Marion didn't think that seeing the exposed brain of the Star Whale would be as horrifying as it was. Sure, the whole situation was awful and upsetting and angering, but that was more because of the general concept of a being just coming to help after hearing the cries of the children and being captured, tortured, and forced to do something that he would've done anyway without needing to suffer. However, there was one thing that Marion had forgotten. It was something that should've been obvious, but it didn't occur to Marion until it was too late. This was real life, and not a TV show put together by the BBC circa 2010. There are many differences between real life and a BBC production.

The BBC is limited in what it can portray due to Ofcom, a non-infinite budget, and the inherent limitation of a strictly audio-visual medium.

Reality is not in fact, limited by those things.

The Starwhale's exposed brain didn't look like a CGI effect, it looked like a living brain. There were dark marks on it that just about lined up with where the electrodes were pointing. Around the edge of the hole was some kind of fluid and the brain twitched and pulsed in time with the rhythmic thumping from it slamming its tentacles against the walls.

Marion tried to breathe in enough through her nose to not vomit, but all that did was make it easier for her to breath faint smell of singed infection. Marion gagged.

'What kind of person do you have to be to not only do this, but choose not to make yourself forget after you've done it!'

"What's that?" Liz asked, horrified.

"Like, the Doctor said, it depends on your angle," Marion said looking away from the Star Whale's brain.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," said Marion, her leg was shaking again, "from one angle, it's either a poor creature, trapped in it's own personal hell,"

"Or?"

"Or," said the Doctor, the false cheeriness in his voice, gone, "it's the gas pedal, the accelerator. Starship UK's go faster button,"

"I don't understand,"

"Yes you do," Marion thought that when this happened, when she was confronting Liz, she'd be yelling more. Normally, anger made her loud. Anger made her talk more and talk faster. Anger made her pace like she was yelling at someone on the phone. Anger made her voice go higher. Anger kept Marion's accent along the east coast of her country but pushed it further north or further south.

'I don't feel like yelling,' Marion thought, "Or ranting or shouting. But I'm angry."

Marion supposed that anger felt at someone for negligence, or malice, or disregard for living things was different from the anger felt towards people who did something wrong but did it legitimately thinking that there was no other option but that.

The anger Marion had felt towards Robertson under the hotel and towards Hawthorne for the way he referred to children 'citizens of little use' was like a fresh cup of coffee; scalding hot and capable of filling her with enough energy to yell until something changed or something stopped her.

The anger she felt towards Liz and the Starship UK was more like a latte that been left in the cupholder of a car in a mall parking garage for a couple of hours while its owner ran some errands at the mall; lukewarm and capable of giving her a stomach ache and some nausea.

"Think about it Liz," Marion said, softly, "The ship shouldn't be able to fly. The engine rooms are dummies and the water doesn't move. And yet despite this, it's soaring through space. Why do you think that is Elizabeth?"

"This creature, this poor, trapped, terrified creature," the Doctor's tone of voice was only not a yell because it wasn't loud, "It's not infesting you, it's not invading, it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving,"

Either the electronic pulse mechanism was controlled from someone outside, it was controlled by someone inside the Tower who was unable to read the room, or it was set on an automatic timer, but Marion heard the electric pulse and go off. The room smelled of burning.

'Please God, Don't let me actually throw up here.'

"Tell you what!", the Doctor looked around until he located the grate, "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing," he lifted the grate and one of the Star Whale's tentacles rose out. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at it, "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear,"

Marion braced herself, she already had issues with high pitched noises that weren't caused by an innocent creature screaming in pain. And scream in pain it did. Marion visibly winced, the noise like someone had dug one of her mini-screwdrivers into her ear canal.

A thought occurred to Marion, the Doctor had said that the noise was beyond the range of "Human" hearing. Was he able to hear it? Did he constantly hear the Star Whale's screaming? Marion didn't remember if Timelords (or whatever the Doctor was) had enhanced hearing compared to humans. If they did, then it had to have only been mentioned in a comic or in one of the many Big Finish audios she had lacked the attention span to listen to all the way through.

She hoped not, but she didn't think the universe was in general kind enough to the Doctor for her hopes to come true.

"Stop it!" Liz cried.

The Doctor lowered his screwdriver and the room was silent save for the rhythmic thumping noise.

"Who did this?" Liz hissed at Hawthrone.

"We act on instructions from the highest authority,"

"I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now,"

No one moved.

"I said now!" Liz yelled, "Is anyone listening to me?"

"Liz," the Doctor said softly, "Your mask,"

"What about my Mask?"

The Doctor tossed it to her.

"Look at it. It's old. At least two hundred years old, I'd say,"

"Yeah? It's an antique. So?"

"Liz," said Marion, "if it was made by a craftsman 200 years ago, and you're only 50 years old, then how can it fit your face perfectly?"

"They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not fifty. Nearer three hundred. And it's been a long old reign,"

"Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years,"

"Ten years. And the same ten years, over and over again,"

Marion grabbed Liz's wrist and dragged her to the other side of the room.

"And then," Marion said, finishing the Doctor's statement, "at the end of the ten years, you end up back here and the ten years start all over again,"

On a simple table was a small TV that was old and outdated in the 21st century, let alone the 29th. Or maybe it wasn't old and outdated and 21st-century chic was all the rage. Either way, it was on the table, and in front of it were two white buttons roughly the size of the palm of ones hand. There was the standard "forget" button of course, but the other button, instead of saying "protest" said "abdicate".

"What have you done?" Liz asked Hawthorn in horror.

"Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us,"

The screen flickered on and there sat Liz. She was younger obviously, at least by 300 years, but you wouldn't know by looking at her. She looked older, more tired. The recording began to speak.

"If you are watching this. If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London. The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the Forget button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision,"

"I voted for this. Why would I do that?" Amy asked in horror.

"You assumed that I didn't already know," Marion said.

"And Amy, you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know,"

"I don't even remember doing it,"

"You did it and that's what counts,"

"I'm, I'm sorry," Amy said, tears building in her eyes.

"Oh, I don't care. Marion does, for some reason. She knew about this, and what it meant that you were going to choose to forget it. She asked me to forgive you, you know. But do you know what? I'm not going to. And when I'm done here? You're going home," the Doctor turned away from Amy.

"Why?" Amy shouted, upset, "Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!"

"Yeah, I know," the Doctor looked up from the controls he was tinkering with, "You're only human,"

"What are you doing?" asked Liz.

"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it," the Doctor messed with the control panel of it, trying to program it to shock the Star Whale.

"That'll be like killing it,"

Marion crossed her arms and shook her head, "Doctor, you're not doing that!"

"What is it that you always say, or that things that you WILL always say, 'There's always a third option?' Well, Option one, I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Option two, I kill everyone on this ship. The third option, I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can." the Doctor paused for a moment, "And then I find a new name because I won't be the Doctor anymore," he added.

That wasn't what "always a third option" meant. It meant that when presented with two terrible, terrible choices, one should always look carefully, to see if there was a better option that just took some out of the box thinking to figure out. But, Marion couldn't tell the Doctor that all he had to do was get Liz to slap the "abdicate" button and everything would work out. It was important that Amy be the one to figure it out and be the one to do it. It would likely be best not to interfere with things that she didn't already know were going to go wrong.

'I tried that at the cathedral and where did that get me?'

Timelords were unable to read minds. (Well, unless the person they were reading was also telepathic or were touching someone, but that's not important.) The Doctor likely took Marion's silence to be either acceptance or resigned agreement.

"There must be something we can do, some other way," Liz reasoned.

"Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today!" by the end of this statement, the Doctor was yelling and partially shaking with rage. Amy and Liz took this as a queue to move away from the Doctor, while Marion remained near him.

"How?"

The Doctor spoke so softly, at first Marion didn't realize that he had been talking to her. "Hn? How what?"

"How could you ask me to forgive Amy for her choice. This is wrong, and you know it's wrong. I know it's making you angry. How could you ask me to forgive her? You're angry, I know you are, your hands are shaking. But you haven't yelled, you're calm. Well, you did yell about the children, but not about this? What's different about this?"

Marion sighed, "It's easier for me to yell and shout at people who are doing what they're doing out of selfishness or greed or callousness. But while I'm angry at Liz, it's hard to yell at her. She-she didn't know of any other available option for her to take. She knows that what's going on is wrong. That doesn't make it right, and I'm angry at her, but-"

"But What?" the Doctor said sharply, "Oh she's torturing an innocent creature, but she felt bad about it so it's all okay is it?"

Marion bristled at this.

"No, don't put words in my mouth Doctor. It's not okay! And I'm not trying to suggest that it is. I'm angry at her and about this whole situation. That poor thing," Marion gestured towards the Star Whale, "doesn't deserve any of this. It's just hard for me to yell at someone for doing something when they did it for some reason other than greed or carelessness and I can understand the reasoning,"

The Doctor looked her in the eye, and Marion could really see how much older and sadder he was than the curly-haired coat rack of a man that she had been with on the Sandminer with just a few hours prior.

"At least that explains how you've been able to look me in the eye all those years knowing that I've done this,"

Marion didn't have anything to say to that, that wasn't spoilers, and so she said nothing at all.

Marion walked away from the Doctor while still keeping an eye on him in case Amy took too long to get a solution and she had to tackle him or yank him away before he did something avoidable that he was going to seriously regret.

A noise got Marion's attention. The door to the Tower opened. In came three children, each carrying bits of supplies and machinery in their arms. Mandy reached into the pocket of her sweater and pulled out a folded note. She refolded it and got up off the floor. Marion had an idea of what she was saying, but couldn't quite hear it.

She could see just fine though. Mandy had her back to the tentacle and Timmy stepped away from it in fear. But there was nothing to worry about and that was key. The tentacle did reach up from inside the grate and towards Mandy, but it didn't attack her. It just tapped her lightly on the back of the shoulder to gain her attention.

Marion noticed this and noticed that Amy noticed this as well.

Mandy continued to pet the tentacle and Amy continued staring.

'C'mon,' Marion thought, 'Figure it out, you can do it!'

Marion saw Amy's eyes flicker towards the tentacle that had lowered itself so that both Mandy and Timmy were able to reach it.

'You're so close Pond. Connect the dots!'

"Doctor, stop!" Amy yelled.

'Rock on you funky little ginger,'

"Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" Amy grabbed Liz's hand and dragged her over towards the small voting booth.

The Doctor glanced up at Amy for a second, before realizing what she was doing.

"Amy, no! No!" he screamed. He ran to intercept her, but Marion stood in his way and grabbed ahold of his wrist to keep him from getting too far, just in case.

Amy slammed Liz's hand onto the abdicate button.

For a moment, everything was still. Then, a loud roar echoed through the Tower and the room started to shake violently. Marion braced herself, trying to keep herself from falling on her on the hard floor.

"Amy," the Doctor asked, holding onto one of the orange lit grates, "what have you done?"

"Nothing at all," a whirring noise chimed from the brightly lit controlled panels "Am I right?"

"We've increased speed," Hawthorn said in disbelief.

"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Got to help," Amy said with a grin.

"It's still here," exclaimed Liz, "I don't understand, "

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it. That was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead. No future," Amy stopped looking down at the Star Whale, and started looking at the Doctor, "What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

Liz and Hawthorn looked down in shame at the Star Whale, realizing that everything that they had done for the past few centuries was for nothing.

Marion stood next to the Doctor on the observation deck, finally getting a proper look at the stars over the Starship.

"They're gorgeous," Marion murmured under her breath. And they were. The sky over the UK was filled with pinpricks of light. The arms of the Milky Way galaxy weaved in between them.

"You're able to look out at them now," the Doctor observed.

"Yeah, kinda hard to enjoy the night sky when you know someone who only desires to be kind is suffering under your feet. Doesn't matter how pretty the stars shine,"

'If I'm going to live for thousands of years, then I want to chart out the night sky,' Marion thought, 'I want to know the names of every constellation and make up names for the ones that don't have them,'

Marion heard the sound of Amy's footprints and tilted her head to let her know she was there.

"From Her Majesty," Amy held out Liz's white mask, "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK,"

Marion took the mask from Amy and put it into her bag.

"Amy, you could have killed everyone on this ship," the Doctor said instead of responding.

"You could have killed a Star Whale," Amy retorted.

"And you saved it," the Doctor smiled, "I know, I know,"

"Amazing though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery and loneliness, and it just made it kind,"

"Pain, misery, and loneliness, don't make you kind, they just reveal the kind of person you are," Marion responded

"What do you mean?" asked Amy.

"There are two types of people. The people who say 'I suffered, no one should feel like how I feel' and 'I suffered, everyone should feel how I feel.' Luckily, the Star Whale was the former type of person,"

"But you couldn't have known what kind of person the Star Whale was," the Doctor reasoned.

"You couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?"

The Doctor gave Amy a huge hug.

'Hell yeah!' Marion thought, 'You two hug each other. I'll join in when we aren't all covered in dry vomit,'

The Doctor and Amy managed to drag Marion away from the viewing platform, and the three of them found themselves back in the middle of the London market.

"Shouldn't we say goodbye?" Amy asked.

"Amy, a big part of the TARDIS brand is leaving pretty much the instant you've fixed things," Marion held up a pointer finger for emphasis, "ESPECIALLY if fixing things involved any kind of change to the government. Stay too long and folks start asking you to be a part of the reconstruction. That's boring,"

"Won't they wonder where we went?"

"For the rest of their lives. Oh, the songs they'll write. Never mind them. Big day tomorrow,"

"Sorry, what?".

"Well, it's always a big day tomorrow. We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones," the Doctor said, oblivious to the look in Amy's face.

"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning? Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just, just because you could?"

"Once," the Doctor responded, "a long time ago,"

"What happened?"

"You're looking at him," Marion replied, pointing at the Doctor with her thumb.

"And what about you Marion?"

Marion shrugged, "I'm decided to go for a short jog and got sidetracked,"

"Right…," Amy said, "here's something I haven't told y-"

Before Amy could tell the Doctor about what she was supposed to be doing the next morning, a ringing noise came from inside the TARDIS.

"No, hang on. Is that a phone ringing?"

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS door and went inside the TARDIS. Amy and Marion followed the Doctor inside. Marion stopped abruptly as if something had tried to trip her.

"People phone you?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"Well, it's a phone box," the Doctor pulled some switches on the console, "Would you mind?"

"Hello? Sorry, who? No, seriously, who?" she moved the phone away from her ear, "Says he's the Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?"

"Which Prime Minister?"

"It's Winston Churchill!" Marion called from the entrance of the TARDIS. She would've gotten closer, and perhaps answered the phone herself, but she couldn't move her legs. This is not meant in the metaphorical, anxious sense, the area from her knee down felt like it was covered by a wall of rock.

"Hey, Doctor!" Marion called, "I think I'm about to go-OH,"

When Marion had been about 12 or so, she'd gone to a pool party. Her hair was a hassle to wash, and so, she'd planned to simply sit on a lawn chair at the edge of the pool, read a book, and maybe get a good enough tan that people would stop assuming that she was mixed. However, when she got up to grab a drink, one of her 'friends' grabbed her by the ankle and yanked her into the pool.

The yanking sensation that Marion felt on her ankle was a lot like that except, in this case, she wasn't going to end up in the hospital with a concussion and water inhalation, and she doubted that whatever force wasn't even willing to let her take a shower before grabbing her didn't have parents who felt guilty enough to buy her a fruit cart's worth of edible arrangements.

'Well, here we go again,'

(Next Chapter: Of Old Men and Dumb Names)

Chapter Text

"Ow fuck,"

That settled it. The force that dragged Marion from place to place was clearly at least somewhat sentient and had, unfortunately, chosen to use its sentience to be a dick. Why else would it have dropped her off facing a wall and made her dizzy enough to slam her nose into it?

Marion attempted to get a good view of her surroundings.

The low humming under her feet let her know that she was on the TARDIS, but she hadn't ended up anywhere but the TARDIS thus far so that was a give. She knew at some point, she'd have to locate the Doctor, but that was nowhere near the top of her list. First order of business was to take a shower before she bumped into the Doctor and was forced to go on an adventure covered in dried Star Whale barf.

Marion brushed her fingertips lightly against the hallway wall.

"Hey Honey?" she said, "I don't know if you can tell, but kind of need a shower. I'm covered in barf. Could you please-"

Before Marion could complete the thought, she felt "movement" under her fingertips. She followed it. The TARDIS led her to make two lefts, a right, and another left, and soon, it led her to a door that looked somewhat familiar to her.

'Oh right, last time I was here, I was barely awake,'

The bathroom was shaped like a rectangle with a width of the span of Marion's arms. Its length was a little bit less than twice that. It wasn't huge, but it didn't need to be. It was just big enough to not feel cramped. There was a shower/bath combo thing against the wall, just long enough to cover the far wall and take up a quarter of the room. It had a pale red shower curtain and bath mats of the same color.

A bit closer to the door and against the wall, there was a counter made of stone with a sink built into it. Above the sink was a small shelf and above the small shelf was a mirror. Next to the sink, was a toilet and on the floor were bathroom mats the same color as the shower curtain.

Marion checked under the sink and found two towels, a washcloth, a brush, a bottle of soap, and a small bottle of shampoo.

"Honey," Marion said aloud, "Thank you so, so much. I love you,". Marion felt a brief hum through the floor. It felt like a "You're welcome,"

Marion took off her clothes and stepped into the shower. She washed her hair first, and the rest of her body. If she stayed in the shower for a little bit longer than necessary, well who could blame her. She didn't realize how much she had to have stunk until she stepped out of the shower and realized that the bad smell that'd been following her for the past couple hours was gone. Marion dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her body. She took the other towel, and wrapped it around her hair and squeezed. She unwrapped the hair towel and stood in front of the mirror. She went to brush out her still damp hair and noticed something on the shelf under the mirror.

'That wasn't there before,' Marion murmured.

On the shelf, there was a small bottle full of...Marion grabbed the bottle to look closer at it. Concealer? It had a symbol on it; some kind of logo maybe. The same symbol was also on a small round closed dish full of powder, a spray bottle the size of her palm, and a brush. It didn't look like a brand that Marion recognized. Then again, that wasn't exactly saying much.

Marion didn't regularly use or know much about makeup. This was less because of her being one of those I'm-Not-Like-Other-Girls types and more of the fact that her the skin on her face was sensitive enough that she would break out if she used any kind of soap on her face other than the kind designed for people whose face would become blotchy if someone in the company even THOUGHT the word "fragrance" too hard and even then, she had to dilute the bottle.

While she knew that there was such a thing as hypoallergenic makeup, it was normally expensive, and she hadn't bothered and she had always been scared that normal makeup would make her face burn and turn red, warm, and blotchy.

That being said...

Her neck wasn't AS sensitive as her face. The crew of the Sandminder had been too concerned about killer robots to notice the discoloration on her neck and if they had noticed it, they either hadn't said anything or assumed that perhaps some of the population of the Ross colony bruised a different color. On the Starship UK, between the low lighting and the Star Whale fiasco, people had more things to focus on. That didn't mean that no one would notice it, and if she didn't know how'd she explained it. Unless she wanted to spend the rest of her life wearing turtlenecks in public, it's in her best interest to cover it with makeup.

The Doctor mentioned that she'd normally had it covered anyway. She may not know much about makeup, but Marion was pretty sure that she knew how to use concealer at least. Just put the liquid stuff on the spot you wanted to conceal, spread it until it was even, and then put the powder over it, and then spray it so it set right? She could manage something simple like that probably.

The amount of time it took for Marion to cover up the evidence of that time she almost got strangled on her neck in a way that looked natural was a secret that Marion was going to take to her grave. It was embarrassing. On the plus side, her neck looked normal and that's all that really mattered.

Marion readjusted the towel around her body and went to grab the clothes she had worn previously. She found them gone.

"Thanks Honey!" Marion said aloud.

Marion cracked the door to the bathroom and looked through it in case anyone was in the hall. Ideally, no one would be out there, and she'd be able to make her way to room before something happened that led to her having to run from something (which considering how her day was going, would likely be a murderous robot) barefoot and only wearing a towel.

Luckily, despite the fact that she was about 90% sure that the door leading out of the bathroom had led to a hallway when she'd walked in, it was instead, a wall with a familiar orange door in it.

"Honey!" Marion said aloud, "If you had a physical form I would kiss you full on the mouth right now, I hope you know that,"

Marion turned the doorknob to her room and walked inside and shut the door behind her. She hadn't even noticed that she'd left her bag in the bathroom. But it either wasn't there anymore, or there were two of them. Either way, her bag was on her bed.

The rooms still looked like a model home, this time, even more so because the one thing that made the room look like someone lived in it, the whiteboard and corkboard barely had anything on it. Not that Marion could see if anything was on it. Trying to see what was on the board was like trying to read from a phone in the dark after waking up in the middle of the night with the brightness on max and the phone literally pressed against your nose.

Not advisable unless you wanted eye strain.

Marion looked away from the board, blinked her eyes a couple of times, and moved to the chest of drawers. She opened them and after looking through them for a moment, selected a pair of dark blue denim shorts, black leggings, and a light blue T-Shirt. Marion got dressed, grabbed her bag, and walked almost left her room before pivoting and going back to her desk.

'Shoot, I almost forgot!'

As usual, there was nothing in the "A" drawer, but the "M" drawer had a note a mini-roll of dark blue duct tape, a few hair ties Marion read the note:

"It's early enough in the Doctor's timeline that you can stash the autodrive somewhere in here so when the chance comes you're able to get it. Tape it somewhere. -A"

Marion reached into her bag and pulled out the blinking autodrive. She looked around the room, trying to think of a good place to put it. The tape would suggest that she could put it up somewhere. Marion glanced over at her bed. She moved away from the desk and walked towards it.

'I could, tape it under the bed,' she thought, 'It blinks, so I'd be able to see it, provided I don't forget it or something,'

She laid down on the floor next to the bed. There was about enough room for her to fit under. Marion tore off a strip of the tape. She taped it to one of the bed slats making sure that the sticky side wasn't touching the magnetic strip. Marion moved from under the bed and got to her feet. She grabbed a pair of socks. She considered wearing a pair of converse, but then reconsidered. She didn't want to wear anything with laces. If she tripped or something and cracked her skull. Even if it didn't kill her, she was just going to lie there until the heat death of the universe because otherwise, someone might walk up to her and say "Hey, aren't you the idiot who cracked her head from tripping on her own shoelaces while running from a monster?".

Marion, having done everything she had needed to do in her room, opened the door and left.

Marion brushed her fingers against the wall of the TARDIS. Marion had been walking for a while, and she was at least 90% sure that she'd made seven right turns in a row, but the hallways did look different enough each time. After turning down one hall, she heard the whirring-grinding noise of the moving TARDIS console. Marion followed the sound.

'The note said that this is early in the timeline. But how early I wonder,' Marion thought.

She made it to the console room just as someone left the TARDIS. She followed right behind them.

"Oh!" Marion said out aloud, "This is pretty early,"

Marion wasn't sure what she had expected when the Associate told her that she was early on in the timeline. Maybe a blonde eight-hundred-year-old single dad who only vaguely understood what a corsage was and knew that it involved vegetation but figured that any kind would do or the velvet-and-frill wearing answer to the question "What if James Bond was a nerd and also Blofeld's ex,".

This was someone else entirely.

This version of the Doctor was an old man. Technically, so was the version that she had just come from and the version before that, and both the Doctor's that she had guessed she was going to meet. However, they didn't have white hair that went to just under their ears, a receding hairline or look like they'd die if you shoved them too hard.

The TARDIS had landed in a large fenced area, likely a stable or something. As for the Doctor he had just sat down on a barrel, holding a handkerchief to his mouth with Steven, looking down at him. The person who Marion had followed behind must've been Dodo then.

"Oh, I've got the most ghastly toothache. It's paralysing pain,"

"It serves you right for eating that sweet. Marion told you not to bite into it," Steven scolded.

The Doctor groaned

"Well, aren't there any painkillers on the TARDIS?"

"If there's anything I can get you..." Dodo offered.

Steven turned to look at Marion, "You wouldn't happen to have anything in your bag would you,"

Marion shook her head, "Sorry, no. Nothing like that in my bag. The Associate didn't leave me any either," She looked at the old man, "Sorry about that Doctor,"

The Doctor sighed, "I shall have to have it out. We've got to find a dentist,"

"Where are we?" Steven asked, looking around.

"Let's see..." Marion said, resting her chin on her palm.

Marion made a big show of putting her thumb in her mouth and holding it up to the air as if she was somehow using the angle and direction of the air to determine the year. There was no real reason for this other than the fact that she thought that it'd look impressive. If the Doctor could eat dirt and declare that they were in Norway, Marion could at least do this.

"Late 19th century," she paused as if she was thinking, "definitely post-civil war. I'd say around Eighteen eighty? Eighteen eighty-one? Yes, eighteen eighty-one. About a month or so into fall it'd say,"

"Yes, yes, that might be when we are," said the Doctor, "but Where are we?"

"I know!" said Dodo suddenly.

"Where?"

"Check outside Steven," Marion responded.

Steven walked over to the ajar door and stuck his head through it.

"Tombstone! The OK. Well, that sounds like..."

"The Wild West!" finished Dodo grabbed Steven by the arm and excitedly swung him around.

"It can't be, can it?" Steven said in disbelief.

"This is a TARDIS, not an ARDIS. Why couldn't we travel through time?"

"Fat I've got finding a dentist in the middle of the-"

The Doctor was cut off by Dodo and Steven's whoop of excitement.

"Must you?"

Steven, Dodo, and Marion moved to the TARDIS to change into something that better fit the occasion.

"Look, I've always wanted to be a cowboy, see what it was like in the Wild West," said Steven defensively.

"Hey, they had cowgirls too, didn't they?" Dodo asked.

Marion wasn't sure if there had been female Vaqueros (or would that be Vaqueras), but Dodo probably was thinking about the archetypal cowboy with a hat and a gun and a horse and the boots and they most certainly had female versions of them. So, she gave the answer Dodo would likely like to hear.

"'Course they did Dodo,".

"Ya-hoo!" Dodo shouted excitedly, walking into the TARDIS. Before Marion could fully walk through the door, the Doctor shouted to them.

"What about my tooth!"

"It's the 1880's Doctor!" Marion called from the doorway, "There's no medical treatment that's easier to find than removing what's ailing you!"

Rather than a large spiral with multiple levels, like, for Ten, the TARDIS closet was a room the size of a child's bedroom with clothing on racks and in boxes. Marion rummaged through the clothes. Carol Ann Ford and therefore, Susan, was roughly Marion's size, so she was confident that, even this early on, she'd find something her size. After looking through the shelves, Marion grabbed an outfit and moved to the changing room.

Marion kept the leggings but changed out of the denim shorts and into a tan ankle-length pleated prairie skit. She traded the t-shirt for a white long-sleeve blouse tucked in her skirt and put on a coffee-colored waistcoat over it all. She traded her slip-on shoes for a set of mid-calf boots and had put a cattleman cowboy hat on top of her head. It went with the outfit, looked cool, and, most importantly, covered up the discolored patch on the back of her head. Instead of going back to her room, Marion bundled up the clothes that she'd been wearing and used a couple of hair ties to keep it in place. She dropped the bundle in her bag in case she'd need a change of clothes.

She, Dodo, and Steven left the TARDIS. Steven walked out first and nearly tripped over the ridiculous spurs he insisted on wearing on the back of his boots.

"How do we look?" Dodo asked, gesturing to herself.

"Oh, good gracious," said the Doctor turned away, "Absolutely absurd,"

"Oh," said Dodo, sounding offended.

"Don't be rude. We look amazing," said Marion, tapping the side of her hat, "'Absurd' indeed, I've got no idea what you're on about,"

"Why you have to dress yourselves up like Tom Mix I can't imagine. You're asking for trouble. Why can't you wear inconspicuous clothes as I do?"

Marion did her best not to scoff. Sure he was dressing relatively normal now, but just give him a bit.

"Oh, what about me? Don't you like it?" Dodo did a little twirl as she spoke.

"Oh, that hat is certainly wrong with it,"

Dodo took that hat off her head, "Oh, it's not supposed to be. That's for you," she put in on the Doctor's head and patted it into place.

"For me, my dear child?" the Doctor was surprised, "Oh, that's very thoughtful of you, thank you," the Doctor took the hat off and examined it, "Yes, at least it'll keep the rain off," he put it back on his head, "Yes, it's most suitable. Ow!"

"Doctor, if you chipped your tooth biting into something you shouldn't have, try not talking as much. When you talk, air goes into your mouth and the pain is coming from it brushing against your tooth," Marion recommended.

"Buffalo Bill to the lions," Steven said softly to Dodo.

"What was that?"

'Oh, dear,'

The phrase "cringe-inducing" gets thrown around a whole lot these days but what happened next made every muscle in Marion's body contract. On one hand, Marion understood that the current American accent was what British people sounded like in the 1760's-1708's. On the other hand, if an Englishman had tried that kind of accent and she had been a Colonial American, well an extra point or two might've been added to the grievance portion of the Declaration of Independence.

"Nothin' pardner!" said Steven in what had to be the worst American accent Marion had ever heard, "I was just a-practising mah quick-draw!"

Steven tried to do a quick draw with his gun which might have looked cool if he hadn't fumbled it and also, hadn't been talking Like That.

"Is this how English people feel when Americans try their accents? Because if so, I definitely owe a few people some apologies,"

"Oh, do be careful, dear boy," said the Doctor, "And remember that belongs to my favourite collection!"

Steven ignored the Doctor.

"Now see here, stranger. I reckon you don't know who I is! Deadeye Steve. The fastest, meanest gun in the West," he managed to successfully perform a quick draw and pointed the gun at the Doctor. Marion quickly grabbed Steven's gun arm and forced him to point the gun to the floor.

"Rule one of gun safety 'Deadeye'," Marion scolded, "Do not point a gun at anything that you aren't okay with shooting on accident,". She let go of his arm.

"You best listen to the lady," a voice called from the entrance to the wooden enclosure or whatever it was that the TARDIS and her passengers were inside of. Marion turned her head to the voice to see a man in a black hat, suit jacket, a string tie, and a gun. The gun was in his hand and pointed at the wall near where they stood. Marion knew that if she hadn't had as much knowledge about gun safety shoved into her head and a knee jerk reaction to someone disregarding it, he would've shot at Stevens's hand.

"And who might you be?" the Doctor asked.

The man didn't let go of his gun, "You wanna find out, try movin' fast! Now get over!" The four of them moved forward with Marion and Steven towards the front and Dodo (smartly) making sure Steven was between her and the man with a gun.

"I don't know who you are or what right you have-"

The man cut the Doctor off, "Marshall of Tombstone's my right and Wyatt Earp's my name,"

"Wyatt Earp!" Dodo said, excitedly.

"Oh, something wrong, ma'am?"

"Oh no, it's just that, well, I always wanted to meet you and here we are face to face,"

"Well, the Lord sure do move in mysterious ways, ma'am. Now maybe you'll all come along to Sheriff's office?"

"Lead the way," Marion responded.

"Hold on," said Steven, "Why would we need to do something like that?"

"So as that you can identify yourself in decent law abiding manner,"

"Ah. No, you see, I'm, er, I'm not really a gunman. I was just-"

"Huh. You did kinda make that look obvious didn't ya, boy?" Marshal Earp really liked interrupting folks Marion noticed. "That's why I'm doin' you favor taking you on in,"

"Why?" Steven asked.

"Cos of the Clantons are in town, and, boy, that's mighty unhealthy for a stranger that calls himself the fastest gun in town. Now pick up yer peashooter and let's get movin,"

Wyatt Earp led the four of them down mainstreet along the porches of the storefront. They didn't speak as they walked. Marion was busy trying to figure out how she would prevent the mob from accusing the Doctor of being Doc Holiday without shouting that the real Doc Holiday was at the dentist office. She was vaguely aware of the Doctor telling Marshall Wyatt that the four of them were traveling performers, but she had bigger things on her mind.

'Perhaps the best thing to do would be to stick with Steven and Dodo?'. Maybe she'd be able to nip the suspicion at the bud? It was worth a shot.

Eventually, a man called out to Earp.

"So, you finally got back,"

"Howdy, Bat. Everythin' quiet in town?" Earp responded.

"Everything excepting that rattlesnake friend of yours Holliday blew in this mornin'. Who're your friends, Wyatt?"

"Well I, er..."

"Oh, quite, quite so. Allow me, sir, to introduce Miss Dodo Dupont, wizard of the ivory keys, Miss Marion Bluebird, soprano, and er Steven Regret, tenor," Dodo and Steven looked at each other in confusion, "And lastly sir, your humble servant Doctor Caligari,"

"Doctor Who?"

"Yes, you're quite right," the Doctor said, quickly, "I've just been satisfying the Sheriff here that we are a humble troupe of travelling players. Unfortunately, sir, at the moment between engagements,"

"Well if I was you I'd keep a-travellin'. There ain't no theatre in Tombstone," replied the man. He spoke as if he personally ran each and every performer out of town.

"Oh don't worry," Marion said, trying to show as much charm as she could, "We weren't planning on staying for too long now. We just stopped through here looking for the dentist. Doctor Cal chipped his tooth last place we were at and we were hoping that y'all had a dentist,"

"A dentist?" confirmed Wyatt.

"Yes,"

"Well, then, Doc Holliday's your man," he turned to "Bat" "Where is the Doc, Bat?"

"Opened his-self a surgery right along the Street," Bat pointed down the road, "Walk thatta way, friend. You can't miss it,"

"Oh, I'm vastly obliged to you, Sheriff," the Doctor let out the little laugh that his current incarnation was known for and turned to his companions and sort of pushed them forward, "Come, fellow thespians!", before joining them, he turned back to Wyatt, "No doubt I shall be very glad to see you, meet you later on, Mister, Mister Werp,"

Doc Holliday's dentist's office was pretty easy to find. Marion was able to see it from a distance seeing as it had a huge molar hanging over the doorway and this could be seen in the distance. Steven complained about the cover that the Doctor used.

"Look I don't know why you wanted to say it in the first place. Steven Regret? What kind of a name's that for a singer anyway?"

"Oh, my dear young man, can't you sing a little?"

"At least it's not 'Bluebird', I mean honestly Doctor? BLUEBIRD?"

"Don't think I don't hear you singing to yourself nearly constantly singing to yourself on the- on my might as well use it in your cover!"

Marion wondered when it would be appropriate to inform the Doctor that she hadn't done any of that and in fact, she hadn't met his current face yet or his companions. But at this point, that was a kind of awkward thing to say.

It was kind of like how when you meet a new person, you have a two conversation window during which it's acceptable to ask the person what their name is. After that, you just have to hope that their amazon package gets delivered to you by mistake or they use their real name on twitter because there was no acceptable way for you to find out otherwise.

Marion was pretty sure that there was literally no way she could get away with saying "By the way, nice to meet you," at this point. That ship had sailed and was currently on its way to Indonesia.

Instead of voicing these thoughts, Marion said instead, "Well, at least you didn't say that I was some kind of dancer,"

"Why say we're performers at all?" asked Steven.

"Well, I had to find some sort of suitable cover," reasoned the Doctor, "After all, you can't walk into the middle of a Western town and say that you've come from outer space. Good gracious me, we'd all be arrested on a vagrancy charge,"

"And you, for some reason, couldn't just say, we were just passing through on our way elsewhere huh? No, you HAD to say that we were a group of traveling performers. It's the Wild West in America. Unless you're a criminal, no one really cares. Everyone's got their own problems,"

"And what about our little wizard of the keys?" Steven tipped his hat at Dodo, "Miss Dupont, can you play?"

"I'll have a bash!" Dodo replied.

"There will be no necessity to have a bash, because tomorrow morning we're going to leave Tombstone and we should be back in the TARDIS in for lunch," the Doctor turned, looked up, and got a proper look at the roughly carved dangling tooth with it's chipped paint, "You know, I don't think that that is a very subtle form of advertising, do you? Yes, come to think of it, my dear, you know I think my toothache's better," the Doctor turned to walk away from the dentist,

'Yes, I don't think it's going to be at all necessary,"

Steven grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders and pushed him towards the front door and pat him on the back.

"Come on, Doctor. Straight into the surgery. I'll go to the hotel and book the rooms,"

"Please, Doctor. You'll feel so much better afterwards," Dodo convinced.

"Oh, I only wish I shared your confidence, my dear. However, I suppose I'll meet you both back in the hotel lounge," the Doctor winced, "Oh! There it goes again,"

Before the Doctor could fully walk through the door, Marion, remembering something, ran up the Doctor and grabbed his sleeve.

"Did you need something Marion," the Doctor asked.

"No, I just needed to tell you something,"

"Hm? And what is that?"

"Don't take the gun," she said simply before joining Steven and Dodo.

"What was that about?" Steven asked her.

"Don't worry about it," Marion responded, "I just needed to let the Doctor know something before he went to the dentist,"

Dodo started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Steven asked.

"I was just thinking, I hope he's not expecting an injection!"

"It's the Wild West Dodo," Marion said blithely, "if there's one kind of medicine that they do have, it's painkillers. Let's just get to the hotel,"

As they approached the saloon, Marion heard the sound of gunfire and a few moments later, two men walked out of the building. Marion, Steven, and Dodo were right behind them. Marion pushed through the doors.

"Oh, we got company," said one of the men who were sitting at the table in the middle of the room.

"Well, lookie here," said another man, "if it isn't Calamity Jane, Pearl Hart, and Sam Bass,"

As the man spoke, Marion and Dodo stepped down from the entrance into the saloon proper. The Last Chance Saloon looked about how Marion had remembered it looking. The only real difference was that everything wasn't grey black and white and was maybe a little bit dustier near the doors. Steven tried to join them, but once again, he tripped. Marion couldn't help but wonder if it was because his shoes were too big.

The men began to laugh. Marion didn't pay attention to them and walked towards the bar. Marion lightly tapped on the bell and leaned over the counter. Steven joined her and Dodo leaned with her back against it. The barman poked his head out from behind the bar. His name was "Charlie" if Marion remembered correctly. Charlie seemed shaken from when someone shot one of the bottles. That reminded Marion, she had to do something to keep him from acknowledging that he recognized Ringo.

"What'll it be stranger?" the shaking man asked.

"Oh, nothing to drink, thanks. We just want to book four rooms," replied Steven.

"Four rooms? For the three of you,"

Marion shook her head, "Nah. We're waiting on a friend of ours. Said he'd meet us here and for us to book the rooms,"

"Oh, well, I'll have to ask you to sign the book here,"

"Sure,"

Steven signed the book with their names. Marion looked over Steven's shoulder as he wrote.

"Say, are you really a piano player lady?" the barkeep asked Dodo. He sounded excited by this.

"You're darn tootin' I am,"

"And a couple of singers too. Well, I'll be"

"Why, what's the matter?" asked Steven.

"Well nothin' in the wide world, friend. I just might be able to offer you a job is all. I got no pianist on account he was shot last week,"

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," said Marion.

"Thank you," Charlie dipped his head towards Marion and then turned back to the rest of them "I do have a singer, but she's always out someplace," Charlie gave them a wink that Marion imagined that she was supposed to get some kind of meaning from, but even though she knew that the singer was out with her Holiday, she couldn't fathom what it meant. Unless he was suggesting that he would fire her and hire them in her place. "Understand?"

"I think so," said Dodo.

"Sure," said Marion with a tone of voice that, rather than suggesting that she knew what he was talking about, suggested that she had NO idea what he was talking about, but also, didn't care enough to have it explained to her.

"Don't get me wrong," said Marion, holding up her hands, "it's a very kind offer but..."

"But we gotta leave town in the mornin',"

"Oh," the barkeep sounded disappointed, "Well, let me know if you change your mind. Just up the stairs, three, six, seven, and nine," He placed four keys into Steven's outstretched hand.

"Why thanks. Come on Dodo," Steven grabbed Dodo by the arm and swiftly moved towards the stairs.

"Ah, but Steven..."

"It's no good, Dodo. The Doctor would never forgive me if anything happened to you," he looked at Marion as if to say, "Back me up here,"

Marion was busy kicking herself for not telling Steven to maybe not mention the Doctor in the Saloon. She could hear one of the patrons speaking to another,

"You all hear what I heard?"

'Well damn,'

She tried to salvage it. Marion prided herself at being good enough at improv to "yes and" and think of things to say on the spot and smart enough to never join an improv troupe. Maybe if the "the Doctor" wasn't just known as "the Doctor" that might fix things and keep the patrons from assuming that his full name was "Doctor Holliday".

"He's right you know," Marion said, her eyes glancing towards the people at the table in a way that she hoped wasn't too noticeable, "You know how Doc Caligari can be Dodo. Best go upstairs,"

There. Marion said, hopefully, the patrons would get that they were speaking about different people, and as long and the Doctor didn't take the gun, everything would be fine and dandy.

Halfway up the stairs, the three of them stopped.

"Ah well. Hey, what about his key?" asked Dodo.

"Oh, that's a point, yes. Leave it downstairs for him, okay?"

Steven walked the rest of the way up the stairs, but Marion remained where she was. She watched Dodo bring one of the keys to Charlie.

"Give this to our friend the Doctor with my compliments," she said cheerfully.

"Sure, ma'am," replied Charlie.

Then men took notice of Dodo and Marion took notice of them and she continued to watch them until Dodo joined Marion back on the stairs.

"What's the hold-up?" Dodo asked.

"Thought I heard some people talking," Marion replied, "Don't worry, it was probably nothing,"

Dodo went back up the stairs. Marion took one last look at the lower floor, before joining her two companions on the second floor.

Marion sat down on her bed and took out her phone. She hadn't used it since the incident with the spiders. The phone was surprisingly not dead. Marion opened the camera app to see if the neck makeup was holding up.

'Looks fine. Good thing too, I didn't take any makeup with me,'

That brought up a thought. Should she start taking her makeup with her? If she got shot in the chest it would suck, but it wouldn't be a serious issue. Then again, what if she got shot in the face or some other visible place? It wasn't like her bag had a limit on room. Marion wasn't quite sure how big her bag was nor how much could fit in it, but seeing as she had already filled it with pretty much everything that she could get ahold of that seemed useful, and yet the bag insisted on looking like she had just got it...she figured that it was a lot.

Marion looked back at the camera. Her hair looked nice the way that it always did when she first got out of the shower and the Arizona air had dried it nicely in a way that made the thousands of tiny curls in her hair look more defined and less frizzy. She snapped a picture. She heard movement outside of her room. She jumped and put her phone back into her bag and got to her feet.

There was a loud knocking noise against her door. Marion stood up and opened it. Marion didn't know that man's name, but she knew who he was.

'Christ,'

Marion opened the door, preparing to grab the small knife out of her bag on the slim chance that her plan had worked, but the man was at the door for unrelated reasons. Actually, forget the knife. She was probably strong enough to give him a hard shove over the railing. But then again seeing as Steven and Dodo were behind him she didn't think it was anything worse than in the episode; even if the man had angled himself in such a way that the two of them wouldn't be able to slink down the stairs and abscond away. Even if there weren't a bunch of his friends sitting between the stairwell and the exit holding guns.

"Hello there. Is there something you needed?" Marion said calmly with the phony-polite and cheerful tone normally found in a retail worker who just KNOWS that the middle-aged woman that she's talking to is definitely going to demand to speak to the manager before the conversation ended.

"Well Miss," the man said, "I thought that while you waited for your friend, y'all might provide a bit of music for the fine folks by the bar,"

Internally, Marion was kicking herself for not telling Steven and Dodo to not mention the Doctor. She wondered if the Associate was out there somewhere, ready to kick her in the back of the head. She considered grabbing Steven and Dodo and then making a run for it, grabbing the Doctor, and then beating feet to the TARDIS. Marion glanced at the gun on the man's hip and sighed. Maybe, just maybe, it was possible that this had nothing to do with the Doctor, and they just wanted music and were willing to bully the nearby performers into providing it.

Marion didn't think a universe was kind enough for that to be the case but hey, she had to have some hope. Right?

"Well. I suppose it couldn't hurt," she said.

The man stepped away from the door allowing Marion to walk through and she followed behind the man, Dodo, and Steven. They walked towards the set of stairs leading down to the main floor and stopped. A man walked through the saloon doors.

"Okay, Clanton, I found Holliday. He'll be here in about five minutes,"

'Well, there goes anything I had resembling hope,'

"Great!" called another man. Marion thought that maybe his name was Clanton. But wait no, that was the family's last name right? They were the Clanton brothers.

The man "leading" them down the stairwell turned to them.

"Now then, Mister Regret, you and the ladies step right down to the piano and give us a song,"

"Ah, yeah, well, the thing is we're kind of a little bit out of practice, y'know," Steven attempted to get out of the situation and let out a nervous laugh, "It's-" He was interrupted.

"So here's your chance to warm up a little,"

Marion let out a loud, long-suffering sigh and sat down on a nearby chair.

'Silver lining,' Marion thought, 'the Doctor didn't say that you were a dancer. That's something,'

"Hey, couldn't we rehearse on our own first?" Dodo tried.

"Yeah," Steven chimed in.

"How about that. They wanna be alone," he looked at the rest of the men in the saloon as if Steven had claimed to be a comedian and not a singer, "You'll sing here, now and fast."

"Well, why?"

All the men pulled their guns out and pointed them at Steven.

"On account of we're all music lovers,"

One of them fired off a warning shot. Dodo screamed and Marion flinched.

Dodo walked to the piano and examined some sheet music. Steven went to look at it as well, and at that moment, one of the men stole Steven's guns.

"Hey, now come on, what do you-"

"Shut up and sing, friend," Marion didn't know what his name was, but this was the man that had brought them downstairs.

Steven said something Marion couldn't quite hear from where she was.

"What's the trouble?" said the man who claimed that the saloon was full of, let's say, passionate music lovers. He started pointing a gun at Steven's head.

"Nothin'", he said quickly, "we just choosin' a song,"

"Here's one," said Dodo finally.

"Let's hope the piano knows it,"

Marion took one of the note sheets from Dodo and a deep breath.

"Well, Dodo. Start playing,"

Marion had to hand it to Dodo. She was able to play the song quite well considering that this had to be her first time seeing the sheet music.

Steven began to sing,

"With rings on their fingers,"

Marion took the next line,

"And bells on their toes,"

Steven realizing what Marion was doing, took the next line.

"The women come to Tombstone,"

"In their high silk hose,"

"They'll dance on the tables,"

"OR give you a tune,"

Marion and Steven sang this last part at the same time.

"For whatever's in your wallet, At the Last Chance Saloon!"

(Next Chapter: A Series of Frustrating Events)

Chapter Text

Marion had never been more thankful that she'd done choir instead of graphic design in high school. She wasn't the best singer in the world, sure but she was good enough to avoid getting Steven, Dodo, or herself shot and at the end of the day, that's really all that mattered right? Besides, the song was pretty fun to sing.

That being said, she'd be lying if she said that she WANTED to sing it over and over again.

Steven seemed to agree with her seeing as he'd stopped in the middle of the verse to complain. Marion admired his courage in doing that. Marion ware fairly sure that the men weren't going to shoot them and on the slimmest of chances that they did shot her, and she did get shot, well she didn't see a reason why a cathedral floor, a homicidal robot, or a laser shot to the spine would be any less deadly than a bullet. She had walked those off just fine. Steven on the other hand, as far as Marion was aware, had neither the foreknowledge nor the estranged relationship with his own mortality that Marion possessed.

"Come on, please. I've sung this song four times already!"

"Well then, sing it again!"

"I said sing it!"

"Look, couldn't we try a different song?"

Even if his complaining didn't do much more than get a gun shoved in his face, Marion was still impressed.

Steven grit his teeth and continued to sing, he jumped into the right point seeing as Dodo hadn't stopped playing for even a moment.

"...Is the Last Chance Saloon"

Marion continued to sing along with him although she did her best to maintain a tone that listening to, you might never guess she was being held at gunpoint to sing.

"It's your last chance of givin',"

"It's your last chance of rye,"

"It's your last chance of livin-"

Before Marion could sing "and your last chance to die," a voice yelled into the bar.

"Now what's going on here? Okay now, boys, put them guns away," Marion let out a sigh of relief.

Through the saloon doors, walked Miss Kate. Marion couldn't help but stare at the woman with her long wavy blonde hair, extra half a foot on Marion, and the fact she had been just able to walk in and tell the men at the bar to shut up and chill out. Marion hoped that it wasn't obvious that she was staring.

"Now, Charlie," Kate leaned against the bar, "got yerself a couple a new singers maybe? You fixin' to replace me with that girl over there?"

"Why, why no, Kate, it's just that these gentleman-"

"Now Charlie, am I singin' here or ain't I?"

"Why surely are, Kate,"

"Then, get that guy away from my piana' before we need a new barkeep real sudden," Kate pointed a finger at Steven which made him flinch back.

"You heard what she said, I reckon you'd better," Steven grabbed Dodo from the piano and hesitated for a moment before grabbing Marion by the arm as well.

"Now go on, Dodo. Get upstairs and lock your door. Marion, make sure that she does,"

"If you're sure Steven," Marion said.

"Oh, but I was enjoying playing," complained Dodo.

"Don't argue, kid. Vamoose,"

"Oh well, if that's the way you feel," Marion followed behind Dodo as the girl marched to the stairs in the way that teenagers do to let you know that, while they are going to do what you ask, they Do Not like it and what to make sure that you know that,

"Are you coming Steven?" the girl asked.

Steven took a quick survey of his surroundings, and quickly said, "Yes" and moved to follow the two of them to the upper level. Unfortunately for him, the folks at the bar had differing ideas. One of them moved so that he was in between Steven and the stairwell. While neither she nor Dodo could see it, Marion knew that Kate was pointing her gun at Steven.

"Now hold on. Stay right there, Mister. This time you play piana',"

"Me?" Steven mimed playing, "But-"

"Yeah. Let's take it from the top again, double tempo,"

"Well, thank you and goodnight!" Dodo stomped up the stairs.

"Dodo!" Steven moved to follow her but was stopped. He signed, "Marion, make sure that she's alright,"

"Sure," Marion followed after Dodo.

"Well, now, perhaps we can get a little action around here," said Kate to the excitement of the crowd.

Marion made sure that Dodo did in fact go to her room, but she didn't go into her room herself.

She wanted to watch for the Doctor. If she was positioned in a way where she could see Kate then she'd also be able to see the door. Also, the Doctor was going to come into the saloon about when Kate finished her song so it'd be a good idea to pay attention to Kate dancing so she'd known about when the old man was going to enter. That was definitely the only reason that she had an elbow on the banister on the upper level and her chin in her hand. Anyone who said otherwise was wrong and should not be listened to.

Kate got through a verse or two of the song before movement near the saloon doors caught Marion's eye. The Doctor was waltzing in not realizing the amount of trouble that he was walking into. Or maybe he did realize it and didn't care. Either way, when he walked in clapping and congratulating Steven on his playing and Kate on her singing and dancing, Marion stood straight up and vigilant.

"Well, if it ain't the great Doc!" said one of me stepping really, really close to the Doctor. Marion felt a twinge in her stomach.

"Oh, you flatter me, young man," the Doctor said, clapping the man on the shoulder "Yes, reasonably accomplished I would say, but not great,".

"You can say that again,"

"Oh, really? Why?," Marion hoped that the Doctor would connect the dots to figure out that they thought that he was a man who did them wrong and who he wanted to take out. Then again, he hadn't realized until it was too late in the show and Marion didn't think ant version of her future self would be able to change that man's moments of obliviousness.

"Oh, yes, of course. We met a little while ago down at the dentist. Yes, and you so very kindly invited me to join you and your friends for a drink!"

"And a little talk, Doc," the man reminded him.

"Yes, quite so, quite so. Well, I'm afraid I don't touch alcohol, but a little glass of milk and I should be only too delighted. Won't you, er, introduce me?"

'Now, I know that the Doctor is sometimes in the habit of pretending to be dense as a neutron star. But, is he pretending right now, or does he legitimately not see what's going on,'

The men crowded around the Doctor.

"Yeah, yeah, give me a pleasure. Doc, I would like you to meet the Clanton brothers,"

"The Clanton brothers," the Doctor paused for a moment, and his voice fell, likely realizing whom it was that he was in the company of, "Oh dear," he recovered quickly, "I mean, er, how d'you do?"

"Recognise the name, Doc?"

"Oh yes I do, indeed, yes. Steven, don't you think it's time we were going?" the men surrounding the Doctor took out their guns. The Doctor continued to hold onto that smile that reminded Marion of that one image of a cat that a landlord was willing to allow on their property on the grounds that it looked polite.

Marion continued to feel that low sense of dread in her stomach. She hoped that it would go away soon. Lately, her anxiety constantly led to dizziness which led to nausea and Marion didn't want to deal with that right now. Or ever. They still hadn't noticed her yet and Marion took special care to observe but avoided catching anyone's eyes or looking at them too hard on the off chance that they might "feel" that someone was looking at them.

"Not just yet, Doc. We haven't had our little talk about brother Reuben," he emphasized, 'The late brother Reuben,"

"Oh yes, I know. Yes, sometimes after a bereavement it's very difficult to find exactly the right kind of words,"

"The right words?"

Marion didn't know the names of any of the Clanton brothers except for the fact that the dead one was named Reuben. If they had been said in the episode, Marion couldn't be bothered to remember them. It's not like anyone had said, 'Oh by the way. Make sure to take notes! You will be tested on your knowledge in real life,'. Marion was an American sure, and she was big into history. But like, she had thought that the OK Corral, Holliday, Earp, and all that had been fictionalized stories. They hadn't had a Wild West unit in USH! Maybe she might've learned it if she'd taken AP US History, but US History had been a freshman only class and her high school hadn't offered AP Options for those kinds of classes and she felt she deserved some forgiveness for not knowing very much about the Wild West other than a few facts useful only in trivia pursuit.

The point here is that Marion had no idea what the name of the Clanton brother who had responded to the Doctor's attempt at de-escalation attempt by saying that they didn't want words, they wanted action! He did have stripes on his vest though, so she started mentally calling him "Stripes"

"Oh indeed," the Doctor responded, "Yes, yes, yes. Well, if you take my advice, I would leave it in the hands of the right people,"

"And the right people happen to be your friend Wyatt Earp?"

"Er, he's not my friend, no. I would rather call him a casual traveling acquaintance,"

"Well that ain't the way I heard it,"

"Nor me,"

Marion didn't know the name of the first man who spoke, but she could tell him from the rest of the men because he wore a tan hat rather than a black one. Marion figured that now was the time to go down to the bar and intervene. She stopped when she saw the figure on the stairs.

Marion considered the pros and cons of just loudly screaming, "God Fucking Dammit,"

Pros: It was appropriate for the time. It'd make her feel better. She'd had a rough 48 hours between the cathedral incident, the giant spiders, getting stabbed in the spine, and getting eaten and thrown up by a whale, and honestly felt that she was entitled to at least one, loud, frustrated scream at the sky.

Cons: The reasons that she was frustrated (Doc Holliday) had not noticed her and there was a non-zero chance she'd be able to sneak down past him if she DIDN'T start screaming.

Holliday seemed to be focused on the people below, so she was pretty confident that she could sneak past in as long as she stayed by the wall and didn't make much noise. She stopped listening to what the Doctor and the Clanton brothers were talking about and focused more on going down the stairs.

The art of sneaking past a person without them realizing that you were in fact sneaking past them was one that Marion had learned in high school. She only had three classes where she couldn't just go out the door. In two of them, the teacher actually bothered to lock the door. And the other one only had eight students, too few for her absence to go unnoticed. Those three were the only classes where she actually bothered to raise her hand to ask for the hall pass. But for her other classes, especially during the first and last 15 minutes of class, silently getting up and leaving the room was quicker, simpler, and easier.

The hard part was security guards and the cops or, as the school insisted that they be called, "Student Resource Officers". Walking around the school without a green slip of paper either signed with her name and dated or taped to a clipboard or a block of wood, or a brick, or cardboard or whatever the teacher had on hand was an easy way to have to spend the rest of the day in ISS, get detention, and ruin her reputation as a good and trustworthy child whom any teacher she asked should be instantly willing to give her a letter of recommendation. Sneaking around them was simple enough. She'd seen people get caught looking around each corner before going, while she just walked like she belonged there and occasionally waved to the security guards as she walked past. The trick was to not sneak at all.

You obviously didn't want to be loud and brash otherwise, you'd call attention to yourself and be found. But, if you were too sneaky and silent you paradoxically, would stand out like a sore thumb to someone who's actually being vigilant. The weirdo yelling and shouting and the weirdo looking this way and that was shiftily as they moved from shadow to shadow and looked around each corner. Those were outliers. They stood out. But the person just vibin' and walking past you and down the stairs? No reason why you'd notice them. Especially if you were focused on something else at the time.

Using that principle was how Marion was able to silently creep past Holliday and make it to the ground floor of the saloon. Marion let out a sigh of relief.

'I really thought he was going to grab my shoulder or something as I went past. This went way better than I had hoped. Good think the stairs didn't creak any!'

When Marion got to the ground floor, the Doctor had just realized that he was in the dangerous position of being confused by the Clanton brothers as John "Doc" Holliday and was trying to reason his way out of it,

"But I am not the Doc. The man you're looking for is the local dentist," he pointed outside, "Yes! He has a little shop here, along the street,"

"It seems to me that's where I found you,"

"Yes, well, I can explain that. You see-"

"Doctor Caligari!" Marion said loudly, "you're back from the dentist. Is your tooth feeling better now Doc?"

One of the men pointed a gun at her, but Marion calmly put her hands up and continued to speak.

"The last town we were at, he bit into something he really shouldn't have bitten into. Chipped his tooth, something fierce!" Did people say "something fierce" in 1881? Not important. She sounded like she was from the east coast so if it wasn't said nationwide, with any luck they'd assume that it was common slang back east. Hopefully. "We were on our way to St. David and were just passing through here and realized that you had dentistry down the way. Steven, Dodo, and I convinced the Doc to go on it to get his tooth pulled while we got rooms. Holliday was the man working at the dentistry sure, and I don't doubt that y'all saw Doctor Cal on the chair, but he ain't Holliday,"

"Is that so?" said Stripes.

She thought that her explanation sounded pretty solid, especially seeing as she had referred to the Doctor as "Doc Caligari" previously. On the other hand, the way the man said, "Is that so?" concerned Marion deeply.

"Yes?" Marion said. It came out sounding like a question.

"If he's not Holliday. Then why's his gun got his brand on it,"

'His WHAT!' Loudly screaming would not help matters. But Marion couldn't lie, it'd definitely feel nice.

'I didn't say anything cryptic. I straight up said, "Don't take the gun!". And what does he do? Take the gun. The Associate was right. I can't let this man out of my sight!'

The Doctor sheepishly retrieved the gun from where he kept it. He looked at Marion in the eye for a moment, before looking away from her. Good! The Doctor began to try to stutter out an explanation.

"Er, well, yes, as a matter of fact, he lent it to me because er, because er-"

"Because what, Doc?" the brother with a red scarf tied around his neck asked rhetorically.

"Er, well, just until I leave the town, as it were,"

"You ain't leavin' Doc,"

"Live, that is,"

The men crowded around the Doctor. Marion, knowing that it's not like he was going to be able to kill her, but still wasn't interested in being caught in the crossfire, glanced up at where Holliday was on the banister, and moved away from the Doctor and the Clantons and closer to Kate and Steven.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, gentlemen, you must have made a horrible mistake," the Doctor held up a hand and moved to walk towards Steven, "Steven, my boy,"

The Tan Hat pushed the Doctor back towards the rest of the group and walked towards Steven and Marion, "One word out of your friends Regret and Bluebird here and they get theirs,".

Marion sighed.

"Aw for Pete's sake, Doc, tell 'em you're Holliday! You can take on all four of 'em any time,"

Marion let out an even deeper sigh.

"Yes, I'm sorry, gentleman, but this is Holliday's young girlfriend, and she's only lying to protect him," the Doctor took the gun out of wherever he was keeping it and waved it about as he spoke, "Now, as I've already told you about this gun,"

BANG

The sound of a gunshot made Marion flinch as it rang throughout the saloon as Holliday shot the gun out of Stripe's hand. She hoped that Charlie hadn't spent too much time or money on that "No shooting Sign". She hadn't been here for much more than an hour it'd already been ignored half a dozen times. Stripes grabbed clutched his wrist in pain and staggered away. The men once again crowded around the Doctor. Marion moved closer while Kate hip-checked Stripes as he walked past and took out a gun; pointing it at the Clantons.

"Okay, don't try it, fellas," Kate said. "Nice shooting, Doc, but ya should have got him between the eyes,"

"Between the who?"

"The eyes,"

"Oh, my dear young lady," the Doctor started stuttering, "I, I, I, I,"

Kate rushed forward again. She pushed the Doctor behind her. The feeling in Marion's stomach faded.

"Kill the next one that moves," said Kate!

"Yes, yes, quite so, quite so. Very good idea. Excellent. Well, you heard. Steven, Marion, get their guns!"

Marion had heard somewhere that frequent sighing was a sign of an anxiety disorder and she wondered if this was something that she should be concerned about moving forward.

She sighed.

"Got it Doc,"

Steven took the guns from the man with the tan-colored hat while Marion took the guns from the tallest of the brothers. The one with the white scarf. They placed them down on a table near the piano.

"How do we proceed?" asked the Doctor.

"Line 'em up against the piana'," Kate punctuated her sentence by flicking her gun in the correct direction.

"Yes, excellent idea. Well, gentlemen, you will move over in an orderly fashion. You too," that last bit was directed to someone standing further off to the side.

Steven, not wanting to be the only person not using a gun to point to things, pointed towards the piano and accidentally fired at the ceiling and jumped in surprise.

Marion held out her hand, "Oh give me that!" She took the gun from his hand and, after examining it for a second, turned the safety on. She considered putting the gun in her bag before remembering the incident at summer camp. If her aiming skills with a gun were anything like her aiming skills with a bow and arrow. She blanched. Probably not the best idea to carry this on her. She handed it back to Steven.

"Be more careful!" she said through gritted teeth.

"You won't get away with this, Holliday!" said the tallest brother.

"I keep telling you I'm not Holliday. Well, what do we do now?". The Doctor was looking at Marion for some reason. Not Kate.

"I don't know Doctor. Why don't you ask her," Marion nodded her head towards Kate, "You seem to be a little more willing to listen when she tells you things doncha?"

No Marion wasn't annoyed that the Doctor brought the gun with him even after Marion specifically told him not to. What gave you that idea?

The Doctor looked at Kate who said:

"Well, Doc, I reckon that's up to you now," she sashayed away, probably going upstairs to talk to the real Holliday.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Doc, because you're gonna pay for this," said Stripes.

"Indeed, indeed. And may I point out that I still have the chance, sir?"

"Well, I don't have no gun,"

"Exactly! That's the whole point, isn't it? Hm?"

"Am I hearing right?"

"If you ain't the lowest, meanest sidewinder-"

The doors to the saloon banged open and Wyatt and "Bat" rushed in.

"Howdy, sinners! Happen you're holding a prayer meeting?" Wyatt said in an almost mocking tone, "Why, I'd be proud to join you,"

The Doctor clapped a hand on Wyatt's shoulder.

"My dear Marshall, I'm so glad to see you. You know, I was trying to explain to them-"

"Looks like you was explaining? Hand over yer gun," said Bat

"Well,"

Bat snatched the gun from the Doctor, grabbed him by the shoulder, and pushed him backward and into Marion, who nearly fell over.

"Oi!" Marion hissed.

"Wyatt and I handle that kind of explaining around here. Just easy down, everybody. You too, Kate,"

"Now who did what?"

Everyone in the hotel started speaking at once.

"We was just having ourselves a friendly discussion,"

"Before we could say a word he had us lined up here like a row,"

"Yeah, he shot us all down in c-cold blood,"

Steven moved to defend the Doctor.

"Don't you listen to 'em, Marshall. I saw the whole thing, and it was these guys-". Wyatt pushed Steven back and laughed him off like he was a drunk acting ridiculous.

"Oh sure, sure, boy. Sure, it must of been quite a sight. Now, Doc," he patted the Doctor's shoulder.

"Now wait a minute, Wyatt, this guy ain't," said Bat, confused, "Have you gone mad? Doc Holliday's-"

"Oh, be quiet, Bat," he interrupted, "I reckon I can figure clear enough what must have happened. I'm sorry, friend, I'm gonna have to take you in. You're under arrest, pop,"

"Under arrest?," the Doctor said in outrage, "And don't you call me pop. You know very well who I am, sir!"

"I surely do, old friend,"

Marion noticed Kate sneaking upstairs and, after thinking for a bit, decided that it might be a neat idea to follow after her. There were a lot of people in between her and the stairs so she moved slowly.

"I want to see my solicitor," the Doctor demanded.

He was laughed off, "A what? Huh. A night in the Jailhouse is just about what you need,"

"Oh, very well, but I promise you, you will regret this, sir,"

Bat said something that Marion was too far away to notice. Marion turned slightly and remembered the table covered in guns. She glanced upstairs, changed her mind, and chose to move towards it slowly instead. The plan was to grab them and move them somewhere before the brothers could pick them up.

Was this a good or smart plan?

In theory? Yes.

In practice?

Well, instead of allowing her to safely sneak upstairs, her actions caused a bunch of outlaws to notice her going for their guns. Said outlaws rushed to the guns before she could get to them. Tan Hat pointed his gun at her while the rest of the brothers cornered Steven before he could leave.

In other words? No! No, it wasn't.

Convincing someone of a lie when they thought you were honest?

The hardest part was that you'd feel bad.

Convincing someone of a lie when they had no reason to trust or distrust you?

As long as you had your story straight, some confidence, and a sheet of magic paper that could back up almost any lie that you told? Simple!

Convincing someone of the truth when they were convinced that you were a liar?

Nothing that you could flash on the old psychic paper to back yourself up?

Good luck. You were going to need it.

That you see, is why when Steven said:

"Now I don't care what Wyatt Earp said. That man's not Doc Holliday,"

And Marion said: "Earp's covering up for Holliday. That man's not him!"

It didn't work.

"Well he sure enough shoots like Doc Holliday," said Stripes.

Marion slapped a hand to her forehead. This was worse than talking to a brick wall. At least brick walls didn't have the capacity to want to shoot her or anyone else for that matter.

"He never fired that shot," Steven insisted. "They've got no right to arrest him. He's done nothing wrong,"

"I'm telling you!" Marion insisted, "Maybe Holliday was the one who fired the gun and shot at you, but the old man that Earp hauled away wasn't him. You saw the way he was holding that gun! If he'd shot it while holding it that way, his wrist would've shattered even if he was able to aim right! He's innocent,"

"You planning to get him out of jail?" the gang laughed.

"What's so funny about that?" exclaimed Steven, "We gotta get him out,"

"All you gotta do is gun down Earp and Bat Masterson. You all set to try that?" Tan hat could hardly finish his sentence before he and his brothers started laughing again.

"No, of course not, but-," Steven put his hat back on his head

"But, he ain't Holliday," Marion expressed, "Earp knows he ain't Holliday and if you keep it up mate, then an innocent man'll be jailed and if you kill him, then Holliday'll get off scot-free,"

"I know if we can get him out of jail we can prove who he really is,"

"Now wouldn't that be somethin'. Boys, what d'ya say we give Mister Regret and Miss Bluebird here a hand?"

He grabbed ahold of his side holster and held out his gun to Steven.

"So this is the way we'll play it, Regret. You and Bluebird take this gun over to the jailhouse and slip it through the cell window to Holliday,"

"He's not Holliday," said Marion, "but continue,"

"And he says, 'open the door or I'll shoot',"

"And while we're off doing that. What'll y'all be doing?"

"While Regret give him the gun, we wait outside the jailhouse in case anything goes wrong,"

"Yeah,"

'Sure. THAT'S what you'll be doing,'

"Yeah, so's we can prevent a mis-C-C-," his brother slapped him on the back, "Miscarriage of justice,"

"To welcome him back to society,"

"Oh," Steven said sarcastically, "Not to gun him down?"

"Why would we do a thing like that? You say he ain't Holliday. Okay, he's got nothin' to fear. What do ya say?"

"I say that we can say whatever we want. Be honest, y'all still think that the man in jail's Holliday and are going to try to gun 'im down the second you see him ain't that right?"

"Oh come now," said Stripes, "Surely you don't think that low of us Miss Bluebird can you?"

"Well you can't fault a woman for having a bit of caution can you?" Marion said, crossing her arms.

"What happens after I give him this?" Steven asked, holding up the gun.

"We take over,"

"Yeah,"

"Yeah, I got the picture. Okay, I'll see ya in twenty minutes,"

Steven and Marion left the saloon. Even if Marion didn't have the knowledge she had, the Clantons didn't exactly use inside voices when talking about their real plans.

"Hey Steven," Marion said. They weren't far away from the jailhouse now.

"Yes, Marion? What is it?"

"Well, first off, don't react visibly to what I'm about to say but…?"

"But?"

"Take a deep breath,"

Steven exaggeratedly inhaled and exhaled.

"Okay, now, I when give the signal, I want you to make yourself laugh like I just told the funniest joke you ever heard,"

"Marion, what's this about?"

"Steven, do it,"

After a moment, Marion clicked her fingers into finger guns and smiled sharply like she had just told the world's worst pun. Steven realizing that that must be the "signal", started to laugh. It didn't sound completely real, but it hopefully looked alright from far away and that was all that really mattered.

"One of the Clanton brothers is following us,"

Steven turned to look behind them and Marion grabbed his shoulder.

"I literally just said not to react visibly!" Marion hissed.

Marion let go of his shoulder and they kept walking.

"You promise not to react to what I tell you, because if you can't promise that then I'm just going to have to drag you around without explaining things and hope that the Associate's done enough for you to trust me,"

"What do you mean?"

Marion sighed, "When we return back to the Saloon, they're going to threaten to hang us if the Doctor doesn't give himself up," Marion said through clenched teeth.

"What!"

"Quiet Down!" Marion scrunched her nose, "they're definitely going to threaten to hang you. I don't know if something in their code of ethics would prevent them from hanging a-," she paused, "No. Nevermind, not important. Yeah, they at best believe that we believe that he's not Holliday, but they definitely think the Doctor is Doc Holliday. They're going to threaten to hang you and possibly me in front of the jail if "Holliday" doesn't give himself up,"

"So, what's the plan? Do we make a break for it after we give the gun to the Doctor,"

"I'd say yes, but the Clanton following us would just drag us back up to the saloon. I think when we give the gun to the Doctor, we explain to Earp what the situation is and just chill out in the jail,"

Steven looked like he was going to say something, but decided not to. He was quiet as they walked. At first, Marion thought that it was nice how Steven just took what she said at face value. She said "This Is What What's Up And What Needs To Be Done,"

Then again, between Katarina and Sara, Steven had either seen what happens when people didn't listen to Marion's warnings (they died) and when they did listen (they lived (hopefully)).

Marion stopped for a second. Something occurred to her. Was Steven silent because...

"Steven, you know what the Omega timeline is right?" Marion asked quickly,

Steven nodded.

"You didn't die in it. If you're worried about that. I'm not fighting an uphill battle to keep you alive," Marion blanched, "Actually, that came out wrong I-"

"I get what you're saying," he sounded relieved.

"Even if my plan doesn't work, and we can't hide in the jailhouse, you're going to be fine I swear! Now come on, we've got to get to the jail and talk to the Doctor before the Clantons start to think that anything is up,"

The man who portrayed Steven Taylor in the universe where none of this was real and was all just entertainment is named Peter Purves. Purves is 6'1" feet tall (or 185 centimeters). Steven was just tall enough to be able to look straight into the Doctor's cell.

Marion, on the other hand, had to stand on her tiptoes otherwise she'd be unable to be even eye level to it, and even then it was easier to just stand under and shout up to the window.

This annoyed Marion.

"Steven, you talk to the Doctor and I'll keep watch. Once we're done speaking to the Doctor we've got about oh...doesn't matter. The point is, I'll make sure that Tan Hat doesn't get too close,"

"Tan Hat?"

Marion shrugged, "Don't tell me that you know their names! He's the only one who didn't have a Black Hat other than you and me. Therefore, he's Tan Hat. Simple as that!" Marion clapped her hands together, reached up, and slammed her hand against the bars of the cell.

"Doctor!" she whisper yelled.

The Doctor didn't seem to notice that Marion had called his name, so Steven tried himself. This time, the Doctor answered.

"Oh, Steven, my boy. Good gracious. I've been so worried about you. How's Dodo? Where's Marion?"

"She's fine. She's locked in her hotel room quite safe. And Marion's right here," Marion waved a hand up so that it could be seen through the window.

"Look, I've brought you this," Steven slid a gun through the window.

"Oh! My dear boy, I can't take that. Earlier, Marion pulled me aside and told me not to take the gun,"

"I was talking about the gun from Holliday," Marion said through gritted teeth, "Not the one that Steven's giving you. Take it,"

"What on Earth for?"

"The Clantons told us to give it to you to use it to bluff your way out," Steven gripped a hand on the bar, "The Clanton gang still think that you're Doc Holliday. Marion says that they're going to try to hold us hostage to get you to step out. So we're going to sneak around into the jail and let Earp know what's going on,"

"Give the gun to Earp so that the Clantons have one less gun to work with,"

"Yes, yes but my dear I-,"

"Look, there's not time to argue, Doctor. We've only got ten minutes or less before the Clantons notice that we're gone,"

As Steven was talking, Marion pushed away from the wall and looked up and down the way. She could see Tan Hat, but he was far enough away that she was confident that unless she or Steven managed to trip over a rock or something, they'd make it. When he was done talking, Marion grabbed his arm and after some quick guesswork, ran around to the other side of the jailhouse into the entrance. Marion all but swung Steven into the room and followed close after him.

She caught the tail end of the Doctor and Earp's conversation.

"Oh er, those young friends of mine, you know, Steven and Marion. They told me to give this to you. He said they'd be there soon. Oh, there they are,"

"Hello again Mr. Earp," Marion moved away from the door and pulled Steven along with her.

"You best have a good explanation for all this then!"

"Oh, I do, I do I promise," Marion said, holding out her hands in a placating manner.

Marion explained to Earp the situation except she replaced all mentions of "her knowing" with claims of her having rather sensitive ears and hearing them talk about their plans when she and Steven had left the saloon.

"So that's the situation, Earp,"

"So, what're they doin' now that you and Regret ain't goin' back to the saloon?"

"Honestly," said Marion, "I haven't the foggiest. But if they do do something, it'll be in the next 10 minutes or so. Shorter maybe since Tan Hat saw us walk in here and knows we likely have no intention of leaving,"

"Tan Hat?"

"I don't know his name. He's the only one of the brothers wearing a tan hat so...Tan Hat,"

"Are you talkin' about him," Earp pointed to a figure retreating from the jail and heading towards the direction of the Last Chance Saloon.

"Yeah," Marion said, "That's Tan Hat,"

"Phineas Clanton?"

"Maybe," Marion shrugged.

About 10 minutes later (according to the band hidden on Marion's shoulder which, by the way, cheerfully reminded Marion that she was going to need to conk out in a few hours time) there was a commotion outside of the jail.

Marion, who had been sitting on the floor near the door to the jailhouse with her back to the wall, pushed herself up and got to her feet and looked outside.

'Well, they've got the chair...which means Holliday will show himself at the bar enough for Charlie to come in and let them know what's up,'

Marion stood near the open doorway with her hands in her pockets and her feet squared.

The Clanton brothers had managed to bring together a mob of folks ready and willing to drag "Holliday" out, and hang him. One of them was definitely carrying with him a length of rope and the other was leading a horse, but without anyone on that horse to threaten (something Marion was especially relieved about considering that them marching up the stairs to snatch up Dodo did, in fact, cross her mind), they really couldn't do much more than stand out there shouting, and looking menacing. Which to be fair, they were rather good at.

"Well, looks like they got tired of looking for us," she said stretching.

"Better come over here Wyatt," Bat turned to the Doctor, "When was you supposed to break outta jail?"

"Right about now actually," Marion responded.

The Doctor pushed open the jail cell door.

"Well, lookie here, friend. Somebody's fixin' up a reception for ya,"

The Doctor looked out where Marion was looking "Goodness gracious,"

"Yeah," Marion said, "I mean, they don't have a hostage though so unless they decide to rush in here or like, burn the jailhouse down, not much they can do,"

"Sorry we took a detour boys," Marion called out, "In our defense, we overheard you plotting. Next time, wait 'till the folks you're talking about are fully out the door,"

"Holliday, you still in there?" one of the men called. He was too far away for Marion to know who he was.

"Get out of the street, Clanton. Holliday's my prisoner," Wyatt called back.

"Well that's too bad, 'cause we've got all night and we ain't leavin' until Holliday's swinging,"

"Guess we'll have to stay in here then huh," Marion said back.

'Charlie best get here soon,' said Marion internally, 'I'm not sure what they're going to do if he doesn't and I don't know how to plan for it.'

(Next Chapter: Listen for God's Sake!)

Chapter Text

It was hard to tell exactly how long they'd been at a standstill. No one was speaking, so Marion couldn't use their current point in the conversation for reference, and the amount of time spent in a TV show rarely translated to real lifetime. That's why characters would spend 30 minutes talking about how they only had 15 minutes left and end the episode with 12.

It wasn't like Marion wished that the Clanton brothers had successfully taken Steven or herself hostage. Honest and true, she didn't. But just standing around in the jailhouse waiting? There wasn't even any talk or banter. It was just the uneasy semi-silence of two groups of people standing across from each other with neither group wanting to start a proper conflict, but both being willing to finish.

The Clanton brothers weren't going to leave until either the Doctor gave himself up or, (as Marion knew was going to happen) Charlie managed to make his way over and let them know that the real Holliday had been at the bar the whole time.

Now in another universe (or, as the Doctor had called it earlier...or later. (Whatever) the Omega Timeline), the brothers were holding Steven hostage and had every intention of hanging him if "Holliday" didn't give himself up.

What was currently happening right now could more or less be summarized as:

"Come outside so we can hang you,"

"No. And if you try to come inside, the lawmen will shoot you,"

"We'll wait outside until you change your mind,"

"We'll wait inside until YOU change your mind,"

It was simply a matter of staying away from the door and the windows in case someone got bold and decided to fire a gun and wait for the barman to show up. Simple really. Just a bit boring.

But wait, there was some noise outside of the jail people moving out of the way and someone...shouting?

"Mister Clanton! Mister Clanton!"

'Fuckin' finally,' Marion thought, 'Charlie's been taking forever!'

(It had in fact, only been about twenty or so minutes, but that's not important.)

"Stay outta this, Charlie," yelled Wyatt through the open door.

Charlie ignored him. "Mister Clanton, that ain't Doc Holliday that's being held in there,"

"I said stay outta this, Charlie," Wyatt insisted.

Marion that there was a reason Wyatt was trying to make the Clantons think that the Doctor was Holliday. She also knew that said was a reason that she probably would've known if she had bothered to study the Western United States during the late 19th century but she hadn't and now the only thing that she knew was that it was annoying.

"It's like the old guy and those performers kept tryin' to tell ya. I'm sorry, Mister Earp, but I figure'd to save you all a deal a trouble,"

Marion was still inside the jailhouse and couldn't tell which Clanton spoke next other than the fact that it wasn't Tan Hat, and she only knew that because she could see him and his hat through the doorway just fine but couldn't see the folks who were speaking because of where she was standing.

"What makes you think it ain't him?"

"Well on account of Doc Holliday just bein' in the bar,"

"What? You're drunk!"

"If'n I'm drunk, your friend Seth Harper's still alive. Which he ain't,"

"What's that you say?"

"Holliday shot 'im clean as a whistle. Fastest thing I ever saw,"

"If'n you're lyin', Charlie, so help me God,"

"Why should I lie, Mister Clanton? I just want to stop you boys gettin' up against the law over nothin',"

A couple of the Clanton brothers, the ones who Marion assumed has been talking to Charlie, moved to the doorway of the jailhouse. Likely so that they could confront Wyatt Earp better.

"You knew that old guy in there weren't Holliday!"

Marion knew that this statement was directed towards Wyatt, but she still mouthed "I told you so," while standing behind the Marshall so that the brothers could see her doing so.

"This just about does it, Earp,"

Wyatt pulled out his gun and pointed it at the two men, daring them to come closer.

"Try callin' me Marshall, and rememberin' it too,"

"Well, Marshall, you got an answer?" said the brother with the lighter colored shirt.

"I don't need to answer to you," Wyatt shot back, "I'll answer to the committee if need be. Now get back to the ranch while you can still ride,"

"I don't take no orders from you,"

"Leave it, Billy. Earp won't be givin' any orders when Pa gets through with him. He'll lose that star so fast it'll burn a hole in his coat. Come on, Billy,"

"We'll be seein' ya, Earp," said the brother with a lighter colored shirt (who's name was Billy apparently).

Earp tipped his hat to them.

"My pleasure,"

The two men grumbled, turned, and left.

"Well," Marion said, "That wasn't nearly as unpleasant as it might've been. A+ everyone,"

"Well. We aren't going to give things a chance to get any worse. Yes, yes. Tomorrow we're leaving. Goodbye Mister Werp," the Doctor headed out the door with Marion and Steven close behind him.

"Oh, er, goodbye Doc,"

Marion, Steven, and the Doctor walked through the doors of the Last Chance Saloon just as the Clanton brothers and their father made their way out.

"Doctor," Steven continued what he had been saying as they wanted out, "before we can leave on the TARDIS, we need to get Dodo don't we?"

"Yes, Dodo. Well, my boy, presumably she spent the evening in her room,"

Marion realized that she forgot about something, but that thing was now coming back to her. Part of Marion considered that maybe she should've told Dodo to stay in her room, no matter what, but on the other hand, she had no real reason to believe that Dodo would do what she said. Matter of fact, she might've left the room solely because she'd been asked not to. Dodo was fine anyway, so it's not like it mattered much.

"So..." Marion began. Before she could say where Dodo actually was, Charlie came from behind the bar.

"Oh, pardon me, but, er, are you alludin' to your friend Miss Dodo Dupont?"

"Of course, of course," the Doctor confirmed.

"Well I'm sorry folks, but she ain't in her room no more,"

"Why, whatever for?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, on account she checked out a while back,"

"Checked out, but-"

"She lit out after the killin' with Doc Holliday. Was with him when he shot Seth Harper right where you're standin',"

"What, she was with Holliday?" Steven asked in shock.

"Surely was," Charlie confirmed, "Him, her 'n Kate lit out together, friendly as you please,"

"Look, surely she left a message of some sort?"

"Now Mister," Charlie shook his head like he was talking to a small child, "if'n you're involved in a killin', you don't leave no messages. You git,"

"Well, we've got to find her, fast," Steven looked at Marion as if to ask.

"Did you know about this?"

To which Marion responded with a sheepish shrug that said, "Kind of, but I had other things on my mind at the time,"

"Well, friend, you wanna find her, you find Doc Holliday,"

"Now don't be ridiculous. Doc Holliday's a great friend of mine. He gave me a-" whatever the Doctor had been going to say, he thought better of it, "He extracted my tooth. Good gracious me, what more do you want? Come along, boy. Come along, come along," the Doctor went up the stairs.

"Doctor, he's a...," the Doctor ignored Steven, "gunman,"

"Extracting your tooth while drunk CAN'T be where the-. Oh never mind," The Doctor wasn't listening to Steven or Marion and Marion had something far more important than that to talk about.

"Charlie," Marion said, stopping on the stairs.

"Yeah?"

"I know a lot of things that'd be impossible for most people to know, and sometimes, it's a matter of life and death,"

She turned on her heel to face the barman.

"I knew that they were sending Phineas to follow me and Steven and I knew that if they got us back to this here saloon, they were definitely going to threaten to hang Steven and may or may not've tried to hang me. I knew that Holliday was going to give the Doctor, my Doctor mind you, his gun to trick the Clanton brothers into thinking that he was him. I told the Doctor not to take the gun but well, you know how that went,"

Charlie looked confused. Probably, because, it seemed like her statement came right out of nowhere. Which from his perspective to be fair, it did.

"The point that I'm trying to make is that I know stuff. For example, I know that the Clanton brothers are hiring Ringo to replace Harper, and I know that you know that,"

"What're you trying to say," Charlie asked, defensively.

"I'm trying to say that if you show that you recognize Johnny Ringo or you even mention Wyatt Earp or Sheriff Bat in earshot of him, he is going to kill you,"

"Wha-,"

"If I were you, I'd leave. If you don't want to get gunned down I mean," Marion said, sharply. Charlie didn't seem like that bad a guy. More of a nervous wreck than anything.

"Now see here!"

"All I'm sayin'," Marion said, holding up her hands, "is that there ain't no reason for you to not close the bar a little earlier than normal and head on home for the evening,". Marion put her hands on Charlie's back and all but shoved through the saloon door and down the stairs.

"Don't worry Charlie, I'll clean up! Just Go Home!"

Marion walked back inside of the saloon and checked to make sure that Charlie hadn't changed his mind and decided that he, in fact, wasn't going to leave early, and got to work. Technically, she could just upstairs and go to sleep like she desperately wanted to do, but she figured that someone had to be here to greet Mr. Ringo and, let's face it, that person might as well be her.

Marion went behind the bar and found a washrag and a tin bucket filled with soapy water.

'Bingo,'

It wasn't that all different from cleaning up the cafe at closing time. Marion just had to dunk the rag in the water, squeeze it out, and started to wipe down the tables while humming "the Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" to herself as she worked. There were a lot of them, and it took a bit, but Ringo still hadn't arrived.

Marion moved towards the bar and began to wipe it down. Just as Marion was beginning to be concerned that Ringo wasn't coming to the bar, had bumped into Charlie on the way here, and she was moments from hearing a distant gunshot, she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes. She glanced up briefly, and saw a figure dressed in black approach the door of the saloon.

Marion continued to wipe up the bar as the man walked through the door. Glancing up at him every now and then until he stood in front of the bar.

"Not that you care," she said, keeping her eyes on the bar, "but we're closed,"

"Is that so?"

The man leaned over the bar and lit his cigarette on one of the kerosine lamps.

"You can just open it up again,"

The tone of the man's voice was like every customer that insisted on being allowed to come in and start shopping despite the fact that the closed sign was on and it was past closing hours. Just because the lights were one and an employee was still inside, they believed that they were more than welcome to come on in. The only difference was that this one had a gun. Actually, come to think of it. There wasn't much of a difference.

Marion let out an exaggerated sigh, "The barman ain't here man. I'm just cleaning up after him. He went home early. Said he was tired or something, it's been a long day. I offered to wipe the tables down for him,"

Most of that sentence was true and that's all that really mattered.

The man looked away from his cigar and gave her a side-eye, "Don't see why you can't still grab me a drink,"

She let out another exaggerated sigh, "Sure. Why not? What'll it be?"

"Double straight,"

Marion grabbed this first bottle of whiskey that didn't look too expensive and poured it into a glass that she was reasonably sure was clean. She set it down in front of him and continued wiping down the bar. She wasn't ignoring Ringo, not quite but she was paying attention to his movements on the off chance he went for his gun. Luckily, it didn't take too long for him to finish his drink and go up the stairs without shooting anyone.

Marion followed him with her eyes and watched him walk into one of the vacant rooms. As long as it wasn't her room, she couldn't find it in her to care too much.

Marion cleaned the class Ringo had drunk out of and went upstairs to her room. She opened the door to her room that she'd forgotten to lock and discovered, to her relief that her room wasn't the one that Ringo had chosen to take as his own.

She locked the door behind her, just in case. She took off her skirt, waistcoat, and blouse, folded them neatly, and climbed into bed under the quilt. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

She is angry.

"How dare they!'"she seethes.

She is in a room that she doesn't recognize and she is pacing.

She does not see the person she is shouting at, but she knows that they are there and they are listening, and they are just as angry as she is.

"She's only a little girl! It's not fair that they choose her!" she hears herself yell.

She is not envious. She is not any more envious of the little girl than she would have been of a lamb brought to the slaughter.

She is furious.

Marion woke up with the sun shining on her face and yawned loudly. The way the light shown into her eyes was likely the reason she had woken up and woken up in a poor mood. But, at the same time, it's not like there was any real reason to go back to sleep. A quick glance at her phone told her that it was about half-past-eleven. She didn't know if it was accurate you know since she'd traveled to different time zones and all. On the flip side, the weather widget on her lock screen informed her that she was in Tombstone, Arizona so maybe when Thirteen did whatever she did to her phone, she made it automatically sync to the time? Marion didn't know and didn't know how she'd go about finding out. She climbed out of bed and shimmied back into her folded clothes and stretched. She tapped the button on the side of the armband until it turned green.

She yawned once more, took her key and her bag off the side table, and unlocked the door with a "click". The Doctor and Steven were already awake it seemed. She could see them from over the railing.

"Well, as soon as we've had breakfast, my boy, I must check up with Mister Werp and ask him if he knows where they've all gone,"

"Shouldn't we wait for Marion to wake up,"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Marion walked down the stairs and stretched hard enough that she heard a clicky noise in her shoulder. "We're going off to look for Dodo now right?"

"The Doctor said we were going to get breakfast first," Steven rang the bell, "Where's the Barman,"

"Charlie?" Marion asked, "He seemed tired, so I recommended that he go home early. I cleaned up the bar, met this man," Marion pointed to the man dressed in all black with her thumb, "and then went to bed. No idea when he'll be back in!"

She hoped that the Doctor and Steven could read between the lines and understand what she was trying to hint at.

"Well then," said the Doctor, "I suppose that we must we must go off on our search for Holliday and we'll get something to eat in that town. Yes, yes, that is what we'll do,"

That got Ringo's attention.

"Y'all're lookin' for Holiday?"

"Yes," replied the Doctor, "We must find him,"

"Why is that?" the man got to his feet and moved closer to them.

"You see," the Doctor took off his hat and began to fidget with it. Marion wondered if he had realized who the man in black was. "a young lady of our acquaintance is with him,"

Steven and the Doctor began to stutter and trip over their words in a way that made it sound like their plan was to kill the man on sight and had no way of knowing if the person they were talking to was a cop.

"I, er, well we'll take her away from 'im and bring her back here of course," Steven said finally.

"Plannin' on gunnin' him down, eh?" Ringo said with a laugh.

"Of course not," Marion replied, "We just want to grab our friend and get outta dodge. No shooting or violence needed,"

"Now that I'd really like to see," The man walked away from the trio, adjusting his neckerchief as he left.

As soon as his back was turned, the Doctor grabbed Steven and Marion and pulled them aside.

"Do you know who that is?" the Doctor said in a harsh whisper.

"Johnny Ringo," Marion said with the same whispered tone.

"Who, that?"

"Why do you think I told Charlie to leave the bar and go home? You would've found the poor man slumped over the bar with a bullet in his chest,"

"Say boy!" said the man in question. Marion didn't think that he'd heard them.

"Yeah?" replied Steven.

"Seein' as you 'n me's got common cause gettin' Doc Holliday, supposin' I was to let you ride with me?"

"Well, you know where he is?"

"Reckon I do,"

The Doctor let out a little laugh, "Well, we'd be mighty grateful,"

"I'm sure you would, Pop," Ringo pushed the Doctor aside, clearly dismissing him and continued speaking to Steven, "There's just one thing. If you get between me and him, boy, don't go looking to me to hold my fire. I'd blast you down as soon as spit at ya!"

Steven wiped off something under his eye.

"Thanks,"

"Disgusting habit,"

Steven left with Ringo and Marion and the Doctor were left at the saloon.

"It's going to take a while for them to get to where Doc Holliday is," Marion said, trying to make conversation.

"Yes. Yes quite. Of course, if we had only known that Holliday was going to take off with Dodo, well this all could've been avoided. Couldn't it hmph,"

Marion could read between the lines.

"Well. I'll have you know that I was busy focusing on other things,"

"Oh? Such as?" the Doctor challenged? That wasn't quite the right word, but there was something in his tone that seemed like he doubted that she had been focused on anything important.

"Well, SOMEONE took a gun from a dentist despite having been told merely a minute or so earlier that doing so would be a bad idea. And that same someone got confused for said dentist who was, as it turned out, a known outlaw. I was more focused on making sure that person and his friends didn't get strung up than Dodo. Especially since I know that she's going to be fine,"

"I see. I see," replied the Doctor, "Are you sure that you didn't simply forget to mention it. Hmm?"

'Kind of' Marion thought.

"No," she said, "I was just busy focusing on other things. Preventing an attempted lynching and stopping the barman from being shot. That's where my mind was that. We can't all have the luxury of being able to process so much information that we feel comfortable with just turning part of our brain off now, can we? I do my best Doc,"

"How many times have I told you to not call me that girl,"

"No clue. Hasn't happened for me yet. I'm the furthest back in my timeline I've ever been,"

"What?"

"I never got a chance to say it but yeah. I mean, I've met future versions of you. Four of 'em actually. You've only met the Associate thus far. Sorry about that,"

The Doctor's demeanor changed at that.

"Does that mean that you haven't-"

"Ahhh," Marion cut the Doctor off.

"Spoilers! I don't want spoilers. I already know a whole bunch about everything, but it's not like I know everything about everything. We really ought to head to the Sheriff's office and let him know what's what visa vie Ringo. We can talk about this later right? Right." Marion stood up and walked quickly out of the bar and towards the jailhouse.

"Hello Marshall," Marion gave a tiny wave as she walked into the jailhouse. Something was off in the room. Something was off, and Marion couldn't quite put her finger on what. She was confident that she'd figure it out later. It probably wasn't that bad.

"Well if it isn't the Doctor and Ms. Bluebird. I thought y'all had left town,"

"Oh, Dodo you see. I mean, er, Miss Dupont has gone off with Doc Holliday, and young Steven is following up and we've got to wait," the Doctor explained.

"You mean Regret has gone after Holliday alone?"

"No. Not exactly," Marion leaned her forearms on the sheriff's desk, "He went off with Mister Johnny Ringo,"

"Ringo?"

"Ringo!"

"Yes, yes. You've got a photograph of him here, look," the Doctor held up a wanted poster that looked to have been pasted on some kind of foam board.

Wyatt looked at the board for a moment, and then took it from the Doctor and tossed it aside. It hit the ground with a loud thump.

"That's all we needed," Wyatt said with the low exasperated tone of a man who hadn't quite reached the point of saying "Screw it. This might as well happen," in response to every new inconvenience, no matter how absurd, but was most certainly reaching that point, "Boy, the hosts of Midian are sure on the prowl tonight,"

"Why," asked the Doctor, "is he a friend of the Clanton's?"

"Ringo is a friend of nobody," said Bat "Professional gunfighter, sells hisself to the highest bidder,"

"Yeah, and I reckon I know who that'll be,"

"The Clantons," Marion confirmed, "I thought I overheard the Clanton's talking about promising him 500 to help them as we were walking back to the Last Chance,"

"Did you now?"

"I thought I did," Marion said, "The door to the Saloon isn't exactly soundproof and the Clanton's weren't exactly whispering," Technically she wasn't lying. She did hear the Clantons talking about hiring Ringo. Of course, she heard it through a computer speaker and not through the saloon door, but it wasn't like that mattered much in the long run right? "No idea where they might be right now though. Probably somewhere waitin' for Ringo I suppose but that's what they're doing not where they are,"

"I think I might," said Wyatt under his breath.

"Well," Marion said, realizing that this conversation was basically over, "we'll be at the Last Chance Saloon until Steven comes back with Dodo so if you need us, that's where we'll be. Have a nice day,"

Marion stopped leaning on the desk and she and the Doctor left.

"Good Afternoon, Charlie. You're looking well," Marion gave a little wave to the still living barman. He was cleaning off a class with a cloth. He couldn't've have been there for more a half an hour.

"Miss Bluebird, Doctor," he greeted. He looked around, "Say, where's Regret gone off to,"

"Oh, Steven," said the Doctor, "He went off to look for Miss Dupoint,"

"Ain't she with Holliday?"

"Yes, yes, he went off to look for her with ah, Mr. Johnny Ringo was it?"

Charlie's stopped cleaning the glass abruptly.

"Ringo? Steven went off with Johnny Ringo!"

"Why yes, yes he did. He was in the bar when we came down for breakfast. Heard of him have you?"

"Heard of him? Everybody's heard about him at one point or another. I know Miss Bluebird has. She told me that he was going to come by and unless I was confident about mine being able to not say anything he didn't like; it was best that I'd go home a little bit early,"

"Ah well, it's good to listen to her. She doesn't say that kind of thing without a reason you know,"

Marion shrugged. Before she could say anything else, Wyatt Earp and Bat walked into the Saloon.

"...now, on the other hand, Bat, although the Clantons know he's not Doc Holliday, they did see him shoot a gun out of Seth Harper's hand," Wyatt said, continuing whatever thing he'd been talking with Bat about.

Well, not whatever, Marion knew what they were talking about. They were planning on getting the Doctor to be on their team for their duel. But it's not like there was a way that made sense for her to know what they were talking about. So, she tried to give herself an excuse to know.

"Who're you talking about, ?" she asked.

"Him," Wyatt pointed to the Doctor.

"Who? Me?"

"There anyone else in this Saloon the Clanton's think is capable of shootin' a gun out of their hand?"

"That was nothing to do with me,"

"Oh," Wyatt retorted, "but they think it was, and boy you had 'em lined up against that piana' like skittles in an alley. Why, you're gonna be a useful man to have around when the shootin' starts,"

The Doctor shook his head, "I certainly hope that I should not be here. When Steven and Dodo come back-"

"Oh you're gonna be here alright, Doctor,". The Marshall took something off of his lapel and pinned it to the Doctor's coat. "because I'm deputising ya right now,"

"Well. this is utterly absurd. Nothing will ever induce me to raise a gun in anger," the Doctor raised a hand to emphasize his point and Wyatt used that an opportunity to place a gun in the Doctor's hand.

"Well, maybe you won't have to," Wyatt reasoned, "But I mean with just Bat an' me an' Warren against the Clantons, you could sure shorten the odds some,"

"And I'll help shorten them some more," There was a voice that called from the Saloon entrance. It was one of the Earp brothers.

'Gosh, what's his name. Vincent? No, that doesn't sound correct,'

"Well, hallelujah!" Wyatt walked to the man and shook his hand, "This is my brother Virgil,"

"You got a drink for a thirsty man?" He said in lieu of a normal greeting. Actually, come to think of it, for all Marion knew, this was a normal greeting for the Earps. She was at least somewhat sure that the two of them drank a lot. Charlie seemed to recognize the man enough to start pouring him a drink.

"Well, I'd just about given up on you,"

"Hiya Bat," he greeted. Marion was positive that Bat was a nickname, but didn't think anyone had said the man's real name in earshot of her and she didn't know it.

Virgil got closer to the bar, dropped some money on the counter, and took the drink from Charlie.

"You don't know Bluebird or Pop, do ya?" Wyatt introduced.

"Howdy," Virgil tipped his hat.

"Howdy," Marion said with a wave, "You really can just call me Marion,"

"Howdy," The Doctor said with a nod to Virgil. To Wyatt he said, for at least the third time that day, "Would you mind not calling me Pop?"

"Well, let's get on back to the office. Come on, Bat. Warren's over there waiting for us but Morgan can't make it. I'll tell you about it on the way over,"

'Oh shit Warren,'

Marion stopped leaning on the bar and rushed to the saloon door. Marion didn't know how the timelines meshed up and there was a chance that she'd be able to save Warren.

'Why didn't I warn him that the Clantons were trying to break Phineas out!...Wait,'

Marion stopped running abruptly.

'Wait,' she realized, 'If I...then he didn't...then they...he didn't...He's NOT,"

Marion pumped a fist. "YES! HELL YES!"

"Goodness gracious what are you hollering on about Marion. Dearie me!" the Doctor called after her. Marion guessed that he had seen her dart off to the street and figured something was up.

"I forgot something!" she said. Unlike previous times when Marion had said or thought this, she was happy and excited about this.

"Why would you be excited about a thing like that?"

"No no no," Marion said, shaking her head, "It's a good thing!"

"What?"

"Well Doctor, you see, in the Omega Timeline, Steven got caught by the Clantons and they actually had someone to threaten you to leave with right?"

"I assumed,"

"Well, in the Omega Timeline, you see, Steven was still fine. Charlie told the Clanton's the truth. But that wasn't all that happened. Earp knocked the one of the brothers in the back of the head and arrested him. You know, for attempted lynching. Except that didn't happen this time, so he's not in jail!"

"And why my dear, is that something to celebrate,"

"Because Doctor," Marion didn't mean to take the tone she did. This was obvious to her true, but there was no reason for it to be equally as obvious to the Doctor. He had no way of knowing the things that she knew. "Their brother isn't in jail, and so they have no reason not to try and go break 'em out,"

"And what does that mean?"

"What does it mean? What does it mean? It means that I don't have to feel guilty about someone's death from my negligence! That's what it means! In the Omega Timeline, Warren Earp was killed while trying to stop the jailbreak. But guess what?" Marion took a step closer to the Doctor, bouncing on her toes.

"But guess what? There's no jailbreak!"

(Next Chapter: Change History (Actually, Don't))

Chapter Text

Marion wasn't sure why the Doctor had 19th-century American currency in his coat but that didn't matter. What mattered, is that he did and they were able to get a quick meal at the Saloon while they waited for something to happen so they could talk. They sat at a table, decently far away from the bar and possible prying ears and spoke with quiet tones.

"Now Marion, are you positive you haven't meddled with things that you should not have?"

Marion nodded. "If we hadn't shown up to begin with, well then, there would've been absolutely no reason for a breakout to happen either right? And as for Charlie..." she glanced over at the barman in question, "I think if I made the wrong choice we might've known by now," she said, thinking about the Reapers and Rose's dad.

"But Marion are you positive?"

"About as positive as I can be. Anyway even if I wasn't it can't be helped,"

Marion didn't speak anymore. She just ate her (American) biscuits and some kind of sausage. Marion was mostly sure that it was pork but she really had no way of knowing for sure. She was hungry and it tasted good enough. When she finished eating, she got up from the table and sat on the outside porch. She took out her notebook and pencil and decided that, for lack of anything else to do and a desire to spend some time outside, she would spend the rest of the day until it got dark sketching.

It was a little bit before six when the Doctor left the saloon and the sun was beginning to set and so Marion set aside the sketch that she had been working on. It was beginning to get too dark to see the paper and she figured that, if the mood struck her, she could line and shade it later. She closed the notebook and put it in her bag. She got up, brushed the dust off her skirt, and joined the Doctor at the jailhouse.

Marion hadn't thought about what she would have done if it had turned out that while she celebrated having kept a person from death, they were dying of a gunshot wound that she might've been able to help with somehow if she wasn't busy celebrating having kept them from death. Luckily for both Warren and to a lesser extent Marion, this turned out to not be an issue.

The lad was alive and well.

The Doctor still wasn't as happy as he might've been if he hadn't been given a badge and a gun.

"Now Mister Werp, what part am I supposed to be playing in this feud between you and the Clantons? I thought that you gave me this to uphold the law, not-"

Masterson shut the door behind them, "He's right, Wyatt. You can't ask him,"

"My main concern is for the safety of Steven and Dodo. Now can't I ask you to change your mind?"

Wyatt didn't visibly show that he heard the Doctor, but, seeing as his brother was currently alive and sitting on a chair near the wall, Marion doubted that he was tuning out things he simply didn't want to hear. It was far more likely that he was just more focused on loading his gun properly.

"T'ain't no use, old-timer. He won't listen to me, he won't listen to nobody. The Clanton's ain't too happy about him coverin' for Holliday and Earp's already sent his brother to choose a day and time," Bat pushed the Doctor away from the desk.

Virgil opened the door to the sheriff's office.

"You seen 'em?" Wyatt asked, looking up from his gun.

"I seen 'em,"

"Gonna be there?"

"Oh they'll be there. Only thing is-"

"Well?"

"Fella up there with 'em, name of Steven Regret,"

"That tracks," "Steven? What in the world?"

Marion and the Doctor responded to the news at the exact same time.

"Claimed he weren't no pal of theirs, but..."

"Well Doc?"

"Well, if he's there it's not a matter of choice. He's still searching for Dodo with Ringo,"

"Well, I didn't see Johnny Ringo, but I sure enough saw his horse. And Kate, ain't she his girlfriend? Well she's there too,"

"Ringo's probably with them too," Marion said, snapping her fingers, "My best guess is that they don't know that we know that Johnny Ringo is with them and he doesn't want Steven to tell us,"

Wyatt remained seated.

"So Ringo's with the Clantons, huh? Well, looks lie you an' me's gonna have a busy morning, Virgil,"

"Oh, this is sheer madness, Mister Sheriff," the Doctor said sitting down, "You can't take on the Clantons and Ringo,"

"They won't have to," Holliday opened the door to the jailhouse and stood in such a way that made Marion wonder if he'd been standing at the door waiting to be able to slam it open dramatically and make an entrance.

"Doc!" Wyatt got up from his desk and shook the man in question's hand "I thought I told you to get outta town,"

"Well now, Wyatt, so you did," the man responded, "but the fact is I was brung here at gunpoint by a woman,"

"You expectin' us to believe that?" Virgil said skeptically.

"The lady is here, the one and only Miss Dodo Dupont,"

Dodo strode into the jailhouse waving a gun over her head.

'Seriously? Do English kids straight up not learn gun safety of any kind? I know she's not American, but they didn't ban guns in the country until the late-90's'

Perhaps Holliday was thinking the same thing that she was seeing as he took the gun out of her hand with a, "Ah, thank you,"

Dodo was undeterred by this. The moment the gun was out of her hands, shot off towards the Doctor and Marion and grabbed them both in a huge, surprisingly strong hug.

"Doctor! Marion! Thank goodness you're safe,"

"Oh, my dear, we're not in the slightest bit of danger. It was you that we were worried about,"

"I'm glad that you're okay Dodo!"

"Now," Holliday said, holding up his gun. The man was significantly shorter than both Virgil and Wyatt and that made the look on his face as we waved the gun almost comedic. "where do we meet these Clantons?"

"We?" Virgil responded incredulously, "Now see here, Wyatt, I don't take kindly to fighting alongside an outlaw, friend of yours or no,"

"Suit yourself, Virgil. I'll just wish you good luck and go off to find my Kate,"

"Oh, you'll find her at the Clantons,"

"What's that you say?"

"Yeah, with Johnny Ringo," Virgil said, backing up his brother.

"Johnny Ringo?"

"I saw them myself, while or two back,"

Holliday looked furious.

"I'll be fightin' beside you two tomorrow mornin' whether you like it or not,"

"But this is ridiculous, gentleman," the Doctor scolded, "Can you not uphold the law without using firearms?"

"You don't know much about the United States, do you Doctor,"

"Well, old friend," Wyatt responded, "now I've got Doc Holliday back, why, you can hand in your badge any time you want to, Pop," Marion got the vibe that Wyatt expected the Doctor offer up some token resistance rather than tiredly walking towards the sheriff's desk and taking the little metal star off the lapel of his coat.

"Oh, good heavens, what a relief. Here you are, Bat, there's your badge," he took the gun off of his belt as well, "and there is your wretched weapon!"

"Wyatt, how you proposin' to handle this little Clanton matter?" Holliday asked, looking at the bullets in his gun.

"Well, just walk right up there and face 'em,"

"You reckon old Pa Clanton will play it that simple?"

"Well, they'll reckon they're four to three," Virgil pointed out.

"One of them four is Johnny Ringo. I ain't lining up for no square dance. I'm gonna play this my way,"

"So what's your way?"

"Yes, what is your way, Doctor Holliday?"

Rather than responding to the Doctor's question, Holliday began laughing.

'Wow,' Marion said, 'I do think that's one of the worst ways to answer that kind of question,'

The last couple of days had been more or less a non-stop trek back and forth between the saloon and the jailhouse. They had just been at the jailhouse and so it only made sense that their next stop was going to be the Saloon. Holliday had naturally stayed behind to discuss plans for the duel with the Earps. Meanwhile, Dodo, Marion, and the Doctor made their way back to the Last Chance.

The Doctor ordered another three meals from the saloon as the three of them sat around a table.

"Isn't it time you two went to bed?" Dodo asked after they had finished eating.

Marion downed a third of her cup of coffee in one gulp. Marion had felt too awkward to ask for sugar or anything like that. While she was sure that there were some kinds of coffee that tasted just fine black. Marion wouldn't know considering she normally didn't drink coffee that didn't have at least 3 packets of sugar in it.

Still, as long as it was warm and able to keep her awake for another few hours, she was willing to drink. She just needed to make sure it wasn't in her mouth long enough for her to taste it.

"Shouldn't we be saying that to you, hun?" Marion asked the girl, amused.

"Besides Dodo. How can I possibly sleep my dear, knowing that Steven is mixed up with all this?"

"I'm quite sure that Steven can take care of himself," Dodo turned to look at Marion, "He can, can't he?"

"Yes, yes of course,"

"I don't doubt that my dear. What about this man Mister Werp? Supposing he gets killed? Who is going to uphold law and order in this territory? Why they couldn't let Masterson handle the affair I don't know, with a posse of deputies or the like,"

'Masterson?' Marion was that Bat's last name? It sounded familiar. Speaking of familiar sounds, someone was coming through the door to the saloon.

"Proud to hear you say so, Doctor. If'n you feel that way there's something you can do. I've tried all I know to talk Wyatt out of this and he won't listen. I'm asking you to go talk to the Clantons. Seems like that's our only chance,"

"Me? But my dear Sheriff, I should have thought you were the one to convince,"

"What Masterson is saying," Marion said, finishing the last of her coffee, "The Clantons see Sheriff Bat here as a friend of Earp. They aren't going to listen to him. Now you on the other hand Doctor, far as the Clantons know, you're just an innocent traveling performer who got framed by Earp. Far as they know, you've got enough reason to hate Earp and Holliday as anybody,"

"The lady's right," Bat said with a nod, "You go to 'em wearing your badge, say you'll guarantee them a fair trial, it might just persuade 'em. Me, I'd rather face trial than the Earps and Holliday together,"

"Yes, I see,"

"And you might be able to help Steven," Dodo pointed out.

"Very, very true," Marion agreed.

"Good,"

Bat pinned the deputy badge back on the Doctor's lapel.

"Now, it's only about two hours to sun-up. You'd better get started right now,"

'Good thing that I woke up a little late and had some coffee just now,'

Bat told them that where the Clantons ranch was, bid them adieu, and then left to go back to the jailhouse. Marion got the idea that he hadn't told Holliday or the Earps where he had gone and, if he had, Marion doubted that he'd told them why he was going there in the first place.

After he left, Marion got up from her chair.

"You heard the man, we gotta ranch to visit,"

"Now Marion-"

"Come off it, I've been sitting around all day and I'm ready for some action,"

"I'm coming too,"

"Certainly not," "No absolutely not,"

The Doctor and Marion spoke at the same time.

"Dodo, my dear girl, you ought to stay here in case Steven escapes and makes his way there,"

"Not to mention!" Marion said, "It's dangerous,"

"If it's so dangerous," Dodo countered, "Then how come you can go!"

"The Doctor has to go because it's 1881 and they ain't going to believe that I'm deputized. Things may be a bit better for women in the west than they are in the east, but that's mostly because they can vote. As for why I'm going," Marion pointed to herself, "I don't know if you know this yet, because this is my first time meeting you from my perspective-," she paused, "Nice to meet you by the way, but I'm more or less unkillable. You stay here! Also, go to sleep. Your brain's still growing and you need rest,"

Just in case Dodo thought for any length of time that the reason she wasn't letting her go was because she was a teenage (which, to be fair, was a non-zero part of it), she whispered, "Between you and me, if I thought I could get away with it, I'd leave the Doctor with you and go to meet the Clantons by myself,"

Like most parts of the American West circa-1881, there was a distinct lack of light pollution which allowed the thousands of stars to twinkle overhead. The stars of Orion had nearly sunk over the horizon in front of them, so she knew that they had to be heading west. She may have known direction. She wasn't sure how far out they had gone. On one hand, they had to have been walking for a while. That made sense since Marion was pretty sure that a gang that called themselves "the Cowboys" would ride around on horseback. On the other hand, the ranch couldn't be too far away from Tombstone since she had been able to walk to it just fine. The Doctor seemed a little bit tired, but that likely had a lot to do with the fact that his first body was rather old.

When the ranch finally came into view the sun creeped over the horizon and the sky turned that special color only seen by early birds and insomniacs.

Marion thanked God for the coffee.

They could hear speaking inside of the cabin. The Doctor stepped forward and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a voice called from inside.

The Doctor glanced towards her and opened the door. Marion took the hint and walked in first.

"You must be Mister Clanton," Marion said with a polite tip of her hat.

"Marion! Doctor!" Steven called from across the room.

"No, not Doctor at the moment, dear boy," the man approached Steven, "I am Deputy-Sheriff of Tombstone,"

"Good Morning Steven, Kate!" Marion said walking alongside the Doctor and giving a little wave to the people in question.

When Mister Clanton started talking Marion turned to look at him and jumped slightly upon seeing him pointing his gun at them.

"I've come along to ask you to call off your boys from embarking on this ridiculous duel," the Doctor said, ignoring the gun aimed at him.

"Yeah," the man laughed and put his gun in a cabinet and retrieved another gun from it, "After what Earp did? Not likely,"

"And if you'll do this I'm sure that Masterson will see that they get a fair trial," Marion assured.

"Oh, that's real handsome. Only it don't fit in with my plans,"

"Does having your boys shot down in the street fit better into your plans then?" Marion asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, they can take their chances," the stubborn man retorted.

"Oh, they aren't taking any chances," Steven leaned over to Marion and Steven. "Johnny Ringo's going be behind the Earps,"

"One more yap outta you, Regret, you're dead, boy," the man shouted.

"Ah tut, tut, tut, tut, tut," the Doctor held up a finger.

"It wouldn't be fair for you to shoot Steven for telling us something that we already know. We know and so does Wyatt Earp," Marion said shifting in front of Steven. (Marion wasn't tall enough to offer much protection from any attack below the neck but still.)

"Okay, suppose that's the case? There's still three of them against four,"

"You have been sadly misinformed. Doctor Holliday is there also,"

"What?" the man said in shock. The man turned to the blonde woman standing on the other side of the room keeping the gun facing the three of them, "Kate, you said Holliday was in New Mexico,"

"I blush with shame," Kate smiled and sauntered towards him, "Mister Clanton, indeed I do, That was a dad blasted lie. He's right there in Tombstone with the Earps,"

"Doc Holliday and the Earps?" the man said in horror, "Agin' my boys,"

"Mister Clanton if you think there's time to get your boys to back off, I'd recommend that you do that,"

Marion didn't see the Gunfight.

Steven, the Doctor, and her left the ranch and made their way back to the Saloon to meet Dodo who had apparently tried to go to sleep, but felt too restless. Marion informed the three of them that while she wasn't 100% sure about how the gunfight was going down especially since some of the variables (such as who was starting the duel, the number of people on each team, and whether or not the recent death of their brother was contributing to the Earp's rage) were different. She "recommended" that they "stay in the saloon and not go outside and mess around especially you Dodo,".

She herself could feel the caffeine from the coffee begin to wear off and she wanted to make sure that she was near a soft and horizontal surface when she finally crashed.

"Wake me up when it's safe for us to go to the TARDIS. Okay?"

Marion didn't wait for a response before dragging herself up the stairs and back to her room.

Marion wasn't sure exactly how long she'd been awake but she knew what happened when she was awake for too long and she wasn't interested in that kind of metaphorical (and literal) headache.

She also wanted to be asleep when the guns started going off.

Marion didn't bother taking off her skirt or blouse as she did before. She didn't care enough too. She didn't do much more than unbuttoning a couple of buttons, take off her boots, and lie down on the bed. It was warm enough that she didn't need covers of any kind.

She scrolled through the downloads folder on her phone until she found what she was looking for: an 8-hour recording of white noise. She turned on her headphones and connected them to her phone and turned them up until her phone gave her a warning about possible ear damage. She lied down on her back with her head on her pillow and positioned her hat so that it covered her eyes.

The caffeine crash was beginning to kick in and that, her having been up for too long, and the white noise in her ears. Marion was off to sleep before the guns even began to fire.

Marion didn't dream.

"-rion,"

"Hn?"

Marion woke to someone shaking her shoulder.

"-rion,"

"Hn?"

"MARION!"

"I'm up! I'm up!"

Marion sat up making her hat fall from her face allowing her to see who had awoken her.

"Oh! Good…," Marion quickly glanced at the time on her phone, "Afternoon Dodo,". She yawned and turned to put her feet on the ground.

"The gunfight ended a few hours ago," Dodo explained, "It didn't last more than a few minutes. But the Doctor thought it best to let you and Steven sleep for a while,"

"Steven?"

"He went to his room after the gunfight ended," Dodo explained

"And what about you Miss Chaplet. You do need your sleep!"

"Oh, I slept earlier don't worry. I just woke up before you did Marion. The Doctor told me to come and get you because we were about to head to the TARDIS,"

"Oooh-kay," Marion yawned the beginning of this word. "I'll meet you down in a second. Just give me a moment,"

Dodo left Marion's room. Marion yawned once more and properly got to her feet. She stretched and looked in the mirror. She squinted at her reflection. She fixed the makeup on her neck and tried to make her blouse look a bit less wrinkled. Her hair looked awful, but after she ran her fingers through it and adjusted her hat on her head, she looked fine enough she supposed.

She left the room and went down to the main floor of the saloon. The Doctor, Steven, and Dodo were waiting down there.

"Afternoon guys," she said, "I assume the Earps won?"

"You'd assume correctly," the Doctor replied, "Yes, Holliday shot Ringo and Earp shot Billy. The rest of the Clantons fled,"

"Did the Earps go after them?"

"No. I doubt the Clantons are going to come anywhere near Tombstone. No, no, I doubt that very much,"

"Ah," Marion said with a nod.

'That's different. Maybe it's because the Earps don't have a reason to be especially pissed at the Clantons,'

"Well," Steven said, "I think I've had enough of the Old West for a while. Let's go to the TARDIS,"

"Yes, yes my boy," the Doctor said, "We'll head out now. I think,"

"Let us walk you there," Holliday said, "it's the least Kate and I can do. If it weren't for us y'all would've left days ago,"

"Sure,"

They were back at the side shed or whatever the small boarded-in area where the TARDIS landed.

"Why on Earth you want to leave Tombstone, I can't imagine. Ringo is dead," the Doctor asked Holliday.

"But the Clantons and Masterson are not," Holliday retorted.

"Yes," Steven conceded, "but surely Wyatt Earp-"

"Wyatt Earp is no longer a lawman. Besides, he has killed a Clanton,"

"Even so, he'd never let a friend down," Dodo said confidently.

"Neither would Masterson,"

"Show 'em, Doc,"

Holliday pulled something from behind his back and presented it to them. It was a wanted poster promising $2000 dollars to anyone who turned in Holliday. The poster listed his crimes as murder and…

'Wait does that say treason? I thought that he just killed a few people and gambled too much. What did he do?'

"Ain't nothin' Masterson wouldn't do to oblige a friend," Holliday said.

"Ain't it always the same?"

"Always the same,"

"It is a very good likeness," the Doctor admitted.

"It's yours,"

Holliday rolled up the poster and handed it to the Doctor.

"Thank you," The Doctor handed the paper roll to Marion.

"Goodbye to you all," Holliday put his arm over his partner's shoulder. "Come along, Kate,"

The two of them left and when the two of them were out of sight, she put the rolled-up poster in her bag. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with it, maybe hang it up somewhere? Sell it maybe? There was a market out there for authentic vintage posters, right? Had to be worth something.

"It's a terrible, terrible injustice," the Doctor said watching them leave, "You know I'm very tempted to-,"

"Listen!" Dodo suddenly said.

They could hear Kate singing the first few lines of the Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon as she and Holliday walked off.

"Oh, my dear Dodo, my dear Dodo. You know you're fast becoming prey to every cliche-ridden convention in the American West,"

"I don't know Doctor," Marion joked, "She hasn't become friends for life with a horse yet. At least, I don't think that she has. Have you Dodo,"

"And we should leave now before she does. It's high time we left, now come along," the Doctor began ushering them towards the TARDIS.

"Thank goodness for that,"

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS door and pushed Steven inside.

"Come along now,"

"Oh, but Doctor," Dodo tried.

"I don't want to discuss it any further. In you go. Come along!" he pushed the Dodo into the TARDIS and Marion followed close behind them.

The TARDIS dematerialized and disappeared from the American West.

"So Doctor," asked Dodo, "Where to next,"

"Who knows?" asked the Doctor. He was at the controls of the TARDIS already taking the group to wherever their next destination might have been. Marion leaned on the console, brushing her hands over some of the levers without pulling on any of them. She felt the TARDIS humming softly under her fingertips.

"You aren't touching anything, are you Marion?"

"No!" Marion said, like a liar jerking her hands back.

"Good!" the Doctor said, "I don't need you messing with the ship while I'm trying to pilot her,"

"Emphasis on 'trying'," Marion said back.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Marion said holding her hands up in surrender. She went to relax her hands, but one of them stayed in the air. It was like someone was holding up onto her wrist. She knew what that meant.

'Good thing that I slept at the saloon and didn't gamble on being able to sleep on the TARDIS then,' Marion thought to herself.

"Marion, why're you holding your hand in the air like that?"

"Well Steven, it's because I'm unable to move it. It's stuck,"

Steven and the Doctor seemed to accept this, but Dodo seems shocked and concerned.

"What do you mean your arm is stuck," She grabbed at Marion's arm and tugged.

"No, no don't do that," Marion said, "I'm not sure what'll happen if I leave while you're holding onto me,"

"Leave?" Dodo asked.

"Yeah, I sort of get, like, dragged around the Doctor's timeline. I've been doing it for a few days now? Anyway, a little bit before I get taken somewhere else, some force grabs ahold of me and keeps me from moving. Then it pulls and I'm taken wherever I'm taken. I feel like I would've told you that. Guess I didn't,"

"Where will you be going?" Dodo asked?

"No clue,"

'See's as I'm very, very, early on, probably somewhere in his future then but that doesn't narrow it down like, at all,'

"When will you be back?" Dodo asked.

"Not sure, but it shouldn't be too far on your end,"

She felt a tugging sensation on her arm.

"Remind me the next time you see me and we can finish this talk. Alright, dear?"

Marion was tugged sharply to the side by whatever force was responsible for taking her place to place and she closed her eyes.

(Next Chapter: Top Five Worst Wedding Destinations. Number 5,)

Chapter Text

Perhaps Marion had been a bit too hasty earlier. The mysterious force had dropped her off neatly on her feet and she hadn't slammed into the wall or fallen weird or anything of that nature. Marion was thankful for that. It was even nice enough to place her in the console room on the opposite side that the Doctor was.

Another thing was that it was very, very easy to figure out which Doctor she was with and who their companion was. She didn't have to do a console room based deduction this time.

She had landed in the middle of an argument between the Doctor and Clara.

"Ms. Oddwald or was it Oddbod? Something like that. Who cares?"

"Me!" Clara said in outrage. She was wearing a purple ski suit with fur around the collar and shaking a ski pole at the Doctor, "I'm one of the cool teachers that all the kids like right? Not one of the uncool teachers that they make fun of and give silly names. You must've misheard,"

"Hey," Marion said, letting them know that she was there, "Better something like Oddwald then them just calling you by your last name without a 'Ms'. If students collectively call a teacher by their last name, they'd probably murder them if given and eighht of a chance," Marion paused, "Maybe that's an American thing?"

"They can't call me Oddwald or Oddbod or Odd-Anything because there's nothing odd about me," Clara retorted, "Nothing at all,"

"That's the spirit. Don't let these things get to; you sticks and stones," The Doctor turned away from the console and pointed at Clara.

"Observation: You humans have become a little too obsessed with your own image. Chemical-peels, liposuction, buttock-lift? Sounds like a Sontarian torture chamber. It's just packaging! What's inside is what counts. If you're not happy in your own skin, and I've had more skins than most people-,"

Clara crossed her arms. "The last you, the you that isn't you know, wasn't adverse to the odd bit of pretty packaging,"

The Doctor's eye twinged. Marion remembered reading this conversation. It never was quite clear where the comics took place, just sometime in season eight after the events of the Caretaker. Despite that, she knew that the way Clara constantly compared this version of the Doctor to his previous incarnation bothered the man and that showed in the way that he responded.

Marion made a mental note to snap a couple of photos of One and Three to flash in Clara's face during the events of Deep Breath.

"You mean, the me that wore a bowtie?" the Doctor asked incredulously, "The me that thought a fez; an item of apparel resembling an upturned plant-pot was cool? The me that used the world COOL?" The Doctor adjusted his lapel, "Still, not to worry. Sophistication and timeless sartorial elegance have been restored,"

Marion snorted, "What do you mean restored?"

"I'm not the one dressed like I came straight from the Old American West," the Doctor said with a wave of his hand.

Marion looked down at her (rumpled) blouse and prairie skirt. About the only part of her that didn't look like a mess was the waistcoat and that was because whatever fabric it was made of didn't seem to wrinkle easily.

"Yes, well, there's a perfectly good reason for that Doctor,"

"And what reason would that be?"

"I just came from the Old American West,"

"Tombstone?" the Doctor asked.

"Yup. Tombstone. Left more or less as soon as we got back on the TARDIS as you might recall. I've still got Holliday's wanted poster in my bag," She tapped the side of her bag. "Didn't have time to change and I doubt that I'm going to,"

"Anyway," said Clara, bringing things back to their initial discussion, "If there's anything odd about me, it rubbed off the two of you. Y'now, after last time, I could've just taken a few lessons at the artificial slope in-"

"Artificial-piffle. Why settle for fakery when I can take you to the frozen wastes of the Isen VI, home to the coldest, crispiest, snowiest snow in the universe,". The TARDIS began to make it's trademarked landing noise.

"Speaking of the planet," Marion said, "we're landing soon,"

The TARDIS let out one more "Wheeze" and then it stopped.

Clara kneeled down and began to buckle her ski boots into the skis.

"Okay, So we missed out on Antarctica in favor of the surface of the sun. I won't call this trip overcompensating if you don't…and shouldn't you two be getting ready. The most amazing thing is that you can ski. Thanks for offering to teach me,"

"Teach you?" the Doctor said in disbelief, "Do you know how cold it is out there? Marion and I are staying in the TARDIS. A mug of Borvil and melted marshmallows for me, a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream for Marion. I might even solve something unsolvable while Marion might finish a painting or two while you're swooshing up and down the slopes. She might even paint the slopes that you're swooshing on"

"What?" Clara said in shock, "You said-"

"I said I'd help. You're the teacher Clara, I'm the Doctor,"

The Doctor retrieved a warm winter coat and hat from off a rack.

"What about you Marion?" Clara turned towards Marion clearly hoping that if the Doctor wouldn't own up to the promise he might've made then she might.

Unfortunately, for Clara, while Marion was talented at a good many things (art, physics, baking, not dying), winter sports weren't exactly in her skill set.

Marion put her hands up. "Don't look at me, Clara. I'm bad at skiing. There's a very specific way to slow down and if you mess up you speed up. No thank you. Nearly snapped my leg in half. No thanks, Sorry."

Marion then remembered something, "Uh, but you'll be fine though. Shouldn't be an issue,"

"Don't worry. We'll keep an eye out for ice-sharks," the Doctor said, adjusting a blue winter hat on the Doctor's head.

"Ice-sharks?"

"Of course. You always learn faster when your life depends on it," The Doctor moved to the TARDIS door. And prepare to open it. "Brace yourself, without proper protection, the winds of Isen VI can strip the flesh from your body and freeze the blood in your veins,"

'That seems overly dangerous. And overly dramatic,'

"Okay," Clara said trying to reassure herself, "I can do this. It's only snow. I've faced Daleks, gold-loving robot knights, a Skovox Blitz Class 48 on a miserable wet Monday morning..." she said something else under her breath, but all that Marion was able to catch was "cupboard...Danny...and bump,"

The Doctor opened the door to reveal, not a cold Nordic hellscape like what he had described, but instead a warm sunny tropical jungle. Instead of huge snowy hills, there were tall, green, and grassy ones. There were trees that looked alien, but like something that might appear on earth. A few colorful flowers lined the ground which was otherwise covered something that wasn't quite grass but wasn't quite moss. Gross? Mass? It looked like it'd feel soft under her feet, but Marion wasn't interested in finding out that she had a fun new allergy.

"Hah!" the Doctor said, "You travel to an ice-world and find yourself in a scorching hot tropical jungle. Don't you LOVE the unexpected,"

"Not when I'm dressed for a yeti hunting expedition!"

"You are overcompensating slightly," the Doctor agreed, "the weather's not that changeable. Not unless you're in Scotland,"

Clara began loosening her coat. "Are you sure that we're in the right place?"

"We are," said Marion, "Doesn't look like it I know, but it's definitely, Isen VI,"

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver buzzed as he scanned the air, "No doubt it. Spatial and temporal coordinates coordinate nicely. Curious, the last planetary survey of this system was only a few decades ago and Isen VI was still a giant snowball then. Question: What natural phenomena could transform a world so radically in such a short length of time?" The Doctor asked rhetorically.

"A really hot meteor?" Clara offered.

"Nothing," Marion said, "Nothing natural anyway. I mean, a meteor could most certainly turn a tropical jungle into a frozen wasteland yeah, happened to Earth at one point; caused an ice age," Speaking of that, there had to be some way that she could bullshit her way into saving Adric right? She hadn't met the boy yet but there had to be something. "Nothing natural can cause this kind of thing in only a few decades Clara. You'd need at least a few centuries and that's pushing it,,"

"Which means outside interference," the Doctor stuck his screwdriver back into his jacket pocket, "I hate outside interference,"

"That's interesting,"

"All you do is interfere,"

"Nonsense!" the Doctor retrieved something that looked like a magnifying glass but with green glass instead of something clear. "Things just seem to happen when I'm around. Marion and I are magnets for adventure,"

"Doctor, you seemed pretty well prepared for all this. Did you have any other reason for coming here apart from NOT teaching me how to ski?" Clara accused.

The Doctor started to go off deeper into the forest. Marion kept close to him.

"An ulterior motive?" the Doctor called back to Clara, "No! How could you think such a thing!"

"But…," Marion crossed her arms.

"There was a signal..."

"What kind of signal?"

"Very faint. Undetectable without a TARDIS. Not really sure what it was. Do you know Marion?" Marion scrunched her nose. The Doctor seeing that, kept talking, "It just piqued my curiosity. Maybe a warning, but…,"

"A warning? I remember warnings," Clara put her hands on her hips, "People use them to suggest that you don't do something...,"

The Doctor wasn't listening to Clara. Something must have caught his eye because he instead walked further into the jungle. Marion, after glancing quickly at Clara and seeing her talking to a monkey-like thing, followed after the Doctor.

"Marion come look at this. Isn't this interesting?" The Doctor held up a leaf and handed it to Marion.

"Yup," She examined the leaf. It looked like a normal everyday leaf, but with one main difference. Between the bottom two veins on the right side of the back of the leaf was the copyright sign followed by a double-lined dollar sign. The symbol's color looked like it had been scratched into the leaf, but the symbol was smooth both in looks (the monogram was smooth and crisp like it has been typed) and in texture (it didn't feel like someone had scratched it).

"This whole forest is man-made," Marion said finally. She knew that the Doctor was coming to that conclusion himself so her saying so wasn't a spoiler. "Had to be, otherwise it wouldn't make sense for it to even be here. This was an ice world a while ago after all,"

"Do you know why it's like this?"

"Yes. And it's kind of ridiculous. But also," Marion looked back the way they had come. "We need to grab Clara,"

"Do you mean that she wandered off?"

"What do you think?"

The two of them heard screaming in the distance.

"Was that?"

"Ye-,"

The Doctor had already sprinted off in the direction of Clara's scream.

"-s,"

Marion sprinted after the Doctor.

Despite his longer legs and head start, Marion was quickly able to catch up to the Doctor as they followed Clara's scream to a clearing. The trees were covered in vines and hanging from the vines were a bunch of odd-looking monkeys. They were small with white tails, plumes, and streaks on their bellies. They had blue faces fringed by a small border of ruddy brown fur. The rest of their bodies were dark grey.

They also had very, very sharp teeth.

The Doctor grabbed a hold of his coat and pulled out his screwdriver. Its green light glowed repeatedly and Marion could vaguely hear something, like the airy sound that's the only part of a dog whistle you can hear. Unlike Marion, the monkeys could hear the noise just fine and they didn't care for it. They fled screeching.

"A few sonic pulses beyond our hearing range to scare them off," the Doctor offered as an explanation, "Won't do them any permanent damage if you care about that sort of thing,"

"Somehow, I don't think that she does,"

"You can say that again," Clara used her ski pole to pull herself to her feet, "The little creeps tried to eat me!"

"Well, it is a jungle out here. A man-made one," the Doctor said.

Marion held out the leaf to Clara.

"Eh? A copyright notice and a dollar sign? I don't...are you saying someone made his place?"

"More like remade," the Doctor explained, "What you'd probably call a makeover. In fact, if you shaved one of your little pals back there, I suspect you'd find the same markings,"

"It's both fascinating and upsetting,"

"Yuck! And what does the dollar sign mean?"

"It means Clara, that some jackass with too much money and an inability to care about anything outside of his bubble just-," Marion threw up her hands, "casually terraformed a whole planet. There had to have been some native flora and fauna here before. Probably something cool that's never been seen or heard from before. And now it'll never be. And not to mention," Marion took a deep breath, "Not to mention that when you make big changes to a planet, you never know what else you could be dealing with. There are some things that some people have too much of. It's time-"

"And money Clara!" the Doctor shouted, "Obscene amounts of money. More money than sense, because you mess with natural evolution at your own peril. I HATE money,"

"That explains why you never have any," Clara mused, "Marion and I have to pay the bill most of the time when we get coffee,"

Before the Doctor could respond to that, the group heard a voice. It had that metallic, breathless sound found in robots or other programs that used speech based on sounds another person recorded.

"ATTENTION! THIS WORLD IS PRIVATE PROPERTY. YOU ARE TRESPASSING. YOU SPACECRAFT IS ALREADY IN OUR CUSTODY. SURRENDER AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED,"

The droid speaking was roughly the height of Marion's chest and the grey-green color of the tiles of a subway station wall. It had visible joints and a square of red just above the speaker grill of its "mouth". It had a long head with metal divots at the top and to the side that Marion supposed resembled the flat outline of ears. Where its eyes might've been, was a raised rectangular bit that said "ERIC" in black capital letters. It was holding a two-pronged staff. When none of them moved after the robot had ordered them to surrender, it did something and the staff crackled with blue electricity.

"RESIST AND SUFFER PUNITIVE MEASURES. WE ARE AUTHORIZED TO USE ALL NECESSARY FORCE."

"Oh?" the Doctor said, retrieving his sonic screwdriver, "you are, are you?"

The Doctor reprogrammed "ERIC" into taking the three of them to the large off-white airship that had trapped the TARDIS in a tractor beam. There was another robot on the ship. This one looked identical to "ERIC" except, the name written across his head was "CLARENCE". The Doctor dealt with him the same as he dealt with "ERIC". The ship was automated and began to take off.

"Doctor, are you going to bring this ship back down?"

The Doctor put his screwdriver back in his coat.

"I still want to find the source of that signal Clara. And if this whole planet is private property,"

"Then seeing where this ship wants to take us is the ideal way to find out,"

Marion snapped her fingers and did finger guns at her, "Got it in one Clara,"

There were speakers in the ceiling. Some kind of news broadcast was beginning to play. After a few moments of some kind of intro music (Marion was pretty sure that even though they just heard audio there were visuals somewhere) a woman's voice began speaking.

"This is Alice Xanada, live from the lush tropical jungles of Isen VI. That's right, I said Tropical Jungles,"

Marion couldn't exactly place the woman's accent. It sounded vaguely British the way that most of the folks that she had met in space spoke, but there was something else to it. She could hear it in the way the woman pronounced "T's" as if they all appeared in groups of two and the emphasis she put on some of the vowels.

"Kano Dollar, the richest human in the 25th century, has terraformed the former ice-giant to create a romantic paradise for him and his bride-to-be Princess Thanna of the Gothgolka Horde. I caught up with the intergalactic energy and media magnate as he prepares for what is bound to be the Wedding of the Millenium,"

There was a moment of silence, and then a male voice began to speak.

"Some people say you shouldn't mix business with pleasure. Idiots! Business is pleasure. Isen VI is the start of a new era of peace and prosperity. The advances in planetary engineering that we've pioneered make it possible to build worlds to any specification. Wars, energy shortages and overpopulation will become things of the past,"

The man's voice sounded oddly familiar to Marion, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Marion found that was odd, especially since this adventure had been from the comics (a purely visual medium) so it wasn't like she was recognizing an actor or something still.

'Where do I know that voice?' Marion pondered.

Marion was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of buzzing.

"Whatcha up to Doc?"

"How come you let Marion call you 'Doc'," Clara asked. She didn't sound annoyed by this; more amused than anything.

"Because Clara, Marion is Marion," The Doctor looked at something on his screwdriver, made a look of disbelief and then moved the screwdriver in such a way that it looked like he was no longer scanning, but was instead actively doing something. "Tell you what Clara. You travel around with me for a few hundred more years and you can call me whatever you want,"

Clara laughed.

"So Doctor," Marion asked with a grin, noticing the Doctor's expression as he looked at the reading "Having trouble getting into the Dollar Database?"

The Doctor let out a small laugh, "You'd think they'd have a bit more security than that. I've seen cellphones harder to break into. Also, the Databases belongs to a Professor Spector, not Dollar,"

"Ah. Well is Spector's encryption that shoddy or are you just a genius,"

"Both,"

"Of course. What are you doing right now? Still breaking into Spector's files?"

"It's been three minutes. Didn't you hear me? No. I'm just going through the woman's music. It's a long trip. We might as well have something to listen to. Oh, look! A classics, playlist,"

"Classical" turned out to mean "Music from the late 20th and early 21st century,". Which meant a bunch of music that sounded vaguely familiar to her both in name and tune.

Marion wasn't positive if it was because she was in a different dimension, she was roughly 450 years in her own future, she was billions of miles from home, or even if it was because none of the people spoke English and the TARDIS was giving her an exact translation of this music that was playing, but matter what the cause was, all of the music sounded ever so slightly off. Songs like "Tiny Lion Lad", "Solitary Miner" and "The Time Track".

That last one was from the "Scary Stone Moving Picture" apparently and it's what played as the ship finally landed. The ramp to the ship lowered. "ERIC" and "CLARENCE" more or less danced out of the ship singing while the two people who had come to meet the "prisoners" (a woman in a blue shirt with half her head shaved and a man dressed entirely in dark greyish green) looked on in bafflement.

"I do love a show-stopping entrance. Almost as much as I hate being taken prisoner. Next time you fancy a chat, Professor Spector, try asking nicely," the Doctor snarked.

"What? How do you know-?" The woman said in shock.

The Doctor, Clara, and Marion continued down the ramp.

"Your robots are hooked up to your mainframe, a wealth of information,"

"And apparently," Marion added, "ridiculously easy to reprogram,"

"Some not bad tunes in their memory banks though," Clara conceded.

And that was true. Professor Spector had surprisingly good taste in music.

They continued to walk until they were at the ship across from them. The Doctor began leaning over the computer and started looking for things. The woman in blue (Professor Spector) followed close behind them, likely to make sure they didn't tamper with anything that could cause too much damage.

"Right then, a basic terra-sphere control system," the Doctor said. Marion wasn't sure how he determined that from the screen but she tried to take note of what it said in case there came a time when she needed to recognize one, she'd be able to.

She couldn't make heads or tails of it, so she just hoped that when it came up, the Doctor would know about it.

"Basic?" Professor Spector said in outrage, "The technology is cutting edge!"

"Nonsense!" the Doctor retorted, "In the grand scheme of time and space, planetary engineering is old hat," He turned away from the screen. "An old friend of mine, well, enemy really, once tried to create an entirely new universe to rule maniacally or something like that. I lost interest early into his monologue. I put a few minus signs before his calculations while Marion distracted him. He ended up a wee bit smaller than what he planned. I've got it in my pocket,". The Doctor retrieved what Marion was partially sure was a tigers eye marble and held it up near his ear.

"An entire universe all to himself, no other life forms whatsoever. If you listen closely, you can hear him calling us all sorts of names," the Doctor said with a grin.

"Ignoring that," Marion, "Terraforming a whole planet and shifting its climate drastically? It's ethically dubious at best. I mean, are you aware of the fact you might've made something go extinct? You can't just mess up a whole ecosystem like that!"

"Don't listen to them, you made a whole new world," Clara said, patting Professor Spector on the shoulder, "How long does something like that take?"

"We launched the terraformer missiles three years ago breaking through the surface ice and penetrating deep underground," Marion thought about Jade and how she had seemed so excited to tell Marion, the Doctor, Ryan, and Graham about spiders. Marion would always stand by the belief that people were at their most attractive when they were passionately talking about things that they cared about. Professor Spector didn't have that same kind of joy in her voice. She sounded like she was giving some kind of rehearsed press statement. Whatever her degree was in, she doubted that she had dreamed of destroying a planet's whole biosphere for a rich weirdo's wedding destination. "Robo-drones mined resources from the surrounding environment and started to construct the towers using the missiles as a foundation. On completion, the towers generated a protective energy field around the planet, stimulating the beginning of a biosphere,"

SNORE

While the woman was talking, the Doctor had his eyes closed and his arms crossed and was sleeping.

Marion elbowed him lightly in the side. He snorted and woke back up. He glared at Marion for a moment, and then closed his eyes again. Professor Spector continued to talk.

"We then released nanotek swarms above and below the surface, modifying the atmosphere, temperature, topography, and ecology to our specifications making it habitable for life. Organisms with hyper-evolution genes were also released, populating the planet with new species designed to be harmless to any visiting sentients,"

"Harmless? A bunch of Skunkey's tried to-"

"Finished-" the Doctor cut Clara off as he snorted back awake, "About time," The Doctor clicked something and the three screens turned into views of the planet. One screen showed the jungle which looked fine. However, on another screen was a smoking volcano and on the other was a huge tidal wave.

"Temperatures escalating at both poles. Glaciers melting at quite a terrifying rate. Seismic activity off the scale on every continent,"

"What you've done is a global warming speedrun. Flooding, eruptions, you probably cost something here it's only possible habitat. Bravo!"

"You're heading towards a global cataclysm Profesor. I'd run away if I were you. Very fast,"

Marion glanced out the door in hopes of seeing outside. She was unable to do as a man walked furiously into the small ship or monitoring station or whatever it was and blocked the door as he did. He was a heavyset man with black hair that looked like it was slowly attempted to escape to the back of his head. He dressed in a white, brown, and gold military adjacent looking outfit. She wondered if those were wedding closed.

"My world! No one leaves without my permission," he yelled, "Some of the most powerful and influential beings in the galaxy are here and right now I need all that influence and power on my side,"

Judging by the voice that Marion still was unable to determine the familiarity of, and her memory this would have to be Dollar.

"I've indulged your so-called genius for too long, Professor. Stabilize Isen VI or I'll show you exactly how cutthroat a businessman I can be,"

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that your plan was to set this planet to burst for like, I don't know, for tax reasons or to commit insurance fraud or to get rid of a bunch of influential people for reasons. I mean seriously!" Marion grumbled under her breath.

The Doctor ignored the newcomer and continued to talk to Professor Spector. "The company you keep leaves much to be desired,"

"Funding is hard to come by,"

"So's integrity,"

It was obvious that the man was unused to being ignored.

'Who the hell are you! What are you doing here?"

"She's Marion, I'm Clara, and he's the Doctor,"

"Doctor who?"

The Twelfth Doctor had always sounded a little bit irritated 70% of the time. About 20% of the time, he sounded legitimately furious.

Kano Dollar shrunk back as he came face to face with the Doctor at 20%.

"Doctor who turns up in the nick of time to save the day, though sometimes wonders WHY HE BOTHERS. Doctor who's quite possibly your only chance of getting off this world alive. Doctor who advises you to do exactly as he says and stop attacking him with Dull, Borning, Pointless questions," The Doctor stopped pointing at the man and stood up straight and shaking. "And the Doctor who's just remembered that he knows Venusian Akido, so if anyone else asks another dull-"

The Doctor was cut out by the sound of the radio nearby turning down. There was a moment of static followed by loud rumbling in the background.

"Er, Hello?" A voice said. The voice sounded bubbly as if the person speaking was speaking underwater. "Dr. Scrofolus here, Team 12. Sorry to interrupt, but we're encountering what you might be tempted to call choppy waters,"

"Gimme that comm fish-face," another voice said. It could be heard, farther away from the mic.

"Fishface?!"

There was a bit of fumbling and then another voice began to speak.

"Control! Engine Malfunction! Controls refusing to respond! We can't get off the ground! Seismic activity is increasing! There's an earthquake starting right under our-" the call cut out.

"Where was that call coming from? Where was team twelve located?" the Doctor said quickly.

Professor Spector began to quickly type something on her computer as the Doctor, Clara, and Marion were nearly out the door.

"A thousand kilometers west of here and two-thousand kilometers south. But there's no way for anyone to get there!"

"That's what you think! Come on!"

The three of them plus the professor and "ERIC" ran to the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the door.

"It's bigger on this inside!" Spector said, looking around.

"Yes, yes, I've heard it before. Marion, if I put in the coordinates, do you think that you can make sure we get there? It's a bit of a short jump and you've always been better at making sure that those turn out right,"

"Uh…," Marion looked down at the controls, "I don't-,"

"Just pull the right levers when the TARDIS tells you to. We don't have time!"

"Okay!" Marion said, panicked. She had to remind herself that the Doctor just Sounded Like That and he wasn't angry at her. Although he did seem frustrated that he had to say anything.

The older the Doctor got, that he seemed to be more...not well, not annoyed with her, but off. It was clear that they had trouble knowing how to act around a version of her that hadn't done the things they did. She wondered if she'd feel the same way about him. Would she dread seeing the young yet old man with the fuzzy hair or the scruffy man in the oversized frock coat? She hadn't even met the latter of those yet.

It seemed almost cruel of the universe to trap two people together that could never be on the same page.

Actually, scratch the almost. The universe was a dick for doing it.

Marion was torn from her thoughts by the grinding noise of the TARDIS.

Marion moved her hands over the TARDIS's levers confused. She grabbed it and pulled it until it cooled down. She moved around the TARDIS console, her hands hovering, attempting to feel the heat that told her what she needed to press or flip. The Doctor moved around the TARDIS too, likely checking to make sure that she wasn't messing up since this was clearly her first time piloting the TARDIS and even if it was especially nice to her for some reason, that didn't mean that she wouldn't guess wrong. After a bit of this, she grabbed a final lever and pulled. The TARDIS made its telltale materialization noise.

The group could hear rumbling continue outside. Clara threw open the door to the TARDIS and stepped outside.

"If you like being living, breathing, and three-dimensional, in here! If you want to become pancake people, stay where you are," Clara moved away from the entrance and the two of them ran inside. One of them was human looking with a scruffy beard and an orange jumpsuit that said "12" on the breast pocket. The other one looked like if you crossed a giraffe with a manatee and put it underwater. He was dressed in a purple jumpsuit with gold parts near his waist and shoulders. His head was covered by a transparent glass dome filled with water. That had to be Dr. Scrofolus.

The two men ran inside and the Doctor shut the door behind them just as the rocks began to hurl towards the open door. They stared at the TARDIS console room in shock.

"What the-"

"By the oceans of Tantalus it's-,"

The Doctor cut Dr. Scrofolus off, "Bigger inside than out? Heard it! Stay out of our way and try not to scream too much. If you're scared, find a sofa to hide behind. There's one around here somewhere. It won't save you, but people seem to find it comforting,". With that said, the Doctor began pressing his screwdriver against something until it buzzed and the TARDIS began to dematerialize.

"Doctor do you-,"

"I'm following the signal from earlier Marion. Just sit tight,"

The exterior of the TARDIS began shaking as it was hit by rocks. The Doctor pulled a final level and it disappeared.

When the rumbling stopped, Professor Spector spoke. "Thank you! We'd never have reached them in time," She started to look around the TARDIS. "This ship is incredible, I mean, ramshackle and bizarre but-"

"Oi! Don't be rude to Honey. She's a great ship! The best one and I won't hear otherwise from anyone!" Marion patted the console as she spoke. "It's okay!" Marion said soothingly, "She didn't mean it. I mean, she did, but she doesn't know what she's talking about. You're an excellent ship Honey,"

The TARDIS hummed under her fingertips.

The TARDIS finally landed in a large rounded tunnel made of dark grey stone. It was incredibly hot likely due to the magma sluggishly flowing down the cavern walls and into small pools like bright orange super hot honey. Marion wasn't sure what it was made of. She couldn't think of any mineral she knew of that melted at a temperature low enough that being in a cavern with that much of it didn't make this cavern a bajillion degrees too hot for any of them to be safe here.

Maybe it was gallium or something. Maybe Sodium? Or Sulfur? Or Phosphorus? Those had relatively low melting points. Didn't they? But, it didn't smell like sulfur and wasn't bright enough to be phosphorus. Actually, maybe it was some other mineral completely. Marion wouldn't know and wouldn't know how to know.

This wasn't the first time that Marion had wished that her Sonic Pen was good for anything other than leaving glowy orange notes and auto transcription. Actually, come to think of it, she hadn't had a single moment where that last one was useful. Marion didn't know what "lesson" that pen was supposed to teach her, but the second she got to the point with the Adipose, she was going to steal herself a proper sonic pen. One that could unlock doors and scan shit.

Yes. Now that was a plan.

"Wait!" said Spector, taking in their surroundings, "Where are we? I thought you were taking us back to-"

This Doctor really had a thing for cutting people off, didn't he?

"The TARDIS detected a series of strangely structured caverns formed around the base of your tower,"

"And these caverns," Marion swung her arms around, "were where it was coming from. This is the source of your problem, and we're here to sort it all out!"

"Investigating," the Doctor said, scanning the tunnel, "It's one of my specialties,"

"The others are interfering and infuriating. He infuriates incredibly well," Clara said something else under her breath that sounded something like "Marion's good at it too,". She raised her voice back up and said, "'ERIC' stay with the TARDIS,"

"Why are you still carrying a ski-pole?" the Doctor asked her.

"To jab you with when you annoy me. I'm surprised that you're not pin-cushioned already,"

"Keep ahold of that 'pin' then Clara. You're going to need it later," Marion said.

They made it to a point where magma flowed in a sluggish river. There was a strip of walkable rock against the wall. They had to walk sideways around it and more or less hug the wall, but it wasn't too bad.

"So this signal?" Clara asked the two of them.

"Gallifreyan in origin,"

"But Time Lords are-,"

"Their legacy lives on. Millenia ago, they established a sort of early warning system. A series of satellite-beacons that would rove the galaxies, set to detect threats to universal harmony, disruptions in time and space, and other inexplicable phenomena. The technology's ancient now. And failing. The TARDIS detected a signal but the alert was unclear,"

"And, as the last of the Time Lords, you felt duty-bound to check it out. It could be a good alert though, yeah? Other than an 'Oh-My-God-We're-All-Going-To-Die-Alert'?"

"Clara you don't know how much I wish I could say that that's what's up," Marion said, "But it's not,"

"I'm detecting two power sources," the Doctor said as they got to a wider strip of land, "but the energy patterns are overlapping and interacting,"

The tunnel opened into a large cavern the size of a rocket silo. There was a huge ship partially backlit by magma.

It was a bit hotter in this part of the room. Marion unbuttoned her waistcoat so that it looked more like an open, sleeveless jacket. It didn't help a whole lot, but it was a lot better.

"Whoa!" said Orange Jumpsuit.

"I don't understand, this isn't part of the program!" Professor Spector said in disbelief.

"Sometimes, things don't go to plan. Your terraformer did more than just penetrate the planet. It activated that too!" Mario swung pointed at the ship.

"Impossible! We scanned extensively. Everything was clear,"

"Something that's gone to the bother of concealing itself miles underground just might employ sensor-shields," the Doctor said sarcastically.

"What is it? A ship?"

"Yes and before anyone touches anything! This is a ship. A Hyp- a dangerous ship. And it's what's been messing with the evolution of this planet and it's dangerous. Like, super dangerous. So don't-,"

Marion heard a hissing noise.

Dr. Scorfolus was spraying water on the side of the ship. "Doctor! There is some sort of markings here!"

Marion backed away from the ship slowly.

"GOD FU- Didn't I JUST say not to touch anything,"

"Uh-Oh," Clara said, looking at the uncovered symbol beginning to glow. "We just entered 'All going to die territory' didn't we?'"

"UNFORTUNATELY,"

"RUN!"

(Next Chapter: The Floor is Lava)

Chapter Text

The Hyperion's blast had been aiming at the ground. It made the ground under them shake and collapse and break up into huge chunks floating along a magma sea. Even though the decently thick soles of her boots, Marion could feel the heat as if she was standing on the beach in a thin pair of flip flops.

For some reason, it hadn't aimed directly at them. Marion knew that he hadn't, because if he had been aiming directly at them, they would've been vaporized. Period. As if trying to prove her right, a bit of magma (or was it lava? It was still underground which would make it magma, but then again, it was exposed in this cave so would that make it lava) splashed onto her singing her skin and setting her skirt on fire.

Marion shouted in surprise and patted it out. Her skin stung for a moment or two, but then before her eyes, slowly became less and less red as whatever was making her heal so quickly did its job. The same couldn't be said of her skirt.

They all held out their arms and waved trying to keep from falling over as the chunks moved to be closer together. Marion had ended up on a chunk with the Doctor and Orange Jumpsuit. Behind her and to the left stood Dr. Scorfolus and to the right of her stood Clara and Spector.

Clara lost her balance and fell to her knees. "Clara, are you-".He crouched down and reached out a hand to help her up. Marion grabbed the Doctor's other arm and braced him to keep him from falling face-first into the molten lake.

Speaking of the lake, something began rising from the molten lake.

One could call this "something" humanoid, but only if they were especially generous with their definition of human.

It was made of rock but something glowed through the cracks of its body. It was like someone had made a coal sculpture based on the nightmare they had had about a monster with the legs of a goat, the torso of a penguin, and the head of a stag beetle and lit it from the inside. Strands of flame wisped around it like hellish ribbons. The air warped around it from the heat and Marion could feel it on her face. Looking at it gave Marion a sinking feeling in her gut.

"HYPERIOS RISES AND THE UNIVERSE FALLS," the being said. Its voice sounded like what would happen if a group of people attempted to accurately dub Zalgo text while standing in a forest fire: many voices broadcasting from the depths of hell.

"What's that thing!" Clara asked in horror.

"It's a Hyperion," Marion had to shout to be heard of the loud sizzle of the monster, "Long story short, they used to be really chill and go around helping people. Then they decided that they were tired of being nice and wanted to go apeshit. They went around enslaving civilizations, setting them on fire. All that fun megalomaniac stuff. They stole the energy from suns and then left solar systems to freeze when they ran out. A bunch of powerful races got together, and they beat them,"

"Didn't beat them good enough then," said the man in the orange jumpsuit.

"Don't blame me, I wasn't there,"

Marion moved towards the man, ready to grab him and pull him out of the way when needed. But the Doctor stopped her.

"Don't move," the Doctor said blocking Marion and calling out to Orange Jumpsuit, "Stay exactly where you are,"

"If you move," Marion said, "you'll make yourself a target and it will kill you. You didn't listen to me before when I told you not to touch anything, for your sake, it's best that you listen to me now,"

"Yeah right!" the man said, "If your advice is SO great, how'd we end up down here in the first place. And like I'm going to listen to a guy who's idea of a rescue was to dump us someplace even more dangerous,"

The man started to run anyway. Marion had no idea where he planned to go off to but it's not like it mattered much. In seconds, the man in the orange jumpsuit was engulfed in flames. He didn't even have to time scream. He was simply there one moment, and ash the next.

"Nice one! Bravo! Well done!" the Doctor said. He sounded both sarcastic and angry. "A bit of indiscriminate killing, always the best way to introduce yourself,"

"HIS EXISTENCE WAS INSIGNIFICANT. YOUR EXISTENCE IS INSIGNIFICANT. RESIST ME AND YOU WILL BURN. YOU WILL BURN. YOUR FAMILIES WILL BURN. YOUR CITIES WILL BURN. YOUR WORLDS WILL BURN. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT FUEL FOR THE FIRES OF HYPERIOS,"

It was heating up. The rocky patches along its frame heated up and more of the molten core was visible. The only places that remained fully rocky were its stag beetle-like horns. The stone floes the group stood on grew closer together. It made the area look less like an extreme game of "the floor is lava" and more like a crazy-paved pathway made up of huge stones only with magma instead of dirt or cement.

"The fires of Hyperious were extinguished a thousand years ago," the Doctor shouted "Your world is cold and dark! Dead. The Hyperions are no more. Ashes in the wind. A bad memory,"

"And you have nothing but your greed, wrath, and pride to blame for it all," Marion condemned.

"HOW IS IT THAT YOU KNOW THIS,"

"Because, it was my people who destroyed them,"

"Oh very diplomatic," Clara said sarcastically, "That'll go down well," "Well maybe don't say that," Marion said at the same time.

The cavern got hotter as the Hyperion got angry. Marion wondered how Clara was able to remain in her ski suit without kneeling over but she somehow managed it.

"TIME LORD," the Hyperion said. It sounded furious, "MY APOLOGIES. YOU ARE FAR FROM INSIGNIFICANT. KILLING TIME LORDS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST IMPORTANCE. THE GREATEST PLEASURE. WHERE IS YOUR ARMY? SURELY NOT, EVEN A TIME LORD WOULD HAVE THE HUBRIS TO FACE ME ALONE,"

"They followed the signal," Marion said, waving her hand in a way she hoped looked dismissive enough "Didn't even know that you were here,"

"Besides, I'm the Doctor, I don't need an army. I have plans, plans within plans,"

"Dozens of plans!" Marion added, "Hundreds even. Every time you doubt the number of plans we've got, Mr. Plans over here makes a hundred and one more!"

The Doctor retrieved his screwdriver from his inner pocket. "A hundred different ways to destroy you,"

Hyperion didn't sound threatened by the angry Scottish sounding man.

"AND THAT IS THE ONE YOU CHOOSE FIRST?" The Hyperion made a noise that might've been a laugh, "WHAT IS THIS TERRIFYING INSTRUMENT MAY I ASK?"

"Sonic Screwdriver. It scans and analyses to a subatomic level, accesses all known computer systems, cracks every lock in the universe-"

"Apart from my flat that time I got locked out and didn't want Marion to break the door down. Dead loss against deadbolts,"

"And!" the Doctor said, acting like Clara hadn't spoken, "it unscrews,"

Marion glanced upward at the danger sign on the side panel of the ship. The ship somehow hadn't sunk into the magma. She could see the bottom screws begin to loosen.

Rann-Korr clearly could not.

"A FEARSOME WEAPON INDEED," there was that "laugh" again. "A VERITABLE DOOMSDAY DEVICE,"

It waddled closer to them.

"I AM RANN-KORR OF HYPERIOS. AS LONG AS FIRE RAGES WITHIN ME, THE HYPERION STILL LIVE. I SHALL BURN YOU SLOWLY TIMELORD. YOU WILL BEG ME TO END YOUR TIME IN THIS UNIVERSE, TO TAKE THE TIME THAT YOU HOLD SO DEAR"

"Sometimes, it's not the weapons that counts. It's who's holding it," The Doctor said, undaunted.

The last of the screws fell to the ground with a "ding".

Rann-Koor screamed in anger as steam from the ship's coolant system filled the room. The Doctor placed a hand on the small of their backs and pushed them forward.

"Now, we move!"

While Rann-Koor was distracted, the five of them took the opportunity to try to get as far away as possible.

"You released the tower's coolant gases!" Professor Spector said, impressed.

"Well spotted Professor," the Doctor lept from one floe to the next, "Rann-Korr may have seized control of the terra-sphere, but he has to maintain the operating systems. To protect the tower this close to Isen VI's core-"

"-You need a vast amount of cooling agents!"

"Exactly!" Marion said, "Of course, you'd have to screw something into place if you didn't want that coolant to get everywhere. Fortunately, the Doctor's sonic can unscrew things from far away,"

The Hyperion roared.

"But. I doubt that it's a trick that'll work twice. We should get back to TARDIS. Like, now,"

It was amazing how cool a cave system full of small lava pools could feel when you'd just left a cavern with an angry lava monster that forced you to play an extreme version of the floor in lava. It was like the difference between sitting in a hot car in 85-degree weather and getting out of said car into the 85-degree weather. Marion took a deep breath of the (slightly) cooler air.

"What's his story Doctor? He doesn't like you," Clara asked.

"It's not like that hasn't happened before," Marion mused.

"Ah," said the Doctor, "But I'm hated by all the right people. Marion summed it up pretty well. The Hyperions were a bunch of sentient suns. Nice bunch actually, before they turned mad, bad and dangerous to know,"

They were getting closer to the TARDIS. Marion started racing a little bit ahead of them. Just because the cave that they were in was comparatively cooler than the inside of the cavern that they had just been inside of, didn't mean that it wasn't still hot. Marion just wanted to get there and maybe drink a glass of something cold. As Marion considered this, the Doctor continued explaining the Hyperion's history.

"They were wiped out in the Great Inferno; a war between them and an intergalactic alliance led by the Time Lords. There were rumors that some had survived, scattered throughout the universe in suspended animation. Sleeper cells that were one day-,"

"Hyperios Rises!"

"OW FUCK!"

Whatever the Doctor was about to say was cut off by an expletive shout of pain from Marion followed by the sound of her hitting the floor.

'I should've stolen that thing's shockstick when I had a chance,'

Marion had forgotten about "ERIC" and how he was controlled by Rann-Korr. She hadn't thought about it and now she was paying the price. The thing jabbed itself into her chest and she fell on her back. Her chest stung and she felt the muscles in her body seize. Not to mention the pain in her arm from the way she fell. Marion could see Clara standing in front of her holding her ski pole defensively.

Professor Spector moved to help lift her up and to her feet but the Doctor waved her away before she could touch her.

"Doctor?" Professor Spector said in confusion.

Marion could see the Doctor leaning over her.

"Are you okay Marion?"

As the Doctor spoke, Marion could feel her muscles relax and she was able to sit up. The pain in her arm faded as it came.

"Marion, did it...did you just-?"

"Get killed?" Marion finished.

She thought about it for a moment. She'd heard the sound of a clock ticking followed by that same clock in reverse at the Sandminder (when her neck got snapped outside of the Commander's office) and she'd heard the same noise when she'd fallen from the bell room and down to the cathedral floor (and broke her skull).

She hadn't heard that noise just now though. And besides. The Doctor had been the one hit in the comic. The Doctor hadn't gone from grey and Scottish to blonde and Northern after being zapped in the chest. She was probably fine.

"Nah!" she said. She looked down at her blouse. "Scorched my blouse something awful though. 'Least it didn't get my waistcoat. I was beginning to enjoy that look. Matches my skirt now though,"

The Doctor pulled her to her feet.

'I'm never going to be able to wear this shirt or this skirt again, am I?'

"Rann-Korr's plugged into the mainframe," Professor Spector said in horror, "He's controlling the security drones!"

"Really," said Marion sarcastically, "What gave it away? Was it how it screamed 'HYPERIOS RISES' right before it jabbed me in the chest or was it something else,"

"Keep moving," said Clara, "Get to the TARDIS,"

"What're you going to do?" the Professor asked.

In lieu of a response, Clara held out her ski pole like a fencing foil.

"Marion, make sure that Doctor gets into the TARDIS"

"Oh, certainly! Come on Doctor,"

Marion pushed the Doctor towards the TARDIS.

"Clara no! The Hyperions were amongst the greatest warriors of their age,"

"Big deal," Clara said, thrusting her makeshift foil at "ERIC", "I'm a teacher in Shoreditch,"

"She'll be fine Doctor," Marion assured, "But Clara," Marion called to the teacher, "as soon as you knock him down you need to run as fast as you can to the TARDIS. Not a second later,"

"Got it!"

"ERIC" swung his shock stick down at Clara. She blocked him each time with her ski pole. She repeatedly pushed him back towards the lava pool. Marion stood at the entrance of the TARDIS where she could see Clara, the robot that she was fighting, and the cavern behind them.

"Hyperios Rises!"

It swiped at her and she dove out of the way. It looked around in confusion trying to see where she went. She shoved it in the back and it tumbled into the pool of lava the group had had to shimmy past earlier. It fell into the lake.

"One-Nil to Coal Hill,"

"Bravo Clara!" Marion said, "Now come on!"

Clara ran towards the TARDIS.

"NO ONE ESCAPES THE FIRES OF HYPERIOS!" a voice roared. Clara began running faster, a fireball following her.

"Marion, you know where the door lever is right?"

Marion glanced at the console, "Yes?"

"Be ready to close the door,"

Clara raced towards the TARDIS entrance lit from behind by a fireball bigger than she was. The Doctor leaned out and reached out a hand to her. She grabbed ahold of it and he pulled her into the TARDIS and out of range of the ship's inward closing doors. The moment they were out of range, Marion quickly pulled the lever down and the doors closed just before the fires of Hyperios could roast them. She flipped the dematerialization switch while she was at it.

"For a race that was wiped out," Professor Spector observed, "He looked very much alive,"

"And positively livid. Temper like a mega-tsunami," Dr. Scorfolus added.

"Your terraforming machine woke it back up. I don't know if you can 'kill' a sun," Marion put the word "kill" in air quotes. "The best thing that you can do is, oh I don't know, get rid of their fuel and shove them deep underground in the nearest frozen wasteland that you can find. Everything would've been fine is he had been left undisturbed but NOOOOO your boss just HAAAD to warm things up instead of going to literally any other planet for his wedding,"

"Hyperion ships are semi-sentient, designed to evolve, and adapt," the Doctor explained, "It superseded your control and manipulated the terraforming of Isen VI in Rann-Korr's favor. That's why you're suffering from coast-to-coast environmental upheaval and why your 'harmless' new species tried to devour Clara. He's turning your own world against you. It's quite clever. Might even do the same myself if I was an intergalactic mass-murderer,"

"Well, 'least we have a plan to beat him!" said Clara.

"We do? Great! What's the plan!"

"Your plan Doctor! You know the plan! The ones you mentioned back there? Plans within plans?"

"Oh. I was bluffing shamelessly. I don't have the slightest semblance of a plan. Yet. But what about you Marion? What was that about 'dozens, hundreds even'?"

"Oh! I was just yes-anding. I do have an idea though!"

"Well..." asked Profesor Spector.

"It's basically made of fire and molten rock, right? What if we got it super wet!"

"Well," said Dr. Scorfolus in disbelief, "That certainly is an idea,"

The TARDIS made its telltale whooshing noise as it landed in the middle of the aisle between the bride and groom's family. In front of the TARDIS's passengers at the other end of a long carpet stood Kano Dollar and a woman with long black hair, a beaded crown, and an armored green and white dress. That paired with the crossbow on her back made her look like she was ready and willing to get married and then fight someone after the reception. Further ahead was the minister who looked a bit like Dr. Beaker the muppet and further behind them in the distance, a volcano worked together with the yellow and orange sky to make a lovely backdrop.

Or at least it might've been lovely if it weren't for the fiery hell monster lurking just below the surface of the planet.

"-let them speak now or forever hold their-" the minister intoned.

"Excuse me!" the Doctor all but shouted, "Did I inadvertently step back in time, or are you all just daft? When I warn people about an impending global cataclysm, I don't expect them to swan about in their Sunday best waiting for it to happen!"

A man stood up holding up a weapon that made Marion curious about the threshold upon which a knife was considered a sword. Based on how he spoke and the way he dressed, she figured that he was either the bride's dad or her brother.

"You dare attempt to break up this union, little man? Thannagrrr, Emperor of the Horde will split your skull and sup on your-"

Clara waved him off, "Sorry, no offense, but your scary face is positively cute compared to the pit of hell we've been staring into,"

"Besides," Marion added, "If we don't all die in a fire and they still want to get married, we can do it somewhere that isn't a hellscape!"

Moments after Marion said, there was a loud booming noise and Rann-Korr burst from the mouth of the volcano.

"HYPERIOS RISES. AND THE UNIVERSE FALLS"

"Okay so," Marion pointed at the large tower/ship thing that it was clear that the people attending the wedding had obviously come from seeing as it's doorway opened directly out to the wedding pavilion. She cupped her mouth in her hands.

"EVERYONE, GET TO THE TOWER!"

Everyone crowded into the tower be it Dollar employees, people in what Marion assumed would have to be 25th ish century human formal wear or people in what Marion could tell was the formal warrior garb of the Horde. The only people who weren't in the main control room was Princess Thanna who was standing at a landing on the deck of the open-air hanger, and Clara who was looking to see if Rann-Korr was approaching.

"Get us off the planet. Activate the escape pods," the Professor said to one of the employees sitting at one of the navigation computers.

"Yes ma'am," They tapped at the computer for a moment. They paused and began to type more frantically.

"Ma'am it's not working!"

Professor Spector looked at the man's screen and cursed.

"Damn it! Rann-Korr's put terra-sphere control into lock-down. The escape pods aren't responding! Kano, how many can your private ship hold?"

There was a bit of static and then.

"The clue's in the word 'Private' Professor,"

"Jeez," Marion said, "It's not like I expected anything else out of you. And yet you've still managed to disappoint me. Bravo!"

"In business, it pays to recognize when a deal's about to turn sour. Sorry Thanna, darling, suddenly, getting into bed with the Gothgolka Horde doesn't seem like an attractive prospective. And cramming my ship with deadweight would only be a drag on my escape velocity,"

It baffled Marion how a man could change his mind so quickly about wanting to marry someone. Especially when that someone told you that part of their wedding ritual involved the two of you having a sword fight.

Like, that was literally the ideal!

Some people didn't have any taste.

Princess Thanna took her crossbow off her back and aimed it up at the private escape pod.

"Hah," she said without any humor in her voice, "So our honeymoon is over before it even began? Good,"

She fired the crossbow. The projectile that shot out showed that the weapon was even cooler than Marion had thought at first glance. It was less like a bow and more like a rocket launcher. It flung a flaming ball of something at the back of the ship and sent it crashing to the ground.

Marion knew that Kano Dollar was going to be FINE relatively speaking so she felt no shame in thinking.

'Good for her,'

"Clara, Princess Thanna, you might want to get back inside," she said.

The ground began to shake.

"Right now would be great! Unless you want to fall off the edge. That's got to be at least a 200-meter drop! Get in, get in,"

Marion ushered the two women back inside and not a moment too soon. There was a shaking sensation as the four main "legs" that were holding up the ship began to wobble. Then everyone was flung sideways.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH,"

It's been established that if there is one thing that's able to kill Marion Horatia Henson, it's certainly not falling from a great height. But how will everyone else survive the fall?

Short answer, by law, all ships are required to have airbags. But that just begs the question, how exactly is an airbag helpful in any way, shape, or form?

Let's do another quick Physics Lesson.

Q: How is slamming into a standard-issue health and safety airbag different from slamming into the marble floor of a catholic cathedral.

A: Slamming into the marble floor of a cathedral can and will result in your death unless you're either very lucky or very unkillable. Slamming into a standard-issue health and safety airbag will only kill you if you're very unlucky and land on your neck.

Where is the difference coming from? You fall just as far either way!

As we discussed earlier, the part of the fall that kills you is the sudden stop. The purpose of an airbag is to increase the time it takes for one to stop falling to something that won't end with your internal organs going "whoopsie" and you being forcibly shuffled off the mortal coil. At the same time, it redistributes the force of your landing along the surface area of the airbag. This further prevents your internal organs from going "smush".

To make a long story short, why was Marion not the only survivor of the tower collapsing like jenga blocks on a massage chair?

Space-OSHA!

Marion pushed herself off the yellow cushiony airbag and shakily got to her feet.

"I'll never moan about health and safety again," Professor Spector got to her feet, "Air-bags: Intergalactic Regulations state that any construction on worlds with gravity of 9 G or above be fitted with them,"

"Did you know that?" Clara asked the two of them.

"I did!" Marion piped in.

"Of course you did Marion, what about you Doctor?"

"Of course!"

"Of course!" mocked Clara, "That's why you were screaming even louder than me,"

"If I might interrupt," piped Dr. Scrofolus, "Our systems are operating at 54% and rising as the back-up power kicks in,"

"But?" asked Marion. She could tell just by the way that he spoke there was a "but" coming on. She didn't need her knowledge of the future.

"We've fallen into the path of the Aurora-,"

"The Aurora," asked the Doctor, "Those are the ocean cyclones right?"

"Right. And the Aurora is going to be on us in less than half an hour!"

"Plenty of time if everyone does what I say. Bringing down the tower is sure to have disrupted Rann-Korr's connection to the Terrasphere. Marion said something earlier, and that's giving me an idea," the Doctor turned to the Professor. "Professor Spector, I need you to re-establish as much control as possible and prepare to hardwire the TARDIS into your mainframe,"

"Understood!"

"Dr. Scrofolus, I'm assuming you're our expert on all things amphibious. I want concise details about aurora. Size, temperature, speed, everything,"

"I'll write up a brief report for you,"

"Clara, Marion,"

"Yes," "Yes,"

"To the blackboard,"

The Doctor's plan was quite simple. Clara would help Professor Spector hook the terraforming equipment to the TARDIS. The Doctor would lure Rann-Koor to his location right in the path of the Aurora. Dr. Scrofolus would tell them where and when to spring the trap. Once he was wet and weakened, they'd activate the Terraformer on the Aurora and freeze the sucker in a block of Ice. Easy. There was just one tiny hiccup.

"That's all well and good Doc," Marion said, "But what do you want me to do? You've given everyone a job but me!"

Marion hoped that she didn't sound whiny as she spoke. She wouldn't've said anything. Especially since a tiny (but still loud) part of her was hoping that he'd just tell her to stay in the TARDIS, take a shower, and maybe change into something that hadn't been worn for two days straight and/or been scorched by fire.

But a much larger part of her didn't want to leave the Doctor to deal with Rann-Korr alone and the idea of doing so made that part of her body scream in protest. It wasn't that she didn't think that he wouldn't be able to handle it. He looked more than two-and-a-half times her age and was in fact much much much much older than that. He didn't need her help with this and she knew this 100%.

Well, 95% according to what Ten had told her.

This train of thought wasn't making her feel any better actually.

Before she could think too much harder, the TARDIS landed and the Doctor flipped a switch and magnetized the TARDIS to the tower.

The Doctor opened the door.

"Marion you're with me!"

"Oh!" Marion said. "Great. What do you need me to do?"

"Two things,"

"Yes?"

"I need you to help me distract Rann-Korr long enough for the Aurora to get there. If there's one thing you're great at talking people's ear off until their too irritated to pay attention to what's going on around them,"

"Gee, thanks. What's the other thing,"

"If you start feeling nauseous or dizzy. You need to let me know. Quickly,"

"What?"

"Just let me know,"

Marion looked at the Doctor in confusion. It wasn't that it was out of character to care about people who weren't themself. But it seemed a bit odd that he'd mention that specifically. On the other hand, she had been minding her own- well she'd been minding other people's business when she out of nowhere started to feel like someone had strapped her to a "Tilt-a-Whirl" made it randomly stop and start again at different speeds, and then gone out for a lunch break leaving her there.

Marion nodded.

"Alright. Let's go antagonize a giant rock monster made of fire that wants to kill us! Fantastic! Let's go!"

There was a moment of pure and complete stillness. Then, there was an eruption and from the volcano burst Rann-Korr. He had recovered from the coolant shower the Doctor had hit him with and despite the fact that he didn't have a face, Marion could tell that he was very, very, very, very angry.

Which did mean that he was easy to distract so...win?

"HAVE YOU COME TO BEG, TIME LORD?"

"Sorry to deny you the ego boost," the Doctor replied, "but begging's not really my style. This is what they call a last stand. We just have to work out whose,"

"It's yours by the way," Marion piped in, "Your last stand. We'll have several stands after this one,"

The Hyperion hopped onto the broken part of the tower. It shook. Marion could feel the heat coming from him on her face.

"WHERE ARE YOUR ARMIES? I ONLY SEE THE GIRL. IS SHE ALL THAT YOU HAVE? IS THAT ALL THE FORCE BROUGHT TO FIGHT ME? A SINGLE TIME LORD AND A," Rann-Korr seemed to examine her. Because he either didn't have eyes or had eyes that simply were invisible, Marion couldn't tell for sure, but she felt like she was being scrutinized,

"HUMAN?"

Marion didn't know what it was about humanity that made him so incredulous. There had to be plenty of stories about what happens when a Time Lord travels with one or more humans. Either great things or terrible things depending on where you were standing and whether or not you were a megalomaniac.

"YOU'VE HAD AMPLE TIME TO ALERT GALLIFREY. THEIR TARDISES WOULD HAVE BROUGHT THEM HERE IN A HEARTBEAT...UNLESS TIME HAS NOT BEEN KIND TO THE TIME LORDS AND GALLIFREY HAS FALLEN. ARE YOU THE LAST OF YOUR KIND DOCTOR?"

"Why would I need Time Lords? If you think I need Time Lords you clearly haven't seen what Marion's capable of when she's having a bad day,"

'What's that supposed to mean!' Marion thought confused. The Doctor said that in such a way that it didn't seem much like a bluff. He said it flippantly sure, but there was something else there.

'I'll have to unpack that later,'

"YOU TALK SO MUCH! AND ALL TO HIDE THE FACT THAT YOU ARE ALONE? HOW SAD, HOW PATHETIC. A TIME LORD WHOSE TIME IS RUNNING OUT. FOR I SHALL BURN YOU TO THE BONE AND SCATTER YOUR ASHES TO THE WIND,"

"NO!" Marion shouted, "What's sad is you! Your whole people! Y'all spent millennia going around and helping people. Everyone loved you! Everyone was grateful to you! When your people needed help, you could've asked for help. It would've been given willingly if you had just asked," Marion's hands were flying about as she spoke, "But you didn't! You either burned them to the ground or enslaved them and left them to freeze to death. There was no need to be cruel and yet you were anyway. What happened because of that was your own fault,"

"LESSER RACES ARE INSIGNIFICANT. IT WAS OUR RIGHT TO SURVIVE! TO TAKE THE POWERS OF THEIR SUNS!"

"You gave into hatred," the Doctor condemned, "And hate drove you mad. Your entire race. Stark, raving, pants-on-your-head mad! Not that a being with your physiology understands the concept of pants,"

Marion could see the swirling Aurora in the distance. Marion felt a sense of dread in her stomach.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE RUN WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE TIME LORD. YOU MIGHT HAVE KNOWN PEACE. BUT NOW YOU AND YOUR PET YOU BE TURNED TO CINDERS,"

"Ah, But then we wouldn't be here to stop you," the Doctor replied, "I like to think of myself as a pacifist, but sometimes peace is the thing you have to fight the hardest for,"

"ALSO," Marion shouted, what Rann-Korr had called her sunk in, "This is off topic but what the FUCK do you mean 'pet'!"

She was ignored.

"TIME LORDS ARE THE ENEMIES OF HYPERIOUS. EVERYTHING ELSE IS NOT EVEN WORTHY OF THAT TITLE! MERE VERMIN. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU ARE, NO ONE CAN FIGHT THE FIRES OF HYPERIOUS. AS YOUR CORPSES SMOULDER I WILL TAKE YOUR TARDIS AND BURN MY WAY THROUGH TIME,"

The Hyperius made a noise that might've been a laugh but sounded more like the noise a wooden beam makes right before it burns away and causes the roof to cave in with people still inside. The noise was cut off by a noise of confusion.

Marion's stomach did flips. She almost brushed it off, but she remembered what the Doctor had told her. She tugged on his shoulder.

"You told me to tell you if I was feeling nauseous?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Wel..."

"We need to get to the TARDIS then!"

They ran and Marion could hear a "hissing" noise behind them as the Aurora crashed into Rann-Korr and was just moments from overtaking them. Marion was ahead of the Doctor somehow. She reached behind her and grabbed the Doctor by the hand as they raced. Marion wondered if she should have encouraged the Doctor to leave sooner or kept a better eye on the Aurora. The water was lifting them off their feet and away from the TARDIS. Clara held out one of her ski poles for them to grab.

Marion held onto the Doctor's hand, kicked forward, and grabbed onto the ski pole. Clara yanked backward and Marion and the Doctor went tumbling into the TARDIS.

"Hey, Doctor?"

"Yes, Marion?"

"Please get off me. I think I'm losing feeling in my arm,"

When Clara had yanked Marion inside the TARDIS and Marion had yanked the Doctor after her, and he landed on her, pinning her arm to her chest and making it hard for her to move. The Doctor rolled off her and pushed himself to his feet. The Doctor helped her up.

"Well done Clara. Just as well I told you to hold onto that ski pole,"

"Eh, oh no you don't get to take credit for that. Marion's the one who told me to keep it on me and I would've kept it with me anyway. Not all the good ideas are yours- even if you seem to think that they are,"

Marion attempted to wring out her hair seeing as both she and the Doctor were soaking wet.

'Oh, man! I've lost my hat!'

A light on the TARDIS blinked twice and then Professor Spector's voice chimed through.

"Doctor? DOCTOR? Are you there? The tower can't take this pressure much longer,"

The other scientist's voice chimed, "We have to engage the Terraformer! Now!"

The Doctor grabbed a lever and yanked.

"Fetch your parkas ladies! It's about to get a whole lot colder in here,"

The TARDIS made the dematerialization noise, but there was something else to it. Something that Marion couldn't place. They were obviously dematerializing of course. Marion wasn't sure how she knew this, but she did. She felt that if the TARDIS wasn't dematerializing she would know it.

She did not know why she felt that she knew this.

"Doctor, it's working!" Dr. Scrofolus exclaimed. As far as she could remember, this was the first time that she'd heard him speak in a tone that wasn't nervous, "The temperatures are dropping at a phenomenal rate!"

"It's working!"

"What's working?"

"You'll see once we've landed,"

The Doctor landed the TARDIS and opened the door.

"Marion, are you coming?"

Marion shook her head.

"I'd love too, but on the off chance that whatever's taking me places decides to take me right after this adventure," Marion gestured to herself, "The last thing I want is to end up in Antarctica or something and finding out the hard way whether I can freeze to death,"

Something about the Doctor's expression twitched when Marion said that.

"I wonder what happens when I get super cold? Does my body maintain heat? Can I freeze and survive? Do I do that thing that reptiles do? Do I- Oh," Marion paused, "I suppose you can't tell me that can you. Well, tell Professor Spector it was nice to meet her. Dr. Scrofolus too. I'm going to take the time to change into something unlikely to produce hypothermia if I land anywhere that's not sunny. If I'm not back in the console room in like, twenty minutes assume that I ended up elsewhere,"

With that, Marion walked to her room. She hadn't been there in a bit, but she still knew the way. The hallway to it hadn't changed. (Or if it had changed, the TARDIS had changed it back. because she was the best!)

Marion looked at the bulletin board above her bed. She thought about the sketch that she'd done of the OK Corral. Marion took out her notebook and ripped out the page. She found a cluster of thumbtacks to the side of the board and she pinned the drawing to it. When she stepped back, she found that she was able to look at the board without getting cross-eyed. Only, there was one odd bit. No matter what she did, her eyes focused on the simple pencil sketch. She couldn't see or focus on anything else on the board other than the fact she was kind of aware of the fact that she was pretty sure that a good portion of them were photos.

It was kind of neat actually.

Marion didn't focus on that, she didn't know how much time she had before she was taken elsewhere. She wanted to take a shower and if "the Bitch Force" (the name that she had just now decided to use for the force that saw fit to drag her around time and space and drop her wherever and whenever it saw fit) decide to grab while she was in the shower, she'd have no choice but to figure out once and for all if she was REALLY immortal.

Marion looked through the drawers at the foot of her bed. She found what she thought was a normal jacket but when she pulled it up and shook it, it was revealed to be a longer coat. She shook it out. It was a long coat that went just down to her ankles. It was a light brown and had decently deep pockets that seemed like it would be easy to put her hands in. The style of the coat wasn't too, too different from the one that the Tenth Doctor had worn (Marion had decided to just use the numbers that were used officially. Counting War, the fact that Ten was Ten twice and the many incarnations of the Timeless child was complicated and took too much thought and effort for thoughts that were really just going to be going on inside of her head) but this coat was obviously smaller and didn't have any buttons along the edges.

Marion continued to look through the drawers. She found a pair of loose and comfortable pants. They were that greenish color that khaki pants sometimes came in. Her high school had really cracked down on people wearing those for some reason. Kids were skipping class to make out in the hallway and making it next to impossible for Marion to film stuff for a group project, but the school failed to care or do anything about it unless the students were wearing green pants instead of the county mandated tan.

Marion found a black turtleneck sweater with a collar high enough to cover the mark around her neck. It was soft so she picked it out as well.

Marion didn't know what it said about her that her requirements for clothes basically consisted of "soft and comfortable" and pretty much nothing else, but that was neither here nor there.

As a last-minute thought, she grabbed a red stretchy headband, a pair of dark brown boots and some socks and the like and put it in a bundle to take with her to the shower. She grabbed a hairbrush as well. Then she realized that she hadn't checked The Drawers in a while. What was the point of The Drawer if she didn't open it?

There continued to be nothing inside of the "A" drawer, but in the "M" drawer was a folded note resting atop a coil of rope. Marion was about to open the note, but then she read the outside of it.

"DON'T OPEN! Give to the next Doctor that you see that isn't Scottish. It's important that he gets it and it's IMPORTANT that this letter is unopened and SEALED,"

What followed this note was a series of exclamation points adding emphasis to the message.

Marion figured that she'd find out what the note said eventually, and so she tucked it into the inner pocket of the coat she'd planned to eventually wear and placed the rope inside of her bag.

The bag was kind of weird in the sense that it didn't seem that big looking inside of it. No matter what she put inside of it, the bag looked only just big enough to carry it all.

The TARDIS guided Marion to the bathroom. Marion hung her bag on the doorknob and quickly changed out of her wet and soaking clothes and stepped into the shower. She didn't know whether she would have time to wash her hair or not, so she instead wet it thoroughly and brushed through it. She washed the dirt and ash off her body and she finally felt a bit cleaner than she had previously. She got out the shower, dried off, and toweled her hair. She looked in the mirror.

'Ah geez,'

She could tell that she had toweled her hair a bit too hard and when she brushed it out, it was going to look a bit frizzy.

"Can't be helped I guess," Marion murmured as she took out her hairbrush and brushed it out a bit. She changed into the pants and sweater she picked out and adjusted the turtleneck to properly cover the discolored patch around her neck. She put the headband around her head and pushed it up. Once again, Marion's dirty clothes were nowhere to be seen. She shrugged on the jacket and popped the collar a bit. She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the room. Marion was almost to the console room when she stopped. It wasn't that she couldn't move but she could hear talking. Marion decided to be a little bit nosy and listen in.

"-rion's a whole lot different, isn't she?" that was Clara speaking.

"Of course she is Clara. Just look at her, she's so young!"

"I knew that Doctor. I've only seen her eyes like that a handful of times. But why is she so different? She seemed I don't know..."

"Different somehow?"

"That's it! That's exactly it,"

Marion heard a sigh, followed by the Doctor saying:

"Something happened Clara. I don't know what happened, but it did. The best thing I can do, is-,"

He suddenly stopped talking.

"Oh Marion, you're done washing up!"

'Ah geez he spotted me!'

"Clara and I were just talking about,"

"Paintings!"

"Paintings?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, paintings. We were wondering if you've done any lately,"

"You two were talking with each other about whether or not I had painted anything new recently,"

"Yes," "Yes,"

Marion knew that if she asked what they had REALLY been talking about, it was unlikely that they would tell her. So rather than even offering an attempt she said, "Well, I don't have a painting to show you, but I did complete a sketch of the OK Corral! Would you like to see it?"

Marion retrieved the sketch and the sketchbook from her room and met them in the kitchen. Marion knew that they knew that she knew what they were talking about, but rather than call them out on it, she decided to drop the topic. There wasn't much of a point in doing otherwise now was there?

Marion showed them the drawing that she had done and looked through the TARDIS fridge. She found a brown bag. On the side of it in black sharpie was written, 'Marion's. Do not eat. I made this sandwich especially for me and if I find out that you ate it Doctor then I show Clara whatever I can find that I think'll embarrass you most. This is both A Promise and A Threat -M,'

Marion wasn't the Doctor, she was Marion and she was hungry. And besides, even if this was a sandwich the Associate made for herself well, wasn't she the Associate as well? If she didn't want her past self to eat it, she should've specified.

Marion opened the bag and found a tasty looking sandwich that somehow was still warm. She held it in one hand as she ate it and adjusted the band around her arm to reflect that she had eaten something.

Marion was showing Clara a sketch that she had done a while ago of a flower when she felt the tugging around her waist. Marion stuffed the rest of the sandwich into her mouth.

"We'll have to talk later Clara," Marion said, "I think I'm about to go soon?"

Marion turned to the Doctor, "I don't suppose you'll offer me any hints to where I'm headed will you?"

"Well," the Doctor said, "You don't exactly have enough variety in your wardrobe for me to be able to look at you and tell,"

"That's rich, coming from you,"

The Doctor continued as if she hadn't spoken.

"But if I'm right, based on something you said, I think you'll end up somewhere decently far back. Not the farthest you've gone back though,"

"Well," Marion felt the tugging sensation get stronger like it did just before it did a final "yank".

"I'll see you s-!"

The Bitch Force tugged Marion sideways like she was a bad comedian in a Vaudeville comedy.

What a Bitch.

(Next Chapter: Plans That Work & Ones That Don't)

Chapter Text

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to call the being, or whatever it was that dragged her from place to place "the Bitch Force". Not because it wasn't a bitch of course, but more because perhaps it wasn't best to antagonize it the way that she did.

The "hook" feeling around her waist turned and she felt herself being flung into a wall like she was a tiny rubber ball during lacrosse practice.

"Bitch,"

She felt the TARDIS hum under her fingertips.

"Not you Honey…UNLESS you're the one who's been tugging me around like this. And I hope that you aren't!"

The TARDIS hummed in a negative under her fingertips.

"Do you know who or what is?"

The TARDIS made the same noise.

Marion sighed. "Well, I guess I ought to see who the current TARDIS crew is then. Where are they?"

Instead of humming under her fingertips, a light flickered behind her out of the corner of her eye. In a way that could only be described as the TARDIS saying, "Hey! Look over here!" Marion looked to see what it was and saw nothing. When she looked back, there was a corridor that she was certain hadn't been there before and she could hear voices on the other end of it. They sounded frantic.

"Where's Marion!" a voice said. It sounded Scottish.

"A second ago we were… Oh, Doctor! You don't think that she-,"

"Of course not Zoe, she probably just got dragged off elsewhere. Wouldn't be the first time that that happened. Marion'll probably come through the hallway any moment now and we'll know that everything is fine and sorted,"

"Aye, but what if it's like the last time?"

"What do you mean-,"

"Don't worry about it, Zoe," the Doctor cut the girl off, "And Jamie, 'last time' didn't end up too badly did it?'"

Well, that answered that question! No need to ask where she was: sometimes in season 6. Just after season 5 at the earliest. She just had to hope that it wasn't the War Games. And also, ignore what they were talking about and pray it never came up.

Marion stopped walking. She wondered if and how she'd be able to look any of the Doctors in the eye having seen them regenerate.

'Maybe. Just maybe, what I'll do, is that after they did their adventure that could normally result in their death, I could prevent that and the convince them to chill out on a beach in the middle of nowhere until they-'

Marion didn't need to complete that thought. Even if she could save the Doctor, the odds of her being able to keep the Doctor in one place and out of trouble was about as likely as her being able to convince Daleks to stop being genocidal and take up Twitch Streaming. And even if she could do that, by here math then by the 4th Doctor, the Doctor would be like...1200? 1400? Not 750 is, that's for sure.

Marion finally made her way into the console room and it was interesting to look at. It looked exactly like the way it had in the show in the sense that it was completely black and white. Normally, blacks and whites have a hint of blue to them, you know to make them look blacker or white. But everything about this room from the glowing temporal column to the round bits on the walls looked like they had all been put together by a person with achromatopsia. The only things in the room with any kind of color on them were it's three inhabitants, now four inhabitants.

Zoe Heriot stood looking over them dressed in a sparkly bright purple jumpsuit. She seemed worried. Jamie, in his red and green kilt, was the first to notice her appearance and he pointed her out to the Doctor with an:

"There she is, Doctor! I told you that she got on the TARDIS alright!"

Marion saw a brief flash of a blue shirt and a red bowtie and then…

"OMPH!"

The first thing that Marion noticed is that despite the fact that he dressed like Edgar Allen Poe after being found on the side of the road in front of a bar shortly before his death; he smelled less like a back alley and more like a library that someone had turned the fireplace on in.

Then Marion noticed the obvious. That the Doctor was hugging her. And rather tightly too. Her stunned reaction to this made the Doctor take a step back. He wrung his hands together sheepishly the way that his current incarnation was prone too.

It wasn't that Marion didn't like hugs. It's just that getting one like that out of nowhere surprised her and surprises made her freeze like a deer in headlights.

Marion noticed another thing about the Doctor. He was nearly half a foot shorter than she thought he was supposed to be. In fact, he was barely taller than she was.

"Hello there Doctor," Marion said stiffly, still slightly frozen. "Nice to meet you Jamie, and Zoe too! Lovely, lovely, to see you all. So where were you just?"

"The Land of Fiction!" Zoe said, "Don't you remember? Did something happen? The TARDIS came back together and when we looked up you were gone?" something seemed to occur to the girl "But that was the Associate wasn't it? It'd be impossible for you to change your clothing that fast wouldn't it?"

The Doctor looked at her, "Oh dear, then we don't know if something went wrong then. She could be still in the Land of Fiction!"

Marion strongly doubted this, but at the same time, didn't know how to impress that in a way that made them feel better. So instead, she said something that she was pretty sure was true but had no real proof of.

"I'm sure it's alright Doctor! I'm pretty sure that I pop up roughly around the same place as whatever past or a future version of me was before I got here! If the Associate had been stranded in the realm of fiction, I wouldn't have popped up in the TARDIS now would I!"

"Well then, Marion, if you are sure...and you are sure?"

"Yes!"

'No! WAIT ACTUALLY!'

Marion quickly reached into the inner pocket of her coat.

"You know the drawer where future me puts stuff for past me! I found this! She told me to give this to you and to not open it under any circumstances. That last part was to me. You can open it I mean. Not sure what it says, but she did tell me to give it to you? Wait, did I already say that? I think I already said that? Here,"

Marion held out the letter to the Doctor who quickly took it and opened it. Marion hadn't noticed how tense the Doctor had been until he read the contents of the letter and his shoulders relaxed.

"What's in the letter?" Marion asked, attempting to move around and look over his shoulder at it. The Doctor jerked away from him and pressed the letter to his chest.

"Sorry, Marion. I can't tell you what's in it. It's part of the point of the letter you know."

Marion sighed, "Oh well, I'll find out eventually! I think I know where we are right now, but maybe check the scanner to make sure!"

Marion examined the console for a moment before confidently flipping a switch.

"Where are we?" Jamie asked, "What's that?"

"You've been there before Jamie!" Marion reminded.

"It's the moon, isn't it?" Zoe asked.

"Got it in one! Gold star!" Marion paused, "I don't actually have any physical gold stars with me. It's a metaphorical star!"

'What if I like, bought a tiny package of gold star stickers?' Marion thought, 'I should do that! It'd be pretty dope I think!'

"Yes, yes. Zoe, that's the dark side of the moon. We seem to have stopped in space,"

"I remember seeing this before," Zoe said. Marion bet that she had a great view of it from the wheel. Otherwise, what was the point? Other than science Marion supposed. But if you were doing science in space, you better be able to look at the stars twinkling. Otherwise, you might as well be doing science in an underground bunker.

She wondered when the "Van Statten" thing would happen.

"Shush, Zoe. That light on the Moon's surface. Do you see it?"

"Doctor! It's getting bigger! It's coming towards us!"

"Zoe, that's a missile!" the Doctor spoke like he had only realized what he was looking at about halfway through his sentence. He began messing with the console.

"A what?" Jamie asked.

"A missile," said Marion, "it's like a cannon, but with longer range,"

"Somebody's fired a missile at us, Jamie!" Oh, Doctor, come on, let's get out of here,"

"He's trying Zoe," Marion said.

'His problem is that he barely knows how to drive this thing,'

Marion was a nerd. Full-stop. She was a nerd both in the sense that she really liked math and astronomy and did quite well in physics. She was a nerd in the sense that she knew just enough about obscure things in history to be a regular dark horse in trivia games. But she was also a nerd in the sense that she'd also consumed basically every piece of Doctor Who media she'd had the attention span to consume and the capability to get ahold of.

This is all to say that Marion had read the official Type-40 TARDIS manual and knew from said manual that basically, the only reason that the Doctor was able to get his TARDIS anywhere was because Honey very, very much loved her thief and was unwilling to lose him just because he'd accidentally programmed her coordinates to Sagittarius A.

None of this changed the fact that the little man couldn't drive.

"If he's trying to land," Zoe cried, "then why haven't we landed yet,"

"Well, it's the landing circuit. It seems to have jammed. That's why we're stuck in space,"

"Doctor WAIT"

"Ah,"

The landing lever came away in the Doctor's hand and he stared at it silently before slamming it on the TARDIS's console.

"We'll never make it! Oh, we're too late!" Zoe said, staring at the scanner.

"Oh, the stupid thing! Oh!" the Doctor continued to bang the broken lever on the console as if that would fix things.

"Oi! Don't be mean to Honey, she's doing her best,"

Marion placed her hand on the console to brace herself. The TARDIS hummed like it did when it was guiding her to her different rooms guiding her towards a much smaller lever. More of an overgrown switch than anything.

"Hey hold on a second," Marion said, "Let me try something,"

The missile was closer and closer and closer.

Marion flicked it and the light under it flashed white.

"Marion, what was that switch you flicked," the Doctor asked?

"No clue,"

And then the room started shaking.

"Hopefully the right one!"

Despite the landing merely being a simple dematerialization, all of them were sent to the ground as if they had actually crashed.

"Okay," Marion said, shakily pulling herself to her feet using the TARDIS console to brace herself.

"Show of hands," she said, "Who's dead?"

"That's not funny," Zoe said, getting to his feet.

"Don't raise your hand then,"

"I think we've landed," Jamie rubbed the back of his head.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that, Jamie. Are you all right, Zoe? What switch did you flip Marion?"

"Uh..." Marion looked around for a second and tapped the switch from before.

"This one?"

The Doctor examined it.

"Oh, you engaged the HADS?"

"HADS?" Zoe asked, wondering what she was talking about.

"Hostile Action Displacement System," the Doctor explained.

"Oh!" Marion said, "Well, that makes sense then! I knew it was a thing, but just didn't know what it was called,"

"What's a Hostile Action Displacement System?"

"Simple Zoe," Marion said, "If a TARDIS is attacked, like for example, by a missile, and HADS is on, it instantly dematerializes and appears somewhere else where we aren't in danger of getting exploded!"

"Bit of a rough landing," Jamie commented.

Marion shrugged, "Nobody's perfect!"

"At least we weren't blown to pieces by that missile thing,"

"Why would anybody want to fire a missile at us? Surely they'd find out who we were first?" Zoe asked?

"Maybe they already knew who we were," the Doctor reasoned.

"Or perhaps they just hate the color blue!"

"Is that really what's going on?"

"No. Although, that would be pretty funny,"

"The question is," Zoe said, "was the object we saw on the other side of the moon in this time zone or not?"

"I can answer that," Marion said, "it's in this timezone,"

"You mean it could still be out there?" Jamie asked.

"Yes, but it's not like, right outside the TARDIS. Why not look through the scanner,"

The scanner showed the back and white image of a cow looking curiously into the scanner. Jamie, Zoe, and the Doctor laughed in relief.

"We're certainly not on the moon's surface, are we?" the Doctor laughed.

The TARDIS made a loud noise the sounded like someone shaking a sheet of thick metal foil in front of a microphone.

"What's the matter with the TARDIS, Doctor? It keeps going wrong all the time,"

"It merely needs an overhaul, Jamie, just like any piece of machinery,"

"Yeah!" Marion said in a deadpan tone, "That's DEFINITELY the reason you can hardly land where you're supposed to. No other explanation. It's TOTALLY 100% Honey's fault and she's just missing a few parts. Totally,"

Zoe didn't seem to see her sarcasm.

"Well, haven't you got any spares Doctor?"

"No, no. Not unless Marion's got spare TARDIS parts in that bag of hers,"

Marion shook her head, "No, sorry. Just some odds and ends. I've got a pry bar?"

"No, no that won't do," the Doctor said with a sigh, "We shall have to see if we can get some made. Let's have a further look, shall we?"

The Doctor adjusted the view of the scanner to show a large electricity tower.

"Oh yes, it could be the twentieth century. England in summertime, I should say. See the rain clouds? We might try and look up our old friend Professor Travers in London. He might be able to help us. Have you met Travers yet Marion?"

Marion shook her head.

"Oh well. I guess this could be the first time you get to meet him then. Now, come along. Let's just collect this circuit, and I think I'd better see this one. There. It's all right,". The Doctor pressed something on the TARDIS. The room filled with pulsing white light and the TARDIS made a noise of protest.

"What was that?"

"It's just a fault in the visual stabilizer circuit. We'd better take that too," the Doctor yanked it out and it sparked.

"Oh dear," Marion said.

Everything disappeared as the room went dark. Marion, who had been closest to the TARDIS door felt around until she found the latch and pushed it open.

"Doctor? Doctor? Where are you?" Marion heard Jamie call from inside the TARDIS.

"Come along, take my hand," the Doctor called back.

The TARDIS was completely and utterly invisible. It was odd to see Zoe and the Doctor seemingly poke their heads out of nowhere. The two of them joined Marion in the field followed closely by Jamie.

The cows mooed at the group as they walked across the pasture until they reached the road.

A large, dark green, military-style car drove along the road. The Doctor hailed it down like it was some kind of overgrown taxi. The driver of the car took notice of the four of them and slowed down.

"I wonder if you could help us-" the Doctor was barely able to finish his question before the man cut them off.

"Are you trying to get out?"

"We're heading to London," Marion explained.

"Get in," the man said. He sounded sharp and gruff. He didn't sound unkind as much as he sounded like while he wanted to help them out, he didn't want to stop and chat because he was already risking a lot as it was.

"Oh, that's very civil of-" before the Doctor could finish, Marion put her hands on his back and pushed him towards the back of the truck.

"Thank you, sir!" Marion said quickly.

"Just get in,"

The four of them quickly climbed into the back of the truck. It was of military-style, which meant that there were benches along the sides for them to sit on. Marion shut the door and the four of them sat in the dark.

The ride gave them time to talk amongst themselves.

"So Marion," the Doctor asks, "Where have you been?"

"Uh," Most of what Marion had done thus far was spoilers, yet, she still wanted to answer him.

"Crashed a destination wedding,"

"What?" Zoe asked.

"Don't worry about it. It would've crashed and burned even if I hadn't shown up," Marion chuckled a bit. The joke wasn't that funny, but it still made her laugh. "Before that, I was at Tombstone,"

"Ah," said the Doctor, "So you're quite young then,"

Marion looked at the Doctor, she could only just barely make out his face in the dim light. Even if it looked a bit older with a few more lines on his face that some of his others, he was still quite young. His first face had died of old age and yet even he sometimes thought of his previous face as his 'older one' if Marion remembered the novelization right. He had no way of knowing that his first, ninth (counting war as ninth), twelfth (also counting war) were the only ones who would get to do that. Mr. Beatle's haircut wasn't even going to be able to do that. Marion stared at what she could make out of him in the faint light that crept in from around the door.

"So're you," she finally said softly "Young I mean. Tombstone's the only time I've met a version of you younger than you are now,"

"And you aren't going to tell me much other than vague snippets that won't make sense until after the fact are you,"

"I think you know the answer to that, don't you,"

"Yes, yes, but you can't fault me for trying can you?"

"No...but-,"

Marion and the rest of them braced themselves at the car lurched to the side as the driver pulled over suddenly. Marion stood up from the bench. They heard the sound of footsteps around the van and the sound of the driver opening the back of the truck back up.

"Is something wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"Look, we'd better get clear of the lorry. Come on.

They quickly hopped out of the truck with Marion helping the Zoe step down. They crept slowly into the woods keeping their heads down and moving slowly. The last thing any of them wanted was to step on a twig. Marion was especially careful because the group hadn't stepped on anything and if she did and they all died it would be her fault. It'd be even worse since she'd be the only person who survived.

"What's happening? Why are we hiding?" Jamie asked.

"Shhh," Marion shushed him.

"Company security were on my trail," the man explained.

"Which company?" Zoe asked.

"The company," Marion said, "There's always a company. Some rich and/or powerful loser wants to be more rich and/or powerful and they mess with nonsense they don't understand. Just call it 'the company'. Everyone will know what you're talking about. The name doesn't really matter much. It's just 'the company',"

The man stared at them for a second.

"You aren't from around here are you?"

"What gave it away?" Marion asked. She took this time to move her psychic paper ID thing to the inner pocket of her coat where she could snatch it out more dramatically.

"We're strangers around here," the Doctor offered as en excuse.

"Strangers? Then you're not from the community, then?"

"No,"

"Then how did you get inside the compound?"

"Very carefully," Marion responded.

Before the man could question that admittedly nothing statement, Zoe asked a question of her own.

"This community you talked about, are they prisoners here then?"

"Those who haven't gone over to the company are, yes. Not that they say you can't get out. They just make it pretty impossible without passes,"

"You can move in and out," Jamie pointed out.

"I got in all right," the man conceded, "But getting out might be just a bit more difficult,"

They crept closer to the fence and peered over the other side of it.

"This company," the Doctor asked, "what do they do?"

"Other than bad stuff,"

"Yes," agreed the Doctor, "Other than that,"

"International Electromatics. Now surely you've heard of them?"

"Well, no, we've been a little out of touch,"

"You must have been," the man said in disbelief, "They're the worlds-,"

Marion heard a noise in the distance, "Get down," she said softly but sharply. They ducked down and a pair of motorcycles drove past, their headlights illuminating the place where they had once been.

"Sorry," Marion said more out of politeness than her actually feeling sorry, "I heard a pair of engines approaching. Figured that it was bad news. So, what were you saying?"

The man looked at her with curiosity for a moment, before continuing, "International Electromatics: They're the world's biggest electronics manufacturers. You can hardly buy a piece of equipment that isn't theirs,"

"One of THOSE companies then," Marion said simply.

"Well, what is this place," Zoe asked, "this compound?"

"They set up a whole community of their own. Factories. Houses. A vast network of industrial complexes. All of the local people have been bought out. Most of them join the company. The others...," the man trailed off.

"What about them?"

"My people haven't been able to track him,"

The Doctor looked at him in confusion, "Your people?"

"Should be safe now. We're not far from the guard post. You four had better stay out of sight in the lorry. I'll try and bluff our way out. Come on,"

The man guided the four of them back to the truck. Right before she climbed back in, Marion saw a large rock and got an idea. She picked it up and carried it with her into the back of the truck. The others climbed into the truck as well and the man shut the back. After a few moments, they heard the sound of the driver side door opening and then shutting. The car rumbled as the engine came to life and the car moved forward.

"I'm almost afraid to ask," the Doctor said, "but what exactly is the rock for?"

"If I'm right," said Marion, "And, I often am, I might just save a man's life!

Marion was busy wondering if she should've gotten in the passenger seat and come up with a plan that would work anywhere outside of sixties low budget spy movies.

Then again...that's what this was? Was it not?

After driving for a few minutes they came to what had to be the checkpoint.

"We're slowing down," Jamie observed, "Must be the guard post now,"

"Yes, but why are we hiding like this? We've done nothing wrong," Zoe said. The poor thing sounded legitimately baffled.

"Oh honey," Marion said softly, "If doing 'nothing wrong' meant you didn't have to hide then our jobs would be 101% easier,"

"Keep down," the Doctor told them, "We'll find out later,"

The truck finally slowed down to a stop and after a few moments, it started up again. He's passed the checkpoint.

Marion had to come up with something to say and say it quickly.

The car came to a stop and the man appeared in the back of the lorry.

"They're right behi-"

Marion cut him off.

"What's up ahead?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's up ahead?"

"Nothing for a few miles and then there's another gate before it gets out to the road?"

"Great, Great," Marion hefted the rock in her arms. It was roughly the size and length of a shoe and that's what had gotten her attention in the first place.

"Is there anything of any importance in the car. For UNIT I mean?"

"How do you-"

"Answer the question!" Marion said perhaps a little harsher than she meant to.

"No?"

"Alright then. Perfect,"

Marion walked towards the driver's seat.

"What the hell are you doing?" the man said baffled.

"They goons with the motorcycles are right behind us and they're going to shoot you! Ask the Brig about me. He'll say I know what I'm talking about," 'Hopefully,' "I'm going to use this rock to hold down the gas pedal. It'll drive on ahead and we can all flee,"

"Now see here!"

The motorcycles were getting closer. They were running out of time.

Marion took this time to remember back when she'd been in 11th grade during Spirit Week. Her class's theme had been "United Kingdom" and that Thursday had been "Character Day". Marion, wanting to put as little effort into cosplay as possible had gone as a UNIT agent. All she had needed to do was take a decent photo, edit it onto a jpeg, print it onto cardstock, and pop it into one of her old lanyard cases. (She would've put more effort into it, but she had an ASL II project that was due Friday and had both been assigned a week prior and not started. She didn't want to fail that because she had spent too long on a cheap prop.)

The point here was that Marion knew what a proper UNIT ID was supposed to look like and she had the ability to create something far more realistic than anything in HP Inkjet and a cracked copy of photoshop could accomplish in much less time.

She flashed her psychic paper in front of the man's face for a moment. He looked at it in confusion and then in understanding.

"Good!" Marion said. "Now, y'all head off into the woods, I'll be with you in a moment,"

The motorcycles came closer.

"Go on! GET! Shoo,"

The Doctor looked at Marion for a second.

"Marion are you..."

"Yes," Marion was starting to become frustrated, "I am sure. I'll meet you later. It's not like I don't know where you're going!"

The four of them ran into the woods. Marion watched them for a second and got to work. The truck's engine was still on. It was simple work to turn the steering wheel to be straight ahead and to drop the rock on the gas pedal.

The truck rushed forward and Marion moved her hand back before it could get caught and slammed the door shut. She dove into the bushes making sure to do so in such a way that the speeding out of control lorry offered her some temporary and dangerous cover.

From her hiding place, she saw the men on their motorcycles talk to each other, look around, and then speed after the car.

After waiting to see if they would double back and listening for their engines, Marion crept back, deeper into the woods, following the path of broken and trampled leaves as she went.

Marion finally, finally made it to the road but the Doctor, Zoe, Jami, and the man were nowhere to be seen not to mention the man from the truck. Marion looked down the road and sighed loudly.

'It's not like a car would've fit all five of us and its driver anyway,'.

"Either I'm hitching a ride or I'm in for a run. Good thing I'm wearing shoes with good arch support instead of something shitty like converse,"

Marion shifted her bag on her shoulder and began running down the road keeping to the side near the woods in case a car was coming without stopping or the motorcycle gang decided to circle around. At the same time she remained close enough to the road that if a car did come by, she could wave them down.

She just hoped that she wouldn't have to run or walk or jog the whole way. It'd be pretty fucking annoying if she JUST missed them.

'Still,' Marion thought, 'If I hurry, I'll probably be able to make it. Maybe if I can't catch the Doctor, then Isobel and Zoe will still be there. Girls only espionage mission? GOD I really hope I can hitch a ride though. Oh speak of the devil,'

A car drove up next to her. The windows were tinted and Marion couldn't see who was inside of it until the person rolled down the window and…

"Are you getting in here or not? You can't be planning to walk to the Walkins' house, can you? I don't doubt that you could, but even you can't run faster than a car. Come on get in,"

The driver of the car wasn't a stranger. Marion didn't know enough about cars to know what kind of car the man was driving. She didn't even know enough to know if it was old by the late 60's standards. (They were in the late-60's right? Or was it early 70's she couldn't be sure.) Or if it was a modern car.

What she did know, was who the man driving the car was. She had just left him. It was the Doctor. Not the one with the spotted bow tie and the general aesthetic of a Beatles reject, it was the Scottish one with the grey hair. And, judging from his hair, one that was decently older than the one she had just left.

Marion opened the passenger door and slid inside. Marion had barely put her seatbelt on when the Doctor sped off.

"Aren't you supposed to be at St. Lukes?" Marion asked, "You know, guarding the vault? Teaching classes?"

"Who says I can't go on a short drive and help out a friend hm?"

The Doctor made an unnecessarily sharp turn forcing Marion to grab ahold of the "uh oh" handle to brace herself.

"Nardole," Marion responded, "And besides, St. Lukes is in Bristol. That's like, 2 hours away from London!"

Marion was only just barely familiar with the conversion of kilometers to miles, but she knew that the Doctor was probably going well above the speed limit.

"I thought you were American," the Doctor responded to what she had said earlier, "Two hours for your lot is barely a trip."

"Well yeah, but it's still around a four-hour round trip,"

"I've been around for two thousand years. Four hours is barely a blink,"

"Good luck explaining that to Nardole. He's not going to be happy,"

"He's never happy and besides, how would he even find out?"

"You're going to be gone for at least four hours Doc. What, did you tell him that you were going to spend the rest of the day in the vault with Missy?"

The Doctor was silent.

"Holy- you did? Do you seriously expect him to-,"

"Ah, number 18, St. James garden. Here you are. They should be right inside," the Doctor said quickly. He pulled up across from a large white townhouse with a set of stairs leading to a dark green door.

"Thanks, Doctor," Marion said, she opened the passenger side door and got out. Before she could close the door, the Doctor spoke up.

"Wait a minute,"

He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a folded note sealed with a piece of tape. He held it out to her.

"Let me guess," Marion said looking at it warily, "A-"

"-note from the Associate?" the Doctor stopped her, "Yes. That's exactly what it is. Now go, go, before my past self tries to check outside to where you are. None of us has the time for a paradox,"

"Don't you mean..."

"Marion. No,"

"A Pair-O-Docs?"

Marion made a finger gun gesture to the man accompanied by a wink.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment. Then he leaned to the side, shut the passenger door, and drove off.

"Harsh!" Marion said with a laugh.

Marion turned on her heels away from the road and opened the note. It was written on what appeared to be St. Luke's stationery. The kind the school might use to send out important information to students or recommendation letters to other institutions. The Associate had used the Sonic Pen in favor of a typewriter based on the orange and slightly hovery letters. The contents of the letter were simple, a series of phone numbers and extensions. There were dates by each of the numbers so that she would know when was the best time to use each one. The number seemed to change a couple of times each decade, and the year list ended in 2017. That made a good amount of sense. Marion looked around to make sure that no one was nearby, and then snapped a photo of the list with her phone. She pocketed the items and walked back up the stairs towards the door and rang the doorbell. She heard the sound of movement on the other side of the door and muffled speech.

"Hold on a moment, who's at the door?"

The door opened to reveal Isobel Watkins. She wore a red and white dress and had her dark blonde hair in a bob with her hair slightly longer in the front than it was in the back.

"Hi!" Marion said, "A few of my friends came by here looking for a Professor Travers. Are they still here?"

The woman looked her up and down, "You must be Marion,"

"Marion!" the Doctor called from behind Isobel, "Marion do come in,"

Marion looked at Isobel, asking permission before she did so. The other woman sighed and stepped away from the front of the door.

"Thank you!" Marion said.

"So," the Doctor continued with whatever they had been talking about, "Professor Travers doesn't live here anymore you said?"

"Well, he did. He left about a month ago. Gone to America for a year with his daughter,"

"Oh that's just great," Jamie groaned.

"My uncle worked at the Cavendish labs," Isobel explained, "He wanted to do some work so Professor Travers said he could use his daughter's lab here. And I moved in because I got kicked out of my studio last week,"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Marion said, "It's a good thing you were able to move in with your uncle!"

"You can say that again,"

"What field of science is your uncle in?" The Doctor asked Isobel. He frowned at the camera he was looking at.

"Marion, can I use your screwdriver for a moment,"

"Uh, sure,"

Marion rummaged through her bag looking for it as Isobel answered the Doctor's question.

"Oh, I don't know. He's in applied physics or something. Always messing around with computers and things. Complete nuts,"

Marion finally dug past the rope and the prybar and found the screwdriver. With a little more rummaging, she found the little cloth bag of heads. She wordlessly handed it to the Doctor, who slid one of the smaller ones into the slot and tightened something in the back of Isobel's camera. He handed the cloth bag back to her.

"Well that is fortunate," the Doctor responded, "Perhaps he might be able to help us. Is he at home?"

"No,"

"Well, where is he?"

"Well, how do I know?" Isobel responded, "I'm not his keeper. Hey, have you fixed it?"

"Oh? Oh, yes," the Doctor handed Isobel the Camera and gave Marion back her screwdriver "That's all right,"

"That's really great. Thanks!"

"Miss,"

The Doctor was ignored in favor of Zoe and her glittery purple jumpsuit.

"Hey! That's a jolly outfit. Would you mind posing for me?"

"What?" Zoe said in confusion.

Isobel guided Zoe off to the side.

"Look, just stand there,"

"Miss?"

"Isobel. Yeah. Now, just stand here. Head over the shoulder,"

"Excuse me, Isobel," Marion said finally, "Do you know when your uncle is going to be back?"

"No, he left about a week ago, I haven't seen him since,"

"A week!" Jamie said in disbelief.

"I'm not sure what you expected at this point, Jamie,"

"He was prattling on about some new invention, or something or other, and having the chance to develop it," Jamie moved in front of her camera, "No. Not you,"

'Oof,'

"Okay now, just..."

"Can't you get in touch with him?" the Doctor asked. He sounded frustrated at the way she was more focused on her camera than him.

Isobel looked down from her camera, clearly annoyed that he kept asking her questions, but at the same time, not wanting to show it.

"No, I tried. I wanted to borrow a couple of quid off him in a hurry, but well, they said he wasn't available for phone calls,"

"They?" the Doctor latched onto this, "Now who is they?"

"Just get that, will you? I don't know. International Electric something or other,"

"International Electromatics?"

"Yes, probably," Isobel replied.

"That name's whatever the opposite of 'catchy' is,"

"You mean your uncle has gone to work for these people?"

Isobel nodded.

"Well, surely we can get in touch with him,"

"Well, you can try telephoning but I doubt if you'll get any joy. Phone's in the hall and the number's scribbled on the wall,"

The four of them turned to leave.

"Hey. Don't go. I don't often get the chance of photographing a real model," Isobel called out to Zoe.

"Oh, alright,"

"And I don't suppose you would mind me taking a couple photos of you Marion. Would you?"

"Ah," Marion said, "Well, no, no thanks. I think Zoe's got it covered,"

(

)

"...3," Jamie read off.

"3,"

"4,"

"4,"

"2,"

"2,"

"Do you suppose this firm could be the one that the driver was talking about?"

"I doubt that there's going to be two companies in the same area with the same name running around. That's how lawsuits happen,"

"That's not the point Marion! Watkins could have been kidnapped!"

"Very, very good point,"

"Ah, Jamie. You mustn't let your imagination run away with you. I must admit, it's a bit strange,"

"It wouldn't be the first time you had to save a kidnapped scientist,"

The Doctor made the universal gesture for, "Shhh, I'm on the phone,"

"I would like, please, to speak with Professor Watkins,"

There was just silence.

"Oh, yes, you see, but this is very important,"

More silence.

Marion noted the address to International Electromatics on the wall and she jotted it down in her notebook with one of her smaller ballpoints.

"Yes, but I must speak with him,"

The Doctor realized that he wasn't speaking to a person.

"But this is an automatic answering device!"

Marion could faintly hear a voice saying, "Party not available," over and over again.

The Doctor all but slammed the phone back on the receiver.

"Now what?"

"There's only one thing for it. We'll have to go there ourselves,"

They re-entered the lounge area.

"Any luck?" Isobel asked.

She was photographing Zoe who had changed out of the jumpsuit and into a bright red dress with a green feather boa.

It was certainly a look.

Marion hoped that that camera of Isobel's was in black and white.

"No, it was stupid simple-minded computer answering service,"

"Well, what do we do now?"

"Jamie, Marion, and I are going to this place. Come on, Zoe,"

"No, thanks," Zoe replied, "I think I'll stay here. It's great fun,"

"Cool," Marion said, "If we're taking a while, STAY here. We'll be back eventually,"

"You look like a chicken with all those feathers on!" Jamie added.

"Jamie be nice,"

"What's the address," the Doctor asked.

"I saw it on the wall and wrote it down. No worries,"

"Do you not write anything down on paper at all?" Jamie asked incredulously.

"Well, I'd only lose it if I did. Writing on a wall's much safer. You can't lose a wall, can you?"

"No,"

"Not on less you tried it on purpose,"

Isobel went back to taking photos of Zoe and the three of them left.

The group arrived at the tower. There were several in the complex, and the address led to this one. It wasn't too far away, and Marion was all but certain that they'd passed it on their way from the field where they had landed. Instead of going through the main entrance, like a bunch of amateurs, they found a side entrance that was closed to the general public. They knew it was closed because it said: "NO UNAUTHORISED ENTRY" in big capital letters. Only there was weird spacing in the middle of the word.

"Well," Marion said looking at the door with an exaggerated pensive look on her face.

"If that said 'No Unauthorised Entry' we'd be at a loss,"

"But..." asked the Doctor.

"It says, 'No Unau Thorised Entry',"

"What does that mean?" Jamie asked.

"No idea. Let's go in,"

Marion pushed open the door and gestured inside.

"After you,"

The Doctor walked through the door, followed by Jamie.

Marion scanned the surrounding area with her eyes until she finally spotted the car with Sergeant? Benton. She was pretty sure that he was a Sergeant at this point. He got that promotion before "the Invasion" but after "Web of Fear". Maybe that was Yates who got the promotion. Actually, maybe that was Yates in the car? No, she was PRETTY sure that it was Benton.

Unless…

Actually, on second thought, this didn't really matter.

Marion pointedly looked at the truck and waved.

She then walked in after the Doctor and Jamie.

"Who were you waving to?" the Doctor asked.

"You'll meet them later," she paused, "But wait, you've already met them? I'm going to meet them later but I know who they-" Marion stopped. "Actually, you know what? Don't worry about it. It's fine. They're fine. Nothing to worry about,"

"Marion, are you feeling okay?"

The Doctor reached out to put a hand to the woman's forehead.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Marion brushed the hand away. "Order of events is a bit confusing a lot of the time, you know?"

"Now," Marion said, clapping her hands and looking at the large machine, "this must be the answering machine thing,"

It was about the shape and size of three or four lockers side by side with two rolls of recording tape in the front, a pair of cabinets up top and it had a control panel sticking out of its front.

"I thought so," the Doctor said looking it up and down.

"I wonder how it works,"

"What is it?" Jamie asked.

"It's what the Doctor was talking to on the phone earlier,"

"More stupid computers. Automatic receptionists," the Doctor grumbled. They walked within range of the computer speakers.

"Right,"

The computer made a whirring noise as the wheels on its front began to turn.

"International Electromatic Company. State your business,"

"I would like, please, to speak with Professor Watkins,"

More whirring.

"One moment," there was a pause, "Party not available,"

"Then I would like to speak with someone in authority,"

"Your request will be considered and your appointment arranged. Please state your name and address,"

"That's no good. I wish to speak with somebody now,"

"It's not going to work Doctor," Marion said soft enough that the Doctor could hear, but the computer could not.

"I am sorry. All personnel are engaged,"

"But I insist. This is an emergency!"

"State the nature of the emergency,"

"It's a private matter,"

"Private matters have no emerg-," the Doctor banged his fist on the computer.

"OH SHUT UP YOU STUPID MACHINE!"

"Diabolical inventions,"

"Doctor, shouting at a machine isn't going to help. Robots that can be spoken to and reasoned with won't be invented until at least the mid-70s,"

Marion paused,

"Or the mid-80s. Either way, we really should try something else,"

"Where are we going?" Jamie asked.

"Well, there must be somebody else in this building except these stupid machines. Come on,"

They backtracked. Out the door, they came from and out and around. And they walked down an alley in between two of the buildings in the complex.

"Hey," Marion, "So…,"

"Yeah,"

"Jamie, Doctor, I'm going to tell you something, but before I do, don't react,"

"What?"

"What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you unless you swear not to react,"

The two men nodded.

"We're on camera. They know we're comin- Doctor! Stop looking around. I just said not to react. Geez, I'll keep it to myself next time. Come on come on. Let's go, go, go. Let's get this over with. And stay vigilant,"

The three of them stood in front of an elevator. The Doctor pressed the up button. As the elevator went up, Marion reached into her bag and grabbed the small roll of duct tape. She ripped off strips of tape. She stuck the strips together making a sheet about the size of a small napkin.

"Hey real quick, do either of you have a handkerchief or stress ball or something that could cover up a hole?"

"Why?" the Doctor reached into his pocket and retrieved a small ball from his pocket, "Will this do Marion?"

Marion looked at it and took it out of the Doctor's hand and pressed it into the middle of the duck tape sheet thingy.

Instead of answering, Marion said:

"As soon as the elevator opens to let me know if you hear a loud hissing noise and also, where it's coming from,"

"Marion? What are you doing? What's all that for? What are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. Just trust me,"

The elevator doors slid open and the three of them walked out slowly.

'Now, where is-,'

Marion saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

'Bingo!'

"Jamie! Quick, boost me so I can reach that," she pointed at the nozzle that was quickly pumping out white, choking, smoke. The Scot crouched down and cupped his hand for Marion to step on so she could reach.

Marion's goal plan was simple. Stuff the ball into the nozzle and hold it in place with the tape. That would keep the gas from flooding the room.

Marion pulled the collar of her shirt up to cover her nose and face and climbed up. This put her just close enough to it to grip onto it with part of her arm and take some of the weight off the Highlander.

Ideally, this would've been a smart move. She took much of the weight off Jamie which would have allowed him to balance a bit more easily and hold her up long enough to go through with her plan.

However, Marion did make three mistakes.

First, she underestimated the amount of time it would take for Jamie to succumb to the gas.

But that was fine. She had always had decent upper body strength. She had taken judo for God's sake. In theory, she should've been able to hold herself for a while; certainly long enough to put her plan into action. She just had to push the ball into place and stick it.

This is where her second mistake came in. She overestimated how opaque the smoke would be. This hampered Marion's ability to see what she was doing. She could hear just fine, though. For example, she could hear Jamie, the Doctor, and herself coughing. Finally, she managed to find the nozzle's hole and tape it into place. The hissing stopped and Marion could hear another noise.

"CREAK"

'Oh shit Oh fuck,'

This brings us to her third mistake: Assuming that the gas dispenser could hold her weight for long periods of time. It snapped off sending her to the ground and the thing she had been trying to cover up down with her. Sure, the nozzle that the gas had been coming from before was blocked, but it was also currently on the floor and gas flowed freely from the pipe.

Marion's vision went white as gas-filled her vision and then black as it filled her lungs.

'Ok universe,' Marion thought, 'we'll call it a draw,'

(Next Chapter: All Tech Executives Are Shady...)

Chapter Text

The air was suddenly a lot easier to breathe in and breath in Marion did.

Something...wait no, someone was dragging her to her feet by the back of her coat.

"That," She went into a coughing fit. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but she could've sworn a tiny cloud of smoke emerged from her mouth, "was not my greatest plan. I'm willing to admit that. I really thought that was going to work,". She looked down at the fallen nozzle is disgust.

Marion couldn't tell you what the man who had dragged her to her feet looked like. He was dressed in all black with a black hat with a chinstrap and black tinted glasses but of the parts of his face that she could see out of the corner of her eyes, there wasn't much about him that could be identified.

Marion supposed that that was the point. Marion wouldn't be able to tell apart the man holding her up from the man holding Jamie up let alone the two of them from a crowd of other men.

The man who seemed to be delivering the orders that the men were taking didn't see fit to cover up his face. He dragged the Doctor to his feet as well.

"WAIT!" the Doctor shouted, the man dragging help up a fist, getting ready to punch the Doctor.

"This will be my pleasure,"

Marion wasn't sure what he could've done to make the man want to punch the Doctor so badly. It wasn't like this version of the Doctor didn't purposely annoy people, because he most certainly did, but none of them had done anything yet.

Well, actually she'd broken what was probably an expensive piece of equipment but that was HER. Not the Doctor.

Anyway, none of that mattered. On the wall, a circular monitor that Marion had confused for some kind of mirror brightened to reveal the face of the man. "Vague-something,".

"Packer! Bring them to my office,"

So that was the man's name.

"But Mister Vaughn, I haven't interrogated them yet!"

"Packer, please do as I say,"

The screen shut off.

"Yes, sir,"

A third man, one who looked pretty much identical to the other two, grabbed the Doctor. Jamie, the Doctor, and Marion were pushed down and along a corridor.

"Come on. This way," Packer said.

"No need to shove," Marion grumbled, "I'm walking, I'm walking,"

The office that they were eventually led too looked a bit like Robertsons except bigger. Bigger didn't mean that there was more stuff. The room seemed emptier. It was also better lit. There was a huge floor to ceiling window with a set of open, vertical blinds. The man who had spoken earlier, (Van?) stood behind a curved wooden desk. Three dark brown leather seats had been placed in front of the desk in a way that they curved around the desk.

There was something off about him, but then again, there was something off about most tech executives. He had the sort of side slicked hair and pursed lips of a person who knows that everything about the way they look and act makes people want to punch them, but knows they have enough money that no one's going to do it.

As Marion stepped forward, the massive rug on the ground reminded Marion of a Target with Vang(?) in the middle.

"Come and sit down," the man greeted them as if he hadn't just pumped the hallway that had been full of some kind of gas.

"Thank you,"

The Doctor, Jamie, and Marion sat down on the left, middle, and right chairs. Marion shifted herself so that she was leaning heavily on the armrest with her chin resting in her hand.

"You can go, Packer,"

"But Mister Vaughn, I-,"

Jamie and Marion smirked at him.

"Yes. Sir," Packer said through gritted teeth. He turned, opened the door, and left.

"I must apologize for Packer's crude devotion to duty. But your method of entry into my building was rather unconventional, wasn't it?"

"Trying to gas people is also 'unconventional'," Marion replied, "sorry about- Well, I was going to say 'sorry about breaking your gas machine' but..,"

"Marion," the Doctor hushed her and spoke to Mister Vaughn, "I think perhaps it is we who should be apologizing to you, Mister..."

"Vaughn. Tobias Vaughn. I'm the managing director of International Electromatics. Your business must be very pressing to force you to such extremes,"

"Yes, it is,"

"Concerning Professor Watkins?"

"How did you know?"

"The Doctor shouted about it enough into that computer. I don't doubt that something had to go through," Marion said.

"She's right. My computer reported what you said directly to me. Sad to say, you've gone to a lot of trouble for nothing, you know. The Professor's working on an experiment and refuses to see anyone,"

'Sure,'

"Ah, well, we only want to talk to him, you see," the Doctor said. He was quickly losing hope that he'd be getting the TARDIS to work anytime soon.

"Perhaps I can help?"

"No, I don't think so, thank you very much," The Doctor seemed quick to leave. Likely because he'd noticed something off about the man.

"Yeah," Marion added, "Real shame. Oh well. We'll figure something else out surely,"

"Oh, come on you two," Jamie said, failing to read the room, "It's only a couple of electronic circuits,"

The Doctor kicked Jamie's chair while Marion slapped her face.

"Circuits? Electronic circuits? My technicians are the best in the world. I'm sure they'd be able to assist you. Show me the circuits,"

"Well, I-"

The man stood up. "Please, I'd like to help,"

Instead of at least pretending that the circuit had been left at home or something, the Doctor retrieved the TARDIS circuits from his pocket and handed them to the man.

'Geez,' Marion thought. 'Whatever happened to "Rule One: The Doctor Lies"?'

"As you say, rather complex. However, I'm sure we'll be able to help you,"

"Yes, I-," the Doctor reached to grab them back. But Vaughn put them into one of his drawers.

"I'll have them sent to my workshops immediately,"

"Oh, how very kind," the Doctor replied, sarcastically.

Vaughn pretended not to notice. "Not at all. Professor Watkins is a valued colleague. Any friend of his is,"

"Oh," he retrieved something from inside of his drawer, "have either of you have one of these?" He held up two electronic boxes roughly the size of an unused bar of soap.

"No," Jamie said, "What is it?"

"Surely you've seen them about. They're disposable transistor radios. One of our latest products. Most popular. We've sold ten million in this country alone. Here," he handed one to each of them. "Compensation for the treatment you received from the worthy Packer,"

Marion considered slamming hers against the desk and leaving. She didn't 100% remember what was wrong with them, but she did know that they would need to be destroyed eventually. Then again, it's possible that there was something useful about it, and wrecking it now would cause bigger issues later. So instead of slamming it, she slid it into the coat pocket that didn't have her ID card.

"Thank you," said Jamie "How does it work?"

"You press the button on the front but-"

Jamie did so and loud, tinny music played from the tiny device.

Marion winced. "-it's very loud,"

The Doctor leaned over and pressed the button again and the music blessedly stopped.

"Yes, that's how you turn it off, Jamie,"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I have an urgent appointment," the man said. It was a clear dismissal.

"Yes, of course. Come along, you two," the Doctor stood up and Jamie and Marion stood with him.

"Packer will meet you and show you the way out, Mister?"

"Doctor," the Doctor said quickly, "Goodbye,"

"Goodbye, Doctor,"

"Goodbye, Mister Vaughn. Thank you for the radio,"

"Not at all,"

"Bye,"

Packer met them just outside the elevator.

"Mister Vaughn told me to escort you lot off the premises," the man said. From his done, it was clear that what he meant was "I would greatly enjoy escorting you lot off this mortal coil, but I've been asked by boss told not to,"

"Why thank you!" Marion said with an over-exaggerated smile.

The man all but shoved them out.

"The next time, read the notice on the door," The words "or else" went unsaid.

"Oh, don't tell me you can read as well," Jamie said with mock amazement, "What else do you do!?"

"A regular renaissance man you are then huh?"

Jamie, Marion was quickly learning, was very easy to play off of when they were bothering people together. It was a lot of fun too!

"Stop it you two,"

The Doctor didn't agree.

Packer went back inside the facility, slamming the door behind him as he went.

They stood there for a moment, waiting for the door to properly close.

"Friendly sort of chap," Jamie said sarcastically after Packer left.

"Hmm?" the Doctor said. He clearly had heard Jamie speak, but wasn't listening.

"Is something wrong?" Jamie asked. The three of them began to walk away.

"Vaughn for one thing," Marion said, "He seemed really off. And not just because he's a tech executive,"

"What do you mean?"

"The normal range of human blinking is about once every ten or fifteen seconds. Vaughn was blinking far less frequently than that,"

"Doctor, that doesn't necessarily mean much. The slow blinking thing I mean, but I do agree with you, there is most certainly, something very, very, very, very off about this company,"

'And not just in the typical, use of borderline slave labor as part of the manufacturing process,'

"He seemed...I don't know? Fake?"

"I get that you feel that way, Marion," Jamie said, "But are you sure there's something off about Vaughn?"

"I'm very, very serious Jamie," the Doctor said, "Underneath all that charm there was something odd. Sinister. Almost inhuman,"

Marion stopped suddenly.

"What the hell do you mean 'charm'?"

A car was driving up behind them.

It had been following behind them for a while.

Now, normally, a car driving behind Marion while she was walking for any length of time would make her sprint in the opposite direction in hopes that she could find a crowded group of people to hide in after running from nothing. However, Marion knew who was in the car and since they were going to end up being caught anyway, and the people driving didn't mean any harm, she slowed down instead.

"Marion?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"What are you doing?"

"Slowing down. There's a car following us," she said plainly.

The Doctor stared at Marion as if she'd lost it.

"If there is a car following us, then why should we slow down?"

"So they can catch up to us of course!"

"Are you sure that that's a good idea, Marion?" Jamie asked glancing at the car and the two men inside of it.

"Certainly," the car came to a full stop next to the three of them.

"I'm going to need the three of you to come with us," one of the men said. Benton? That's what his name was. Marion was (mostly) certain of this. He might as well have been Benton, Marion didn't know what the other one's name was.

"Hello, gentlemen!" Marion said brightly. "I think there's someone you want us to see yes?"

Marion climbed into the back seat first and scooted down all the way to the end to make room for Jamie and the Doctor.

"Hop in you two!"

The back seat was surprisingly roomy, at least roomer than Marion had expected anyway. Four people could've fit in there as long as they didn't mind more or less sitting on top of each other. The three of them fit in there just fine. Marion sat the furthest inside with the Doctor in the middle and Jamie on the other side.

Marion buckled into her seatbelt and adjusted her coat.

"Now Marion are you-,"

"Buckle your seatbelt, Doctor,"

"Marion,"

"I'm serious, Doctor,"

The Doctor sighed.

"Now Marion,"

"Buckle up Doctor. You too Jamie,"

"What are you two talking about?"

The car made a turn around a corner.

"Marion-," the Doctor tried again.

"Help him buckle his seat belt Doctor. We don't need either of you hurling through the windshield,"

"Marion be serious!"

"I am! I am VERY serious about seatbelts,"

The Doctor let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Come Jamie. You just...yes and then you push that into there and you should hear a-" there was a clicking noise, "there you go,"

"Now, Marion,"

"You too Doctor,"

"Marion!"

"Stop being so difficult, Doctor. You're worse than-" Marion stopped, "You're the worst that's what. Here!"

Marion reached over the Doctor; bracing herself on the bit of seat between the two of them and grabbed the little handle bit of the seatbelt and clicked it into place.

"Honestly Doctor. Jamie's one thing but you? I thought you knew better tha-"

"Marion!" the Doctor shouted.

"Yes, Doctor? And there's no need to be so loud. I'm sitting right next to you,"

The Doctor looked aggravated. "Where exactly are we headed? We just got in the car with a couple of strange men who were following us around. You just slowed down, climbed in, and told Jamie and I to get in with you,"

"I know what happened, Doctor. I was there. It's fine,"

The car took another turn.

"I know that you wouldn't tell us to get into the car if there was something dangerous going on unless something more dangerous would happen if we didn't get in,"

Marion sighed, "There's a 'but' coming isn't there?"

"But would very much like it, if I could have at least some kind of hint as to what we're getting into,"

"Oh," Marion said, "Why didn't you just say so?"

Time Lords couldn't glare at a person hard enough to like, reverse the polarity of their neuron flow killing them instantly could they? Probably not. If they could, Marion was positive that with the glare the Doctor was giving her, she'd be dead.

"I'm messing with you," she said, "But seriously…,"

Marion looked out the window and saw that they were quickly approaching a small plane with a lowered ramp leading into it. The driver of the car was obviously steering there towards it.

"You," Marion said slowly, "Are going to meet someone that you've met before and left on good terms with. You are still on good terms,"

"That hardly explains anything,"

"Well we're here so even if this was a huge trap, it's not like we'd be able to do much about it? Could we? Let's just go,"

The man in the driver's seat (who might've been Benton) pulled into the back of the plane and stopped it. Benton(?) got out of the car and opened the back door.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Benton!"

The man didn't correct her, so she was pretty sure she had got it right. The men wrestled with their seat belts for a bit and then joined her.

"Right this way you three," the man who was not Benton said. "The Brigadier is right this way,"

"Would you mind telling me what this is all about!"

The three of them were led into a small room. One of its walls was made of glass and had a flat, circular projection of the northern hemisphere etched onto it in white. Through it, Marion could see several people facing Radios? Or computers? Some kind of communication thing. Marion didn't know much about early computers other than they took up a whole room and were, when one got down to it, not much more than elaborate calculators.

Benton opened the door for them and the three of them walked inside.

"Would you mind telling us what all this is about?" Jamie asked.

"You'll find out, sir," Benton assured.

"Sir?"

There had been a man with his back facing the three of them. He had been climbing a short ladder to retrieve or look for something and came back down to meet them. He was a tall man dressed in a grey-ish green military outfit. He had about the same dark haircut that most of the men Marion had passed by and a mustache across his upper lip with a short break in the middle.

"All right, Benton, thank you," the man dismissed their escorts.

"Sir,"

"NAAFI break, sir?" said the soldier who wasn't Benton.

"Very well,"

The two of them saluted and left.

"How nice to see you again, Doctor," the man said with a nod.

The Doctor's eyes lit up with recognition. "It's Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart!"

"Ah, Brigadier now. I've gone on up in the world,"

"Ah," Jamie said, "That's what Marion called you wasn't it?"

The Brigadier paused for a moment and looked at Marion for a second.

"She did, didn't she, McCrimmon, in the underground. Must be four years ago now,"

"That long? It only seems about a couple of weeks ago, doesn't it,"

"I've told you over and over again, Jamie. Time is relative,"

"It hasn't even happened for me yet. Jamie! I haven't even met any of you before. Well, I've met the Doctor, but not this- Nevermind," Marion was starting to go on a tangent and if the Brigadier's face was any indication, she was barely making any sense.

"The point is Jamie," she finished, "time only begins to make consistent sense for everybody when everyone's traveling forward seconds at a time. Once you toss time machines into the equation, things start getting a little," Marion couldn't believe what she was about to say, "a bit wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. Does that make sense?"

This was a genuine question. Instead of an answer, Marion was met with a few seconds of silence.

"You're still not feeling too well are you Ms. Henson" the man finally said.

"What do you mean still?" she asked. "Time's kinda screwy for me because of the way I'm dragged along it. Whatever you're talking about hasn't happened yet. That's what I just said!"

"That might explain some things. How's your eye?"

"My eye?" Marion asked in confusion.

"SO!" the Doctor said quickly. Almost too quickly. "Why all the cloak and dagger stuff to bring us here? If Marion hadn't gotten us to stop and get in the car with Mr. Benton, we would've made a run for it and you might've not caught up to us,"

"They would've cornered you eventually,"

That came out a bit more ominous than Marion had intended but she didn't know what else she could add to make it better.

"That came out worse than I meant. Tell you what, pretend I didn't say anything," Marion said. "I just wanted to save us all a bit of time you know?"

The Brigadier had a look on his face that said, "I have questions, but also very little faith that any answer you give me to those questions will do much other than make me have even more questions, so I'm not going to even bother asking them,"

"Look, do sit down," the man said gesturing to the many open chairs around the area.

"Thank you,"

"Oh how nice,"

"Don't mind if I do!"

Jamie wrapped an arm around the Doctor's shoulder and steered him towards the desk. Marion followed after them.

"Sergeant Walters!"

"Yes, Sir!" The man that the Brigadier had called to, the one who sat second from the right at whatever machinery all the men had been working on stood up.

"Lay on some tea, will you?" Walters saluted and left the UNIT control room, "You'd like some tea, wouldn't you, Doctor?"

"Oh thank you," the Doctor locked his fingers together, "and a patty cake biscuit. Thank you,"

"Yes, well, since the Yeti do, I've been in charge of an independent intelligence group that we call UNIT. That's United Nations Intelligence Taskforce,"

"Grade A name," Marion said.

"You mean you're like a" Jamie searched for the words, "world secret police,"

"Oh dear, no Jamie," Marion said.

Secret Police had certain connotations that Marion doubted anyone in this room would like.

"We don't actually arrest people, just investigate them," The Brigadier explained.

"What're you investigating us for then?"

"My men were keeping a watch on the International Electromatic Headquarters when you three showed up. I've been keeping a check on everyone going in that building. Your photographs were transmitted to this Headquarters and I recognized you,"

"But what's so odd about people going into the building?"

"Oh, nothing odd about them going in. The trouble is, some of them haven't come out,"

"That," Marion agreed, "is troubling,"

"Here," the Brigadier reached into his pocket and pulled out a series of photographs and set them down in the large table they were all sitting down around. Walter came back with the tea. Jamie took one sugar, Marion took two, and the Doctor might as well have poured in the rest of the sugar bowl into his cup.

"So," Marion said, taking a sip, "These are some of the others that you've taken photos of right?"

"This is Gordon Jones," he pointed to a photo of a man with combed over dark hair and glasses of the same shade. The photos were in black and white, so Marion couldn't tell much, "lecturer in physics, Churchill College, Cambridge. Next one's a chap I knew at Sandhurst," this man had light-colored hair and a dark-colored mustache, "old Billy Rutlidge. He's got himself a very cushy number at the Ministry of Defence,"

"Good for him," Marion said, taking another sip of her tea. It was pretty decent considering where they were? Maybe British government agencies were better stocked on tea than American government places were.

"No, no, most of them came out again, but there was something definitely odd about them when they did,"

"Odd?" the Doctor asked.

"You heard him," Marion said simply, "odd,"

"Yes, old Billy Rutlidge, for instance. He was quite cooperative about my investigation into Vaughn initially but after he'd been to the IE Building he started getting a bit sticky about it,"

"Someone changing their mind about investigating a multimillion-dollar company isn't too unusual," Marion pointed out, "I mean, there's totally something else going on behind the scenes, but that in it of itself wouldn't be too out there. So, what else has piqued your interest?"

Jamie noticed a picture on top of the pile and held up.

"Hey, would you look at that one!"

"Do you know this man?"

"Yeah"

"Jamie, yes,"

"Aye, he gave us a lift in his lorry,"

"When did you last see him?"

"This morning. We got to where we needed to be, and then went off our separate ways,"

"Ah, so you must be the four that he mentioned."

"Oh?" Marion asked.

"He sent in a report early this morning. Late yesterday evening he found out that they somehow knew all along that he'd been working for UNIT, and had been feeding him false information. He decided to get out of there and came across four strangers. One of them claimed to be working for UNIT and drove the lorry off a cliff,"

"I didn't know there was a-," Marion paused, "I mean do continue,"

"Ms. Henson," the Brigadier. The tone of his voice reminded Marion of a teacher about to send a student to the office.

"I don't know what you're talking about, please, continue what you were saying,"

"I expect that he's all right," the Doctor said, "He was alright this morning when we left him. Brigadier, tell me more about this International Electromatics set-up,"

The Brigadier gave Marion a look that told her that their discussion wasn't over. That was fair enough Marion supposed. While she had done it to save someone's life, she had impersonated a member of a top-secret military group and then apparently, drove one of their vehicles off a cliff. She hadn't even been aware that there were cliffs in that direction.

"Oh, there isn't much to tell," the man continued, "The head of the group is a man named Tobias Vaughn,"

"Oh yes, we've met him. A nice man. He gave me this," Jamie retrieved the small radio from wherever he had been keeping it.

"Jamie, don't-"

"He gave me one too," Marion pulled it out of her coat and put it back in its inner pocket, "Don't let me forget that I've got it,"

"Oh yes," the Brigadier fiddled with one of the boxes side dials and handed it back to the Scot, "that's just the small stuff,"

"Put it away," the Doctor all but hissed.

"They control practically all of the major computer lines. They made their real breakthrough in micro-monolithic circuit designs, undercutting practically everyone else in the market,"

"And UNIT cares because…,"

"Well, I knew a little about Vaughn before his sudden success. I put out a routine check on him and we came up with one or two things of interest,"

"Like the disappearance of Professor Watkins," Jamie said, leaning over the Doctor and jabbing a finger at the Brigadier.

"Yes,"

"Ah, see,"

'I am unironically going to pick up a small package of gold stars and literally no is going to be able to stop me,'

"I see,"

The Doctor pushed himself out of his chair.

"I don't suppose you have any authority to search the building, have you?"

"No. Vaughn's too powerful. He's got too many top people on his side. You see, Doctor, I daren't make a move against him unless I have good reason to do so,"

"But if you sent in some unaffiliated randos in there and we just happen to find something, you've got plausible deniability eh?"

"I don't believe that I would word it like that but…,"

"But?"

"You've just about summed it up quite frankly,"

"Well, it looks to me that if we want to find the Professor, we'll have to find him in our own way," The Doctor said, his mouth in a thin line.

"That's about the sum of it. However, should you find yourself in any difficulty. Sergeant Walters!"

He called to the man who had brought them their tea.

"Yes, sir?"

"Got a TM-45 handy?"

"Yes, sir. Right here,"

"Is that a tank?" the Doctor asked.

"God wouldn't that just be amazing though?" Marion said aloud she downed the rest of her tea. She and Jamie stood up and joined the Doctor. "Make stealth missions a bit tricky I reckon. So? Are we getting a tank?"

"Oh no, no," The Brigadier said, "My units are on constant alert, so should you find yourselves in any real trouble, you can just give us a call,"

"Jolly Good,"

"Here you are sir,"

Walters handed the Brigadier a device. It was about the size of a screwdriver and was shaped a bit like one. Only, this one had a speaker grill on the side and a button.

"Thank you, Sergeant," he handed the device to the Doctor.

"Now, this is a small transceiver, range of about fifty miles on a set frequency. Just press this button and ask for me,"

"Oh yes, that's splendid," The Doctor handed it to Marion.

"Keep that safe for me?"

"Certainly,"

She placed it in one easily accessible pockets just on the inside of her bag and closed the flap once more. "Yes, that should come in very handy," the Doctor said to the Brigadier.

"Call me any time. I'm usually available. Now, I'd better lay on transport to get you two back to London,"

"Thank you very much," Marion said with a nod.

Benton and the other man who Marion still couldn't even begin to guess the identity of drove then back to Number 18 St. James Garden. Maybe he was Yates? No. That didn't sound right.

Anyway, the two of them drove the trio back to the Travers and not, Watkins residence. The two men got out of the car (after unbuckling the seatbelts Marion had badgered them into wearing) and Marion thanked their drivers and got out themselves. The jeep sped away.

Jamie rang the doorbell.

There was silence for a moment, then he tried again.

Marion pushed open the door.

"They must have gone out," Jamie reasoned.

"Yeah," Marion, put a palm on the front door, "And they left the door open," she pushed it and the three of them walked inside of the empty townhouse.

"Zoe? Isobel?" The Doctor called to the room.

"Probably gone for a walk," Jamie guessed.

'Jamie I think I would be willing to pay actual money if things were able to be that simple,'

Marion wondered what would happen if she just told them straight up where they were and why and then they left now. She decided against it. Maybe if this episode had been the one where Zoe dies or if Isobel died, she might've said something. But the current way that they were going had led to everyone more or less coming out okay if she remembered right. She had no way of knowing if them arriving a few minutes earlier would change anything and she didn't want to find out.

If someone had died in the show and then lived because of something that she'd done. She could take credit for that. She'd saved them.

If someone had lived in the show but then died here, it didn't matter if she knew why or what. If she wanted to claim to be the reason that people who were supposed to die survived, then she also had to accept that she was the reason that people who were supposed to survive, died. She couldn't have the former without the latter.

So, it was best to keep things roughly the same as what they were. As the old adage went, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

They walked to the main living room where they had been modeling earlier. There was no one to be seen in the room. On the floor, was a plate with two sandwiches.

"Look, sandwiches. I'm hungry. Want one?"

"No thanks," Marion said, "I just ate before I got here. What about you Jamie?"

Jamie had already grabbed the other half of the sandwich off the plate and took a bite out of it.

"Thank you. You know, Doctor. That chap, Mister Vaughn, doesn't seem such a bad man,". He took the radio out of his pocket.

"Maybe it's because of the time period I'm from, but I can't imagine looking at a big millionaire tech executive and feeling anything but suspicion," Marion said sitting down on the floor with the two of them and crossing her legs.

"What time period are you from anyway Marion?" the Doctor asked.

"You mean you don't know?"

"You haven't told me yet! You keep saying that you've already told me before,"

"I think I'm telling you now. I'm from the 21st century. The later fourth of the early fourth of it,"

"That does explain some things," the Doctor mused aloud.

"I don't know what the 21st century has anything to do with anything, but Mister Vaughn can't be all bad. He gave me this," Jamie turned his radio on.

It was a shame. The song sounded pretty decent, but the audio quality was trash. The Doctor quickly shut it off.

"Oh, Jamie. How can I think when you've got that thing on?"

"Hey!"

The Doctor turned the thing over and began to examine it. Jamie reached out to take it back. The Doctor angled his body away from Jamie.

"All right, all right,"

"Don't break it!" Jamie insisted.

"It's fine Jamie. If he breaks one, don't forget that I've got one too. I don't really need a radio for anything,"

"I just want to take a look at it, that's all," the Doctor insisted. The Doctor pried open the back part with his fingernail and looked at the circuitry. "Oh, yes. It's an interesting little piece of-" he stopped talking.

The Doctor retrieved a magnifying lens from somewhere inside his coat and examined the thing more closely.

"What?"

"Well, well, well. What have we here?"

"What do you mean, what have we here?"

"There's a micro-monolithic circuit in the back plate of this radio,"

"Well, what's that?" Jamie asked.

"It's a complicated circuit made into a complicated, but tiny circuit," Marion explained.

"What's so odd about that?"

"It has nothing to do with the radio, as far as I can see,"

"That's never a good sign,"

"Oh Doctor, just put it back together again,"

" All right!" the Doctor said, taking another bite of his sandwich,

"I don't suppose Zoe would have left a note, do you?" Jamie asked.

"She didn't but if they did leave, Isobel might've. Check the wall near the phone,"

"That right," the Doctor said, "Isobel never writes anything on paper. You can't lose a wall, remember let's check the hallway,"

Jamie went ahead of them. "I found it!" he called back. "Tired of waiting. Gone to IE offices to look for you. Zoe and Isobel,"

"That's what I thought," Marion mumbled, "Hopefully, Zoe listened to me when I said for her to be careful, but on the off chance she didn't..."

"We need to go after them!" Jamie was already heading for the door.

"I think I owe you all one gold star apiece. Don't let me forget," the Doctor and Marion ran to keep up with Jamie.

They were at the tower once again. Marion looked up at it and sighed.

"Come along then,"

Jamie began to walk up a set of stairs until Marion and the Doctor beckoned him down and to the side.

"I thought that we were going in there to look for Zoe and Isobel?" Jamie said, sounding confused.

"There's no one in there except that stupid computer, and that's won't tell us anything,"

"And even if it couldn't tell us anything-," Marion couldn't say that Zoe broke it. She wasn't even sure that that was what happened. There was every possibility that Zoe had listened when Marion asked her to be careful. Maybe they got caught some other way? "You heard Vaughn! It sends him a report of anything we say to it. Any variation of 'Computer? Where do you keep the kidnapping victims' is going to be a big red flag,"

"But how are we going to find out that they are in there?"

"Well, if the Brigadier's men are still around, they should have seen them go in. Marion. Could you hand me the-"

Marion retrieved the transceiver out of her bag and handed it to the Doctor.

"Thank you, Hello," the Doctor pressed a button on the side of the transistor. A younger sounding man answered quickly.

"UNIT to operations, over,"

"Hello, could I speak to the Brigadier?" the Doctor said into the microphone on the side of the device.

"Stand by. Out,"

"What a splendid little toy this is," the Doctor said, marveling at the machine.

"Aye, but doesn't play tunes like mine,"

"I've got something in my bag that could do all that and more. This isn't a competition,"

"Aye, well-"

"Don't start you two," the Doctor said quickly, "I'm trying to hear-,"

The Brigadier's voice began to sound from the speaker.

"Yes, Doctor. I've got a report here on two girls. About nineteen or so. One of them dark, one of them fair. One of them was wearing very distinct clothes,"

"That sounds like Zoe and Isobel all right,"

"Marion, just a minute please. Brigadier?"

"Yes?"

"These clothes. Did they include a rather brightly-coloured feather boa?"

There was the sound of rustling paper before the Brigadier gave a response.

"Yes, the little dark one was wearing that. They friends of yours?"

"Yes, I'm afraid they are,"

"I don't suppose that you're going to tell us that they were seen leaving the building 10 minutes ago and we just missed them are you?" Marion asked hopefully. "Because if you were to say something like that, well that'd be just splendid,"

There was more silence and the sound of rustling paper.

"No Ms. Henson. I'm very sorry. The two of them haven't come out yet,"

Marion sighed. "Thanks anyway,"

"Come on, let's get after them," Jamie said. He looked like he was ready to bolt off at any moment and charge into the building at full tilt.

"All right, all right, Jamie. Brigadier, we're going to try to get into the building and try to find them,"

"Yes, well, be careful. You may not be so lucky this time. Call me if you get into trouble,"

"Thanks,"

"Right, over and out,"

There was a low clicking noise as the connection ended. The Doctor handed Marion back the transistor.

"Right then!" the Doctor said, "We can't go back through the front door,"

"And we can't enter through the side entrance like we did before. They might put something worse than sleeping gas in those nozzles,"

"Aye, so we just need to find a back entrance right?"

"Right!" the Doctor said, "And I think I know where we can find one! Follow me!"

Marion wasn't sure how the Doctor knew to follow the railway, but he did. Marion supposed it made some sense. If you're doing something that needs a lot of raw materials, it'd be good to have a railway company or at least some tracks to get things where you need to be especially if you've got something large enough to be called a compound.

The rail they walked along led them to an unlocked chain link fence.

"You're right, you know. This does lead into the back of the place," Jamie said looking at the many freight cars and the doorway up ahead. Marion was more focused on the many men in dark uniforms.

"Yes, of course, Jamie. Come on you two,"

They pulled aside the fence, just enough to get through and the three of them walked in, being careful to make sure that there was a freight car at all times between them and the men in black's lines of sight.

The goal was to get to the warehouse. If they could just reach there, then the rest of their plan would (hopefully) be a snap.

The walls of the warehouse were made of large bricks painted with white and was broken up into sections by large panels of white dry wood. The floor was greyish silvery linoleum and the three of them moved carefully making sure not to be seen or heard.

Speaking of which. Marion hearing the sound of footsteps on the other side of the wall grabbed Jamie and the Doctor by the back of their shirts and holding them in place before they could give away their position.

Jamie whipped around. Before he could say anything, Marion put a finger to her lips and pointed around the corner. He nodded.

A man wearing some kind of work suit marched in from another hall holding a huge cylinder over his shoulder. He set it down next to about a dozen or so other canisters and marched away. If Marion hadn't had heard the sound of his shoes tapping on the linoleum, they might've run right into the man.

"That's odd," the Doctor commented.

"What's odd?"

"The ease with which that man carried that crate,"

"Probably empty,"

"Even if it was empty Jamie, it's huge and bulky. It's gotta be pretty hard to maneuver right?" Marion reasoned, "He took that bad boy off his shoulder and set it down like it was nothing!"

"Let's go and see,"

Jamie and the Doctor stood on either end of the tube and crouched down. They attempted to lift it off the ground, but for all the good they did, the cylinder might as well have been bolted to the ground. It didn't' budge

"This thing must weigh two tonnes!" Jamie exclaimed. Both he and the Doctor stepped away from it.

"It's odd, Jamie, it's distinctly odd,"

The sound of someone else's footsteps clicked through the room.

They all looked around for the source.

"There's someone coming," Jamie said quickly. They ran back to the wall that they had come from with Marion ahead since she'd been the closest. Jamie shoved the Doctor forward for the last little bit of the way. The Doctor stumbled a little bit, and Marion reached out her hands to catch him to keep him from falling on his face. Jamie joined them.

Another man marched in carrying the canister. Actually, come to think of it, it might've been the same man as before. Marion hadn't seen his face good enough either time to be able to tell with any amount of certainty.

"It's amazing," Jamie said, referring to how easily the man had been able to drop off the canister.

"Yes,"

"Come on, let's find Zoe and Isobel and get out of here. These fellows are giving me the creeps,"

"You said it!" Marion remembered something, "I'm pretty sure that they know that we're here. But I'm sure we can find them if we move quickly. The warehouse can't be that hard to navigate. Right?"

"Alright," Marion said, "Now, I'm sure that we've been here already. I think we just went around in a big wonky circle,"

"This place is like a maze! I think we're lost,"

"There must be a door to the main building somewhere,"

"Well," Marion said, "we tried going left, and we just came in from the right, so let's go-"

There was a loud scream coming from behind them.

"That way!" Marion said quickly.

Marion hadn't needed to say anything. The two men had already spun around and were sprinting in the direction of their young friend's screams.

"Hey don't leave me behind!" Marion called after them. She sprinted to keep up.

(Next Chapter: But This One Is Even Shadier)

Chapter Text

They hid out of sight behind a shelf filled with those large canister things. Marion couldn't remember what they contained, but she had a distinct feeling that it was something very not good. Cybermen? Maybe it was Cybermen. That sounded about right, but Marion had no way of knowing without popping one of them open and there were much bigger issues to be thinking about.

"Load it onto the return van," Packer said, gesturing to a large box the shape and size of a space-age coffin with a feather boa sticking out the side.

This was the last straw for Jamie apparently.

"Zoe's there. Come on!" he whispered before quickly turning a corner.

"No, Jamie. Wait," "Jamie! Stop!"

It was too late. If he heard Marion or the Doctor. Jamie didn't show it. He ran forward and tackled Packer from behind.

"Guards! Guards!"

"Jamie c'mon. We need to leave NOW,"

Marion knew that if they went back the way that they came, there would be guards. So instead of running around the wall where they had come from, she took a left down another corridor. A corridor that mind you, also turned out to be full of guards.

"Wrong way!"

She and her two companions turned around and there were yet more guards.

'This just isn't my day!' Marion groaned. She put her hands up by her head.

"I, uh, don't suppose you'd believe me if I said that we got lost going to the bathroom would you?"

One of the guards jabbed her forward with the business end of his gun.

"Thought not,"

They were pushed towards Packer.

"Like rats in a trap,"

He smiled when he saw them like he was meeting a couple of old friends who he didn't feel the need to point a gun at.

"Hello again!" Marion said, stepping forward to be a bit in front of the rest of them. Packer pointed his gun at her, which was good. That's what she was trying to get him to do. If someone got shot, it was better that it was her rather than the Doctor or Jamie. "Packer was it? It'd say it's nice to see you but…,"

"You really don't learn, do you? This is private property. A restricted area,"

"Oh so kidnapping and false imprisonment is fine but a little trespassing is where you draw the line?"

Jamie was not in the same quippy mood that Marion was (or at least appeared to be) in.

"Where's Zoe? Where have you taken her?!"

"Be quiet!"

Great. Now the gun was pointing at Jamie. Super.

"Look," Jamie said, undeterred, "we heard them scream. If you've hurt her-"

"I said be quiet!"

"JAMIE!" the Doctor cried.

Jamie lunged at Packer but he was ready for him. Packer shoved Jamie back and he might've hit the wall if he hadn't slammed into Marion first. She braced for impact and managed to make it so that neither she nor the Scot fell to the floor.

Packer rushed towards them, holding his gun as if he was going to slam one of them in the head with the but of it. Jamie pushed Marion back and behind him while Marion tried to do the same to him. It probably looked ridiculous.

"Packer!"

Packer stopped his approach and stared at Vaughn with the wide eyes of a child who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "You really must try and control this violent streak in your nature, Packer. Although I must admit the situation is provoking,"

He turned away from Packer and to the three of them. "So here you are again. You really are beginning to try our patience, you know,"

"And he's beginning to try mine," Jamie said pointing to Packer.

"Jamie, Jamie," the Doctor said, trying to calm the other man down, "We came here looking for two friends of ours,"

"Two young ladies? Yes,"

"So he admits that they're here,"

"Correction. They were. It would seem that you've been chasing each other's tails. They came here looking for you,"

"Great!" Marion said with the fakest customer service smile she could make, "If you could just show us to them. That'd be splendid!"

"Oh I'd love too, only, they've already left,"

"Aye, carted off by two of your thugs in a box,"

"Oh really-"

"Look, it's true. We heard them scream and I saw some of Zoe's clothes trapped in the lid,"

"You really do have a very fertile imagination, young man,"

It was fascinating to listen to the man lie through his teeth in the most condescending of tones about something that they had all just literally heard and saw.

No, fascinating wasn't quite the right word.

Was there a mix between something being fascinating and being just plain annoying? The man could've been a politician. That wasn't a compliment. He was doing that thing where politicians say something completely and utterly untrue that anyone with a functioning pair of ears would know was horseshit, and then proceeding to say that they were in fact, not doing anything odd at all. If you thought they were doing something shady, there was something wrong with you.

Jamie wasn't falling for it.

"Now listen you, I'm telling I definitely saw those-,"

"Jamie, Jamie,"

The Doctor cut him off. Likely because it would be a bit easier to get what they needed to get done if they at the very least pretended that they didn't know that Vaughn was lying through his teeth. Or at the very least, they acted a bit less aggressive about knowing what they knew.

"It would set our minds at rest if we could take a look inside those boxes,"

"Yes please," Marion insisted, "I'm sure that this is simply some kind of misunderstanding. If we could just look inside those crates we could all just go our separate ways,"

"I don't see why not? Packer, I presume the only crates going out of here are the empty ones being returned to the factory?"

"Yes, sir. They're loading now, sir,"

Vaughn turned back to them. "Then you shall inspect them at your leisure. After you,". He gestured back the way that they came.

'I wonder if he's trying to make us think that Packer's behind all this and is doing this stuff without him knowing. I mean, he's failing, but is that what he's trying? He's trying some kind of good-cop bad-cop bull,' Marion thought as the security guards in black escorted them back the way that they came. They were only slightly less aggressive than when they'd escorted them out at gunpoint.

They were guided into taking a left and a right and then two more lefts and then straight ahead. They came out more or less where they had come from: back to the railway. They came out of the warehouse just as one of the trains was rolling away. The three of them ran to try to get to it before it fully took off, but were too late. They slowed down. Marion stared at the train with the expectant disappointment of someone getting a D- on a test they didn't study for.

It wasn't like she had any expectation that things would go any better than they had, but that didn't mean it wouldn't have been a pleasant surprise.

"Well, that sucks," Marion said aloud.

Marion heard the sound of footprints behind her.

"Ah, just too late, I'm afraid. Such a pity," the Doctor rolled his eyes and Marion scoffed. "Still, all is not lost. I am myself going down to the factory today. Would you care to join me? We can meet the train on its arrival,"

Vaughns' face and the things he said made Marion want to punch him in the face as hard as she could. He was just that annoying. Even if Robertson had been an annoying git, at the very least, he looked boring. She only wanted to punch him when he was talking.

Looking at Vaughn made Marion have to have a talk with herself about all the reasons she couldn't punch him. There were three.

First of all, she still wasn't sure about what happened with the Arm at the Sandminer, but she was pretty sure she was significantly stronger than she'd been before she got here, and she hadn't been weak then. She didn't know if she could accidentally punch someone hard enough to kill them and didn't want to find out

Second of all, even if Packer managed to stop her before she punched him in his dumb stupid lying face, the attempt would complicate things.

Third, and more importantly, she didn't want to get in the habit of punching things that made her feel upset. That wasn't good.

So, instead of doing any of that. Marion gave another wide smile.

"That'd be just great! When do we leave?"

Marion hoped that her eye wasn't twitching.

"Right now actually! I've already sent for my chauffeur. He'll be here in just a moment and then we can head right on over there, and get this whole misunderstanding sorted!"

Vaughn had hardly finished speaking when the car pulled up.

"Oh, and there it is!"

"Wow!" said Marion, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you knew that we weren't going to get here in time. Funny that,"

Jamie slid in the car followed by Marion and the Doctor. Packer went to open the passenger side door, but Jamie quickly jumped out of the car and stole the passenger seat from Packer before he could get into it. He rested his arm on the open window and smirked at Packer. Marion unbuckled her seatbelt and scooted to the seat closer to the passenger side door making it so that Packer had to go to the other side of the car in order to get in.

"Was that really necessary?" the Doctor asked, sounding like this wasn't the first time he'd seen the two of them get up to petty nonsense and hoped that it'd be the last time, but knew for certain it wasn't.

"Yes," "Aye,"

Packer had apparently been called by Vaughn and into another car. And so the car that they were in just the three of them and the driver who Marion was pretty sure had a gun.

The car pulled up to a gate and stopped. The two guardsmen of either side opened them and let them in. Marion scooched up on the seat and looked out the back window. Another car, the one carrying Packer and Vaughn followed right behind and then men at the gate closed it as soon they passed the threshold.

If the three of them had been entertaining the idea of hijacking the car and hightailing it out of there, that wasn't an option anymore.

The car that wasn't carrying the three of them pulled in front of their car and to the curb in front of the factory.

The car that Marion was in followed close behind and all five of them disembarked. A couple of guards stood in front of the door, holding their guns at attention.

Marion was beginning to see why the Doctor would become so sick of guns. She was starting to get sick of them too.

The men with the guns stepped aside and opened the door to allow them inside.

"Right this way please," Vaughn said. He directed the inside of the building.

"Hey, what's happening? I thought we were looking for Zoe and Isobel," Jamie said. He made a good point. Vaughn was leading the them away from the place they were trying to get to in the first place.

"All in good time, young man," Vaughn leaned over and pressed the button for floor six. That was British for the seventh floor. (At least, Marion was pretty sure that was the case. Or maybe it actually was the sixth floor. Had the UK always started on the ground floor and made the second floor on the first floor. Or was that one of those things that everyone did but the US.)

"The train and the empty crate car will take some time to get here," Vaughn looked away from Jamie and to the Doctor, "In the meantime, I'd rather like to talk to you,"

"Oh. really?" The Doctor said sounding like he'd rather do anything but.

"Yes. Those circuits you gave me, they're rather fascinating. I like to know more about them,"

The elevator stopped before Vaughn could ask anything else of him and all of them but Packer stepped out.

"Right this way please," he said pointing down the hall.

"Thank you,"

They were maybe halfway down the hall when Vaughn was suddenly in front of them again.

'Excuse you,' Marion said as he brushed past her without saying so much as a word to get to the door. He opened the wide double doors to the room.

"Hey!"

It looked identical to the one in London. In fact, Marion was 100% sure that in her universe, where this had been just a show and the Doctor was almost half a foot taller they had been the same set. The difference was what was outside.

"Doctor, it's-,"

"Confusing, isn't it?" Vaughn asked smugly.

"No. Not really. They're just two similar looking rooms,"

"They're not just similar, Marion! It's exactly the same as his office in London,"

"In all basic essentials, yes, it is. That's the secret of my success, you see. Uniformity, duplication,"

"Is that what your interior designers told you? Because I think you might've gotten ripped off so that they had to do less work,"

Vaughn glared at her. "Uniformity, duplication," he said as if she hadn't spoken at all. "My whole empire is based on that principle. The very essence of business efficiency. Do sit down,"

"Oh, how kind,"

The Doctor sat down at a chair across from the Vaughn's. Jamie remained standing and looking out the window while Marion sat down on the seat next to the Doctor's. Vaughn all but leaned over the Doctor.

"I must say I'm rather glad we have this opportunity to talk,"

"Really?"

"I should, of course, be angry with you," Vaughn sat down at his side of the desk, "You've thwarted my elaborate security precautions twice. I'd like to know why,"

"Spite mostly," Marion quipped.

"Oh?"

"It's simple. I hate computers and refuse to be bullied by them,"

"Also, your security is very easy to thwart. Maybe pay your security guys more and your interior designer less,"

The man glared at Marion and then gave a smile to the Doctor that he surely thought made him look kindly, but instead made him look like a Dreamworks character who'd been left out in the sun too long.

"Your young friend Zoe…,"

Jamie stepped away from the window and closer to him. "Well, what about her?"

"She appears to have the same instincts. She so confused one of my computers she ruined its memory store,"

"Good for her!"

Jamie placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward.

"So that's why your thugs dragged her and Isobel away," Jamie's accent sounded a little bit stronger than it had before. He was angry. That was understandable. Marion was as well.

"My dear young man, I wasn't angry with her," he shook his head, "On the contrary, I found the incident quite amusing. She's a remarkable girl. And you, Doctor, are obviously a man of no mean scientific ability,"

"Why do you say that?"

Vaughn retrieved the TARDIS circuits from inside his jacket pocket.

"Oh, my research department found these quite fascinating. There's a totally illogical factor in their construction. Are they of your own invention?"

The Doctor didn't say anything and pointedly looked away from the man.

"Ah, you're determined to guard your secret, I see. I don't blame you, and I promise not to pry anymore. In fact," the man stood up, "I'll do all I can to help you,"

"Oh, how kind,"

"Now you say you came here looking for Professor Watkins because you thought he might be able to help you,"

"That's the long and short of it yeah,"

"Then I'll try to persuade him to put aside his work and er, concentrate his efforts on your behalf. Make yourself at home,"

Vaughn nodded his head to the two of them and then left the room.

"Hey, look, you're not going to trust him, are you? I mean, what about Zoe and Isobel,"

"I never trusted him. You're the one who was singin' his praises just because he gave you a radio,"

"Aye, well-"

"Not now you two," the Doctor said quickly, "And I haven't forgotten about the two of them, Jamie," He examined the circuits the man had left behind.

"They're in that box, aren't they Marion?". Jamie sat down at the corner of the desk.

"Yup," Marion said. She uncrossed her legs and stood up.

"But, we're not going to help Zoe by annoying Mister Vaughn, are we?"

"Very true,"

"Which is why we shouldn't purposely antagonize him," the Doctor stared at Marion purposefully.

Marion sighed. "Point taken,"

"I don't think we have too much to worry about. I doubt that you could annoy that man even if you want to. He's being as nice as pie,"

"He's too nice,"

"He's being fake,"

"Aye, but why should he be?"

"Textbook Good Cop, Bad Cop routine. He's the good cop, Packer's the bad cop. He wants us to associate anything wack going on with Packer, and for us to trust him. He's failing, but you can't fault him for giving it the old college try,"

"He was a little bit too interested in these circuits for my liking,"

"Hey, do you think he knows about the TARDIS then?"

The Doctor stopped messing with the circuits and froze. He looked up Jamie.

"Well, I don't see how he could do? Marion, does he…?"

"If he did," Marion said, thinking over every word carefully, "It-it's not like he knows where it is. So it wouldn't matter in any real way. Best not to worry about it,"

"Perhaps this Professor Watkins will be able to tell us what's going on around here. Maybe he can give more detail than you can,"

"Jamie, I've surely told you why I can't say too much haven't I?"

Jamie sighed, "Aye, I remember,"

'Good, that gives me some time to come up with something,'.

Ignoring what 10 had told her and her earlier musing about the possible consequences of her actions, (and the later of those was a very strong reason) there was still something that told her that telling what was going on fully and in detail was a bad idea. It was instinctual. It almost seemed ridiculous to consider. Acting on what she knew was fine. Telling tiny details was fine. She could do that. She would do that. That was safe

But Marion had absolutely no idea how she'd even begin to verbalize this.

"That brings up an interesting question though Jamie,"

"What?"

"Professor Watkins knows what's going on here," Marion said bluntly. "And I think it's safe to say that Vaughn does NOT want us to know what's going on here,"

"So?"

"So why would he let us talk to Watkins," the Doctor mused. "He has to be planning something,"

"Do you think it has anything to do with those?" Jamie pointed out the window to a group of large, off-white spheres in the distance.

"What?"

"There, you see?" Jamie pointed at them. "I saw them when I was lookin' out the window. What are they,"

"A deep space radio communication system,"

"What?"

The Doctor retrieved a telescope from inside his pocket. He rested it on top of Jamie's shoulder.

"Now just hold still a minute. Keep your shoulder still,"

"That's odd. That's very odd. Marion's right,"

"Gee, thanks,"

"No not that, the deep space radio communication system. Why would he need one of those,"

"Who knows?" Jamie said, "Hey there's a helicopter. Could it be the Brigadier's lot,"

"It is, but Packer will be back here any second so act natural,"

"What do you-,"

Marion sat on the windowsill and made to look as if she'd just been gazing out the window just as the door to the office opened.

"Come along," Packer said. He then turned around, wordlessly telling them to follow up.

Marion shrugged. "You heard the man. Let's meet the Professor, shall we?"

The lab where Travers was "working" was on the third floor and a few twisty corridors away from the elevator and behind a metal door.

"Here you are," Packer finally said. He pressed a button on the side of the door and it slid open. Marion took note of that. An electronic sliding door was definitely a whole lot easier to lock and seal than a normal opening door. They were harder to break in and out of too. It was an interesting choice to say the least.

The door slid open to reveal a man who was somewhere between his late-40s and early-60s.

Marion wasn't great at determining ages at a glance.

He was maybe an inch or two shorter than Jamie and had short hair and an even shorter beard. He looked tired.

"Ah, Hello," the Doctor said holding out a hand, "I'm the Doctor. This is Marion," she put two fingers by her forehead in a polite salute,

"Nice to meet you, Professor," she said politely.

"And this is Jamie,"

Professor Watkins shook their hands.

"Yes, of course, I remember Anne Travers telling me about you. She was a student of mine, you know, some years ago. Brilliant girl, brilliant,"

"Yes, yes, they uh went to America, didn't they?" the Doctor asked conversationally.

"Oh, Travers was getting past it a bit, you know, and Anne persuaded him to go to America with her,"

"Ah, I see," Marion said, "I do hope that they're enjoying themselves,"

"Ah," Travers said, "You're an American yourself I see. What brings you three here?"

"We were hoping that you could look at something for us," Jamie said.

"Oh? What would that be?"

"We-," Marion's eye happened to catch the camera, "Oh nothing,"

"What?" the Doctor mouthed.

Marion turned her back to the shelf and made a pointed motion with her head towards the metal eye and mouthed "camera".

The Doctor saw where she was gesturing and nodded.

"-but the Doctor needed some help on some electronic circuits that the TARDIS needed," Jamie said. He hadn't noticed what he had.

"Really?" "Aye, aye,"

"Jamie, Jamie, I don't think the Professor wants to hear about that," the Doctor said, speaking over Jamie.

"On the contrary," Watkins said, "what Anne told me about the TARDIS was most intriguing. I'd like to hear a lot more about it,"

"Anne never saw that TARDIS. I'm sure that what she described was a lot more fanciful and cool than what it actually is," Marion paused. She felt kind of bad bad-talking Honey like that. "I mean, it's not that it isn't super duper cool, but I'm sure Anne exaggerated a little bit,"

"Anne said that you three were interesting as well,"

"That was most certainly an exaggeration,"

"I should warn you that Anne Travers allowed her imagination to run a little wild," the Doctor said.

"You mean to say there is no such machine?"

Both he and Marion were pointedly looking at Jamie as if to trying to hint to him how absolutely amazing it would be if he were to stop talking. Marion herself was shaking a hand near her mouth just out of view of both the camera and Watkins in what was supposed to be the universal gesture for stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop it.

Jamie, like Amy, failed to take a hint.

Maybe the gesture was universal everywhere but Scotland.

"Of course there is," He seemed confused and kind of annoyed that Marion and the Doctor were playing dumb.

The Doctor moved towards the shelves and pointed to the camera. It looked like a giant eye in the wall. It was honestly kind of funny how little effort was put into hiding it.

"Jamie, I think that there are other more important things to talk about at the moment!"

"Oh, I see, yes,"

The Doctor started to dig into his coat looking for a magnet.

"Tell me, Professor," Marion asked, "What are you doing here exactly?"

"Oh, it's very simple, really. I've been developing a new kind of teaching machine,"

"Oh yes? A teaching machine?" the Doctor gave up on his left coat pocket and was looking through his other one.

"What's it called?" Jamie asked.

"I call it the Cerebraton Mentor,"

"Oh, Aye," Jame said in that tone of voice he tended to use when he in fact had no idea what was going on but knew enough context clues to pretend like he did. Very valid of him.

The Doctor finally managed to retrieve the magnet from his bag and was angling himself in such a way that the camera wouldn't be able to see him until it was too late to do anything about it.

"So tell me about this machine of yours! It sounds pretty interesting," "What's the catch" is what Marion thought, but didn't say. She more or less knew that already.

"The main difference from the other teaching machines is that it is able to induce emotional changes in the subject,"

"Oh," Jame said.

"They can't listen in anymore," the Doctor said. He stepped away from the wall.

"What did you do?"

"It's quite simple Jamie. I put a magnet over the eye over there. It ruined the circuits. And they won't be able to watch us,"

"Of course," Marion said. "They know what we've done. So we've only got a few minutes to talk. Professor Watkins, we need to get us all out of here yesterday,"

They quickly gave Watkins a rundown of the situation. He retrieved the bits of circuitry and wiring and metal that he had already put together.

"But what can we do? If, as you say, they have Isobel and your young friend then we're entirely at their mercy,"

"No, no, not entirely. There's my friend the Brigadier, remember,"

"Do you think he can help us?"

"He a part of a branch of the military specifically designed to deal with weird stuff. Of course, he can,"

'And if he can't well...I can't be killed and am strong enough to rip a robot's arm off his body. That HAS to be something right?'

It wasn't that Marion thought that she could like, single-handedly One-Punch Man her way in and out. But if there had to be something that she could do, and if push came to shove and she had to do it, she'd do it.

After all, it wasn't like she could die and even if she could well. She knew for a fact that this universe could be just fine if she was dead or otherwise near permanently out of commission.

She wa-

Marion decided that it would be best to take that train of thought to a station, melt the tracks down, and board off all the exits.

The point is that if the Brigadier couldn't do anything, she'd figure out something and do it herself. Especially since it was probably her fault in some way.

"Have you any idea why Vaughn would ask you to make this," Marion waved her hand trying to find a word for it, "Cerebraton?"

"I don't know. He's a ruthless man, without morals or principles. His object, I'm sure, is to get complete control of the electronics industry of the world!"

"I wonder…," the Doctor trailed off, "I've a nasty feeling he's aiming somewhat higher than that,"

"Yeah, I doubt he'd make an emotion changing re-education machine just to sell a few hundred more radios,"

Jamie put his ear on the door to the room.

"Doctor, quick, somebody's com-"

The door slid open nearly making Jamie fall over. The Doctor quickly moved to remove the magnet, but Vaughn was quicker.

"Don't bother, Doctor. Allow me," he retrieved the block magnet from on top the camera eye "A simple magnet. I congratulate you," he said, examining it. He handed it back to the Doctor who stuffed the magnet back into his coat.

"Oh, how kind,"

"However you must surely realize that it's forced me to consider other methods to make you talk,"

"It's not our fault you used a giant dumb-looking eye for your camera instead of something inconspicuous and then put in basically the first place anyone with half a brain would look. You could at least have it surrounded by something so it couldn't be taken out with a fridge magnet. Frankly, I think that we're both in the wrong,"

"I think that it would be in the best interest of you and your friend Zoe if you stopped talking for now young lady,"

"So you have got her!" Jamie lunged at Vaughn but was grabbed by Packer and one of the many nameless and faceless guards under Vaughn's employ. "Listen, if you've harmed her in any way-,"

"You may still be adolescent enough to make idle threats, young man, but I can assure you, I am not," Vaughn said, brushing the younger man off. He turned to the Doctor.

"Otherwise I shall hand your friend Zoe over to Packer. It's a simple choice and shouldn't take you longer than an hour to consider,"

Marion wasn't quite sure what that was implying, but if it meant anything even remotely close to what she thought it might…

Well, it had better not.

"Take them away, Packer,"

One of the men grabbed Marion by her shoulder and shoved her forward and more guards grabbed the Doctor and Jamie.

"Alright,"

"Alright,"

"No need to shove,"

Packer had stayed behind for a few seconds to talk to Vaughn, but he quickly rejoined them. When they were closer to the elevator, he dismissed the three guards. Marion supposed that he felt confident that he could hold them in place with just himself and his gun. Or, alternatively, he dismissed them because he knew they couldn't all fit in the elevator. It was a mixed bag.

"Oh dear," the Doctor said suddenly, "You know, I've always been rather scared of lifts,"

"Why?"

"He's been like that as long as I've known him. No idea where it came from,"

"I never even like to start them. One of you'll have to push the button,"

"Jamie, would you be a dear and do that?"

"Me?" Jamie said in confusion as they approached the open lift.

"Keep your mouth shut and do as you're told," said Packer.

"Yes, Jamie," the Doctor said pointedly, "Do as you're told,"

Jamie blinked slowly in realization.

"Oh, I see,"

Jamie stepped into the elevator and Marion and the Doctor backed up towards it.

"Packer! Mister Packer," the Doctor said, wringing his hands together, "I obviously can't let you hurt Zoe, and so I'll have to tell you all want to know, now,"

"You mean, you're willing to talk?"

Marion shrugged. "Keeping secrets is a whole lot of effort. It'd be a whole lot easier to just spill the beans,"

"Besides, I'm sure Mr. Vaughn will-"

"Oh speak of the devil! There he is now!"

Packer turned to look and, while he was distracted, the Doctor and Marion shoved him to the floor and quickly got inside the elevator.

"Marion! Doctor! Hurry!"

Marion found the close door button and quickly pressed it. The door shut forcing Packer to slam into the closed door.

The Doctor quickly tugged at the elevator control panel to no avail.

"Jamie, your knife!"

"Eh?"

"Jamie, give the man your knife!"

Jamie quickly grabbed his knife from his hip and handed it to the Doctor. He put his hands on the Doctor's shoulders and leaned over him. Jamie looked back at Marion.

"What is he trying to do,"

"Break the circuit,"

"What will that do?" Jamie asked.

The Doctor grabbed a hold of a panel and ripped it aside revealing a set of colorful wires.

"It will either stop the lift or send us out of control," The Doctor said, sounding panicked.

"But we're six floors up!"

"It's fine. There hasn't been a risk of elevators falling since like the 1850's. It's fine! See?"

With that, Marion grabbed ahold of the wires, planted her foot, and yanked backward as hard as she could. The wires popped out of the side panel sending Marion on her butt.

The elevator made a deeply unsettling rumbling noise. The Doctor and Jamie clung to each other while Marion remained on the floor until the shaking stopped.

When it did, Marion stood back up and Jamie and the Doctor let go of each other.

"I thought you said that the elevator wouldn't fail!" Jamie said accusatorily.

"I said that it wouldn't fall and send us to our deaths. You're still breathing aren't you?"

"But for how long? I mean, we're stuck here in this lift now,"

"No, no, it's the lift that's stuck, not us. Look,"

The Doctor pointed up to a metal panel on the roof of the elevator.

"Hey, where does that lead to?"

"Out in the shaft," the Doctor turned to Marion.

"I don't suppose that you've got any rope in that bag of yours?"

Marion gave an easy grin and reached inside her bag. "For once, yes!" Marion looked upwards at it.

"Could one of you give me a boost?"

"Certainly,"

The Doctor leaned over.

"Quickly, on my back,"

Marion quickly climbed on top of the Doctor and pressed her hand to the trapdoor. It was pushed open with relative ease. Marion pulled herself through the roof and into the elevator shaft.

The elevator shaft was maybe 7' by 6.5' with a hole in the middle leading back down into the elevator. The shaft went up several stories. Marion felt dizzy looking up at it, so she looked back down and through the hole she had just come out of.

"I'll send down a rope," she called "Give me a moment,"

Marion reached into her purse and pulled out the coiled rope. She unwrapped it a bit. She wrapped part of the coil around her arm to help keep it steady and lowered the other end of the rope through the elevator's roof. She leaned against the ladder.

"Climb up!" she called down.

Jamie climbed up first. Marion pulled at the rope, helping to carry him to the upper level. The man was surprisingly- no, that wasn't it. It wasn't that he was surprisingly light. She was just a bit stronger than she had been before.

Her arms felt very weird.

Between Marion's pulling and Jamie's climbing, Jamie was with Marion in the service corridor fairly quickly. Marion lowered the rope again and the Doctor climbed up as well. Jamie leaned down and reached for the Doctor's hand. Jamie pulled him up the rest of the way. Marion pulled up her rope and stuffed it back into her purse. There would be time to wrap it up nice later, she figured.

"Thank you," the Doctor said. He looked up the service ladder.

"Oh, my word! Well, that's a long way up, isn't it? Oh well, we'd better get cracking before they realize what's happened,"

"That'd be smart,"

Marion grabbed the highest rung of the ladder she could reach and began to climb.

"Perhaps I'd better shut this," The Doctor said.

"Aye,"

The Doctor leaned down and shut the trap door.

"Hey," Jamie said suddenly, "I've just been thinking. What happens if they get the lift going before we get to the top?"

"Why do you think I've already started climbing?" Marion called down from 7 or so feet above them. "Unless you want to get smooshed, I suggest that you hurry,"

"What!" shouted Jamie, "Well come on!"

The Doctor climbed onto the ladder and after a few moments, Jamie followed after him. Marion stopped climbing for a moment, and then, after making sure that the two men weren't too far behind her, she continued to climb.

They had been climbing for a bit and had, by Marion's estimation, reached the 7th or 8th floor. It didn't feel like it though.

Marion heard a rumbly noise below her and the sound of the elevator's chains shaking.

"Hey, that's not what I think it is, is it?" Jamie called up looking down.

"I'm very much afraid it is. Come on!" The Doctor replied sounding just as panicked as Jamie did.

"Just keep moving," Marion said, swiftly climbing up another five or so rungs. "It's gonna stop at the 6th floor so they can check to see if we're in there. It's going to stop moving in a little bit,"

They continued to climb and the elevator got closer to them.

"Marion, are you sure that the elevator is going to stop in time?" Jamie said nervously.

"Pretty sure! And anyway, if I'm wrong then you most certainly shouldn't slow down right? Hurry up,"

The elevator slowed down and Marion heard the elevator groan one last time before stopping.

"Come on," said the Doctor, "They may guess where we are and come after us,"

"Yeah," Marion said, "They've, uh, already figured it out. Vaughn's gonna call Parker an idiot for losing us,"

"Then what?"

"Then we really want to keep moving. When they see that we're not in the elevator they'll know where we are,"

"And then what?"

"Either we're fast, or we get smashed. So, let's be fast,"

Marion realized that what she said sounded a bit dark.

"It's fine, as long as we keep moving, we'll get there in time, don't worry. Just-just keep moving,"

As if proving her point, she quickly climbed up another few rungs.

The three of them climbed in relative silence for another five or so minutes. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of their feet hitting against the rungs.

Marion looked up.

'We aren't too far away from the top,' she thought. 'Just a little bit further now. You know, I really thought that they would've turned the elevator back on by now,".

A rumbling noise sounded below her.

'Of course,'

"They've started it again!"

Marion groaned and climbed a bit faster.

"HURRY," the Doctor called up to them "HURRY,"

Marion finally made it to the top of the building. She took one hand off the rung and shoved forward. Marion blinked twice, adjusting her eyes to the sunlight and climbed all the way out and onto the roof.

She turned around and grabbed Jamie's hand as he approached the top and pulled him out of the elevator. Once he was safely on the roof and trying to catch his breath, Marion pulled the Doctor out of the shaft as well.

The two of them remained hands and knees on the roof, trying to catch their breaths after such a long climb.

The two of them were severely winded. While Marion on the other hand felt fine. While she knew that she had just climbed at least half a dozen stories. Her hands did. She felt about the same as she had when she was still standing in the elevator. She stretched her arms out a bit while she waited for them to get up. Once their breathing started to sound less like they'd run a marathon and more like they'd ran up a flight of steps, Marion started walking towards the roof edge of the roof,

"We can't stay here for long. There's only so many places that we could've gone,"

"Wait a minute, Marion," Jamie groaned, still out of breath.

"No, she's right Jamie,". The Doctor pulled himself to his feet and Jamie with him. "Let's see where we are,"

The two of them joined Marion at the edge of the roof.

"Now where?" Jamie asked.

"Down there. We can't take the lift back down. Although, I doubt they'd be expectin' it,"

Jamie looked at Marion with concern.

"Marion we canae-," Jamie raised his voice a bit and his accent sounded a bit stronger than it had before.

"Jamie, Marion is talking about that," the Doctor pointed to the fire escape in the ten or so feet away.

"Yeah! The fire escape," Marion said, walking towards it, "What else could I be talking about?" Marion grabbed a hold of the top of the ladder and began to climb down. "I mean, I guess I could tie a rope around something and we could repel down? Although, I don't think my rope is twelve stories long...let's just take the fire escape,"

Marion climbed down to the eleventh-floor platform and stepped aside for the Doctor. Jamie hesitated at the top.

"Won't they be guarding the bottom?" Jamie asked.

"Normally, yes. Fortunately, no,"

Marion climbed, grabbed a hold of the next level ladder, and began to climb down that one.

"Well, not unless we're too slow. So let's not do that eh?"

The fire escape led to an alleyway with the building that they'd just came from on one side and another building on the other. To their left, there was the place that they'd entered the building in the first place from, the train yard, still full of trains. To their right, was a large open area. Maybe a parking lot or something?

"That way," the Doctor said, pointing towards the train yard, "the car with Zoe and Isobel should be arriving soon. Let's go,"

The Doctor sped off.

"Hold on!" "Wait a tick,"

Jamie and Marion ran after him.

Next Chapter: A Rescue Mission

Chapter Text

The three of them crawled under trains and over tracks.

"Do you think that they're searching for us?"

A loud siren began to wail.

"You know what Jamie, I think they just might,"

"Quiet now, Marion,"

"It's not like they'd be able to hear me over the sirens Doctor," Marion said, crawling out from under the train and looking left and right for the guards. Seeing no one, she beckoned for the two of them to come out.

The Doctor looked around as well, and then he moved towards an open railcar and climbed in. Marion and Jamie followed after him. Jamie climbed into the car first, and then he pulled Marion up with him.

"Thanks,"

Jamie grabbed a hold of the car's sliding door and slid it shut.

The boxcar was maybe 40 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet tall. When Jamie closed the door, it was hard to see anything. The back part of the boxcar was filled with those coffin-sized crates that Zoe and Isobel had been stuffed into; stacked floor to ceiling. One of those crates was on the floor in such a way that Marion had suspected that someone had still been in the process of stacking it when they had been called away. (Probably to look for them)

"Hey! Do you think that this is the train that Zoe and Isobel came on?"

Marion looked around. "I don't...see Zoe's boa sticking out. But, I don't think that'd hurt to look around for a bit would it?"

Marion crouched down and looked at the large crate at their feet. Marion, the Doctor, and Jamie crouched down and lifted the lid. It opened with a "click" to reveal nothing but a bunch of fabric.

That was odd, Marion was pretty sure that there was SOMETHING else in there. But she couldn't for the life of her remember what.

"Oh no, these are full," Jamie complained.

"Well, not quite but-,"

They heard Packer's voice loudly from outside the train car. Yet another thing Marion had forgotten.

"I want all these trains searched from top to bottom! Move!"

"Hide!" the Doctor whispered sharply, "Quickly, hide!"

Marion was going to have to do herself a favor and get herself a nice notebook. Not the one she used to rip out and leave notes for people though. It was going to be a good one. Thick. With proper binding and a pretty design on the cover. Constellations. Maybe a lock? Yeah, definitely a lock. And she was going to separate it out and write down everything she knew in its proper section and everything she was able to remember too.

Maybe then she'd wouldn't be forgetting so much important shit.

In the meantime, Marion needed somewhere to hide quickly. The hiding place didn't need to be perfect. Packer and his goons were only going to give the area a quick once-over and leave. Marion just needed to be out of sight when they did that.

One of the shelves caught her eye. It was slightly ajar from the wall and there looked like there was just enough space for her to squeeze behind as long as she sucked in a bit. With nowhere else to go and Jamie already climbing into the crate thing, Marion did just that. Marion got herself fully behind the shelf just as the train car slid open.

"You two, search this one!"

Packer and the rest of the security guards couldn't have looked through for more than a minute. That made some sense Marion supposed. There were a whole lot of train cars to look through. They couldn't be thorough for every single one of them, right?

Marion held her breath and didn't move. A few more moments and the door slid shut once again.

Marion waited for a second silently and then slid out. Jamie quickly climbed out of his crate and the Doctor emerged from wherever he had hidden. He quickly moved to the door of the car and opened it just a tad.

"Jamie, Marion," he whispered with a tilt of his head calling the two of them over to him.

"Doctor, I think," Jamie said lowering the lid of the crate carefully.

"Shush!"

"But Doctor!"

"Jamie," Marion whispered quickly, "What you have to say is very, very important to me, don't get me wrong. But, there are guards right outside this car at the moment so I think we should save this conversation for later you know?"

"But-"

"Keep your voice down,"

Jamie put his hands on the Doctor's shoulders and glanced back towards the crate.

"That thing in there, it moved. In the crate, there's something alive in there,"

"Alive? Jamie," Jamie let go of the Doctor. The Doctor looked at the crate for a moment before saying, "The darkness plays funny tricks with the imagination,"

"Marion, you believe me, don't you? Something in there moved I tell you!"

"I believe you, Jamie," Marion replied. "There's definitely something in that crate,"

"All right, let's have a closer lo-,"

"You two! Over here! Get those two girls over the Main Administration Building! Move!"

"They must be talking about-"

"Zoe and Isobel,"

"We'll follow after them in a few moments," the Doctor stated. And, after the security guards had gotten a safe distance away, they did just that.

The crate in the train car had been temporarily forgotten in favor of this new lead.

The three of them followed a good distance behind Packer and Friends until eventually, they got to a point where if they wanted to go any further, they might as well loudly declare their location for how exposed they would end up being.

"Take them inside. Central block, tenth floor," Packer ordered his men.

Marion shifted a bit so that she was further hidden back. She retrieved her notebook and made a quick note on the off chance that she forgot later.

"Central Block, Floor 10," Marion then did a quick doodle of an arrow pointed at the number 10 that said "Fairly confident that this is the 11th floor,"

Marion put the notebook back into her back. A noise caught her attention. The sound of a helicopter. She could see it quite easily. It was dark and stood out sharply against the cloudy white sky.

"Could be the Brigadier's lot!" Jamie exclaimed, "Call them up for help!"

"No, no, not yet," the Doctor shook his head, "We've got to rescue the girls first. Marion, you wrote down where he said the girls were right?"

"Yup. Central block, tenth floor,"

"Yes, yes, well let's go then shall we?"

Marion carefully glanced around the corner silently.

"The coast is clear. Shall we go?"

The three of them moved silently through the compound all the while the security alarm continued to ring.

'Honestly,' Marion thought, 'They already know that we're on the loose and they've failed to find us. They might as well just shut off the alarm at this point for Christ's sake,'

They moved carefully so as to avoid any confrontations with the guards. That was the last thing they needed.

After a bit more sneaking around, they came across a tall building that reminded Marion less of an office building and more of a large apartment building. Perhaps that's what it was. The man from earlier said that people tended to come in and not come out. Maybe this building was used as a dormitory for employees or something?

"What's that?" Jamie asked.

"I should think that's the central block, wouldn't you?"

"Pretty sure it is," Marion said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Now, we just have to get inside, grab our friends. Maybe do a bit of light vandalism when we're done. You know, if we have time and the mood strikes us,"

"Marion now is not the time for joking around. We need to find Zoe and Isobel! How do we find out which room they're in? And when we have how do we get them out?"

"Stop looking for problems, Jamie," the Doctor admonished, "Let's get along up there, shall we?"

As they moved the noisy alarm finally stopped and was replaced with something else. Vaughn's voice.

"Doctor. If you can hear me, listen," the three of them stopped moving, "You have ten minutes, Doctor. Ten minutes to relinquish your freedom. At the end of that time, your young friend Zoe will pay the consequences of your foolish and totally pointless opposition. Ten minutes, Doctor, ten minutes,"

Vaugh's voice stopped talking but, on the plus side, it wasn't replaced by the blaring headache-inducing noise. Marion said as such.

"But Marion!" Jamie exclaimed, "There's not much time,"

"Pfft," Marion waved her hand dismissively, "ten minutes is plenty of time. I've written B+ essays in 10 minutes,"

"There's just about time enough to effect a simple rescue operation. Come along,"

"Simple!" Jamie said in disbelief.

"Yup! Simple!"

Marion knew that the two girls would be visible in the windows of the room that she was in. That was simple. What she didn't know was which room that was. The three of them walked carefully around the building, checking the windows on the higher floors for the windows for the two girls. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be seen. Marion sighed.

"Well," she said, "I suppose that we could always climb up to the roof and go down from there. There's the fire escape. C'mon,"

Marion lept up and grabbed the ladder. She pulled it down to the ground and climbed up. The two men followed behind her.

Marion was able to climb a bit quicker than Jamie and the Doctor could, but this was mostly because while the two of them weren't exactly exhausted, they still felt a little tired from all the climbing they had done earlier.

Marion, on the other hand, felt like she hadn't climbed at all today. Her shins didn't sting from how many times she'd knocked them into one of the lower bars as she climbed, her hands didn't sting from gripping the rungs, and her feet didn't hurt from the thin bars pressing against the soles of her boots.

Marion of course failed to notice all of this. As far as she knew, the Doctor and Jamie just got tired quickly.

Marion made it a decent way to the top when she heard someone calling her name.

"MARION!"

"DOCTOR!"

"JAMIE"

Marion whipped her head around, trying to find the source of the noise. Ah, there it was. About a floor or two up from where Marion was, was a large floor to ceiling window. Through it, Marion could see two figures in the window.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Zoe called out.

Marion took one hand off the ladder rung and put a finger to her lips.

"It's them, look!" Jamie said, pointing at the window.

"Good. As long they don't give the game away too soon,"

The Doctor gestured for the two girls to keep quiet and move away from the window.

After a moment, the two of them backed away.

"Marion," the Doctor said quickly, "contact the Brigadier. Let UNIT know what's going on here,"

"On it Doctor,"

Marion looped an arm around one of the side poles of the ladder to keep herself secure and from falling over.

If she fell because she wasn't holding herself up properly, the radio could break and that would be a big uh-oh.

Marion tapped the button on the side and waited for a moment.

"UNIT to Operations. Over,"

"This is Marion Henson. Please connect me to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart! Over,"

There was a brief moment of silence as Marion was connected to UNIT HQ.

"Yes, Ms. Henson, come in,"

"Hello, Brigadier," Marion said cheerfully, "How quickly can you get a helicopter to our location do you think?"

"Why? Are you in trouble?"

"No. But we might be soon. That helicopter that's been flying around is from your lot right?"

"Right,"

"And it's got a rope ladder?"

"I believe so. Where are you,"

"Central Block. It's the main building on the…,"

Marion covered the receiver with her hand for a moment.

"Doctor? What side of the compound are we at?"

"The north side," the Doctor called up to her.

"Got it," Marion uncovered the receiver, "the north side. It's the main building on the north side. We'll be on the roof. It's one of the taller buildings around. That should keep you safe from cover fire. Jamie, the Doctor, and I will meet you on the roof. Have you got all that? Do I need to repeat anything?"

"No, No, I've got that. Over and out,"

The receiver clicked off on the Brigadier's end. Marion turned her's off and placed it back into her bag. She unhooked her arm from around the ladder and turned looked down at Jamie and the Doctor.

"Someone from UNIT will be here soon with a helicopter. I said that we'd meet them on the roof. They'll be here soon we had best be quick,"

Marion saw Jamie and the Doctor begin climbing and so she climbed as well so as to not hold them up.

As they climbed, the whirring sound of the approaching helicopter grew louder and louder until it was pretty much all that she could hear. When Marion finally reached the top rung, she pulled herself up to the roof and helped the Doctor and Jamie as well when they were close enough.

When all three of them were on the roof, the piolet lowered the helicopter down and down until it was hovering about 30 or so feet above the three of them. After a few moments, a rope ladder was dropped to them.

Marion caught it and pulled it down.

"You're not going to leave the lassies by themselves are you?" Jamie said shouting slightly to be heard over the turning blades and twisting blades.

"No, no, of course not. Help me to get this over the side there," the Doctor replied.

Together, they pulled the ladder so that it was hanging over the side and over the window to the room where Zoe and Isobel were being kept.

"Well, down you go Marion,"

'What,'

The confusion on Marion's face must've been more visible that Marion had thought.

"I supposed Jamie could do it, I suppose,"

"Eh?"

If Marion said no, and Jamie fell or something, it'd be her fault. She'd antagonized Vaughn a bit more than what had happened in canon, and they might not hesitate to...Marion didn't know. Something.

So Marion shook her head.

"No, no, no, no," she said, reaching to grab the strap of her purse. "I've got it. Just keep on the lookout in case they start firing at guns. It wouldn't do for Isobel or Zoe to get shot. Hold this for me," Marion held out her bag. "I think I want my weight to be a bit more balanced for this,"

With that, Marion grabbed a hold of the rope ladder and began to climb down the side of the building.

"Wish me luck!"

The siren went back on.

"Well, that's just super,"

Climbing down a ladder, Marion quickly learned, was a whole lot easier when the ladder in question was stiff and didn't move. The whirling blades of the helicopter and the downdraft they caused also made things difficult.

'C'mon,' Marion thought to herself, 'Just move carefully. Watch your step, don't look down, keep calm,'

One rung after the other, Marion slowly lowered herself down the ladder. At one point, the wind picked up and Marion gripped the ropes until Marion didn't fear that she was at risk of falling off and costing them precious time.

Thankfully, Marion made it to the correct window without any real issue.

"Hey look, it's Marion!" Marion could hear Zoe say, although it was muffled partially through the window.

Isobel and Zoe went to barricade the door while Marion slid the window open. Marion was confused as to why it was so easy to open the window from the outside. But then again, this was just about fourteen yards up. They probably thought that no one would be dumb enough to try an open a window that high from the outside.

Jokes on them.

Marion climbed up a little bit higher and scooted to the side of the ladder so that only her right arm and leg were actually on the ladder. She took a deep breath and stuck her left leg through the open window.

"Marion! Be careful,"

"I'm always careful, Zoe….And don't give me that look!"

Once her leg was mostly through the window, she grabbed the windowsill with her left arm, and then she pulled herself inside safety. Once both her feet were fully planted inside of the building and there wasn't a risk of her biting concrete, she reached back through the window and grabbed the rope ladder. She pulled through the window and held it out and steady.

"Climb on. I'll hold it in place for you two until you're far enough up, then I'll join you,"

"Oh! You don't think we're going up that, do you?" Isobel took a step back.

"Well, I know you don't want to stay here as a hostage, so unless you've got a secret elevator to the roof in here I'm afraid you're going to have to. If it makes you feel better, climbing down is a whole lot worse than climbing up, now, up you go!"

Marion held the ladder steady so that Zoe could climb the ladder and then Isobel. Once the two of them were high enough that their climbing wasn't making the ladder sway too much, moved to join the ladder, but then noticed the camera on the wall. Marion looked at it for a moment, and then at a chair that had been placed in the room. She stepped away from the window.

'It's not like they don't already know we're here. But still, I might as well,'

Marion held the chair by its, leg, winked at the camera's glassy eye, and then slung it around as hard as she could. The camera fell to the side, remaining on the wall only because of the wires connecting it. The blinking red light of the camera went black and Marion pumped her fist.

Camera destroyed for no real reason other than the fact that she'd felt like it, Marion joined Isobel and Zoe on the ladder.

Marion climbed pretty steadily. The distance between Zoe was already at the roof and Isobel wasn't too far behind. That was okay. Marion could climb fast enough to be in the roof in a blink. And besides, this way, Marion didn't have to worry about her climbing making the ladder sway and making the other two climbers nervous.

Speaking of things that make people nervous:

"Guards, follow me! There she is! Fire!"

the sound of gunfire

Marion couldn't exactly dodge or duck behind anything from her place on a rope ladder on the side of a building. The best thing that she could do in this situation was to go as fast as she could and hope for the best.

Climbing up a rope ladder took a lot less time than climbing down one is something that Marion was quickly noticing. That was definitely a plus. In only about a quarter of a minute, Marion was high enough to be able to pull herself over the ledge and onto a roof.

Marion felt something hit her leg. Marion brushed it off. She didn't know what it was.

'It can't be a bullet. I think I'd know if I got shot ri-HOLY FUCK!'

Marion's train of thought was cut off when she reached one leg over the side of the roof and put her weight on the other.

"Ow, fuck!"

"Marion?"

Marion let out a shaky breath.

"I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth trying her best to keep her weight more on her right leg than her left leg.

It hurt a lot less than Marion had thought it would, but it still hurt a hell of a lot. It felt like some asshole had poured a glob of hot glue on the back of her leg. In fact, it was exactly like hot glue. The pain was hot and wet, but, was also slowly but surely lessening. It still hurt like a bitch though, and she felt something on the back of her leg.

'I'm fine, I'm fine. Doctor, could you give me my bag back?"

"Marion, what's' wrong?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine,"

"Oh, thank goodness that's over," Isobel exclaimed.

"We've still gotta get on the helicopter and leave," Marion reminded.

"Oh, no,"

"Oh yes,"

The hot glue sensation was continuing to lessen and lessen but it still hurt to put too much weight on it.

Zoe climbed up first, then Isobel, and then the Doctor followed closely behind the two of them.

Marion found out quickly that while the pain in her leg had lessened, it was not a smart idea to climb using it, so she let the Doctor climb up first in hopes that by the time it did, the pain would lessen further.

At least the question of "did all non-lethal injuries take a bit to heal or was it just spinal ones" was finally answered.

By the time Isobel had safely gotten into the helicopter, the gunfire sounded a lot closer. The Doctor climbed in next.

Marion experimentally put a bit more weight on her leg. It still hurt but nowhere near as much as before. She ended up having to pull herself up, put her good leg on the rung, and then pull herself up a rung again and again and again until she was safely in the helicopter. The Doctor pulled her inside and Marion pivoted herself on her non-injured leg and took a seat in the helicopter.

She felt the back of her leg where the shot had hit and felt something: a hole in the back of her pants leg and something smooth and raised against her skin. She touched it and hissed. She took her hand away and looked at it. Something had felt warm and wet but, despite what Marion had expected, there was no blood on her fingertips.

'That's odd,'

Jamie still wasn't on the helicopter.

"Come on, Jamie. Hurry up!"

Jamie was in fact, still on the ground.

"Jamie!" said Marion holding onto one of the helicopter seats to brace herself and leaning out the window on her good leg. "You need to come on!"

Jamie didn't move, he just stared at something to his left.

Marion wished that she could've been able to shove the doorstop under the door to the roof to make it that much harder to open,.

And then she thought about how she might've had that kind of time if she hadn't wasted precious seconds breaking that stupid camera.

'I probably wouldn't have gotten shot in the leg either,' she thought with a groan.

Jamie made it up about a third of the ladder before the Doctor realized that there was likely no way Jamie was going to be able to make it up there without the guards either climbing the ropes themselves or worse, Jamie getting shot.

"Get us out of here!" the Doctor ordered the pilot. "HOLD ON JAMIE!" he called down to the man currently holding onto the ladder for dear life.

Jamie slowly began to ascend the ladder as the soldiers continued to fire at them. Marion kept a lookout and monitored the man's progress.

The pilot had the tough job of trying to maneuver away from the gunmen and keep Jamie from getting shot while at the same time trying to keep Jamie from falling to his death due to the funky and unstable movements of the craft. Marion knew this, which is why she wasn't too angry at him when a jerky maneuver the pilot was forced to make caused Jamie to lose his grip right before he reached the inside of the helicopter.

Marion quickly grabbed a hold of the young man's wrist and tugged him safely into the helicopter.

The sensation of doing so felt just odd.

It was like she was playing tug of war. On one side was gravity and on the other side was just her and gravity was winning. Then right before her muscle started to burn and ache, the person who was SUPPOSED to be on her side and not lounging on the bleachers finally realized where they were supposed to be and joined her at the rope and suddenly, pulling Jamie into the helicopter was just as easy as anything.

Like all games of Tug-of-War, once you started to win, you've already won. Period.

Marion stepped got back to her feet, pulling Jamie with her, and in the process, she leaned hard on her leg.

It didn't hurt anymore and whatever that smooth thing that was in her leg was, it had slid down her pants leg and onto the ground of the helicopter. Marion picked it up before scooting to the side and giving Jamie some room.

'Is that a…,'

"Marion!" Isobel exclaimed, "Is that a bullet?"

"Uh…," Marion looked down and shifted her pants leg so that she could see the back of her leg. There was a hole on the back of her leg with blood around its edges. Oddly, there wasn't any blood on her skin itself. She looked down at that, and then at the bullet in her hand. "So, that explains that then..."

"Doctor! Marion's bleeding!" Zoe shouted, "I think she got shot!"

"Marion?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Marion waved her hands quickly, "It doesn't even hurt anymore,"

The radio speaker at the front of the helicopter started making the fuzzy white noise of a radio that's on but the person on the other end has yet to start saying anything.

"Jimmy! What's happening, Jimmy? Do you want ground support?"

"Hello, sir. No, mission accomplished. On our way back now,"

"Splendid. No casualties?"

"No sir. Although Ms. Henson was shot in the leg,"

"I'm fine!" Marion said loudly. She didn't know if the Brigadier could hear her, but still. She was FINE.

"Not to worry. We'll see to her leg once she gets to the infirmary,"

"I AM FINE!" Marion said again.

"We'll be there shortly. Over and out," the connection ended.

"I'm serious," Marion insisted. "I'm fine! I heal super quickly. Shouldn't you know this by now!"

"How did you get shot?" the Doctor asked. He looked concerned despite the fact that as far as Marion was concerned, he should've known that there was no real reason for him to be concerned.

"They got me in the back of the leg while I was climbing the rope ladder on my way up. It's kinda my own fault when you think about it,"

"What do you mean by that?"

"So, remember when I said that part of our rescue plan was to commit a little vandalism if the mood strikes us?" Marion put a hand on the back of her neck, looking sheepish. "Weeeell, I decided to take a few seconds to break the camera. If I hadn't done that I probably would've gotten off unscathed,"

"What are you talking about?" Isobel sounded utterly confused which was pretty fair. Marion was saying some admittedly wild stuff.

"I heal inhumanly fast for some reason. Still not sure why, but it's pretty useful for things like this so you aren't going to hear me complain. Getting shot felt like a glob of hot glue to the back of the leg and nothing more,"

'Tore a hole in my pants leg though. Shame, these pants are rather comfortable. I can mend it maybe. And, the stain isn't anything some peroxide can't fix right?'

"Anyway, the weird thing is that there's blood on my pants but none on my leg," Marion mused.

"It went back in,"

"P-Pardon!"

Marion had no idea what the Doctor was talking about there.

"When you bleed. As long as it doesn't get on anything else, your blood flows back into you,"

"What! That's so weird!" Marion said with a shiver. Then she thought for a moment. "Although, I suppose that does explain what happened in the cathedral,"

"What cathedral?"

'Shoot' That was technically a spoiler wasn't it? Marion quickly looked for an excuse.

"We're almost at UNIT base and the cathedral incident is kind of a long story. How about you ask me when we get back at the TARDIS alright? Alright,"

When the helicopter landed, Marion all but threw herself out and onto the tarmac.

Sergeant Benton went out to meet them. If he was a Sergeant. Marion was pretty confident that he was one. Or maybe that wasn't until later. Yes, that was definitely later. Unless…

The (soon-to-be) Sergeant escorted the five of them into Airplane where UNIT had made their headquarters.

"You were lucky," the Brigadier said instead of a greeting, "Dead Lucky,"

"And a good afternoon to you too Sir,"

"They said that it would be a simple rescue operation," Jamie glared at the Doctor and Marion. "Simple," he scoffed. The Doctor wandered off to examine something off to the side.

"I'd say it was pretty simple," Marion said with a shrug. "We did the mission and no one got shot! A-!"

"But Marion!"

"Fine, B+ then. But it's not like my getting shot mattered anything," Marion received nothing but concerned stares. She groaned loudly and put her foot on the chair and rolled up her pants leg. "See! I'm fine. Not even a bruise. I'm not a horse. You don't need to take me out back or anything. Geez. I think we should focus less on my leg which isn't in danger, and more on Isobel's uncle, who is!"

"As soon we return to base, I'm going to raise hell and get some action for Mr. Walkins and Marion, even if you swear that you're fine, you're going to medical just so they can get your leg checked out. I've already called them,"

"There's not even any-," Marion said under her breath. "Nevermind. Why do I even bother,"

"You think they'll listen to you now?" Jamie asked the Brigadier.

"No one, not even Tobias Vaughn, can go as far as trying to shoot down one of my helicopters,"

"Yeah, it was a pretty dumb move,"

"Oh," said Isobel, "I wished I had my camera. I could have got a fortune with those pictures,"

'I technically could've gotten a picture of it with my phone.' Marion thought, 'But, on the other hand, it's not like they've got a printer or any other way to get them off my phone so it's a moot point,'

"Yes, it was a pity," Marion jumped. She had forgotten that the man who had piloted the helicopter was still standing behind them. "That would have clinched it as far as the Ministry are concerned, sir,"

Jamie finally noticed that the Doctor wasn't still standing next to them and was in fact looking at some flashing lights that probably were giving off some kind of reading.

"Doctor? Hey, Doctor, what's the matter?"

"Hmm? Jamie, that object on the other side of the moon..."

"Other side of the-?" the Brigadier said in confusion.

"The moon. The TARDIS travels in space, remember," Marion said sitting down in a nearby chair backward and her arms on the top of the backrest and her chin on her arms.

"Yes. The TARDIS went wrong, you see, and we had a sort of, well what, Doctor? A forced landing?"

"I had to turn on the HADS Zoe,"

"Yeah. Marion turned on the HADS and so when they fired the missile at us, we ended up here!"

"Who fired the missile at you?"

"Well, whoever it was who was on that spaceship on the other side of the moon," Zoe said as if it was obvious.

"Spaceships? On the other side of the Moon?"

And then there was that deep space radio transmitter. I wonder..."

"Look, sir," said Jimmy, "I know this may sound ridiculous, but could those reported sightings of UFOs have anything to do with this?"

"UFOs? What's that?"

"Unidentified Flying Objects Jamie. It's simple. If it flies and you've no clue what it does, then it's a UFO,"

"Like a flying saucer!" Isobel said.

"Yeah. Like a flying saucer,"

Jimmy shook his head, "But these weren't saucers. All of the sightings were quite clear on that,"

"Could you show us any photos of these that you have?" Marion asked.

"We've got several in the files. Shall I get them?"

"If you would be so kind,"

"Right," Jimmy left to retrieve the photos with a quick nod of the head.

"Unidentified Flying Objects," the Doctor said under his breath.

"I'm sure that we can make them into identified Flying Objects Doc,"

Jimmy came back with a thick manilla envelope full of glossy photographs. They all depicted different scenes from all over the world from the United States, to Egypt to England. The one thing that they all held in common was that they featured odd white spots in their skies.

The group looked over them.

"Mean anything to you?" the Brigadier.

The Doctor made a considering noise.

"Possibly. How long ago were these objects first sighted?"

"Reports have been drifting in for well over a year now. We sent up fighter planes to investigate, but nothing ever came of it,"

"The odd thing about these sightings is that they usually seem to disappear somewhere over southeast England," Jimmy added.

"That's interesting," Marion murmured. "Very, very interesting,"

"But isn't that where all those factories and laboratories of Vaughn's are?"

"That's right Isobel,"

"That's why I brought it up," Jimmy said with a nod.

"Jamie, when you were hiding in that crate, you say something moved?"

"Aye Doctor, it was wrapped up in that gauze stuff,"

"Did you recognize it at all?"

"No," Jamie shook his head.

"Doctor, what do you think it is?" Zoe asked.

"I don't know. We've got to find out and quickly. Marion, do you know?"

Marion began scratching at her head. "I think I might...but I'm not...you should check it out for yourself. It's not anything dangero- I mean, it's not directly dangero- you can check it out safely I mean. The thing itself but you still should be careful?" Marion thought that over in her head, "Yeah, we should investigate, and it's not necessarily dangerous itself, but we've gotta be careful,"

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

"Well, obviously," the Doctor picked up one of the photos, "they bring these things, whatever they are, up from the factory in the country to the London premises. That's where we're going to find the answer,"

"You mean go back to Vaughn's place?" Jamie said in disbelief.

"I don't think that's wise, Doctor. You've been lucky so far,"

"Aye, if you think I'm going back inside there-,"

"Jamie, we have to find what is inside these crates. Brigadier, have you got a map? Including the London premises,"

"Yes, yes, I think so," the Brigadier called out to someone working near a cabinet, "Sergeant Walters!"

"Sir!"

"May we have map number eight please?"

"Yes, sir!"

"I'll get it, sir," said Jimmy. He retrieved it from Walters and handed it to him.

"Thank you. Here we are," He unfolded the map, placed it on the table, and pointed to points of interest, "Now this, this is the whole area in detail. London offices, warehouse area, and surrounding buildings,"

"Oh yes, I see,"

"But Doctor," Jamie brought up, "you can't go back the same way again. They'll be waiting for us this time,"

"Very good point," Marion agreed.

"Anything I can do to help?" the Brigadier asked.

"Brigadier, you don't, by any chance, know where I can find a canoe?"

"Why yes. We do have a couple, why do you ask?"

The Doctor pointed to a waterway leading into the main area. "What if we took this waterway? They never would suspect we'd do a thing like that,"

"Ah," Jamie said, "I don't know about that,"

"Jamie, it'll be fine. But if you really, really don't want to come, the Doctor and I can go while you stay here,"

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," the Brigadier suddenly said.

Marion blanched, "What are you talking about,"

"Regardless of what you think I do believe that you should go get checked your leg checked over. Look at the blood,"

The statement was directed towards Marion, but she could feel the people behind her glancing at her leg.

"Wha- I'm fine! I don't need to be checked over. Seriously," Marion said with a groan.

"Now Marion," the Doctor said, tapping her on the shoulder. Jamie and I won't be taking that long. And while we're checking the crate, you can get your leg checked over and by the time Jamie and I return, everything will be all sorted!"

If looks could kill, the Doctor would have curly white hair and be almost a foot taller.

'I'll remember this,' she thought.

But instead of saying that, she sighed again.

"Fiiiine. I don't think three people would fit in a canoe anyway. But!" she crossed her arms, "When they say 'you're fine' to me, you WILL get a nice round of 'I told you so's. And that's that on that. Hmph,'"

Next Chapter: Investigative Underground Photography

Chapter Text

While the Doctor and Jamie were canoeing in the canal, Marion was sitting in a small room with her coat off, her sweater sleeve pushed up to her shoulder, and a blood pressure cuff around her upper arm.

"I don't get it," she complained to the medic, "I got shot in the leg. I healed fast, you saw my leg and no wound. Why do you need to check my blood pressure? I'm healthy,"

Well, there had been the random dizzy spells and nausea, but that wasn't something that she intended to bring up. She wanted to leave the med bay as soon as possible and bringing that up wasn't the way to do it.

The medic she had been brought to was working out of a room roughly the size of an accessibility bathroom stall. There was a small cot pushed against the wall, a tall file cabinet, a desk, a couple of backless rolling chairs, a set of drawers with medical stuff inside of it, that kind of thing.

The medic herself was a tall woman with her blonde hair pinned up in a professional-looking bun, brown eyes, and a buttoned white coat.

"It's standard procedure," the woman (she didn't have a name tag) replied, sounding like she was tired of having to repeat herself (although Marion didn't know if this was her being tired of Marion or just tired in general). She squeezed the pump thing a couple more times and then examined where the needle was pointing.

"One-twenty over eighty," the medic removed the cuff and Marion pushed her sleeve down and shrugged her coat back on.

"Is that good, bad…,"

"It's average. Exactly average," the woman said something under her breath about how she would've expected it to be much, much higher.

"Well, then. It seems that I was right all along. Leg's fine, blood flowing like it's supposed to,"

Marion stood up and stretched. "Sorry to waste your time Dr-,"

"Reeves,"

"Dr. Reeves," Marion nodded, "Thank you very much for checking me over. Do I have to get some kind of note from you, or am I good?"

"No," Dr. Reeves shook her head.

"Well, thank you anyway,"

With that, Marion opened the door out of the room. Benton was standing right behind it waiting for her.

"The Brigadier told me to escort you back to control once you were done with Doctor Reeves,"

"That was nice of him. This plane isn't too big, but knowing me, I'd still get a bit lost," Marion said with a small laugh.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not as bad as all that. So, what did Dr. Reeves say?"

"Same thing as I did. The leg's fine," Marion shook the leg in question. "Didn't even leave a mark," Marion unconsciously adjusted her turtleneck to better cover her neck.

"I figured that. After what happened in the underground, if you say your leg is fine, then I believe you. Frankly, I expected you to make a bigger issue about the Doctor going off without you,"

This wasn't the first time someone had mentioned that it was odd that she was so willing to let the Doctor go off on his own. Martha had said something similar.

What was that about?

"What happened in the- nevermind," Marion held up a hand at Benton opening his mouth, "I don't know what happened with the yetis. It's happened for you sure, but not for me. So don't tell me. I already have had most of the future spoiled for me. I want to keep that last little bit a surprise, you know?"

"I think I understand that well enough," There was something in the man's tone.

"Oh dear," Marion said, "Did I say something in the underground? I'm sorry,"

Benton let out an exhale that might've been a laugh. "You could say that,"

"Oh dear," finally, they came to a door and Marion could hear Isobel talking behind it. "Well, this is my stop. It was nice talking to you,"

She nodded her head sharply and walked through the door.

"It's not my day, is it?" Isobel bemoaned.

"Hey I'm back," Marion said, waving a hand. Moments after she walked into the room, Jamie and the Doctor followed close after her.

The people who had been sitting down shot to their feet.

"Doctor, any luck? What did you find out?" Zoe asked.

"Some old friends of ours are here, Zoe," Jamie replied.

"Who?"

"The Cybermen,"

"Yes, I'm afraid it's true, Zoe," the Doctor said wringing his hands.

"That's what you suspected, wasn't it?"

"What on Earth are Cybermen?" Isobel asked, sitting on one of the tables.

"They're from another world," the Doctor said sharply, "Inhuman killers,"

"You mean they're from space, or something," Jimmy said sounding baffled.

"Yes" "Yes" "Yup,"

"And that spaceship we saw on the other side of the Moon," Marion could practically see the gears turning in Zoe's head, " was obviously their craft,"

"What are they? Little green men? "

"Ha! No!" Marion said. It wasn't a laugh, "They were human once, Isobel or at least something fairly close. But they traded their emotions and feelings for metal and hollowness. They're ruthless and feel and fear nothing. And they think that the way they are is the peak of evolution and won't be satisfied until everything in the universe is either dead or just like them,"

The room was silent.

"You can't be serious?"

"We've met Cybermen before and seen what they can do," Zoe said with a nod.

"Where exactly are they and how many?" Jimmy said, reminding them that he was a military man and dealing with this stuff was his job.

"At Vaughn's headquarters in London," Jamie replied.

"Oh, there's hundreds of them, possibly thousands,"

"So Vaughn's helping them," Zoe said in confusion.

"Zoe, it wouldn't be the first time some idiot teamed up with aliens to take over the world in hopes of gaining power or knowledge or something. And it won't be the last either,"

'Sometimes, it's the same idiot trying to get his ex to notice him,' Marion thought, thinking about the Master.

"That deep-space radio transmitter is obviously being used by the Cybermen spaceships to home in on," the Doctor said rubbing his chin.

"So that's what those UFOs were," Jimmy said in realization, "But there have been hundreds of those sightings,"

"Hundreds of Cyberships,"

"Aye, they must have quite an army by now," Jamie nodded. "The thing is, where are they hiding them all?"

"Vaughn's got quite a big compound. Can't be that hard to hide them. All those buildings plus who knows what he's got buried underground,"

"Maybe Marion, maybe. Captain, where's the Brigadier,"

"At the Ministry of Defence. I better get on to him immediately and tell him what you've discovered,"

'And I probably tell him what Dr. Reeves said so he doesn't make a fuss,' Marion thought.

"No, no, Captain," the Doctor got up from his chair and moved closer to Jimmy. Jamie followed close behind him. "The people who went into Vaughn's headquarters were different when they came out, weren't they?"

"Yes,"

"Do you think they're being controlled, Doctor?" Zoe asked.

"Controlled?"

"Yes, the Cybermen have means of controlling people's minds. They appear to be almost normal but they're not, they're controlled,"

"Who is the Brigadier is immediately answerable to?" the Doctor said in the tone of someone asking a question that they are sure they know the answer to and know that said answer is less than ideal.

"Major-General Rutlidge,"

"And," Marion said pressing her palms together, "I don't suppose that the Major-General is say, Phil Rutlidge or something and not say, Billy Rutlidge, the man who was formerly willing to investigate Vaughn visited his factory, and then suddenly changed his mind?"

Jimmy was silent.

"Worth a shot,"

"Walters," Jimmy said.

"Yes sir!"

"Try to contact Major-General Rutlidge,"

"Yes sir!"

Walters nodded sharply and dialed a number into a nearby phone. He put the receiver to his ear.

"Yes? Yes Hello. Yes, this is Sergeant Walters from UNIT HQ. Yes. I'm attempting to contact Major-General Rutlidge. It's very important,"

There were a few moments of silence.

"Where is Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. He was supposed to talk with him earlier today. Yes. I see. Are you sure Miss? I see. Right. Thanks," He hung up the phone. "Sir!"

"Got him?" Jimmy asked. Everyone could tell from Walter's face that he wasn't successful.

"No sir, General Rutlidge's secretary said he left some time ago,"

"I see," he said with a sigh, "What about the Brigadier,"

"Apparently he wasn't there long, sir. He must be on his way back now,"

"Right," Jimmy said with a resigned nod, "Doctor, it seems we're too late. The Brigadier's already been in to see Rutlidge,"

"Oh dear,"

"So Vaughn knows for certain that UNIT is investigating him then?" Marion shrugged "So what, I think the helicopter escape gave that away,"

"Ah, but Marion. We have reason to believe that the Brigadier's superior is working for Vaughn,"

Marion slumped her shoulders, "You're right. That does make things a bit trickier. Not impossible though, not impossible!"

"Of course," said Jimmy, "The question is now, where exactly do we stand with Rutlidge?"

"And an even bigger one is what can we do to make it harder for the Major-General to order y'all to drop the investigation,"

"Perhaps if we could just show them some proof of cybermen, well, they'd have to believe us? Wouldn't they?" Zoe brought up.

"I certainly hope so," the Brigadier said as he walked into the room.

"Ah, hello Brigadier. I assume the meeting didn't go the way that you hoped,"

"I'm afraid not Ms. Henson. Rutlidge refused to do any kind of investigation without more concrete proof. He says that since we were technically trespassing in a secure area, Vaughn ordering his men to shoot us at isn't enough to warrant an investigation into International Electromatics,"

"Come take a look at this,"

The Doctor called to the group of them. He had gotten ahold of a map labeled drainage system and it had given him an idea.

"There are plenty of canals like the ones that Jamie and I took to Vaughns, and if a city wants to have something like that, and also avoid getting flooded when it rains, there needs to be some way to get rid of water when it overflows correct? It seems to me that that would be an excellent place to hide an army" He pointed to one of the many tunnels. "You see, a network of tunnels underneath London,"

"Yes. And look," the Doctor said, tracing one of the lines with his finger, "There's a main flood relief sewer running right underneath the warehouse,"

"Yes, but if there's water in the sewers, wouldn't that affect them?" the Brigadier asked.

"Not unless Londoners are rich enough for there to be gold dust in your water supply," Marion replied, "Cybermen are allergic to that. It messes with their air filters or something? I don't know. It hurts them. I'm certain of that,"

"Besides, many of these tunnels are dry and only flood during heavy rainfall,"

"What do we do," Isobel asked sarcastically, "pray for a cloudburst?"

The Brigadier gave her the side-eye. "Miss Watkins, this could be very serious,"

"I'm sorry, but, well, it's a pretty fantastic story to swallow,"

"Yes, but so was the attack from the Yeti, but nevertheless it happened," The Brigadier sounded frustrated.

"With all due respect sir, she's right. No one believed in the Yetis until they saw them. If you go to Central Command with this story, they'll think you're mad,"

'You'd think that they would remember the time the underground was full of death foam and yetis and everyone had to evacuate, but you'd be wrong I guess,'

"I just think it's kind of wild that they set up UNIT as an agency to deal with weird stuff, but then when you come at them with the weird stuff that you find, they're like 'Oh dear. That's a bit too weird for me to believe,'" Marion said that last part in an exaggerated high pitched noise. Then she sighed. "Ridiculous. It just makes things so complicated,"

"You both have a point," The Brigadier said, sounding resigned, "Of course, what we really need is some sort of evidence, some proof, something they couldn't brush off as 'too weird',"

"It might be better at the moment to find out what form this attack's going to take," the Doctor said. It was clear he was thinking hard about something. You two!"

"What?" "Yeah?"

"Have you still got the transistor radios that Vaughn gave you?"

"Aye here," "Sure, it's in my coat,"

Marion reached into the pocket on the right side of her coat and retrieved the small device from it. Jamie and Marion held their radios out to the Doctor. The Doctor took them and opened the back of one. He saw something there that caught his eye, and so he opened the other to find the same.

"Brigadier, have you any IE equipment here?"

"Er," the Brigadier seemed to think about it for a moment, and upon realizing that he didn't know, he asked the Captain. "Jimmy, have we?"

"Yes, we have, sir. A computer and various radio and radar components,"

"May I see them, please?" the Doctor said quickly.

"Certainty. Jimmy, would you?"

The Doctor stood up and followed Jimmy to the small half walled up area where communications were done.

The Doctor was going through every single bit of machinery and the rest of them were left in the main part of the control room to talk.

"Now you really believe that these Cybermen things are down in the sewers," Isobel said leaning back in her chair.

"Seems to make sense," the Brigadier replied.

"But you can't do anything about it without proof or evidence,"

"Central Command would think I was mad,"

"Although..." Marion said mostly to herself, "You'd think that after the yeti incident they'd at least give you the benefit of the doubt. UNIT's job IS to investigate,"

"Well, the answer's simple, surely," Isobel said, "Go and get some proof,"

"And how do I prove that in the sewers of London there are creatures from outer space waiting to attack us. Go and get one?"

"You wouldn't stand a chance against them, Isobel," Zoe warned.

"The thing about Cybermen. Is that if one manages to get a hold of you, them killing you outright is the best-case scenario," Marion scratched her head. "Sorry, that got a bit dark there,"

"Well, you wouldn't have to go anywhere near them. Photograph them," Isobel said standing up to face the Brigadier directly.

"That's not a bad idea," the man paused, "Now, wait a minute, it'd be pitch dark down in those tunnels,"

"You could use an infrared film, a twenty-five filter on a thirty-five mil camera with a telephoto lens, and why, you could take frame after frame without getting anywhere near them," Isobel had claimed to know a lot about photography earlier, and she had clearly not been exaggerating her knowledge.

"Is that all gibberish or do you really know what you're talking about?"

"Of course I know,"

"Photography is like, her whole thing Brigadier. She knows what she's talking about,"

"If you're right-,"

"And she most certainly is," Marion interrupted.

"It could well be the sort of proof I need to get some action,"

"Well, all I need is my cameras from the house and then I'm all set,"

"Right, let's head over there,"

"Now, wait a minute, This is hardly a job for you," the Brigadier cut them off.

"Why ever not?"

"Well, you're a young woman, this is a job for a man,"

"Well, of all the bigoted, anti-feminist, cretinous remarks!"

'Yikes,' Marion thought. Marion had almost forgotten at the Brigadier was younger, and had yet to fully understand the simple universal fact that without women throwing themselves into danger, basically nothing in this universe got done.

"Oh, you, you, you man!"

Marion personally, might've said something more colorful than "man", but to each their own. Such as "dipshit" or "dumbfuck".

"I'll get in touch with my photographic unit and get them onto it,"

The Brigadier left.

"Oh, that stupid bigoted idiotic-"

"You know," Marion said under her breath, "The irony here is that in a few decades, that idiot's daughter is going to be the head of UNIT,"

"Aye, well, he's right, you know,"

"Jamie McCrimmon," Zoe said in outrage.

"Jamie," Marion said in a tone as sickly sweet cheap cotton candy, "I know that bad takes like that are a side effect of when you grew up, but next time you're climbing up something, lose your grip and are about to fall to your death, I'll keep what you've said in mind,"

"Well, he is!"

"Just because you're a man you think that you're superior, do you?"

"Now, I didn't say that," Jamie smiled in the way that men sometimes do when they say something profoundly stupid, "Of course, it's true,"

"Yeah, yeah," Marion said crossing her arms, "Call me when you rip the arm of a homicidal robot that tries to strangle you to death,"

She pulled down the collar of her turtleneck showing the hand like marks.

"Aye, but that's different!"

Marion crossed her arms and shifted her weight. "Oh? How so? Do tell, enlighten me, "

"You don't count Marion. You're a lot stronger than most women. You're as strong as a man in fact!"

Jamie spoke in that special tone people use when they say boneheaded things that they likely legitimately think are compliments.

"...," Marion stared at Jamie in silence and then glanced at Zoe and Isobel. The three of them shared the same "get a load of this dude" an expression that always appears when two or more women are in the vicinity of a man saying something stupid.

"Right..." Zoe said, "Isobel, Marion, are you coming?"

"What a splendid idea,"

"Oh, I thought you'd never ask!"

The three of them began walking away and towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Jamie asked.

"Do you think we should let him come with us?" Zoe asked as if they couldn't hear him talking.

"Oh," Isobel tilted her head, "I don't know. Men aren't much good in situations like this. What do you think,"

"Ah, I don't know," Marion was already taking her notebook out of her bag and was writing a quick note to the Doctor letting him know where they were going to be. "I think it's up to y'all,"

"Gone to London to take a few pictures. If you have to come, DO NOT send any Privates into the sewer with us and be SUPER careful." she accompanied the drawing with a tiny doodle of her face giving a wink, folded it in half, and wrote "Doctor" on the outside of it.

"Just a moment," Jamie asked, "Where are you going?"

"London. Coming?"

"London? Now we shouldn't do anything without the Doctor!"

"It's fine, I've left him a note," Marion waved around the sheet of paper and folded it in half. She scrawled a fancy M on the front of it, with her Sonic Pen so that there was no chance that it'd be missed.

"And It's not like the Doctor is going to do something that gets himself in danger between now and when we leave," Marion and the rest of the girls were almost out the door.

"Are you coming?" she called, leaning back?

Jamie looked back at the Doctor, and then to the three of them and then ran after them.

When they were almost out of the airplane base, Jimmy stopped them.

"Oh, where are you four off to?" he asked.

"London!" Isobel said, "We're picking something important for the Brigadier,"

"Yeah, the Doctor is busy, so it's just us,"

"Ah," Jimmy said, "I see. Ask Sergeant Benton if he'll to take you there then,"

"Yes!" said Zoe, "We will! Thank you!"

It took very little convincing to get Benton to give them a ride to Isobel's house to grab her camera equipment and then to take them to a manhole. And, Thanks to Zoe's picture-perfect memory, they knew exactly which manhole cover they were needing to go to. That helped. It was a lot easier to get people to ask fewer questions about why they were taking you somewhere if you knew precisely where that place was.

The jeep finally came to a complete stop and Jamie once more tried to convince the girls to stay back.

"I'm just saying that we should at least let the Doctor know first,"

"And I'm saying that I left a note. It's fine! You can handle yourself boyo,"

"Scared, Jamie?" Zoe taunted.

"No. I mean, I don't even know what we're going to do,"

"No I dOn'T eVeN kNoW wHaT wE'rE gOiNg To Do," Marion mocked. "We're just taking a few photos. Jeez, you'd think that we were about to do heart surgery,"

"So, come on then," Isobel climbed out of the passenger seat and the other women followed her out the car.

"Och. Women," Jamie groaned.

"I heard that!" Marion called back.

"Now ladies, and Jamie, right now, what we want to do, is keep on moving to where we're trying to go and to the sewers, because right about now, the Brig is going to radio Benton, and we don't want to be here when that happens,"

"Now do you know that," Isobel asks?

"Same way that I know a lot of things," Marion said, answering absolutely nothing. "Is this the right cover Zoe?" Marion asked, pointing to a manhole cover right at her feet.

"Oh! You know that that's not an answer Marion!" Isobel said, stomping her foot.

"Oh, I'm well aware. That's the point dear," Marion crouched down and pulled the manhole cover aside leading into the sewer and set it down. "Well, down you go. You first Jamie!"

"Me? But, er. Och," Jamie sighed climbed down the ladder. Zoe climbed down after him.

"Right, come on, Isobel, you too Marion,"

"Shush!" Jamie shushed her.

"Lower your camera down to me," Zoe whisper shouted up to her,.Isobel sat down with her legs hanging down into the hole and handing the camera down to her.

"Hey, you!"

Marion and Isobel's head whipped around to see a skinny looking man with a fun mustache and one of those tall hats that Marion was pretty confident weren't a thing in England in the year that she had come from. But then again, she didn't know enough about England to be able to say one way or another.

Actually, she might need to know more about Britain because if the way things were shaking up, she'd be spending more time in space and in Britain that she would be spending back home in America.

"What do you think you're doing going down there for, you young idiots!"

"Isobel, hop down, and be careful. I'll handle this,"

Isobel nodded and climbed down into the sewer just before the officer came up to them.

Marion had a simple task. Either convince the man to not climb down into the sewers, or fail and know that her failure was the reason that someone died. Well, no, that wasn't fair. Her options were to either make things better or make things the same. That was a little bit less pressure.

"Hello officer," Marion said with a nod. She pulled her psychic paper out of her pocket and held it at the ready. "Is there an issue?"

"The sewers are dangerous for children. Call your friends back up here or else I'll have to call in and get them out myself,"

'Children!' Marion thought. 'I mean, I know I'm a bit baby faced but a child!

"That won't be necessary officer," Marion flashed up the psychic paper.

"You're safety inspectors?"

'What again?' Marion looked at the ID. There it was.

"Yes. We're checking to make sure that the tunnels down there are structurally sound. Wouldn't want rain lapping away at the foundations and making the roads collapse now would me?"

"I suppose not,"

Marion glanced behind the officer and saw Benton pulling up in the Jeep.

"Yes, yes, it'd be awful," Marion said quickly. She tucked the psychic paper back into her coat pocket and began climbing down into the sewers. "Look, I've got a lot of measurements to take and places to check. I don't want to take too long or else the boss'll get pissed. You know how it is. Goodbye now!"

Marion let go of the last couple of rungs and landed in the sewers on her feet. Her ankles burned a bit in protest but she was able to walk it off quite easily.

"Let's go," Marion said to the rest of the gang. "Benton's right up there. Come on. This way,"

The four of them walked deeper into the tunnels with Marion and Jamie walking in the front and Zoe and Isobel taking up the rear.

The sewers were just big enough for them to not feel claustrophobic. The walls were curved over and around them as if they were in a large concrete tube with a flat grey brick path. It was lit only by short strips of fluorescent light on the walls just in the middle of the laws. The lights were there, but there were dark spots between lights where nothing could be seen and Marion stepped carefully in these areas lest she trip over a stray brick and eat concrete.

They weren't walking for long when Zoe stopped and raised a hand.

"Shush. look. I think that there's something further down the tunnel,"

"Oh," said Isobel. She began to adjust the camera around her neck and prepared to snap the photos,"

"I think that we better get back," Jamie said, ushering them backward, "Come on,"

"Jamie, don't be a spoilsport," Marion said. Jamie flinched away as she poked him in the side, "You can't run away AND take photos with a mid-20th century camera. If we run, we'll have wasted everyone's time,"

There was the sound of heavy footsteps and metal mesh brushing against metal in the distance.

"Oh Jamie, look! I was right!"

A shadow grew larger and larger on the wall of the sewer.

"Fantastic," Isobel crouched down and held the camera to her eye.

"Come on, back," Jamie warned. He was holding his hand to the side of his leg that Marion was pretty sure he kept his knife on. Marion wasn't sure why. She wasn't sure what a simple knife would be able to do against a Cyberman, but then again, if there had been an official Doctor Who Monster Manual complete with stats and weaknesses of each creature, she had neither read nor heard about it.

Isobel continued to snap photos of the approaching Cyberman.

"Come on, you're just risking our necks," Jamie urged gesturing for Isobel to step back.

"Isobel, as much as I hate to admit it," Marion said, grabbing ahold of Isobel's shoulder, "we really should get movin',"

"Just a couple more..."

"There isn't time!" Jamie picked up Isobel from off the floor and started to tug her away,
"Come on! Out,"

They ran back the way they came through the tunnel.

Marion listened carefully as she ran alongside them for the sound of someone dying. She didn't think that their footsteps could possible be loud enough to drown that kind of noise out.

Once again, it seems impersonating civil servants saved lives!

On the other hand…

"Hey, we need to be really careful about now," Marion said. "I, I think I hear something up ahead,"

"What?" Jamie asked.

"Cybermen. They might be between us and our way out,"

"Then we had better hurry then," Jamie picked up the pace and the rest of their group joined him.

"I see something!" Zoe said.

There, standing a little way in front of them was a pair of Cyberman. They had their backs turned to the four of them, which was a good thing, but with the wailing of the other Cyberman behind them, it was anyone's guess how long that was going to last.

"Right, come on," Jamie tried to tug Zoe in the opposite direction but she stood still.

"Jamie, No!"

"What?"

"There's Cybermen in both directions!"

"Then what are we to do!" Jamie fired back.

"Just stay calm, and against the wall. The shouty Cyberman that Isobel took a snap of is acting pretty erratic yeah, all we need to do is stay against the wall and stay quiet. It'll run past us,"

"What kind of plan is that?"

"One that'll work!" Marion said hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt, "and, if that goes wrong, I'll try to distract them while y'all run. Sound good?"

"It sounds reckless,"

"Well, that's not a no,"

"But!"

"Stop moving!"

Next Chapter: Notes Are Left For A Reason You Know

Chapter Text

They shoved back, pressing themselves against the wall. Like Marion had predicted, the cyberman paid them no mind. It was as if they weren't there at all.

Which was good because if the Cybermen had attacked them, it would've been kind of embarrassing.

"He ignored us," Zoe said in shock.

"It's out of control. It's sort of wild,"

They walked back the way they came further away from the cyberman to get a bit of distance just in case it turned around and came after them. It was Jamie's idea.

"I told you, Jamie," Marion put her hands on her hips, "Do you really think that I would say something like 'stay put and don't move' when there's a shrieking monster barreling towards us unless I was 100% sure that it'd be fine? Because I wouldn't,"

Marion was aware that some of her actions might have been seen as reckless to an outside observer. But it really wasn't. The only reason that she didn't attempt to take Isobel and Zoe out of climbing down here is that she knew that they were going to be okay. If she hadn't. If Isobel had been killed or something, she would've sided with Jamie (at least on whether or not they should climb down here. Not on his 18th-century views on women), or told Benton the truth about where they were going point blank so that he'd stop them.

She would've literally blown up the sewer system before she'd willingly bring them to their deaths. If the universe had a problem with that, it could sic reapers on her.

They heard a voice calling in the distance. " I don't know. Come on, let's try this way. ISOBEL, where are you? Jamie? This is Captain Turner! Where are you?"

That sounded like Jimmy. Was Turner his last name?

"Now," she said, "let's go"

"That's him. Somebody's coming. I told you," Isobel said, excitedly.

"No wait," Jamie whispered sharply, "No, wait. There are Cybermen between us, remember,"

"What are we going to do? We just can't wait here. Some more might come along."

"Not to mention, they might not know that the Cybermen are even here!" Marion whispered, "They could be in danger!"

"Are you down there?" Turner called out to them.

"Look, at least let him know we're here," Isobel reasoned.

"Aye," Jamie replied sarcastically, "and the other Cybermen too,"

Marion looked at the three of them and then down the tunnel. Making up her mind was easy.

"You three stay here," she called over her shoulder.

"What?"

"I'm going to go warn them. You stay put until I call you over okay,"

"But Marion. That's dangerous,"

Marion turned around to face Jamie, walking backward as she did.

"Maybe for you Jamie. I'll only be away for like, 5-10 minutes! I'll be fine," Marion waved his concern off.

With that said, Marion turned back around and raced down the tunnel following the sound of the shouting cyberman. It didn't notice her presence, and it turned down another tunnel. Marion could hear the men speaking up ahead and through a different tunnel.

"Someones coming," she heard a voice say.

That voice was coming from straight ahead and not from the tunnel that she was already heading down. Not the one the deranged cyberman had gone down. She continued sprinting towards the sound of the UNIT men.

"Who? Is it one of them?" another voice said.

She finally was close enough to be able to see them properly.

"It's me, it's me," Marion said, slowing down.

There were four men in the tunnel. Marion had hoped that there would be three but, seeing as she didn't quite remember what the face of the Private who fled and got shot was. Maybe they read her "No Privates" note and took her word for it.

People kept mentioning the events of the Web of Fear as if she had done something interesting. She hoped that whatever it was was something that made her credible enough for them to take the seemingly random things she had said as what they were. Warnings.

"Jamie, Zoe, and Isobel are still in the tunnel but-,"

"Then why aren't they here,"

"I'm trying to explain! I ran ahead to warn you. There's Cybermen on both sides of the tunnel. The one that came from where I did, he went down a different tunnel than I did. You can hear that wailing noise right? He walked right past us. Somethin' is wrong with him so he didn't pay us any mind but that doesn't mean it'll always do that. Also there's another two deeper that way and those might actually cause some harm. So, if we're going to do something, we need to do it quick before-"

"Do Not Move!"

"That happens,"

Marion felt that she was going to have to take all variations of "quick before x happens out of her vocabulary,"

It never seemed to go well.

The Cyberman's voice sounded like if someone spoke through a desk fan, autotuned it, and then ran it through a syth.

"Sergeant," Jimmy-no wait, Captain Turner said, "grenades,"

"Do Not resist. You Will Obey Instructions,"

"What do you want us to do?" Turner called out to them, likely trying to distract the Cybermen from the grenade.

"You Will Come With Us. Obey,"

Walters placed the grenade in Turner's hand. "Ready sir,"

The wheezing noise was back. The crazed Cyberman flailed through the tunnel. That answered where that tunnel he had ducked into went. The main two cyberman who cornered them looked at each other for a moment and then looked behind them at the source of the noise.

The noise was very loud and the low ceiling made it echo throughout the entire tunnel. It seemed that a derangeded member of their kind was a significantly more pressing concern to them than less than half a dozen humans. They attempted to restrain him.

"Now!"

Turner and Walters pulled the pins out of their grenades and hurled the explosives at the distracted Cybermen.

"Get down!" Turner ordered.

The five of them dropped to the ground and covered their heads with their hands.

There was a loud, booming, popping noise, and then a few seconds later, there was another. They looked up. Two of the cybermen were on the ground and didn't seem to be moving, but the other one was on his feet. Albeit, shakily. He held onto the wall for support and moved like he'd been dragged to the roller skating rink by his friends and, unfortunately, did not know how to skate.

But all movement is bad movement when the thing that's moving was SUPPOSED to have just taken a pair of grenades to the face.

"And again, Sergeant," Walters said, gesturing for a grenade.

"Grenade, quick! Come on, Perkins, Come on,"

'Wait, Perkins? Dammit,'

Perkins, who was a Private, a rank that Marion had SPECIFICALLY written in her note not to bring along. Was it that hard to just NOT bring a Private? There had to be other people on staff. But no. Then again, it's possible they didn't notice the note. They were in a bit of a hurry once they found out, and they hadn't needed a note in the Omega timeline to know what was up.

It was possible that they just hadn't seen the note. If that was the case, then Perkin's being here was her fault for not being as clear.

Perkins suddenly shot up and Marion prepared to leap up as well to grab him.

"It's too late, Sergeant. I'm getting out!" he began to run.

"Get back here!" Marion shouted, getting to her feet and racing after.

"Come back you two!"

Marion chased after Perkins. Part of the goal was to catch him, but the other part of it was to be between him and the cybermen. She was able to do both. She lunged at him and at the same time she felt something hit her. And she felt herself falling as her vision went black.

'Hey, at least this is probably not going to leave a mark,' she thought.

Had she been anyone else, she would've been dead before she hit the floor.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tok.

8 5 19 14 15 20 3 8 1 18 7 5

How does one go about describing the sensation of getting shot by a cyberman? Short answer? Excruciating! Long answer? Imagine you live in a large old house. It's been in your family for as long as anyone can remember perhaps even longer. It's a nice house and you live there alone only ever leaving the house to get food to eat.

In this house are huge bay windows with window seats resting in them, these are mostly for guests. At just the right time of day, the sun shines through the windows and warms the seats creating the perfect rest spot for a snake or a cat or some other animal that craves those warm spots.

1 18 5 25 15 21 19 21 16 18 9 19 5 4 4 5 1 18

It felt a bit like how that warm sunlight patch might feel.

Did I forget to mention that in this metaphor, you are a vampire?

Because in this metaphor, you are a vampire.

Basically, it burned. A lot.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock

The ticking hadn't stopped and Marion wondered at what point she was going to be alone in a room with an analog clock that was just tick tick tick ticking like normal and have a panic attack about it.

8 1 14 15

Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick

The way the ticking stopped and started compared to all the other noises was jarring. One moment, she could hear the reversed clock, the next moment, gunfire. And it sounded like the gunfire had been going off for a while, but she just had been unable to hear it.

It was kind of like she and everyone else spent all of their time tunned into a certain radio channel. When she d- when she got injured enough that if she were anyone else she'd die she started tuning into somewhere else. Somewhere where there was no noise but ticking. And, you could only listen to one frequency at a time. She had changed the channel back to the "real" world and all that was playing was gunfire.

Marion realized that her eyes were closed and blearily opened them. The grey brick was directly in front of her face. She had fallen against the wall. A shadow loomed over her as if someone was standing there and she felt something on her wrist and them something on her neck, and then on her wrist again. Then something began shaking her.

"Hnnn?" she groaned.