Author's Note/Disclaimer: I don't own the Doctor (unfortunately ;P ), or any of the monsters unless otherwise noted. I don't own Rick Riordan's demigod universe or the way he portrays any and all aspects of Greek Mythology. I do own Odessa, she's original, but she's created within Riordan's world, which I do not own. Obviously. This is set before ten regenerates, after Donna, and sort of AU/outside of any other storyline of his. And finally, in medias res, allons-y!
Also if you've read this chapter before, I've retroactively made minor changes as of (3/26/2014), so you're not crazy.
I raced around the corner. The monster had come this way, I was sure of it. The room was dark, but turning on a light could spook the beast. Instead, I raised my sword, Lykos, allowing the soft glow of the Celestial Bronze blade to illuminate the space. The dull flicker cast nightmarish shadows on the walls and ceiling. The coffee cart in the corner stretched up the wall. The lifeless florescent light fixtures danced across the unfinished ceiling like nymphs, and the plant in the cube three rows to my right grew taller and taller, and grew long, fearsome claws.
No, wait, that wasn't a plant.
A gravelly voice said, "Come on then, humaaann," and I ran.
Not away from it, mind you. This was a pursuit. I hadn't chased the ugly thing into this building just so I could run away when it decided it spoke English. I ducked left, into the nearest cube and stood on the desk, crunching some papers in the process. Hopefully, that would be all—I looked around the desk and located a stack of business cards—Kuri Hunt had to worry about Monday morning. Sorry about your papers, Kuri. Something crashed behind be and I spun, swinging my blade wildly—I mean, with utmost precision and grace.
A man in a suit was standing in the corridor, surrounded by broken glass. He examined the floor around him. "Oops."
I ducked. Was he an employee? Had he heard the ruckus and wandered in off the street? Why on earth would he do that? A high-pitched whine filled the space. "End of the line!" He called out. Had he followed me? Or was he addressing the monster? Still crouched on top of the desk, I sort of squat-waddled to the other side of the cube, where the desk met the partition, and peeked over the top. At this point, I wasn't sure whom I was hiding from. Behind me, the monster roared again. The man made a face. "Oh, you don't have to be rude." He had spiky hair and sideburns, and spoke with an English accent like the Geico gecko's.
I heard a crunch and knew what it was before I even turned around. The monster had found me, and it had just stepped on the papers I'd knocked to the floor only a moment ago. Its ugly, vomit- green face was only a yard from mine. I swung Lykos. The monster dodged, but not quickly enough. I caught its shoulder (or, shoulder-area?) and it bellowed. The beast reeked like bad breath. It stumbled backward, clutching its shoulder in its enormous claw.
All of a sudden Sideburns appeared at the end of the aisle, holding a jug. I was still in Kuri's cube, but I took several steps backward anyway and bumped up against the rear partition. The man—who was obviously insane—ran toward the still-moaning monster and uncapped the jug. When he was within range, he thrust it forward, emptying the contents onto the creature. Its skin steamed and it howled in agony. Then, it exploded.
That took a minute to process. It had really exploded! Popped like grossest water balloon of all time. Monster guts were everywhere. The cube wall had shielded me, but from what I could see, the aisle was a complete mess. I stepped out on my toes, trying to avoid the slime.
Sideburns poked his head out a few cubes down. "Brilliant!" he declared.
"Disgusting," I decided.
He looked at me for the first time. "Right then. Have a nice day. Don't mind me!" he said, and jumped over the partition into the cube behind him. But I wasn't about to let him get away that easily.