Lona, the blond haired superstar of the school, was cowering in the corner, hiding behind all her classmates. Her mascara was running down her face onto her "imported" dress. Teachers, all dressed up for the high school prom had made a sort of line in front of the senior class, though the fear was easy to read on their faces. The…intruders? pranksters? people with antennae? were standing in front of the group of seniors. They were brandishing some form of firearms and were talking to the group. On the floor was a teacher who had blood pooling around his head. He appeared to be very dead.

A red-haired girl looked at the scene through the gym door window. Some class president Lona made. the girl thought. Can't say I blame her though. Not as if she was raised with a backbone. Hello, what's this? Why's that freak walking through them? Why is he going up to Lona?

"If none of you will tell us where it is," growled the one with the most paint on him. think he's the leader "then we will kill this female." he pointed the gun at her head "We have no wish to harm you, we only want the transporter. You will recognize it as a black, small, oval shaped rock. Hand it over and we will leave you in peace!"

Lona started crying harder. "Please, don't kill me! I don't care what you do to the others or what you take, just don't kill me!"

"Silence!" the…person yelled. "Simply give us what we demand!"

"I told you, I don't know-!" the Thing hit Lona hard with the butt of his gun. She fell to the floor, blood pouring from a cut in her head.

The red-haired girl could stand it no longer. She didn't particularly like Lona, but violence was violence, and she figured she could lead the attackers away.

She kicked the gym door open with her foot and walked in. Pulling a revolver out of a shoulder holster, she fired a single shot into the air. Everyone turned toward her, including the 7-foot, tomato colored people. Reaching her hand into her pocket to grasp the thing, she prepared to hold it up.

"Alright! I don't know who you are, or exactly what you're doing here…but is this what you were looking for?"

The ten attackers lifted their guns and pointed them at the students. Leader hissed at the red-head, saying "Hand it over, and we won't kill your companions."

"What makes you think I care about them? Do I look as though I'm dressed to associate with them?"

Glancing over her jeans, boots, and tee-shirt, Leader had to concede that she didn't look like she was in the same social class the others were. "If you care not for their lives," the others turned towards her, the guns following, "perhaps you will give it to us to save your own."

"I would, but I don't feel like it. You'll have to come take it from me." She put her rock inside her bra and raised her eyebrow at Leader, daring him to come forward.

Leader didn't seem fazed. Bending down, he yanked the unconscious Lona up by her hair. Pulling a knife out of his belt, he held it to her throat. "You may not be their friend, but you are still human. You will not stand by and watch her die. Hand over the transporter!" A line of blood appeared as he pressed the blade harder against Lona's neck. Two other things did the same with different girls at a nod from Leader.

"Put down the knives or I'll shoot you all."

Leader laughed. "You are human. You are weak! You cannot kill."

"Watch me." The girl raised her revolver and shot Leader, and the two others. With a howl of rage, the remaining 7 rushed at the red-head, but she was already through the outside gym doors and down the street.

What on earth do they think this thing is? Doesn't matter, I've got to lead them away. I'll have to loose them until I can use my cell phone. Where to go? Not a busy place, who knows what would happen. Where to run, where to run? The old shopping center! Half a mile. I can do half a mile. I should have known something like this would happen on the first time I wore make-up.

As her body grew tired, as she tried to stay ahead of the creatures, her thoughts dissolved into a single chant. Run. Run. Have to lead them away. Run. Run. Have to lead them away.

Suddenly, she was hit from above. "Give it to us! Give it to us!" screamed the creature that had caught up with her. He was clawing at her chest, making large gashes, trying to reach the rock. As she fought, he bit her shoulder. Screeching in pain and rage, she pulled the knife out of the back of his belt, and drove it into his back. Once, twice, thrice she did so. The creature cried out in agony. She pushed him off of her, stood up, and, running on solid adrenaline, jumped over a pile of bricks and-

Crashed right into a wall of clothes.

Whoooooooonnnnnnnnnnggggggggg…

The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS's front room. He had just left the Earth after saving Christmas (again) by stopping a space-cruise ship from plowing into Buckingham Palace. He had been about to catch a supernova and use its energy to land wherever he may, when he had heard the sound of something hitting a wall. It had sounded like it had come from the place he kept all the clothes he had collected in his travels.

Never one to shirk from possible danger, or from a mystery, the Doctor started walking in that direction. "Hello? Someone there? I'm not going to hurt you, just want to know who you are. Lose your way?"

He walked around a corner and started climbing the stairs. Nothing seemed wrong. He was starting to wonder if he was losing his mind for real when-

Bang!Bang!

In less time then it takes to blink, someone had rolled partway over the ledge above him, shot twice, and moved back. He touched a spot near his temple. His hand came away bloody. A female voice with an American accent rang down to him.

"Okay buddy, this is how it works! I can see what you're up to quite easily, so don't try anything funny! Keep your hands up, if you have to rest them put them on your head, because if I see your fingers go lower than your eyes, you'll have a black dot between them!

"I don't want any fancy explanations about who you are, how I got here, why you kidnapped me, or even what this place is. All I want is for you to put me right back where I was, understood?"

The Doctor looked puzzled. "What?"

The girl sounded exasperated. "Look, I've had a long day. I'm sure you want to get back to what ever you were doing, so let's try to make this easy, alright? I'll give you the quick story: I am me. I have a revolver that has just been reloaded with its full 6 shots. I don't miss unless I plan to. You are you. You sound as though you're from the UK. I don't know, or care what the Brits want with a Yankee girl like me. All I know is that what I was doing was important, so kindly put me back."

The girl rolled back over the edge, a revolver clutched in her hands and a very nasty look in her eye. "Now."

The Doctor made one of his faces. "Well, you see, I would, except that I have no idea who you are or where you came from. So I can't really help you until you tell me. Tell you what," he said, brightening up. "since you seem rather un-eager to share anything about yourself, how about we exchange information? You ask a question, I ask a question. How's about it?"

As the girl thought over this, the Doctor examined the half of her he could see. She looked rather disheveled, though he certainly wouldn't say that to her face. He couldn't see her shirt, as she was wearing a white shawl that he had picked up in a bazaar a long time ago. Judging from the dark stains that were on the right shoulder and chest area, he deduced that she was bleeding, far too much than was good for her. The girl's face was bruised and cut, as were her arms. Her hair looked at though it had been in a bun earlier, but had been pulled loose. It looked like she had fallen, then been attacked by a mad dog.

"First question." she said suddenly. "And it's this one only because you're trying to give me the run around. Where am I?"

"You're about 34.6 million light-years from Earth, just to the right of the Falzarian sun, which is going to go supernova in about 10 minutes, so we need to make this quick. Can I put my arms down?"

"You're being held at gun point in your own base, you've been shot at, and you could get killed at any moment and you want to put your arms down. I knew the British were crazy, but you have exceeded my wildest expectations. I think you've been trading with America too long. You can sit if you want, but keep your palms flat on the floor, away from your pockets. Twitch a finger and I'll blow it off. Second question: What, precisely, with full explanation, is the thing I'm in?"

"Technically speaking," the Doctor replied while he sat down, "you're in my closet. If you really want to be picky, you're onboard the TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It's a space ship. Inside's bigger then its outside. What's your name?"

"I'm called Kavrin. Yours?"

The Doctor could see that Kavrin was relaxing. The gun was no longer pointed directly at him and she had lost a bit of her tension. "Kavrin. Not an average name so I'm going to assume it's a nickname. I'm called the Doctor. Nothing else, just the Doctor. How did you get here?"

She shifted herself into a sitting position, but where she would still have a clear shot. "Doctor, if I knew that I'd be the happiest girl around. Are we really 34.6 million light-years from Earth?"

"Yes we are. Where are you from? I can at least put you back, when you're done trying to kill me."

"I'm from America, specifically California. How did you get so far from home, Doctor? I didn't know the red-coats were so advanced. I knew they were smart, but not like this."

"Well, I'm not actually British. I'm…well, never mind what I am, let's just say I'm not human. What happened to your shoulder?"

Kavrin suddenly bristled. She brought the gun up again as she started to stand. "Never mind what's wrong with me, I'm still able to give your heart an extra valve without messy surgery. Now get up, lead me to your control room and-" Kavrin gasped and fell against the spiral stairs, clutching at her injured shoulder. The Doctor got up and started moving up to help her but she quickly lifted the revolver up.

"Step back slowly. You come that close to me again and I promise I'll kill you! I've already killed 4 people today, and I'll make it 5 if I have to. Large, ugly things they were. Red and white, with antennae. I shot them in defense of others. I didn't like the other people, oh no. Lucky them I was there. I wasn't going to go, I most certainly wasn't. Then Mrs. President, Lona Sheen tells me I'm part of the decorating staff for the prom. Poor Lona, stupid Lona, lucky lucky foolish selfish Lona. Almost killed. But I saved her. Yes I did. Saved her, I did."

The Doctor stared at Kavrin, trying to figure out what was making her babble so. Death snapped minds, but she was human. Death was a common thing. She had been able to stand while he was talking to her. Was her adrenaline finally receding? Or was it blood loss?"

A drop of something black-green came off her finger. Grixzen poison. But they're mercenaries. What were they doing on Earth?

"Lona laughed at me. Oh, she laughed. She won't laugh anymore. None of them will. I saved them. I escaped too. Silly silly tomato people chased me. Followed me for a stupid rock. Thought it was their transporter. Stupid, stupid aliens. Just a rock. Tried to kill me for just a rock." Reaching into the shawl, Kavrin pulled out the rock. It wasn't very large, and looked more like an eraser. She looked at it hard.

"No. Not a rock. Something important. Don't know why. Very important. Can't let anyone else have it." Kavrin started to slide down the wall as her jabber grew softer. "Can't let anyone get it. Can't…let anyone…get it."

Her head sagged forward as she slipped into unconscious.

*Constructive crictisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*