Attention attendees there's no reason—
A massive meteor smashed through the ceiling of the arena, trapped in place by powerful forcefields.
Not to immediately relocate to the shelter below
The Sponsors helped guide everyone to the arena below, they were potential customers to pay more money for future events. They needed to survive, for the sake of profit. Players were sucked down a hole and pushed into a massive shelter, a mile apart from anyone who could care about their predicament. The bombarding shower of meteors could be heard even far below ground.
"Well, at least we know that none of us have rides outside, otherwise this would be horrible." Frankie said, several of the players groaned.
"This is most disgraceful," one Sontaran player said. "We are trapped like cowards without a proper opportunity of dying in battle. And solar reports would have told us of a meteor shower. Who is responsible for this?"
"I believe I can claim that responsibility."
The Doctor walked in with Max right behind her. Her ally was quiet, they had made a point of agreeing that under the circumstances, they would not call her 'Doctor'. Max knew better than to ask why, someone who walked around with the kind of talents she wielded made many enemies.
"My name is Smith, Jane Smith. You all know Max, she has been a competitive force in the madness and has told me your situation. I can help."
The various players were quiet. Even Max's team were less enthusiastic. It seemed that stepping into the Tardis had altered the way Max saw things, how could it not?
"Are you the one who wielded the meteors?" a Silurian said.
"I am." The Doctor said.
Silence filled the room. Max could feel it being traded for another emotion. One that she didn't have a word for but the sensation was very familiar after dealing with Sponsors. Horror laced in rage.
"Is it you?" a member of the Slitheen family said, filed claws raised.
Others started to stand up, cold eyes burning down on the two of them.
"Max, step back." The Doctor said.
The athlete was reluctant but did as she was told. It should have been impossible to have so much anguish ignited from every corner of the room, most of these species were lightyears apart. But the Tardis…. if it could truly go anywhere and everywhere, the question stopped becoming if and instead became how much.
"Do I need to say it?" She said.
The groups were starting to take steady steps closer. At least 200 souls, with burning rage in their eyes. Even though they seemed confused by the face, they accepted something Max hadn't learned yet.
"Or is it enough to know that, for once, I'm here to save your lives?"
They all stopped, bodies tensed but prepped to tear them down the Doctor without hesitation.
"You've disgraced our people, our cultures, and efforts to gain power with blatant cruelty, Doctor, we should have ended things with the Pandorica." A Silurian said. "Clearly this must be handled personally."
The group regained their momentum, but the Doctor did not budge.
"If anyone thinks they won't follow me to the grave or worse, take your shot."
The Doctor did not raise her arms, had no gun, and yet the fear in the eyes of the players in front of Max was greater than anything seen when it comes to the Sponsors. But she remembered being in the Tardis, so much power and yet the Doctor didn't do anything really. She only put herself in the middle when most would have turned away. That fact fought with the fear in a similar way to how her fellow prisoners struggled with the truth of the Doctor's words, she was their only real chance. The aliens sat down in unison, eyes fixed on the Doctor, not daring to show their back.
"Hey, Doc," Max said. "Let's chat in the hallway, talk strategy."
The Doctor nodded.
"You're the Boss." She said. Two of them went around a corner and moved down the nearby corridor. They turned to face each other, the Doctor mimicked Max's act of pressing her body against the wall to keep combative distance with direct eye-contact.
"Pandorica, huh," Max said dryly. "Sounds awful."
"It was actually worse outside it." The Doctor said, not smiling or acting coy. Max seemed to appreciate this.
"You know, I grew up on Jaret V, a way-station planet, the kind of place where everyone is going somewhere. I hung around the docking bay, getting a good look at all the travelers, tons of them. Lots of men and women." She grinned a bit.
"Another bloody Jack." The Doctor muttered.
"What?"
"Long story, just forgot how 30th Century people… liked to dance."
Max raised an eyebrow, awareness dawning on her but shook it off. Not much to say, health benefits made having fun a safe luxury, no matter the visitor. She was curious about this 'Jack', but got back on track.
"One of the things the travelers talked about the most were the things to run from. They usually ran into two categories at the top of the list. Daleks were usually at the top."
The Doctor's eyes dilated, there was a flicker of fear and anger that hadn't been there when they faced the Sponsor before.
"They cursed Daleks loudly, but they whispered a different name too," Max took a step forward. "Time Lord." She said with conviction, without hesitation. The Doctor's face was fierce with fire burning in her eyes, but Max did not back down.
"'Time And Relative Dimension In Space', that's what you called your ship. Kind of gives it away."
"Most people in your time have only heard of Time Lords because of me saving the universe countless times."
"One person's virtues can't change how a planet looks, Doc. A whole planet of people who can be anywhere they want, it's a miracle anything's alive."
"Believe me, Max, it's hard to keep them reigned in but I do my best. Or have you not considered why no other Time Lords dare leave Gallifrey? You're looking at the reason."
"You," Max said as if trying to see the joke. "One woman, tough as you are, you expect me to believe a whole universe quakes at your presence?"
The Doctor gestured at the corridor they came from.
"A good chunk of those species are from warrior cultures, conquerors and destroyers, all trying to be on par with my people. They're mad because I stopped them from becoming 'superior', by being that line in the sand for when they misbehave and try to spoil the fun for the rest of us. It took making the name Doctor become synonymous with danger but despite it all I try to do good with it. I'm trying now, Max, nothing's changed except you knowing who you're glaring at."
Max was confused, if the Doctor was this powerful why bother talking about getting permission to help? If destroying evil was what counted, why not just strike the Sponsors with the meteors? But the Doctor's goal didn't seem to be destruction, otherwise their safety shouldn't have mattered, Hell, she should have lashed out instead of trusting their wish to survive would outweigh any old defeats. She wondered, in all these rumors of the horrors of Time Lords, how many of them had ever met the Doctor. Max realized she might actually be the only person on this planet to have a proper conversation with her. The Doctor seemed to be someone who never does anything without purpose, so she decided Max would be her connection to all of this. Max had no idea why or to what end, but if this helped everyone in that room…
With a sigh, Max closed her eyes as she settled on words that made sense before opening them. The Doctor waited, as if she had all the time in the world to wait for Max.
"We're all trapped here, Doctor, I get that you have bad blood with a bunch of them but not in this place. In this arena, we're all prisoners and I want everyone freed. Understood?"
The Doctor nodded.
"Perfectly, I'm here to help. It's nice to not just be helping humans for a change."
Max speculated if it just came easier to save what looked familiar, the satisfaction in the Doctor's eyes made her at least hopeful that this desire to help wasn't for show.
"Okay, Doc, let's go back and just… stand behind me." She shrugged with a smirk. Her smile vanished as genuine panic crossed the Doctor's face.
"Stand…" the Doctor murmured.
Her eyes went wide with horror, Max was beginning to learn to associate this with the absolute worst thing that could happen.
"Doctor, what is it?"
"Max, we need to be ready for the worst."
"I'll be ready for whatever, just tell me what's going on."
"Well, those players who stood up to possibly get payback, five of them didn't stand. They were wearing their helmets."
The words sounded petty but Max knew better. All the players took off the helmets, a sign of solidarity, that the Sponsors shackles had no hold on their souls. But, occasionally, one or more of the players were brought to the med bay and given a 'physical'. They usually were changed and never seen again. That was how they felt… safe…
"There's no way they could have guessed we'd chuck meteors like water balloons, Doc."
"No, no one expects to be able to do that, if everyone could do what I can the universe would be far worse for it. They didn't need to guess the attack, they know where you all end up."
The Doctor's words caused Max's heart to beat faster.
"I'm sorry, Max," the Doctor said as she pulled out her sonic screwdriver and flicked it to the highest setting. "It was careless of me. A meteor strike, such extensive damage, no one would be surprised… if the shelter for the players was 'hit'."
That was when the screaming began.
They gave each other a quick glance and charged towards the madness.
Inside, the Shelter had turned to absolute Hell. Sponsors had broken through the ceiling and were zapping everyone in sight. The fake ones, possible spies or sleeper agents, were dragging the panicked players away. Some were zapped but they allowed others to flay about and drag others to the floor to be scooped up. The Doctor managed to blast the head off of one Sponsor and Max saved a Sontaran but in less than a minute everything proved this could not be a fight they'd win.
"Run." The Doctor said while dispatching two other Sponsors. "This isn't where the day's saved but we got to remain free to do it."
Max wanted to scream and hit the Doctor, but she was a leader and knew when the game was fixed. Closing her eyes, hearing so many screams silenced instantly, she managed to open them and with gritted teeth hauled the Sontaran to his feet while shoving them all to the doorway. The Doctor raised her sonic screwdriver and slapped it against the entrance wall. A frequency rode up the wall and caused the ceiling to cave in. One Sponsor managed to dive through and grabbed the Doctor by the throat. The screwdriver stabbed into its neck and caused the machine to fall.
Standing, the Doctor took notice of how only twenty other players had survived. Max walked up to her, eyes full of rage, her entire team was gone. The Doctor half expected a punch but instead got two firm hands on her shoulders.
"We save them all," Max said, shaking. "We will save them all."
The Doctor latched onto Max in a firm hug.
"Yes, we will," the Doctor said. "I'm on your orders, Boss."
Max calmed down and they let go. There was no bad blood nor could there be if they planned to make a proper plan. That demanded being a team.
"What now, Doctor?" A Silurian said.
The Doctor knelt down next to the downed Sponsor, grinning after a moment.
"We end this."