Standard disclaimers, yada yada yada. Sincerest apologies to everyone for writing the ninty-billionth post-Doomsday fic, and for being geographically disadvantaged. BTW, just finished with Stone Rose today… that's a "special" relationship, y'know. Being someone's lucky underpants.

Devourer of Souls

Chapter 7

XYZ

The building was lit up like Christmas. Still in Rose's arms, she dropped the soothing wet cloth that Jackie had put on the burn when she did so, but Violet clenched her eyes shut, throwing an arm in font of her face as they dashed in the back entrance. She wanted to cry or scream, she wasn't sure which. But she knew neither would help. "It" was finally happening, and crying about it wouldn't make it any different.

Rose ducked into the VIP elevator. Pete stopped at the threshold. "Get her up there. See if Mickey or R & D can think of something to repel this thing besides flashlights and idle threats." He turned around and stepped out of the box.

"Wait--"

Pete shook his head. "Someone's gotta call the guard station, or you're going to end up getting shot for your trouble."

Jackie reached past the door as it began to close, sliding inside. The doors slid shut and Rose looked at her mum, her mum who wanted nothing but an ordinary life and didn't take well to danger or "adventures."

"What?" Jackie cocked her head at her daughter. "You're going to need this." Gently pulling Violet's arm from around Rose's neck and untangling it from the mass of blonde hair, the woman wrapped the burn in the cloth again. "There. That's better, isn't it?" She held up the medical kit. "And you're gunna need this too. Pete doesn't need me at the guard station."

Rose smiled warmly. It was all the comfort in the world to know her mom was with them now. Whatever was happening, the "Bad Wolf" and the "special child" wouldn't have to face the darkness alone.

Trying a fourth setting on his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor tried to keep the things from finding each other and joining up. They were tiny little buggers, but they didn't need to get any bigger. Their controlling consciousness seemed to be nowhere in sight, but if these things were finding all their long –lost parts, and reforming right here… they, too were waiting for the baby to fall out of the burning window.

A nasty sound emitted from the sonic device, but the things didn't even hesitate, they just continued roaming in and out of the locker, searching for all the bits of themselves.

One last setting change, and he moved up to the door, pointing the screwdriver at the locking mechanism. "At any point in time now," the Doctor told his ship.

The light on top flickered twice and went out.

The Doctor craned his neck, making a face at the TARDIS. "What in the hell is THAT supposed to mean?"

He apologized silently to all of his past and future traveling companions—they must have wanted to roast him alive for being cryptic all the time. He certainly didn't appreciate being on the receiving end of it, and especially not from his ship.

SHE is coming. It-Who-Once-Was-They comes. The Stepping Stones have appeared.

The Doctor'd never figured his TARDIS as that type of gal, so he doubted "she" was the other ship. The stepping stones had appeared—that would have been the tendril between Universes he'd felt pulled. The Universes were swollen now; the single thread could be frayed and natty, and this energy-being could still pass through. There was a static charge between them, like two balloons about to touch.

And he was stuck waiting in a storage locker with a cryptic TARDIS.

Groaning, the Doctor kicked the metal door half of a dozen times, releasing the frustration of willingly keeping himself in the dark, enclosed space while feeling the charge building between the two worlds. If the universe didn't explode, the walls between those two realities might melt together.

The Doctor was a Doer, not a wait-and-see-how-it-all-turns-outter. Instead of solving the whole melting of realities destruction-of-space-and-time thingy, he was waiting, preparing to catch something that scared the living bejeebus out of the Time Lords so bad they had to erase all mention of it…with a big fluffy pillow. Maybe he should make it some tea for when it arrived. Maybe they could have a nice chat, before the thing ate his especially yummy Time Lord soul.

She is coming. She who?

And yet, he dared to have the teeniest tiniest seed of hope. He'd probably end up scolding himself later when the universe was destroyed and he was sloshing around like cold oatmeal in the belly of the beast, but he was stupid enough to hope that it was Rose.

XYZ

Mickey lowered the ray gun he was playing with and glared right back at Pete. He was getting that look from Pete. The one he used to get from the Doctor. That "What the hell is wrong with you?" look.

Shaking his hands in frustration, Pete looked at the two late night researchers they managed to scrounge up and half a dozen guards with guns. "She got in the elevator ahead of me. I watched her press the button for this floor."

"She didn't come here," Mickey explained anxiously. He didn't understand why it was his fault, but somehow Rose not reaching her destination was. Turning to the nearest guard, he pointed to the computer. "Give us the security logs, ya?"

He turned back to Pete to assure him that they'd find Rose, Violet and Jackie, but Pete was already stocking off, kind of the way Rose did when things weren't going her way. "I want people checking every floor," he called out behind him. "And get some more lights on in here!"

XYZ

The express lift came to a stop and lurched so hard she nearly collapsed with Violet. Jackie had grabbed her arm and kept her steady, though. The kit popped out of her hand and opened when it hit the ground, bandages and packets of ointments and antiseptics spilling on the floor.

Looking at the mess, Jackie let out a curse and a heartbeat later, the lights went off. "I was just kidding, then! Turn 'em back on." Jackie's voice trembled at the last.

Rose reached into the pocket of Pete's green jacket, which she'd wrapped Violet in before they got out of the car. Her hand wrapped around the last canister. "It's ok, mum," she breathed. "We're gunna get out of this."

Lighting up the bluish-white light on her keychain, Jackie rubbed a hand over Violet's head. The girl was biting her lips together, brow rutted in thought. "Yup. We're gunna get out of this." Then she looked to Rose. "HOW are we going to get out of this?"

Hoisting Violet up a little further, Rose tried to come up with a Doctor-worthy plan. "Uh, well, first, you can't sneeze in this place without a sensor going off. They haveta know we're stuck. Which means they've probably already sent someone." Freeing one hand, Rose pulled the little door on the emergency phone open. "See, and I'll call them right now, just to be sure." Was she trying to convince herself, or her mother?

Flipping her hair away from her ear, she put the receiver to her ear. Jackie began kicking the contents of the kit into a pile. "Then I want to take a look at her arm. Why aren't there emergency lights in this thing, anyways?"

Rose hung up the emergency phone. "Right."

"Well?"

In the dim light from the key light, Rose met her mother's eyes. "No dial tone. So, I'm fresh out of explosives," she said calmly. We've got… let's see. Your keys…" She tried to dig her fingers between the shiny metal doors but had nothing to show for it but a scratched up manicure. "Your keys, one more flash can, a dead phone, a jacket, and a cross pen. Does that sum the resources up?"

Jackie shook her head sarcastically. "Honestly. You act like you've never been stuck in a lift before." Reaching into the pile of supplies on the floor, she pulled out an angled pair of scissors. They were blunt, but thin enough to make some headway when she dove between the doors with them and began prying. "And they pay you to save the world and stuff? Really."

"The balloons are touching," Violet whispered. "It knows the balloons are touching. It's low tide…"

Jackie looked back at the girl but didn't stop, she'd made a bit of a crack without breaking the scissors and had driven it in far enough to have the tiniest bit of a fulcrum on one of the door edges. "Well, if that's the case, then come on. Help me out before that thing comes back."

Rose put Violet down, giving the girl a quick peck on the head. "NOTHING is going to happen to you," she promised, digging her fingers in the crevice that Jackie had worked out. Tugging at the top, she managed to get one foot in at the bottom, and pushed in the opposite direction with her leg. Jackie dropped her keys as she got her back against the opening that was now about the width of a book. Between that and Rose's efforts in the other direction, they managed another six or eight inches.

"Great, we're between floors," Jackie grumbled, seeing the floor at about shoulder-height.

Violet scrambled over and got the keys, turning the little light back on. She wasn't staring directly into the bulb, but she was concentrating on it awful darned hard. When Rose stole a glance, it looked like the girl was trying to work Jedi powers or something. "Vi, why don't you shine that over here."

The girl looked up at the two women like she'd just come back from some place else, but did as she was asked.

Hands on her hips, Rose contemplated the height of the floor above them. The floor below only had an opening of about six inches, and even if someone could squeeze through, they'd drop all the way from the ceiling to the tile below. And they still had the problem of opening the door on other side…

Rose made a mental note to always keep explosives on her. "Well, crap."

Exhausted from the effort, Jackie sighed, leaning against the door frame. "If you can get me up there, I think I can keep my balance."

The look of shock that Rose gave her mother was a missed photo opportunity. "Look, if you think I'm going to let some freaky monster hurt Violet, you've got another thing comin'. So lets get me up there."

Kicking off her high heels, Rose shrugged. "Alright. Lets get you up there, then."

SOMEHOW, after a lot of wrangling, Rose managed to do the whole human stepping stool thing, and got Jackie high enough to work on the door. She handed her mum the now-slightly bent scissors and watched Jackie mess with it. This one wasn't nearly as easy—since the metal frame was curved slightly outward on the edges, there wasn't a space to get hold of. After a few moments, Jackie held onto the frame, her arms growing tired.

Violet stood up and tugged on Jackie's leg. "Lemme try it."

When Jackie turned around to look at the girl, Violet thrust an arm past her, pointing something tiny and U shaped at the door. It lit up ruby red and made a small buzzing noise, then the door released. "Good girl!" Jackie declared, not bothering to question what the hell that thing was, or where Violet had gotten it from. "Boost me up, here."

Trying give her mum a few more inches, Rose spun her head around, glaring at Violet. "Where'd you get that? Did you steal that from the research lab?"

Violet shrugged. It wasn't stealing, so much as borrowing. She probably wouldn't put it back… but stealing was such a dirty word to use.

"Let her be, we'll ground her when this is all over." Jackie's voice was muffled as she got herself through the opening. When she was through, and turning around to help Rose and Violet, the girl lifted the small device again and pressed it.

Before Rose could ask the child what in the hell she thought she was doing, the metal box went into free-fall.

TBC