Taken ages to update! Sorry! Holidays and everything. Hope you like the chappie. Its slightly darker than usual. Implied rape.
"Argh, I'm blind! I'm blind!" Much yelped and clawed at his eyes after the flash.
"That's my phone!" Rose shrieked over the man servant's cries, "You little thief!"
"Little, who you calling little?! I may be slightly short for a man but there's no need to insult me…blondie," the Sheriff retorted, huffily.
"Hello, Vaisey," Robin grinned cheekily.
"Doctor," the Sheriff hissed.
"No, my name's Robin," Robin frowned but the Sheriff was not addressing him. He had no interest in the annoying outlaw. He wanted to know more about the Doctor.
"Yep, hello, that's me, what can I do you for? Oh, by the way, I was just wondering about all those wanted posters. I mean, what on earth do you want me for? And the description wasn't very accurate. How many people around here have brown hair and brown eyes? I know I'm much cleaner than most of them but you didn't even mention that! Plus, how come I am described as skinny! I am not skinny, I'm just slightly on the slim side, I do have fat look." the Doctor finished his ramble and plucked at his stomach. He couldn't pinch it, "Ok, I suppose I don't." The Time Lord looked bewildered at his flat belly as if he'd only just noticed it. Rose suppressed a giggle.
"You talk too much," the Sheriff scowled.
"How many times have I heard that?"
"I want you to work for me and make more of these gadgets," Vaisey declared, holding up the mobile phone.
"What is that?!" Allan shouted, looking alarmed as it beeped.
"Ha, bet you don't have any weapons like this. Your bows and swords are nothing now. I can capture people and put people in here though I haven't quite worked out how to do that yet. Which is another thing I order you to do by the way," the Sheriff directed this last point at the Doctor.
"Oh, there are millions of them where we come from but I haven't a clue how to make them so…sorry," the Doctor shrugged and grinned his trade mark grin.
"That is a mobile phone, actually, not a weapon. It's so we can communicate with each other," Rose butted in, wanting to get things straight.
"Who said you could speak, girl? Women should be seen but never speak except that annoying wench of yours Hood. She's got a mouth on her."
"How dare you speak of Marian like that?!" Robin yelled angrily.
"So what? What are you going to do?" the Sheriff retorted.
"Hey, hey, I don't much care about your little feud. I want to have an argument with this smarmy git. Women are just as good as men if not better. In the 20th century women will fight for their right to have the vote and have the same jobs as men. In the war they prove their worth though they did not fight but they kept the country going. Now, wait, then women can be whatever the hell they want," Rose stated, her eyes blazing, "Women can even be in the army as soldiers in the 21st century."
"What?!" she received several exclamations of surprise.
"Women? Fight? That's wrong. Men are there to protect women," Allan yelped.
"No, women can look after themselves thank you very much," the blonde girl replied, obviously irritated.
"Ah but sometimes you do need my help to rescue you," the Doctor pointed but immediately quailed at the look he got shot.
"Marian can fight for herself, I think its good," Robin nodded, mulling things over in his head.
"Um excuse me if I'm being slower than you fools for once but how can she know what's going to happen in the future?"
"Because…" Much started but was halted abruptly by the Doctor's hand over his mouth and the last part of the sentence came out as "deyr brum ba yutyre."
"Huh?" the Sheriff frowned then shrugged, "I don't much care anyway. You will be my scientist." He looked at the Doctor. "And you shall be my woman. I like your feisty attitude." He pointed at Rose.
"Ha, yeah right," Rose snorted at the thought of her agreeing to be with the Sheriff, "There is no way I will be 'your woman'."
"I don't think you have much choice," came a smug voice from behind her. Every outlaw whipped round to find Gisborne and his men standing there, Will in their grip, knife at throat.
"How did he get past Djaq and John?" Robin muttered to himself.
"Ah, Gisborne, about time you showed up, I didn't know how long I could keep them talking."
"Sorry, sir," Gisborne sighed glumly, "Drop your weapons." The outlaws complied only because the man could kill one of their own. Will was trying desperately not to move in his attackers grip so the knife wouldn't accidentally sink into his skin. It was already digging in slightly.
"Ok, take this scum to the dungeons but take the girl to my room. You can have a turn after me if you want," the Sheriff added as an after thought, "Now chop, chop!"
The Doctor's eyes widened at the implications of what the Sheriff of Nottingham had insinuated. He struggled against his bonds.
"No, you can't do this! Leave Rose alone!" he screamed but was stopped by a sharp, skull cracking blow to his head and the lights went out.
Robin also began to kick up a fight. He may not have known Rose all that long but she was a nice girl and he didn't want her to be violated by the dirty Sheriff especially as he could see how it was affecting the Doctor. The man's anguished cries still rang in his ears.
Rose remained silent throughout all this. What could she do anyway? The guards holding her were much stronger and bigger than her. She may be tough but she had no chance. Thinking about what might happen made her feel sick. She didn't want to be raped. A couple of her friends had been and the trauma and the change in their lives they went through afterwards were not good. Rose had always though 'it will never happen to me' because she stayed off the streets and didn't go in the dodgy areas of London. But now she could be about to be raped by a man from a legend in the 12th century. Oh god.
The Doctor came round on the stone floor of the dungeon, his head aching and his eyesight blurry. "Wh-what happened?"
"One of the guards smacked you from behind with a chair," Allan supplied looking sullen. Suddenly it all came back to the Time Lord. Meeting the Sheriff, being tricked into talking to much and losing Rose to that….monster! Rose!
"Where's Rose?!" he roared, jumping to his feet even though it made his head spin.
"We don't know, she hasn't come back yet," Allan answered.
"Oh Christ," the Time Lord whimpered and slithered to the floor, leaning against the wall. He didn't know when he picked up that bit of Earth language, "I told her mum I would protect her."
"There was nothing you could do, mate. We were outnumbered," Allan tried to comfort the despairing man.
No one else was talking. Much was curled up in the corner, his eyes wide and glassy. Will was to his left, standing, back against the brickwork, banging his head over and over in frustration, his eyes scrunched up and his fists clenched. The small red line was clear on the white skin of his neck, a tiny dribble of blood threatening to fall.
More surprisingly were Djaq and John who were supposed to have been guarding against this. The Doctor supposed it explained why they hadn't been warned. Djaq was sitting, legs crossed in the centre of the cell, her eyes closed, deep in thought whereas John was chained roughly to the wall, his face wild with fury as every so often he made a random grunting noise and pulled painfully at his manacles. He wasn't going anywhere fast.
It was at this point that the Doctor realised one of the number was missing. Not Rose but Robin.
"Where's Robin?" he asked, fearing the worst.
"The Sheriff took him away about an hour ago, we don't know where," Allan said.
"And have none of you tried to escape, I mean, you said you guys have been down here before so you must have got out then, right?" the Doctor was trying to be positive, hoping the state he found Rose in wasn't irreparable.
"Yeah, before though we were let out though to go to execution and escaped at the last minute or there was one of us outside who could come and save us. The only time we've escaped on our own is when Will fashioned that key but that was in a different room and they've probably changed the locks."
"Locks," the Doctor pondered a moment, "Oh, how could I be so stupid?!" He shouted, leaping to his feet with renewed energy, a huge smile on his face. The outlaws looked at him as if he'd gone crazy or grown two heads.
"What?" Much piped up at this point, looking like a hopeful puppy at the prospect of getting out.
"This!" the Doctor brandished the sonic screwdriver at the lock and it clicked open with ease, "Let's go guys!"
Ta da! Was that worth waiting for? Please review.