Author's Note: Blaaaargggghhh... This chapter was so hard to write. You know how difficult it is to get Ten angry with himself? *sigh* Well here it is, finally, for you.
As always, I own nothing except a spiffy glow-in-the-dark poster, a TARDIS cookie jar, a mini!Ten and mini!Rose, a pair of gas masks, and a sonic screwdriver. Reviews are much appreciated and help me write faster. Enjoy this latest installment.
Also, I'm looking for a reliable beta. If you like my stories and think you are up for the job, I'd greatly appreciate it. You'd see my stuff before it even went up on here. I really only need someone to check for basic errors (because those are always the ones I miss) and to bounce ideas off of.
Previously...
"Something's not right here." Nine's grim voice made them turn around. "The Master has altered more than the spatio-temporal relativity of Satellite Five and the church."
"Just sit still and feel it for a moment," Nine continued. "That little niggling doubt at the back of your mind. That feeling that something isn't completely right."
The Doctor did as he was told, falling still for a rare moment. Nine was right. There was something in the back of his brain that had been screaming at him for a while now. He hadn't noticed it between the Time creatures and finding Satellite Five behind a church door, but it was definitely there. "What is that?" He heard his other self mumble.
"I can feel it, too," Other Rose said, her brow furrowed. "How can I feel it, too?"
He blocked out their voices, focusing on the niggling problem in the back of his head. He could almost make out what was off about it... He felt along the timelines, twisting and turning through his head and... There! "The timelines are on a loop!" he sputtered in surprise.
"Wha?" Rose asked, grabbing his arm.
"How could the Master possibly do that?" Nine asked in a soft but angry tone.
"Never mind that, if he's put the timelines on a loop, how do we know we can find him with that little thing?" Other Ten jumped in, pointing to the device in his hands.
"It's not like we've got another choice!" he defended, half hiding his Master Detector behind his body.
"Even if he is on that floor, how do you suggest we get past the Dalek?" Nine asked.
He stopped for a moment, his mouth suspended in giving an answer he didn't have.
"The gun Jack had," Rose suggested. He turned to look at her. "Jack was on that floor. He had a gun that could destroy the Daleks. He did it before. Maybe if we can get to that gun... I dunno, just maybe we could get rid of the Dalek so we can worry about this Master fella."
"Jack collapsed on the other side of the Dalek from the lift shaft," his other self dismissed. "Wait!" Without another word, he dashed over to the far door. A clanging sounded, and he tossed a grate out of his way. "Ha!" His tangled mass of brown hair popped up over the control panel he'd moved behind. "There's a heating duct here. It lets out right above where Jack fell. You'd drop down right on the other side of the Dalek."
The three of them moved to stand next to him. Sure enough, he'd found a small vent that gradually sloped downwards. "Bit small," the Doctor said.
His other self looked up at him from his crouching position. "That's why Rose will have to go down."
His hand tightened instinctively on hers. "No."
"Doctor..."
His other self stood up to face him, refusing to be intimidated by his tone. "You need to start trusting her. Hasn't Rose proven enough that she can do things like this?"
"I'm not sending her down there alone to face the Dalek. I'm not going to ask her to kill another creature!"
Other Rose stepped forward next to Other Ten. "I'll do it. It's fine."
Other Ten spared her a small glance. "You know you can't go on your own. What if the Master is right there? You need someone to help. You both need to go."
"Tough, because I'm not. Letting. Her. Go!" he heard himself thunder, glaring at his other self.
"Doctor!" A sharp tug on his hand made him face his Rose. "I can handle this, yeah? This Dalek killed Jack. It's not like the Dalek we faced in Utah. It doesn't deserve to be spared." Her face hardened as he opened his mouth to argue. "Other Ten is right. You need to trust me! How many times are you gonna keep trying to send me away to protect me until you realize I can take care of myself?" She jerked her hand out of his.
He looked around at the three of them, feeling horribly outnumbered and angry at the whole situation. He rounded on his other self, standing nearly nose to nose with him. "If anything happens to her, ANYTHING, I will personally make you pay for it!"
"Doctor, it's my decision!" Rose yelled back at him, folding her arms over her chest.
He opened his mouth a couple times, angry that the right words weren't coming out. Other Ten turned to his Rose, holding out his sonic screwdriver to her. "If Jack got taken out, it's likely his gun died. You'll need to use this to recharge it. Be careful." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before moving back. He refused to meet the Doctor's glare.
He felt Rose's eyes on him and turned to meet her. He couldn't stop his glare from slipping away at the softer look on her face. "Doctor, it'll be alright. I've done worse before. And now there's two of me to handle this. I'll see you at the bottom, yeah?"
He couldn't respond to her around the angry lump in his throat, so he just nodded. He watched the other Rose climb into the duct first, sliding out of sight, before his Rose followed.
"Right then!" His other self cried, running around him back towards the lift doors that he opened with a whir of the screwdriver. "We'd better hurry down so that we can distract the Dalek from the other side for the girls. You coming, Nine?"
He didn't bother waiting for a response as he hoped onto the ladder and began the climb down. Nine looked over at him, shrugged his shoulders, and followed after Other Ten. He suppressed a growl, took one last look at the now empty-looking duct, then followed the other two into the shaft.
Adrenaline and worry pushed them down the shaft even faster than last time. None of them paused as they hopped from the ladder back onto Floor 495. They ran forward together, skidding to a stop as the Dalek surged forward to meet them.
"Identify yourself."
"I'm the Doctor," his other self said, standing up tall.
"And you're... exterminated," Nine added, jerking his head to Other Rose.
She hefted the gun up higher in her arms, flipping the switch. The Dalek exploded with a satisfying crunch. "YES!" she cried, dropping the gun to the floor with a load bang.
The Doctor skirted around the still smoking shell of the Dalek and ran straight to his Rose, scooping her up in his arms and holding her tightly against him.
His hearts warmed as her laughing washed over him, but he still aimed a glare at his counterpart over her shoulder. "See, Doctor? I told ya I'd be fine!"
He set her back down, taking her hand in one of his and pulling her along with him down the hall, fishing the Master detector out of his pocket. "C'mon," he muttered. Before he volunteers you for another mission that might get you killed, he added silently, knowing but not caring that the two other Doctors could hear him.
The bleeping on the screen led them to a wide, square room that, strangely for Satellite Five, didn't have any doors in it. They pressed into the space, looking around in confusion. "I don't understand." He dropped Rose's hand in order to aim a smack at his device. "He should be right here."
"Doctor!" He looked up to see a blue glow in the corner of the room that hadn't been there a second ago. "What is it?"
He took a tentative step towards it. "I don't—"
The rest of his sentence was cut off as the breath whooshed out of him. He felt like he'd taken a hell of a right cut to his stomach. He tried to stumble back, but some invisible force wound its way around his hips and jerked him forward. "Rose!" he yelled, twisting against it to face her again, his hand outstretched. She was getting dragged the same way he was. But the others were getting dragged in the opposite direction.
"Rose!"
"Doctor! Doctor, what's happening?" The hysterical note in her voice made his hearts sink, and he struggled against the invisible hold more. His hand closed around hers again.
"It's alright, we'll... Doctors! Rose!" Together, his Rose and he dug their heels in, struggling to try to reach the others. The other three, getting sucked into the wall opposite them, were fighting just as hard.
"We'll find you!" his other self promised, clawing at the wall to no affect as his eyes locked onto Rose's face. "Whatever the hell is going on, we won't let the Master win! We'll find yo—"
His voice cut off as the Doctor and Rose were finally dragged through the wall. Everything went dark and silent around them.
"Hold on... We're... We're falling!" he shouted as the realization of the feeling of vertigo hit him. Somehow, there was no air to rush past them, but they were still breathing. He pulled Rose to him, wrapping himself around her as he could feel the ground getting closer to them. His back hit the loose rocks beneath him, knocking the breath out of him again.
"Doctor!" Rose gasped, scrambling off him again. "Are you alright."
He rolled over, sucking air in. "Fine, fine. You? Are you alright?"
"Of course I am, you silly old Time Lord, you took the fall for me." She threw her arms around him, hugging him tight despite the fact he hadn't caught his breath again.
He didn't care as he clung to her. She was still alive, and they were still together. Whatever had happened—and the timelines had shifted again—they were still together.
"Where are we?" she asked as she pulled back, looking at the huge cavern around them, filled with a dim glow.
His eyes followed the same path as hers, scanning over the snapped cables, huge archways, and engraved, thirty meter gaping hole next to them. "But that's impossible." His brow furrowed.
"Doctor? Where are we?" she asked him again, hand closing around his.
"Well... Dunno how we got here, but we... are back beneath the sanctuary base on an impossible planet. We are ten miles beneath the surface of an unnamed planet orbiting a black hole."
Rose's wide, terrified eyes met his own.
