I apologize for the curse word at the beginning, but Hero insisted that this was an appropriate moment to swear loudly. hehehe
Also, this chapter is a bit vague, but the interesting stuff is about to begin!
Don't you miss being on the TARDIS?
The tunnel was now completely pitch-black.
"Oh fuck this!" I yelled, drawing back, my arms instinctively wrapping around myself. I started to breath rather quickly, straining with my eyes to see anything at all. Blackness greeted me. If I could have flipped off the darkness I would have. Not that I'm afraid of the dark, per se. Wait, never mind.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god..." I started to inch forward, finding a wall with my left hand and letting it guide me.
At least there weren't any creepy sounds or anything, at least for now. But the silence pressing around me as I felt my way forward into the darkness soon became as unnerving as the darkness itself. I fingernails scratched at the metal wall, which felt icy cold. I could feel that the floor was beginning to slope downwards slightly, like I was traveling deeper underground. I cursed again as I wondered what the hell this clawing around in the dark would help me to free the Doctor.
As soon as I thought about him, it happened again; my mind felt like it was being touched from the outside, like a new thought that was completely not my own was trying to find its way into my head. I stopped moving, trying to process the sensation. I wondered briefly if this was some sort of telepathic experience, and whether the Doctor himself was perhaps telepathic. I honestly had no idea, but it wouldn't be very surprising. The strange feeling in my mind went away for a moment, then returned with more strength then before. I was just beginning to feel sure that someone was trying to speak to me in my mind, when suddenly the sensation was cut off and I heard it. It was very very faint, echoing up through this tunnel and up to me, but I heard it clearly. Screaming.
I felt almost literal pain in my heart as I jerked forward again, clawing along the wall, moving much faster now. The sound was so faint that I could only recognize that it sounded human, not animal or alien, and my whole body felt cold with dread as I continued down the sloped passage. As I went on and on I began to realize that the sounds were words, not just screamed, but words being screamed out. Yes, and the voice was male, and I nearly threw up when I realized what I had guessed all along, that it was the Doctor's voice.
"I'm here!" I yelled, half sobbed, walking in the pitch blackness and stumbling as I went, my fingers numbing from the contact with the cold wall, "I'm coming, please... please stop! Oh my god please stop making him scream like that, please please please..."
I became aware of a dim light ahead of me, though it took a few moments for me to be sure that it wasn't just my imagination playing tricks on me. A couple of minutes later I could see that dim walls of the passage around me. There was a door ahead.
The Doctor was still shouting somewhere ahead, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. It seemed to be the same thing over and over, something about... about an arrow or something.
I was running forward now, panting hard, stopping dead as I reached the doorway.
The door opened into a small control room complete with various work tables, flashing buttons, screens, strange symbols on the panels... One of the screens was on, it was contributing to a lot of the ambient light, and I went to it.
The Doctor was on the screen. He was being filmed, at least his upper torso was, though the picture was all grainy. He had stopped screaming several moments before I'd entered the room, and now I just stood there, watching him on the screen. He appeared to be restrained by large bands across his arms and upper chest, and his face was turned to the side, his eyes closed. I swallowed, unable to blink as I gazed at him. It felt like a decade since our brief adventure on the TARDIS, and I could feel relief flooding through me that he was at least alive.
"Doctor..." I whispered, reaching out a shaking hand to brush a finger against the cold screen. He shifted and I jumped back, "Can... can you hear me?" My voice sounded weak and squeaky. He was looked sort in the camera's general direction, but made no other sign that he'd heard me speak. I wilted slightly. I leaned in closer to the grainy image. He seemed paler than usual, and their were faint dark streaks beneath his eyes like he was exhausted. He stared blankly ahead, lips slightly parted, and I could see his chest rising and falling softly.
Suddenly I could hear other sounds coming from the screen, the sound of a door opening and shuffling footsteps. The Doctor blinked, now looking at something I couldn't see, and he smiled faintly.
"You'll have to come get me, Hero," he murmured to the room, quite distinctly, and then large shimmering hands entered the image and rough voices spoke in a language I couldn't understand. The camera jerked, twisted around so that I was now looking at the Doctor's side feet instead of his face, and I seized the sides of the screen as if I could turn the image back, as if I could bring him back. There was a flash of light, the Doctor's feet twitched violently, and then the screen turned to static and went blank.
I cried out in frustration and horror, pounding my fists into the sides of the screen that had taken him away from me. There were tears in my eyes and my breath caught in my throat.
I nearly jumped out of my skin as the metallic voice greeted me, "YOU MUST COMPLETE THE THREE CHALLENGES, SLAVE. YOUR MASTER'S LIFE DEPENDS ON YOU." I put my hands to my face with a groan, trying not to freak out completely.
There was the sound of another door opening next me, and I raised my face from my hands to look through the doorway. There was a bright red glare coming from it.
I took one last look at the blank screen which had held the Doctor's face, and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes for a moment, replaying in my mind the part when the Doctor had said my name, had told me to come get him. I clenched my fists to my side, turning to face the new doorway, and resolutely walked toward it.
The first test was about to begin.