Hokay, here be part 11.
I don't think I mentioned it before, but I would just like to sincerely thank everyone who has followed this story so far and has rated it. Thank you so much!

I'm a tad unsure of this chapter... it feels like a bit of a mish mash to me, like there are some points I know I could explain better... but anyway, don't let that deter you. Please let me know what you think. :)

Enjoy!

The General paced up and down in front of the three intruders. It would soon be quickly established that he was the human equivalent of an excitable bulldog. Once he had something fixed into his head, he found it very hard to let it go, unless of course someone distracted him with a shiny ball or lump of wood (not literally). At this point in time, the only thing he was thinking was that these three strangers should not be in this room, and therefore, they were breaking the law - something that he had a large say in.

'Rrrright!' he barked, 'I hwant to know hwat you think you were doing, and I hwant to know it now!'
The Doctor watched him as he stalked backwards and forwards.
'Look,' he said, 'if you'd just–'
'Silence!' screamed the General.

He turned smartly on his heel and pushed his eccentric face towards the Doctor's. 'I am asking the questions here, understand? Hyou are trespassing on government premises, without permit or authorization I may add–'
'Some government,' murmured Madison.
'Silence!' shrieked the General again.

'Well, I'm sorry,' she replied sarcastically, 'but so far, all I've seen your soldier-boys do is run around in circles and cry for their mummies!' there was a muffled rumble as another bomb landed somewhere far above them.
'What are you going to do about it?' Madison demanded.
The General looked mildly confused. 'About hwat?'
'The war, you stupid idiot!' She lent backwards as the General's quivering finger was waved threateningly in her face.

'Now you listen to me,' the General growled. 'Hwe have been analyzing the enemy and are at this moment coming up with the solution to the problem,' the room shook and some dust sprinkled down from the ceiling, 'everything is under control!' he screeched above the growl of explosions.

The Doctor glanced upwards at the cracked ceiling. 'If that roof falls on us, I… I really won't be happy,' he said. 'There've been too many roofs collapsing on me recently.'

'Silence!' screamed the General, thrusting his podgy finger towards the Doctor's bemused face. There was a moment's pause as the wide eyed man tried to stare down the Time Lord before he found he had the irresistible urge to blink. Wrenching his eyes away, the General glanced down at Fyffe, who was smiling faintly while standing with her hands clasped together behind her back. He crouched down so that he was level with her face.

'And who are you, little girl?' he asked, suddenly trying to sound jolly and ending up looking more like a disgruntled farmer with heavy constipation. Fyffe smiled sweetly at him, but kept her mouth firmly clamped shut.

'She might not talk to you,' guessed the Doctor, 'she tends to take what you say to her very literally, and you told us to–'
The General's head snapped up. 'Silence!'
The Doctor nodded, 'sorry, sorry.'

Madison glanced at the Doctor and rolled her eyes at the General, shaking her head as she vented her exasperation. 'Look,' she said, trying to sound calm, 'I'm Madison Carter; I live on the east flats at the back of the Mill… the ones that are sill standing anyway. These two,' she indicated Fyffe and the Doctor with her head, 'they're arrived just after the bombs–'

'Ah Ha!' The General shot upright with a triumphant look on his face and glowered at the Doctor, 'Spies then are we?'
'What? No!'
'Silence!'

As though the General wanted to clarify his position in things, he moved away from Fyffe's innocent smile and waved his finger in the Doctor's face. 'I'm asking the questions here,' he growled.
In reply, the Doctor frowned in mock puzzlement and said: 'are you?'
The General blinked. 'Yes!'
'Really?'
'Yes!'
'Does it give you a sense of authority?
The General shifted, '…a sense of…'

'Authority,' prompted the Doctor. 'Y'know, you're standing here with your soldier boys and their big menacing guns all pointed at us. We can't do anything, completely under your control, and then you start pacing backwards and forwards being all threatening and asking all the questions… this is you asserting your authority, don't you think? And trust me it's very impressive, I almost fear for my life.'

Madison watched the Doctor closely. He was staring intently at the General and had such a look of honesty and truth in his face, she could almost believe the fear he was claiming he had. But… she had seen into his eyes, and knew there was no way he could be afraid.

Madison bit her lip and tried to suppress a smirk at the oblivious face of the General. It had suddenly occurred to her that the General couldn't see past the Doctor's act, and the conversation between them was suddenly starting to become very funny. In response to what the Time Lord has said, the General inflated his chest in pride.

'I have the authority to do anything I hwant,' he said, 'with the Mayor temporarily absent; I have complete command of the city.'
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. 'No!'
'Yes.'
'Really?'
'Yes.'

Shaking his head in mock disbelief, the Doctor nudged Madison with his elbow. 'Can you believe that?' he said, 'this man is in charge.' Madison said nothing, unsure if she would be able to keep a straight face. The Doctor shook his head and gave the General a look of complete admiration.

'Now that,' he said, his voice overflowing with sarcastic approval, 'that is something to be proud of.' The Generals chest inflated a few inches further as the Doctor beamed at him. 'What happened to the Mayor in order to finally promote you to this most esteemed of roles?' he asked.

'Oh, she's been missing for over two weeks now,' said the General, still glowing under the Doctors lavished awe. 'I've been maintaining the city for a while now. Of course, the first thing I did was change all the old defensive strategies, pointless guards on the gates, stupid sentry duty along all the walls, that sort of thing, and I put my own in place.'

There was a sudden stillness in the room.
With a smile fixed firmly upon his face, the Doctor gave a single slow nod. 'Yes… and that worked well, did it?'

'Weeeeeeell,' the General said, scratching his cheek, 'we're still flattening out a few bumps and all, but it seems to be working fine…' Madison shot the Doctor a look of horror at the stupidity of the man.

'Of course,' continued the General, 'the new regime has nothing to do with the war. That was a matter of timing and chance.'

The Doctor nodded hurriedly, 'of course, of course… but,' he waved his hand in a vague gesture, 'say… for example, the Mayor had gone missing because there was a planned attack, and then you go and change all the defensive strategies…?'

'Oh… we'd have known all about that,' said the General jovially. 'Everything is under control now that I'm in charge.'

Once again, the Doctor was forced to give a sarcastic nod. 'Yes, I can see…' he said, the fake approval once more dripping off his voice, 'and… because you're the one who's now in charge… that's why you're asking all the questions? Is that right?'

The General jerked his head downwards is a sharp nod. 'That is affirmative,' he said.
'You do it very well,' commented the Doctor.
In response, the General ripped off a smart salute. 'Thankyousir!'

There was a faint creaking sound from the corner of the room that was completely overlooked by the General, but it was loud enough for Madison to realize that the six silent guards were trying very hard to stifle their sniggers. The Doctor's eyes flickered to the guards then back to the General.

'It's just that –'
There was another loud snort that was successfully turned into a hurried cough, and from the guards came a low snuffling as they fought to swallow their laughter. Several of them were going very red in the face, and even Madison was fighting to stop the corners of her mouth from moving. In the small space, an almost silent whisper was heard running through the men:

The General just saluted the prisoner!

And then the General's slow brain caught up with what had just happened. His mouth tightened into a thin white line, his eyed slowly widened, and his face began to glow into an almost fluorescent red.

The Doctor's face adopted a brief manic smile before it snapped back into a neutral expression of perfect calmness. He stood still and watched a vain begin to pulse on the Generals left temple, waiting for whatever the man could throw at him. He had known what he was doing, had known the possible consequences, but knew it was worth it. Although he may have not been able to find anything he understood on the cities so called 'data base', at least now he had some information to go on: a missing Mayor.

In front of him, the General looked as though he was about to explode. The Doctor considered him. This man was an idiot, that much was obvious, but what was more worrying was that he was arrogant… Arrogant idiots often have very little but their pride, and if you break it, they have no wit to fall back on, only violence.

In a swift movement of scarcely controlled fury, the General took two long strides forward, and brought his fit swinging round in rage fueled violence. He punched the Doctor hard in the face, baring his teeth as though he were a wild animal. Madison gasped and Fyffe let out a curious shriek as though she herself had been wounded. The movement was sudden and horrifying and the Time Lord recoiled backwards under the blow.

At the sudden outburst of the General, the six guards rushed forward from their corners in the room. Both Fyffe and Madison were grabbed roughly by their shoulders and the final two guards rushed forward and grabbed the Doctor under his arms, half supporting him and half constraining him as he stumbled.

Once all three were secure, the General stalked forward and glared maliciously down at the Doctor. His face contorted in an ugly expression as he fought to maintain his self-control and he raised his fist threateningly, letting it stop a few inches away from the Doctor's face.

'You,' he hissed venomously, 'you will very seriously regret what you have done.' The Doctor struggled upright and gazed blearily at the clenched fingers, which were quivering dangerously in front of him. The General let off a long growl. 'You will keep your mouth shut from now on! Do you understand?!'

The Doctor said nothing, trying to pull himself upright again, but the General aimed a heavy kick into his stomach and he collapsed onto his knees on the floor. Despite his inability to get up, the two guards did not let go of his arms and held them tightly behind his back as he struggled.

From the other end of the room, came a sudden snarl.

Fyffe stood, rooted to the spot, and let her eyes fill with a slow boiling hate. In an abrupt movement, she jerked herself free of her guard and leaped forward, towards the General. The Doctor's pain contorted face suddenly became molded with fear as he caught the girl's movement. More than anything, he did not want Fyffe to suffer simply because of him, and he knew that the violent man that still loomed in front of him was capable of almost anything.

Fyffe reached the General and grabbed him tightly around his wrist, pulling his raised arm downwards away from the Doctor's face. The General looked down at her with a mild surprise as she glared up at his piggy eyes, and then his mouth contorted into a smirk.

'No,' whispered Fyffe quietly.
The General pushed his face into hers. 'No what, little girl?' he patronized.
Fyffe gave a slow, hollow smile. 'No,' she warned again, her voice suddenly callous and cold.

Still smirking at the young girl, the red-faced, piggy man turned away and tried to jerk his arm out of Fyffe's grip. Unexpectedly, he found that he could not move it. Instead of heaving himself away and causing the girl to lose her hold and fall, the General realized that he could not break the white-knuckled grip of the girl. He glanced down at her and gave the stormy blue eyes a bewildered look.

Fyffe glowered up at the man and let a slow hiss escape from between her teeth. For a second, the General's eyes widened in shock, before she tensed her arms and let out an involuntary snarl. Under the shocked stare of everyone in the room, Fyffe twisted her body so that she was facing away from the General and, straining forwards, swung the man fiercely over her shoulder and hard onto the grimy floor.

As his body made thudding contact and he grunted in surprised pain, there was the sudden clicking of four different guns being cocked.

'Fyffe!' gasped Madison.
The girl hissed again, her deep blue eyes crackling with electricity as they flitted between each gun barrel. His pride mortally wounded, the General sprang upright and pulled out his own pistol, aiming it directly between the young girl's eyes.

'Stop!'
The voice of the Doctor echoed within the room, commanding, assertive, but mingled with pain, fear and horror. As it faded away, it was replaced by a hideous silence, punctuated only by the heavy breathing of the General, and of Fyffe.

Still held by his arms in an awkward position on the floor, the Doctor stared up at the red faced man. 'You don't have to do this,' he said.

The General glowered, bared his teeth, and cocked the gun. The small click it made echoed around the room, much like the Doctor's voice.
'Please!' gasped Madison. 'Just look at her!'

At the sound of the Doctor's voice, Fyffe had straightened up and spun around to look at him. Her eyes were suddenly round, wide and gentle and she gazed at him with a hurt and crumpled expression on her face. The Doctor returned her gaze with a calm look on his face that did not extend to his eyes.

'What ever you want,' he told the General, '… just stop.'

Pulling himself even further upright and inflating his chest once more, the General made a curt flick of his hand and the seven guns that were pointed at Fyffe were lowered. Completely surrounded in the middle of the room, she seemed so small and vulnerable. As a guard rushed forward to grab her, her eyes flitted to the floor and she trembled slightly as she was pulled backwards.

Madison watched the red faced General as he began pacing in front of her, and felt a deep sickening feeling of horror settle in her stomach. He was going to shoot her… he was going to murder a child…

'Riiiight!' snapped the General, happily back in the role of pompous idiot. And just like that, the atmosphere of the room changed. As the Doctor was pulled onto his feet, he shot a sideways glance at Madison and twisted his mouth into a grimace of a grin. The fear had vanished from his eyes and he watched the General with a new expression of concentration and brooding. The General began pacing once more, suddenly looking once again like an idiotic and over enthusiastic farmer, instead of the terrifyingly manic man he had been only a second or so before.

'Now,' he said, 'I'm asking the questions, and I hwant to know who you are!'
In a final act of defiance, the Doctor glowered at the man and said: 'you told me to keep my mouth shut.'

The General spun around bore down upon him like a disgruntled balloon.
'Tell me who you are this instant!!' he screamed.
'Well, I –'
'SILENCE!'

The Doctor rolled his eyes as the General returned to his pacing. He seemed to be thinking hard about what to do next, and it looked like a tremendous effort. Madison was still watching him with a horrified expression, and Fyffe was standing mutely, her body still shaking slightly as though in silent rage. It was only when she fleetingly looked up at the Doctor, that he saw her ashen face and wide, desolate eyes.

When the General finally stopped pacing, his large and popping eyes held an evil glint.
'Lock them up!' the order came out as a bark. 'They'll feel more like talking,' he sneered, 'once they go without food for a while. Now get them out of my sight!'

Madison's mouth fell open and she moved to protest before she felt firm hand gripping her shoulders and wrists. The Doctor had been bloody trying to talk to him! Was he so stupid that he didn't realize that he was contradicting himself every time he said "silence"? And now they were being treated as prisoners?! She came from this city! There was no way she could believethat this idiot of a man was allowed this sort of command. Couldn't every see that he was just a moron?!? A soldier stepped forward and ripped off a smart salute.

'Yessir!' He grabbed the Doctor roughly by the shoulder and twisted his arm behind his back, he then paused, looking apprehensive, 'um… where, Sir?'

The General's final words came out as an ear splitting shriek.
'I DON'T! CARE where you take them; just get them out of my sight this VERY INSTANT!! And if I see them again before I'm ready, then whoever is near me at the time shall be very, VERY, VERY SORRY!'

Yeah... getting exciting now!
Oh, and was it understandable? Sorry, got a paranoid moment going on here :)