GERMANY, 60 MILES OUTSIDE NUREMBERG
Martha landed with a flash just outside the Osterhagen station. She was much closer than she'd been when she last arrived, although she had been aiming to teleport right in to the control room. Perhaps UNIT had put some sort of barrier meaning that the castle was impossible to teleport into, a bit like Hogwarts. Martha smiled at the thought before turning to the more serious task at hand.
She walked up the side hill using the way she had taken before. With any luck the key would still be lying on the floor where she had dropped it. She just hoped that she could get in to the castle without the caretaker to let her in - Martha didn't think that the woman would be so unsure of her actions a second time around.
It was eerily quite as Martha made her way to the entrance. Even the forest nightlife was silent, with not so much as a cricket's chirp breaking the unnatural hush. The door, which was usually heavily guarded with at least five security levels that needed passing, instead stood wide open, a gaping black hole on the side of the castle. Martha grabbed a torch from her belt and peered into the darkness.
"Hello?" she called, uncertainly. He voice echoed around her, bouncing down the cold stone corridors.
Nobody replied. Martha wondered what had become of the caretaker lady. No doubt the Daleks would have found her if she'd dared to venture outside.
Martha crept down the stone passage to the control room, her steps deliberately soft and cautious. Even so, the soft footfalls bounced against the stone walls, amplifying and distorting the sound. She had to stop a few times to reassure herself that it was only her own steps that she heard, and not someone else in the building. UNIT had taught all their soldiers that physics liked to play tricks on the mind.
She rounded the corner to the hallway containing the control room. A dim light was shining from underneath the door; the Martha hoped that this was only because they had been left on after the Daleks abducted her. She edged closer, wishing that she had her UNIT standard issue gun handy, in case there was something else in the room.
Hand on the door handle, Martha took a deep breath, before flinging the door open, hoping that she could surprise any threat by her sudden entry. He efforts were waisted, however: the room was empty, the Osterhagen key lying abandoned on the floor. She picked it up before sitting down at the desk and waking up the high-tech computer system, which had gone to sleep at the lack of activity as though it were a common laptop. The program was just starting up again, when Martha felt something cold and round against the back of her head.
"Freeze," the German caretaker ordered. Martha momentarily wondered how she had failed to notice the footsteps, but realised that it must have been covered by her typing all the passwords and security codes. All was silent for a few seconds except for the shaky, frightened breaths of both Martha and the woman who was holding a gun against her head, and the whir of the computer fan as the program loaded. Then, the sudden PING! of the video links popping up set everything into motion.
Martha dropped the Osterhagen key as she sprung out of her chair, swinging her arm to hopefully knock the gun out of the caretaker's hand. She hadn't, however, taken into account the fact that all UNIT personnel, even the caretakers, were given advanced combative training. While Martha too had completed that component of her military instruction, she had only just passed, her stubborn hatred for violence that she had picked up from the Doctor preventing her from trying very hard in that subject. The German woman, it seemed, did not have the same reservations, and easily deflected Martha's attack, despite the age difference. Before she knew it, Martha found herself winded and slumped in a corner of the console room, her bruised ribs throbbing.
"You should have stayed away," the caretaker spat. "The world is already ending, you have no right to make it faster."
"Please, I - I'm trying to - to help!" choked out Martha.
"Help? Help who? Those big golden Pfefferstreuern in the sky? The ones that shoot my cat, and near shoot me?" The older woman was screaming now, tears of fear, grief, and anger rolling down her face.
"I'm trying to give hope to the other planets, out there in the sky!" Martha pleaded.
"Hope? Hope? You idiotischen girl, there's nicht hope! We all die! You want us to die faster, you kill us all?" She pointed the gun back at Martha, her hands trembling.
"No, please, I've got to..." Martha's terrified appeal was added to by the shouts of the UNIT officers in the other Osterhagen control stations as they watched through their screens. Their cries, however, fell on deaf ears.
"Zur Hölle fahren, Martha Jones. Go to hell." With that, she pulled the trigger.
Author's note: Sorry this update took so long to post, school has been crazy, and I've had a bit of writer's block. Also, I apologise if I got any of the German wrong, please correct me if you notice anything and I'll edit it in the story.
