A/N YAHOOO! We passed 100 reviews! You guys rock, thank you so much. And thank you also to everyone who followed and favorited the story. There's a special place in heaven for all you gorgeous people. (Or hell, which is probably where I'm heading after all the whump I write…)

As a present I bring you a slightly longer chapter than usual. The Eyal shuttle has just arrived for Rose and the Doctor, and if they don't get out now...who knows what will happen to our favorite time traveling duo.

Chapter 14:

The Doctor helped Rose slowly to her feet as the containment center door flew open. He noticed in some part of his mind how Rose tried to hold her head high, hands balled into fists at her side, while at the same time angling her shaking body behind the Doctor's. She always tried to be so brave.

But the rest of his mind was focused on the footsteps of the new arrival. They were singular – only one man – quick and light as if moving on the balls of his feet. The Doctor sniffed deeply, pulling in the smell. Human.

Captain Ren appeared on the other side of the bars, glancing around the rest of the hallway and into the holding cells on either side. He turned to face the Doctor and Rose, looking nervous, and opened his mouth as if to begin saying something, but paused. His forehead wrinkled as he caught sight of the discarded mattress, the bright red of dried blood staining the bars and across the floor, and the ruffled, wary appearance of his two 'prisoners'. He frowned. "What the hell happened here?"

Suddenly the Doctor felt incredibly angry again at the man in front of them. A growl formed deep in his throat as his lips shaped into a snarl. "Can't even keep track of your own men, captain? Maybe you should ask your rodent faced friend about what happened."

"Doctor," Rose reined him back in with that one softly spoken word. The Doctor felt his anger swiftly dissipate at the confused, stunned look on Ren's face. The captain's gaze landed on Rose as he suddenly became aware of how her shoulders slumped forward slightly and the way she stood behind the Doctor's body like a shield. He took a concerned step forward, staring at her intently.

"Were – I mean – Did they…?"

He stopped, unable to even finish the questions, but the way Rose's eyes flitted to the floor at the question was answer enough. Ren bristled. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, uncomfortable and…furious. "Rose," He finally said, his voice thick and heavy with empathy. "I am really, truly sorry, I had no idea." He paused as he gazed at her. "No one deserves that."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed questioningly as he saw something flash across the captain's face, a soft glisten in his sympathetic eyes that told him his mind had suddenly gone far off. The Doctor opened his mouth to ask about it when Ren seemed to snap back to reality, gaze zipping back to the Doctor.

"You don't have much time." He announced, suddenly all business. "They just got here."

"Yeah, we heard." The Doctor knew who they were.

Ren approached the cell door, drawing out one of its complicated keys from his pocket. Rose inhaled sharply as he unlocked the door, pulling it open a few inches so it wouldn't accidentally be relocked. The Doctor's suspicious didn't waiver.

"I'm supposed to be meeting the collectors at the landing base right now, but unfortunately got delayed making it there." Ren gave the Doctor a meaningful look. "I can distract them with all the proper etiquette and paperwork for a while, and 'my' men will probably be too focused on their arrival to be paying much attention to the outer arms of the outpost. This might be your last chance to get out free."

The Doctor raised his chin slightly and observed the captain. Humanity was now radiating off of him; the Doctor could practically smell it. After all these years playing actor in these foreign deserts, Ren had not abandoned that one monumental human trait.

"What about you?" Rose piped in. Ren sighed and glanced around, anxious to leave in time.

"If you both get stuck in Eyal, then I have absolutely no hope of making it home. At least this way I can hope you'll decide to come back for me. The way I see it, it's either a fifty percent chance or an a hundred percent chance I'm trapped here forever."

"Why not just come with us now?"

Ren shook his head. "I need to distract the men and the collectors for this to work. It's going to be a close call as it is; middle of the day, men still on shift. Just wait ten minutes before you go so I can get them all holed up in my office first…and to eliminate me from suspicion." Ren shrugged at the last comment as he fixed the pair with a stare that begged so plainly come back for me. The Doctor found himself only able to nod his silent promise.

"There are two possible ways out that would be the easiest." Ren continued. He spoke quickly as time continued to tick on. The collectors might already be unloading off their ship by now. "The first one is up some stairs –"

"You don't have time." The Doctor interrupted. He took two large steps to the bars, fitting his arms between them and reaching out to touch the sides of Ren's forehead. Ren jerked back at first, eyeing the Doctor suspiciously. "Just think the paths and I'll see them." His fingers connected with Ren's temples, just as they had with Rose's not long ago, and he let his mind latch onto the unguarded information in front of him. Ren gasped as he felt the foreign fingers press against his mind, but he did as the Doctor instructed, bringing forward the images of the best flight paths for the two.

It didn't take long. The Doctor memorized the layout within seconds and retreated from the captain's mind. He opened his eyes to see Ren's pupils dilated beneath the orange contacts with shock at the new experience, but they soon faded back to normalcy, the actor soldiering on through the blunder in his lines.

"Thank you." The Doctor placed as much emphasis and sincerity into the two syllables as he could. Ren simply nodded, still speechless, but when the Doctor began to turn back he grabbed onto the Time Lord's hand, demanding his attention one more time. The Doctor looked up with questioning surprise.

Ren motioned towards Rose. "Get her home safe." He instructed with a quirked eyebrow. "Get her back to her parents. Her family."

The Doctor's earlier suspicious about the glint in Ren's eye proved correct with those demands. He smiled and squeezed Ren's hand reassuringly.

"I'll get you back to yours soon, too." He assured as his promise. Ren bowed his head and, with a quick nod towards Rose in good-bye, ran from the containment center. Both prisoners stood still and silent for a minute, just listening, before the Doctor swiveled around, messing up his hair as he did so. "Phewwww, two psychic links in one day, really shouldn't be this exhausting."

Rose glanced at him through the corner of her eye, confused. "Two?" She asked as she thought something was beginning to click inside her head.

The Doctor froze as he realized he'd said that out loud, and suddenly he found himself questioning whether Rose really would forgive him for going into her mind, altering her perception, manipulating her memories. Listed like that it sounded like an absolutely horrendous breach in personal rights and boundaries, even to the Doctor. But his guilty, surprised statue didn't last more than a second as he bounced forward with feigned energy, pretending he hadn't heard her question. Was he ever able to pull one over on Rose Tyler, though? "Alrighty then!" He clapped his hands together. "Ten minutes to kill!"

"When was the other time?"

"Now, do you think we should take the stairs or the tunnel out? I think the stairs are our best bet –"

"You said two psychic links, when was the other one?"

"Although the tunnel would provide some nice cover…or trap us inside –"

"Doctor."

The Doctor froze as she snapped his name. Rose was staring at him wide-eyed, arms crossed over her chest as she demanded an explanation with her large brown eyes. The Doctor sighed heavily, searching his brain for an excuse. Any excuse. He couldn't afford to lose her trust now.

Acting defeated, deflated, the Doctor came up with a quick lie. "Why do you think they brought us all these supplies?" He motioned towards the blankets and medication.

Rose raised her eyebrows. "I thought you said it was because someone was feeling guilty." Her tone blatantly conveying that she wasn't buying into it.

This time, however, the Doctor didn't have to lie with his response. "Yes, someone was. Me."

Ten minutes passed like molasses during the Ice Age. The Doctor stretched out his hearing as far as he could, straining to hear the sound of approaching footsteps or snippets of conversations out in the hallway. The entire time he heard nothing. His internal clock ticked away at the seconds until six hundred of them had passed. Time to go.

The cell door creaked as the Doctor pushed it open, jarringly loud amidst the silence of the room and the two prisoner's desperation. Turning back to Rose, he held out his hand, offering it to her with a playful wiggle of his fingers. For a moment Rose just stared at it, a frown forming in her eyes, before she brushed it away and slowly moved forward, slipping her hand into his. A second later every hint of hesitation evaporated as she entwined her fingers in his, squeezing gently. "Let's do this." She whispered with new found determination.

It was with a smile that the Doctor pulled Rose out of the cell for the last time, guiding her down the hallway towards the heavy doors. The last time he had charged through them he'd been on his own, having left Rose behind. And while he was relieved she hadn't been shot down and punished as he had been, there was still a part of him that felt guilty about leaving her behind in the first place. Now they were both hurrying down the hallway, running on the balls of their feet, Rose limping slightly as she moved, with their hands still clasped together. The Doctor thought back one impossibly long week ago to when they'd been fleeing from the Drephesh natives, bolting down that rocky hill hand-in-hand as they were now. How had everything gone so wrong so fast?

They paused at the door, the Doctor listening for any signs of movement on the other side. When he was sure there was nothing and no one there he pushed the door open, happy that it made no noise, and with a reassuring smile drew Rose with him out into the hall.

The corridor was just as he remembered it: long and conventional and deserted. Instead of going right like last time, the Doctor darted to the left, following the mental map Ren had provided for him. They had decided on the stairs route which would lead them up onto the lowest roof of the outpost. From their they could bypass the entire courtyard and gate, avoiding the top interest areas of the complex where the most attention would be directed.

They hurdled around a corner in their haste to find the escape route when the Doctor jumped backwards, twirling back around the turn and clamping a hand over Rose's mouth to cut off her gasp as the movement surprised her. She tensed, eyes widening as she heard the unmistakable sounds of marching boots. Their eyes quickly scanned their hallway, looking for anything – a room, a broom cupboard, a hole in the wall – they could use to hide, but there was nothing. The Doctor pressed a finger to his lips as he chanced another look around the corner.

The two guards were making their way closer, chatting to each other casually as they carried between them a large black bag. The Doctor recognized them. They had been on the patrol with Blondie and Rat-Face when the Doctor and Rose had been captured.

Rose tugged on his sleeve, trying to pull him back down the corridor and out of sight on the other side, but the Doctor held up his hand. They didn't have time. The guards were getting too close to try to avoid and the corridor was too long; if they turned down this way they would still be able to see the retreating backs of the two prisoners. Their only hope was that the guards would keep going straight…or to face them.

The Doctor heard the new angle of the footsteps and groaned inwardly. They were turning down their hall. He squeezed Rose's hand reassuringly before stepping forward, rolling his shoulders. Fighting was never his favorite option, but right now all he cared about was getting Rose and himself out.

The footsteps were louder now, pounding through the Doctor's ears. They would be turning the corner in three…two…one…

The Doctor lashed out, driving a straight arm into the closest guard's neck. He collapsed backwards, stunned and chocking, grabbing at his assaulted windpipe. The other guard jumped in surprise and dropped the cargo they were carrying, which crashed to the ground heavily and, unfortunately, rather loudly. He froze, clearly not having been expecting to encounter any trouble within their own halls, but the Doctor gave him no time to recover. He launched forward, crouching down and drawing his leg around, catching the guard on the back of the knee. His leg gave out under him and he crashed forward, but at the last second managed to pull into a tumble. He jumped back to his feet, spinning around and throwing a punch that the Doctor expertly avoided. Another fist came flying towards him but the Doctor twisted and twirled out of the way, jabbing at the various pressure points of the body.

This time, however, instead of a fist flying at him, it was the side of a cattle prod, the tip flashing dangerously as electricity danced between the two prongs. The Doctor barely evaded it, his whole body arching backwards until his upper body almost created a right angle with his lower. As he launched back up the Doctor drove two fingers into the guard's neck, just above the sternum. The guard suddenly became lifeless. He crumpled to the floor as if every bone in his body had suddenly decided to take the day off. He was unconscious instantly. The cattle prod fell from his grasp and rolled harmlessly across the floor.

The Doctor didn't have time to celebrate his victory. A thick arm suddenly wound its way around his neck, pulling him backwards and off his feet. He clawed at the arm, scrapping at flesh, as he chocked and gasped for air. The arm was incredibly strong. Then suddenly agony filled him as another prod was brought down on his side, sending its current coursing through his body. He writhed in the guard's hold, trying to escape, unable to even drag in a fragment of delicious air.

Suddenly the arm released him as the Doctor heard a loud CLUNK. He spun around, gasping, holding his own bruised throat, to see Rose standing behind the second crumpled body, cattle prod in hand. She held it strongly by the shaft, the heavy handle pointed down and now covered with blood and bits of hair. She smiled at him through the adrenaline before dropping the prod heavily on the unconscious man's head. The handle hit him again with a heavy thunk. "Sorry." Rose whispered unapologetically to the man.

"Nice one." The Doctor smiled as he massaged his throat. "Come on, let's find a place to hide them." He grabbed the wrists of the larger man who had just tried to pull his head off and began to drag him towards the hallway they'd just come from. Rose followed his lead, haul the other guard slowly and choppily behind her. He was much heavier than he looked.

Luckily for them there was an open closet just a few feet down the corridor. The Doctor quickly shoved the two guards in and went to close the door when Rose suddenly jammed it with her toe. "Wait." She bent down and, after a bit of rummaging, managed to pull out both of their radios. The Doctor glowed.

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, you are." He took one of the radios from her. Not only could the guards not alert anyone if they wake up, but now Rose and the Doctor would be able to hear if the alarm had been raised. So far the frequencies were silent.

"Allons-y!" The Doctor chirped as he took hold of Rose's hand once again and charged down the corridor. They needed to hurry. Who knew how long Ren would be able to distract the collectors without arousing suspicion of himself. And not only did they need to make it to the roof before the alarm is sounded, but they also needed to make sure they were far enough away that the guards wouldn't just hop in their little tank-carts and drag them back in.

The Doctor paused at a fork in the hall and mentally assessed his map. Right. He burst to the right and came crashing to a halt. All there was was one heavy looking door. For a fraction of a beat the Doctor just stared at it. He had not seen this in Ren's plans. "No…this isn't supposed to be here." He whispered frantically.

Rose tried the handle, pulling on it with all her might, but the door wouldn't budge. More than ever the Doctor wished he still had his handy-dandy screwdriver. They were so close to the rooftop access he could actually smell it. He could smell the burnt sand outside, the heat of the sun and the way it crisped the metal of the outpost walls. He took the handle himself and shook it violently. Nothing. He rammed his shoulder into the solid metal. Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing – now he had a heavily bruised shoulder, too.

"Okay, what about the tunnel?" Rose asked with desperation on her voice. The Doctor closed his eyes as he brought forward the new map, backtracking in his mind to the corridor they needed to reach in order to be on route to the tunnel access.

He opened his eyes to see Rose staring at him expectantly. Slowly he began to nod. Was this possible? "If we're extremely lucky and sprint the whole way, we might be able to make it." The collectors had landed nearly twenty minutes ago. How much longer did they have?

They got their answer almost instantly. Both radios buzzed to life, startling Rose and causing the Doctor to jump slightly. They'd both forgotten that they had taken them. The radios cackled a bit more before a frenetic voice came through on the other end. "Prisoner escape! I repeat, prisoner escape! Down in corridor ten. I think they're headed towards the corridor eleven's roof access!"

Rose quickly covered her mouth. One of the guard's they had taken out must have reawakened. The Doctor held back an extremely colorful Gallifreyan curse and spun back towards the door. He rammed into it again, jerking on the handle, pulling with all his Time Lord strength and the pushing just in case. The door groaned under the assault but otherwise made no indication of planning to open.

"Doctor, come on! We have to go!" Rose gabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him backwards towards the hallway they had just used. The message was out, there was no point in staying quiet and stealthy anymore. Frustrated, the Doctor allowed Rose to pull him back to reality. They sprinted back down the hall, trying to flip the directions around so they could make their way back to the beginning. All that time had been a waste, and now they were racing against both the clock and the guards.

The radios buzzed back to life as another message came through. The Doctor froze in his tracks as an all too familiar voice wafted through the system. "We're in corridor nine heading up." Rat-Face announced with his usual high, oily voice. The Doctor heard Rose gasp.

"Copy, and we're in fourteen aiming to intersect. They haven't passed us yet."

The Doctor spun around, looking for something, anything, any way out of this situation. He could already hear footsteps coming from the lower numbered halls – Rat-Face's hoard, the Doctor thought with a pang of anger and revulsion. For a moment he was tempted to rush down to meet them, plow into Drephesh monster and claw that smug look off his sharp, rodent-like face. But he shut that emotion down instantly. Now was not the time to be rash.

Rose clung to his arm as she jerked her head back and forth, finally hearing the sound of the approaching footsteps as well. "Doctor, what do we do?" She looked up at the Time Lord despairingly. The Doctor's own forlorn look did not help to ease her racing heart.

They retreated once again, heading back towards the locked door, but this time turned left instead. They Doctor's eyes scanned for any sign of an escape route, or even a place to hide, but the corridor they turned down was simply lined with thick pipes that excreted a small amount of steam that would not be enough to provide a proper cover. There were no doors or new rooms to run to down here.

Boots ran towards them, only a hall or two away. Shouts accompanied them, someone ordering to check that a door was still latched and locked. They had reached the roof access already. Dread clawed at the Doctor as the other end of the corridor filled with the sounds of similar running boots. Somewhere in the depths of his mind that was not focusing completely on the task at hand he felt bad for Rose as he dragged her forward once more. She tripped over her own feet as she fought to keep up. The Doctor hurled the rest of the way down the corridor, hoping to beat the men to the junction branching off from where they were, but froze as a shadow appeared on the threshold. A line of men appeared, holding up their stun-guns, all aimed at The Doctor and Rose. The Doctor slid to a stop before bounding the other way, only to realize the other end of the corridor had already been sealed off by the rendezvous team. Rose stumbled from the sudden change in direction and plowed into the Doctor's side as he froze.

Breathing hard, the two prisoners faced the impenetrable line of armed guards. They were cornered, trapped like rats, backed up against the hot pipes that fed the outpost. Rose hissed as her back lightly pressed against the searing metal of the ducts. "What do we do?" She murmured quietly to the Doctor, her eyes flitting between each of the new arrivals.

The Doctor's eyes darted around the small space, searching for a break in the ranks. When he saw none he glanced down and gave Rose a pain, apologetic smile as he raised his hands in the air, admitting defeat. With a sigh Rose copied him, staring at the ground now instead of the approaching figures.

She unfortunately looked up in time to see Rat-Face pull out of the herd, stalking towards them with a sickeningly arrogant smile. She instantly shifted closer to the Doctor, whimpering as she looked into the face of the man who had so viciously assaulted her so recently before her vision fell to the ground.

The Doctor, however, heard her soft choke and felt his blood instantly boil. Before he knew what he was doing, his body was launching itself across the short expanse towards the rodent, a feral, animalistic growl emanating from somewhere deep within that evolution had not managed to erase entirely. The Doctor didn't even feel like himself anymore, a new animal having taken over. He wanted to tear and break and peel and –

BANG!

"AHG!" The Doctor howled as a Volt Bite tore into his skin, sending him flying backwards into the steaming pipes from the close distance of the shot. The electricity ripped through him viciously. He heard Rose shout his name. He peeled one eye open through the surging pain to see that a man had grabbed her from behind, hauling her away from him as the guard tugged her arms behind her back. She squirmed and kicked, fighting, but the Doctor saw the terrified look on her face, thinking it was all about to happen again. "N-n-no." He slurred through the pain, trying to force himself up before another rush of hellish energy struck him. "Don' – t-touch 'er…" His vision flashed black and then white and then normal. The current was holding on for too long.

As suddenly as it happened, the pain stopped. The Doctor felt himself sag instantly, his muscled painfully relaxing after being seized and cramped and abused so roughly. He could hardly even protest to the pair of strong hands dragging him upright, pulling his arms behind his back and clamping them securely into a pair of cuffs. His sight was still flashing and blurring annoyingly, but through the haze he saw the smirking smile or Rat-Face leering down at him. The adrenaline brought on by hatred cut straight through his foggy mind.

"Did you really not learn anything from our last lesson?" The rodent taunted. "Do I have to teach you again who's in charge here?"

"Sir, the captain says to bring them straight up to the launch pad." One of the guards interrupted. Rat-Face glared him down before begrudgingly nodding.

"Gag them." He instructed to the men. "I don't want them spreading anymore of their lies." The Doctor fought against the hands holding him down and forcing a piece of rough fabric between his teeth and over his mouth as Rat-Face moved closer to Rose, who was going through similar treatment. The human girl froze in fear as he crouched down in front of her, her brown eyes wide as she tried unsuccessfully to put as much distance between him and herself as possible. Rat-Face just pressed a disgusting finger to her muzzled lips as she trembled, making a menacing hushing sound. "Hush now. Worthless whores don't get to speak, remember?" He whispered in her ear as a tear streaked down her cheek.

The Doctor yelled through the muzzle, his words muffled and indistinct, twisting to escape the hands on his shoulders. The guards dragged him back to his feet.

"Too bad I don't have time to reteach that lesson." Rat-Face goaded as he turned back to the Doctor. "It would have been my pleasure. But unfortunately we're out of time." He jerked his head to indicate for the men to follow him. The Doctor was shoved forward as Rat-Face called back over his shoulder. "Come along. Your new masters await you."

TBC