A/N: We are actually vaguely near the end now! Hmm..

Chapter 21 – Gogo!

The Doctor could barely cling onto consciousness as his time in the Chamber reached a merciful end. It was to his great relief he was finally unchained, pulled upright and dragged out of the small, cold room.

It had been the worst part of his parallel life so far.

His life as the Doctor, he had been tortured a countless number of times before, by the Gallifreyans, by humans, but he couldn't remember it ever being as bad as this. Human torture had never even scratched his mental surface. But this was in a whole new league of its own.

They made him walk despite the fact his leg was broken, shoving him back in the general direction of the lab. His head ached, his arms felt like they were burning and he was pretty sure he'd either bruised or broken some ribs.

He was vaguely aware of being shoved in front of the familiar metal table once more, the various substances spread out across the desk exactly where he'd left them. But he could barely see, barely breathe, barely think. It was taking every ounce of his energy just to stand upright. He felt someone step up behind his shoulder. Garav. He shuddered involuntarily.

"John, do not waste my time again. Or Rose Tyler will pay."

He laughed boisterously to himself, slapping a hand down on the Doctor's shoulder. The Doctor bit his tongue to stop himself from crying out in pain, almost chopping it in two. He heard Garav move away from behind him, and out of the door still flanked by guards – his torturers.

They really wouldn't mind doing it again.

Thoughts of Rose entered his head, of her beautiful face, her beautiful smile. If he didn't do this, her fate would be nothing better than rape, mutilation, the death of his children shortly followed by her own, slow, painful death. And Garav would make him watch every second of it, there was absolutely no doubt about that.

Even thinking about it made him want to die.

The Doctor, the real Doctor still back in the parallel world had given him Rose to love and look after, to be happy with, to learn from. And he wasn't going to waste that.

He forced his eyes open, forced them to focus on the materials in front of him. With weak, heavy arms he reached up to the nearest bottle and grasped it in two shaky hands, and lifted. Pain coursed through both of his arms instantly, the pain almost making him pass out on the spot.

He gritted his teeth, and began to make the gas Garav wanted.

The Torchwood operatives waited patiently through the rest of the day, waiting for Kayleigh's signal whilst simultaneously waiting for the residents of the beach house to leave before they made their move. It seemed like they were never going to get their wish – until at 9pm on the dot the residents exited the house, got in the car and left. Five minutes later Kayleigh's text came through, the message clear:

GOGO!

"Okay, let's move," Gary muttered into his earpiece to the other hidden Torchwood operatives, shuffling out of the bushes and straight to the Doer's front door. He drew a small, thin metal device from his pocket and buzzed the front door lock with a bright blue light in one swift movement – it clicked open and the door swung in.

Gary looked at the device in his hand, smiling. A Sonic Screwdriver, John had called it as he'd given it to Gary, as though passing on his heritage.

"Thanks, John," Gary muttered, slipping the device back into his pocket. The door creaked ominously as Gary pushed it open, and flicked on the Hall light. The other four Torchwood operatives filed in behind him, looking critically around at their new environment.

"No messing about," Gary said sternly, turning to look at them all. "This tunnel could be anywhere, be under, over or behind anything. We move quickly and quietly. Every minute we lose is a minute lost of John's life. Go."

Luckily their find came sooner rather than later. Around ten minutes into their searching Jet signalled out on his earpiece, and moment later they had run to his location.

He was standing in the middle of the sitting room, the carpet piled up at the side to reveal a large round piece old wood set in the centre of the floor – looking suspiciously like a door to some kind of secret underground tunnel.

"Bingo," Jet whispered, grinning. He was already moving to shift it, and with a little help from another operative the piece of wood had been shifted aside to reveal a large, dark, gaping hole in the earth, headed at a rather steep angle downwards.

Gary got down onto one knee, bringing out his torch and shining it down into the hole. "I can see the ground," he commented, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see more clearly. "It's safe to jump."

"Let's go, then!" Jet said eagerly, already making to jump… But Gary held up a hand.

"No, Jet, stay here. You have to make sure the Goer's house is left in the exact way they left it."

"Aw, man!" Jet began in protest, but Gary was deftly ignoring him.

"They can't know we've been here, or we'd be jeopardising their lives too. As soon as we are gone, tidy everything up and leave, with no tracks. Is that clear?"

"Yes," Jet muttered, heaving a sigh.

"Oi," Gary suddenly said steely, looking up at Jet with his jaw set. "You've got me to thank that Mr Tyler ever let you out on this field mission to begin with. I'm writing your evaluation. So you'd better improve your attitude."

Jet fell silent, looking to the floor – or rather, the gaping hole now in the floor.

"Good. Now, there's an innocent man dying on the other end of this tunnel, guys. Let's move."

He jumped down into the hole, landing with a forward roll and shining his torch down the tunnel – but there was nothing but darkness. He heard three more people land behind him before the light streaming down from the entrance was completely blocked as Jet replaced the wooden door.

Gary sighed, smiling back at his fellow experienced field agents.

"Reminds me of myself at that age," he said and they all laughed in reply, nodding in agreement before they put on their oxygen masks and began to advance down the tunnel on hands and knees, searching for the other end.

But what they had all missed was the silently flashing red light of a disturbed sensor sitting in the roof of the tunnel just under the entrance.

And in response, high-security alarms began to blare on Garav's island.

The Doctor was almost done. The lethal gas was on the verge of creation and he hated himself for it. Just as he was adding the last material needed he was suddenly grabbed from behind by two guards, being dragged backwards away from the metal desk. What? Were they taking him back to the Chamber?

"No, please!!" he shouted, "I was working!" But they didn't seem to care as they hauled him through the lab door and down the corridor...

But they weren't headed to the Chamber. They were going up the stairs, back to the main room where the clearly insane Garav had given him so many of his megalomaniac talks.

Strangely, the Doctor couldn't decide whether he preferred the Chamber.

They burst through the doors and the Doctor was thrown to the floor roughly. He pushed himself onto his knees, grimacing as yet more pain shot through his body. He looked up at his surroundings, finding himself in the centre of a group of important-looking people, amongst them Number Three with Kayleigh by his side, looking like she wanted to be anywhere else but there. Finally his eyes went up, up to see the extremely angry face of Garav Shweninghar bearing down on him with his knife clutched in his sweaty grip.

"What did you do?!" Garav practically shrieked.

"What?" the Doctor asked, truly clueless.

"Tell me what you did!" Garav screamed, and planted a kick into his stomach. The Doctor curled in on himself, gasping for air.

"I... don't know what... you're talking about!" the Doctor protested through the pain. Garav grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head up, pressing the sharp knife against the Doctor's nose and cheek. The Doctor could feel it breaking his skin, his own blood running in rivulets down his face towards his lips...

"I think you do!" Garav yelled, pressing harder and harder with every passing second... "Torchwood have found you! How did they find you?!"

"I don't know!"

Garav suddenly drew away, taking his knife with him. The Doctor's face was screaming with a sharp pain as more and more blood ran down his face, dropping onto the ground. Garav didn't even look at the Doctor as he spoke his next words:

"Shoot him."

The Doctor's eyes widened, glancing around to find one of the guards stepping in front of him, raising their gun. "I don't know, I swear I don't know!"

The guard fired.

The bullet drilled into his shoulder with ease, hitting him like a sledgehammer. He fell back onto the floor with the impact, crying out in agony as the darkness threatened to finally overwhelm him completely...

Garav had grabbed him again, this time the knife at his throat. "How did they find you?!" he repeated, screaming it into the Doctor's bleeding face.

"How can I know?!" the Doctor screamed in return. "I haven't been anywhere out, have I?! I don't know!"

Garav paused. The Doctor assumed that he was just going to draw the knife across his throat, but instead Garav backed away, leaving the Doctor gasping and crying with pain on the floor.

"We have a traitor," Garav said firmly, his eyes scanning around the crowded room of his closest, most trusted associates.

Seconds passed, until they finally stopped on Number Three. Number Three blinked in surprise, but his Uncle wasn't looking at him.

He was looking at Kayleigh.

Muddy, limbs aching and oxygen canisters running out, the Torchwood team finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

They reached it, and passed through into what they knew to be the dungeon. They took off their masks and gratefully breathed in air, suddenly feeling a lot better than they had ten seconds ago.

"Right guys," Gary began, dropping the canister and drawing out his firearm, checking it was loaded. "Time to save a friend."