Phoenix didn't have time to figure out where she'd popped off to as the doctor with the electric baton had jumped with her. He hardly seemed to notice which wasn't entirely surprising. She'd learned that they had laser focus, though perhaps jumping through time and space should've been the exception. Regardless, she found herself being shoved back, her feet going out from under her as she struggled to avoid the baton.
She managed to twist herself so that she fell on her side which was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was good because it meant she didn't get electrocuted, bad because it sent a mind numbing cascade of pain shooting through her as she jarred her stitches. The doctor fell beside her, but recovered quicker than she would have expected. Ignoring the pain as best she could, she twisted and bent her legs up, kicking the doctor back. He clattered to his back, but instantly began climbing to his feet. Did the doctors numb their pain receptors? How could they be so emotionless and so durable?
She hauled herself to her feet, grabbed a crowbar that happened to be sitting on a table beside her - at a glance it seemed to be a tool workshop - and swung with all of her strength. It hit the man's head with a sickening crunch and a light clang. He fell over and she stumbled back against the railing that framed a mini autopsy room. The doctor stayed down that time and she breathed a sigh of relief before noticing the papers strewn about the floor. It seemed she'd brought more with her than just one of the workers.
She let the crowbar fall from her fingers and finally took in her surroundings. It was the Torchwood hub, she realized, her eyes barely willing to believe it. Looking around she found herself facing Jack, Ianto, Tosh and Owen. They all looked shocked, horrified even. Jack was the first to gather himself.
"Bad date?" he asked, grinning at her before calmly making his way down the stairs towards her. "You alright?"
"Well, I just beat someone with a crowbar," she told him, blinking the black spots from her vision and leaning back against the railing. "Probably killed him." The words just popped out, but once they were there she couldn't take it back. Yes, he'd been one of the people that had been torturing her and calling it science, but it didn't mean she should've killed him. Her throat was suddenly tight. "Did I?"
Jack went over and pressed two fingers to the man's jugular, jerking his hand away just as quickly. "He's cold." He frowned in thought before tearing away the grey scrubs and revealing the metal underneath. "You didn't kill him. He's just a robot. Probably knocked his circuits loose."
"Meaning he might not stay down for long," she murmured, legs shaky as she turned back to the team. They all looked surprised, though none more than Owen who looked like he'd just seen a ghost. "What's going on? What did I interrupt?"
Owen didn't answer. Instead he slowly made his way over to her, unshed tears sparkling in his eyes as he took her in. She just frowned in concern and puzzlement. After a tense moment of silence, he let out his held breath and pulled her to him. She was stunned to find that he was shaking.
"Owen?" She asked, her voice strained as she tried to ignore the pain rushing through her. Obviously, this was something he needed, though it was excruciating for her. "What happened?"
"I thought you were-" He pulled away and took her in. "Rose said that…."
"When did you meet Rose?" Phoenix wondered, her mind whirling to connect the dots. What had him so worried and just what did he think had happened to her? When could their paths have crossed? Then it made sense. She'd given her necklace to Rose when they'd been dealing with the Dalek in Van Staten's museum a little over a week ago. Rose had thought she'd died. "Rose didn't tell me that she came here." Then another thought occurred to her and she turned to Jack, eyes wide. "Wait, if Rose knows about Torchwood doesn't that-?"
Jack cut her off. "She doesn't know about Torchwood."
"She showed up in my bloody flat," Owen explained, gaining more control over himself. "That doesn't matter right now. You look like you've been through hell. What happened?"
"A lot," she settled on, suddenly feeling tired. "A lot's happened. Actually, I need to be getting back."
"Not until I've had a proper look at you, you don't." Owen almost snapped, steadying her as she stumbled. She didn't have it in her to argue as he led her to a mini medical room. Vaguely, she noted that Jack was dealing with the robot doctor, but she couldn't even find it in herself to worry about that. All that mattered to her at that moment was that Owen was there. She'd missed him in the time that she'd been holed up in that cell, missed human contact. "So, just gonna run some scans and some tests. Want to tell me what happened from your perspective?"
She couldn't help but shiver at his word choice. For the past week that was the gist of the conversation she'd had. Her scans said this, the tests meant that. Over and over and over again. "Someone ran scans and tests on me."
Owen's eyes flicked to her as he started up a machine, his back tense. "What kind of tests? And this will be automatic. Won't have to do a thing."
"They said they didn't know if I was human or not," she reluctantly told him, no longer sure herself. All of her hopes that there was a mistake were gone when she'd seen the strange part inside of herself. She didn't know what it was, she didn't know how it'd gotten there, and she didn't know how long it had been there. Over the years, she'd been to the doctor's, Owen had stitched her up many times and the abnormality had never come up. So why was it showing up now? "So they were trying to figure it out."
Owen had gone very still beside her, staring at the small tablet he held in his hands. She had an idea of what he was looking at and couldn't help but be worried. Did he know what it was? Would he help her? Finally, Owen looked up, his face carefully blank. "I'm going to have to ask you to lift up your shirt."
Before she could feel uncomfortable about it, she did as he said, glad that the doctors had been nice enough to supply her with a bra. It was grey like everything else and it didn't surprise her that she hated the color now. She hissed as Owen began to prod the skin around her stitches. It was clear that he was trying to be gentle and it didn't hurt as bad as it could have, but it still stung.
"How many times was this opened?" It was a mystery to her, how calm he was.
"Three." She answered, gritting her teeth as he continued to examine the wound.
"You're sure?" He checked, motioning for her to lower her shirt and returning to the scans. She could just barely see words on the screen, but couldn't make any of them out.
"Yeah." She nodded, biting her lip at the memories. "I was awake during the procedure."
"You were what?" Owen showed his first sign of unease at her words and she shifted in place.
"They didn't put me under," she rephrased, her fingers tightening around the bed she sat on. "They did insure that it didn't hurt. Though I think that was just part of the test, not out of the kindness of their hearts. They didn't seem to care either way."
Owen turned away from her and busied himself with her scans. "Well, the wound was sealed properly, there's no sign of infection, and apart from malnutrition and a low blood count, your vitals are stable."
"So, I'm mostly healthy?" She checked, not that she felt it, though she didn't expect to feel fine for a while yet.
"Yes, which is strange." He told her, turning to look at her. There was an expression in his eyes that she couldn't place. "Among other things the scans picked up."
She was almost too afraid to ask. "What other things?"
"Like the trisected organ in your chest cavity and the rate your blood cells are replenishing themselves and-" He broke off and set the tablet down, leaning back against the adjacent bed. "Not that I'm complaining, but you shouldn't be alive. If you lose more than forty percent of your body's blood volume, then you need to get to a hospital and it's very likely that your body will shut down and die. Right now, you have about forty percent of your body's blood volume left, meaning you've lost sixty percent of it. And it should take your body six to eight weeks to replenish itself fully after losing that much blood or it should take a blood transfusion and yet at the rate your blood cells are multiplying…I'd say you'll be replenished in no time at all."
"But that isn't normal," She murmured, her throat tightening at his words.
"No, it isn't." She could see the worry in his eyes though he tried to hide it. "I'm going to continue examining the results. It's possible you picked up some sort of alien contagion or those blasted surgeons put something inside-"
"They didn't." She interrupted. That was one thing she was sure of. "The abnormality came up before we landed. The Doctor was going to help me figure out what it was. I was just hoping that it was a mistake, but….I can't deny what I saw with my own eyes."
"Like I said, it could be an alien contagion and it might be reversible. I just need to make sure it isn't going to kill you." Owen told her, turning away and busying himself with the scans. "Just give me a few hours."
"Owen, leave it be." Phoenix turned as Jack strode into the room, his eyes sharp. She frowned at him. He ignored her as he focused on Owen. "It's not priority."
"How can it not be priority?" Owen demanded, turning a glare on the captain. "This thing could kill her!"
"It won't." He sounded so sure and Phoenix stared in shock. He knew about it. He knew what it was, which meant it wasn't going away. "She'll be fine."
"What is it?" Phoenix cut in, though she was afraid of what the answer might be. "You know, don't you? What is it? Am I….?"
"Game Station?" He answered and she frowned at him in confusion.
"What?"
"Have you been to the Game Station?" He elaborated, though he seemed to already know the answer.
"I don't know what that means." She admitted after a moment of tense silence.
"Then I can't tell you what it is." He told her, eyes softening. "But you're safe."
"The fact that you know about it in the first place implies that it's there to stay. Has it always been there?" She demanded, hopping off the bed and glaring at him in frustration. "It's never come up in the past and I've been scanned and x-rayed before. So why now? Why is it only just now showing up?"
Owen was the one who answered that question, though he still seemed angry with Jack. "According to the scans, it's a new growth. When I first started working here, I put your scans into the system, comparing the two…your scans are different now. That's why I think it's an alien contagion. I could-"
"It's not a contagion." Jack told him, nodding at Phoenix. "The only thing wrong with her is that she's been starved and experimented on. I promise you…there will be a time for you to get your answers. It'll be explained and it will all make sense. But for now, just drop it. Trust me, you have bigger things to worry about."
"Like what?" She demanded, glaring in frustration and blinking back tears. After everything she'd been through, she just wanted time to relax. She wanted answers. She wanted to feel like she was safe. "Like finding the Doctor and Rose? They're in the future so I have years before I have to worry. What other big things are there to worry about?"
"The person who tried to kill you," he responded just as Ianto came into the room. He had a mug in one hand and a paper bag in the other.
"I thought you could use something to eat," he said, offering her a smile. "And some tea."
"Thanks," Phoenix murmured as he set the bag and cup on a tray. She was suddenly struggling not to cry as Ianto made his way from the room. It was the kindest thing anyone had done for her in an entire week. It was a reminder that life wasn't just pain and running and nearly dying.
"Look, I know that it's a lot," Jack told her gently, his eyes softening. "I know that you're worried and scared. But I promise, you'll get your answers."
Phoenix picked up the mug of tea, trying to ignore the shaking in her hands. "So do you know who tried to kill me then?"
~9~
The alarm had turned out to be Ecktosca and Dram escaping from their cell. The other aliens who'd been working on the gravity project had begun building the device. Flowers had learned that Consul Issabel was actually a Slitheen, the Doctor and her had fled through the venting systems, gotten a ton of globs all over them and then the Doctor had frozen them off of himself. Was he forgetting anything? Oh, right. Consul Issabel or Ermenshrew as she'd formally introduced herself was now standing there and threatening them. They'd found their way to the greenhouse section that had been shut down a few months back. The Doctor was guessing there were some clues here and he was right. There was a teleport.
"What d'you want NOW?" The Doctor sighed, looking quite affronted at the Slitheen's sudden presence.
Couldn't he just catch one break? All he wanted to do was find Phoenix and Rose. Now that he knew they were alive, he was more determined to find them then he was before and he hadn't thought that was possible, but he couldn't get the brunette out of his mind. Before, he'd been able to focus on other things, now it was nearly impossible. At the most inopportune moments he would remember small things that he missed about her and it had only been a week or two. Couldn't the Slitheen just leave in peace?
"How did you free yourself of the globs?" Ermenshrew hissed, her large black eyes glaring at him.
He shrugged. "Gave them the cold shoulder."
"I have had more than enough of your pathetic attempts to stave off the inevitable."
"Well, we were just off anyway," The Doctor said, forcing a bright grin. "About to jump down your warren in space."
"And it is only ours," she hissed. "Our carapaces are strong enough to travel the warp-holes with no ill effects. Humans are not so hardy. It's very inconvenient – if we could have risked bringing your pretty little human piggy through the portal, my cousin would still be well."
"But you're not making these tunnels just for convenient travel, are you? With the gravity amplifier magnifying the energy of the warp-hole network, you can create tunnels through space a billion times bigger." The Doctor stared at Ermenshrew, trying to force his thoughts of Phoenix back. She'd said human. Singular. So which one was she going to bring? "But why? Why d'you need such a big hole?"
"You'll find out for yourself soon enough." Her dark eyes glittered. "Your team are progressing so very nicely without you on the late shift, Doctor. Construction of the amplifier will soon be complete." Ermenshrew cocked her enormous head to one side. "Now that I've shown them what happens if they fail me."
She threw something down on the floor. It landed with a wet slop. Flowers stared, appalled, at a thick yellow puddle in which floated a single, sugar-frosted eye.
"Oh, Nesshalop," she whispered.
"And now, Flowers, I think it's time you were dead."
"No." The Doctor was trembling with anger. Not only were they threatening him, not only did he have no clue where Phoenix was or what was happening to her. But now they'd mutilated Nesshalop? "Before you do anything else, I should take a sniff with that supersnout of yours."
And Ermenshrew did. "Ammonia?"
"'S right." He gestured to the gaping inspection panel. "I programmed a hyper-destronic pulse into the nitrogen feeder. The ammonia's acting as a carrier. Every passing second it's transmuting the energy as we speak – ready to send it shooting up into your gravity warp above."
"You're lying." She took a step forwards, raised her claws.
"You've not got long to disconnect it. Any minute now, that warp's gonna be scattered over half the frozen surface of this planet. And that'll make a mess of anyone who tries to go through one of your warp-holes, won't it?" The Doctor told her, eyes narrowing. Of course, it was just a bluff. The only reason there was so much ammonia in the air was because he'd burst a pipe to use nitrogen on the globs. But Ermenshrew didn't know that.
Ermenshrew turned to a patch of glowing wall and hissed in anger. It slid smoothly aside to reveal a vertical access shaft studded with meaty metal rungs. "For the record, I know this is a trick, OK?"
"Sure you do." The Doctor told her, suppressing a grin. Now he knew where the controls were.
"Just remember, there's nowhere you can go to escape me." She ducked inside and started to climb. Her voice floated down to them in eerie echoes. "Even if you dared risk the portal, the controls can't be primed by aliens. I'll be seeing you very soon."
The Doctor dashed to scoop up Nesshalop's eye in its sticky fluid. It winked at him sadly, and he pressed a kiss against its wrinkled, frosted lid. "We'll leave this in a nutrients tray. If it doesn't dry out she may be able to reabsorb it."
"What's the use?" Flowers moaned. "That evil thing! She'll kill Nesshalop, all of us! How can we possibly stop the Slitheen doing whatever it is they're doing?"
"How can I find Phoenix? And Rose?" He gently placed the eye at the base of a tomato
plant. "Not by sitting here and crying."
She wiped her eyes. "That's the ammonia," she muttered, her throat starting to burn. "Leak's getting worse."
Suddenly the ground either side of them seemed to explode in a blinding charge of electric blue light. Flowers jumped in alarm as, in the wink of an eye, two Slitheen were coughing their guts up beside her.
"Thought you'd scarpered," The Doctor muttered, keeping a wary eye on the two. He still wasn't sure if they were to be trusted. They'd told him that Consul Issabel had locked them up, framed them, but he wasn't sure if he should believe it or not.
"Waiting for you lot to push off out of it," Dram growled. "We were hiding in the vents until that horrendous woman left."
Flowers cowered back into the Doctor, eyes wide. "Are you going to kill us now?"
"You should try coping with that level of ammonia when your lungs are the size of a pig's nipple," Ecktosca muttered, rolling his eyes at Flowers. "Filthy stuff. And no, we aren't going to kill you. Least not right now." Still coughing, he clamped a claw around the poppito tree's golden trunk. It glowed and vanished – to reveal a large black disc in the bottom of the plant tray.
"Can't be primed by an alien, but will respond to their own kind," The Doctor noted, moving so that Flowers was behind him. "Why are you waiting to kill us? Waiting to let Ermenshrew do it?"
"After what we've been through, we're not about to get locked up by Ermenshrew, poisoned by gas or blown to bits by the back-blast of your hyper-destronic pulse!" Ecktosca scrambled on to the disc. "And for the record, that disgusting tramp is not one of us. She's a Blathereen. Get it right."
"What?" The Doctor frowned, registering their words and voicing his confusion. "You mean it's a different family?"
"Come on, Dram," Ecktosca muttered to his brother. "Anywhere's got to be better than here."
Dram joined him. Their images blurred and faded.
The Doctor took Flowers by the hand. They needed to get a move on. "We must follow."
She coughed, her throat still burning with ammonia. "But we don't know where the tunnel leads!"
"We won't be there long – we'll be going straight on to Justice Delta. Unless it leads to Justice Delta, of course." Which would be a great help. Then he could just get to the heart of the problem.
"But you heard her, it's not safe for us."
"You think it is here?" He placed his hands on her shoulders, and his eyes looked into hers. "You saw the gravometer. The planets are now in their most efficient and balanced positions. Should be a smooth enough ride."
"Should be?" Flowers pulled at the collar of her tunic. From somewhere up the access tunnel, a deep cry of rage was building.
"D'you think she's found out I was bluffing?" The Doctor jumped on to the platform and hauled Flowers after him. She huddled beside him on the disc. Slowly, a feeling of pins and needles stretched out through her body. Her ears popped. She found she couldn't breathe. It was as if some prickling, invisible fist was squeezing her like dough.
Then the world seemed to fade away and Flowers fell screaming into a searing, crackling void.
~9~
Phoenix found her feet flying out from under her as soon as she'd landed. She'd talked with Jack, finished her tea and the donut she'd found tucked away inside the paper bag. After not eating anything but the occasional plate of mush, it was the best donut she'd ever eaten before. So far, they hadn't found out who had tried to kill her. All Jack had been able to scrounge up was a date. He said that she would be able to find some more clues there. Then her necklace had popped her off again. It was beginning to get very irritating. Why hadn't it done anything the past week or so? Instead she'd been stuck and used as a guinea pig. She was going to have quite a chat with the Doctor when she found him and then the TARDIS.
Phoenix gasped in pain as she slowly got to her feet. She was in a large metal, thing. It could've been a spaceship, she mused, looking around at it all. It was moving and shaking, making it difficult to keep her feet under her. To her right there was a door that was wide open, green flashing past. So it wasn't a space ship then. Probably more of a platform. There were TV screens on every wall and beneath her feet. The brunette frowned and crouched down, reading the small subtitles at the bottom of the screens. There was Justice Epsilon, Justice Prime, Justice Beta-it must be showing where all of the Blathereen were, she realized, her eyes going wide. There were a lot of screens, a lot of Blathereen hiding in the people they'd killed.
The capsule was suddenly rotating and Phoenix cried out as she hit the screens, landing on her stomach. It wasn't until a moment later that she registered the other cries, though they were more surprised then pained. She painfully rolled over and took in the newcomers. Everything was blurry and spinning around as pain continued to burn through her torso.
"Warder Robsen," a dark-haired boy was saying, eyes wide with fear, "when we get back to the detention centre, will you lock me up and never let me out again, please?"
Detention centre? The words broke through the rest of Phoenix's pained haze and she forced herself up as the room continued to rattle. There were three of them. She could see the boy, a guard with a shock of bright red hair, and a blonde who had her back to her. Could she really be that lucky?
"We've got to get the door closed," the guard shouted, she was assuming that was Robsen. "Before the Blathereen-"
There was a clanging sound followed by a hoarse alien cry. Phoenix caught a twisted glimpse of two of the alien creatures staggering past the gaping doorway, both horribly injured. That's what they got from charging at a large capsule that was shooting through what Phoenix thought were trees. Maybe she was back on Justice Delta.
"Ok, nevermind," Robsen concluded. "Do you think they saw us?"
"If not, they'll have smelled us," the blonde said and Phoenix nearly cried in relief. It was Rose. The brunette pushed herself to her feet with a groan and found herself pinned by furious and terrified glares as the three realized there was someone else in there with them. Slowly, recognition dawned on Rose. "Phoenix?"
Phoenix didn't have time to react as the platform rotated clockwise, pressing onwards. Again, Phoenix's feet flew out from under her, though that time she landed on her back, which was slightly less painful. When the platform stopped shifting, the doorway was more of a skylight. How were they supposed to get out now?
"Well, that'll make it harder for them to get in," Robsen declared, smiling at them as they all climbed to their feet.
"But far more difficult for us to get out," Phoenix countered, leaning against the wall of screens. "Which is more important. We're fish in a barrel in here. At least out there, there's room to run."
"And this is your friend that you were telling us about?" The brown haired boy asked Rose, who was grinning again, walking over to Phoenix.
"She's not the Doctor, but she is a friend." Rose answered, pulling Phoenix into a hug. Phoenix groaned as she was crushed to the blonde. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
"Likewise," Phoenix managed, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to breath through the pain. "Do you mind letting go now? Not that I don't want to hug you, we just have more pressing matters to worry about." Phoenix wasn't sure if she should tell her friends about her injuries yet. They needed to stop the Blathereen and Owen had said that she was mostly fine. She'd tell them when they got back to the TARDIS. "We need to find the Doctor."
"Right." Rose nodded, both of them catching themselves against the wall as they continued to bludgeon through what Phoenix was suspecting was a forest from all the foliage she'd seen zipping past. "Any idea how we're going to do that?"
"Well, he should be on Justice Prime." Phoenix answered, brushing her hair out of her face. "Do you know where we are now?"
"You don't?" Robsen demanded, incredulous and confused.
"No." She turned to Rose. "I got jumped away." She motioned to her necklace. "Which, by the way, next time tell me when you make my best friend think I'm dead."
"Wha'?" Rose frowned in confusion.
"Owen." Phoenix shook her head. "We'll talk about it later. What planet are we on?"
"Justice Delta." Rose supplied and Phoenix couldn't help but be wary.
First, Rose just literally appeared in front of her and then they just happened to be on Justice Delta? Right where she needed to be to fix the whole mess. Well, she could probably chalk that up to the TARDIS giving her a hand as supposedly, the necklace was an extension of the old girl. But was it too much of a coincidence? The brunette just shook her head. She was too tired to worry about more than one thing at a time.
The platform smashed into something and the four inside scrambled to stay upright. Phoenix decided to just sink down and brace herself on her knees and hands. Through the door that was now a skylight, she could see a dark plume of smoke rising. The sounds of explosions deafened her for what felt like five minutes, but was probably less.
"What was that?" the dark haired boy cried out, eyes wide.
"I don't know, Dennel," Rose said. Phoenix was glad to have a name to his face."But we've got to get to the Doctor."
"No. We've got to get away from Justicia and warn EarthGov," Robsen insisted. "To think that those things have been manipulating us. . . using us."
"Believe me, the Doctor's our best bet for getting out of here."
Phoenix couldn't help but roll her eyes at the blonde. She was still so naive and putting all of their money on the Doctor. Yes, the Doctor had proven to be resilient so far, but it was still risky. And while they did still need to find him, it didn't mean that had to put all that pressure on his shoulders.
"Look, Rose, I'm the warder here-"
"You're NOT a warder!" Rose stormed at him with a glare. "You haven't been for months! To the Blathereen, you're just another inmate! That makes us equal, yeah? And wherever we head for, first things first. We need to get out of this thing!"
"Finally, one of you has said something sensible," Phoenix grumbled in irritation.
The capsule smashed into something else and they were all thrown to the floor. Phoenix grit her teeth as her entire body protested, she wouldn't be able to take much more. With a last splintering crack, they finally ran out of things to run into and Phoenix pushed herself to her feet, using the wall for balance. They were now slithering over a smooth surface, which was good for her injuries, but bad for the most part. They were picking up speed now.
"I think we're out of the forest," Robsen murmured, making his way over to the two girls with Dennel behind him.
"But not out of the woods," Rose said. "We're still accelerating. If we hit something now-"
The capsule hit a bump and lurched, spinning anti-clockwise and bringing the doorway back within reach. Phoenix bit her lip as black spots swam in her vision, once again pushing herself to her feet from where she'd fallen onto her front. She supposed she had to be grateful to whoever had stitched her up. At least, they hadn't done it halfway.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Dennel groaned.
Phoenix ignored him and made her way over to the doorway, looking out. The grass was rushing by beneath her and she could see that the platform was cutting a deep groove through some sort of garden. The wind lashed her hair around her face as she took in her surroundings.
"Let's jump for it before he adds his guts to the mess we're in." Robsen told them.
Rose scrambled over to join Phoenix and swore. "That high-rise I saw before," she shouted back through the doorway. "Something's crashed into the top of it. And we're about to crash into the bottom! Move yourself, qui-"
"Rose!" Phoenix interrupted, spotting two figures emerging from a doorway in the glass and steel base of a building. They stood frozen as the platform barreled towards them, closing fast.
Rose started waving manically as she finally realized what Phoenix was pointing out. "Doctor!" She shrieked. It WAS him. He was there with the woman the two girls had seen on the video chat. "Doctor!"
Phoenix was startled by her own reaction to seeing the Doctor again as she clung to the open doorway for balance. Her eyes pricked with tears - she wasn't sure if they were happy or relieved or traumatized - and something inside her loosened. She'd missed him, but she hadn't realized just how much she'd missed him. It was like a breath of fresh air after being underwater for hours.
"Rose? Phoenix?" At first he just stared, gobsmacked. Then he started whooping and jumping in the air, his long leather jacket flapping around his lanky frame. "Phoenix!"
Phoenix felt Robsen push past through the doorway. He hit the ground and rolled over and over. "Get out of the way!"
Flowers pelted off, but the Doctor stayed put. "You alright?" He called back, grinning madly.
"Yeah!" Rose shouted, grinning back despite herself. "But get out of the way!"
"Come on!" Dennel yelled before diving out of the capsule, pulling Rose with him. Phoenix clung to the doorway harder as they hit another bump. She was scared to jump out because she knew that it would hurt. Probably a lot.
"Jump for it!" The Doctor called, running towards the slithering platform. "Jump! I'll catch you!"
Phoenix took a deep breath, braced herself, and threw herself from the platform, just as it hit a raised flowerbed. She was airborne and her stomach jumped into her throat, clenching painfully. Thankfully, it only lasted a moment before she landed in the Doctor's arms.
But he couldn't hold her, not at that speed, though she hadn't really expected him to be able to. They went down together in a tangle of arms and legs, falling to the grass. Then the capsule collided with the side of the building. A fierce heat swept over Phoenix's skin and the ground shook with another colossal explosion.
As everything went still, Phoenix let her breath out in a sigh that quickly turned to a groan as the pain caught up with her. The Doctor had landed on top of her, it felt like his body was pressing down on every nerve point she had and they were all burning with a vengeance.
"Found you," the Doctor murmured with a grin before he turned away from the flaming building to look at Phoenix. His grin dropped as he saw that her face was contorted with pain. He pushed himself off so that his weight wasn't pressing down on her. "You alright?"
Phoenix didn't answer, instead pushing against his chest until he gently disentangled himself from her. Then she curled up on her side, wrapping her arms about her middle and hoping the pain would fade soon. They still needed to stop the Blathereen, which meant they needed to find their way back to the building where the doctors were.
"Phoenix?" The Doctor bent over the brunette with worry, his eyes skating over her form and searching for injuries. Up close, he could tell that she'd lost weight, she was pale as if she'd lost some blood, there was a small nick at her elbow. On closer inspection, he was pretty sure it was from a needle of some kind. "Phoenix, are you hurt?"
"I'll be fine," she finally managed. The sound of her voice was enough to relieve some of his tension and worry as the others made their way over. Slowly, the brunette uncurled and he gently helped her to her feet, steadying her as she staggered. He didn't miss how her hands instinctively clutched at her stomach again. Was she hurt?
"Rose Tyler, Phoenix Smith, I presume," Flowers said, smiling at the two. "The genius'."
"Genius at finding trouble," Rose murmured, her eyes also on Phoenix. She hadn't noticed it before but the girl looked sick. What had happened to her? She quickly did introductions, though it was hard with Dennel as he was in a sort of trance as he stared at the burning building.
"What's wrong with him?" Flowers whispered to Rose.
"He's got a thing about fire," Rose answered. When she saw the disapproving look on Flowers' face she went on defensively, "He never hurt anyone!"
"Only old buildings," Dennel agreed faintly.
The Doctor looked between Rose and Dennel suspiciously, gripping Phoenix's hand in his own. "You're not making things domestic again, are you?"
Rose had half a mind to say she was as she saw the way Phoenix and the Doctor were holding hands, but bit her lip and reminded herself that she was going to let Phoenix pursue the relationship. After all, the girl had stepped out of the way for her several times before. "No."
"Only I know how you humans love your domestic stuff."
"Just quickly, Doctor," Flowers cut in, "what happened?" She gestured at the raging inferno behind them. "What brought those monitoring platforms crashing down on us? We barely got out alive!"
"Yeah." Robsen gestured to the caved in wreckage. "That one we were in got dragged through a half mile of forest before it smashed into that building. Think I preferred the ride through the invisible tunnel."
Phoenix looked over at him with confusion. Invisible tunnel? Flowers looked at him with sympathy. "Warphole, yes, they're nasty."
"Oh." Phoenix murmured, now understanding. The portals the Blathereen were using to get around. That must be what they meant.
"And you can make them nastier." The Doctor suddenly looked sheepish. "Um, well before all of this, I rigged the warp-hole transporter we came through to stop anyone from directly following us. To so, I had to create a local attraction field to balance out the repulsion field. I may have, accidentally, excited too many energy wavelengths in the portal."
"And the local attraction became a big draw?" Rose hazarded a guess, frowning at the timelord.
The Doctor nodded. "Gravity and anti-gravity fields colliding, COLLAPSING. Anything using similar energies got drawn into the vortex."
Rose dug her elbow in the Doctor's ribs. "You are SO jammy!"
"It was skill," he said, affronted.
"It was a cock-up!"
"Making cock-ups at the right moment is a skill!"
"Er, excuse me?' Robsen was pointing past them. "Would you call this a cock-up?"
Rose turned and her heart sank. The Doctor and Flowers weren't the only ones to make it out of the building alive. Through the smoke and the flames, Phoenix could see Blathereen streaming out of the destroyed building. They were sooty, battered, and extremely fed up. Their terrible claws were clenching and unclenching, and their black eyes held a hunger for blood.
"Back into the forest," Rose snapped as the monsters approached, "it's our only chance."
Phoenix knew she wouldn't be able to run in her condition. Besides, it was counterproductive with her plan, and yes, she did have a plan. Only the robot doctor had messed with it before she could put it into action. So when the Doctor tried to drag her into the forest, she resisted, turning to face the Blathereen. Inside, she was trembling, her side aching with the memory of what had happened the last time she'd met such creatures. On the outside, she hoped she looked confident.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she started, stopping the creatures in their tracks. They blinked at her with confusion. Probably weren't expecting her to start a conversation. "Do you want to know why?" They just stared and she smirked at them. "If you kill me, then I can't undo the damage to your computer's core which just so happens to power everything else in the system. For example, your gravity amplifier. You use that machine without the proper safety in place…you'll only blow yourselves up."
Ermenshrew pushed her way to the front with a snarl. "You bluff."
"I promise you, I'm not bluffing." Well, she was, but not for long. She just needed to get to the control room in the building where the doctors had kept her. She hoped that she wouldn't have to kill them, but she wouldn't know for sure until she was back into the computer system.
"Well, then, we only need you," Ermenshrew told her after a moment of deliberation. Clearly,she wasn't willing to take the risk that Phoenix was telling the truth. "Kill the others."
"You do that and there's no chance of me helping you," Phoenix spat, stepping forward with anger. She wasn't sure what she was going to do and she wasn't too fond of the idea of making the Blathereen blow themselves up. "I already know what it is you plan on doing."
"You do?" The Doctor wondered with surprise, turning to her with raised eyebrows.
"They plan on using warp-holes to move the entire Justicia solar system. They'll use the three suns to burn up other solar systems, collect the irradiated chunks left behind and keep the people here as a labor force." She quickly explained, briefly glancing at him. "Then they just pop right back here before anyone can suspect them. Sorry, guys, you probably shouldn't have left all of your plans in a computer."
"She lies," one of the Blathereen hissed, it's eyes intent on her.
"But if she doesn't, we can't risk it," another countered.
Phoenix clapped her hands together and smiled at the group. "So, who's going to lead the way to the control center?"
~9~
Ermenshrew had lead the way to the building Phoenix had been kept in and it had taken every ounce of will Phoenix had to set foot there again. The other Blathereen had presumably gone to get ready for the finalization of their plan. Phoenix was tired, battered, her feet were sore from walking barefoot through the massive garden, and oh yeah, she'd been dissected. She was ready for some rest. After she dealt with this lot, she told herself, following Ermenshrew through the corridors.
They passed by the operation room and she wasn't able to suppress her shiver, stepping closer to the Doctor and hesitantly taking his hand. The Doctor stared at his companion with worry, squeezing her hand as he glanced at the room. There were mirrors everywhere and the metal table shined brightly as if it had recently been cleaned.
They'd just reached the control room when the ground shook beneath their feet. The Doctor caught Phoenix as she stumbled, trying to keep her feet under her. Ermenshrew suddenly let out a pained howl, falling to her knees. Phoenix watched in horror and confusion. What had just happened? Ermenshrew whirled around, her claws reaching for Phoenix. The brunette would've been ribbons if the Doctor hadn't yanked her out of the way, pushing her back behind him.
"You lying human!" Ermenshrew shrieked, her eyes wild with grief. "You said there was time!"
"There is," Phoenix stuttered out, clinging to the Doctor. "What happened?"
"You killed them all!" Ermenshrew screeched, making another swipe and rushing to her feet.
The Doctor pulled them out of the way, glancing over at Phoenix. "Was this part of your plan?"
"No." She denied, shaking her head and staring in horror at the grief-stricken creature who had fallen into garbled sobs. "What's going on?"
"Specimen's distractions will be eradicated," a voice with no inflection said from behind them and Phoenix whirled with terror. There were five of the doctors behind them and she hadn't heard a single one approach. The Doctor had turned to take them in, eyes wide. He hadn't heard them either, which was saying something. It was very hard to sneak up on him. The doctors all tilted their heads in unison and Phoenix took a step away from them.
A pained cry had them turning back to Ermenshrew. Phoenix's mouth dropped open in horror at what they found. There was another doctor behind the Blathereen and she'd been speared through with a thick blade. The doctor removed the blade with a thick squelch and the body of Ermenshrew fell to the floor with a thud, the blade folding in on itself until the doctor had a hand. They were all robots.
"What are you?" The Doctor demanded, his hand searching for Phoenix's. His hearts slowed a little and he was able to focus on the situation when her warm fingers met his own.
The doctor looked the Doctor up and down before tilting its head to the side. "Species: Timelord. Name: The Doctor."
"Why are you doing this?" Phoenix risked a glance over her shoulder as the robot seemed to deliberate. The five doctors were just standing still, not doing anything. She gripped the Doctor's hand tighter, not able to stop herself from shaking.
"Specimen is afraid, confused." The doctor who did all the recordings murmured, his wrist held up to where his mouth would be though it was hidden by the grey mask. If he even had a mouth. "All human reactions. The tests run on the specimen, however, are contradictory. Still inconclusive."
"You just said that he's not human," Rose stammered out, looking between the doctors with confusion.
"They mean me," Phoenix told her quietly, unable to hide the fear in her voice. "That's what they call me. This is where I was brought."
"More tests must be run," the doctors said in unison before the one who'd killed the Blathereen pressed a button on his wrist. "Species must be decided before the mission can be carried out."
"What mission?" The Doctor demanded, glaring. He didn't like the idea of them running 'tests' on Phoenix. Apparently, they already had, but he didn't know what that implied.
The doctors didn't respond as it suddenly became difficult to breath. Phoenix looked over at Rose as the blonde began coughing and gasping. "Wha's happenin'?"
Phoenix was familiar with this and she couldn't hold back a terrified sob at the realization, pain lancing through her as she recoiled away. "No, no, no."
This was what happened every time before they took her to be opened up. It smelled like flowers and tasted like antiseptic. She tried to resist it as she had every other time, but couldn't pull in enough air. The Doctor seemed better off than the rest of them as Rose, Flowers, Robsen, and Dennel all collapsed, but even he felt the effects. He turned just in time to catch Phoenix in his arms as she slumped forward, her eyes drooping though he could see her struggles to stay awake.
The Doctor gently laid her down on the ground before whirling on the doctors. "Stop it!"
They just stood there and watched, the one doctor making notes of their reactions. Phoenix was gasping for air at his feet and the sight threw him over the edge he'd been teetering on for the last week. He charged towards the doctor with a cry of rage, his fist flying out towards the robot. His knuckles smacked against a clear surface that rippled and he pulled away with a frustrated growl. He hadn't even noticed the barrier.
They were trapped in a tiny little box and his vision was beginning to tunnel, the humans behind him having already succumbed to the sedative. The Doctor's legs collapsed beneath him and he fell onto his back. Just before the darkness descended, the world growing fuzzy around him, he turned his head to see Phoenix, her brown locks pooled on the floor beside her head. She was so pale and still, she looked dead. A sight he'd been confronted with far too often. His last thought was that he would get her out of this if it were the last thing he did.
And here's another chapter! The next one concludes this adventure! Hope you all enjoy it! And the ending for this is very different from the book, but it has to do with the overall plot so...hopefully you guys like it!
KittyBear98: This adventure was based on one of the Doctor Who books called The Monsters Inside. All of the parts with Phoenix and the robot doctors though are straight from me. Other parts I edited or condensed, but everything with Phoenix apart from the part with the pyramids and getting separated were my ideas. I'm glad you liked it! I was worried because it is darker than most of the other stuff I've written for the story.
deathb4beauty: Yeah, she's definitely going to be upset! XD The next chapter is going to be a difficult one for her. I'm glad that it won't turn you away and I will do my best with the plot. Hopefully, it stays intriguing for you!
Emzy2k11: Hey, I'm glad you liked it! And yes, the Doctor will be none too happy when he finds out. That will come up in the next chapter! Hopefully, I will write it well and believably! :)
And that's it for reviews! Thanks so much to all of you and I hope you continue to read and review and enjoy this story! I'm having a lot of fun writing it, though I've had to be careful as I get more into it because everything just wants to reveal itself and it's not time yet. Lol. XD But soon. Love you guys! Until next time! :)