The Tyler Factor

By Lumendea

Chapter Fifty-Six: Mystery of Orginx: Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

"Block all the exits," Worthington ordered as he turned on his heel towards the guards. "I want three men at all the doors to catch this girl! Start double checking the camera feeds if this Rose is in my building I want to know and send out sweep teams to check the area."

"Cameras indict all is well in manufacturing," one of the guards next to Worthington reported. "The Skullions are still at work."

"Good," Worthington declared with a nod. "Good, let's keep it that way." He glanced back at Sarah Jane and the others with a frown. "I'll call my contacts and see about getting rid of this lot."

"What are you going to do with us?" Sarah Jane asked as she tightened her hold on Luke.

"My dear Ms Chesterton-Smith I'm not going to kill you, no I'm going to turn you over to Black Sun and see if I can gain some credit on my next purchase," he informed her with a smile before looking down at his watch. "Look at the time, I've got a revolutionary project to launch and so much more to do."

The door closed with a resounding thump and the lock beeped as it clicked back in place.

…..

For a moment Rose saw red as she inspecting the collar. There was a large receiver on the front that hooked into a series of wires that ran along the underside of the metal collar. It was like a high charged version of the anti-barking collars that some people used and Rose swallowed at the realisation that somewhere Worthington had something that triggered a serious electrical shock. She wondered how often he used it with a sick turn of her stomach. Then she noticed the long leg chains tying the aliens to different machines.

"We only have twenty minutes," Rose said thoughtfully to the Skullions. "I have a sonic device," she informed them as she held up the sonic pen, "So I could try to get all of your collars off, but we might not make it to the ship. This is a level five planet, they can't linger here long without legal ramifications."

"We try to escape," Plank announced as the others around him nodded. "Collars have range, once on ship we be safe."

The syntax of how they talked threw Rose for a moment, but she nodded and glanced at the group. "Is this everyone?"

"Yes, those alive," Plank answered in a soft sadder tone.

How many of them had died in the crash, Rose wondered. How many had died for want of proper care in the aftermath when they were held as prisoners awaiting auction. How many had Worthington killed when they struggled to produce his perfect little computer.

"Come on then," Rose said with a nod as she motioned for them to follow her back towards the door. "Let's get you home then."

Rose moved quickly amongst the group, using the sonic pen to open the thankfully simple electrical locks on the leg chains. Each one clicked open with a soft beep and hiss leaving the Skullions jumping around in excitement. Plank hushed them quickly and as the last chain came off they were huddled together and watching Rose eagerly. She glanced around to make sure they had everyone before gesturing towards the door.

They made it out of the manufacturing room with the hum of the machines helping to mask their footfalls. Rose closed the door up behind them and crept past the closet where she'd left the two guards carefully. There were no signs of security which worried Rose even more. Either Worthington was so confident about the leg chains and the control collars that he wasn't worried or there was a large group just waiting for her somewhere.

The thirteen aliens plodded along behind Rose as she headed for the stairwell with every nerve on edge. She was just waiting for a group of guards to come running and open fire or at the very least ambush them and grab her, but so far so good. Then she could make out the sounds of voices from the main entry area and gestured for the Skullions to slow down. The voices were muffled but sounded pleasant after a moment of consideration and Rose sighed in relief.

She opened the nearest stairwell and gestured for the Skullions to hurry up the stairs. A sharp alarmed cry from the front of the group made Rose gasp and the Skullions began to rush back down towards her. At the top of the stairs was a surprised looking guard reaching for his radio. Rose leapt to the side, swinging up on the stairwell railing and used the cross railings to climb up alongside the Skullions. Her knees were shaking as she jumped off the railing and kicked at the guard just as he began to draw his firearm. Slamming his hand against the wall, Rose flinched at the scraping sound of the gun against the wall and hoped awkwardly for a moment on her one leg as she lashed out and punched him in the gut.

He released the gun letting it fall to the ground and Rose lowered her leg. The guard began to recover and Rose brought her knee up to his groin. With a cry of pain, he collapsed to the ground. Wrapping an arm around his neck, Rose squeezed and held him still as he struggled against her. But slowly his movements turned sluggish and he fell limp against the ground.

"Okay," Rose whispered. "Okay, another one down."

With a frown, she reached over and picked up the firearm. Rose carefully removed the clip and opened the slide to retrieve the chambered bullet. She slipped them into her pockets and quickly checked that he wasn't carrying any other weapons or ammunition. Grabbing his radio, Rose stood up and smiled at the Skullions who were cowering down by the stairwell door.

"Time to go," Rose called to them, motioning for them to follow her up the stairwell.

….

Sarah Jane, Mickey and Johnny were discussions how to escape the room while Luke, Rani and Clyde continued to try and open the door. There was a sense of urgency in the air and Mickey was struggling to stay still. Worthington's measures for security weren't more than Rose could handle under ordinary circumstances and with luck, Spock had control of the internal security, but that wasn't going to stop him from worrying.

Then a high pitched hum filled the room along with a strange ozone smell that made Sarah Jane sniff at the air. She looked over towards the door and gasped softly as she noticed a thin barely there hint of smoke curling up through the air.

"Boys get away from the door," Sarah Jane order sharply.

Mickey grabbed Clyde and hauled him back from the doorway as Luke jumped back. The smoke thickened and a black mark began to appear around the heavy lock. Sarah Jane clapped her hands gleefully.

"It's K-9," she crowed. "Here we go."

Then the smoke stopped and the door creaked. Mickey reached over into one of the abandoned buckets to get a cleaning cloth. He wrapped it around his hand to test the doorknob, but it wasn't hot. Grinning, he tugged on the door and pulled the heavy metal door open. The locking mechanism fell to the ground with a clink as the door shifted to reveal K-9 in the corridor.

"Good boy K-9," Sarah Jane announced as she slipped past Mickey and poked her head out into the corridor. "Where is Rose?"

"Mistress Rose is attempting to free the Skullion prisoners Mistress," K-9 informed her calmly. "She requests that you provide a distraction."

"A distraction?" Rani cried out with a small pout. "Why are we always the distraction?"

"Not the time," Johnny remarked sharply before he hummed in thought. "Any ideas of what to do to draw attention without getting ourselves shot at."

"Mess with the electrical systems is usually a good one," Mickey suggested quickly as he gestured to the door. "And setting off fire alarms, but first I suggest that we get out of the prison room."

The others followed him out and K-9 began to roll towards the nearest utility room with a command from Sarah Jane. In the distance, Mickey could hear the voices of guards down the hall and motioned for the others to get into the utility room. They ducked inside just at the guards came around the corner. One of them drew a gun as Mickey shoved Clyde into the utility room just as K-9 opened fire.

The first guard dropped to the ground as the beam hit him and Mickey rushed forward as the second guard floundered in shock. He began to recover just as Mickey reached him and pulled out his firearm. Moving quickly, Mickey grabbed his arm and twisted it, forcing him to drop the firearm before being shoved up against the wall. The man shouted just before Mickey slammed his head against the wall and dropped him to the floor. Taking a deep breath, Mickey checked them both for weapons and pocketed their firearms. With a grunt, he picked up one of the guards and began hauling him back towards the prison room. He dumped him in the room and was heading back for the other one when the fire alarm began to sound. Mickey chuckled and looked down at K-9.

"Any chance you could melt the door lock so they can't leave?"

"Affirmative," K-9 answered with a happy wag of his mechanical tail.

…..

The roof door was locked and Rose could hear the Skullions behind her making small frightened noises. Rose ignored her sonic pen and summoned her sword. With one sharp long slice, she cut down the length of the lock and half the door. It half fell open, swing out on its hinges and Rose rushed out onto the large flat surface. Below them, she could hear alarms beginning to sound and hoped that it was her distraction.

All the Skullions spilt out behind her and spread out on the roof. Rose took a deep breath and looked around at the view with a tiny flicker of worry. She glanced up at the sky and licked her lips nervously. She hoped that Sarah Jane and the others were alright, hoped that UNIT would get here soon and that nothing else would go wrong. Pulling out her phone, Rose checked the time as the Skullions huddled together and whispered to each other. Their ship was supposed to be here any second.

"And you must be Rose Tyler," a male voice called behind her sounding very smug.

Rose spun to see a well-dressed man that she recognised from the new as Mister Worthington standing with some kind of alien weapon pointed at her. Rose glanced over it with a frown, noting that it had a type four power pack. It was sad that she knew that, but she summoned her sword and held it at the ready. Worthington's eyes widen, but he kept the weapon trained on.

"Step away from them," Worthington ordered. "Your cohorts won't be able to keep my guards busy for long." Worthington chuckled and said, "I asked myself if she can't leave though the main doors how else could they leave. And here you are, what was the plan Tyler climb down the building? Call for a helicopter rescue," he nodded towards her phone. "Then what? UNIT takes possession of the aliens? UNIT uses them to advance military might? At least I was using them to benefit humanity."

"Is that what you call it?" Rose asked, her lips twisting into a frown as she slipped her phone into her pocket.

"My computer will be the greatest piece of technology on the planet," Worthington shouted at her.

"Hardly," Rose scoffed. "Most impressive to the public, but sooner or later people will want to really know how their new toy works."

"We live in the age of the digital copyright," Worthington countered as he took a step towards her and eyed the Skullions who were frozen in fear. "The law even protects me from people poking at my business."

The sound of vehicles pulling up around the building made Worthington pause and Rose risked a glance towards the parking lot where she could see several large UNIT vehicles pulling up. They vanished from view just as quickly, but Worthington's face was priceless. Raising an eyebrow she smirked.

"You were saying? Do you really think your guards will do anything but surrender to UNIT."

"Blast it," Worthington hissed and his finger twitched on the trigger as he eyed the aliens. "You haven't won anything, nothing at all."

He eased one hand off the weapon and began reaching into his coat pocket. Rose gasped softly and jumped forward as he pressed the button. Blue bolts of electricity lashed out over the bodies of the Skullions who began to scream in pain and fear. The man had a cruel smile on his face and looked towards them to indulge himself giving Rose the opening she needed. Ripping the weapon from his hand, Rose tossed it across the roof and brought her knee up sharply into his stomach. Worthington groaned and crumbled against Rose. She pulled his thumb off the top of the pen, releasing the small button she could now see and the screaming stopped. Worthington struggled against her, but Rose hit him in the face with her elbow before finally ripping the pen from his hand.

Dropping Worthington, Rose kept the pen tight in her hand and turned to check on the Skullions. They were all shaking and clutching at each other with expressions that made Rose's heart ached. She moved over to Plank and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. As he looked at her, Rose carefully handed him the pen. With a soft disbelieving noise, he took the pen with his large singular eye tearing up slightly.

She heard a groan and a muffled curse behind her that made Rose jump up and turn. Worthington was moving for the discarded weapon and was closer than she was, but Mickey rushed out onto the roof. His eyes locked with Rose for only a moment before he kicked Worthington hard in the side. The man collapsed on the roof and Mickey bent down to scoop up the weapons.

"Sarah Jane?" Rose called over as the Skullions backed away from Mickey.

"Saying hello to the Brigadier," Mickey answered with a grin. "But I'm supposed to be protecting you remember."

"Ah yes," Rose laughed. "Lest the Doctor think UNIT doesn't take care of me."

Then Rose felt a change in the air pressure and could smell something a bit like ozone. She looked up as a massive round ship appeared in the air right above them. The Skullions cheered and Rose laughed as Worthington stumbled to his feet with a horrified cry. A blue beam shot down out of the ship and shimmered in the air in front of the Skullions.

"We go now," Plank shouted as he gestured the others forward. "Thank you," he called to Rose. "Thank you!" He grabbed Rose's hand and squeezed it.

"You're welcome," Rose answered with a smile. "Go on, go home and take care."

"No," Worthington screamed as he hauled himself off the ground. "No, I paid millions! You're destroying everything!" He grabbed Plank and shouted, "You belong to me. You're mine, mine."

Mickey made an aborted move to grab Worthington, but them Plank dragged him into the beam and both of them vanished. With a soft hum, the ship rose away from the building and vanished in a shimmer of blue from sight. Rose felt the air pressure ease a moment later and let out a soft sigh.

"I hope they put him to work," Mickey chuckled as he looked over at Rose. "Would serve him right. Ten years labour for each one he imprisoned."

"Oh, you're got a vengeful side Mickey," Rose observed as she stepped over to him and locked their arms. "So on a scale of one to ten how irritated with me was Benton."

"I didn't stick around long enough to find out," Mickey admitted with a chuckle. "But I doubt you are," he tugged her towards the doorway. "Strangely everyone seems to have this odd fear of making your boyfriend mad."

"Can't imagine why " Rose sighed with a shake of her head as Mickey put an arm around her shoulder. "He's a sweetheart."

"Yeah yeah, so how about chips?"

"Chips sounds marvellous," Rose agreed with a happy sigh.

It was a small and unfamiliar chip shop to Rose, just off the nearby tube station. Despite the rush of people heading into the station and in and out of the shop, it was clean and the chairs were fairly comfortable. A big platter of chips complete with a newspaper

"I know that look," Mickey observed uneasily as Rose dipped another chip in vinegar. "You're thinking about going after that black market operation aren't you?"

Shrugging, Rose tried to look innocent even as she pushed her hair behind her shoulder. She chewed the chip thoughtfully, it was pretty good, not wonderful, but good. Mickey kept giving her a suspicious look.

"Rose, don't do it," he insisted. "Don't go looking for trouble."

"Oh come on," Rose finally countered. "It bothers you; it's got to bother you! The idea that there are sentient beings on Earth being used as slave labour."

"Slavery is still a real issue," Mickey agreed with a nod. "But Rose we haven't even gotten humans to stop doing it to each other, what chance have we really got ending the enslavement of aliens."

"I get what you're saying," Rose interjected. "I really do, but come on Mickey even as horrible as human slavery is it is still human. We aren't going to accidently cause a war with an alien race because we're horrible to each other. I don't like anyone being enslaved, but this issue is actually dangerous."

She could see that she had gotten through a little bit as Mickey nodded in slight agreement. He still looked uncomfortable at what she was saying but wasn't arguing. Feeling a bit more confident thanks to that Rose actually smiled and straightened up, taking a couple more chips.

"Today we did a good thing and those aliens are going back into space with stories of both human enslavers and liberators," Rose offered quickly as she leaned forward. "They have families who are going to get to see them again. It's that important."

"What are you getting at?" Mickey pressed with a sigh, slumping back in his chair. "Where are you really going with this Rose? What's the plan?"

"I'm not crazy enough to think that I'd be safe just running around after these guys," Rose assured Mickey quickly with small smile at his sigh of relief. "But as an agent with UNIT, maybe working with a partner with the ability to call in some support maybe we could break these guys. Spock got information on the market contacts from Orginx system."

"You're not a secret agent Rose," Mickey reminded her despite looking a little interested himself.

Pulling the sonic pen out of her hair Rose held it up in her right hand so both in and her bracelet caught in the light.

"Bond's gadgets have nothing on me."

"It would be very dangerous, these people enslave aliens and are violent. "And with UNIT seizing everything from one of their customers they've got to be on high alert. Benton gave the order for every Orginx computer to be kept under lock and key and is stripping out all of the technology. They haven't avoided UNIT this long by being idiots."

"They're not violent to clients I'll bet," Rose countered eagerly. "Come on Mickey, you could come along with me to help me and keep me safe for Benton. UNIT forces could be on standby as we find out just how much dangerous stuff these guys have and who they might be selling it to." Rose leaned forward and whispered. "I mean who knows who comes to those auctions and bids, there could be terrible off-world weapons in the hands of insane madmen."

"You're trying to turn this into a Bond film again."

"Don't be silly, there are no aliens in Bond films," Rose scoffed. "Come on Mickey, you know I'll give it a try with or without you and UNIT."

"Let me guess you want me to help you sell the idea to Benton?"

"Well since you offered that would be great," Rose replied with a cheerful smile. She grabbed another chip and beamed at him. "Cheers."