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A/N: Hello again, my dear readers. Another chapter for you as we speed towards the season finale!
Once again, I want to thank all my readers and followers. Also, thank you to everyone who took the time to leave me a review. I am so happy everyone is still enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.
And so, without further ado.
Once More With Feeling
Chapter 45: Big Brother
His head was killing him was the first thing the man thought as his eyes opened. With a groan, he pushed himself up slightly, looking around the small room he found himself in. The place spun like he was sitting on a top was that still going round and round. From best he could see, the room was not very big, wood paneled and had a large, overly plush chair in it. Across from the chair was a large monitor with a crazy looking electric eye thing. It was familiar, but for the life of him, the man could not place where he had seen it before. Pushing his considerable height up onto his feet wobbly, the man staggered forward, crashing into the only door he could see.
The heavy leather jacket that was almost too big for him took the brunt of the blow against the door. It looked like wood, but felt like metal.
"Oh my gosh!" a female voice cried out, followed by two other voices.
The man didn't really care.
Shaking his head, trying to clear out the cobwebs that he knew shouldn't be there, the man peered at a small blonde woman with hazel eyes. She had a rounded face, like a cherub, and a mouth that was prone to smiles. It was too small and the wrong color, the man thought distractedly. She wasn't the right blonde either, too natural.
"What are you doing in there?" the little blonde asked him, shifting under his arm to support his shaky weight.
"You alright, mate?" another woman asked. Looking up, the man's icy blue gaze settled on a lovely black woman with dark ebony eyes. Worry was clear as the harsh lighting of the place outside the little room in that dark gaze. She hurried over to his other size, assisting the blonde in helping him to the sofa. "Easy now, we got you. Easy does it."
"Oh for- If they are going to start changing the rules at this stage of the game," the third complained, a man, tall and fairly non descript really. Dirty brown hair, thin green eyes and freckled skin, and he looked very upset. "I'm just going to file a complaint! This is hardly fair!"
"Oh, hush it!" the blonde gently admonished the man.
The blue eyed man closed his eyes again, trying to gather his thoughts. The black woman started speaking to him again, kneeling down and taking his pulse before frowning. "Your pulse is a bit high right now. Can you tell us your name? Do you know where you are?"
"I can't remember," the blue eyed man started, his Northern accent thick and slurred as he shook his head again. "Everything feels wrong. Why can't I remember?"
"That's the transmat, mate," the first woman offered kindly.
"Transmat?"
"Yeah," her smile widened into an excited grin. "You've been chosen."
"As what?" those blue eyes narrowed on the blonde now, her image overlapping with a bottle blonde with golden brown eyes like whiskey.
"A housemate," the second woman offered, glancing worriedly over at her other housemates. "You're on Big Brother."
That seemed to get the man's attention as he sat up, looking around suddenly with alarm. "Where are… are…" He trailed off, putting a hand to his head, trying to remember.
"Easy there," the blonde woman smiled, coming to sit beside him. "It'll come back to you. The beam scrambles ya up, see? Makes you forgetful and your head feel like it's in the clouds. It'll pass, promise. I'm Lynda, spelled with a 'Y'."
"I'm Crosbie," the dark skinned woman offered, smiling warmly. There was an element of fear in her eyes as she spoke to the man. "The man over there is Strood. We were all chosen as well."
"This is just bollocks!" Strood ranted, pacing about all while glaring at the blue eyed stranger. "We've got a challenge coming up any minute now! I've been here the whole time! Nine weeks, I have. Followed the rules, no warnings, nothing. Then this guy comes swanning in. I swear, I'll protest! Paint the walls and see if they like it."
"Oh shove off, Strood," Crosbie huffed at the man. "I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact he is even here. No one told us he was coming. Nothing we can do unless we all want to be punished, you know that."
Strood stood there a moment more, huffing before he dropped his arms. "So, what's your name then?"
"The Doctor, I think," the Time Lord stated, his memories starting to clear up a bit. "At least, I was. I don't know what happened. Last thing I remember… we were in Japan? No. Neo-Nippon…" the Doctor trailed off, thinking about it. The memories were dancing just out of his grip.
"Don't worry about it," Lynda smiled cutely at him. "I mean, I was sick for days when I was brought here. That transmat beam really messes with your head."
Frowning a little, the Doctor got up from the sofa and looked around. The first thing he noted was the area was a very large, very open space. It was a great room of likely a very big house. He could see the kitchen dining room combination and a stair case that circled a massive pillar in the center of the room leading up to a second floor. The second thing he noted was there were cameras everywhere you looked. The walls were all decorated in a style that was very popular during the beginning of the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire of Earth. Narrowing his eyes, he noted also thick glass like substance covering a wall of windows. If he didn't know better, the Doctor would have bet it was just plexiglass. But, because he knew better, he knew exoglass when he saw it. Especially exoglass that was equipped with shudders that were designed to hold back Meteors. There was some other exoglass that looked out over what looked to be a backyard, but it was artificial. There were two doors on this level he could see, one looked like the front door of a house, and the other lead to that room he was found in.
"WOULD THE DOCTOR PLEASE REPORT TO THE DIARY ROOM," a mechanical voice called over the house speakers.
"That's Davina," Lynda told him. "She runs the house. Better do as she says then. You get punished if you don't."
Frowning, the Doctor stalked back to the room he was found in and walked in. Sitting down on the stupidly large chair, he glared his Oncoming Storm glare at the camera and the screen in front of him.
"YOU ARE LIVE ON CHANNEL FORTY FOUR THOUSAND. PLEASE DO NOT SWEAR."
A small red light clicked on, making the Doctor's jaw drop. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Can someone explain to me what exactly I am looking at?" called out a dusky skinned woman, her hands on her hips.
The massive control room went silence except the soft murmuring that sounded like a female voice counting something. The room was large with many computer consoles that faced each other up and down the aisles. At the head of the room was a massive viewing screen that reflected the many shows that were being broadcasted at the moment. A young woman stood slightly behind the screen, seen through it, with fiber optic wires connecting her to the computer and equipment behind her. Her was a sickly pale white color and her eyes were bright, empty circuit board green that stared into nothing. It was her soft voice that was counting, never stopping even as the Hindu woman stood with her back to the girl, glaring at the room at large.
"There were unauthorized transmats, ma'am," one of the technicians offered timidly, only to be glared at.
"I can see that!" the boss woman snapped. "Who activated it?"
A handsome brown haired man stood from his station, pulling his head phones off as he did. "No one did. It just happened. Again."
"Do not start that nonsense again, Pavel," the woman groaned, rubbing the bridge between her eyes. "We have four unauthorized transmats, three new contestants that were not noted to be joining, and now you are trying to tell me it is a case of that old urban legend that is the reason?"
"What else would you call it?" the man, Pavel challenged her. "There is a whole log dating back almost a hundred years of this happening."
"I call it a glitch in the system that needs fixing," the woman sniffed, dismissing the old wives tale of something dark behind the scenes. "You need to take the next cycle off, if you keep going on about this."
The room looked at each other, many returning to work at their stations now that the boss lady was distracted from this minor blimp. They had work to do and an entire planet depending on them to do it right. So a couple of people are now in the games, who cared? Pavel's gaze swept the room, looking over his co-workers with a slight frown. He hated his job, if he was honest. Hated it with a passion. They were no better than workers in a meat factory leading cows to the slaughter. Stepping away from his station after a glance at the screen, he took a deep breath and approached his head manager. Most people called her Boss or Dragon Lady behind her back. Others, who thought like him, called her the Butcherer. She thought nothing of what they were doing, like the people were less than human, less than something alive with thought and feelings of their own.
"Matani," Pavel tried in a soft voice. She shot him a dirty look, already sitting at her own station. On her screen, he could see a blonde shaking from the transmat as the other constestants tried to help her get her head on right before the game began. "I know you think I should be putting this out of my head, but I can't help but think we are missing something. Over a hundred years, ma'am. There is a log that dates back to when this broadcasted the news of it happening."
"Get off it, Pavel," the woman sighed, clearly this was an ongoing thing with them. "It's likely human error. I would say ask the Controller, but…"
Matani, the woman who worked hard to be promoted her to current position, looked up at the young blind woman. That soft voice continued to count, her eyes flicking back and forth as if she saw something. "Between you and me, I don't think she would be considered human, if she ever was. Now back to work with you. I need to keep an eye on the unauthorized entry in Ninja Warrior."
Lynda watched the newest housemate, the man who called himself the Doctor, wander around the main gathering area with what looked like a pen with a glowing end on it. She frowned a little, remembering something from her childhood as she watched him. Crosbie stood at the stove, cooking with a flair and humming to herself as she prepared lunch for the four. Strood had gone to his room, grumbling under his breath about unfairness and such. Honestly, Lynda was almost surprised he was talking about fairness. Nothing about this was fair.
And to her eyes, it was like the Doctor had no clue what is going on.
Slipping off the bar stool, Lynda made her way across the room to where the Doctor was investigating the exoglass. As she approached, he turned his head slightly and glanced at her before turning his attention back to the glass.
"I can't open anything," he was frowning as he spoke to her.
Moving around, Lynda leaned her shoulder against the wall and crossed her arms over her belly, hugging herself. Across the room, she noted that Crosbie looked up from the stove and met her eyes. Above them, on a balcony that made up the hallway of the second floor, Strood was glaring down at the Doctor.
"It's deadlocked," Lynda offered. "They did that after Big Brother 504 when all the housemates walked out in protest. You must remember that, at least."
The Doctor frowned, lowering his arm and glaring at the exoglass. "What's this? One side is a wall, the other is a window you can't see out of."
"Exoglass," Crosbie offered as she walked over with hot chicken melt subs, handing one to Lynda and then one to the Doctor. "You'd need a nuclear blast to break through it." Crosbie turned and held up another sub, looking up at Strood in a silent offer.
"Don't tempt me," the Doctor muttered darkly.
Crosbie chuckled a little, thinking he was joking as she met Strood and sat down on the couch with him. The two sat very close to one another, their legs touching as they ate watching Lynda and this unknown man. The look on Lynda's face suggested she didn't think the man was joking.
"Last I checked, there was a garden for the house," the Doctor phrased it like a statement but the trio heard the question in his voice. "Isn't there supposed to be a garden, a little yard with a pool, and things like that?"
Strood snorted, he was struggling to understand how anyone would be so stupid. What, did this man live under a rock at the back of a deep cave in the middle of nowhere? "Don't be daft," Strood sneered, ignoring the glare those pale blue eyes threw at him. "No one's got a garden anymore. Or goes outside. Who's got a garden anymore?"
Lynda was quick to note the flash of fire in the Doctor's eyes and put her hand on his shoulder, exchanging a look with Crosbie who immediately tried to calm Strood down. Letting out a sigh, Lynda turned back to the Doctor with a big smile and asked brightly, "Have you got a garden then?"
"No, just a TARDIS," the Doctor muttered as he leaned in closer to the glass, narrowing his eyes a little. "I remember…"
"That's the amnesia," Crosbie offered with a soft smile. "Must be clearing up for you. So what happened? Where did it get you from?"
"Why you?" scoffed Strood, getting a elbow for the question from Crosbie.
"What's a Tar… Tar-dish?" Lynda asked slowly, hoping she heard him wrong.
"TARDIS," the Doctor corrected before turning to look at the other three. Each was watching him with different expressions, their loudly projecting emotions battering at his mental shields. "We had just left Neo-Nippon. That's right. We parted with Dragaan and his crew after securing the area. The clones were taken by the Beast and the Temple was shut down. The Time Agency showed up…"
The three looked at each other again, more and more worried with every word he was saying. Was this strange man trying to say he was off planet? The Time Agency? Neo-Nippon?
"That's right," the Doctor looked up sharply. "We were on the TARDIS, safe. Then this bright light flooded in and… Jack was yelling something. Thorn… Rose!"
At his sudden yell, the three jumped a bit, not expecting his reaction to be so strong. The Doctor whirled around, glaring at everything before yelling, "Where is Rose Tyler!?"
"Doctor," Crosbie stood slowly, approaching the volatile man. "There is no one else here, it's just us. You need to calm down. If you don't they will punish all four of us. Please."
Taking the Doctor's hand, Lynda led him over the couch to sit. The tall man just dropped onto the cushions, covering his face with his hands. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the three humans. He said nothing else as he closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind for that glowing presence that marked his golden and pink girl. That precious existence that kept him tether from falling into the abyssy that was the darkness that threatened to swallow him. That dark place of him, that while had been lessened since Rose came into his life, was still there, waiting, churning. And right now it was snapping and snarling for release. It was like that time in Van Statton's bunker so long ago when they were separated the first time. Frowning, the Doctor took that part of him and shoved it back down. A gentle hum seemed to buzz in the back of his mind. It wasn't his TARDIS or his Rose. It wasn't even that subletly creaulen presence that was Jack. It was something else, soft and young. Gentle and slightly familiar. Opening his eyes, the Doctor looked at the three. One of them was a touch psychic, he reasoned. Maybe more than a touch but he didn't have time to investigate it. His instincts were screaming at him to locate his mate.
The one he once again couldn't feel in his mind.
Before anyone could talk to him, Davina's voice rang out.
"ALL HOUSEMATES TO THE MAIN ROOM. TIME FOR A NEW CHALLENGE."
Crosbie Jones stood in the starting area of the newest challenge, shaking like a leaf.
Somehow she was the first one to go, by pure chance. She had drawn the short stick. That was how they had resolved to figure out the order in which the housemates would attend each challenge. So far it had worked. Nine weeks and somehow she had managed to get this far. It was terrifying, knowing she was first and she had no idea what was on the other side of the metal door before her. The HOH room of the house was where all challenges began since Big Brother 489. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves. All she wanted was to go home. She didn't care if she won, she just wanted to see her mom again. Tell her dad how much she loved him, how much she valued her little sister and brothers.
That was the worst part, she thought of being selected. There was no proper good bye for you. The world watched you. It was hard to believe that her hard fought for medical education and license would all be for nothing. Somehow, she felt like a failure to her family heritage.
"CROSBIE JONES," Davina's voice called out mechanically. "YOUR CHALLENGE IS TO NAVIGATE YOUR WAY OUT OF THE WAREHOUSE. EACH ROOM WITH HAVE A PUZZLE YOU WILL NEED TO SOLVE TO PROCEED. YOU WILL HAVE TO USE YOUR SMARTS AND EYES TO GET OUT BEFORE THE TIMER GOES OFF IN EACH ROOM. IF YOU FAIL TO DO THAT, YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CHALLENGE AND THE NEXT HOUSEMATE WILL BEGIN. THE CLOCK STARTS AS SOON AS YOU OPEN THE FIRST DOOR. GOOD LUCK, MACGUYVER."
Swallowing hard, Crosbie put the ear piece on and the goggles. She was a bit more shaken when she noted that the lenses auto adjusted to the light. The ear piece was how Davina and the game masters would communicate with her once she was inside the challenge. As she mentally readied herself, Crosbie thought back over the words that were said to her. She knew from experience that the people at home watching heard the instructions as well. Like with all the other times, Crosbie blocked everything out of her mind. She didn't think about her odds, or her family. She blocked out her questions in regards to the newest housemate, and focused only on her clues. Stepping up to the door, she took one more fortifying breath and entered the challenge.
Liam Strood stood motionless as he listened to Davina give him his clues for the challenge.
Unlike Crosbie, he wasn't able to clear his mind to focus only on the task.
Before the mysterious Doctor's arrival, he could. It was the plan he, Lynda, and Crosbie created when they started their alliance. A little smirk curled his lips as he thought of how things played out as the weeks went by. He never thought for a moment he would come to see any of the other housemates as friends, or even care about them. When he realized he was on the show, he resolved himself to not care, to use anyone and everyone to win. To him, at first, everyone was merely a stepping stone towards his goal of going home, of winning in the end. Who knew that he would end up seeing one as a sister he never had, being an only child that he was. Or that he would end up falling in love with another housemate.
Even knowing that only one of them would be going home in the end, it didn't stop his heart from tripping the first time Crosbie smiled at him. He fell for the dark beauty so hard and fast, it scared him. At first he tried to keep distant from her, and she from him, even after they started the alliance. Ultimately, he failed to keep his heart separated from the game. In the end, he and Crosbie gave in to their feelings, ignoring the fact that their love was being broadcasted to the viewers. Maybe public opinion would see them together in the end. Then the three of them made a vow, that no matter who won in the end, the winner would make sure to go on and live a fantastic life for the others. He knew that if he won, he would live the rest of his life pinning for his heart. But his pride refused to allow him to lose on purpose. He would win, and he would live forever with their memory, comforted by his victory.
"LIAM STROOD," Davina's voice called out mechanically. "YOUR CHALLENGE IS TO NAVIGATE YOUR WAY OUT OF THE WAREHOUSE. EACH ROOM WITH HAVE A PUZZLE YOU WILL NEED TO SOLVE TO PROCEED. YOU WILL HAVE TO USE YOUR SMARTS AND EYES TO GET OUT BEFORE THE TIMER GOES OFF IN EACH ROOM. IF YOU FAIL TO DO THAT, YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CHALLENGE AND THE NEXT HOUSEMATE WILL BEGIN. THE CLOCK STARTS AS SOON AS YOU OPEN THE FIRST DOOR. GOOD LUCK, MACGUYVER."
Placing his earpiece and goggles, he frowned as he thought about the man, the Doctor. Hopefully he would fail at this challenge before the girls. He would enjoy watching that arrogant bastard being evicted. Come into his house, would he? Distract his women? No, no. He would win and rub it into that blue eyed freak's face. Without ceremony, Strood walked forward and entered into the challenge.
This would be a walk in the park, he thought smugly.
"Watch out, Bad Wolf," he muttered. "The Woodsman comes."
"LYNDA SAXON," Davina's voice called out for a third time. "YOUR CHALLENGE IS TO NAVIGATE YOUR WAY OUT OF THE WAREHOUSE. EACH ROOM WITH HAVE A PUZZLE YOU WILL NEED TO SOLVE TO PROCEED. YOU WILL HAVE TO USE YOUR SMARTS AND EYES TO GET OUT BEFORE THE TIMER GOES OFF IN EACH ROOM. IF YOU FAIL TO DO THAT, YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CHALLENGE AND THE NEXT HOUSEMATE WILL BEGIN. THE CLOCK STARTS AS SOON AS YOU OPEN THE FIRST DOOR. GOOD LUCK, MACGUYVER."
Lynda listened with her eyes closed.
She had survived this long, she thought.
Unlike the others, she wasn't rattled by the challenge. It might have something to do with how she grew up. Her father was unlike anything anyone had ever seen in recent years. He was seen as eccentric, paranoid and insane. He kept going on and on about a hidden enemy that took her mother away when she was still a little one. He trained her so that if she was, in fact, pulled into one of the games, she would be able to survive, be able to win.
"It's the pride of our family. We are survivors. We are Saxons after all. We are the Masters of this world. It is our right."
His words and slightly insane smile floated to her mind as she brought up the image of her beautiful mother with her soft, almost shy smile. She thought of her father, handsome in his lunacy, so energetic and different. Then again, they had an odd family. One she wouldn't trade for anything, Lynda thought with a smile. The Doctor was a comfort to her. He reminded her very much of her father with his boundless energy and inability to stay still. She had been mildly convinced that she was next on the chopping block. Then he showed up.
A part of her wanted to laugh but she kept it to herself. There was no way for her to know if this leather wrapped man with darkness swimming in his blue eyes was the Theta her father told stories about when she was little.
Opening her eyes, she looked at the door in front of her.
How she wished she could see her father one more time, tell him he had been right. She could all but feel the eyes of the hidden enemy on her now. She was so close, she thought. But if she failed at this, there is no way she would learn who it was. Lynda would never learn what happened to her mother, dear, sweet Lucy Saxon. Nor would she learn where her father vanished off to. He told her only that he was going to find her mum, and get help. To learn the face of their enemy who was puppeting the stupid apes, he said.
He never came back.
To her knowledge, Harold Saxon never left the Earth.
"Hold on, Dad," Lynda spoke to herself as she walked to the door. "I'll get us out of here. One way or another."
Without another thought, Lynda Saxon entered the first challenge.
What a twist of fate it was that a thermonuclear PhD and an Astrophysicist had to navigate her way through hell like this.
In the control room, Pavel was observing the challenge. He made minute adjustments to it, making each run slightly different from the last one so no two were identical. It was his job, after all, as a Game Master to make the challenges on that floor's worth of Big Brother houses entertaining and deadly.
How he hated it.
If he had been a religious man, he would be praying as he watched the young Saxon girl made her way swiftly through the first stage into the second. Unfortunately, he, like much of the Earth, was not. In fact, the majority of the people of Earth were atheist. So many people believed that if there really were a God, he would never have allowed things to get to the nightmare it had become. A sound made Pavel look up to see his boss, Matani, leaning over his shoulder and watching the run.
"She is making good time," the woman commented. "How's the poll for her showing?"
"Oddly," Pavel muttered, "she is the top second. Strood is still maintaining public favor. But Lynda is catching up quickly to him. Crosbie has fallen behind. The new one, this Doctor, has already bypassed her. He is quickly moving into second."
"Hm," Matani hummed as she watched. "I am having a similar situation over on Ninja Warrior. Lance reported that his unauthorized is moving through the polls quickly as well. Whoever these three are, they are dangerous." Straightening up, she looked down at Pavel with a cold look. "When it's the Doctor's turn, up the level."
As she walked away, Pavel felt his jaw drop.
Did this woman seriously just instruct him to deliberately kill a contestant? Oh how far Bad Wolf has fallen, he thought sadly as he readied the simulator for the last housemate for house Six.
"THE DOCTOR," Davina's voice called out once more, getting only a glare from the man. "YOUR CHALLENGE IS TO NAVIGATE YOUR WAY OUT OF THE WAREHOUSE. EACH ROOM WITH HAVE A PUZZLE YOU WILL NEED TO SOLVE TO PROCEED. YOU WILL HAVE TO USE YOUR SMARTS AND EYES TO GET OUT BEFORE THE TIMER GOES OFF IN EACH ROOM. IF YOU FAIL TO DO THAT, YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CHALLENGE. THE CLOCK STARTS AS SOON AS YOU OPEN THE FIRST DOOR. GOOD LUCK, MACGUYVER."
The Doctor paced around the room, his hands in his pockets toying with whatever came to his hands while glaring at the camera. To the viewers, this man was like a caged beast. They were on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what he would do next. As they watched, his blue eyes turned towards the closed door, separating him from the challenge and narrowed his eyes dangerously. It the viewers it looked like he was trying to figure out how he could simply just destroy the whole thing. With a sigh, the Doctor walked over and put on the ear piece with a wrinkle of his hawk like nose. He made a little show of getting it on properly, drawing chuckles from the viewers at home. Picking up the goggles he stared at them for a few moments before tossing them back on the desk.
"Worthless ape technology," he grumbled. "I hope you all are watching this. Enjoying this."
His attention had turned to the door as he spoke, but it was clear he was not talking to the viewers but those who ran the game itself.
"That transmat that brought me here," he spoke again, his eyes hardening into a blue fire again. "No stupid, weak little transmat can breech my magnificent ship. It's frankly an insult, it is. That beam was at least fifteen million times more powerful that a simple transmat."
He stopped talking as he walked forward into the first room, activating the challenge, his stride determined.
"Can I have a word with you?" Pavel spoke softly to Matani, glancing around.
"A moment," the hard woman told him, her dark eyes never leaving the screen in front of her as the would be warriors ran across the dangerous first level of Ninja Warrior.
"That man entered the challenge," Pavel swallowed, "without the goggles."
"He did what!?"
The first room was remarkable unimpressive, the Doctor thought. The room was dark so of course the others would have needed the goggles. Impressive Time Lord him, though, didn't need them. He could see perfectly fine. The ear piece buzzed in his ear as the next clue was relayed over to him. Which, honestly, he didn't need. Doing a circuit of the room, the Doctor swiftly noted the manhole in the middle of the room that was bolted down. On each end of the bar were two different key holes of odd sizes. Glancing around in the dark, the Doctor noted about six key like objects that were attached to a variety things.
Without touching a thing, the Doctor just listened absently with a brow arched up as he investigated each key. Four of the keys were attached to something that looked like it was designed to trigger a trap of some nature. Narrowing his eyes, he followed the structure and growled when he spotted a plethora of blades, flame throwers and other objects of destruction they were attached to. He also was very aware of a clock counting down rapidly, attached to a bomb. Well, that's motivation, he thought to himself as he walked over, unconcerned to the two correct keys. It was like he already knew what to look for to the viewers at home as he easily unlocked the bar and dropped into the open manhole.
"You have to be kidding me?" Matani breathed. She and several others had gathered around Pavel's station to watch the mystery housemate's progress. "Time?"
"Five point three seconds, ma'am," another tech gasped, looking at the time it took for the Doctor to investigate the room and escape. "It took the Saxon girl twice that and she was the fastest."
Pavel glanced up at the look on his boss' face and had to suppress a grin at her look of disbelief. The brown haired man couldn't explain it, but he could feel a change coming. Someone pointed out that the Doctor had entered the second room and it was like everyone held their breath, waiting to see what happened next.
"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen," the Controller continued to count in the background softly.
No one notice her eerie green eyes glowing faintly in the dim light of her confinement.
The second room was larger than the first, was the first thing the Doctor noted. The second thing he noted was a difference in lighting, much brighter in this room.
It was also sealed up tightly. Water seal tight.
As soon as he pulled himself out of the tunnel attached to the manhole, a door swung shut and locked. Turning around, he looked at it with a careful eye. Deadlocked as well.
"Bit much, don't you think?" the Doctor asked to no one in particular.
As expected he got no answer.
The ear piece buzzed again in his ear. This time it was a man's voice. "In this room, the door opposite of where you came in is the only escape. Find the key and escape before time is up and the room is flooded."
"Bit James Bond, that is," the Doctor chuckled at his own joke. Letting his eyes sweep the room, he wandered over to the door, and inspected the lock. "At first I was wondering how and why I was able to be pulled from my ship to here. But now I can see this isn't just some game." He stated talking lazily as he reached into his pocket. He really was done with this sad excuse of a challenge. He was a Time Lord, for Rassilion's sake. This was stupid. "If that is the case, there's something else going on here. Something big and bad."
Removing his sonic, he aimed it at the door before looking up at the camera.
"Next time, know who you are swiping," he told the camera as he activated the sonic. The device buzzed in his hands and the sound of the door unlocking echoed in the room. "And maybe, empty their pockets. Ta!"
For some reason, it was not deadlocked.
He grinned that daft smile of his, though it never touched his eyes as he stepped through into the third and final room. It was if he knew there was someone swearing the air around them blue somewhere watching his walk through this pathetic, stupid ape designed challenge. The next room made him stop short. The amount of sheer radiation in the room would be deadly to a normal human. Some part of his mind told him Jack would be having the time of his life in here while Rose would be grinning like a loon.
That thought made him pause. Did radiation affect Rose like a human or a Time Lord, he wondered.
"In this room," the male voice buzzed to life in the ear piece, "you must use the E-tonium to negate the chemical reaction of the volatile compound from exploding. If you fail to beat the challenge, the compound will release a deadly eruption of gas. Do not touch the E-tonium with your hands. It is highly corrosive and radioactive. Good luck."
Pressing his lips into a line, the Doctor walked over to where an exoglass half wall with a door separated him from the chemical compound. There was enough space above for something to be tossed. On the other side of the vast, he could make out the door that led him out of this insanity. Shaking his head a bit, the Doctor put his hands in his pockets as he walked over to the barrels of E-tonium.
"Oy!" he called out. "Who thought this was a bloody good idea anyway? Waste of time, it is. And dangerous. Silly apes shouldn't be playing with this stuff. Nasty stuff."
Without warning, the Doctor simply reached out and grabbed one of the radiated balls about the size of a soft ball with his bare hand. A hiss escaped his lips as the heat was a bit more then expect. Lifting the ball up, he inspected it. Elsewhere in the facility, a number of people where shouting out, cursing, or a bit of both at the display on the screen. Back on Earth, the people watching jumped out of their seats, wanting a better, closer view with the corrosive element started to eat away at the flesh of his hand. Instead, the Doctor walked over to the wall and tossed the ball of death over.
It missed the vast completely.
"Fantastic," he growled.
Turning around, he scanned the room for any tools or random stuff that could be used. He put together that this situation was supposed to mimic that old show, MacGuyer, from long ago. The Doctor smirked a little as his brilliant mind listed off all the things he could make with the things in his pockets alone, added with a rubber band and paperclip. Really, again he was struck at how asinine this whole situation was. This was fun house level challenges from his youth back on his home world. Funny that, he pondered as he circled the room, taking inventory. No matter how far along he was with dealing with the Time War, he still could not say or even think the name Gallifrey without cringing.
The room sported some metal poles, wood planks, clamps, keys, chains of varying sizes, a metal chair, three wood crates, a desk, some pens, and of course, a box of paperclips and rubber bands.
"Har har," the Doctor muttered as he pocketed the two boxes.
On the wall was a clock counting down, which he promptly ignored. He didn't need to see it to know that time was running low. The fumes from the mixture were starting to leak over the exoglass wall separating them.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that the trick here was to build a catapult and launch the E-Tonium over the wall. Waste, and lacked imagination. Instead, the Doctor, who was VERY over this game, just grabbed the chair, the wood crates and dragged then to the glass wall. Then he hauled the desk over and dumped it there. Pushing them next to the wall of concrete that made up the walls of the simulator and the exoglass, he stepped back. Turning on his heels, the sound of his heavy boots echoed as he made his way to the drums with the E-Tonium. Instead of grabbing it with his hand, which was red with second degree burns now, he snagged a piece with the provided tongs.
Turning, he took a deep breath with his eyes closed.
"Here's the latest update from Big Brother," the Doctor called calmly. "I'm getting out of here. I will find Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness."
The viewers watched enthralled as the Doctor sprinted at the pile he made.
One, two three steps took up the pile.
Four, five, six steps where traded off between the walls as he bounced his way up them.
Seventh step and a roll saw the Doctor, E-Tonium in hand, over the top of the exoglass wall. His lanky form slipping through the opening at the top.
With the grace of a cat, the Doctor dropped to his feet on the side with the vast that was smoking and bubbling dangerously now. Two steps had him next to it as he dropped the E-Tonium into the mixture.
The door unlocked and the clock stopped, signaling the end of the challenge.
Turning, the Doctor turned to look dead at the camera. With a superior smirk in place he announced. "And once I am out of here, I'm coming for you."