Chapter 16

[I kept wanting the fight scene in the factory from both Pride and Lilly's perspective. I solved this problem by breaking it up.]

Lilly watched as the gray clouds burst up. She knew Mic was dead even as she screamed for him, but how could she stop? He'd helped them. He wanted to free his brother. They could've had a happy reunion. But now they couldn't because Mic was dead.

Then she heard clanging on the metal catwalk. Someone was moving closer. Was it one of the aliens? Well, it had to be, didn't it? Mic was dead and Pride . . . Pride. She hadn't even thought of him. Was he dead too? She hadn't exactly liked him, but she didn't want him to die. What was she supposed to tell the Doctor? If she could even get the Doctor back, which she couldn't on her own. She didn't know how, didn't even know where to start.

The figure that had been moving came into sight, sort of. It was still hard with the gas cloud everywhere, but it was now clearly one of the aliens. Said alien could also see her, and smiled.

"There you are."

The alien raised her gun. Lilly had to move. But she was on a beam, in the rafters, and going any lower would send her into a cloud of death gas. There weren't a lot of places to go.

Except, there was a lot of light in this room, and light and heat was coming from her left. She turned. There was a window. Lilly didn't have time to think about it much more. She jumped. Glass shattered everywhere. She'd just jumped out of a window on the second floor. Was she crazy?

She reached up. The roof and gutter usually extended past the walls a bit. Luckily, she was right. Her hands found the metal above her. She dug her fingers in, swinging slightly from momentum. Her hands were bleeding, but better than falling all the way down.

Now what?

She didn't know. She didn't know what to do.

"Tower?" the Doctor asked.

"There's a tower in the middle of this jungle," the woman with the missing leg explained. "Well, the middle as far as anyone can tell. We've all seen it, and it's no secret the dustballs are in there."

"Yeah, they don't need to keep it a secret because they vastly overpower us," Ben said. "I, for one, don't want to go into the tower of certain doom on the slight, but not certain chance it will help us."

"Coward!" Sue shouted. "What do you suggest we do instead then? Sit here and let them pick us off?"

"That's what we've been doing the past week," Phil said. "I think that's enough. We're striking back."

"Meghan?" Ben looked back at the woman with one leg pleadingly.

"I can't go with them," Meghan pointed out. "I don't think my opinion really matters on this one."

A few more people were talking among themselves, but it seemed Phil and Meghan held the most weight in this group.

"Excuse me," the Doctor said, kind of annoyed they seemed to have forgotten about her. "But Ben might have a point."

Phil scoffed. "You just got here."

"And do I know less about it than you? What does the tower have inside it? Is there security? How do you work the controls? How many dustballs are inside?"

"I think there's three dustballs," Phil said, after some consideration.

"We've been here a week. We can't waste more time sitting around talking," Sue said.

"True, but I won't let you all just storm into the front entrance either."

Ben nodded along. "What if they've got some sort of camera, and we go in and it's a trap?" he added, voice going higher with panic.

"Did you have a plan Doctor?" Phil asked, before the arguing could continue.

The Doctor nodded. "We should make sure the tower is empty before anyone goes in. Ideally, we should have some people keep the dustballs busy outside, give the people inside more time. Now. You'll still need some people outside to cause a distraction, but I think I can create a reason for all the dustballs to come out, and get back in time to help you. All I need-" She reached into her pocket. Then she rapidly patted down her other pockets. "My sonic!" she cried.

It wasn't with her. Which meant she must have dropped it. But where? It wasn't exactly easy to lose her sonic, she'd made sure of it. She thought back. She was very good at noticing things, and she didn't think it had fallen out during the chase. But when she was on the tree branch, desperately trying to break it, that was the most likely time she'd have lost it.

"Doctor?" Phil said.

"Right. I need my sonic. I know where it is. Won't take long. You go to the tower. Do not enter it until I get there. Got it?" Sue looked reluctant, but Phil nodded. He'd keep things in order. She turned to Ben. "Come with me?"

"And stay out of the tower of doom and despair? You don't have to ask."