The next room the 5 of them entered was a vast chamber filled with numerous stone pillars and statues. Even with their torches, the room was still pretty dark. The Doctor cast a glance at his companion. He'd seen the golden light that had 'exploded' from her when the Predator had attacked and knew exactly what it was. Time vortex. He wanted to ask her how she had as he knew for a fact that it was impossible for any human to hold the substance within themselves for any length of time without burning up. And yet here was Hayley Tyler, walking around without showing any signs of it affecting her. The Doctor was desperate for answers but he held back the questions as it was hardly the right time.
Lex looked down at her digital compass. "We keep moving and stay on the heading. We keep it together. Make it to the surface", she said.
"Sounds like a good idea to me", Gwen agreed. They slowly continued through the chamber, unaware that they were being watched. Suddenly both Hayley's phone and Sebastian's watch beeped. Their 10 minutes were up!
"It's moving!" Gwen cried as the stone walls started to shift once again "come on!"
The Irish woman made a break for the doorway where a wall was smoothly rising upwards. She scrambled up and over it, Hayley quickly following suit. Unfortunately the gap was too small for anyone else to fit through without being crushed. "Doctor this way!" Lex shouted rushing for another exit with Sebastian while the Time Lord was staring at dismay at the wall separating him from his companion. It was only when Lex shouted for him again that the Doctor moved towards the pair. He managed to slip past another closing wall before it crashed shut behind him.
Hayley stood at the wall that she and Gwen had just climbed over. "Uh…Gwen? We've just got separated from the others", she said making the blonde woman turn back.
"Well…that might be a problem", Gwen remarked.
"You don't say", Hayley muttered with plenty of sarcasm. In truth she was a little concerned about being separated from the others.
In the other passageway, the Doctor was just as unhappy as she was. He was stuck with Lex and Sebastian who weren't exactly fighters. And Hayley was not by his side. How in the universe was he supposed to know...the Time Lord's thought trailed off when he remembered that they both had phones, his one courtesy of FitzSimmons. They also both had Universal Roaming, thanks to his sonic screwdriver.
"I'm not sure who you're going to call Doctor", Sebastian said noticing the Time Lord getting out a mobile from his pocket "you won't be able to get a signal in here". The Doctor refrained from making a cutting retort as he dialled Hayley.
"How are you getting a signal in here?" Gwen asked in surprise as Hayley's phone started to ring.
"It's a long story", the brunette replied. She hit the answer button and put it to her ear "Doctor", she greeted.
"Hayley, are you ok?" the Doctor asked.
"Gwen and I are fine", Hayley replied, glancing at the blonde "How about you and the others?" she questioned as she and Gwen started to walk.
"We're fine", the Doctor answered "try to head towards the entrance and keep this line open".
"Will do", Hayley said switching over to speaker on her mobile. She and Gwen walked, keeping the Doctor updated on their progress and vice versa.
As they entered a new room, Hayley stopped. "What's wrong?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know", Hayley replied "but I'm getting this feeling we're not alone". She cautiously continued forward. Gwen made to follow when she heard a noise. She glanced upwards, her eyes widening when she saw an Alien on the ceiling, right above Hayley!
"Look out!" the Irish woman shouted before she darted forwards, tackling the brunette out of way of what would have been a fatal blow from the Allen's razor sharp tail. This move caused Hayley's phone to become dislodged from where she'd secured it. It landed on the floor with a loud clatter.
On the other end of the phone, the Doctor was hearing everything that was going on. "Hayley!" he shouted after hearing cries from both woman and the occasional scream "What's going on?!"
"Get off her you ugly mother f-"
"Hayley!" the Doctor shouted again as his companion's voice was abruptly cut off. There was deathly silence on the other end. "Hayley talk to me!" he begged.
The call cut out.
The Doctor quickly dialled her back.
"Hiya! I'm currently unavailable but if you just leave a message at the tone, I'll get back to you as soon as possible!"
BEEP!
The Doctor slowly lowered the phone from his ear. If she wasn't answering it meant one thing. He'd lost her. Immediately his hearts started to break at the thought of not seeing her again.
Her smile...her laugh...no more. He'd never get to see her train or kick ass ever again. There was so many places he wanted to take her, but will never get the chance.
He never told her how much he cared for her. Never told her that he...loved her.
Back with Gwen and Hayley, they were facing off against a very ticked off Alien. "How good are you at throwing?" the brunette asked after she used some of that gold stuff to knock the Alien off of Gwen, breaking of the end of its tail.
"Very good", Gwen answered eyeing the Alien as it prepared to charge "Why?"
Hayley snatched up the sharp end of the Alien's tail "because when I say, I need you to throw this as hard as you can", she said. Gwen took it from her and readied it as the Alien began to charge towards them.
Hayley stared at the fast approaching Alien, willing the time vortex to appear one more time. "Now!" she shouted when she saw her hands glow brightly. Gwen threw the piece of tail just like it was a javelin. Hayley tossed as much of the golden glow as she could at it. Her power blast, hit the piece of tail, sending it hurtling through the air towards the Alien.
It let out a horrific screech as the tail rammed into its chest, getting deeply embedded thanks to the time vortex. Hayley and Gwen watched the Alien collapse onto the floor, the momentum making it slide along the floor before it came to a complete stop mere inches from the two females.
They quickly stepped back eyeing the Alien warily as they had no clue if it was dead or just faking. After a minute or two of it not moving, Gwen and Hayley relaxed slightly. Then suddenly the brunette's legs buckled, almost falling to the floor if Gwen hadn't grabbed her in time.
"Sorry", Hayley said tiredly "Used too much in one go. Need a rest" and with that she passed out for the second time. Gwen carefully sat down on the floor, holding onto Hayley. As she sat there waiting for Hayley to regain consciousness, Gwen had no idea that she was being watched by a cloaked Predator.
He should be killing them right now. One of them was unconscious and the other was distracted. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. The females had proved themselves to be capable warriors by taking down that Xenomorph. If they'd been Yautja, both of them would be worthy to receive the warriors mark.
Gwen didn't have to wait too long before Hayley began to stir. "You ok there?" she asked the brunette as she carefully helped her stand.
"Yeah", Hayley replied "sorry about that". That was the second time her powers had made her pass out, the first time being when she practiced control. She'd pushed herself too far and collapsed, worrying her entire team.
"That's ok. But um…what was that gold stuff?" Gwen questioned.
"It's a lo –" Hayley broke off when she noticed a section of the air was slightly distorted from over Gwen's shoulder "Gwen there's a Predator about a foot behind you", she warned in a low voice. The Irish woman gripped her gun and turned around, pointing her weapon at the cloaked Predator.
"We know you're there. Show yourself", she ordered. Much to Hayley surprise, instead of attacking them, the Predator uncloaked. "Listen buddy, we easily took down that thing…" Gwen jerked her head at the dead Alien "and I have no problems with taking you on…"
"There's no need", the Predator said "I'm not going to fight you".
A flicker of confusion crossed Hayley's face "I must've misheard you, but it sounded like you said you weren't going to fight us", she said earning her a strange look from Gwen.
"That is what I said", Celtic confirmed.
"You understand him Hayley?" Gwen asked.
"I do", Hayley replied "and before you ask, I'd be happy to explain once this is all over". Gwen nodded.
"So why aren't you going to fight us?" Hayley demanded "you and your friend had no qualms doing that earlier".
"I saw you take down that Xenomorph", Celtic answered "you've showed that you're both capable warriors and you have my respect".
"What did he say?" Gwen asked.
"He says that we're capable warriors and we've earned his respect", Hayley reiterated.
Gwen looked surprised but quickly composed herself "Thank you…uh…" she glanced at Hayley "what's his name?" she asked.
Before the brunette could ask, Celtic told them his name. "His name is Celtic", Hayley translated.
"Thank you Celtic", Gwen said and the Predator gave her a single nod to let her know he understood.
"As you've both proven yourselves, I suggest an alliance to get rid of the remaining Xenomorphs", Celtic suggested.
Hayley raised her brows "are you serious? I appreciate you not killing us but why would we consider an alliance? You or your friend killed Maxwell! You guys both attacked us!"
Gwen placed hand on the angry brunette's arm in an attempt to calm her "why I don't disagree with you on that front…an alliance might not be such a bad thing. The enemy of my enemy is my friend", she said. When Hayley didn't say anything, Gwen added "look, we're out matched and out gunned. If Celtic is willing to join us so that we all get out of here, then we should go for it. Besides it was you who said 'no one else is going to die'".
Hayley sighed, Gwen made some very good points. She didn't have to like it but an alliance with the Predator was probably their best chance of getting out alive. "Alright. We'll partner up", she said "but this alliance extends to Lex, Sebastian and the Doctor. It also means that if your friend is still alive he works with us too, got it?"
Celtic gave a single nod "I agree with your terms", he said.
Hayley glanced at Gwen "we're working together, all of us", she told her.
The blonde smiled "good", she said pleased that at least something was going right today.