Thank you everyone who read the last chapter, and thank you ascab for leaving a review! I'm glad you're still loving the story.
Edit: I am so sorry this took so long; We had an ice storm hit my town that caused a power outage that lasted for almost two weeks D:
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who
Chloe groaned from where she was laying in bed, her arm covered over her face as she did her best to fall asleep. "This is what got us here to begin with," she muttered, throwing the covers off of her and sitting up, looking at the clock.
02:34 stared back at her, making her want to scream as she glanced at her watch, noting how barely an hour had passed from when she looked at it when they had initially lost the TARDIS and, subsequently, lost Rose. Standing up, she rubbed her legs before pacing the room, the headache from before (Brainstorm, she recalled the Doctor calling it once during the whole 1924 debacle) coming back with vengeance.
"Just go already," she muttered to herself. "He'll understand. He'll help."
But what if he makes you miss everything? That doubting voice in her head mocked, sounding too much like Valeyard for her liking. What if he makes it to where you're dead asleep while Krop Tor falls into the black hole?
"Shut up!" She growled, pulling on her hair. "Why does it have to be you I hear? Leave me alone!"
Like how he'll leave you once your newness disappears? You won't get any words said to you, Songbird, no matter how much you want them to be said.
"Shut up," she turned around, 180, and walked through the doors, all but storming down the hall until she came across the room the Doctor had pointed out was his, where she proceeded to lose all bravo she had. She raised a hand, gently resting it on the door before sighing and stepping back. "Why am I such a coward?" she murmured.
Because I know the second I turn brave is the second I die...
Chloe could barely think straight the next day as her and the Doctor walked into the Ood Habitation. "Morning!" He greeted Danny, who Chloe nodded to.
"The mysterious couple. How are you, then? Settling in?" Danny asked, barely glancing up from the computer.
"Fine, thanks. Had a lovely night's rest, right Chloe?" She barely withheld a grimace, instead just giving him a tight smile.
"Yeah," she lied.
"So, the Ood, how do they communicate? With one another?" The time lord looked over the balcony, towards the Ood who were sitting in an animal-like pen.
She moved towards Danny, who glanced up at the Doctor. "Oh, just empaths. There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle."
"Your viewpoint on alien life is disgusting," she snapped. "They have the same, if not more intelligence as us."
"Are you alright Chloe?" The Doctor asked, making her grimace.
"Fine," she muttered. "Head just hurts a little."
There was a pause as the Doctor frowned at her. "This telepathic field, can it pick up messages?"
Danny glanced at the two of them again. "We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing." As they just stared at him, he started to squirm. "Look... if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."
"I can't," she muttered. "I'm gonna go to Hab 3. Have fun with the xenophobic."
Perhaps storming off hadn't been the right choice, but damn was it satisfying.
At least, up until she got into Hab 3 and the base shook violently, causing her to curse as she realized what had just happened.
"Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach."
"Everyone... evacuate 11 to 13, we've got a breach! The base is open. Repeat: the base is open!" Zach ordered from the intercoms, and things began to spark.
"How the hell have they not blown up yet?!" She half demanded to herself before remembering Bowie Base One. She wasn't sure how badly she paled, only that she ducked under a table and watched as Jefferson, two crew members she's come to identify as John and Lawry, came from one side, whereas the Doctor and Danny came from the other.
"I can't contain the oxygen field, we're gonna lose it!" Zach was still yelling on comms, and she watched, grip partially tight on the bolted down table as they filed into a different corridor, not once glancing around to see if she was there.
It was only a second later that she realized she should've followed them. After another thirty or so seconds, the shaking stopped. "Breach sealed. Breach sealed." The computer announced, making the redhead sigh in relief before slowly releasing her grip, wincing at how there were no indents on the metal that aligned perfectly with her fingers.
About ten seconds after she finally convinced herself to crawl out from under the table and sit down properly, the door opened, revealed a worried looking Doctor who relaxed at the sight of her. It took him five steps to reach her, and she barely had time to blink before she found herself in a hug.
"I'm fine," she murmured.
"Have you seen Scooti?" Ida asked, and Chloe's heart sunk as she shook her head. The other woman let out a concerned noise before heading towards the fourth door. "Scooti, please respond, if you can hear this please respo... Habitation 6."
Jefferson finished his searching, shaking his head. "Nowhere here. Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing."
Chloe didn't want to gaze up; the scene had been horrifying in the show, and she was here, now, living it...
She barely had a thought to realize the Doctor was still hugging her as she smushed her face into his chest. "Look up," she whispered as quietly as she dared, immediately feeling him tense up more.
"It says Habitation 3."
"Yeah, well that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's not there."
"She is," the Doctor said, voice grim. "She was in the area of the breach." She could hear the others gasp as they no doubt looked up.
"Oh god," Ida murmured.
"I'm sorry," Chloe whispered again. "I didn't think to stop it…"
"Captain... report Officer Scootori Manista PKD... deceased. 43K2.1."
As the silence filled the air around them, it felt as if, instead, Jefferson had read her name instead.
"All non-essential Oods to be confined."
Chloe watched as the aliens shuffled away before turning her attention to the, well, makeshift elevator, where the Doctor was arguing on if they should go down the shaft or not. He was arguing against it.
"Do you have a suit that could fit me?"
Her question had them all looking at her as if she were crazy. "We don't even know who you are," Zach began, but she just gave a sad smile.
"You can't possibly be thinking of letting Ida go down there on her own," she shot back. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't think the odds are better if I go with her."
The human hesitated before meeting her eyes. "I should be going down,"
"The captain goes where he's needed most. And, right now…" she paused, glancing around. "Right now, that's here, not in some weird drill shaft with no air."
Zach let out a bitter laugh. "Not much good at it, am I?" She quirked an eyebrow before he motioned over towards the orange suits. "Universal size; adjusts to the wearer.
"Handy," she commented before going over, the Doctor catching her arm a second later.
"Chloe," he said. "What's going on?"
"It's… It's bad, Doctor. You're supposed to be the one going down, because… I can't even say without ruining everything," she let out a little huff. "Just… promise me that when you're told to get on the ship, you won't fight and stay? There won't be enough time to get both of you if you do."
They stared at one another before he nodded, letting her arm go and allowing her to put a suit on.
As she turned around, she did a little bow towards the time lord. "Well? Can you tell if it's one of the gucci ones?"
"Ha!" he laughed, circling her, jabbing playfully at one of the items on her side. "
"Oxygen, bit unnecessary for you... nitro-balance... gravity. It's not top notch, but nothing to laugh at either. Keep it in one piece and I might be able to add some more to it."
"Is that your way of telling me to be safe?" Chloe teased.
She expected a smile and for him to walk away, but instead, he leaned down, resting his forehead on hers. He straightened up a second later, and Chloe forced herself to breathe as she realized - that would've been the first time the Doctor considered her a friend.
11 had told her it was something Gallifreyans did due to being touch telepaths. She had taken it at face value, but always meant to look it up. "I'll see you," he told her.
"Not if I see you first."
"Capsule active. Counting down in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6…"
Stepping onto the elevator beside Ida, her fake stomach felt like it had rocks and butterflies in it as the gate closed. Please, she thought mainly to herself, let the telepathic circuits work.
"5... 4... 3... 2…" Jefferson gave the two women a salute, and the redhead did her best not to flinch as she waved them goodbye. "Release." Chloe glanced at Ida as the capsule shook as it went down. "Gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own."
Ida immediately switched her oxygen tank on, but Chloe hesitated, deciding not to. "What the hell are you doing? Turn it on!" the woman hissed.
"Ida, I'm not human," she said quietly. "I don't need to breathe. I have an O2 tank so you could have a spare."
"But you look human…" Ida narrowed her eyes.
"I was built, not born. The Doctor's species, they came first, so I was made to look like one of them." she explained, just as the comm crackled to life.
"Don't forget to breathe Chloe," the Doctor warned, making her wince.
"Doctor, stay off the comm,"
"And risk missing the details?"
"I told Ida, Doctor," she cut in, holding the radio down. "No one else. The suit is holding up nice though." Just as she said that, the capsule shook violently, causing Ida to fall onto her. As they held tight to one another, Chloe looked up and grimaced. "And here's when the fun begins. I'm glad I decided to come down here."
A few seconds later, the capsule reached the ground. "Ida, report to me... Chloe?"
"We've made it." Chloe announded. "Stepping out of the capsule now."
"What's it like down there?" The Doctor asked.
"Do you have a Grav Globe?" Chloe asked, getting a nod and the orb was thrown up into the air.
"That's... that's... my God, that's beautiful."
"And, unfortunately, this is where we stop," she gently tugged the other woman back. "Hey Toby, we found your civilization. You'd have plenty of work… if you weren't, y'know, possessed by the literal devil."
"What the hell are you on about?" Jefferson demanded, making her roll her eyes as Ida gave her a weird look.
"Keep on the mission, and don't say that about one of my crew," Zach cut in, sounding just as cold. "Ida... what about the power source?"
"We're close. Energy signature indicates north, north west. Are you getting pictures up there?"
"There's too much interference. We're in your hands."
"Well... we've come this far. There's no turning back."
"You had to say it. That's almost as bad as 'nothing can possibly go wrong'." The Doctor complained, making Chloe shrug.
"Are you finished?" Ida asked dryly.
"I mean, he has a point," Chloe agreed. "Hey ask Danny if the Ood have said anything yet, or if they're still staring at him." There was about two minutes of silence that had her and Ida shuffling around until they found the trap door that had Chloe grimacing.
"Telepathic field is at Basic 100. What the hell aren't you telling us Nightingale?" Zach demanded, making her roll her eyes.
"I already told you; one of your crew isn't who you think he is. Sorry, but he's been brain dead since shortly after we got here."
"Stop that slander right now," Jefferson ordered.
"Chloe, is there anything else you can tell us? Anything at all?" the Doctor asked carefully, and she could hear the others muttering in the background.
She hung her head as she spoke. "We just found a trapdoor." she said as an answer.
"The edge is covered with those symbols." Ida added.
"Any way of opening it?"
"I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism."
"I suppose that's the writing, that'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation."
"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Ida asked, and Chloe found herself slowly sitting down as the silence came by before-
"These are the words of the Beast and he has woken. He is the heart that beats in the darkness, he is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise."
The voice seem to come from everywhere, and it sent her nerves on end as Ida turned to her, eyes wide. "What is it? What's he done? What's happening? Zach? What's going on?!" There was no reply from both Chloe and the comms, making the woman panic more.
"Calm down," she said. "You're just wasting your O2. Everything will be fine, Ida. I promise."
"Those symbols are all over his face! They're all over him." Jefferson's voice suddenly came through the comms.
"I have to go back up," Ida snapped, walking towards the capsule.
"It's the Ood. I don't know what it is, it's... it's like they're possessed."
The ground shook again, and Chloe just barely pointed her flashlight towards the trapdoor as it began to open. "Ida, get down! As close to the ground as you can!" She yelled, pulling her away from a falling rock that would've had her tipping into the hole.
The shaking didn't stop, but the trapdoor was now wide open as smoke rose from the pit, the voice speaking again. "The Pit is open. And I am free."
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