"This place is enormous," The Doctor looked around curiously, as he and Nasreen walked down a long catwalk suspended above the magma, branching off in all sorts of different directions. "And abandoned. The majority of the Silurians are probably still asleep." He flicked the screwdriver open, scanning the area. "We need to find El, looking for heat signature anomalies." At the same time, the Doctor sent out some mental probes. If El was conscious, she should be able to reply, no problem.
"B-But Doctor," Nasreen stammered, "How can all this be here? I mean, these plants!" The woman looked to the prehistorical ancestor of a palm tree, as they turned the corner into a small tunnel.
"Most of them have been genetically engineered to be thermosynthetic." The Doctor answered. "Utilizing heat as a food source. We should be getting close to the center of the city, now. Plant density is higher near the gathering spots to make sure the air doesn't run out."
Nasreen raised an eyebrow. "You're sure this is the best way to enter?"
"Front door approach, definitely!" The Doctor replied as they came into an area made of what looked like polished marble, some of it almost reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture. "They've got external sensors to protect against attack, but they were unified as a species before the cataclysm." The Doctor explained. "No reason for internal sensors."
Suddenly, an alarm began to sound. "Hostile life force detected in area 17." An automated female voice announced.
Doors at the end of the room slid open, a team of Silurian warriors came marching in, pointing weapons at the two.
"Ah." The Doctor's hands instantly shot up. "No weapons, we come here as peaceful envoys of the surface world!"
The warrior at the front raised her weapon, spraying out a cloud of gas at the two.
The Doctor and Nasreen began to cough, the woman falling, as the Doctor began to feel his lungs fill with the substance.
'Too much, too fast…' The Doctor struggled to think. 'Respiratory bypass overwhelmed… El, if you can hear me…' The Doctor's eyes drooped shut, and he fell to the floor.
El's breathing rapidly sped up as the Silurian scientist began to advance on her, holding an instrument the size of a sonic screwdriver, with a spike on the end.
She'd received the Doctor's message, loud and clear, she had to find him, fast.
"Decontamination complete." The scientist spoke into a dictation device. "Proceeding with dissection."
Mo turned away, faced with the prospect of watching a kid be torn open in front of him. Turns out, it was unnecessary.
El's eyes narrowed, and she reached out with her mind, snatching the instrument out of the scientist's hand, holding it where he couldn't reach. She might've lashed out at him, run the device through his neck… but what would the Doctor think? This wasn't a Vampire holding a rapier, but a scientist who likely couldn't understand her even if she understood him.
The scientist stopped, looking between the girl, and the floating medical instrument. "Interesting…" He commented.
A klaxon began to sound.
"Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested." A male voice announced over the loudspeaker.
The scientist gasped at the alert, before running off to attend to it.
"Yeah… stay away." El dropped the scalpel and focused her mind on breaking the restraints. She stumbled onto the ground first, before turning her attention to Mo, breaking the man's bindings as well.
The Welshman rubbed his wrists, staring at the girl in awe. "How…?"
El shrugged. "Later. Let's go."
"What do you think that was?" Mo asked, rattling off at a thousand miles per hour as he and the girl skulked through the Silurian compound. "Was it an alien? Is Earth being invaded again!?"
El glanced at him. "Don't know. But maybe…" The Doctor could send messages to her telepathically, maybe she could do the same with her powers. She closed her eyes for a moment, and sent a little ping, like she gently tapping his arm.
The Doctor responded, but it was… faint. No, not faint, clouded. Like he was asleep and his subconscious was responded. Still, it was contact.
The Doctor initially registered the contact with extreme joy and relief.
El sent an inquiry about the situation.
What little mental processes of the Doctor that still remained active replied.
El sent him a thankful response.
The Doctor replied with the mental equivalent of a smile and went dark again.
El opened her eyes, looking to Mo. "Silurians. Lizard people. Here before humans."
Mo double-took. "What?"
"Need to find a way out." El looked around, before spotting a door with a screen nearby. She walked over, and pressed the button, a light behind the door switching on.
"Oh my God…" Mo breathed, running over to the door. "No! That's my son in there!"
Indeed, Elliot stood there, in the center of the room, unmoving, eyes closed like he was deep in sleep, with green wire-like structures attached to him.
"Come on!" Mo grunted, trying to force the door to open. "We have to get him out!"
El frowned, eyebrows knitting together. That setup, the little screens nearby the door, looked like something she'd seen in the lab before.
"Stop." The girl ordered.
"What!?" Mo looked to her. "That's my son, how would you like it if it were you in there!?"
El shook her head. The man had mistaken her warning for callousness. "Stop." She repeated, pointing at the screen. "They're watching him."
"What?" Mo looked to her.
"Heartbeat," She pointed to one reading, "Blood, breathing, brain." El pointed to each reading. She didn't know what each one actually meant, but she'd seen the scientists look over each one when they were doing their tests on her back in the lab. "Still alive, just sleeping."
Mo looked like that was small comforts. "Right okay… So, we… find some weapons, find that creature, force it to release Elliot?"
The man was so desperate, El didn't want to shoot him down outright. But, from what little the Doctor had sent, the Time Lord was going to try to talk the Silurians down, something that couldn't be done if her and Mo were going to attack one.
"Need to find my dad first." El outlined. "He'll know what to do."
That is, if he woke up anytime soon.
"AAAAH!" The Doctor cried in agony, as a series of lasers ran up and down his body. Upon waking up, he found himself strapped to an examination rack, just before the pain began.
The Time Lord's own screaming was too loud for him to hear the Silurians across the way discussing things, but from what little senses he was able to focus, the scientist and the warrior were getting tense with each other, the warrior being related to Alaya in some way.
Then, the Doctor heard decontamination. Repeating it fearfully, with the added plea for the Silurians to stop, the pain intensified a thousand fold, the Doctor trying to thrash out of his bindings.
"Don't worry." The scientist tried to offer. "I'm only naturalizing your ape bacteria."
The Doctor banged against the harness. "I'm not an ape! Check your readings!" He screamed. "Two hearts, tubes in the chest instead of lungs, totally different brain structure! Your equipment doesn't recognize the bacteria I need to survive, so it's going to sterilize that as well, it will kill me!"
The scientist gasped, checking the readings, before deactivating the decontamination device.
"No," The warrior whipped around, "Complete the process!"
The Doctor drew in some very deep breaths, no longer feeling like every cell of his body was on fire. "Thank you… mind you, the shirt is probably ruined," He looked down at the garishly-patterned garment replacing the normal white, "Self -cleaning, lined with a special kind of bacteria that breaks down contaminants." The Time Lord explained, voice hoarse from the screaming. "Would one of you be so kind as to reach into my pocket and grab the stick of celery? Actually, don't worry about it." The Doctor focused, the vegetable slowly and shakily floating out, up to his mouth.
The Doctor took a bite, and swallowed, feeling his cells flush free of the poisonous decontamination. "That's better. Now, I'm the Doctor." He glanced to his left. "Ah, and there's Nasreen, good."
The scientist walked over to the human woman, scanning her with a medical device. Nasreen's eyes opened, and she blinked. "Ah. A green man."
"Hello." The Doctor looked to the warrior. "Who are you?"
"Restac." She answered, glaring. "Military commander."
"Oh, dear, really?" The Doctor asked in response. "There always is a military, isn't there?"
Restac narrowed her eyes, "Where is the rest of your invasion force?"
"Invasion force?" The Doctor repeated. "An invasion force with no weapons? No, we came here for the humans you took." The Time Lord searched Restac's eyes. "And to offer the safe return of Alaya."
Restac sharply inhaled. "You claim to come for peace, and you hold one of our kind hostage!" She spun on her heel, marching away.
"Wait, wait!" The Doctor tried to call. "We all want the same thing here!"
"I don't negotiate with apes." Restac snarled. "I will send a clear message to the surface."
"What's that?" The Doctor asked.
"Your execution."
El took the lead around the corner, powers on the ready in case she needed to defend herself and Mo. Even though she was trying to feel around for the Doctor, she had no idea where he actually was, and he didn't either, so he couldn't send her directions. That or it was an excuse so she wouldn't get into trouble.
The girl frowned, noticing the boxes they were passing by. "Boxes…" She frowned. Not once had they tried to open them, they could've had something useful. She reached for the nearby button, and the lights activated, showing one Silurian each standing inside each box.
"Ah!" Mo jumped. "Turn it off."
El quickly went back to press the button but frowned. "They're not moving." She realized, hitting the lights again.
The clear barrier separating the inside of the boxes from the outside slid up, and El peeked inside, looking around. She sent an image of the place to the Doctor, waiting for the response.
'Quick-deployment alcoves.' The Doctor explained. 'Soldiers are kept in suspended animation separate from the rest and quickly deployed if there's a threat to the settlement. Look up. That's how they got to the surface so quickly.'
"Way out." El pointed to the holes in the ceiling. "But find dad first."
'El, no! Get out of here!' The Doctor ordered.
El ignored him, turning to Mo. She pointed at the weapon at the Silurian's side.
'El, I swear to God, if you grab that weapon…' The Doctor growled.
'Living weapon.' The reminded him.
Mo grabbed the Silurian's gun. "What about you?" He asked, checking it over.
"Don't need it." El replied.
'At least tell him to put it on the stun setting.' The Doctor requested. 'It has a little switch on the side, push it all the way up until it glows blue.'
El nodded, and took the gun, pushing the switch up, before handing it back to Mo.
"What did that do?" Mo inquired.
"Maximum setting." El lied. The man probably wasn't thinking straight since seeing his child locked up, he probably wouldn't like the idea of the gun being only able to stun their captors.
Now that Mo was armed, El hit the button once more, and the lights in the alcoves deactivated.
"Okay…" Mo took shaky breaths. "You're the one with the weird, mind powers, do you know where to go next?"
El looked to the door at the end, and motioned Mo to follow, as she took the lead through a door at the end.
The moment they walked through, they came out onto a balcony, overlooking a large chamber. Lights activated, revealing a legion of Silurian Warriors in stasis standing in formation like the terracotta army. Only this time, they were ready to wake up and start killing.
"Oh." El blinked upon seeing the massive army.
"Your dad…" Mo began in fear. "You really think he can help against something like this?"
El didn't even need to think about the answer. "Yes."
"These must be the only ones awake." The Doctor theorized as the Silurians led he and Nasreen through the compound. "All the others are still in hibernation."
Nasreen frowned. "You said that, but the moon was created not long after Earth. An object the size of Mars hit us. There are even trace elements from the moon on Earth."
"Well, that's what's thought." The Doctor said. "Something did slam into Earth, but it didn't make the moon. It helped contribute to the formation of Earth's twin planet, Mondas."
Nasreen naturally looked incredulous. "A twin planet? Called Mondas?"
"It was starting to form in around about the same place as Earth, just far enough away so that the two planets orbited each other while revolving around the sun." The Doctor explained. "See, there was this species of alien that wanted to see how evolution would proceed on a planet if it was an exact duplicate of another. Turns out, identically. Anyway, the moon drifted into orbit, Mondas was flung into the depths of space, and the Silurians went into stasis."
Restac took a breath, turning around to look demandingly at the Doctor.
"…How can you know that?" Malohkeh, the scientist, asked curiously.
The Doctor looked between the two. "A long time ago I met another tribe of Homo Reptilia. And Sea Devils."
Restac looked intrigued. "Others of our species have survived?"
"…no." The Doctor admitted regrettably. "They woke up and started attacking the humans. The humans defended themselves. Your brethren died… I'm sorry." Partly the Doctor's fault as well… all that happened back during the UNIT days.
Restac growled. "A vermin race." She snarled. Turning on her heel, she led the group forward.
The Doctor sighed inwardly. Still, there was hope, at least.
"What's the cure?" Ambrose demanded, walking into the church's basement. Even though Tony had looked to be fine before the Doctor had chosen to go down to the Silurian city, the man's condition was deteriorating fast.
Alaya looked to the human distastefully. "What?"
"I saw what you've done to my dad." Ambrose hissed, marching down the stairs. "What's the cure?"
Alaya tilted her head in a condescending manner. "Why would I tell you?"
"'Cause if you don't…" Ambrose took two steps forward, holding up a taser. "I'm going to have to use this on you."
Alaya laughed. "Now you reveal yourselves."
"First you take my son, now you take my dad…" Ambrose shook. "I'm just protecting my family here. I don't want to use it."
Alaya laughed again, mockingly. "Tell yourself whatever you must, human. If I should be a murderer… at least I can admit it to myself."
Ambrose stared at the Silurian woman.
"Oh, but you… you're too afraid, aren't you?" Alaya snarled, marching forward.
"Stay back." Ambrose ordered shakily.
"A woman who can't even defend her own child must be too-" Alaya was cut off, as thousands of volts of electricity suddenly began coursing through her body, and she fell to the ground.
Sarah Jane looked over Tony, scanner watch beeping, as she tried to tend to the man's wounds to the best of her capabilities. She wasn't a nurse, and though the TARDIS medbay had almost every type of antivenom known to exist, it was down with the Doctor.
Tony took in a raspy breath. "It's bad, isn't it?" He asked.
Sarah Jane looked at the watch. The venom seemed to be attacking his respiratory system and sucking all of the oxygen out of his blood like a sponge. If they couldn't get him the antivenom, fast… he was going to suffocate to death.
She was debating whether or not to tell him the full truth, when suddenly, screaming came from the basement.
Sarah Jane and Tony looked to each other. "Ambrose."
Sarah Jane busted through the door first, sonic lipstick at the ready. It wasn't a weapon, sure, but it wasn't like Alaya needed to know that.
However, Alaya wasn't the one they needed to be worried about.
"Ambrose…" Tony breathed horrified, as he looked at the fallen form of Alaya, completely inert.
"S-She wouldn't stop." Ambrose stammered, just as horrified.
The scanner watch beeped a low, long tone, and Sarah Jane flipped the cover shut. "She's dead."
Tony turned to his daughter. "We have to be better than this!" He chided, taking the taser from her.
"She wouldn't say anything!" Ambrose retorted. "I thought sooner or later she would've talked! I would've done. I just… I just want my family back."
"Well," Sarah Jane looked at her gravely, "You may have just destroyed our best chance at making that happen."
