Of course, things didn't go the way they expected, well, that's an understatement, things went sideways. Things hit the fan. Armed men trying to look through the darkness with their flashlights, teams scrambling trying to get out into the storm and put out the tower fire and turn the power back on. Cats and dogs living together. Lots of lighting, very, very frightening!
Lila's forced to traverse the darkened hallways with the only source of light coming from hers and the officer's flashlights. They haven't come across anyone else in the stretch of hallway while they're trying to pass through, the only sound coming their feet and the thunder outside.
Uneasily, the two kept watchful eyes for the Plague Doctor, while avoiding the chance of panicked officers with their fingers near the trigger.
Everything radio silent, they couldn't tell anyone they're coming through, have to hope they bump into officers with restraint.
It's a matter of what happens first and the uncertainty isn't helping them getting through the hallways any faster.
They ended up turned around in one point because a part of the hallway they would've taken to the hanger's cordoned off, hoping to force the Plague Doctor into taking another route.
Following the officer, Lila tried to stay close to him as she held her flashlight tightly around her clammy hand, she can hear the rain slamming into the walls of the building, the wind picking up, lighting flashing and the sound of thunder as its finally moving away from the area, slowly making its way inland.
The officer led her through a corridor and stopped suddenly, Lila asked if they're turned around again, and he told her that he can hear somebody.
Sticking out her neck, Lila heard a voice coming down from the corridor, the officer recognized it as somebody he knew, and she heard a weak voice calling out somewhere in the distance, "Help..."
On edge, the officer flashed his light down the corridor, he and Lila see a small trail of blood leading from the darkness.
Wearily, Lila looked towards the officer as she asked if there's a code word he can throw out, see if it's somebody wounded, something the Plague Doctor can't replicate without the officer investigating further.
Thinking, the officer replied that he and the supposed wounded officer, Roger, have known to talk about football (non-American variant) and Lila suggested that he use that to his advantage. Something only the other knows that the Plague Doctor couldn't have picked up. Just say something wrong and if it's the real deal, they'll shout the correct answer. Then, when they come across more officers, they can pass around what's said in order to prevent the Plague Doctor from trying to use it against them.
Nodding, the officer said something about a player for a team that Lila's not familiar with, just random things to her untrained ear, but according to the officer, he said that the player he mentioned's not on the team he described.
If it's the real deal, he'll blurt back the correct response, which is known to be extremely vulgar.
"Wonderful, I'm risking life and death over wordplay, and people wish they're abducted into this life?!" Lila muttered under her breath in exasperation as she realized what state she's in, the fact that David's getting fan mail from people wishing he'd kidnap them and become his companions. As if the show wasn't doing it justice in showing that being a companion isn't all fun and games!
Waiting with baited breaths, Lila and the officer heard back a haphazard insult as Roger lambasted Roy for the slight. He shouted something Lila didn't understand, as she never followed soccer (or football as they call it) but Roy seemed to know what Roger said as he exhaled sharply, relieved.
The two then hurried to reach the injured Roy with his back pressed against the wall as he held his abdomen, blood oozing from in between his fingers.
As he knelt beside him, Roy asked him what happened, and Roger exhaled sharply as Ray placed one of UNIT's specialty gauzes on his abdomen, controlling the blood for a little while until they get him back to command centre.
In between breaths, Roy explained that while patrolling, he heard something clattering near one of the rooms, and when he went to investigate, a cart from one of the storages slammed into him, taking away his breath, and when he recovered, dazed on the ground, he noticed he'd been injured from equipment that've been laid onto it earlier.
"How the hell did that happen, weren't those locked up?" Lila asked Roy as Roger administrated UNIT approved medication for the pain.
Weakly shrugging, Roy responded that he doesn't know, with everything happening so fast, it wouldn't pass him that the cart wasn't put up because of the power outages causing them to immediately abandon the task before heading towards command centre for further instructions.
"Come on, Roy, up you go," Roger musters as he helped the injured Roy stand up, he grunted in pain, as he leaned on Roger, and Lila opted to help Roger with Roy.
Yes, Theodore told her to wait in the TARDIS. Explicitly. However, someone's injured and needed help, with the Plague Doctor somewhere, Roy's a sitting duck without both her and Roger.
Even Theodore couldn't argue against that, helping's part of the gig, and it'd be against the many rules of the Doctor if Lila didn't help get Roy medical attention.
Couldn't wait for that talk, but at least he's no Hammond. Hammond would've twisted her ears off.
"Okay, where do we go from here?" Lila asked the two as she held Roy's arm around her with Roger holding the other around him.
The officers led her on the path to the command centre, Roy helped them as he said that they've closed areas, trying to corral the Plague Doctor.
"It's smart... it knows..." Roy said that the Plague Doctor's smarter than it looked, it's undaunted by the cordoned off areas, if they blocked off an area, it'll move on to the next.
Lila asked how they're doing with pushing it towards the holding cell and Roy replied that he's not sure they can, he couldn't help but feel it's playing games with them.
"Has it attacked anyone else?" Lila asks Roy and he shook his head. There's no confirmed causalities that he's aware of, however, he couldn't be sure since they're radio silent and have to use their three fingers to talk.
Last Roy heard's that Lieutenant Commander Hoyts and Captain Montoya's working to forcibly pushing the Plague Doctor to where they wanted it, in the way of portable flood lights in areas of the base.
It's strange hearing how the Plague Doctor hadn't attacked anyone else, made no sense, and it made Lila start thinking about how it operated.
Made sense why it attacked the four men, it did what any animal... thing... would and defend itself. It's terrible for the UNIT side of things, but it did what anyone would in its place. Isaac's death, Lila isn't sure about it, she doesn't even know if she should even think about it.
Isaac posed no danger to the Plague Doctor, but it went after him anyway, and it didn't go after anyone else, afterwards.
That part didn't make any sense.
Don't why she bothered asking, but it couldn't hurt to try, it's not like she can communicate with anyone else except these two.
"Hey, did they ever figure out what the hell the thing ate before it was captured?" Lila asked Roy and Roger if they knew anything about the Plague Doctor's diet.
Maybe not something to ask with two naval officers, but hell, it's worth a shot.
Like she suspected, they don't know the details all that well, when they started noticing the Plague Doctor coming around, nothing went missing. It didn't eat anything during that time. The only thing it did before they attempted to capture it after it killed its first victim and barely caught after it killed three's mimic the voices of people outside the base at night.
"But it never attacked us," Roger tells her as he helped her lead Roy to safety, slowly as he felt the effects from the painkillers setting in.
It perturbed Lila as she tried to think of what the endgame might've been for the Plague Doctor.
She thought back to what she and Theodore were told and remembered that Isaac said that in the talons on the hands, they injected some form of toxins. The toxins that the Plague Doctor injected into the poor unfortunate bastards and how since then, it never produced any more toxins after that.
... It then dawned on her.
The first victim that alerted the UNIT to the Plague Doctor's presence, he was sick, and when they found his body, his lungs' missing.
Isaac, he said he was congested, and when they found his body, his face and chest... they were gone.
Maybe the Plague Doctor's got an elective taste, but it didn't make sense why it didn't eat the rest of the body, just those parts.
Even predators in nature wouldn't waste anything if they can help it. Everything mattered in the animal kingdom.
And yes, while Lila's aware this is different, but the way it looks, she's choosing the analogy based on the appearance.
...appearance.
Lila recalled the appearance that gave the namesake.
It's a plague doctor.
A PLAGUE doctor.
Not a doctor, but something that can either spread it... or hunt those who have it.
At least, a variant.
It'd certainly explain why it's not actively trying to harm them unless provoked.
They're not sick.
Attack it and it'll attack, but leave it alone, it doesn't care.
Have a cold or congestion, it'll come after you, it'd make sense why it didn't touch anyone else after Isaac.
If you don't, then it won't bother.
The darkness is its advantage, it'd easily take out people if it wanted, but it's not, further adding credence to Lila's working theory.
"How long until we get to the command center?" Lila asks them as she's following Roger as he led her and Roy through the hallway with their respected flashlights.
Before either man were able to speak, they found that they're unable to move ahead, the whole corridor's blocked off with whatever the officers used on hand, leading Roy to say that he was sure it was cleared when he came through. There's no way they could've blocked it off without him knowing.
They moved on from the blocked off corridor and instead took the path down the hallway where Lila and Roger found the cart that slammed into Roy pressed against the wall.
On its black wheels, there's shimmering blood, and on the cart, there's sharp tools and small equipment with blood dripping.
Lila asked why someone left it out in the first place and neither men have an answer other than someone attempting to return it to the storages, but the call to action prevented them.
Don't know how it was flying down the hallway, the breaks on the cart took a foot pressed on the pedal and a firm hand on the yellow handle.
She's unable to think about it more, she moved on with Roy and Roger, hoping to find another way to the command centre, slowly moving the injured Roy as Roger guided her through the darkened hallway only lit with their flashlights.
During their attempts, they found the next corridor that would've led them on the path to the command centre, once again, it's blocked off, and they're forced to move on to another hallway as Roger led them elsewhere.
They found another hallway, this one unblocked, and they began walking down, the sounds of their feet echoing as they disappeared further down the hallway.
"If we keep to this, we should be close to the command centre," Roger tells them as he flashed light around the hallway, looking for the right hallway for them to take after this that brought them closer.
They haven't encountered another person, it's just them and darkness. Lila brought this up and Roger told her that it's possible they're spread too thin due to the situation.
A probable reason they haven't come across someone during their attempts at getting to the command centre.
On top of everything else, Lila isn't at all surprised.
Keeping their flashlights pointed at corners in intervals, the three slowly made their way down the hallway, the storm outside slowly made inland, and the thunder off to the distant.
Roy wondered as he sucked air through his teeth, if the teams managed to get outside, and Roger hoped they did.
The sooner they get the power back on, the better.
As they walked, Lila noticed they're passing the lab with the plants, because she felt a subtle itch in her nose, and there's a sneeze.
It didn't come from her this time.
It came from Roger as he mustered that he's not fond of Isley's plants, they give him hay fever something fierce.
Recoiling from this, Lila exhaled sharply, and they're about to move again when they heard something moving fast behind him.
Roger's able to pull Roy to one side of the hallway while Lila pressed her back against the opposite side as they see the cart, they passed speeding down the hallway, going down the hall before it slammed into something, things clattering.
Her chestnut eyes moving slowly, Lila looked up the hallway they came down from, and she didn't see anything in the darkness.
There's that feeling of dread creeping up and she felt compelled to keep her flashlight pointed to the ground while her eyes remained firm on the darkness in front of them.
She heard Roy wheezing before he covered his mouth with his free hand while Roger kept an arm around him.
As they stood in silence, they heard movement and felt faint vibrations under their feet.
Thud... thud... thud...
Eyes wider than headlights, the three shared looks and Lila took matters into her own hands. She whispered for Roger to check the door into the lab and he did, finding it opened, she told him to hide inside with Roy.
"What're you going to do?" Roger asked her as she kept her eyes focused on the darkness in front of them.
Lila gulped as she replied, "Something seriously stupid."