"You were expecting someone older. You said that Emma," the boy said before he frowned slightly. "Or you were going to."
"Going to," I said dazedly.
"I don't know if I have a name. You're going to ask that next." He frowned again. "Or you were going to." I twisted to face the Doctor.
"This is the weirdest conversation I have ever had," I said. The Doctor nodded in agreement, he was looking a bit dazed himself.
"This is definitely up there as far as weird conversations go," the Doctor said as he ran a hand through his hair. I looked down at the boy and something about his eyes reminded me of Mark.
"I think that would be a lovely name," the boy said, looking at me and I blinked. "Mark. Like your friend."
"Cool your name is Mark now," I said, and the Doctor frowned at him curiously.
"How far into the future can you see?" He asked, and Mark shrugged.
"I don't know. It's hard to keep it all straight," Mark said. I reached down and ruffled his hair comfortingly.
"It's okay I have the same problem myself sometimes," I said. He beamed up at me before he jumped up off the step.
"We need to be upstairs soon," he announced, and we followed after him without question. I leaned in to the Doctor carefully, even though I wasn't sure there was much point in trying to talk about Mark without him noticing.
"Is Mark the one who summoned us?" I asked. The Doctor raced his hands through his hair again.
"I don't know. Maybe," he said, and he didn't sound happy about it. I squinted at Mark suspiciously as an idea occurred to me.
"Does Mark look like a human to you?" I asked, and he gave me a funny look, like he couldn't tell if I was serious or not for a few seconds.
"Yes, why?"
"I don't know. It just feels like there's a weird tickle in my brain when I look at him. I thought he might look different to you since you've got better brain power. Like with the potion room in Russia remember?" I watched an idea dawn in the Doctor's eyes as I spoke.
"Perception filter," he said. I raised my eyebrow up at him in confusion. "Where's Mark right now?"
"Over there," I said and gestured vaguely over my right shoulder.
"No point him out specifically. But do it without looking," the Doctor said, and I pointed my hand to where Mark was standing. He gently pivoted me around and I realized that I had missed Mark by a few feet. Mark tipped his head to the side and gave us a confused look.
"It changes your perception," Mark said, and the Doctor nodded.
"Quite right Mark. The reason why it is making Emma's brain tickle is because a perception filter makes you not quite perceive someone or something that is standing there," the Doctor explained, and I shut my eyes to think about it.
"So, my brain wants me to not look, but I can't help but look because I know that Mark is there?" I asked.
"You can kiss her forehead now," Mark said, and the Doctor did as instructed. I took that to mean that I had sorted it out and this particular kiss was due to brilliance.
"It doesn't explain the hills or the wall," Mark said.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," I murmured.
"Well," the Doctor drawled, and I sent him a sideways look. "You altered your perception of what the material was."
"Sure," I quipped, and Mark laughed.
"The hillside and the wall both had perception filters," Mark said. It was getting hard to tell who's words he was foreseeing, but I just decided to roll with it since trying to make it make sense would just make my head hurt.
"I've never heard of a person being a perception field though. There's usually an object that has a perception filter on it," the Doctor mused.
"Does that mean it's impossible?" I asked, and the Doctor shrugged noncommittally.
"Mark how often do the Daleks come to this tower?" the Doctor asked. I scrambled for a few minutes to see how this question connected to my previous question before I realized that it didn't and the Doctor had just jumped tracks in an attempt to get answers about something.
"They don't," Mark said.
"That doesn't make sense. The Daleks mentioned a seer when we landed," the Doctor said.
"Maybe Mark isn't the only one who can see the future on this planet? Maybe there's a different seer who is somewhere else?" I said, and the Doctor growled in frustration.
"I can't possess people," Mark said. That must have been the Doctor's next question and the answer made him growl in frustration again. He really did hate not having answers.
"Okay so whoever saved us from the Dalek wanted us to come here and meet Mark. Mark knew we were going to be here." I reached up to rub my temples. "I feel like there's a piece missing there, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is."
"We need to be upstairs," Mark said, suddenly looking a little agitated.
"Sorry. We can walk and talk," I said, and we continued up the stairs. The Doctor muttered to himself inaudibly as he tried to make all our knowledge fit together in a way that made sense and judging by his increasingly frustrated noises, he wasn't having much luck.
"What's upstairs?" I asked.
"It's where I sleep. But you need to be up there soon to see out the window," he said.
"Are you the only one who lives here?" I asked, and he nodded.
"Someone is going to come and get me soon," he said before his face fell slightly. "I don't know when, but I know they're coming."
"Hey all that matter is that you know someone is coming," I said and ruffled his hair again. He laughed before he looked at me seriously. I heard the Doctor fall silent behind us as he noticed Mark's look as well.
"Someone is coming for you Emma. I don't know when, but I know they aren't good," Mark said, and the Doctor frowned.
"Who?" The Doctor asked, and Mark shook his head.
"I don't know. They want you for something. Something bad. They're scary." He looked terrified, so I knelt down in front of him and grasped his shoulders gently.
"It's okay. Thank you for the warning." The terror in Mark's eyes decreased and now he was looking at me confusedly.
"You're easy to see Emma. Usually it's harder to see," Mark said, and the Doctor hissed out air between his teeth. I knew without looking at him that he was fisting his hair in his hands.
"That's what the other one said when you were possessed. They said that you were open," the Doctor said as I got up off the floor. Mark slipped his little hand in mine and I gave it a small squeeze.
"What does that mean?" I asked just as we made it to the top of the stairs.
"I've spent a lot more time hiding things from people. I suppose I'm more closed off than you are," the Doctor said.
"I spent a decent amount of my life telling half truths," I said as I raised my eyebrow up at him. "Although a decent amount of my life is barely a scratch on your life."
"Is that a jab at my age?" The Doctor asked, and Mark giggled.
"Absolutely it is." We entered the room where Mark must have been sleeping and the Doctor rushed over to a dusty machine sitting in the corner and made a few excited noises over it.
"Mark what is this?" The Doctor asked.
"It looks like a rudimentary teleportation machine," Mark said slowly, and I could tell that he had foreseen the Doctor saying that one, because I certainly wasn't going to be the one to say that. The Doctor gave a sharp nod of approval as he fished out his sonic from his pocket.
"Quite right Mark. Now I should be able to just pop this off." One of the metal panels disconnected from the others and he let out another excited noise. I glanced at Mark.
"You said something about a window. Do we need to drag the Doctor away from his new toy?" I asked.
"I heard that," the Doctor said, and Mark laughed again.
"Good," I said before I looked at Mark who shook his head. I was trying to keep at least seventy five percent of my focus on Mark so that the perception field wouldn't affect me too much. It felt almost rude to not really realize where someone was standing, especially if they were standing right next to you.
"We don't need to be at the window yet."
"Alright will you let us know?" I asked, and Mark nodded, looking happy to have some responsibility. "Doctor what have you found?"
"It's definitely a teleport." His voice was muffled due to the fact that his head was now inside the machine. "It looks like it was tampered with on the other end so that there could only be a one-way destination."
"So, someone could only come here from there instead of being able to go back and forth?" I clarified. Mark gestured for me to bend over so I did, and he pressed a quick kiss to my forehead.
"The Doctor is busy," Mark said.
"Thank you, Mark," the Doctor said over the sonic noises that were emanating from where the Doctor was wiggling further into the machine. "What I can't figure out is why someone would do that."
I looked down at Mark, he was about the size of a seven-year-old human and he obviously knew enough about his abilities that someone had told him something about them. And there was the fact that he knew some one was coming for him. I swallowed carefully against the emotions welling up.
"What about a parent who was desperate to get their child somewhere safe, away from the Daleks?" I asked, and the Doctor paused for a few moments while Mark looked up at me before the Doctor came firing out of the machine crowing in victory.
"Emma you are brilliant!" He cried and swept me up in his arms and pressed a firm kiss to my forehead. I smiled and reached up to try and decrease the grease smear he had on his jaw.
"Thanks, I try," I said, and Mark reached up to tug on my arm gently. I looked down at him.
"We need to look out the window now," Mark said, and we all walked over.
"Oh shit," I said before I could think to censor myself in front of Mark. There was a large group of Daleks headed towards us. I knew without having to be told that they had enough fire power just in their guns to blow us out of the sky.
"My thoughts exactly," Mark said from where he was peering over the windowsill. I blinked, and my limbs went funny again.
"Doctor rewire the binary system," I said, and the Doctor's head snapped away from the Daleks to look at me with what looked like horror before he nodded and took off for the teleporter. I blinked again, and the feeling disappeared.
"God that is still weird as hell," I said as I stumbled over to him as the first blast shook the tower. I held out my hand for Mark which he took without protest and dragged him to stand between me and the Doctor.
"Binary system. Binary system," the Doctor muttered.
"Blue and green wires," Mark said helpfully.
"Emma give Mark a brilliance forehead kiss," the Doctor ordered as he ducked his head back into the machine. I ducked down and did as requested, and Mark giggled brightly. I really hoped that I was right about his family, because this little boy deserved parents. Another blast shook the tower.
"You'll have to pick me up," Mark said so I scooped him up in my arms and held him close as the Doctor climbed out and pointed his sonic at the control panel.
"Ready?" He asked and held his hand out to me. I took it with the hand that wasn't holding Mark and nodded. The sonic whirred and a few sparks flew up from the machine in protest before the tower disappeared in a bright light.