"In here!" Mickey said, running into a room with a reinforced door. The Doctor ran in after him, and between them they pulled the door too and bolted it shut.
"Fantastic work Rickey!" the Doctor said.
"Mickey," Mickey corrected automatically, "Where are we anyway? And will that door keep those… things out?"
"For a little while," the Doctor said unconcernedly, "and we seem to be in a control room of some sort, which is fortunate for us."
"What's the plan then, Doctor?"
"I'm still working on that," the Doctor admitted, looking round at the computers.
"Well why don't you just destroy them? Rose is out there, she could get hurt!"
The Doctor felt momentarily sorry for Tricia that Mickey's first thought was for Rose, then a plan came rushing into his head.
"No, we don't know how far spread the technology is, how many computer rooms there are like this scattered around the building. We need to do something that guarantees we get rid of everything!"
"Like a virus?"
"Not quite a virus, virus's are too slow," the Doctor was dancing around in his childlike way, puling at cables, randomly typing things into various computers and scanning with his sonic screwdriver.
"What then?" Mickey asked.
"When you're as clever as me, you can do all sorts of wonderful things with a few bits of wire and computer parts. I'm going to make an EMP."
"A what?"
"An electromagnetic pulse – it will disable all electronic equipment within it's range."
"Can't you just turn it all back on again?"
"Not if we follow it up with a bomb. The EMP will disable all the Cyborgs, we get everyone out then blow the place to smithereens!"
"What about Damia?" Mickey asked.
"Let Amber worry about her, right now help me with this."
Mickey sat down at the nearest computer and began carrying out his instructions.
"That's right, re-route the power from the production lines to this room, concentrate it here, but don't take it away from what few lights there are. We don't want everyone running round in complete darkness! Now, I need something to stick this lot together."
The Doctor gestured towards a bundle of wires.
Mickey looked around the room, his eyes falling on a first aid kit. He leapt off his chair and pulled the kit off the wall. Inside there were miles of bandages and plenty of sticking plasters.
"This do?" Mickey asked. The Doctor grinned.
"Fantastic!"
Jackie Tyler and Harriet Jones ran down a long dark corridor, heading deeper and deeper into the building.
"Where the hell are we?" Jackie asked as they came to a halt in a room full of computers.
"Some sort of control room," Harriet said, "the Doctor said we had to destroy all this technology."
"So destroy it!" Jackie said, "Honestly, the situations I've been in since that man, if you can even call him that, waltzed into my life!"
Harriet was looking around the back of the computers for plugs to pull out of walls. She was flapping about, complaining about not knowing a thing about computers, when Jackie swung a chair into one of the machines.
"Right, that will work!" Harriet said.
"You politicians, just don't want to get your hands dirty!" Jackie snapped.
Rose and Jack charged down the corridor, fleeing from the Cyborgs.
Rose skidded to a halt running past a door and looking inside.
"Jack!" she called out and motioned through the door. They piled inside and pulled the door too before the Cyborgs got a chance to stop them.
"That was close!" Rose said, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She looked down at her fancy shoes, thinking of her poor aching feet. She should have learnt by now that she spent far too much time running to risk wearing anything other than trainers.
"Nice one Rose!" Jack said, looking around the room.
Wall to wall was lined with weapons of all shape and size. Jack's eyes were shining.
"Anything explosive here?" Rose asked.
"Why?"
"So we can blow this place up!"
"You're a charming woman, Rose, you're head is full of explosives!" Jack said with a grin.
"Blame the Doctor," Rose said, "I was well behaved before I met him."
"Now that can be taken two ways…" Jack said suggestively.
"Jack!" Rose reprimanded.
"These out to do the trick!" Jack said suddenly, picking up two spherical objects, tossing them around with a callousness that made Rose nervous.
"Come on then," Rose said, "Let's go find the Doctor."
Amber breathed really slowly, trying to slow her heart to minimize blood loss. Damia had her hands pinned to the mirror behind her, preventing her from fighting back, and she wasn't in any shape to struggle, she was feeling light headed and dizzy enough as it was.
"How does it feel Amber? Second best isn't as sweet as first place, is it?" Damia said, looking straight into Amber's orange eyes.
Amber really wasn't in the mood to listen to Damia gloat, so she lolled her head a little, acting up to the pain she was in so she could look over her shoulder and pay her no attention.
"I've dreamed of this moment," Damia whispered into her ear, "I've longed for it!"
Just shut up, Amber thought, get it over and done with, cut the tortured villain speech.
But she knew Damia wouldn't, she would drag it out to the bitter end. She also knew that bought her time to think, for as long as she could think straight.
Amber could feel her clarity fading so she tried to think fast. With her arms pinned and her legs not even able to support her own weight, there was not much Amber could do without help. She was about to give up when she saw Tricia reflected in one of the mirrors, still clutching the shotgun in her hands.
"Almost ready!" the Doctor said, "Now, when we set this off, the Cyborgs all switch off, but so will all the lights. Got a torch anywhere in that maintenance cupboard?"
Mickey waved a torch at him.
"Fantastic!" the Doctor said, "Now, once I push this button, the pulse will go off in," he pushed the button, "five, four, three, two, one…"
Tricia ran blindly down the corridor, listening to the echoes of commotion and fighting going on all around, her heart pounding in her chest. She didn't know where she was or how she was going to get out of this alive. The Shotgun was a redundant weapon really, it couldn't destroy those things and she probably couldn't even shoot it straight, so though she clutched it like a security blanket, it was about as useful as a security blanket at warding off the monsters.
She ran until she ended up in a room full of mirrors. It was a sinister addition to the dark corridors and creepy robots from the future. Looking round it was difficult to tell what was reflection and what was real. Tricia guessed that was the purpose of the room, and progressed with caution, rather than running blindly like she had been doing.
As she crept round the maze of mirrors, voices floated up to join the symphony of crashes and slamming doors that was coming from upstairs.
"It warms my heart to see you looking so helpless…" came the voice of Damia.
"I'm not helpless," Amber retorted, "I have friends, something you will never understand, Damia, being the sort of person who is predestined to die alone."
"Haven't lost you're sense of humour I see," Damia said icily, "You're in a precarious position to be making insults, girl, when I am in control."
"Damia, you have never been in control – that's why they failed you so many times in the Academy."
Tricia could see them. Damia was standing over Amber, who appeared to be in pretty bad shape. She was completely trapped and helpless, with her arms pinned to the wall and a large shard of glass sticking out of her side. Tricia flinched when she saw it.
I could end this… She thought. But she couldn't, she could point the gun at Damia's back, but she couldn't stomach the thought of actually pulling the trigger.
Do it! A voice whispered from somewhere.
"You ruined my life, Amber, are you proud?" Damia wailed, "You ruined every chance I ever had of excelling, you did this to my face – you ruined me!"
Do it! The voice whispered louder.
Amber pulled herself really close to Damia and looked right into her eyes.
"The only thing I ever did to you was make the inside match the outside!" she said.
DO IT, TRICIA! The voice yelled, and Tricia pulled the trigger, just as all the lights went out.
"Come on!" Jackie said, "Take a swing with a chair or something – I'm sat her, doing all the hard work! Afraid you'll ruin your manicure?"
"I don't have manicures," Harriet said, "I just…"
"Just what?" Jackie asked, "Afraid you'll miss?"
"Well, no, I just don't think it's entirely…"
"Entirely what?"
"Civil," Harriet said.
"Honestly, you politicians need to let your hair down occasionally…" Jackie said with some contempt.
"I do, but not normally in the form of destroying computers with an office chair…"
"You can't knock it until you've tried it," Jackie said.
She wasn't that bothered, she just wanted to see the stuffy politician take a swing at a computer with a chair.
"Oh alright then!" Harriet said, and rolled up her sleeves.
She gripped the chair by its legs, picked it up and swung it hard at the nearest computer. As the chair collided with a loud crunch, all the lights went out.
"What did you do?" Jackie asked from somewhere in the darkness.
Jack and Rose looked round warily as all the lights died.
"What's going on?" Rose asked.
"I don't know," Jack admitted.
There was a knock on the door that sounded distinctly like someone slumping into it. Jack's eyes suddenly lit up.
He grabbed a gun off the wall then went to open the door.
"Jack don't!" Rose said, but as he pulled it open she saw the piles of Cyborgs lying on the floor completely unresponsive.
"What happened?" she asked.
"An electromagnetic pulse happened," Jack said, "the Doctor is a genius!"
"What's a one of those?"
"An electromagnetic pulse! Disables all electronic things, now – lets go find everyone and blow this place!"
"Sounds good to me! Lead the way, Captain!" Rose said, offering her arm. Jack grinned and took it, before they ran off together to find the others.
Damia gasped as the shotgun bullets flew into her back. She choked a little and a thin line of blood dripped from her mouth. She raised a hand to her face, wiping the blood away, which released one of Amber's hands.
"You are going to pay for that!" Damia said, "You think silly shotgun bullets would actually stop me?"
"No, but this will," Amber said, then slit the assassin's throat with the blade she had concealed within her sleeve.
Damia gasped, then staggered backwards and fell to the floor, dead.
"What a mess," Amber said, looking down at the dead body of Damia. She looked up at Tricia, with thanks in her eyes, then slumped to the floor, a trail of blood smeared up the mirror above her.
"Oh my god! We need to get you to a hospital!" Tricia said, running over, throwing the shotgun to one side.
"I don't think doctors on Earth could cope with my anatomy!" Amber said, inspecting the shard of glass protruding from her stomach. "I'll be fine; it just hurts quite a lot at the moment…"
Tricia didn't look convinced.
Amber winced as she gripped the shard and pulled slightly.
"Ok, that's a really bad idea!" Tricia stammered, "You should never remove something from a wound in case it unblocks a vein or artery or something! You'll bleed to death!"
"That's my problem," Amber said, and pulled harder on the glass, "not yours."
Tricia had to cover her eyes as the glass slowly slid out, covered in blood. Amber's hands were sliced up as she struggled to remove the embedded slice of mirror, but finally there was a clatter as the shard fell to the floor.
Amber looked down at her bleeding, shredded hands, then placed them on her lap, sighing heavily as the pain and dizziness rushed through her body. She touched her hand to her side, feeling the blood rush out between her fingers.
"So, so, what are you going to do?" Tricia asked, dancing around anxiously.
"Nothing," Amber said, "There's nothing I can do."
"But you're an alien! You must be able to do something!"
"Being alien doesn't make me invulnerable or infallible," Amber said, struggling to sit up a bit better, "I am every bit as mortal and vulnerable as you."
"Is there anything I can do?" Tricia asked, kneeling beside Amber.
"You've done enough already and I'msorry about shouting at you," Amber said with a smile, "but, if you can – could you get the Doctor?"
"I'm on it!" Tricia said, and ran off to find him as quickly as she could.
The Doctor bumped into Tricia after about five minutes of her searching. He ran with her back up to the mirror room, not quite understanding what she was saying, but getting a sense of the urgency.
He skidded round the corner, cast a quick eye over Damia's body, then turned to Amber, who was sat on the floor in a pool of blood.
"What have you done?" the Doctor asked softly, kneeling beside her, brushing her hair out of her face gently.
"I got rid of her for you," she said with a small smile, "With a little help from Tricia."
Mickey wrapped his arms around Tricia, looking horrified at the amount of blood everywhere. The Doctor looked up and smiled at Tricia, then started searching for his sonic screwdriver.
"This can cauterize wounds," he said to Amber, "It will stop the bleeding til we can get you back to the TARDIS."
Amber shook her head slightly.
"I'm not giving up on you yet!" the Doctor said, holding onto Amber's free hand, "So you're going to have to trust me."
Amber nodded slightly and let the Doctor rake her hand away from her side. For a moment the blood ran fast and freely, but as the sonic screwdriver worked its magic the flow slowed down.
"Still with me?" the Doctor asked.
"Just about," Amber croaked.
"Well, whatever you say, there is no way I'm going to let you walk – so! You're going to have to let me carry you…"
A spark of fire and defiance appeared in her eyes before she realised the Doctor was probably right and that there was no way she was going to get to the TARDIS by herself.
Right on cue, Jack and Rose appeared, followed closely by Harriet and Jackie.
After the obligatory protest, Amber allowed herself to be carried out of the building by a more than willing Jack. She even rested her head against his chest, watching as the Doctor and Rose set the bombs off all around the building, blowing it sky high. The company headed back to the TARDIS with a backdrop of fire and sirens.
The Doctor used supplies from somewhere in the TARDIS to put Amber in a more stable condition. Rose and Harriet helped her clean up a little, and Rose even lent her a big fluffy dressing gown that would be more comfortable to wear and wouldn't require the effort of Amber maintaining transformed clothes. Jackie and Tricia did what they did best and made plenty of coffee all round.
"See what I mean?" the Doctor said as Tricia handed him a drink, "the best team in the world!"
"Besides me letting the side down," Amber said, struggling to sit up a little more in a chair the Doctor and Mickey had carried out to the console room for her.
"You did nothing of the sort!" the Doctor said, "Though I would like to know what that was all about…"
"Damia and I never got along," Amber said through gritted teeth, "I knew her from the assassin's academy, and I put up with her because she was useful, but she seemed to get the idea I was her pet, and when I stopped playing she got annoyed and tried to kill me. I wasn't going to let her get away with that and grabbed the nearest thing I could use to defend myself, which happened to be a high-powered acid jet. I didn't plan it, it was just pure survival instinct. Do you believe me?"
"Yes," the Doctor said.
"Good," Amber said, "Because I would be pretty stuck if you didn't."
Rose hugged Mickey, Tricia, even Harriet, then finally her Mum.
"When will you next be visiting?" Jackie asked.
"I dunno," Rose said, shrugging her shoulders, "Whenever really, we do have a time machine."
"A time machine that's always late!" Jackie said, glaring at the Doctor.
"I'd like to see you try to fly the TARDIS!" the Doctor retorted.
"Ok, enough!" Rose said, "will you two ever get along?"
"No," Jackie and the Doctor said together.
"But you seem to have so much in common," Harriet said, earning her a glare from both the Doctor and Jackie, "or perhaps not…"
Jack grinned.
"Well, isn't this nice?" he said, "the Doctor finally does domestic – and all for you Rose, I hope you appreciate that!"
"And just what are you implying, mister?" Jackie demanded.
Jack gave her a heart melting smile.
"Nothing you don't already suspect sweetheart."
"Ok, stop sweet talking my Mother," Rose said, shoving Jack as she walked towards the Doctor.
Two hours later and they had said their good byes andwere off again, ready for their next grand adventure (though they would be taking a week off to give Amber a chance to recover).
"Feel better?" the Doctor asked Rose.
"Well, I've had dinner with the Prime Minister, fought a few robots from the future, blown up a building, made up with my ex-boyfriend… yeah, I feel great!"
"All in a day's work," the Doctor said.
And that's the end of this one, but not the end of the series! look out for 'The Twilight Thief' coming soon!
If you go to geocitiesand add '/sirensongirl/twilightthief.jpg' to the end of the webaddress, you should (should lol) get a picture preview of the next episode. I would just type the link out but it doesn't show up for some reason... dunno why...
Thanks for all the reviews, you guys are great! hope you carry on reading! occulmagic xx