AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are a few stand alone scenes that I really liked doing. This is one of my favorites. I tried to image the most off the wall scenario possible to solve this problem. It still makes me laugh. I hope it does you, too.

CHAPTER 40

MODIFIED MONSTER

"We've got trouble," Jason announced without preamble. He returned to his human form and headed quickly toward the decontamination room. "Not only are those thugs coming back, they're bringing a few more friends and laser rifles."

"I didn't think those were a problem for you," the Doctor remarked, having to hurry to keep up as the Alterran crossed the room.

"They're not. For me," Jason said pointedly. He turned his gaze to the injured Pr'Ce'el and Grant, who was standing beside him. "I can't protect all of you from that many at once. And I don't think my monster act will impress their commanding officer now that he has that kind of firepower. From the sound of him, he might actually have some military experience." Turning to Grant, he said in way of explanation, "Your friend with the knife."

"Buckley," the young man replied darkly.

"Ah, yes," the Doctor said thoughtfully. "Lead thug with military experience. An excellent description."

"A Shoot-The-Monster-As-A-Trophy type?" Jason asked pointedly.

"Yes," Pr'Ce'el replied as firmly as he could.

"Great."

"Cee and I were talking while you were gone…" Grant began slowly.

The Doctor gave him a puzzled look. "Cee?" He cut himself off and waved a hand in the air. "Never mind go on."

"Apparently the Gres-Fa-Raayn regulars are the ones actually guarding the hostages and the mercenaries are here to keep out trespassers. Only this Buckley character is one of the regulars."

"Oh, this just gets better and better," Jason moaned, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up. He started to actively search the room for something to use as a splint for Pr'Ce'el's broken arm. "I wish I hadn't used up all that excess energy. I could repair that arm in no time."

The Doctor stood thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on the floor. He put his hands in his coat pockets and scowled, pulling out a blister card that he had acquired on Earth at one point in his wanderings. He stared at it a moment and inspiration struck, a smile coming to his face as. "Yes! A modified monster."

"Modified?" Grant and Jason said in unison, turning to him in bewilderment.

"With the proper setting…"

"Doctor, if I didn't know better I'd say you were part Alterran," Jason quipped, giving his friend a suspicious sideways look "What ridiculously elaborate and incredibly brilliant deception have you cooked up for me now?"

The Doctor received this compliment with a broad smile. He held up the blister card, displaying its contents and ghoulish advertising photo. "Tell me, Jason, how familiar are you with the Earth holiday Halloween?"

After badgering his men for more than half an hour, the irritated Buckley finally had to resort to threats, stating that he would shoot any man who did not continue to the reactor room. When they finally arrived, they found the door locked, just as they had left it. The metal wall, however, had several large dents in it.

"Well go on, open it!" the officer snarled at Delaney. "The rest of you, get those weapons ready."

Delaney cautiously opened the door, finding the room a bit more disheveled than when they had left it, but otherwise unchanged. It was not until they moved on to the next room that they found anything amiss. The connecting door was closed and Delaney tried to push it open. "It's jammed," he announced, pushing with as little effort as possible.

"Go on, put your back into it!" Buckley snarled.

Delaney did, discovering, somewhat to his relief, that it still would not budge. His commander motioned Tommie over to help and the two heaved at the door a few times before it finally popped open. They took one look inside the room and gave a scream of unbridled terror, backing away in horror. "They're dead," Delaney gasped. "I told you it killed 'em. I'm gettin' outta here."

"You're not going anywhere! Goddess, you'd think you'd never seen a bit of blood before." Buckley went cautiously to the door and looked in. His mouth dropped open, his eyes grew wide and his blood ran cold. The room beyond was filled, floor to ceiling, with what looked like an enormous spider's web. Nearest to the door was Grant, who was suspended some three metres off of the ground, hanging in the web like a grotesque parody of a scarecrow, his eyes wide and staring, his skin a ghastly shade of gray. His head was lolling to one side, and he had what looked like two large puncture wounds in his neck. Further within the room and even higher in the air was the Doctor. He was suspended in the same manner as Grant, two puncture wounds also visible on his neck.

As he took in this scene, Buckley was hit with the sudden, horrifying realization that his former prisoners were still alive but paralyzed. Their eyes were looking pleadingly at him, but they were apparently unable to move, their bodies only managing to twitch spasmodically, fingers groping in his directions. There was a low moan close by and he turned, seeing Pr'Ce'el several metres in front of him. The boy had been attached to the floor with the same web-like material that filled the room. He was either in shock or dazed and lay moaning quietly, his eyes rolling in his head. As far as Buckley could tell, he was battered but otherwise unharmed, his olive skin still normal in color.

The officer readied his weapon and crouched down, moving sideways through the door, his back pressed against the wall. He did a quick visual sweep of the room, seeing no monster anywhere in sight. The door to the decontamination room was open and he could see a greenish glow inside. Thinking this meant the creature was there, Buckley partially rose, taking a few cautious steps toward Percy. It was at that moment Jason finally made his appearance.

After hearing Grant's description of himself when he first appeared, the Alterran had chose to look even more like a mutant spider, giving himself sixteen legs instead of the standard eight. Since another conversion rush was out of the question, he had colored his skin a bright neon green, going on to align his sapphire blue crystalline sensors into rows like eyes.

The moment the disguised Alterran appeared over the helpless Wieonol, the boy gave what Jason considered an absolutely magnificent scream of terror. He hovered a moment for affect before abruptly dropping next to him. He made certain Buckley saw him bearing two enormous fangs before plunging them into his captive's neck.

Pr'Ce'el suddenly started to struggle and Jason realized with a jolt that he had actually frightened him with his theatrics. "Settle down, Cee," he whispered reassuringly. "I'm supposed to be paralyzing you."

The boy gave quiet sob of relief. "I forgot," he whispered back.

"That's alright. Don't try to stop shaking, start twitching. That'll totally freak them out."

Pr'Ce'el made an impressive gurgling sound and started twitching as instructed. Just as Jason suspected, it completely unnerved his already terrified audience. Delaney and his cohorts wasted no time fleeing after seeing what they felt lay in store for them.

"By the Goddess!" Buckley exclaimed, losing his balance and falling onto his backside. He realized too late that he had attracted the creature's attention as it turned towards him, red gore dripping from its fangs. He flinched as its eyes locked onto him and glowed fiercely, a loud, angry screech escaping it.

The officer turned to order his men to fire just in time to see the far door slamming shut. He fumbled with his own weapon, only to have it knocked from his hands. He gave a scream of absolute terror and fainted dead away, much to Jason's chagrin.

"Oh man, I didn't even get to say Boo!" the Alterran moaned, looking down at the unconscious man. With a sigh, he quickly bound the man's hands behind his back.

"After that little performance," the Doctor observed calmly, "I'd be surprised if anyone comes anywhere near this section of the building again."

"It was hardly a one man show," Jason replied, moving towards the web. He reached out and touched it with several of his spider-like legs. "I'm going to lower the web." So saying, the whole room seemed to shimmer as he prepared to carefully lower the Doctor and his companion back to the floor. He felt a tremor and looked up, seeing Grant looking apprehensively at his glowing surroundings. "Grant, hold very still. I don't want to drop you."

As soon as his friends were back on solid ground, the web vanished and Jason returned to his human form. He crossed to the supine Pr'Ce'el and gave him an admiring look. "And you! You were absolutely great." He got down beside him, reabsorbing the web attaching him to the floor before helping him to sit up. "And you didn't think you could do it," he chided mildly.

Pr'Ce'el gave him a self-conscious smile but did not look him in the eye.

"I really did scare you, didn't I?" the Alterran said in astonishment.

"You do take some getting used to," Grant injected knowingly as he crossed to them. "And um…there's that." He pointed to his own face in way of explanation.

Jason reached up, touching his hand to his mouth. It came away red. "Oh, fake blood," he laughed, spitting out the remains of the capsule and rubbing the rest of the offending stain from his mouth with the cuff of his sleeve. "I'll have you know this stuff tastes awful!"

"Now what?" Grant asked, touching the red globs of makeup on his own neck. "I can't see you idly waiting until the cavalry arrives, Doctor."

The Doctor heaved a heavy sigh. "Well, we can't exactly go back to the TARDIS, can we? I don't think Cee is in any condition to make the trek through the tunnels—"

"Yes, I am," the youth replied firmly.

"—and our friend Buckley isn't going anywhere, either. And then there's the other thing."

"What other thing?" Grant wanted to know.

After a long pause, the Doctor admitted, "I have no idea where the entrance to the tunnel is."

There was a stunned silence after which Jason burst out laughing, breaking the sudden tension that had been building in the room. He crossed to the unconscious Buckley and looked down at him. "You know, it occurs to me that our friend here may be able to provide us with that information, along with the exact location of the hostages." Turning to the Doctor, he grinned devilishly. "With the proper incentive, of course."