A/N: And on we go with the denial. Accompanied by new friends, broadcasting and tap dancing...
Thanks to everyone who's reviewed!
Disclaimer: Donnae own it.
"Rose!" yelled the Doctor, pounding down from the other end of the hall and slamming into the edge of the stage, "Rose!" He looked around frantically, trying to work out what had just happened.
Jumping up onto the stage, he saw that there was absolutely no sign of any hole his blonde companion could have disappeared into.
He scanned the stage floor with his Sonic Screwdriver but could still only get a reading from the limestone walls.
Anger flashed in his brown eyes. "Really, really clever," he murmured, grimly.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
About one hundred feet beneath him, Rose was shaking her head, trying to clear it of the haziness.
"What the…?" She stared at the rough, limestone walls surrounding her. "Doctor?" she called, standing up, "Doctor!"
"Doctor?" came a voice from the corner, "That's a new one. Most of them cry, some scream. I've never heard one call out 'Doctor', though. Have you hurt something?"
"Who's there?" called Rose, her eyes flicking from side to side, trying to work out who was in the shadows.
"Relax," said a girl walking out from the corner, "I'm officially non-evil. I'm like you."
"And I'm supposed to trust you?" asked Rose, summing the new girl up. She was tall, slim and pretty. She had messy brown hair, which she had tucked behind her ears. "What do you mean you're like me?"
"Oh," laughed the girl, "I was captured and taken down here, too. So were all the others."
"What others?" asked Rose, looking around, still a little bit dazed.
"There are a few of us, we stick to the shadows," said the girl, "I'm Hailey, by the way."
"Rose," nodded Rose, "So what, you all just 'appeared' down here?"
"Last thing you remember," prompted Hailey.
Rose frowned. "Green light,"
"That's it," said Hailey, "Same with everyone. Everything's normal then you see a green light and end up down here."
"And what happens down here?" asked Rose, not all that sure she wanted to hear the answer.
"Mostly, we just sit here. Which is pretty boring. Sometimes, there's a disturbance. Where," Hailey spoke a little quieter, "a green mist comes in and covers up one of us. Then they disappear."
Rose shivered. "How many are there here? How many have disappeared completely?"
"There are five of us down here right at this moment. Three have been taken by the freaky mist stuff."
"Listen," said Rose, stepping forward and taking Hailey's hand, "I've got this friend. He'll be able to come and help us. He'll figure out a way."
Hailey laughed bitterly and Rose noticed fear in her eyes. "How do you think this friend of yours will make it down here?" demanded Hailey, sweeping her arm around the cave, "We don't even know how we got here. No one's going to be able to 'figure out a way' because, Rose, this isn't human. To be honest, I think… Well, I think it's alien."
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
The Doctor's scan of the stage had proved to be completely fruitless. He had tried dialling Rose's phone three times, but each time the number had not been recognised. Giving up on it, he jumped down off the stage and headed off to the kitchen.
"Right," he said, clicking on the light, "I'm Rose, I'm in a kitchen…."
He checked the kettle. "Working, but no teabags," he muttered.
With the Sonic Screwdriver ready, he began opening all the overhead cupboards. He found nothing other than a few chipped glasses and cracked mugs. He then began opening each lower cupboard, carefully looking inside each one, and scanning with the Sonic Screwdriver, before closing it.
He got to the penultimate cupboard and crouched down when he saw the green radio.
"Hello," he said, adjusting his glasses, "Now, you're not right."
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
"Alright," said Rose, standing purposefully in front of the five assembled girls, "Is there any way out?"
"Been there, done that," answered Hailey, "If there was any way out, do you think we'd still be here?"
A younger looking, red haired girl spoke up. "The walls are solid all the way around. No cracks, no caves, no tunnels…."
"I suppose the only way out would be up," said a black haired, Chinese girl, "Only, we can't see the roof of the cave and there's no way of getting up there."
"Ok," said Rose, starting to pace a little, "The girls who have already been taken from here, has there been any kind of pattern?" she asked, "I mean, do they go according to how long they've been here, or because of something they do…?"
"Well, I was the first one in," said Hailey, "And I'm still here."
"And none of them really do anything in particular," said the Chinese girl.
"Um…" said the red haired girl, almost inaudibly.
"Yeah?" asked Rose, looking at her encouragingly, "What is it?"
"Well, the only real link I can see between them is their hair colour," she said.
The other girls all looked at each other in surprise as they noticed it too.
"Which is…?" prompted Rose, although she had a feeling she already knew the answer.
"So far, the three of them have all been blonde."
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
"Now you," said the Doctor, leaning back in admiration, "are beautiful. And I mean that. Although, I suppose the only drawback is that you can't get Radio One. Anyway, other than that, I really admire the internal wiring system. I even like the colour scheme! Very retro green."
"And what's that glow behind you?" asked the Doctor, sticking the Sonic Screwdriver into the back of the cupboard, "Power supply!" he exclaimed, as he saw the mini limestone pyramid, covered in a green gel, "To boost the signal. Brilliant!" He looked around him thoughtfully. "Someone has really put a lot of thought into this."
He scanned the radio again. "So I know you transmit a signal, but can you send the message both ways?"
He held the Sonic Screwdriver against the top of the radio and slowly turned one of the dials.
Then he cleared his throat and assumed a cheesy smile.
"And a good afternoon to you all," he began, "This is the Doctor, broadcasting live from the town hall kitchen. Our main feature today is, 'Where's Rose?' We have a caller on the line: who's this?"
A guttural voice responded from the radio. "Doctor?" it slurred, "I know no Doctor."
"Really?" asked the Doctor, "Well, you're in for a real treat. Unless, you happen to a particularly evil, in which case you'll end up wishing you'd never met me. And considering what you've done, on my evil scale of one to ten, you're right up there at the top. I'm prepared to bet you're ninety nine, if not one hundred, per cent evil."
"You speak nonsense," said the voice.
"Yeah, I have been told that," answered the Doctor, cheerfully. "Anyway, enough about me. Who are you?"
"You do not know?" asked the voice.
"Well to be fair," said the Doctor, "you don't know who I am. Why should I know who you are? Although, judging by your building material I'd say you're from somewhere in the vicinity of Planet 606."
"You have knowledge," commented the voice.
"And then some," agreed the Doctor, beginning to adopt a faux-jovial tone, "Anyway, pleasant as this chat is, can we just cut to the chase? You've taken something very important of mine and I want it back. So why not be a good man and return it?"
The voice laughed throatily. "No," it said, drawing out and relishing the single syllable.
The Doctor sighed. "I knew you were going to say that. Looks like I'm going to have to come and stop you by force."
The voice laughed again, "Doctor," it rang out, "You do not know who I am. You do not know what I am. You do not know where I am."
"All that's true," said the Doctor, dangerously, "But I'll find out. And then I'll stop you."
The voice laughed one final, long laugh and the radio clicked off.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
"Just for the record," said Rose, to the air in the cave, "My hair's not actually blonde…"
All the girls stared at her, some sympathetically, some just plain scared.
"My friend will help us," said Rose, confidently, "he'll find a way down here. But till then, we'll have to figure some things out for ourselves. Any idea what happens to the girls when they get taken from here?"
"None," said the red haired, who had turned out to be called Sophie, "They literally disappear into thin air."
"Could be a teleport," said Rose, "Doesn't explain the green mist. Could just be for effect, I suppose. Although, to be honest, I don't know all that much about the technical side of things."
Just then, a bell sounded in the cave and all the girls looked up, expectantly.
"What was that?" asked Rose.
"Food!" answered Sophie, rushing with the other girls to the centre of the cave.
Rose cautiously followed them to where a few plates of food were set upon the floor. A green mist was gradually receding from the food.
"You're actually going to eat that?" demanded Rose, "It's got the green stuff all around it."
"Listen, Rose," said Hailey, with her mouth full, "when you've been down here for a week or two you couldn't care less if your food has green mist on it or not. Chicken?"
"Not yet, thanks," declined Rose.
She started to walk around the outside of the cave, while the others happily stuffed their faces. This was one of the most frustrating places she'd been trapped in. There seemed to be no way out, she had no idea how she had got there and there weren't any sign of her captors. She couldn't even flirt with alien guards to find information.
She looked again at her phone, but there was still no signal. In fact, the phone seemed to have frozen.
"The jiggery pokery's gone wrong," she said sadly.
She was examining the rock face in the corner more closely, when a shout from one of the girls made her spin round.
Instead of finding one of them in danger, she realised that they were all staring at her with horror.
"Rose!" yelled Hailey, "The mist! It's around you."
Rose looked down and for the first time, noticed the tendrils of green mist that were curling themselves around her body.
She swore loudly, before the mist completely covered her and she disappeared from sight.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
In the kitchen, the Doctor sat slumped on the floor, leaning against a cupboard. He looked defeated, but his mind was actually whirring through numerous possibilities and searching for the most plausible.
Suddenly, his face lit up and he jumped to his feet.
"Brilliant!" he enthused, rushing over to the offending cupboard, "Completely mental, but still brilliant. And it's so strange, so mad, no one would ever have worked it out - except for a genius. And that, of course, is what I am. Unfortunately for you."
He leant over the radio, putting his ear right next to the speaker and pointing the Sonic Screwdriver at the small space between his ear and the speaker.
Then he slammed the cupboard shut and ran out to the stage, converse slapping against the linoleum floor.
He walked forward from the back of the stage, hands in his pockets, an intense look of concentration on his face.
"Cannot believe I'm about to do this," he murmured.
Removing his hands from his pockets, the Doctor suddenly began to tap dance.
And here we have chapter 2. Still a way to go yet, though... If you've taken the time to read it, why not review, eh?