A/N: I'm so glad you guys seemed to like the last chapter. Hopefully this chapter goes well, too. Again, sorry for the delay in posting. College makes me very busy. I also apologize if I missed some editing or spelling. Hope you love the ending. ;)
The mummy brought its other hand down on top of the contraption beside Sarah's head, making sparks fly everywhere. It released Sarah's throat, then turned and pushed me aside with a wave of its arm. I fell onto my back with my leg twisting awkwardly underneath me.
"The ring, Sarah!" the Doctor cried from across the room. He was struggling to sit up with his hand pushing at the mummy's leg. "Use the ring!"
Sarah turned around and grabbed Namin's ring from the table, and slipped it onto her finger. "Stop!" she ordered.
The mummy that had attacked us both stopped mid step and froze in the middle of the room.
"Return to control," the Doctor told her.
"Return to control! Return to control!" Sarah demanded.
The mummy haltingly turned around and started for the door, walking slowly outside. The Doctor jumped to his feet and ran to Scarman's side, helping him stand easily on his feet.
"Are you all right?"
Scarman nodded. "Yes, I think so," he stammered.
"You don't deserve to be," the Doctor snapped. "You nearly got us all killed."
Scarman had the decency to nod in agreement. "I'm sorry."
"What's worse," the Doctor continued, "you've probably wrecked what was my only chance of stopping Sutekh."
"Look, forgive me, Doctor. I was thinking of my brother."
"Listen!" I jumped, the Doctor's harsh tone startling me. "What's walking about out there is no longer your brother. It is simply an animated human cadaver. Animated by Sutekh. Do you understand?" Scarman nodded and looked down. "And if Sutekh succeeds in freeing himself, the consequences will be incalculable."
I suddenly cried out and fell back to the floor, searing pain coursing through my leg. While the Doctor had been scolding Scarman, I was trying to pull myself to my feet with Sarah's help. But when my leg gave out for a second time, I felt panic grip my heart.
The Doctor ran to my side and knelt beside me. "Diana, what happened?"
"I-It's nothing," I stammered. "I'm fine."
"What happened?"
I sighed and looked down at my leg with a shake of my head. "The mummy grabbed me by the neck and, um, threw me across the room. I hit my leg, but it's not that bad. I just have a low pain tolerance."
The Doctor suddenly grabbed my knee and began prodding at it with his fingers. I hissed in pain and bit down on my tongue to keep from crying out again. His fingers moved down to my shin, then back up to my thigh, and then back to my knee.
"It's not very bad, but I don't want you running after us and trying to help. If you do, it will only make your knee worse."
"But it's not that bad," I protested.
"Maybe so, but I don't want to risk making it worse. It may only be a severely bruised kneecap or a sprain, but either way you shouldn't be traipsing through the forest."
"But-"
"Stay here!"
"I want to help!"
"No!" he scolded as he got to his feet. "Stay here, all of you."
The Time Lord ran out of the cottage with his scarf flying out behind him. Sarah grabbed her skirt and started after him, but Scarman grasped her elbow and held her back.
"Where's he going?"
Sarah yanked her arm out of his grasp. "To find out what Scarman's doing," she said before running off.
Scarman paused for a moment, letting out a heavy sigh. Then he looked to me and flashed me a forced smile. He offered me both of his hands and helped me to my feet, supporting me with an arm around my back when I slipped. I hopped over to a rocking chair by the couch with Scarman's help and practically collapsed into the chair.
"You rest, miss, and I'll find something for you to prop your leg up on."
"Thank you," I answered with a nod.
He came back in less than a minute with a small bench and gently eased my leg onto it. Then he grabbed a pillow from the couch and placed it under my knee where my leg rested against the bench.
"Thank you," I said again. "That really helps."
"I'm sorry you were hurt."
I waved the man's apology away. "Oh, it's fine. I'm always getting hurt or kidnapped. This isn't new to me."
"Surely you don't enjoy being injured?"
"Of course not. But I don't really know how to defend myself and I'm not exceptionally smart, so I take the place of damsel in defense on occasion."
"Oh. I'm… sorry."
"It's fine," I assured him with a smile. "I mean, it isn't really fine but I can't do very much at the moment. But I think when I'm able, I'd like to learn some Venusian aikido."
"Ven-, what?"
I chuckled at Scarman's confused expression. "It's a form of karate that a, um, friend of mine knows. It'd come in handy in the future once I learn it."
Scarman shook his head. "Very well, Miss. If you say so," he sighed with raised eyebrows.
Scarman then stood and walked across the room to a small bookcase where a framed picture lay. The room had grown stuffy, so I shrugged my leather jacket off and folded it before setting it on the floor by my chair. I exhaled lightly through my nose and leaned my head back against the chair, staring up at the ceiling as a bird called outside.
My eyes began to droop, but I fought against the urge to sleep. I wanted to be ready when Sarah and the Doctor came back. But another part of my mind also told me to sleep while I had the chance. I hadn't slept since before I was taken to prison with Robin and Clara and Twelve.
The birds continued to tweet and call to one another outside, and within minutes I was asleep in the rocking chair.
I woke up with a start when the Doctor burst into the room. Momentarily disoriented, I looked around in confusion to try and understand what all the commotion was about. Sitting beside me in another chair was Scarman, a framed black and white photograph in his hands. The Doctor and Sarah were standing in the middle of the room, talking loudly to one another.
"…time is short," the Doctor said. He leaned up against the table and sighed heavily. He thought for a few moments before finally saying, "Cytronic induction."
Beside him, Sarah made a confused expression. "Huh?"
"The robots are drawing their energy from a cytronic particle accelerator which must be in Sutekh's tomb," the Time Lord elaborated.
"So?"
"So, put that out of action and he'd have no workforce."
"And no missile," Sarah realized.
"But Sutekh's tomb is in Egypt," Scarman interjected.
I shook my head. "No it's not."
They all turned and looked at me in confusion. "It is," Scarman told me. "That's where my brother was when-."
"But isn't it on Mars?" I wondered.
The Doctor glanced at Scarman, then back to me. "I believe Sutekh is imprisoned there, but his tomb is in Egypt."
"Oh. But what about that force field on Mars you mentioned earlier?"
"To keep Sutekh from escaping after the Osirians trapped him there," he told me. Then he looked at the others. "Scarman came here through the time-space tunnel. It's a two-way mechanism."
"But if you go through it, Sutekh'll kill you!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Wouldn't it be better-" Scarman began.
"No, it wouldn't," the Doctor snapped. "If I go after Sutekh, Sutekh will kill me. The missiles are aimed. Wouldn't what be better?"
"Wouldn't it be less risky simply to blow up the projectile?" Scarman suggested.
"With what?"
"Blasting gelignite."
The Doctor looked pleasantly surprised. "Do you have some?"
"No, but I believe Clements had a store."
The Doctor looked between Sarah and I in confusion. "Clements?" he repeated.
Scarman nodded. "The poacher. I heard him fishing only a few nights ago."
"Where did he keep it?"
"I'm told he had a hut on the other side of the wood."
The Doctor nodded and gestured to Sarah. "Let's go, Sarah," he said with a nod.
"Shall I show you the way?" Scarman asked as Sarah and the Doctor rushed for the door.
"No, we'll find it."
"You think I'll let you down again, don't you?"
Pausing by the door, the Doctor turned to place his hand on Scarman's shoulder. "Mister Scarman, if you want to help, start getting the bindings off that robot."
"Doctor, wait," I called as I pushed myself out of the chair.
He paused again mid step to look back at me. "Diana, I want you to stay here."
"Yeah, well tough."
Letting out a sigh, the Doctor shook his head. "I want you to stay here."
"I want to stay too," I admitted. "I don't want to go traipsing through the forest, get hurt or kidnapped. I want to stay here where it's safe, but I also want to help you."
"Diana, you're hurt."
"It's not that bad," I insisted. "I don't even feel anything anymore. It's probably just a charley horse or something. I promise. You don't have to look after me so closely, Doctor. I'm fine, but I can help."
Sarah let out a sigh and, with a roll of her eyes, stepped forward with her hands on her hips. "Honestly, you two act like a married couple even when you aren't. Doctor, just let her come with us. She can help us and you know that. She can also take care of herself. If she gets hurt again, then she'll stay here until this whole mess is over with. Alright?"
The Doctor nodded after a moment. "Very well." He waved me over and guided me to the door. "Come on, Diana. Quickly."
I stumbled outside, biting down on my tongue when pain shot up from my knee. Thanks to my brief nap, my knee didn't hurt as much and only ached if I stepped down with too much force. But I refused to show that I was even hurting just a little so that the Doctor wouldn't send me back to the cottage.
"Careful," the Doctor instructed from in front of me. "Walking into a deflection barrier is like walking into a brick wall."
"Painful?" Sarah suggested as the Time Lord bent over to pick up a branch from the ground.
The Doctor held the stick out in front of him and slowly waved it back and forth. He suddenly stopped when the sound of a loud beep reached his ears.
"Ah. There we are." He moved the stick to the left. "Now all we've got to do is find the door." He kept the stick pressed against the invisible barrier, the beeping growing louder and more frantic before suddenly stopping. The Time Lord looked back at me and grinned. "Door." Resting on the ground just a few feet in front of us was a small canopic jar, humming with energy. The Doctor dropped the stick and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out the sonic screwdriver with a grin. "Key."
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "As simple as that?"
"No, not really," the Time Lord replied.
"No, I didn't think it could be," the journalist sighed as she looked back out at the forest.
Beside me, the Doctor was looking between the jar and his sonic. "No obvious booby traps." He glanced up at Sarah and pursed his lips. "Are you going to help or are you just going to stand there and admire the scenery?"
"Your shoes need repairing," Sarah replied dryly. She knelt next to him and balanced her forearms on her knees. "I actually wasn't admiring the scenery. I was waiting for you to tell me what to do."
"Just hold the base. I don't want it to fall."
"Dangerous?" Sarah asked.
The Doctor gave her an expression that said 'Obviously'. "Very dangerous," he told her before looking back to the jar.
I stayed behind the Doctor and alternated between watching them and looking around the forest for mummies. I heard the sonic start whirring even louder than before, then a loud screech. Jumping, I whirled around to stare at the two. Sarah was barely holding onto the jar and the Doctor was frozen in shock with his hands held mid air.
"What was that?" I demanded.
"Deactivating a generator loop without the correct key is like repairing a watch with a hammer and chisel," the Doctor told me, although it didn't explain what the noise was. "One false move and you'll never know the time again."
"Lovely," I mumbled dryly, glancing up at the trees in exasperation.
"Any more comforting thoughts?" Sarah huffed.
"Yes. Just let me know if it starts to get warm."
Sarah scoffed. "Don't worry. You'll hear me breaking the sound barrier."
I watched the Doctor slip his sonic back into his coat pocket, then reach for the jar. Sarah let him take it and then released her hold on it. I peeked over the Doctor's shoulder and watched with baited breath as he unscrewed the lid of the jar very, very carefully.
"Slowly," I hissed when the lid scraped against its base.
"I know what I'm doing," he replied quickly, not taking his eyes off of the jar.
He stuck his hand inside the jar and then pulled out a long, silver canister that looked similar to a large bullet. I chewed nervously on my bottom lip as he unscrewed the bottom of the canister, revealing a mass of electronics and wires inside. The Doctor then stuffed the bottom of the canister into his coat pocket and patted it with his hand.
"Just to make sure," he explained as he jumped to his feet. "Come on, you two."
We walked forward a few yards until a small hut appeared through the trees. I kept close to the Doctor's side and Sarah walked beside him on his other side. We approached the hut slowly and cautiously, awaiting any kind of attackers or booby traps.
"Just how powerful is Sutekh, Doctor?" Sarah suddenly asked.
"He's all-powerful. If he ever gets free, there isn't a life form in the galaxy that could stand against him."
"What, not even your lot, the Time Lords?"
The Doctor glanced down at me and we shook our heads simultaneously.
"Not even our lot," he said seriously, our eyes still locked.
"No one could help us?" I wondered softly.
"No one."
I nodded seriously. "I know," I sighed. "Still, I just thought… If things go wrong…"
"They won't." I paused mid step and looked up at the Doctor in silence, my eyes searching his. "We'll figure everything out, Diana, and we'll stop Sutekh. I promise."
By the entrance into the hut, Sarah called for the Doctor. "Hey, the door's locked," she exclaimed.
The Doctor quickly looked away from me and hurried to Sarah's side. I rushed after him and leaned against the wall while the Doctor worked at the chain and padlock on the door. Once they were disposed of, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. There was barely enough room for the three of us to stand once the door was closed.
"Sutekh was only defeated in the end by the combined might of seven hundred and forty of his fellow Osirans led by Horus," the Doctor told us as he started going through a few boxes against the wall.
Sarah moved to the wall opposite the door and climbed up the ladder that led to a shelf near the roof. "The seven hundred and forty gods whose names were recorded in the tomb of Tutmoses the Third," she replied as she started searching.
"Hm, could be."
I moved across the small room to the third wall where various animal pelts were hung. I knelt down beside a small pile of boxes and began gently opening and searching through each one. Sarah found a small chest on the shelf and opened it, sticking one hand inside.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Doctor suggested. "Could be a ferret."
Sarah cried out in surprise, but relaxed when she realized there was nothing there. She glared at the Time Lord with narrowed eyes before looking back at the chest and searching it again. I went back to the boxes in front of me and carefully looked through piles of papers, shred, and various small hunters traps.
"Wait!" Sarah exclaimed excitedly. "This looks like it."
I straightened and turned just in time to see Sarah toss an old box down to the Doctor. He and I cried out in panic simultaneously, flinching when it thudded in his hands. I froze where I was and waited for the dust to clear before even taking another breath.
Sarah, still confused, looked between us. "What's the matter? Not enough?"
The Doctor sighed heavily, his eyes trained on the box. "Sweaty gelignite is highly unstable. One good sneeze could set it off," he whispered as he very slowly lowered the box to the floor.
"Sorry," Sarah whispered meekly.
"No sign of any detonators or fuses?"
The journalist looked again and shook her head. "No, no, nothing else. Perhaps he sneezed?"
The annoyed look on the Doctor's face was almost enough to make me laugh. "Very amusing, Sarah," he grumbled as he slowly got to his feet. "We'd better hurry. Come on."
We walked as fast as the Doctor dared to go with gelignite. Sarah and I went in front of him, with me inspecting the ground for anything that he could potentially trip over and Sarah holding a stick out to avoid running into the invisible barrier. Once we got back to the canopic jar, the Doctor took the lead in front of me.
"We're safer now," he told us. "I'll go in front, but I want you both to stay a few yards back from me in case something should happen."
Sarah and I had no qualms with his suggestion, so we stayed quiet and about three yards back from him. The Doctor guided us out of the forest to the mansion. We crept under the windows like we had earlier to avoid being spotted, then came to a small gateway lined with a brick wall.
"Alright, you two. Be careful and be quiet," the Doctor whispered to us as we tiptoed forward.
We reached the wall and rested against it for a moment. The Doctor then knelt down and slowly moved his arm so that the gelignite was hidden behind an old, rotted wooden door that was balanced against the brick wall. Sarah and I were meanwhile looking around the wall at the pyramid being guarded by three mummies.
"It should be safe there for the moment," the Doctor said behind me.
I stepped back a few paces and looked at him expectantly. Sarah followed my lead and moved to stand beside the wooden door.
"Look, this isn't going to work," Sarah told him with a heavy sigh. "You've got no detonators, no fuses, so even if you manage to place the charge without being spotted, how do we explode it?"
"I don't know yet."
"But I do," I interjected with a knowing smile. The two of them looked back at me, waiting for me to elaborate. "Well, there's a rifle back at the cottage, right?"
The Doctor grinned. "Diana, you are brilliant," he praised.
I felt my cheeks flush and I glanced at the ground. "Oh, I don't know about that."
He took a few steps forward and gestured for Sarah to come closer. "We should hurry back and find the rifle. We can't afford to lose any more time."
"Should one of us stay here and watch that stuff just in case?" Sarah asked.
"Yes, but it wouldn't be safe for either of you to stay. Besides, we need to find a disguise or distraction in order to plant that gelignite. We can't just walk up there and set it down."
"Disguise yourself as a mummy," I suggested. "Scarman's probably finished taking the wrappings off of that mummy back at the cottage, so we can put you inside the frame and then wrap you back up."
The smile the Doctor gave me made my heart skip a beat. "Diana, I could kiss you," he exclaimed.
"Perhaps later?" Sarah added.
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should go before anyone spots us."
"Right." The Doctor grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. He started walking towards the forest with me scrambling after him. "Come on, both of you."
When we returned to the cottage, we were greeted with a nasty surprise. Scarman had done as the Doctor instructed him and taken the bindings off the mummy, but we found his body slumped in the same rocking chair I had fallen asleep in mere hours earlier. I rested my hand on his shoulder and said goodbye to him before taking a throw blanket from the couch and draping it across Scarman's face.
The Doctor was leaning against the table, his brows furrowed together and his chin cupped in his hand. "Strangled," he whispered lowly.
"The mummies," Sarah sighed.
"No. Not this time." Sarah and I shared a confused look, then shook our heads at the Doctor. "There are fingermarks. His late brother must have called."
I gasped. "What?"
"Oh, that's horrible!" Sarah cried. "He was so concerned about his brother."
"I told him not to be. I told him it was too late."
A flame of frustration rose up in my chest. "Can you blame him?" I countered firmly. "Can you really be mad at him for worrying about a loved one?"
"His brother was dead. You know that."
"Yes, well imagine if it had been you," I snapped. "I wouldn't have been able to not be concerned, you-… Never mind," I growled before turning away from him to stare out the window.
Sarah let out a 'humph' behind me and stamped her foot. "Oh, sometimes you don't seem-"
"Human?" the Time Lord finished for her. "Typical Osiran simplicity."
"A man has just been murdered!" Sarah practically shouted.
"Four men, Sarah. Five, if you include Professor Scarman himself. And they're merely the first of millions unless Sutekh is stopped. Know thine enemy." I silently turned and met the Doctor's gaze with mine. He was silent for a moment or two before finally adding as an afterthought, our eyes still locked, "Admirable advice."
Sarah grumbled in agreement, her arms crossed over her chest.
The Doctor nodded slightly at me and I saw in his eyes it was his way of apologizing for upsetting me. I looked down at the floor and then back up at him; I nodded once. He looked away to Sarah and took a few short strides past her.
"If we're going to do anything about that missile, we're going to have to move quickly. I'll need your help." The last sentence, I knew, was directed at me.
Sarah and I watched as the Doctor picked up the bindings Scarman had taken form the mummy. "What do you want me to do?" Sarah questioned.
"These bindings are chemically impregnated to protect the robots against damage and corrosion. An impenetrable disguise, wouldn't you agree?" he asked with a grin.
"And my idea," I said.
"A brilliant one."
Sarah placed her hands on her hips and huffed. "Alright, then. Let's get started."
I had gotten halfway through the bindings on his right arm when the Doctor grabbed for my elbow with his other hand. I froze and looked expectantly up at him, staring into his eyes as he tried to speak.
"Diana," he started hesitantly, "I… Well, I… About, erm, Scarman-"
"I know," I said quickly. "It's okay. You were right."
"So were you."
"Truce?" I asked with a smile.
The Doctor smiled back and I relaxed. "Truce," he whispered.
About ten minutes later, we were just finished wrapping the Doctor up in his mummy disguise. "Hurry up," he urged rather impatiently.
"We are hurrying," I grumbled as I finished tying up the bandages around his waist.
He sighed through bindings. "It doesn't have to be perfect. I shall mingle with the mummies, but I shan't linger," he told us.
Sarah clapped her hands together and stood up after finishing his ankle. "Okay, that'll have to do," she exclaimed.
"How do I look?" the Doctor wondered.
Sarah gave him a once over. "It must have been a nasty accident," she said with a perfectly straight face.
I brought a hand to my face and giggled as quietly as possible. The Doctor merely sighed again. "Don't provoke me," he grumbled. "Now come on. And don't forget the rifle."
I hurried around the mummified Time Lord and reached for the rifle, slinging it over my shoulder. Sarah was already guiding the Doctor out of the door despite his complaints. I walked up on his right side and put a hand on his forearm.
"Hey, can you see okay in there?"
"I can see enough to know where I'm going. So I don'tneed a handler, thank you, Sarah."
Sarah released his left arm and chuckled. "If you say so, Doctor."
He tripped a few paces later, but Sarah and I kept our giggling low to spare what was left of the Time Lord's pride. "I can hear you, you know," he grumbled as he stumbled over a large tuft of grass.
"Ah, good to know your superior Time Lord hearing isn't faulty," I teased with a wicked grin.
Sarah nodded. "Yes, wouldn't want that, now would we?" she asked.
"Neither of you are very funny."
"Well what happened to me being brilliant earlier?" I wondered. "I'm pretty sure you said I was brilliant twice. Didn't he, Sarah?"
"He did, Diana, I remember it very clearly."
The Doctor sighed loudly and I could almost see him rolling his eyes. "Obviously I was mistaken," he grumbled.
I chuckled and nudged Sarah with my elbow. "Aw, he's sulking."
"I am not!" he retorted childishly.
Sarah and I continued to laugh and crack a few jokes, but the Doctor silenced us when we grew closer to the mansion. When we grew close to the edge of the forest, the Time Lord stopped us. Even though he looked absolutely ridiculous wrapped up like a mummy, the atmosphere was very serious and tense.
"Now I need you both to listen very carefully. I shall take the gelignite and place it in the pyramid. And once I'm out of harm's way, I need one of you to fire the rifle at the box to ignite it."
"Sarah should do it," I blurted.
Sarah glanced at me with wide eyes. "Are you sure?"
I nodded frantically. "Oh, yes. I have no idea how to handle a gun. I'd miss if I tried to shoot."
"Alright," she answered with a nod. "I'll take the shot then, Doctor. I've dealt with rifles a few times before. I know what I'm doing."
"Good, Sarah. Now you both need to stay out of sight. If you're spotted, we could all be in very serious danger."
"We already are in very serious danger," I retorted.
"Yes, well it could get worse."
I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know."
The Doctor bobbed his torso back and forth to signal that he was nodding. He turned around to look at the brick wall surrounding part of the mansion, then turned to face us again. "Alright, you two. It's now or never."
We all crept forward as silently as possible. When we reached the brick wall, Sarah grabbed the gelignite from its hiding place and handed it to the Doctor.
"You remember what to do?" the Time Lord asked.
Sarah nodded. "Yeah. Give you time to get clear, then pow," she said with a nod.
I handed her the rifle and she knelt to start loading it. The Doctor watched in silence for a moment.
"Make sure you shoot straight," he reminded her. "You won't get a second shot."
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
"Hey," I whispered as the Doctor walked off. "Wait a sec."
"Diana, I have to-"
"I know," I said with a smile. "Just… be careful. Okay?"
"Okay."
I nodded and walked back to the spot Sarah was kneeling at, the rifle held protectively in front of her. She nodded at me and I crouched down behind her. She peered around the edge of the brick wall, then looked back at me with a worried look in her eye. The next time she looked around the wall, she jumped and waved me forward.
I jumped to my feet and peered cautiously around the wall. The Doctor was waddling over to the pyramid with the box held in his hands. He set it down on the edge of the ramp and started to walk away when the alien disguised as Scarman's brother suddenly appeared. He called an order out and the Doctor halted.
"No," I whispered. "Doctor, keep going, keep going."
The Doctor remained still while the alien gave him another order, then turned around and approached the other creature. It spoke to him in a soft voice and then handed him a silver cylinder. The Doctor took the cylinder in hand and walked up the ramp inside the pyramid. After he set it down inside the pyramid, the Doctor walked back down the ramp and left the same way he entered the courtyard.
Sarah brought the rifle up and settled it in her arms, aiming it at the box. She took one deep breath to settle herself, then pulled the trigger. The box exploded, then suddenly stopped mid explosion and reversed.
"I hit it," Sarah shout whispered. "I know I hit it."
The Doctor's voice startled us when it came from directly behind me. "You did." We gasped and turned around, staring up at the mummified Doctor in surprise. "Sutekh is containing the explosion."
Sarah jumped to her feet, the rifle held against her chest. "How?"
"He's using his mind," I interjected. "That much I remember. But if we can distract him, then the pyramid'll blow up and it'll stop him. I think."
The Doctor nodded again. "Distracting him is the only hope we have now. Now quickly, help me get these bindings off."
Sarah and I finished pulling the bindings off of the Doctor and tossed them aside. The Doctor rubbed his palms against his face and let out a heavy sigh. I reached up and ruffled his hair with my fingers, laughing when he scrunched his nose up at me.
"Promise me that you'll be careful."
The Time Lord rolled his eyes dramatically. "Diana, I think I can take care of myself while I am out of your presence," he teased with a grin.
"I mean it, you little fungus," I retorted with a half smile. "Sutekh will try to use Sarah and I against you. I do remember that. He'll probably threaten to kill us or harm us. Don't let him take advantage of you."
"Diana, I know what I'm doing." He gently took my hands in his and let his fingers wrap around mine. "Trust me. There's no need to be so worried."
"Doctor?" Sarah interjected softly. "You should probably get going."
He nodded, pulling away from me slightly. "Right. Both of you stay here. Sarah, have that rifle ready in case anything should happen."
I reached for his wrist and pulled him back to me. "Good luck," I whispered as I brought my lips up to his cheek. "Be careful."
"Would you two stop?" Sarah sighed from behind me. I could almost hear the eye roll in her tone. "Please?"
"Okay, sorry," I mumbled in embarrassment. I smiled up at the Doctor and pushed lightly against his chest. "Go."
He ran off and I felt my chest tighten in worry and anticipation. I hated not remembering specific details, especially when the Doctor was running off headfirst into danger without any knowledge of what might happen. I was also afraid of what might happen to Sarah and I with the Doctor gone. I relied on him for protection and without him nearby, I felt weak and useless.
I really need to learn some Venusian aikido. Or gun practice.
Sarah suddenly tugged on my wrist and pulled me into a crouching position. "Look," she whispered as she pointed around the edge of the wall.
In the courtyard was the alien disguised as the other Scarman. He was speaking to one of the mummies, who then approached the pyramid and slowly walked up the ramp. I gasped when the mummy reached down and picked up the box of gelignite.
"No," I breathed. "We need that. Sarah, they're taking it away. We have to-"
"Diana?" The suddenly terrified tone of Sarah's voice kept me from interrupting her. "Where's the other mummy?"
All of a sudden, the gelignite exploded completely and sent a blast wave through the courtyard. Sarah and I shrieked and fell onto our backs, frozen there in shock for what felt like an eternity. The sound from the blast echoed loudly in my ears, making them ring and ache as if I'd been hit in the head by a hammer.
"Take them!"
Twisting onto my stomach, I saw the alien in disguise pointing at us. From behind him, two mummies came forward. I scrambled to my feet but fell over when I felt the world start to spin. Panic gripped my heart as the mummies came closer with their arms outstretched.
"Sarah. Sarah!" Looking to my right, I saw the journalist unconscious on her back with the rifle just out of her reach. I lunged forward and grabbed the rifle. "This had better be loaded."
I raised the rifle and aimed at the alien, the mummies still approaching. I closed one eye, adjusted my aim, and finally pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled hard into the junction of my shoulder, making me gasp loudly in pain and drop the rifle. My shot was aimed at the alien's heart, but missed and instead passed through his shoulder.
The alien cried out in agony and fell to his knees clutching his injured arm just as the mummies came upon us. One went to Sarah and easily picked her up with one arm, and the other approached me with its arm raised dangerously. I stumbled backwards and tripped over the rifle, and I sprawled out on my back with the air knocked out of me. The mummy grabbed my arm with its left hand and brought its right hand down on my shoulder.
I cried out in pain and fell limp in the mummy's arms. It hauled me to my feet and adjusted me so I was being carried like a sack of potatoes under its arm. However, I refused to go out without another fight and I lashed out with me legs. Twisting and squirming, I managed to kick the mummy in the back of its thigh but it wasn't enough to even make it pause.
"Let me go!" I growled. "Let me go! Let me- Hey, let go of my friend!"
"Silence, you mewling human!" the alien snapped.
"No! Put my friend down right now!"
"Take her away and silence her!"
The mummy hauled me away to the edge of the forest while the other two took Sarah back inside the mansion. I was then dropped onto the ground and I landed very roughly on my knee and shoulder, sending shooting pains rippling through my body. Two bandaged hands were suddenly wrapped around my neck and I was being pushed into the ground.
I thrashed, squirmed, and lashed out with all of my limbs as violently as I was capable, but I was absolutely no match for a robotic mummy. In my terror, I called out for the TARDIS and begged for her help. Tears leaked from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks onto the grass as I was suffocated. Even as my brain grew foggy and my vision turned gray, I continued to call out mentally and physically for the TARDIS.
A moment later, the mummy vanished into thin air and I fell backwards in a heap on the ground. Glancing up at the sky, I saw that the sun had moved and was closer to sunset than I remembered. I struggled to get to my feet and spun around in confusion. The mummies, Scarman, and Sarah were gone and I was completely alone.
Suddenly, a voice inside my head told me to run for the TARDIS. I took off without questioning it, sprinting past the wall and through the courtyard to a door. I shoved the door open and stumbled inside only to find myself standing in the hallway just beyond the room I had first been imprisoned in. I spun on my toes and dodged down the hall on my right. I ran through the open door and into the storage room where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS.
"Oh, thank God," I breathed. I took a few gasping breaths and then shuffled behind the sarcophagi and boxes to where the TARDIS stood. "Hey, old girl."
I pressed the palm of my hand against the doors and they opened inward automatically. I stumbled inside and quickly shut the doors behind me. Looking up at the ceiling, I rushed to the console and stood in front of the scanner.
"Where are they?"
The ship whirred and I sensed her concern for the Doctor and Sarah. I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head.
"Okay, then. Maybe the scanner can help? How to get you to work," I mumbled. "I think this button, maybe? Ah, yes." The scanner flashed on and showed me a display of the view just outside the ship. I placed my hands on my hips and sighed. "I don't know what I'm doing or what I should be doing. I don't know where the Doctor and Sarah are and I don't know what happened to me back there."
Then an idea popped into my head: if I could locate the alien disguised as Scarman, then I could use the scanner to see what he was doing and possibly find out what had happened to Sarah. I leaned over the keyboard just below the scanner and paused when I didn't know what to type. Then I realized that I could just look for Sarah instead and go forward from there.
Once I typed in my request, the scanner hummed and the TARDIS let out a low whir. The scanner flashed white for a second before showing me an image of Sarah unconscious at the feet of a mummy. I gasped and felt a surge of pride for figuring out what to do, but it quickly dissolved when I realized that she was in the mansion and was only a few rooms away.
Alien Scarman was kneeling in front of the sarcophagus with his eyes trained on the object. Sarah suddenly let out a soft moan and began to stir. When I saw that she was alone, I quickly typed in the request to find and show the Doctor on the scanner. The image of Sarah switched off and was replaced with the Doctor kneeling in front of Sutekh, a green light shining down on him as he cried out in pain.
"Any further insolence, Doctor, and I shall shred your nervous system into a million fibers," Sutekh commanded. "Is that understood?"
The Doctor raised a hand in surrender, his fingers trembling as he groaned lightly. I shook my head and wished that I could do something to help him. But to my surprise, the TARDIS key and its chain were suddenly lifted off of the Doctor's neck by an invisible force.
"Scarman," Sutekh called, making a screen in the wall opposite Sutekh's throne light up.
"I hear you, Master," Scarman replied, his arms crossed over his chest.
"My enemies have brought the means of my deliverance."
The key began to float towards the screen before eventually disappearing from sight and then reappearing hovering above Scarman. He held out his hand and the key fell slowly into his open palm.
"This allows you entry into the Time Lord's space machine," Sutekh told his servant. "Take one servicer and travel to the pyramid of Mars."
"He won't find that possible, Sutekh," the Doctor said from his spot to the side of Sutekh's throne.
"Scarman is my puppet. My mind is in his."
The Doctor smiled briefly. "The controls of the TARDIS are isomorphic."
"One to one," Sutekh realized. "They answer to you alone."
"Yes."
"Then I was wise to spare you. My mind is in yours!"
I gasped and cried out, "No!", unconsciously reaching for the scanner as if to stop Sutekh. The Doctor's face went blank and he stood up, crossing his arms over his chest with a neutral expression.
"Master," the Doctor whispered.
"No," I breathed, shaking my head.
Sutekh then began to speak to Scarman, but I tuned him out. Because of what had just happened I had managed to recall a few minor details. I remembered with a sharp gasp that Sutekh would make the Doctor fly the TARDIS to Mars, which would allow Scarman to help break his master out of his prison, and then have the Doctor strangled. But I also remembered that the Doctor held his breath and wasn't seriously harmed.
I glanced back at the scanner just as the Doctor declared his obedience to Sutekh.
"Control is established, Great One," Scarman said.
Sutekh nodded. "It is well. But the Time Lords are a perfidious species. Dispose of him when you reach the pyramid of Mars."
"It shall be done." Scarman turned to the mummies and gestured at Sarah. "Come."
I looked down at the keyboard and pressed the 'backspace' button, which made the scanner go black. I sighed in relief and leaned forward so my elbows were pressed against the console, and my chin was cupped in my hands.
"Okay," I whispered to myself. "Think, Di, think." Behind me, I heard a key slide into the lock on the exterior of the ship. "Or not."
Terrified and panicking, I rushed to the door across the console room and opened it, just managing to close the door behind me as the Doctor led the others inside. Sarah made a few grunts and I could tell that she was struggling against someone holding her. She begged the Doctor to snap out of his trance, but was quickly silenced by Scarman as the ship dematerialized.
The doors creaked open and there was a jumble of footsteps and Sarah muttering angrily. I waited until the doors were shut again and then ran across the console room. I pressed my ear up against the door and just managed to make out most of the sounds going on outside.
"Sutekh has no further need for the Time Lord," Scarman told the mummy. "Destroy him."
Sarah cried out. "No!"
I had to fight the urge to jump out of my hiding place to protect the Doctor, but I knew he would be alright; that much I could remember for sure. There was a dull thud and I flinched when I realized that it was the Doctor slumping on the ground. Scarman ordered his mummy to follow him and they left Sarah alone with the Time Lord.
I peeked my head out of the TARDIS and my breath stuck in my throat when I saw the Doctor lying on his back with Sarah draped over his chest. I jumped out of the ship and ran around to the Doctor's other side. I grabbed his left arm and held his hand against my cheek.
"Wake up, Doctor," I whispered.
"He's dead," Sarah sobbed, seemingly unsurprised at my sudden appearance. Then she suddenly cried out. "Ah!"
With his eyes still closed, the Doctor spoke up. "You're soaking my shirt," he mumbled with a slight smirk.
Sarah looked back at the Time Lord and I sighed happily to see him sit up. 'Oh, you're alive!" the journalist exclaimed in relief.
"Respiratory bypass system," he explained. "Useful in a tight squeeze. Where are we?"
"Mars," I interjected.
He hummed and then jumped to his feet. "Of course. Sutekh sent Scarman here to deactivate the pyramid. Where is he?"
"I thought you'd become a zombie like Scarman," Sarah told him, ignoring his question.
"Sutekh didn't need me any more, so he relaxed his grip. Now, did you see where Scarman went?"
Sarah sighed and pointed past him at the wall. "Through that door, but it's vanished!"
The Doctor turned and approached the wall, his hands stuffed into his pants pockets. "It can't have vanished, Sarah. It's just not visible."
"Same difference," the young woman scoffed.
"Scarman must be stopped. Somehow he must be stopped."
A mere few seconds later, the Doctor had opened the door with a literal wave of his hands. Sarah beamed up at him and bumped him with her shoulder.
"Tribophysics," she noted.
"Yes."
"Dude, how do you even know what that is?" I asked. "I've never even heard of that."
The Doctor smiled and locked his arm around my elbow, escorting Sarah and I through the doorway and into another room. "Sarah's been with me longer than you, my dear. But only by a year or so. You'll catch up."
"Humph. I hope so."
Across the room was a small panel on the wall with a red button smack dab in the center. The Doctor dropped Sarah's arm and mine, and stepped forward. I shuffled after him and tried to think about what was supposed to happen next. I remembered very little from this point forward, but recalled enough to know that we had to be cautious. The Doctor reached out for the red button and a tiny alarm went off in my mind.
"Wait!" I cried, pulling his arm back.
"Yes, I thought so too," he told me.
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked in confusion. "Doctor, what are you waiting for?"
"That's too obvious," he said.
"The button? Well, a door handle usually is, isn't it?"
The Doctor scoffed. "Not in a jail. Horus would have laid traps for the unwary."
"But I thought Horus was one of the good guys."
The Doctor shrugged his shoulders and walked away, looking over the wall. "He was an Osiran, with all their guile and ingenuity- ah." He found a small section of the wall the turned around and on the backside of the wall was another button. He pressed it and grinned when the door slid up into the ceiling. "They had dome-shaped heads and cerebrums like spiral staircases. Come along, you two."
I grabbed the Doctor's hand as he strode through the doorway and hurried after him. Sarah rushed after us and took hold of my free hand. We turned a sharp corner, which led down a short hallway that entered into a room like the one we had just left. On either side of the "door" were two red buttons that were completely identical.
"Which one do we press?" Sarah asked, dropping my hand to come up on the Doctor's other side.
"Well, we'll have to test them both, won't we?"
"With what?" I questioned, giving the Time Lord a worried look.
He shoved a hand into his coat pocket and began looking around. "Not that, not that," he mumbled. "No, not- aha! Found it!"
Sarah and I shuffled closer and leaned against his shoulders. The Doctor pulled a remote control that had a long antennae attached on one end. I looked at Sarah in confusion, then at the Doctor and waited for him to explain. But instead of explaining what the remote would do, he simply walked forward a few paces to stand in front of the button on the right.
I ran to his side and extended my arm partially in front of him to keep him from advancing. "Wait a second, what are you gonna do?" I exclaimed.
"Oh, come here," he sighed as he grasped my forearm and pulled me behind him. "You too, Sarah. I want you both to stand behind me."
The Doctor reached behind his back and grabbed my arm again, pulling it around his waist and then doing the same with my other arm. He looked over his shoulder at me and flashed me a wide, toothy grin that made me laugh a little. Sarah tiptoed over to us and stood awkwardly behind me.
"What do you want me to do?" she wondered.
"Take cover behind Diana," the Doctor instructed. "I don't know what sort of things this button is rigged to do."
Sarah placed her hands on my shoulders and peered around the Doctor and I to see what he was doing. He had pulled on the antennae so that it was fully extended and was holding the remote at arm's length.
My mouth fell open and I shook my head. "Are you serious? That's dangerous!" I scolded.
His other hand flew to his mouth. "Shh!"
We waited in silence as the Doctor slowly inched forward and pressed the antennae against the button. A loud crackle sounded and blue electricity zapped the antennae. I made a sound that was half gasp, half shriek and squeezed the Doctor's waist in panic. Sarah's hands tightened on my shoulders and she practically clung to me.
"Well, then. Problem solved, eh?" Sarah and I looked at each other in exasperation. When the Doctor saw our faces, his grin faltered slightly. "What?"
I released my arms from around his waist and walked across the floor to the other button. "You're an idiot, that's what," I sighed as I pushed the button.
The door retracted into the ceiling like the last one had. I beamed and stepped through the doorway. Sarah hurried after me so she was walking in step with me and the Doctor was walking right behind us. We walked around two corners before coming to the edge of the hallway, which opened up into another room just like the previous two.
I faltered in my step when I saw Scarman across the room, his back facing us, and a mummy standing guard. The mummy began to turn around and without saying a word, Sarah, the Doctor, and I turned on our heel and walked back down the hallway.
We pressed ourselves against the wall and stayed as silent as possible. Scarman said only one word, then the sound of the door moving echoed through the room, and then there was silence. The Doctor stepped past Sarah and I with his index finger pressed against his lips. He peered around the corner and then slowly crept out into the room. Then he waved his hand at us and we quickly walked out after him.
Across the room on the far wall was a large slab of stone with various smaller pieces inside it, all white with multicolored lines on them that face in different directions. To the right of the stone was a smaller version of it in black and white.
"Oh, it's like a Chinese puzzle!" Sarah exclaimed as we approached the stone.
"Yes." The Doctor pointed to the black and white copy and smiled. "And there's a key."
Sarah and I shared an incredulous glance. "Oh, some key," she moaned. "Do you know what it means?"
"Yes. Obviously the length of the lines provide a scale of measurement."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, obviously," I sighed.
Sarah reached out her hand to the black and white stone. "It reminds me of City of the Exxilons."
The Doctor quickly smacked her hand away. "Don't touch anything," he said firmly.
"I wasn't going to!"
"Well, don't, either of you. One false move and we could be blown to perdition."
"You're so dramatic," I said with an poorly hidden smile.
"Hm, but you know I'm right. Now let's see, feet and inches one side, meters and centimeters the other. Let's see." He held up the end of his scarf to the tiles on the colored stone and measured the lines marked there. "A hundred and twenty point three centimeters, multiplied by the binary figure ten-zero-zero. That's a hundred and sixty two point four centimeters, correct?"
"Show off," Sarah and I remarked in unison.
He walked over to the black and white stone and measured the lines there. "Hundred and sixty two point four. That's about seven stitches." Sarah and I wandered along behind him, but he quickly pushed us both behind his back. "In case I'm wrong."
I gripped the bicep of his free arm as he reached the other arm forward and slowly pressed against one of the tiles. Sarah buried her head against my shoulder and made an impatient sound.
"I'm right," the Time Lord rumbled, a hint of arrogance in his voice.
Sarah smiled and let out a sigh of relief, and I let out a breath I didn't I had been holding. The Doctor grabbed at my hand and led me through the now open doorway. We stopped a few paces inside and the Doctor glanced around the hallway.
"Which way now?" Sarah asked.
I turned around in place and looked around at the walls and ceiling. "Wow," I breathed. "These halls really do all look the same to me."
Sarah chuckled beside me and crossed her arms over her chest. Right then, something clicked in my mind and I suddenly remembered the glass prison that was meant to capture Sarah. I called out for the Doctor as I shoved Sarah to the side with my shoulder. He was only a few yards away, so he quickly turned on his heel and ran back to me.
"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
He skidded along the ground, accidentally bumping into me and making me stumble backwards. The glass compartment appeared out of thin air, as if it had materialized, and trapped the Doctor inside.
"No!"
Tears sprang instantly to my eyes and I stepped back in front of the compartment, banging my fists against the glass. Panic gripped my heart and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. The Doctor gazed at me through the glass in shock, his eyes wider than I had ever seen them.
"Doctor! Doctor!" I shouted, still pounding my fists against the glass. "No, no, no, no! No, y-you can't-… Doctor!"
Sarah came up behind me and pulled on my shoulder. "Diana, stop."
"No, you don't understand! He's supposed to be out here! I-"
"Diana, stop. We'll figure out how to get him out."
"No! Sarah, you don't understand! I don't remember how to get him out! Only he knows!"
I pressed my palms against the glass and stared hopelessly into the compartment. The Doctor shook his head and pressed his hands against the same spot mine were in. He tried to talk to me, but the glass muted his voice so all I could do was try and read his lips.
I shook my head slowly. "I can't-… I can't hear you!" I shouted, my voice cracking at the end. "Theta…, I don't remember."
He held up one finger and smiled reassuringly at me, signaling for me to wait. I nodded and took a step back. Taking a deep breath, the Doctor blew on the glass and quickly wrote out one word: "Scarman". Then he pointed to me and gestured for me to go towards the door on the opposite end of the hallway.
"He wants you to go after Scarman," Sarah realized.
I shook my head firmly. "No," I said firmly, deliberately exaggerating the movement of my lips. Then I pointed to myself and shook my head. "I'm not leaving you!"
The Doctor pursed his lips. He pointed angrily to the door and waved his other hand in the same direction. "Go," he mouthed.
"No!" I turned to Sarah and grabbed her forearms. "Sarah, I need your help. Look, it was supposed to be you in there, not him. He knows how to trick them and how to figure out the answer, but I don't. So I need you to help me figure out the answer as quickly as possible."
"Wait, them? Who are you talking about?"
Before I could properly explain, a loud voice boomed overhead. "Intruders, you face the twin guardians of Horus." Just behind the compartment, two mummies decorated in gold appeared. "One is programmed to deceive, the other points truly. The two switches control your fate."
"Switches?" Sarah repeated. I pointed to the two red buttons at the bottom of the compartment.
"Instant freedom or instant death," the voice continued. "Before you choose, you can ask one guardian one question. This is the riddle of the Osirans. Which is the guardian of life?"
I looked to the Doctor. "Did you hear that?" I asked, emphasizing my words and adding gestures to help him understand me.
He nodded, then gestured for us to wait while he thought. I watched him as he began talking to himself and gesturing wildly. Then like he had before, he breathed against the glass and began to write out words and gesture. The process was slow, but Sarah and I were able to get the gist of what he wanted us to do. I clarified with Sarah and we decided what to ask the mummies, like the Doctor had told us to do.
I stepped away from the compartment and nervously approached the mummies. I started to ask the question, but froze and turned back to Sarah. "I can't do it," I whispered.
"You have to!"
"I know, but what if I get it wrong?"
"You won't! But you have to hurry!"
I looked back at the mummies and felt my heart rate quicken. I clenched my hands into tight fists and swallowed my fear, my eyes flicking back and forth between the mummies.
"Remember, ask the one on the right," Sarah reminded me.
I nodded and stepped in front of the aforementioned mummy. "Um, hi," I began awkwardly. "Okay. So, um, i-if I… Ahem, sorry. If I asked your… friend, er-, counterpart, which switch would he tell me to press?" I asked.
The mummy I addressed raised its left arm and pointed to the button that was closest to him. The Doctor had been watching and was already talking to himself when I turned back to look at him. Sarah and I exchanged nervous glances and waited anxiously for the Time Lord to figure out what to do.
"Well," Sarah started as the Doctor kept thinking, "if that was the guardian of truth, then that's the button we should push, right? But if he was the guardian of falsehood, then he would be trying to make us get it wrong."
I nodded. "That makes sense."
"So-."
The Doctor suddenly jumped up, a grin on his face. He pointed excitedly at the button the mummy had suggested, bouncing on the balls of his feet. I looked back at Sarah with raised eyebrows.
"Is that what you-?"
She nodded. "Yes. You?"
"Yeah."
"Right." Sarah looked down at the button and reached out for it. "You sure?"
"Together?" I suggested.
"Together."
We both knelt in front of the button and reached out at the same time. I placed my fingers on top of hers and we shared a nervous glance before looking at the Doctor. He nodded and gestured impatiently for us to hurry up. I took a deep breath and pushed the button, squeezing my eyes shut in case it was the wrong one.
I was suddenly dragged to my feet and my hand was caught in another, much bigger one. "Come on! Come on!" the Doctor cried as my eyes flew open.
He pulled on my arm as we ran out through the doorway and I stumbled twice, but he kept running without even looking back to see if Sarah was following or if I was alright. He was running as fast as he could, which with his long strides and legs meant that I was half running, half being dragged. By the time we reached another open door, there was a loud explosion and a red egg on a golden stand burst into pieces before our eyes.
Sutekh's voice echoed through the halls. "Free!" he cried. "I'm free! Free at last!"
"No," I breathed in shock.
Scarman, who was standing by the exploded red egg, let out a strangled cry and then fell to the floor. His body shriveled and then disintegrated into a pile of dust. Despite everything that was happening, I couldn't help but think of the third Indiana Jones movie and the thought sent shivers up my spine.
"He's won," Sarah gasped. "Sutekh's won!"
I shook my head in disbelief. "But I thought-"
"It doesn't matter now," the Doctor interjected.
There was a swishing sound behind us. We all turned and watched in stunned silence as the walls slid up into the ceiling for a few hundred paces. At the end of the tunnel of walls, the TARDIS stood bathed in white light.
The Doctor froze. "No! The time factor!"
Sarah and I shook our heads in confusion. "What?"
"Come on, run!"
I had never run so fast in my entire life before that moment and it was a long time before I ran that fast again. We skidded to a halt just outside the TARDIS and the Doctor, who had already pulled his key out, unlocked the door and pushed Sarah and I inside. He ran to the console and typed in the coordinates as fast as possible.
"Diana, dematerialize!" he shouted as he ran just outside the console room to grab something.
I pulled on the lever and the ship let out a long wheeze. The Doctor ran back in with some sort of strange machine in his hands and two wires clenched between his teeth.
"Doctor, get those out of your mouth!" I practically screeched.
The ship let out another wheeze and rematerialized. The Doctor flipped the switch for the doors and barreled past me. Sarah and I were right behind him as we all stumbled out of the TARDIS and into the storage room back in the mansion on Earth. The Doctor ran out of the room, down the hall and into the adjoining room where the large sarcophagus was.
"Doctor, what do I need to do?"
"Nothing!" he shouted. "Stand back!" He set the machine on the floor and then attached the two wires to the side of the sarcophagus. "We've got about twenty seconds. Here he comes."
I rushed to his side and knelt beside him, my eyes pinned on the sarcophagus. Like it had hours before, the inside began to swirl with dozens of different colors. The form of Sutekh began to appear in the swirling mess of colors and slowly grew larger and closer.
I gripped the Time Lord by the arm. "Doctor!"
"Hush!"
"Who dares to interfere?" Sutekh demanded.
The Doctor raised his chin defiantly at the alien. "You're caught in a temporal trap, Sutekh."
"Time Lord! I shall destroy you. I shall destroy you!"
But the Doctor merely smiled. "How long do Osirans live, Sutekh?" he wondered, yet I guessed easily enough that he knew the answer.
"Release me!"
I shook my head, feeling anger bubble up inside my chest. The Doctor copied my actions and stood up. "Never. You're caught in the corridor of eternity, Sutekh."
"Release me, insect, or I shall destroy the cosmos!"
"You're a thousand years beyond the twentieth century now, Sutekh! Go on for another ten thousand."
"I'll spare the planet Earth," Sutekh tried to bargain. "I'll give it to you as a plaything. Release me!"
The Doctor shook his head again. He kept his eyes trained on Sutekh's now diminishing figure and reached for my hand. "No, Sutekh," he murmured as I laced our fingers together. "The time of the Osirans is long past."
Sutekh cried out in anguish and defeat. "No!" he screamed. But his body was already beginning to fade and within seconds, he was nothing more than terrible a memory.
"He's dead," Sarah realized with a long exhalation. "Sutekh is dead."
"At last," the Doctor sighed.
Sarah bowed her head and sat down on the steps that led to the sarcophagus. "Look, I know that's the time control from the TARDIS, but what did you do?" she asked.
"I moved the threshold of the time space tunnel into the far future. He could never have reached the end. After the Eye was broken, I realized that we had little more than two minutes to get back here."
" 'The Eye'?" I repeated.
"Hm, yes. The Eye of Horus. It was that red egg that was shattered by Scarman before we left," the Time Lord explained.
"But how, Doctor?" Sarah questioned. "How did you know we had two minutes?"
"The time radio waves take to pass from Mars to Earth."
Sarah and I gasped in realization. "Ah. So the Eye of Horus was still holding Sutekh for two minutes after it was broken," the journalist said in an excited rush.
"Yes." The Doctor grinned and released my hand to run his through his hair. I stepped past him to examine the sarcophagus, my curiosity completely surfacing once I knew that it wasn't dangerous anymore. "You know, the Egyptians called him the Typhonian beast."
A loud boom sounded in my ear and I called out in pain as a shower of sparks landed on my leg. A small cloud of smoke pooled at my feet and I stumbled backwards into the Doctor's waiting arms.
"Doctor! Is she alright?" Sarah asked.
The Doctor moved me so I was leaning against his shoulder with his arms around my waist. "That was careless of me," he mumbled in embarrassment. "I forgot the thermal balance would equalize."
"The what?" I questioned.
He smiled down at me and shook his head. "Nothing, Diana. Now we have to hurry to put this fire out."
"Oh, Doctor, wait a moment," Sarah interjected, placing a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "This priory was burnt to the ground, remember?"
"Oh. Yes. Well then perhaps it is time we were leaving. We don't want to be blamed for starting a fire, do we?"
The journalist grinned and shook her head. "No, definitely not."
"I had enough of that in 1666," the Time Lord added as an afterthought.
Sarah raised an eyebrow and I looked up at him in disbelief. "What?" I asked incredulously.
"Nothing. Come on, come on, you two." I pushed myself out of his arms and staggered forward. "Hurry, hurry!"
We hustled back to the storage room where the TARDIS was parked and rushed inside. The fire had already began to grow and spread when we dematerialized. Sarah and I looked up at the time rotor as it moved up and down above the console, listening to the comforting sound of the ship's wheezing and groaning.
"No more mummies for a long time, Doctor," Sarah said with a hint of a scolding tone.
"No more Egyptian gods, please," I added.
"A break from mummies and gods, then?" the Doctor asked with a smile.
"Please and thank you," I sighed as I slumped against the console. "I'm exhausted. And sore."
The Doctor smiled fondly at me and I returned the smile. "Well then it's a vacation for the both of you."
I held up my hand and cleared my throat. "A vacation would be fantastic, but… I am sleeping first. I had a nap earlier today and that was definitely not enough for me. I'm beat and when all the adrenaline wears off, I'm probably gonna pass out."
Sarah nodded. "Same here, Doctor." The journalist looked between the Doctor and I and smiled. "I think I'll turn in for today. Goodnight, or afternoon."
"Night, Sarah," I replied as she walked out of the console room.
She was hardly gone a second before the Doctor was pulling me into his arms for a warm hug. I laughed in surprise and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my head in his chest. His scarf rubbed against my cheek, tickling me, and I laughed again.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice rumbling deep in his chest.
I nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"Really, Diana. Are you?"
I tilted my head back and smiled up at the Time Lord. "Yeah. I'm just tired." I let out a yawn and buried my head in his chest again. "See?"
"Probably not the best date, being attacked by robot mummies and an ancient Egyptian god, hm?"
"Is that what this was?" I asked, looking back up at the Doctor. "A date?"
"Well I had to beat those silly waterfalls, didn't I?"
I laughed and felt my cheeks flush. I glanced down and chewed silently on my bottom lip. The Doctor leaned forward and nuzzled my cheek with his nose, making me giggle again. I sighed and finally looked up into his wide, brown eyes.
"You're the most ridiculous person I've ever met, you stupid Time Lord. But you're going to have to do better than getting me, Sarah, and yourself almost killed for a date, mister."
The Doctor's wide grin faded a little and he suddenly looked very serious. "I am sorry you were hurt," he assured me. "Does your leg still hurt?"
"I don't think so. I haven't been paying that much attention to it. Been a little busy."
"And your head?"
"Fine so far," I assured him.
"But you're alright otherwise?"
"Of course."
"Good." He leaned forward and pressed a brief, but meaningful kiss to my lips. "Now go and lie down. You'll feel better."
" 'Kay." I pulled out of the Doctor's arms and started for the door. I paused in the doorway and looked back at him with a tired smile. "Doctor?"
"Hm?"
"Are we dating?" I asked. "Just… in case I leave while I'm asleep, I want to know where we stand. The last few times I've been with you have been in your future and we've gotten closer, but I was never sure…"
The Time Lord smiled at me. "If that's what you want, then yes."
"Okay."
"Is that what you want?"
I blushed and nodded, avoiding eye contact by glancing down at the floor. "Yeah. I, um, I'd like that."
"Good."
"Good."
We laughed awkwardly and glanced back at one another. "Go to sleep, Diana," the Doctor urged.
A/N: Well? What did you think? Again, sorry for the long wait. And now that I've gotten through this surprisingly long chapter, I think I may start moving faster with the writing. If you have any specific 'date night' requests for Di and the Doctor, I'd love to hear them. :)