"Now, Benny- this really isn't a good time. Just tell Irving that it's now Roda who's being eaten!" Jack shouted, continuing to hit at the darkness.

She raised an eyebrow and stumbled on her words.

"Uh- errr... alright!?"

Poke, slash- that flimsy stick looked like it would snap any moment. At the strikes, the darkness seemed to expand, and Jack yelled, barely avoiding a scream, "Now, don't follow ahhhhss-!"

And the feed cut off again, fizzling out into static before going completely black.

Bernice pursed her lips and furrowed her brows, blinking a few times to register quite what just happened.

"Well. Cruk."

Jack stabbed at the ooze with the point of the wooden rod again uselessly, being watchful of where it was growing on Roda's body and trying not to stab her, not that he'd be able to tell in the dim unless she said something, and she was currently cursing and grumbling in pain at the burns rather that wanting a friendly chat.

Finally giving up, he tossed the cue aside and kicked a piece of rubble on the floor, shuffling around while Robin kept watch of her. His eyes darted around in hopes of finding something marginally more useful.

"Oh Kadept- Robin, over here. I think I found something..." Jack saw something on the floor and paused, thinking it over, analysing every detail he could see. He definitely recognized it. Scratching his chin, the gears turned in his head and it dawned on him what exactly it was, his eyes flashing brightly in response before fading back to normal. "...That would explain a lot, actually."

"What is it?"

The Exile hopped over to where Jack was stood, trying to get a good look at whatever piqued his interest. It was a circle of wire connected up to a large glass tank on one side, some sort of bizarre contraption on the other.

Jack explained his analysis of the strange amalgamation of tech and the supernatural, "This is a psychic amplifier connected to join up to a container with some of our friend here's black residue. AKA... a Kadeptian seance board and its channelling object. Or that's basically what this is- what planet did you say this was...?" If this was in fact Kadept, he'd want to be off it as soon as possible. Not that it was the most urgent issue.

Robin shook his head. "That's not important with Roda- just what ya think it means?"

His answer was suitably ominous, but true. "I think someone's made a terrible mistake."

"We made a terrible mistake already, Jackrabbit!" Roda shouted over indignantly, the slime still growing on her, squeezing and constricting her body.

Jack finally elaborated on his theory, crouching down and dusting off some of the equipment."I think somebody tried to perform a seance to examine the memories of something in this goo, the psychic energies either woke it up or brought it to life, and now it's angry and/or hungry."

"Oh, so like a demonic slimy Frankenstein," Roda grunted. "Great."

He shrugged. "I don't know what that last word means, but yes, probably. But... I think I know how to fix it."

Robin seemed intrigued, but not entirely convinced.

"How?"

Jack held his pointed chin up proudly at his plan. "Lure it over, get the thing hooked up to the machine again, hold hands and channel our latent telepathy, activate the device, and hope for a lack of brain damage!" He stood tall with his hands to his hips in a heroic stance.

"Again? But that's what did it the first- brain damage!?" Her expression turned from simply pained to flabbergasted.

Jack only shrugged again and huffed, crossing his arms as he continued to pace and add things up, pondering on exactly whether this was actually a good idea.

He didn't ponder very long.

Clicking his tongue, the response to their concerns was nonchalant and offhanded. "Electromagnetic surges, nasty. But I know how to do it properly! There won't be a single fatal error. ... This time," he mumbled.

"I'd hope not!" Roda hissed back.

"We tried escaping by using force, it just eats another one of us. Have any better ideas? Would you rather be consumed by the bayou, dear, dear Roda?" Jack chided.

She only grumbled again.

"...No."

Happy to get there chance to lead, Jack offered Robin a wire. "Then if you'll help me get this connected up, dashing rogue? My hand might have enough power for a charge. But if it doesn't work, I'm down a particularly useful limb that'll be stuck as dead weight."

He took the wire from Jack. "I'll do it if you wanna."

She stared at them in the dark and sighed. "...If it'll save me having to regenerate again for the second time in the last few months, yes, fine-"

Jack perked up and started gathering his thoughts on how to do it.

"We might not even need to lure it over," he mused. "If we can just move the connections to it... Yes- I think that'll work."

Roda watched as Jack directed Robin to one cable and clipped a connector from the battery onto a plate under his hand. A tiny surge passed through the metal and Jack flinched at the shock. "Ow-"

"Ya alright?"

"Oh, just a little jolt. Didn't really hurt. Only got nerves in my forearm!" he waved it off, literally, only shocking himself and clenching his fist in pain again.

"Ya sure?"

Face scrunched up but keeping his priorities straight, Jack still didn't say a word about it. "Yes, I'm sure- now hurry up and stick some wires in the goop, then grab Roda's hand."

"Ah- ok. Here's one. Then the other..." Robin found the electrodes and suck them in the ooze. "Gotcha."

Jack laughed in triumph. "Ah ha! It's active. Now, Robin- take my hand... not literally please, it's still attached and currently connected to a live circuit right now. The fingers? The fingers, please."

He continued to slowly and surely run through the plan. "I'll take Roda's other hand, then... don't break the circle until I say. Ready? Follow my lead."

Jack flicked his finger and the machine came to life, sparks in the air making the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on end. Closing his eyes, Jack seemed to relax as he concentrated. The others did their best to follow his lead, and slowly they all began falling into a trance.

The feeling shot through them and they fell into a memory.

But they didn't know nor remember what it was, and in what seemed the blink of an eye they all awoke with a start, finding themselves lying on the cold wooden floor, small blotches of acidic sludge burning on their skin and leaving holes in their clothes, but seeming otherwise unharmed.

Roda was the first to try and get up. She groaned in pain, supporting herself on one arm and trying to make out the silhouettes of the others in the dark.

"Everyone alive?" she croaked.

"Uh huh..."

"I could be possessing my own body, but that would be just absurd." Jack joked. "Are you free, dear Roda?"

"Shut up, Jackrabbit." Coughing out a laugh, she fumbled to move her legs. No goop. "Yeah, I'm free."

Managing to push herself up, still weak, she held herself on the broken snooker table. Jack and Robin eventually managed to get to their feet too. It wasn't quite as easy with his hand disabled, but they helped each other up.

"Think the balance is down to brain damage?" the Exile asked.

Jack shook his head, his eyes flitting place to place in the dark. "No, no- this just happens. The less power the device has, the more energy the process consumes from your body." He coughed weakly.

Roda's groaned. "...Thanks."

Managing to find where the torch had fallen, Robin picked it up and shone it around. There were still traces, evidence that that whatever it was, wasn't dead- but it had disappeared. "Think it's really gone?"

"If it wants us as much as whoever was in the kitchen, no," she warned.

Jack strode over and leant against a wall. "Be a little more optimistic, we probably won't die now."

"Say that to the chemical burns. Omega, I'm gonna be spending a while in my TARDIS medbay..." She continued trying to wipe off the slime.

Robin grimaced. "Our best bet is probably destroying the place, isn't it? Everyone else who's gone missing we uh- found, upstairs."

"Can't we do that later?" she moaned, still wincing at the pain.

"Oh, come on. Can't we at least commit some arson? I still have my fire breath," Jack pleaded, before letting go of a puff of smoke.

The Exile scratched the back of his neck. "Not the worst end to a date."

She awkwardly glanced between them. "Right, this was a date... should I- should I go?" Roda gestured towards the door. Not like it was a good idea to leave these two alone here. It was really the thought that counted. If they wanted to spend the rest of the evening in an abandoned swamp-themed bar, maybe somewhere that didn't come with evil swamp muck included.

Robin shrugged. "Ehhh- it's not like you were what ruined it."

Jack pulled out his communicator again, juggling with it to use only one hand. "I'll call someone so they know we're alright. Sort of. But are going to need a hospital visit."

"There's more'n one use to a hospital bed, ain't there?" his boyfriend winked.

"...I like the way you think."

Roda hauled herself up fully and got up to the stairway. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Jack held back from the others and tapped something out on his communicator. "Alright, just one minute."

The screen glowed to life, picked up immediately. The shaky image of a woman with wide eyes stared back at him, both grateful and concerned. He smirked at her. "Hello, Benny."

"Jack! You're alright!"

He chuckled to himself. "Yep. And we're going to be leaving this little haunted bar a ruin after bringing it up in flames."

Bernice looked scornful, to say the least. "You're doing what?!"

Jack only rolled his eyes, the smile wiped off his face. "You know, honestly I'm glad Irving didn't send you, because you'd be complaining about us destroying something of quote-unquote 'historical value' when this place is an absolute dump."

"Not an unrealistic assumption-" she sighed, before doing a double-take, "-did you say haunted bar?"

"Mmhmm. Yes, it's a mysterious abandoned haunted bar."

Benny only looked offended, scoffing at him. "Jack, that is right in my wheelhouse- don't you dare set the damn place on fire."

He shrugged, brushing the whole thing off. "There's nothing of worth here except an abomination against nature that somebody left a rather unpleasant psychic imprint on."

Bernice held a pause for a long time, squinting for a second, then finally saying what came to mind, eyebrow raised.

"...You performed another seance, didn't you?"

"Nobody got possessed!"

"The fact that that's an improvement means you sound even worse!"

"Don't forget, this was supposed to be a date, Benny Surprise Summerfield. There's a reason we picked someone else."

Bernice rolled her eyes. "I'd ruin it but Roda wouldn't? Either I'm insulted because you're blatantly calling me an old nag, or that's interesting..." she teased.

Jack smiled a fake smile and looked away awkwardly to hide his blush. "Noooope! We're done here. Now we're setting this place on fire, and you're not going to try and stop us. Promise we'll be back by tomorrow morning your time, if it's really that out of sync."

"See you then, I guess-" she sighed, shaking her head and putting a hand up to her face.

"And call up the hospital wing. We've all got severe burns," he added offhandedly.

"Jack!"

He was swift to correct her. "Chemical burns. I'm not irresponsible enough to get myself hurt by my own crimes, am I?" Jack pouted.

Bernice rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, you are."

"...Yes, I am. But not this one!"

Bernice rolled her eyes and just finally gave up, but warned him of her mood. "Goddess- fine. But you're getting a lecture when you get back!"

The chill rain spilled down outside the abandoned bar. It was a bonfire, light and heat in the cold grey. The seance finally ended with an exorcism. An exorcism of flame.

The three waited outside and watched the building burn away, beginning to collapse in on itself as it became engulfed, smoke billowing into the sky. Robin held Jack in his arms, the pinpricks of fire in the Kadeptian's own eyes drawing his attention too.

Roda sat on a curb, still and as close to calm as she could be.

That place was being purged and the evil lay in it destroyed. Good. Nobody else would be hurt by it. And she'd survive this easily enough. It hurt like hell, but was hardly the worst she'd felt lately. An incident from before she was hired onto this 'job' that left her aching for weeks, namely.

Jack hated this place. It wasn't really home, Robin had said- but the seance board still reminded him of it in the worst way. And he knew he'd never be able to go back to Kadept. It was boring to say the least, he had a horrible father and older brothers who were sometimes even worse. He didn't regret taking his first chance to see somewhere new in the slightest. But there were indeed parts of the family he actually missed, and parts of the planet he did too. His missed aunt Jacquelette, and cousin Coba, the tinkering and the irresponsible telepathic games. But if he went back, he was as good as dead- whether he came there in a coffin or got put in one courtesy of dear old dad wanting the life insurance.

Jack wasn't crying- or at least with the rain, it was impossible to tell, even for him. You never knew how useful saline tears would've been until your eyes stung and you didn't know what was causing it because what fell into your mouth was tasteless.

"Sorry for bringin' ya here. Ruined any chance of you still dating me, didn't I?" Robin looked down at Jack, trying to let himself off easy. That hospital bed was probably the best-case scenario.

"Of course not. Painful, messy, and dreadfully gorey the experience was- that was the most fun I've had in ages. I absolutely bloody love you," He chuckled and pressed his lips to Robin's forehead. Maybe the anaesthetic would be useful for once and help to numb the pain. 'Kiss it better' was so rarely as literal as here. Did it actually work? No idea.

Regardless, Robin cracked a smile.

Roda stared off into the distance. She helped get these idiots out alive. And she was an idiot here too. A team of three hilariously bad ideas, it seemed. And she liked them. Somehow.

Finally, after a long silence, she spoke.

"C'mon, let's go... home. Yeah."

Roda led them to where she'd parked her TARDIS. Through the rain they limped over to it, and fell inside the warm calm that was the console room.

Relief.

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