"Never again."

"You know you loved it," Danni replied, turning and walking backwards towards the TARDIS console. "You're never as happy as you are in the middle of a panic, monologuing to a bad guy." She smirked. "Admit it, you were in your element."

The Doctor shut the door behind him. "Danielle, I was just trying to save people. There was no 'monologuing'."

She snorted and turned back to the console. "Now who's lying to themselves?" she muttered.

"Sometimes I have to wonder who you think I am," he replied.

"Well, that's easy," she retorted. She turned back around and leant against the console. "An old armature, who claims that he's not a hero, but just a man passing through. Except, of course, he's not just passing through, he's actually just looking for more stories to tell."

"Does this make a good one?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Depends on how you tell it."

He loved the little smirk on her face as she watched him walk over. "Well, once upon a time there was a Time Lord, who had a wonderfully gorgeous wife, who felt like she needed to run away to have an adventure. So, as he was brilliantly accommodating, he obliged and let her choose the destination."

"So far so good," she praised. "Could do with more information on the gorgeous wife, though."

"Where they landed had been ravaged by decay and disorder," he continued as he quickly set them into flight. "People had been left to rot underneath the oppressive dome of governmental control. Well, she couldn't stand for it, and neither could he. Together they discovered that the local workforce had been infected by an evil supervillain, someone who had worked their way high up into said government. He had claimed to them all he wanted to cure the ills of humanity, instead he wanted to control them. He'd poisoned the food supply, and only a few, extraordinary people remained."

"Very gripping," she replied. "However did they survive?"

"With the help of the Time Lord and his wife, they broke into the factory where the corruption had first spread from. It was heavily guarded, but they all bravely fought their way to the middle, where an evil most horrid was waiting for them."

"'An evil most horrid'?" Danni repeated and he nodded.

"Oh, the evillest evil that had ever lived; capitalism," he said most seriously, and she couldn't help but giggle. "You see, the factory had been taken over by corruption, and it in turn had corrupted the people who worked there. People who just wanted to provide for their family were turned to monsters by the machines that were in place to look after them. And at the centre of it all was a supervillain who only saw people as money making machines, and the catastrophe he caused a loss to take into consideration in his budget."

"He's sounds like a dick."

"He was the biggest dick," the Doctor agreed. "But, as it slowly came to light that the people he'd corrupted couldn't be saved, the Time Lords set to work on saving the people they could. The Doctor, the brave and incredibly smart Time Lord, distracted the supervillain."

"You mean you monologued," Danni corrected.

"Whilst the also incredibly smart—"

"And beautiful."

"- and modest Danielle set to work hacking a government system, deploying several high-grade helicopters to destroy the dome that kept the survivors trapped in hell."

"Don't forget about how she managed to get the supervillain to admit to his deeds across a national television network that immediately led to his arrest," she added.

"If you'd let me finish, I was about to get to that part," he said pointedly. She waved her hand for him to continue.

"So the supervillain was arrested, the survivors were allowed to leave their hellhole and the town was cut off from the outside world, as a monument to the mistakes of the past, and how they could do better in the future."

"And everyone lived?" she asked, sounding a little hopeful. He shot her a sad smile.

"And they all lived," he lied, pulling her closer. They both needed a happier ending to this particular story. "Happily ever after."

She leant up and kissed him. "I think, so far, we're doing well on that front," she said as they broke apart, clearing her throat. "We should go somewhere else."

As she turned to set them on course, he pulled her back to him. "Danielle, I know you don't like Missy being in the basement—"

"No, I hate having her in the basement," she corrected.

"But we do have to go check on her," he finished. "Let's just head back for the evening, tomorrow we can go somewhere else. It is the weekend, after all. And we have a time machine."

"We do have a time machine," she said, trying to tempt him. "We can go anywhere, or any when and you want to go back to Bristol?"

"I have a duty," he reminded her. "One that you are always rather keen on bringing up whenever I'm trying to do something fun."

"Now, wait a minute…"

"So, now, I'm bringing up when you're trying to do something fun."

He turned her around to set them back on course to the university, and to the corner of his office where most people didn't spot their unique home. He didn't particularly want to stop the trip, either, but he knew she was running away from the monster she thought lived in their basement. Her little stumble about wanting to let people die was just yet another sign that his work with Missy was not yet complete. The sooner he could finish her recovery process, the sooner Danielle would allow herself to do the same.

Danni, on the other hand, could think of nothing worse than heading back for the night. It was very easy to fall into a routine once you stopped travelling, and that was the last thing she wanted. Going back to the university meant classes, and hiding, and Vaults under the ground. It meant broken laptops with emails on that she did not want to face. It meant her curiosity would be spiked because she'd become bored, and she would email Koschei back. And she'd keep it to herself because of that little voice in her head that would tell her that the Master wouldn't want the Doctor to know they were in contact, because if he had that's who he would have emailed.

And she knew that she'd listen to that little voice, and fall down a hole she wasn't sure she'd be able to climb out of.

So, again, she flipped the switch to stop the flight before the landed on the other side. "Alright, I can see that we're in a bit of a stalemate here," she replied. "So, I suggest compromise."

He tried not to smile. "Oh?"

"How about we head back to the university, you check the Vault, get the reports, but don't go inside. Then, once you're happy, we can shoot off into the stars." She could see that he didn't look too convinced. "With a companion."

That spiked his interest. If she was eager enough to allow Bill to go on their trip, she must have been rather desperate to keep the adventures going. So was he, but he was more concerned about how she was running in a way he hadn't seen her run since, perhaps before she had first regenerated, way back when she was still jumping around his timeline. She was obviously terrified of something, and he knew that thing was Missy. He hated it, and it made him reconsider the vow he had taken. However, he couldn't back out now so he had to make it easier for her.

"Alright, Mrs Fielding," he declared. "I accept your terms." She grinned, proud of herself, and held out her hand for him to shake it and finish the deal.

"Oh, no, my pet," he purred. "This deal deserves to be sealed with a kiss."

~0~0~0~

Having landed in the Doctor's office slightly later than they both had planned, they both stepped out of the TARDIS. The office was a really nice place, and showed all of the Doctor's personalities well. Still, Danni wasn't particularly happy to be back and looked around with a look of slight distain.

"I won't be long," he told her. "Have a cup of tea, it might calm you down."

"Going somewhere else would calm me down," she muttered. "Try not to get too distracted on your way."

He was slightly offended. "I'm not that easily distracted," he pointed out and she let out a laugh.

"Oh? Then why did it take over an hour to get back here?" she teased.

"Because you're incredibly distracting," he retorted. She nodded in agreement.

"That is very true. I'm quite delicious, aren't I?"

He laughed and headed to his desk. "Maybe you could get a head start on your homework," he suggested. "We can't pick Bill up until tomorrow, and I'd rather like you to be free and not worrying about essays."

"I don't worry about essays. I always ace them," she said as he picked up her laptop bag. He frowned at the rattle that it made.

"Computers aren't supposed to make that noise," he said.

She shrugged. "Oh, it's broke," she told him, which wasn't a complete lie. "It hit the ground pretty hard. The screen smashed and a load of the keys came off. I'll just get a new one and try and fix it at some point."

She was normally pretty careful with her electronics, especially when they were given to her by the TARDIS, but still he handed it back to her. "I thought you weren't clumsy anymore," he replied with a cheeky grin.

"I'm not," she replied. "Not my fault people startle me." She turned her back to him and headed back into the TARDIS. "Don't be long. I'm timing you."

"Of course you are," he murmured, and although he knew she was only teasing him, he made sure he took the quickest route down to the basement. She might not have actually been timing him, but she would be worried from the moment he got down there until the moment he came back.

He was very lucky, because Nardole must have finished his own duties for the evening and wasn't down there when he arrived. Instead he was able to walk up to the controls and do a quick check over them to make sure everything was running smoothly before, inevitably, he opened the door and went inside.

Missy, whether trying to be good or just pretending, was in the middle of the glass cube in the middle of the room, waiting patiently for him to come in. She looked mildly surprised that he had come to visit, but then again it was a little late for anyone to see her.

"Doctor, what a pleasant surprise," she greeted.

"If you like," he replied, looking around the room to see if he could find any issues with it. He wouldn't want to Vault breaking down and giving her a way to escape. "How are you doing? Do you need any…"

He trailed off as he spotted the sonic screwdriver sat nicely on top of one of the end tables at the seating area. "Where did you get that?" he asked, storming over and picking it up.

Missy walked over to the glass wall closest to him. "Oh, Danielle left it," she replied.

"She came to visit you?"

"Just this afternoon," she replied. "She was very upset, but I managed to calm her down. Did she not mention it?"

No, she hadn't mentioned it, but it did explain a lot. Like, for example, how she wanted to be anywhere else but at the university. Also why she didn't have her sonic screwdriver when she'd needed it. Her dropping it, though, suggests that Missy hadn't calmed her down at all, but instead had riled her up.

What had upset her so much that she'd gone to Missy instead of him?

He turned the sonic screwdriver over in between his fingers. It was modelled off his old one, but it looked so much different now that the only thing that made them similar was the blue light they both had. But it felt so much like it fit her personality still that he didn't really mind. Maybe next time they'll have matching ones again.

"Did-Did I do good?" Missy asked him and he looked back up at her. She had pleading eyes, almost like she was actually in need of his approval. That was definitely a new step for her. "I placed it on the table, I never used it. I wasn't even tempted."

He raised an eyebrow. That was a lie and even she seemed to realised that. "Alright, I was tempted, but I didn't. I thought 'what would the Doctor do?' and I put it straight back."

He pointed the screwdriver at her. "What did Danielle want?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. She was ranting about her laptop, but it didn't make a lot of sense. Then she stormed out when she became more upset." She shrugged, trying to act aloof. "The computer was in a state, I'm surprised you've let her have something so tatty. You normally spoil her to the point of repulsion. You really should get your pet potato to keep a better eye on her if she's that prone to becoming distressed."

He opened his mouth to protest her nickname for Nardole, but then he rather agreed that he looked a little like a potato. "She is her own person. And the reason she gets so upset is currently trapped in a glass cube," he pointed out. "Maybe your advice on what is good for her isn't excellent." He turned and walked back to the door. "She won't be coming to see you again until she is ready."

"I was only trying to keep her safe!" Missy called after him. "Isn't that good?"

He paused. "No," he replied softly. "And that's why we need to work on it."

He stepped out, making sure to lock the door behind him. He then checked over the system again to make sure it was working properly.

She had gone to see Missy about her laptop? The broken one that had been sat at his desk? There was something going on that she didn't want him to know about. He had tried to be open and honest with her the best he could, to know she wasn't telling him something that was worrying her so much did hurt just a little. But, then again, he knew that she still struggled with opening herself up too much after her ordeal with Missy. She would come to him when she was good and ready.

He pocketed her sonic screwdriver. She probably knew exactly where she left her sonic screwdriver, and he didn't want her to know that he'd spent too long in the Vault, but he couldn't exactly leave it in the Vault either. He would have to keep it on him until the opportune moment. He just wasn't sure when that was.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor felt cheated.

"You said companions," he said to Danni, who nodded.

"I did. And look," she nodded at the group around the console. "We have companions."

He scowled and she beamed, knowing that she had tricked him quite successfully. Bill had been very eager to join in on another trip, even if she still felt rather uncomfortable around Danni. The Doctor had been pleased, and had been ready to take them off when Danni had shaken her head and took them somewhere else.

And that was why Nardole was stood next to Bill, looking a little less than pleased about being there. Not that the Doctor was pleased he was there, either. Nardole had not wanted to leave the Vault unattended and the Doctor had tried to reason that he had been right.

"Two Time Lords, two companions," Danni had simply reasoned, too stubborn to be dissuaded.

"And you think it's going to be fun with him here?" he asked.

"Oi, I've told you; be nice to Nardole," she warned before walking to the console. "Are we going random?"

"I must protest," Nardole spoke up.

"Yes, I know, you've protested all of the way here," she retorted. "And I'm just going to reiterate yet again; Nardole, shut up."

"Where are we going?" Bill asked. She hadn't been too sure about going on another trip with Danielle, especially considering that she still wasn't sure if they liked each other yet or not. But who could ignore the call of a time machine?

"Space," the Doctor replied offhandedly, before his eyes lit up. Actually, that was a great idea. He took over the driving, setting a course to something a little more spacey than their last trip out. "Going to space is exactly like camping."

"Is it?"

"No," Danni replied for him. "It's dark, and cold, there's nothing as far as the eye can see and its incredibly beautiful." She frowned in thought for a moment. "Actually, maybe it is a little like camping."

"And too much between you and the outside, and you might as well stay home," the Doctor added. "To really feel it, you need the space equivalent of a wafer-thin sleeping bag and a leaky two-man tent." He motioned Bill over. "So, pick a site."

He brought up a map to show her. It had plenty of destinations of choice, but Danni could see the larger dot in the middle of many that looked the most interesting. That was a distress signal, but the Doctor wasn't heading straight towards it.

"What about…"

"Danielle," he cut in. "Let the companion decide."

She scowled right back. He was asking Bill to annoy her. This was his way of getting back at her for bringing Nardole, who right on cue spoke up again. "We shouldn't be going anywhere," he reminded. "You have responsibilities."

"We have a time machine, my responsibilities will be there when we get back," the Doctor retorted. "If you're going to be this annoying then you're not coming again."

"I didn't want to come this time."

"Of course you did," Danni retorted.

"Got any reviews?"

They all looked at Bill, who was asking a genuine question and didn't quite understand why what she'd said had caused such a reaction. "What?"

"You know, like for restaurant," she explained. "Waiter was a bit handsy, lasagne gave me the trots. Two stars."

His slightly baffled look didn't change. "Strangely, no."

She thought it was a good idea. Maybe like a Yelp website, but for space and without all the hate and swearing. She let out a noise of pure excitement and then jabbed at the screen. "That one."

"Ah," the Doctor replied, not pleased with her choice. He had hoped that she would have seen what Danielle had seen, but she had just randomly picked one. He would just have to direct her to make the right decision. "Yes, well, possibly we could go there, pitch our tent next to the toilet block. How about something a bit more exciting?" He tapped the other point, which started to glow red and beep to show what the TARDIS had picked up.

"What's that?" she asked.

"That is my theme tune. Otherwise known as a distress call."

"I thought she was deciding, not you," Danni called out. She smiled brightly at him when he turned to protest. "I just thought you'd want to stick to your own ruling, sweetie, instead of pointing her in the direction you'd like to go."

"You like distress calls?" Bill asked him.

"You only really see the true face of the universe when it's asking for your help," he replied, which was very true, even though it was hard to deny that he didn't also like them because he loved a bit of adventure.

"I haven't seen my true face in years," Nardole spoke up, giving his face a bit of a squeeze. "Swapped it for this one on the run."

Danni looked to him, intrigued. "Really?" she asked.

"Oh yes," he confirmed. "It was before I met your mother. It's a very interesting story, actually. Involves a casino, three Judoon and a small, overpopulated planet with a gigantic sea monster."

"You've not told me that one before. You've been holding out on me."

He shrugged. "Sometimes I forget things. When you've got so much under your belt, it's hard to keep track."

She nodded along. "That's very true. Did I tell you about the time a prince tried to steal my elbows?"

"No, I don't think you have," he replied. "Perhaps we could make an evening of it? Share body-part stories. I'll make crumpets."

"Then I'll need to tell you about the time I lost my right eye in a poker match…"

"Can we focus on the matter at hand, here?" the Doctor cut in, and whilst Bill agreed about not getting distracted, she also wanted to know how someone could lose an eye in a poker match, and also still have the eye. "There's a distress call that we are currently ignoring while you two compare medical histories."

Nardole sighed and pulled out a small metal tube. "Do you know what this is?" he asked the Doctor.

"Unless it's a beacon, I'm not interested."

"Fluid link K57. Removed it from the TARDIS the other night after your lecture," he explained.

"Nardole!" Danni scolded. "I've told you about stealing things from the TARDIS. You should ask first."

"You took an oath, sir. The Vault cannot be unguarded. I am acting under your orders!"

"What's a fluid link?" Bill asked.

"No idea," he admitted freely. "But the TARDIS can't go anywhere without it."

"And who told you that?" Danni asked him.

"The Doctor did," he replied with a nod.

"Exactly." The Doctor snapped his fingers and the TARDIS started to fly again. With a flick of a switch they were on their way to the distress call. "Teach you to trust me."

Danni started laughing as Nardole sputtered indignantly at being tricked by the other Time Lord. She patted him on the arm. "Oh, come on Nardole. You've had at least two faces, why not use one to live a little?"

~0~0~0~

The space station they landed on was dark and grey, which didn't give much indication of where they had landed. The Doctor stepped out first, sonic screwdriver in hand as he gave the area a quick scan to assess their situation.

"I'm a bit cross with you, sir," Nardole told him as he stepped out.

"Well, usually, yeah," Danni retorted as she followed. Bill was last, looking around with a big smile on her face. She was on a space ship. An actual space ship, and it looked like something out of the movies, which automatically meant that she knew it was real.

As she stepped to continue on her exploring journey, the Doctor held his arm out and stopped her moving. "Wait. There's no oxygen."

She frowned. "What? Well, how come we're breathing?"

"Air shell around the TARDIS. Hang on." He held up his screwdriver behind his shoulder, showing off as the doors both flew open and a whoosh of air hit them as it escaped. "Now there's a really big air shell around the TARDIS."

"How big?"

The Doctor held out the sonic to turn on all the lights down a hallway to light their way. "Big enough for a stroll," he replied before he held out his arm to Danni. She took it and the pair started off down the hallway.

"You don't need to show off everywhere, you know?" she said with a tease. "You've already got me."

"I'm not showing off," he protested. "I can't help being that impressive. It's a curse, really."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure."

He came to a stop. "Plus, if I were to show off, this is how I'd do it." He took hold of both of her arms and turned her to face a door in the wall. A door with a window that showed off the absolutely breath-taking view outside.

Some things never did change, and he knew it was a cheap trick, but he could always impress her with a stunning view of the universe. She took a step towards it and he let her, watching with a smirk.

"Aw! Now it feels like space!" Bill said from her side as she saw the sight outside as well. The Doctor left them to watch the splendour as he headed down the hallway, towards the next door.

Nardole followed. "You shouldn't be leaving her on her own," he scolded.

"She's a big girl, she can handle looking out of a window without someone there to keep an eye on her," the Doctor retorted.

"You've changed your tune, considering you keep telling me to keep an eye on her."

"Yes, because that's your job," he replied. He was even unable to enjoy the old-fashioned door, which he really enjoyed because people never appreciated the beauty in older technologies. "And you've been doing a terrible job of it."

"You're the one who's brought her to a space station without a care."

The Doctor paused, glancing back at Danni, who was still enraptured with the sight outside. Feeling safe, he dipped down and glared at Nardole. "Yes, and you're the one who let her into the Vault on her own," he hissed. "I should fire you." He straightened. "Or, at least, tell River what a poor job you've been doing."

Nardole, to his credit, looked surprised for a moment. "I didn't let her do anything," he protested, also keeping his voice low. "How do you know that?"

The Doctor held up his screwdriver. "I know everything," he replied before opening the door.

Bill, feeling like she'd enjoyed the view for long enough, left Danni at the window to join the two. They were bickering, which seemed to be the default for this strange bunch and just made her feel like she really was the youngest out of the bunch.

"Er, guys?" she said to interrupting them, nodding towards the person in a spacesuit that the Doctor had revealed.

The Doctor turned and started at the sight. "Hello?" he called but the person didn't reply, or move, or make any indication that he had heard them at all. He took a large step into the room, slowly walking around to make sure they weren't dangerous.

His intrigue fell at the sight of the man's grey skin and white eyes. He definitely wasn't well, or alive, and he used his screwdriver to double check. "He's dead."

Immediately he looked down the hallway at Danielle, but she still seemed to be happily looking out of the window. With a man who was quite obviously starved of oxygen and a distress call, the time for impressing her was over. "Danielle," he called and she looked over at him. He nodded at the dead man to let her know something was wrong.

"How can he be dead? He's standing up," Bill asked.

"No, his suit's standing up. He's just along for the ride."

Bill was very unhappy to hear that, and her panic sparked into indignation for the disrespect that the poor man was being shown. Danni could just hear them, and took another look at the TARDIS to make sure the blue box was safe.

Air costs. Save your breath.

She frowned at the poster on the wall by the doorway to the TARDIS. It was obviously an official poster, so it wasn't trying to give some social commentary. They were actually trying to conserve air because it cost too much.

She wrinkled her nose as she headed to her husband. They'd managed to find the repair bay, by the looks of it, as there were three suits hanging to one side and a bay that looked ready to analyse them. She immediately wanted to have a look around, but she suspected that wasn't why the Doctor had brought her in.

"You know, the future is always a little less progressive than I'd like it to be," she told him.

"I think our friend here agrees," he replied, nodding at the man. She frowned as she dipped down to look him over. His white eyes were incredibly creepy, and it felt rather horrid to have him stood up on his own.

"Did he suffocate?" she asked.

"Well, his tank's full. And his field's up," Nardole replied.

"His what?" Bill asked as he reached out to tap the man on the face. A forcefield flashed up.

"It keeps the air in."

"Well, look, can we just, like, lie him down or something? I mean, this isn't right," Bill spluttered out, still very uncomfortable at the sight of a dead body. Danni could relate, she still felt like that a little, but they didn't have time for someone being upset at a corpse. He didn't do anything wrong, after all. He was dead.

"No, it isn't. It isn't," the Doctor agreed as he checked the computer system with a little tap from his screwdriver. Mining Station Chasm Forge. Crew of forty. I've got thirty-six records of life signs terminated. Last log entry, Station declared non-profitable."

"Yeah, your workers all dying'll do that for you," Nardole replied.

"Makes the air too expensive," Danni added, looking at his tank. "They've saved quite a bit with this guy."

The Doctor frowned, wondering where she had found that little bit of commentary from. It was a bit of a strange thing to say in the face of a dead man, even for her as she'd become a little desensitized to it all.

There was a clang from behind the next door and they all looked at it, suspicious considering that they'd come across a dead man. Strange noises were never a good sign in any situation.

Nardole clapped his hands together. "Okay then! Back to the TARDIS," he suggested pointedly. "Lovely in there. Nice and cosy."

Danni rolled her eyes. "Oh, for god's sake, if you want to go, then go," she snapped. "And take Bill with you. She doesn't need to be here either."

Bill straightened slightly, insulted at being so quickly dismissed. Nardole shook his head. "Ma'am, you cannot want to stay here when you have a rather large duty at home," he replied pointedly.

"The only reason you're here is because the Doctor wouldn't come unless we brought Bill," she retorted. "There's something going on here, something that caused four people to send out a distress call and we're going to find out why they all appear to be dying."

"The universe shows its true face when it asks for help," the Doctor added. "We show ours by how we respond."

He turned to the next bulkhead door as whatever was on the other side made another clanging sound. He sonicked it open before anyone else could object. "Any questions?"

Bill opened her mouth to speak, as she had many questions. Did Danni really not want her there? Would the Doctor only go on a trip if she was there? Why didn't he want to go on a trip with his wife? What was in that Vault they were all so concerned about? Were they really going to head straight into danger when there was obviously something deadly going on? Did they never go on any nice trips?

"Good," the Doctor continued, cutting off any objections from any of them. Nardole was always going to complain, and tried his best to usher them back to the TARDIS. Bill, though, was just scared by the encounter with a dead body, and he knew that she was just as curious as everyone else. He could tell because if she had really wanted to leave then she would have just turned and walked away. She didn't normally keep opinions like that to herself.

They quietly made their way to the next room, where the was another space suit waiting for them. They didn't appear to be dead, which was definitely a plus as they were moving small containers from one side to the other. This one did, though, have a proper space helmet on rather than a forcefield, and they didn't stop or give any indication that they saw the new visitors.

The Doctor kept them in the hallway, but gave the suit a wave. "Hello?" he called, but they didn't respond or even stop their job. He motioned for them all to step in, and glanced down at Danni. They'd both come to the same conclusion, given her little smirk as she watched the suit move.

Bill stepped forward and waved her hand in front of the suit's face, but again it didn't stop its job. "Has he got his tunes on?" she asked.

"Not exactly," the Doctor replied lowly before pointing his sonic screwdriver at it. The helmet popped off, revealing that there was no one inside of it.

Bill and Nardole screamed in horrified surprise. Danni burst out laughing at their reaction.

"Calm down. It's empty," the Doctor told the pair.

"And you couldn't just tell us?" Nardole asked.

"Are you trying to scare us?" Bill demanded.

"Why did I do that?" he asked before glancing to his wife. "Danielle, why did I do that?"

"Because it was fucking hilarious," she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"No," he replied. "Well, yes, but it was to max out your adrenaline. Fear keeps you fast. Fast is good."

"Which, when in imminent danger, is always a good thing," Danni added onto the end. She walked over to the suit, glancing down into the neck hole. When the Doctor had popped off its helmet, it had stopped moving. "Someone must have programmed it to continue on without a body," she mused. "Someone is going to notice." She held her hand out to the Doctor, who stared at her palm, confused. "Screwdriver?"

He was a little startled, caught out at having found her screwdriver down with Missy, despite promising that he wasn't going to go into the Vault. Then he realised that she was asking for his screwdriver and that she hadn't realised that at all. His hearts were pounding under his own adrenaline rush as he handed it to her.

"So, it's basically a robot?" Bill asked.

Danni took a moment to look over the suit. It was pretty simple, and it wasn't hard to find the display on its arm. She ignored the slight panic she felt whenever she saw something vaguely resembling a vortex manipulator. It had basic user readouts – which meant that this suit belonged to somebody, even if that body had disappeared – and it was in error mode. That didn't make a lot of sense, considering that it had been moving, but maybe it wasn't the suit's error. A glance at the oxygen pack showed that it had a full tank ready to be used.

"Ah, well. Sort of. Fairly dumb. Capable of simple tasks," he explained. He then turned to Nardole. "So you'd better watch your step. You could be out of a job."

"Doctor," Danni warned yet again. "Be nice."

"Thank you, ma'am," Nardole said, touched that she was standing up for him.

"We can't fire him, River hired him, not us," she continued before pressing a button on the display pad. "I think that should…"

"Good morning. How may I assist?" the suit spoke up.

Nardole perked up. "Ooo, recognise that voice. Yes! Nice girl, actress, bit orange. Left me for an AI in a call centre."

"Ouch," Danni replied. "What a bitch. You're much better than some stupid AI."

"What killed the crew of this station?" the Doctor asked the suit before they could dive into Nardole's love life.

"I am unaware of any recent deaths," the suit replied, almost cheerfully. It was a little disconcerting considering what they were talking about, but then again that was how computers tended to be. Especially customer service ones.

"What about the oxygen? Where did it all go?"

"There has never been any oxygen in this station. Oxygen is available for personal use only, at competitive prices."

The Doctor looked down at Danni. "You said that," he said to her. "That they'd save money with the dead man."

She nodded. "There was a poster, it said that air was expensive. I assume they're charging people for oxygen."

"Any unlicensed oxygen will be automatically expelled to protect market value."

"Hang on. Didn't we just fill this place with air?" Bill pointed out.

"Yes, I suppose we did," the Doctor drawled, taking another look around. There were definitely ways that the air could be removed from the room, and quite easily as well.

"Because it said expelled."

As if on cue, an alarm began ringing through. Danni shot over to the Doctor, grabbing his hand. "It's decompressing!" she exclaimed. "We need to move!"

No one needed telling twice and the four ran back through to the repair bay, but were met with the rush of air leaving the station. Everyone grabbed onto something, trying not to be sucked out into the space outside, until Danni could point the screwdriver at the open bulkhead door and close it.

She rushed over the moment they were able to get onto their feet, giving it a sonic to see if it would be possible to reopen it again without setting off another alert system. The TARDIS was stuck on the other side, after all, and it was the safest place they could be until they could work out what was going on.

Nardole appeared at her side. "So," he started.

"If you start telling me what deep shit we're in right now, I'm going to unscrew your head and keep the bolts," she told him. "You know I will do that again."

He reached up to his neck. "That seems a trifle unfair," he replied.

"I know, but so does having to be stuck on the other side of a wall to the TARDIS. We've just got to live with these things." She banged the door once with the flat of her hand. "I don't think we can go back through there," she told the Doctor. "The vacuum…"

He appeared on her other side. "The vacuum won't let you open it," he finished for her and she nodded.

"And if we could, we'd be sucked out into space," Nardole added on and she nodded.

"As I said; deep shit."

The sound of air moving, as if the air conditioning had turned on, was the next worrying thing they all heard. "What's that?" Bill asked.

"Er." The Doctor looked down at Danni, who was staring at the ceiling. She'd work it out soon enough, and so would Nardole, which was a little more concerning. "Nothing to worry about."

"Really?" Bill asked, hopefully.

"Yes, not for several minutes," he clarified, instantly worrying her. "Well, don't stress early, it's a waste of energy."

"Stress about what?" she demanded.

"The air situation," Danni replied. "We're fine, for now."

"Occupants of repair station, please identify. Occupants of repair station, please identify."

The voice came from a wall panel, so the Doctor walked over. "Hello there," he replied. "You first."

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, all your crewmates are dead. So, either you're extremely lucky or you killed them. Which is it?"

"This is Drill Chief Tasker. And I haven't killed anyone." The voice paused. "Yet. Now who is this?"

"Doctor, plus three," he replied, keeping everyone else vague for now. "You sent out a distress call. You should be expecting company. Now tell me, what happened to the crew of this station."

"Hang on, you're in the repair bay, right? Get out of there! Now!"

"Why?"

"There are suits in there!"

"Doctor!"

He quickly turned at the frightened cry from his wife. The corpse in the suit had started to move, reaching out them. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back, but she kept her arm straight, trying to use the sonic screwdriver to stop the suit from moving any closer. Instead, it flew out of her hand and into the grasp of the corpse, who squeezed it a bit too hard. The sonic fought back as it broke, frying the suit's electrical circuits and the suit dropped to the floor.

"Oh, I didn't mean for that to happen!" Danni exclaimed as the Doctor walked over. He pulled out the broken screwdriver from the man's hand. It was quite obviously destroyed. "Doctor, I'm sorry, that's not what was supposed to happen."

"It's fine," he replied, although he was a little put out that his screwdriver was broken. He put it in his pocket, next to hers, then poked the spacesuit. He quickly pulled a chip from it and chucked it to Nardole. "Get me some history," he instructed. Nardole, for once, didn't complain and headed off to do just that.

"You okay?" the Doctor asked the other two.

Danni just nodded, looking around for any more danger. "Er, yeah. Just a, just a little freaked, I think," Bill replied. He nodded. He could understand that.

"Try not to breathe so fast," he instructed. She nodded, trying to slow her breathing down as best as she could.

"A single line of instruction was sent to all suits. Deactivate your organic component," Nardole called over.

"'Organic component'? As in people?"

"Wow, killing off your customer base seems a bit extreme, doesn't it?" Danni asked. "I mean, no people, no profit."

This new information had Bill glancing over at the suits currently lining one side of the room. The Doctor was already checking them over, which strangely didn't bring down her anxiety. "Can you fry those ones, too?"

"Possibly," he offered. "But we have another problem. Opening the airlock was the station's plan A. Plan B, filtering out all the oxygen."

"So they can sell it back to us!" Nardole said nervously. The Doctor nodded.

"Capitalism in space. If we want to keep breathing, we have exactly one option." He took hold of Bill and pointed her directly at one of the suits. "Buy the merchandise."

"Oxygen levels are seriously depleted. Please step on board your Ganymede Systems Series Twelve SmartSuit. Engage pressure pad to activate customised robing," the suit declared, almost as if it was mocking them.

"You said those things were going to kill us!" she exclaimed.

"How is that different from what is happening right now?" Danni retorted. "The ship is trying to kill us already."

"How does this help?" Bill asked her.

"We know that they killed their occupants on specific orders," the Doctor answered instead. "I think these ones are off network for repairs, so they can't receive commands."

"Doctor, if those suits have killed thirty-six people, that means there's thirty-six corpses walking about this station," Nardole spoke up from near the window.

"You know, that really doesn't matter right now," the Doctor said back snarkily, but Danni groaned as she realised where he was standing, and what he was implying.

"Oh, don't say it. Please don't say it," she pleaded.

"I think there's something moving out there," he whimpered. He looked out of the window again, but this time he used a switch on the wall to turn the external lights on. Much to everyone's dismay, he illuminated the many corpses that were slowly making their way back to the base.

The Doctor grabbed Danni's arm, pulling her back and away. "Suits, now!"

"But there's only three!" Bill protested. "There's four of us!"

That was true. The Doctor's first thought was to chuck Nardole out of the way for Danielle, after all he was part robot and hopefully could be saved. His second was that he could give one up himself, but he also knew that Danni would never allow him to do that. He did, for one dark moment, contemplate not letting Bill into one either but that was something he quickly pushed out of the way. He would just have to force Danni into one herself.

"The other suit," she spoke up.

"What about it?" he asked, reaching out to take her hand. It would be a struggle, but he and Nardole could get her in.

"It was working, but it had an error. It was broken too," she explained. "If I can cut it off from the network, that'll be four. Four suits. Four people."

"Yes, of course, excellent idea," he praised. "You get into one of the suits, I'll go hack the system."

She pulled her hand away. "No, I'm the better hacker, I'll do it," she told him. "Plus, you're the smart one. If it doesn't work then they'll need you, not me."

"No," he replied. "I need you to get in the suit, now, Danielle."

"What? So you can be all heroic? Not a chance." She looked at Nardole. "Get him in a suit. That's an order."

She turned and rushed to the doorway. Hating the fact that he was going to let her continue on, but knowing that they'd fight about it until the oxygen was completely depleted, he called to her. "Danielle, wait!" She paused, one hand on the doorway, ready to bolt if he tried to stop her. He took out her sonic screwdriver. "Here, catch!"

She did, hand grasping around it before she even looked at her. The sight of her own sonic screwdriver froze her on the spot. If he had that on him, that meant that he'd gone into Missy's Vault when he'd promised not to. But, more than that, it meant that he knew she'd gone in there and had been stupid enough to leave her screwdriver behind.

She looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes. But the look he shot her in reply had her turning and running off. They could argue later. First, they both needed to be alive.

The Doctor watched her disappear, but shrugged Nardole's hand off when he tried to make the Doctor head to the pressure pads in front of the suits. The quicker he got the suit on, the quicker he could follow and help her get into her own suit. Isn't that what they suggested on planes? Your own oxygen mask first?

He just wouldn't be happy until he could see her alive and well.

~0~0~0~

I just want to thank everyone's continued patience with me. Hopefully I'll be back again soon with the next part :)