As far as first trips went, Danni couldn't help but feel like they'd dropped Kyle into the deeper side of them. It definitely wasn't the worst – she still had vague memories of Donna being taken to Pompeii – but at least that was on home territory. If anything went wrong, then Kyle was going to be stuck on Mars with a bunch of British colonists. Or worse…
No one wanted to listen to the newcomers, though. As the Doctor begged them to back off and leave the Queen and the tomb alone, it was obvious that no one was going to listen to them. They left the colonel's tent and went to a dark corner of the officer's mess so they could watch the soldiers.
"Why don't they listen?" Kyle asked lowly. "You obviously know what you're talking about, Doc."
"Don't call me Doc…"
"People don't tend to listen right away," Danni explained over him. "Arrogance is a strong blinder in the universe for people who talk out of their arses."
"I don't get it," he said with a frown. "I don't know a lot of stuff, that's why I'm at university. I love being told things I don't know. Knowing everything is boring."
"People really don't like being shown up. It makes them look stupid." She shrugged. "They tend to listen eventually, it's just frustrating until then."
"And deadly," the Doctor said lowly. "Let's face it; in this scenario the humans are the invaders. On the other hand, the Ice Warriors have vastly superior armaments which will wipe the humans out."
"So what do we do?" Kyle asked. "How do we make them listen?"
The sound of the soldiers jumping to arms and heading straight to the tomb told them everything they needed to know. Not only was no one listening, but some of the men had actively gone to loot the tomb before the upper officers got their hands on the jewels and gold.
They followed them into the tomb, where the soldiers were surrounding the Queen with their guns pointed at her to defend against another attack against them. It was foolish, of course. Even Danni, who had never met an Ice Warrior until today knew that fighting them with rifles was going to end in the death of all of the humans. It was times like these that she wished that the spacesuits had pockets; if she'd had her phone then she could have contacted Nardole to see what the hell he was thinking when he'd decided to steal the TARDIS.
Kyle knew he should have been more worried about an alien Queen rising from the dead and attacking them, but he couldn't help but feel a rush of excited adrenaline. All his life he'd just moved from one school to the next and trying to find things to interest him. Knowing that all along there had been a universe outside of his own to find his way in was a dream come true, even if it potentially could be leading him to his death.
The queen stood next to Friday in the middle of the room, her armour much more elegant than the other warrior to show her status and rank. If anyone had asked Kyle what he thought, he would have said she looked amazing.
"Who the devil is this?" Catchlove asked in outraged disgust.
"She is Iraxxa, Empress of Mars," Friday replied.
"The deuce she is. And you think you can just go about slaughtering my men willy-nilly, do you, madam?"
"Your men?" Bill repeated, showing her own distain for Catchlove. Kyle very much agreed with her. He was too arrogant for his liking and seemed to be wanting to take control even when he knew nothing about what was happening. He was going to get everyone killed.
"What do we do?" he asked Danni lowly as Catchlove called the men to arms.
"In this situation there is only one thing we can do," she replied. "We let the Doctor talk."
Godsacre ran over to Catchlove, trying to calm him down as Kyle frowned. "Let him talk?" he asked. "Why?"
"Because he can talk his way out of a paper bag if given half the chance," she explained.
"I know, I've been to his lectures. Shouldn't we be, you know, fighting our way out or something?"
She looked at him as the Doctor was allowed to step forward to address the queen. "Do you want to fight?"
He quickly shook his head. "No, of course not. This is so cool," he explained. "But isn't that what you're supposed to do?"
"Fighting is a final resort, not the starting one," she said. "The universe is cruel and unfeeling; we have to be better than that."
"By the moons, I honour thee," the Doctor said, addressing the empress with a raise of his fist to his chest. He kept his voice low to show that he wasn't a threat. "I am the Doctor, and I beg leave to intercede."
"You know my race?" Iraxxa asked him.
"I do. And I ask mercy for these primitives."
Catchlove stepped forward, again outraged. "Primitives?!"
The Doctor turned to shush him as Danni rolled her eyes. "Will you be quiet?" she told him. "The grownups are talking."
"Majesty, the world you knew is dead," the Doctor explained, apologetic in his tone. Sometimes time could be cruel, and it was never a nice time to tell anyone its affects. "The atmosphere has all but evaporated. The surface is lifeless. If there are others who sleep here, they cannot survive on Mars without help. You must cooperate if you are to survive."
"He speaks the truth, Majesty. The war, all that we fought for, is less than the dust now," Friday concurred.
"And you!" she exclaimed, pointing at Bill. "Female. What do you say?"
Bill pointed at herself. "Me?" she asked, confused.
"We are all surrounded by noisy males. I would value your opinion."
Bill nodded, stepping forward. "Yeah. Yeah, yeah, er. They're not lying to you," she said in a bit of a ramble. "There's no need for anyone else to die today. The humans saved his life."
"His cryogenic cell was damaged. They saved him," the Doctor explained.
"And made him their pet!" she hissed angrily.
"It was necessary to dissemble, Majesty," Friday defended. "I thought only of your resurrection. It was a tactical decision."
"And you!" she hissed, pointing at Danni, who was still standing at the back of the room with Kyle by her side. "Another female, another hidden in the ranks of men. What do you think about this?"
The Doctor turned, looking at his wife with wide eyes. He knew that everything teetered on a very fine line, and while he trusted her words, he wasn't sure the Ice Queen would react the same way.
Danni took a deep breath. "I think it wouldn't be much of a fight," she offered, much to the Doctor's surprise. Kyle looked to her, expecting her to copy what the Doctor and Bill had said. "On your own you could wipe them out with ease, and to be honest you have every reason to want to wipe them out. I mean, this is your home, and their aim was to raid it. I'd be pretty mad too."
She stepped a little forward, into the space that Bill occupied. "It's not very honourable, though, is it?" she continued. "I mean, look at their guns. They're not going to make a dent in your armour. It's like shooting helpless animals. Do you really want to rebuild Mars on the back of shooting dogs?"
"Dogs?!" Catchlove exclaimed as one of the more nervous soldiers accidently sent off another shot that bounced off the Empress's helmet.
"Case in point," Danni added. "You turned one of them into a cube, and their guns can only hold a couple shots at most. If you let them go then you'll still have Mars. Let them go fight it out on Earth like they always do."
Both Kyle and the Doctor, who had been wondering where she had been going, seemed to relax at her words. "You ask for mercy for these creatures?" the Empress asked the Doctor, who nodded.
"Indeed."
"Then I grant it." She grinned evilly. "They will die quickly."
The atmosphere immediately changed, and the Doctor ran over to the group. "Colonel! Get your men out of here! Now!" he exclaimed as Iraxxa shot at another man, turning him into a cube of flesh and clothing. The Colonel froze, but Catchlove didn't, and everyone ran out of the tomb and into the drilling chamber next to it.
Despite the pleading from the Doctor, Catchlove moved over to the drilling laser and climbed on it, ready to point it at anything that might come out. He shot at the entry way into the tomb but, with a little interfering from Bill he hit the roof instead and collapsed the tunnel.
As the rest of the soldiers cried out in happiness at the win, Catchlove was almost shaking in rage. "We're about to go to war, so it's time you knew the truth. Listen to me, men!" he called out, pulling everyone's attention back to him. "The colonel is not what he appears! The hero of Isandlwana. Show them your famous wound, Colonel." He jumped down and ran over to the Colonel, revealing a dark, old wound around his neck. "The mark of a rope. While you were fighting for Queen and country, the Colonel here was dancing the Newgate polka. This burn, this is the mark of the rope that failed to hang him for desertion. They tried to hang him, but they bungled it. He's a paper tiger. Not fit to command."
"So what?" Danni snapped. "Who gives a shit? Why are you so insistent on leading everyone to their deaths? Are you really that pathetic you can't listen to anyone but your ego?"
He pointed at her. "You can be quiet, you silly woman."
"Don't talk to her like that!" Kyle and the Doctor snapped back at the same time. Catchlove ignored the Doctor completely, instead turning his attention to Kyle.
"And you can be quiet as well, Boy," he retorted.
"There will be more, you idiot," the Doctor said. "The Hive is active. Don't you see? They'll do anything to defend their home planet."
"Well, I dare say the British Army is more than a match for a bunch of upright crocodiles," he dismissed. "Sergeant Major! I'm assuming command. Take the Colonel and put him in the brig." The Sergeant seemed to hesitate, which just angered him more. "Sergeant Major Peach, I gave you an order." He looked particularly smug as the Sergeant and his Private removed all the Colonel's weaponry before leading him away. "Oh, and for the last time, get these wretched people out of my sight. Put them in the brig, too. There's no room for civilians here."
~0~0~0~
The brig, as the name suggested, wasn't exactly the most luxurious of places. It was just a cave in the wall with a wooden door built in – probably by Friday. The moment they were left alone the Doctor started to try and open the door, whereas Danni sat on the floor in the dust.
"There's no setting for wood, sweetie," she called over. "You know that."
"Why is there still no setting for wood?"
"Because the sonic doesn't do wood, it never did," she replied. Kyle joined her in the dirt. "Sorry your first outing wasn't great."
"This is awesome," he corrected. "Who knew that there were lizard people on Mars?"
"Ice Warriors."
"Ice Warriors," he repeated, as if he was trying to commit it to memory. "I mean, I'd rather not be locked up, but you don't seem worried so I'm not."
She laughed slightly. "Well, that's because I've been in much worse prisons than this," she explained. "This is just a room with a door."
"Was that with Missy?" Bill called over, curious.
Kyle watched Danni immediately tense up, her eyes widening slightly. He frowned. "Who's Missy?" he asked.
"A woman they keep in the basement," Bill replied.
Danni looked at her husband. "Doctor…" she started, her tone one of warning that had him turn to Bill.
"Remember when I told you there were questions you shouldn't be asking?" he asked. "That would be one of them."
"You keep a woman in the basement?" Kyle asked slowly and Danni sighed.
"It's a little more complicated than that," she said with a pointed look at Bill. "Long story short is that the Doctor made a promise and now he has to look after her body for a thousand years."
"Wait, she's dead?"
"She was supposed to be."
"She's learning how to be good," the Doctor cut in.
"She's learning how to manipulate you," Danni retorted. "And she's doing a fine job of it."
Bill raised her hand. "She did want to kill me," she pointed out.
"She didn't want to kill you," the Doctor interjected.
"No, she just didn't care," Danni replied. "She didn't care who was going to die, and she didn't care that they were going to die." She leant against the wall. "And, if we keep arguing, all the soldiers are going to die, and I really don't want to keep having this argument with company. Do we have a plan?"
"Yes, of course I've got a plan. I'm all plans. I'm made of plans," the Doctor replied.
"Who the deuce are you all, really? You speak of us as though we're a different species. You seem to know all about these, these Ice Warriors. You seem to know a lot about most things," Godsacre said. From anyone else it would have seemed accusatory, but it was obvious that he was out of his depth and was happy for someone else to take the lead on it.
"Well, we're sort of police," Bill offered.
Kyle held his hand up. "I'm just a university student, actually," he said.
"And we're aliens," Danni added, motioning between the Doctor and herself. "But, sure, if you want to be police go right ahead."
"Is it true? You deserted?" Bill asked to change the subject. "Why?"
"Oh, cowardice. Simple cowardice," he replied with a sigh, sitting down on one of the many rocks that littered the small cave. "I thought I had it in me to command, Miss Potts, but when push came to shove I, I flunked it, deserted my post. Catchlove's the only one who knew and he's bled me dry." He smiled sadly. "It could have been a fresh start for all of us."
She turned to the Doctor. "How's it looking out there?"
"All quiet," he reported, turning away from the door. "It's traditional at this point to say, too quiet."
Danni sighed. "They're gonna get slaughtered unless we can get out."
"Maybe we can break the door down?" Kyle suggested, standing up and walking over to the Doctor's side. He had his hand on his chin as he looked thoughtfully at it. "We could use one of the rocks to smash it down. It is only wood."
Outside the brig the room broke out into chaos as Catchlove began screaming at his men to get themselves together. Ice Warriors were starting to pull themselves from the dry dirt ground, and they were only interested in clearing the humans from their planet.
"I think it's too late for that," Danni replied, scrambling up off the floor. She rushed over to the bars to look out with the Doctor. They were trying to turn the drill towards where they were being advanced on by more Ice Warriors, but it was slow and they were quickly being shot down where they stood.
"Stop trying to fight and run!" Kyle shouted out, but it was obvious that even if they could hear them, Catchlove was never going to listen to them.
There was more rumbling as the ground behind them began to shake and crumble, an armoured hand shooting up from it. Slowly, as they all watched without saying a word, Friday pulled himself from the ground and into the prison next to them.
"Doctor," he hissed. "We must work together." He stepped forward and, without a second thought, broke down the door to let them out.
"See? Told ya," Kyle pointed out. "A rock could have taken that right off its hinges."
"Not now, Kyle," Danni retorted. "But, yes, it would have. We'll do that next time." She looked up at her husband. "We need to do something."
Godsacre started to run, his fear getting the best of him despite all the protests. He disappeared into the chaos, tail between his legs and leaving the Doctor to fix the issue. Just like everyone always did.
Both the Doctor and Danni glanced at the drill at the same time as they took in their assets around them. They seemed to have the same thought at the same time and shared a grin as their minds thought alike.
"We need a distraction," the Doctor told their companions.
"You got one," Bill replied and Kyle nodded. The Time Lords dashed off as the pair stepped forward.
"Oi, Queenie!" Bill called over, getting her attention quickly. "Let's talk. Woman to woman. You valued my opinion before,"
"Perhaps," Iraxxa hissed. "But this is war."
"Why does it have to be war, though?" Kyle added.
"Your Majesty, they are right." Friday stepped forward, pleading with his Queen.
"You have forged a new alliance, I see."
Bill reached out and took Friday's hand. "We can stand together," she said. Kyle, thinking that Bill was onto something, also took Friday's hand.
"Surely we are better together," he said. "Stronger."
"It's too late. Mars stands alone," Iraxxa replied. "We are strong. Soon, all my Warriors will wake. We do not require assistance."
"Your Majesty!" the Doctor called over at the pair were now stood on the drill, which they'd moved to point at the ceiling. "Oh, Your Majesty, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Stand down, or I'll fire."
"Fire at what?"
"You see, we know a woman, much like yourself," Danni started instead. "She's warm blooded too, and she never could stand the cold. She spent all winter inside their greenhouse just so she didn't catch her death."
"And we are underneath Mars's North Pole," the Doctor continued.
"A lot of snow above us. If she hated bad weather, how do you think you will fair underneath tons of ice?"
"One good blast from the Gargantua here and your army will be on ice forever, trapped in an eternal winter, like, like," he stuttered for a moment before his face lit up and he turned to Danni. "Frozen!"
Danni grinned back at him. "Excellent movie," she praised.
"You will destroy yourself at the same time," Iraxxa pointed out.
"That's a price worth paying, isn't it? It's a simple choice, Iraxxa, the oldest in the book. We must live together or die together."
Unfortunately, as they were all distracted, no one heard the lift from above come down except Kyle. He turned and saw Catchlove approach the Queen, large knife at the ready. "Hey!" he shouted, darting forward and knocking him out of the way. Catchlove stumbled slightly as he was hit in the side. "Leave her alone!"
"Kyle!" Danni cried out, suddenly terrified for her friend. Catchlove stared at him, then laughed and used the butt of the knife to knock him to the floor.
"Honestly, just can't get the help these days," he said with a laugh. He was quick on the Queen, his knife pressed against her neck. Kyle went to move and he dug the blade deeper. "I wouldn't do that, old sport," he warned.
"You dare to touch me?" Iraxxa histed.
"Yes, my dear. I do," he replied. "You see, I suddenly remembered I need a bit of a hand getting that ruddy ship off the ground. And who better to ask than the Ice Queen herself? Call off your dogs, Your Majesty." She said nothing and he pressed the blade harder. "Call them off!" With a wave of her hand the Ice Warriors lowered their weapons. "That's better. Course, I will have to dynamite the lifts to stop you following, but er, well, war is hell, what?"
He pressed the button and the lift door opened to reveal Godsacre, gun in hand. "I think you'll find, Captain, that I'm in command here," he declared before shooting the man. With a loud gulp Catchlove fell to the ground, dead.
Kyle scrambled up and rushed over to Danni. "He had a knife," he said rapidly. "I almost took him out."
"You did," she praised. "Don't ever do that again."
He shook his head. "Definitely not," he said in agreement, still sounding incredibly happy. "It was terrifying."
She chuckled then gave him a nudge with her shoulder. "I like you," she told him. "I'm glad you came along."
~0~0~0~
"I have to say, I didn't see that coming," Kyle said as they headed back into the tunnels underneath Mars's surface. He was walking backwards, animated in his excitement. "We left a message on Mars. Mars! It's on the surface, and then we're going to see the message and have no idea it's from us!"
Danni couldn't help but be incredibly amused at him. "That's how it goes," she told him.
"And-And we saw aliens!" he continued. "Like, real aliens!"
"I told you; we are aliens too."
"And-And the British were here!" He turned back around as the sound of the TARDIS began to fill the hallways. "They get absolutely everywhere, don't they? I can't believe that history reached out this far!"
Nardole, to his credit, looked particularly sheepish as he stepped out of the TARDIS. "So, we, what did I miss?" he asked.
"Where have you been?" Danni shot back at him. "We've told you about stealing the TARDIS!"
"I didn't steal her, she stole me!" he protested.
"There was an Ice Warrior, and now there's a coward serving their Queen," Kyle explained excitedly as they approached him. "This is amazing."
"Don't blame the TARDIS," Danni continued over him. "She probably had a very good reason." Nardole didn't move, and in fact blocked their way into the TARDIS. Ready to just be heading home, Danni shot him a look. "Move, Nardole."
He chuckled nervously. "Well, actually, I think it might be a good idea for me and the Doctor to, you know, have a chat before heading inside."
Whatever look he was sending the Doctor seemed to go right over his head, and Danni was becoming increasingly suspicious at his behaviour. "No, we are going home," she told him. She took a step to the side, as if trying to get around him, but he stepped in the way to stop her. She stepped to the other side and he followed. "What are you doing?"
"How about you- you take your new friend, and have another look around before we head off, eh?" he suggested. "We'll get the TARDIS nicely set up for you when you get back."
"What are you on about?" the Doctor asked him, moving him out of the way with a shove. "Do we need to get you serviced again?"
He stepped in first, followed by Bill and then Danni and Kyle at the end. "No, no, wait…" he started but he didn't have much time to stop them.
Behind the time rotor, looking a little nervous, stood Missy. She was hidden as if it would make a difference to her being there. Danni froze on the spot as everything she feared suddenly smacked her in the face. Missy was in the TARDIS. Missy had flown the TARDIS.
"No," she stated. "No, you can't be here!" She stormed forward, ready to attack the other Time Lady with everything she had, fists already raised. The Doctor grabbed her, pulling her close as she struggled against him. "Let me go! I'm going to kill her!"
"Get her out of here!" he snapped, all but shoving her at Kyle and Bill. Both of them were stunned slightly at her feral response. "Now!"
Kyle quickly jumped into gear, pulling Danni out of the TARDIS and back into the caverns of Mars. "Lock the door!" the Doctor commanded and the sound of the lock clicking echoed in the small space.
"No!" Danni screamed, rushing over and smacking on the door. "Let me in! We have to get her out of there! What are you doing?!"
"Danni!" Kyle exclaimed, pulling her away again. "Danni, stop it!"
She spun around; teeth bared as she panted heavily. Her eyes were wide, her fingers clenched into claws, but she didn't rush at the door again. "You don't understand," she told him. "You have no idea what she could do with just an ounce of the power the TARDIS has!"
"Then tell me," he encouraged and she shook her head. It was quite scary to see his friend, who had been always calm and a little sarcastic, look so afraid. He had known instantly that it had to be bad that the other woman was in the TARDIS, but he had no idea who she was. "Is that Missy?" he asked quietly, glancing behind him.
She nodded. "She is the most dangerous monster in the universe," she said so certainly that he believed her without question. "She's not supposed to be out of her…" She started pacing back and forth. "She's not supposed to be out of her box. That was the deal!"
The last part was her shouting at the TARDIS, probably to the Doctor on the inside. "What did she do?" he asked.
"I can't tell you," she replied. "I don't want to tell you. But we're all in danger. We need to get her contained again. She can't be left in the universe, because she'll destroy it all."
Kyle thought for a moment about how terrified she was, and what she could possibly be hiding from him. His mind came up with terrible things that, after a moment, he dismissed. It didn't matter what had happened to her. That was her business, not his. He would listen if she wanted to share but otherwise he would leave it alone.
"Alright," he said with a nod. "What do we do?"
She looked at the TARDIS doors. Every part of her wanted to run away and get as far as she could away from Missy. She couldn't, though, because that would leave the Doctor vulnerable and she refused to leave him behind. "I don't know," she admitted. "And that's horrifying."
~0~0~0~
The moment the door closed behind them, and Bill locked it on the Doctor's snapped command, he turned to Nardole. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he raged at the smaller man.
"The-The TARDIS was broken, I couldn't fix her," he explained with a nervous stutter. "I didn't have another choice."
"There's always another choice," he hissed. He jabbed him in the chest. "We're going to have words when we get home," he continued angrily. "And you are not coming out well from it."
He walked over to Missy. "You know better than to come out," he told her. "This isn't what we agreed to. You're not supposed to come and see Danielle."
She nodded. "I-I know," she quickly insisted. "I wouldn't have come if I'd known Danielle was here, I swear."
He just looked sadly at her. "That's not true," he stated. "We're going to have to lock you up before we go home. Then you're going back into the Vault."
"That's fine," she quickly replied. "But, maybe if I can just explain to her…"
"No," he cut in. "Nardole, take her into the TARDIS." Nardole rushed forward, taking Missy gently by the arm. "I'll come find both of you when we're ready. Do not come looking for us."
"Yes, sir," he muttered softly. "Come on, ma'am."
The Doctor watched them leave into the hallway, back straight as he tried to calm down his own nerves. It was too much. He'd seen Danni near that woman too many times recently and he knew that if he was seeing Missy grab her and disappear whenever they were close, then Danni was seeing so much worse in her head. It wasn't fair on any of them. It wasn't fair on her.
But what else could he do? He couldn't kill Missy, no matter how easier it would make life. It wasn't the good thing to do and Danielle needed goodness in her life. She needed to forgive herself for all that she had done, and he needed to prove that anyone could be redeemed.
"Doctor?" Bill spoke up when he didn't move for a while. "We should-We should get going, yeah?"
He nodded, turning back around. "Stand there," he told her, motioning to the hallway entrance. "Tell me if you see anything."
Bill didn't question anything and, for once, did as she was told. He opened the front door and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Danni stopped her pacing and started, ready to go on the attack again.
"She's contained for now," he explained to her as calmly as he could. "I'm going to drop you all off, then I'm going to lock her away. On my own."
Danni nodded slowly, swallowing hard as she tried to calm down. "I-I don't want to go in there with her," she explained.
"I know, but I am still here," he promised. "It'll be okay."
She took a step forward, then stopped again, shuffling her hands. "She's not supposed to be able to get out," she stated. "But she can, so now what? What do we do?"
"I don't know," he replied honestly. "But I'll work it out. I always do. As long as I'm here, she will never get hold of you again."