A/N: Hey guys! I wanted to write a slightly more light-hearted chapter, so here is this! Please keep note that I only own Iris and OCs plus the storyline that diverges from the original Doctor Who plotlines! Everything else belongs to BBC and the appropriate people.

Chapter 35: Out of Order

Iris came out of the shop, satisfied with her decision to have gotten a haircut. Once outside, she was about to call Ianto to let him know that she was on his way. When he picked up, asking her how the haircut was, she paused when Iris heard the familiar whirring noise of the TARDIS parking.

She quickly said, "Ianto, I'll call you later. The Doctor is here."

Ianto sighed and said, "He really should give us all a heads up."

Iris grimaced, feeling a little guilty about that, as she said, "I'll get you something special and we can take time off after I come back."

Ianto chuckled, knowing that he had just made Iris feel bad about this, as he said,

"It's a date."

Iris hummed in happiness at that and said, "I love you."

Ianto smiled from the Torchwood Hub, stating, "I love you too."

With that, their phone call ended, and Iris saw the TARDIS door open, and she had walked over, only to find an unfamiliar, older man's face come out of the door, and state,

"Uh, Doctor, I think we're in Cardiff."

But that was when the man stopped his sentence when he had noticed Iris standing there, gaping at him in shock, as she dropped her coffee. And the man winced at that, seeing the coffee spread throughout the sidewalk, calling back to the Doctor,

"Doctor, there's a woman out here gaping at us."

That was when Iris heard a female voice yell out,

"Graham! Who is it?"

The voice got closer as she was asking it, when Iris looked at a blond woman, wearing clothing that wreaked havoc, fashion-sense wise, when the woman's face tensed up, tears forming in her eyes, before stopping and stating,

"Oh my goodness. Iris?"

Iris froze and asked hesitantly, "Doctor?"

Graham watched as the Doctor stepped out the TARDIS, walking over to the woman, before hugging her tightly. It seemed intimate, almost, as Yasmin and Ryan popped their heads out, due to curiosity.

Ryan asked,

"Doctor, you know who this is?"

Iris hugged the woman back, unsure, but realizing this was the Doctor. There was a sensation through the bond, that felt overwhelming, but she waved it off, not wanting to question the emotional Time Lady.

She had never seen this form of the Doctor before, and it had shocked her that the Doctor was a woman now. Then she looked at the companions, before awkwardly waving,

"Hello. Iris Kim. A… former companion of the Doctor."

The three companions looked at each other, frowning, never having heard of former companions, as they awkwardly introduced themselves. Iris then turned to the Doctor, suddenly feeling angry as she said,

"What in the world is going on? Why are you here?"

The Doctor smiled widely, throwing Iris off, and her two hearts were beating wildly, too nervous due to the awkward situation, when she answered,

"Well, we were going to go somewhere fun, but the TARDIS decided to go wild… and then, well, here we are!"

Iris raised an eyebrow at that, not sure, before huffing out, "And?"

The Doctor looked back at the TARDIS, before blushing a little, as she scratched the back of her head, stating, "You wanna join?"

Iris looked at the companions, who smiled warmly at her, especially Ryan, who, upon noticing that she looked at him, seemed to look away a little, blushing.

Iris shook her head, laughing, as she said, "As long as your companions are good with me joining, I'm game."

The Doctor turned back to the trio, puppy eyes evident, and the three people relented. Iris walked into the TARDIS last, and took in her new design, and laughed stating,

"I see that you redecorated."

The Doctor turned to her, expecting a good comment, when Iris winked and said, "I don't like it."

The Doctor pouted, causing Iris to pat the TARDIS affectionately, stating, "But don't worry, I love her all the same."

Graham noticed how the Doctor longingly looked at Iris, an almost sad look coming into her eyes, and he realized what that was. He then walked over to her, and asked,

"What's wrong?"

Meanwhile, Yasmine and Ryan were talking with Iris, which let the Doctor comfortably, answer,

"She's too early in my timeline. This is one of the few, rare moments that I meet her out of order. She hasn't seen this version of me yet. And… it has been a while since I have seen her."

Graham noticed the sad look grow on her face before she sniffed and smiled, as if she had not been sad all along. He smiled at that, when the TARDIS lurched hard, and the Doctor rushed to regain control.

Iris looked over at the floundering Doctor, reminding her of what the 11th regeneration of the Doctor would technically look like, as she flailed around, whilst she yelled,

"Hold on!"

Yasmin groaned as she responded, "We are holding on! Was she like this in the past?"

Iris laughed at that, answering, "She failed her exam more than three times."

Ryan tensed at that, as he yelled out, "What?"

The Doctor glared at her, as she said, "You're not supposed to know that!"

Iris hummed delightfully, skillfully balancing herself on the console, compared to the other companions, who were gripping onto the railing tightly.

Graham, groaned, as his body was unable to remain balanced as well as the younger people, asking,

"Can you do something about this turbulence?"

The Doctor growled out, annoyed at the way the TARDIS was acting, as she said,

"I'm avoiding something. Argh, can't get the hang of these new systems."

That was when Yasmin noticed something as she asked, "What is it?"

Iris listened in, her short hair, getting in her face as she heard the Doctor yell out excitedly,

"Not it's still coming for us. Oh! It's a teleport pulse."

Ryan fearfully asked, "Ah! What's that?"

That was when the TARDIS suddenly calmed down and a light entered, causing Iris to look at it expectedly, as a humanoid robot in a uniform and cap, held a box.

The robot looked over to the Doctor stating, "Delivery for the Doctor."

Iris watched as the Doctor acted like a child and yelled out happily,

"Ah, it's the Kerblam man!"

Yasmin felt lost as she asked, "It's the what?"

Iris walked over, replying, "Kerblam man. Not sure what that is, but clearly, the Doctor knows what this is."

The Doctor took the box, and looked towards Iris, feeling ecstatic, as she pointed to the box and yelled out, "The Kerblam man!"

Graham sighed as he commented, "You're just making sounds now."

At this point, the robot said, "Delivery fulfilled. And remember, if you want it, Kerblam it!"

With that, the robot dissolved into the logo of the company, before everything went quiet again. Everyone looked at the empty space, before turning to the Doctor, who looked at the box with a curious look, whilst Graham muttered lowly,

"Space postman. I've seen it all now."

Iris chuckled whilst the Doctor said,

"Delivery bots. Kerblam's the biggest retailer in the galaxy. I don't remember ordering anything. Must've been a while back."

Iris watched the fellow Time Lady try to open the box, and Iris said through their bond,

"You sure you wanna open that?"

The Doctor looked up at her, smirking as she said, "What can possibly go wrong?"

Iris groaned out loud, causing Graham, Yas, and Ryan to turn towards her, confused, and she just shrugged them off, stating, "It's a… Time Lady thing we do."

All three people's eyes widened at that, asking, "You're not human?!"

Iris looked at them sheepishly, realizing that she was starting off fresh with these people, as she responded,

"It's… complicated."

The three people sighed, when suddenly, the Doctor ripped open the box enthusiastically, to reveal a red fez. Iris looked at incredulously, and asked,

"You ordered a fez? What am I even asking, of course you ordered a fez. It's just two regenerations late."

The Doctor smiled and put it on, and said,

"What do you think? Still me?"

Iris winked at the Doctor, stating, "Nope. But it's a nice kind of different."

The Doctor blushed, causing Ryan to look back and forth between them, and Yas laughing at that, whilst Ryan spotted something in the box. He pulled out bubble wrap, and exclaimed,

"Check it out, they even use bubble wrap."

Iris looked at the box with Yasmine, realizing, there is a packing slip. The human companion picked it up, reading something, before frowning and said,

"Doctor, look at this, the back of the packing slip."

Iris read it aloud, "Help me."

Iris looked over at the Doctor who looked at her companions, when Ryan popped up and said,

"Probably someone just bored out their mind, mucking about. Trust me, I've been there. You should have seen what we used to hide inside the trainers."

Iris sighed and said, "It would not hurt to check it out. And even if not, she will find some discreet way to fool you into investigating it. I've been there before."

Yasmine looked over at the Doctor, before shaking her head and said,

"What if it's not? What if someone really is in trouble?"

Graham nodded at the girl, stating, "Like Iris said, can't hurt to check, can it, Doc?"

The Doctor clapped and stated, "Right. Kerblam, here we come."

With that, she twirled the hourglass, and started to move the levers. Iris sighed, making sure to tighten her coat around her, not liking where this was going. Soon, they found themselves stepping out of the TARDIS facing the outside of the warehouse, and Iris asked the Doctor,

"Psychic paper?"

The Doctor paused, panicking and sifting through her pockets, when she couldn't find it and sheepishly admitted, "Er… I might have lost it."

Iris felt like face palming herself as she hissed out, "You… what?!"

Ryan looked at the Doctor as he said, "You're joking."

Graham huffed at that, muttering something about alien paper, causing Iris to smile at him, but the Doctor started to say,

"There's the planet Kandoka, and we're on its moon. Kerblam turned it into one massive warehouse."

Graham gasped as he finally took in a good look at the factory, stating, "Look at the size of it."

Yasmin commented as well, "There must be thousands of people in there. How are we going to find out who sent that message?"

Ryan sighed as he had a bad feeling about this, stating, "Halfway across the universe, and I feel like I'm back at work."

The Doctor looked at Ryan curiously, and Iris felt the cogs in her head turning, and her eyes widened, when the Doctor smiled and said,

"Ryan, brilliant. Come on."

Ryan asked incredulously, "What?"

Iris sighed and said, "What do you think? You just gave her the idea of going under cover."

With that, the woman walked forward, causing the trio to trudge along, having realized that Iris was familiar with this, and that this was most likely common. Iris seemed to have sensed this as she smiled at them and said,

"Believe me, this is her calmed down. It used to be really bad in his former regenerations."

Graham asked, "Regeneration?"

Iris paused, as she explained while they were walking, "It's a way for Time Ladies to cheat death. We do die, but our body jumpstarts and a new body, a new personality takes its place and we continue to live on."

Graham paused and asked, "So, you're saying that both of you had a different body?"

Iris sighed, as she awkwardly smiled and said, "I used to be human, but, things got complicated and I regenerated after getting shot. It hurt really bad. But the Doctor… she has been playing this game a long time. This is the first time she's a woman, so she must be getting used to everything."

Graham tensed and asked her incredulously, "She was a bloke?"

Iris chuckled and merely said, "Oh, Graham, you should definitely not meet my boyfriends."

Ryan looked over at her in shock, as he asked, "Boyfriends? Multiple?"

All three human companions looked at her as the woman merely smirked at them, before following the Doctor. When they were near the reception, the Doctor seemed to be struggling with the woman across from her, as they heard a robotic voice state,

"Good morning, workers. Welcome to another rewarding…"

The Doctor looked at the woman frustratedly, asking,

"Can you check again? We just came in from Kandoka. We must be on the list there somewhere."

Iris sighed, knowing that this was not going to be easy without the psychic paper, when the woman studied the woman with strange clothing, along with the four others in the back, before explaining,

"Not expecting anyone new today. Didn't even know there was a shuttle coming in."

Iris watched as the Doctor asked hesitantly, "Do you mind if I take a look? It might just be the spelling. By the way, this is our reference."

With that, the Doctor pulled out her psychic paper, while sonicking the electronic clipboard. Graham raised an eyebrow, realizing what the Time Lady was holding, while Iris felt a sense of annoyance, but familiarity from the Doctor. As the duo were looking, the woman they were trying to persuade jumped and asked,

"Oh, you're relatives of the First Lady?"

The Doctor was about to state something, when Iris said, "Yes, we are. But we tend to be quiet about it. Not wanting attract unwanted attention."

The lady nodded, and studied the other companions, as Ryan shyly added, "Yeah, so awkward."

Graham quipped, "We're very private."

Judy sighed, looking down on the clipboard, stating, "well, there must be some m…"

And that was when her eyes widened, clearly disturbed by what she was seeing now, as she said,

"Oh, no, here you are. Got you. Private shuttle landing. Sorry, person error. Me, I mean. Right, well, er, let's get you on this induction, then. Follow me, this way."

Iris shoved her hands into her pockets, enjoying the show, and studying the companions a little forlornly. If they didn't know her, this meant that they had never met her. So what happened? She could only imagine three different scenarios, and did not any one of them. But she was brought out of her thoughts as she followed the group towards an opening written in bold letters,

"Warehouse Floor – Fulfilment sections 1 – 100"

There was more, but Iris was more aware of the workers, when the system once again said,

"Welcome to another rewarding shift at Kerblam, fulfilling orders from the human colony at Kandoka…"

The Doctor looked towards a younger boy, in the janitor uniform, introducing herself cheerfully,

"Hi."

The boy looked at the group in surprise and said, "Morning."

Iris walked over, smiling, causing the boy to blush, as she introduced herself,

"Hi, I'm Iris. You are?"

The boy hesitantly shook her hand, causing the Doctor to twitch a little in annoyance, trying to hide it, but failing, as Iris could feel it from their bond. She maintained her own polite facial features, not wanting to startle the child, as he responded,

"Charlie."

Iris smiled at him, and then turned to the woman, with a raised eyebrow, causing her to answer,

"Judy Maddox. Head of People"

Iris ignored the other interactions, going on, only focusing on Judy, trying to figure out why there was a card with the words "Help me" spelled out. As she was doing so, they reached the induction, where they were scanned one by one. Graham volunteered.

As he was getting scanned, Judy explained,

"The System allocates work details based on fitness, stamina, dexterity and mental assessments."

As another robot walked up to the scanner, Graham struggled to remain still, curiosity getting the better of him, when the Doctor commented,

"Same model as the Kerblam Man. I love the Kerblam Man."

It indicated for the man to step out, and she followed its instructions, whilst the Doctor decided she wanted to go next. As she was getting scanned, Judy continued to explain,

"The TeamMates are the friendly face of the System. They're here to assist and to supervise the organic workers."

Graham frowned and asked, "Organic?"

Judy noticed the obvious discomfort that the man showed, as he said, "Oh, sorry. Listem to me. You get so used to the jargon. Gone native. Two hearts?"

Iris bristled at that, as the Doctor improvised, "Courtesy of the First Lady. Very good healthcare policy, I don't like to talk about it. So, Kerblam is completely automated?"

Ryan then stepped into the scanner, whilst the Doctor stepped out, as Judy answered,

"No. 90%, as per Kandokan guidelines. Proud to be a certified 10% people-powered company. I know some people are against quotas, but I am all for that one. Mind you, I would say that, Head of People. Self-interest. It's funny, I don't normally talk this much."

Iris laughed as she intercepted with, "She tends to have that effect."

Judy looked worriedly, when the power momentarily went down, causing Ryan to step out of the scanner. The woman looked around, not too concerned about the situation, as she told them,

"Oh. Don't worry. It'll come back online in a moment."

And scarily enough, the power did come back right after she had said it. But the Doctor ignored her blasé attitude, asking, "Not paid your bills?"

Judy sighed and said, "Build a warehouse on a moon, it's never going to be perfect. We get the occasional power drain, it's down to the self-optimization systems."

Yasmin decided to step into the scanner, whilst asking, "How's the morale among the workers?"

Yasmin then glanced over to Iris, who seemed to be studying the technology around them, as if she knew what was around them, going so far as touching the walls, while Judy answered,

"I like to think very good. It's my job to make sure that everyone's happy. Not that it's difficult. I mean, we're all so grateful to have a job, right? We all know how hard they are to come by. No, I hope that people feel it's a privilege to work at Kerblam."

That was when Iris decided to step into the scanner, which caused Judy's eyes to grow wide, as she once again asked, "Two hearts?"

Iris smiled and said, "Family trait. It's very rare."

Judy just swallowed, but their attention were diverted quickly when a TeamMate robot came up to them, handing them ankle monitors, stating,

"Relax as I fix your GroupLoop."

They then had their ankle monitors on, which all flashed in various colors. Iris noticed that hers, Graham's and Ryan's monitors were purple, Yasmin red, and the Doctor white.

Graham hesitantly asked, "Are we under house arrest?"

Judy shook her head and stated, "Oh, no. The GroupLoops monitor productivity and report back to the system."

Ryan sighed, muttering, "I wore one of these at me last job."

Judy looked decently surprised, as she asked, "Oh, really? Where was that?"

Ryan looked at the woman in front of him, knowing that she might not know what he was talking about, but deciding to state it anyway, as he said,

"SportStack. People's Republic of South Yorkshire."

Judy narrowed her eyes at him, as she responded back with, "Hmm. I don't know it. But it's nice to meet someone with experience. You'll feel right at home."

Ryan wasn't sure what other reaction he should have expected, as he said, "Yeah."

Iris just gave him a smile, patting his shoulder, before following a Judy who walked towards a different direction whilst leading them on the tour. On the catwalk later, she was explaining,

"600 million products, 10,000 employees. The biggest human workforce in this galaxy. Welcome to Kerblam."

All of them looked down, causing Iris to be impressed with the network of conveyor belts moving the boxes around.

She was about to comment on something when a voice from the overhead stated,

"Welcome to another rewarding shift at Kerblam, fulfilling orders from the human colony of Kandoka."

Ryan swallowed, not sure what to think about the large scale of the company as he said,

"10,000 workers, one little message."

The Doctor bit the side of her lips as admitted, "Might take a while, this."

Iris could not deny that this was going to take a while, which was normally different from the quick actions. Later, the group was following Judy, in a warehouse where people were placing items into trolleys. Judy stated,

"The System instantly relays customer orders to workers in Fulfilment. They scan the product and send it down to the Packing Stations."

From a distance, Iris saw a man wave at them happily, causing her to keep him in mind, hoping that nothing bad happened to the man. Later, they were at Packing, where the system alerted the arrival of various products. Judy continued to explain to them with,

"Once it's packed, the customer's order goes on the conveyor. Rule number one. Keep all loose clothing, hair and body parts away from the conveyors. And never, ever climb onto the conveyors. Any person found on the conveyor faces immediate termination."

"Doesn't sound ominous at all." Iris muttered on the side.

Later, the group found themselves at the Final Checks location, where Judy was explaining to them, when she finally asked them for questions. The Doctor couldn't help herself as she asked,

"Can I do the packing slips?"

Judy looked down at her ankle monitor and sighed, answering,

"Sorry, only purple GroupLoops work the packing stations."

The Doctor looked upset and Iris sighed out, "Switch with me."

The Doctor paused a moment, before realizing what Iris was doing. She was letting her stay with her current companions as much as possible, not wanting to intrude on the others. With that, she nodded and quickly sonicked Iris' GroupLoop, which changed their colors.

The moment the Doctor stood up straight, a Teammate robot came up to them and said,

"Hello, co-workers. We're so thrilled to have you with us. Yasmin Khan, please come with me. Ryan Sinclair, Graham O'Brien, and the Doctor – great name – with my colleague to the left."

The two men and the Doctor looked to find a second robot come up to them. Meanwhile, Yasmin looked at them and said, "Meet at break time in the Home Zone?"

Ryan nodded at his friend whilst the Doctor muttering something, whilst Graham asked,

"Wait, what about Iris? Where is she going?"

The group turned at the noise of Iris sighing, as she muttered, "You've got to be kidding me."

They saw a third robot holding a mop and bucket as it said,

"Iris Kim. A very warm welcome to Premium Maintenance."

Iris glared at the Doctor and said, "This is not funny."

The Doctor gave her an innocent shrug, as she huffed away from the location. Whilst following the Teammate, Iris was about to feel tempted to reach for her gun when the robot listed off one of the many rules, stating,

"Safety Rule 198, do not drink any of the cleaning fluids."

Iris grit her teeth, when Iris noticed that the robot stopped and said, "Your Maintenance Mentor is Charlie."

Iris peered around the robot to find a slightly younger man poke his head out whilst the robot left her there. Iris looked at the man, smiling kindly, as she said,

"Hey. I'm Iris. Nice to meet another real person."

With that, she waved at him, having seen how dirty his hands were. Charlie smiled gratefully and said,

"Charlie. I… er… I saw you arrive earlier. Wasn't expecting anyone new down here."

Iris clapped her hands, looking around her more in-detail, as she said,

"Well, it's your lucky then Charlie."

With that, she took in a better look of the storage unit, making her ask,

"So, tell me how all this really works."

Charlie sighed and said, "The moment there's a mess or a spill, we get beeped. There's strict time guidelines on how quickly we're supposed to get there and how long it takes us to clear things up."

Iris groaned out loud, not liking the sound of this. As she was regretting things, Charlie continued with,

"All laid down by the System. They check up on us after every task."

Iris rolled her eyes and said, "Great."

That was when the lights started flicker, causing Iris to look up in worry, not sure what to think of this situation, as the System stated,

"Temporary functionality issues. Team 9, please take an emergency rest break in the Home Zone now."

Iris then looked towards Charlie, asking "We in Team 9?"

Charlie shook his head hesitantly, but Iris merely smiled and patted his shoulder, as she said,

"Great. Let's go to Home Zone. Wherever that is. Lead the way?"

Charlie looked at the woman incredulously, but her innocent tip of the head caused him to just move along, not sure how she had been able to persuade him to do so. As they were relocating to Home Zone, Iris made sure to see if she could find something of importance. But she wasn't able to do so.

Once the arrived to Home Zone, Iris found herself being amazed by the holographic park that seemed peaceful. As she was looking around, she found the group of people that stood out. She quickly walked over to the Doctor, causing Charlie to trail after her nervously. The Doctor's eyes widened in happiness upon seeing her as she called out to her,

"Iris! Over here!"

By the time Iris walked over to her, she heard the Doctor ask Yasmin,

"So, just to be clear. You found Dan's scanner crushed?"

Iris looked over at the girl curiously, wondering what was going on as she responded to the question with,

"I heard him yell and now there's no sign of him anywhere. We have to find him."

Iris intercepted, not wanting to be left out of the situation, as she said, "What's going on?"

Yasmin sighed and answered, "There was this bloke, Dan, I was working with. But at some point, I heard him yell out, and all there was left was his scanner."

Iris bit her lower lip, not sure what to think of the situation, as the Doctor looked at the group and said,

"There were Delivery Bots like the Kerblam Man? Not the TeamMates? You three stay with me."

And then she paused, looking at Graham and then to Iris, before swapping the color of their anklets, and stating to Graham, "Sorry Graham, I need you to find out the history of the company and try and get some plans of the complex."

Graham looked incredulously at her and asked, "What? Why me? How am I going to do that?"

Iris wondered as well, as she asked, "Why switch us?"

The Doctor grimaced and stated, "He's perfectly placed. No one questions a cleaner. You look the part and you've got unrestricted access."

Iris, Ryan and Yasmin all warily looked over at Graham, who sighed, as if accepting her logic, surprisingly, before stating, "Yeah, and chronic skin irritation."

That was when Charlie popped his head shyly, causing Iris to realize his presence, before introducing him, with,

"Oh, everyone. This is Charlie. Graham, you will be working with him."

Graham looked at the younger man, when the brunette with a purple vest on seemed to recognize the boy, stating,

"Hi, Charlie."

But her clumsiness caused her to slightly trip, making her spill her lunch. Her face blushed, causing her to mutter embarrassedly,

"Oh no. What am I like?"

The Doctor and her companions watched with amusement as Charlie rushed over to help her and say,

"It's okay. I've got it. It's okay."

Kira sighed and said, "I'm so clumsy."

Charlie looked at Kira, finally managing to make eye contact with her as he said, "I don't mind."

Kira blushed even more. The Doctor smiled warmly, whilst Iris smirked, Jack's classic smirk having rubbed off on her. Ryan, Yasmin and Graham looked at the two women with mixed feelings. Eventually, the group got separated, when Iris followed the Doctor.

Eventually, Iris found herself at an office, where the Doctor was looking at the shorter man, who glared at the group as she said,

"Dan Cooper has vanished. Maybe you should call the police."

Iris crossed her arms at that, causing Ryan to follow her, only for Yasmin to roll her eyes at his antics and slap his arm to make him drop it. Meanwhile, Slade grew angry as he grit out,

"There are no police here."

The Doctor huffed out, "The authorities then."

Judy bristled at that as she stated, "We are the authorities. Kerblam is its own jurisdiction. We have responsibility for all employee welfare."

Iris sighed at this, irritated with the situation that seemed to be playing out as she retorted back with,

"Then you'd better be worthy of the jobs you're holding because a man is missing and we don't think he's the first, not if what we received is any indicator."

With that, the blonde Time Lady placed the packing slip with the message onto the desk, almost slamming it on, as she quickly said,

"This came to me in a delivery."

Iris watched as a look of determination came across the other Time Lady's eyes, something she has seen so many times, and yet, unfamiliar, and Iris' eyes expressed the slight sadness she felt from the new Doctor in front of her.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and her current companions were discussing things with the staff, leaving Iris out. Though this did not go unnoticed by the Doctor, she kept on going, not wanting to miss important information, as she said,

"This came to me in a delivery."

Judy read the message and frowned, as she asked, "What do you think it means?"

Yasmin rolled her eyes in exasperation as she commented, "It's not exactly cryptic."

Ryan added on, "Somebody was worried about their own safety, and now we're finding that other people are going missing."

Iris couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Who has access to the printing system for those packing slips?"

Slade glared at the woman as he responded with, "Nobody. They're auto-generated during the order process. But they're placed in boxes by the workers in Fulfilment. Your section."

Ryan then couldn't hold his irritation either, as he demanded,

"Have you tried working down there? There's no time to add stuff to slips. This was done somewhere else before it gets to Fulfilment."

The Doctor nodded as she quietly, but resolvedly answered with,

"Something is very wrong here at Kerblam. And if you two don't do something about it, I might start to suspect that you're responsible."

Judy gulped, not sure what to think about this scenario as she nodded hesitantly, and quietly responded back with,

"We'll look into it. You have my word."

Iris narrowed her eyes at the way Slade glared at Judy after she had stated that, and reluctantly stated,

"Mine too."

The Doctor seemed to share Iris's feelings as she warned them with,

"Those words better be worth something. And if anything happens to us, or our new friends, or anyone else here, you'll have me to answer to."

With that, she took back the packing slip, turning to walk away. Iris tossed back her jacket, trying to be overdramatic in her exit, whilst the Doctor leaned back towards her and asked,

"Too bombastic?"

Iris chuckled and whispered back, "Eh, slightly less than the previous regenerations. Remember the chin?"

The Doctor blushed at remembering how clumsy and giraffe-like she was in that version, while the trio looked a little confused and lost. That was when Ryan stuck his head in-between the two Time Ladies and stated,

"I kinda liked it."

The Doctor beamed at that and looked at Iris with a look, when she heard the Doctor say through their bond,

"See! They like it!"

Iris merely shook her head at the Doctor's smug attitude, when the Doctor then jumped ahead, yelling,

"Thanks. Laters!"

Quickly, the Doctor frowned, not liking that phrase, almost as if it left a terrible aftertaste, reminding her of Ten's classic wrinkle-frown, causing her to shake her head to stifle her laughter, as the Doctor looked towards her companions, claiming,

"Oh, I'm not doing that again. Sticking with bye."

Iris laughed at that and said, "You never change."

Ryan asked, "You mean, she was like this before?"

Iris looked at the wide-eyed trio, and smirked, as she said, "Has she ever mentioned that time she licked a leaf?"

Ryan stuttered out, "She… she what?"

Iris left them hanging, as she started to follow the Doctor. The duo looked at each other with a look of disbelief at what they heard, when Yasmin then asked,

"But Iris, you said that you were traveling with the Doctor. But she has never mentioned you and we have not met you before. So what does that mean?"

Iris paused, a sad look coming over her, as she shakily took in a breath. Letting out a breath, she faced the three people and answered with,

"That is something I'm not so sure of. Spoilers, probably. But it could be various reasons. I stopped traveling with the Doctor, something tragic happened to me, or the Doctor could no longer travel with me due to something entirely else."

Yasmin frowned at that and asked again, "So she just leaves you behind. Is that what will happen to us?"

Iris shook her head and said, "I doubt it. But remember that just because the Doctor you know tends to be a hero, doesn't mean she can save everyone. And sometimes, that person she can't save might be you."

The two people felt a sense of dread, which Iris could clearly see, and she gave them a small smile, that seemed to say everything, as she articulated,

"But when you think about it, the wonders of the universe is worth that risk, isn't it?"

Ryan was the first one to respond with,

"Yeah… I think that I can't go back to painting walls, or doing something boring ever again.'

Yasmin nodded as well, and said, "There's so much to see, and the universe is so much bigger. I want to continue exploring it."

Iris finally seemed happy that she had managed to give the new companions a more positive outlook on traveling with the Doctor, as she said,

"Good. Then let's get a move on, the Doctor is getting impatient."

Ryan furrowed his brows and questioned, "How do you know that?"

Iris looked sheepish and admitted, "The Doctor and I… we share this bond, and we can telepathically talk to each other."

Yasmin and Ryan's eyes seemed to almost bug out of their eyes at that, but before they could further investigate what that bond entailed, they were in the corridor, finally having caught up to the Doctor.

They were still walking, when Ryan began to state,

"Catch me up with this. We storm into management, cause a fight. What ever happened to being under cover?"

The Doctor merely shrugged as she answered,

"That was before I knew people were disappearing. I'm stepping it up a gear, going straight to the top."

Yasmin looked at the Time Lady, then over at Iris, before adding on,

"I bet you were the sort of kid who liked poking a stick in the wasps' nest, just to see what happened."

Iris scoffed at that and asked, "a wasps' nest, more like anything she comes across."

The Doctor playfully glared at her and said, "Oi, don't get cheeky with me."

Iris gave her an innocent look that resembled a, 'who… me?' look.

The Doctor ignored her and answered Yasmin,

"Don't like bullies, don't like conspiracies, don't like people being in danger. And there's a flavor of all three here. Now, ever hidden in a paneled alcove?"

The two younger people said, no, whilst Iris said yes. The Doctor paused to look at her before realizing what she was hinting at when Iris began to blush. The Doctor sighed and said,

"Don't… that's… I don't want to know what you and Jack are up to."

Iris blushed even more, causing Yasmin and Ryan to blush too, realizing where this conversation was going. They all agreed to stop talking about it as Ryan frustratedly asked,

"Why are we doing this, exactly."

The Doctor looked at them with a smirk, stating,

"We wait until Slade leaves, then we break back into his office, obviously. Oh, talking of wasps. Did I ever tell you about me and Agatha Christie?"

Iris chuckled, remembering how Donna was angry at being called the plucky young girl, and Ryan asked,

"Wait, you were there?"

Iris shook her head, as amusement took in her features, washing away the slightly flustered look, as she said,

"No, but someone who did go with her didn't like it when a certain someone called her a 'plucky young girl who helps me out'."

The Doctor tensed and Yasmin and Ryan tried to hide their snickering. But soon, the Doctor shushed all of them, not wanting to get caught while they were all hiding. It almost seemed like forever to the four of them, and they all felt cramped. Legs cramping, sweat falling, all four of them held their breaths as much as they could when the short and stocky man finally left his office.

They all bolted through the door, quietly as they could, when Yasmin whispered out in short breaths,

"I thought Slade'd never leave."

The Doctor stretched a little, trying get bearings of the room a little better, as she asked,

"What do we think then?"

Yasmin answered with a question of her own, trying to even out her breathing as she said,

"If this is Slade's office, and everything in this company is automated, why does he need a clipboard?"

Ryan pointed to the filing cabinet, asking something similar with, "Or a filing cabinet?"

Iris walked over curiously, attempting to open the cabinet, while the Doctor read off the clipbard with,

"Khan and Sinclair, the greatest detectives in the galaxy."

Iris found that the cabinet was locked. Ryan was about to say something, when Iris quickly took out a bobby pin from her pocket and smirked towards Ryan mischievously. He could only laugh a little at that, when he observed her pick the lock from where she was.

After a few seconds, the lock finally clicked, and Iris jumped a little in victory, before hurriedly opening it and looked inside, muttering,

"What sort of paperwork does Slade keep locked away?"

She took a select handful of the files out, sifting through them. She paused upon reading the files, not hearing Ryan's question, only managing to freeze.

Yasmin walked over and looked at what she was reading before gasping out, "Oh, my God."

But before they could talk about the files further, a familiar female voice exclaimed,

"You'd better have a very good excuse for breaking in here. Your GroupLoops told me you were back here."

Iris looked down at her ankle, before feeling very stupid for a quick second as the Doctor started to ramble off,

"Oh, I knew that, but I forgot that. That's the problem with conspiracies, there's so much to think about. What if I said we'd got lost, ended up in here by accident, just as the filing cabinet weirdly fell open. How would that play?"

Judy narrowed her eyes at the four individuals, not quite feeling friendly towards them anymore, as she asked,

"There were no shuttles from Kandoka today. I checked. Who are you? Industrial spies?"

Iris scoffed at that and muttered, "Only if it were that simple."

The Doctor ignored her companion and walked over to Judy, voice filled with determination as she said,

"I was being honest with you earlier. We got a message that someone needed help, and we came. People are vanishing, and Mister Slade is keeping a running tally."

With that, Iris showed Judy the files, as she added on,

"Seven people so far. According to the notes, it started approximately four months ago with two workers. The next month, one more. This month, a total of four people. The disappearance are on the increase. No wonder people or something is sending out cries for help. And as Head of People for Kerblam, I'd suggest you're guilty of some serious negligence."

Opening her mouth to retaliate, Judy only managed to let out a small breath in fear when the lights flickered at that moment before the red emergency lighting turned on.

Yasmin and Ryan's eyes widened in shock as well, as the former asked, "Another power drain?"

Judy stated with a shaky voice laced with terror, "That's not a power drain. That's a total system blackout."

Quickly, she walked over to Iris, who had furiously started to type into the computer, but failed, only managing to pull up information, reading off,

"Power's drained right down to the Foundation levels. What is that?"

That was when Graham's voice came to them with a smug tone, as he said, "I can help with that."

Iris and Judy simultaneously looked up from the computer screen to find Graham and Charlie together. Charlie's presence caused Judy to exclaim out,

"Charlie, what are you doing up here?"

Charlie shyly apologized but Graham interrupted with, "He's with me."

The Doctor then added on, "And he's with us."

This caused Graham to look happy, before he resumed to stated,

"And they are the original plans for Kerblam."

With that, Graham put down a blueprint of the factory so that everyone could see. This caused the higher ranking employee to question them with,

"What are you doing with those? Those are company artifacts. Was this down to you?"

Everyone ignored her as Ryan started to read the plans in more depth, stating,

"More urgent question. If everything's automated and all the power's shut down, why is that robot still active?"

Iris snapped towards Ryan, hinting that it was a very good question, as the Doctor walked towards the TeamMate with glowing eyes by the doorway. Everyone quickly backed up a little as the TeamMate started to report,

"Error reported. Error reported."

But Charlie recklessly tried to attack the TeamMate by grabbing its ear. But the robot managed to eventually pick up Charlie by his throat, causing the boy to start struggling for breath in his panic. The robot stated,

"Investigating."

Iris held back the three companions and Judy, her arms in front of them protectively, while the Doctor yelled out,

"Charlie!"

The robot continued to repeat the one word when the sonic only buzzed and did nothing as the Doctor groaned out,

"The receptor codes are fluctuating."

Iris then yelled out, "Oh come on! Doctor, step back!"

And with that, the Doctor jumped back when a gunshot roared through the room, and the robot shut down. When everyone looked at the non-functioning robot, they found a hole in the head. The Doctor immediately whirled around to Iris, and pointed a finger at her, as she said,

"You know I don't like guns!"

Iris frowned and answered back with, "Yeah, and your sonic was not working. It seemed to be a life and death scenario, so I did what I thought was best at the moment."

The Doctor huffed a little, not liking the situations, when Judy said, her tone laced with panic,

"This has never happened before with any of the robots."

The Doctor immediately went to the robot to scan the head, when Yasmin answered,

"You're wrong. When Dan Cooper went missing, there were three of those, dressed in those Postmen uniforms, walking the shelving. They came after me."

Judy started to ramble when Iris fell into deep thought, causing Graham to ask, "What is it?"

Iris looked at the older man and said, "Something is not adding up. Why would they take the people? But also, it knew we were also hostile, so why fixate on Charlie, here?"

With that, Ryan, Graham, and Iris looked at the boy who was leaning on the wall, trying to catch his breath still, when they all were brought back to the general room as the lights turned on. The Doctor then said,

"And we're back online. But the receptor cells on this are all blown out."

They then looked back to the Doctor upon hearing something spark. When they had looked over in that direction, the Doctor was scanning the head that had sparked, causing the Time Lady to set the head on the desk.

Ryan walked over and warned her, "Hey, Doctor, be careful."

But she merely smiled at him before scanning again, when it sparks once more. Iris sighed and walked over, as she watched the Doctor scan the computer terminal this time with a frown. She looked at the computer, which seemed to glitch even more, as the Doctor commented,

"Oh, it's as if the System suddenly channeled all its energy into this one single TeamMate."

Iris looked over at it and said out loud, "So it's gone rogue."

The Doctor nodded, and Judy finally managed to yell out,

"Of course it's gone rogue. Nobody would do any of this deliberately."

The Doctor's brows furrowed and she gave the woman a chilly stare, as she warned,

"If I ever find out that you're lying…"

Judy looked offended at that notion as she stated,

"I have worked for years to make Kerblam more of a People-Powered Company. My career has been about bringing people like Charlie here. People who need a second chance. Haven't I?"

Hearing that statement, everyone turned to look at Charlie, who nodded and wheezed out,

"It's true. She's the reason most of are here. She selects all the workers. We owe her a lot."

Judy then slid over to the files, disbelieving admitting,

"I've never seen these papers of Slade's before now. Those names, Zaff, Jax, Chinello, the others, they're active on the System. According to the System, they're still alive and working. There are 10,000 people here. I can't keep track of them all?"

Iris was still thinking about what Judy had previously said, as Yasmin asked,

"So what do we do, Doctor?"

The Doctor stated, "If I could get a copy of the original code, I could hack in, isolate the upgrades and see what it's up to."

Iris ignored the rest of the conversation, when in the hallway towards the reception, she turned to Judy and held the woman's shoulders, asking,

"What was it that you said earlier? People-Powered Company?"

Judy froze and tensed under the tight grip, as she stuttered out, "What?"

Everyone turned to Iris, who looked almost frantic, as she said,

"Judy, you told us you strived to make this more of a 'People-Powered Company'. That entails that this company utilizes robots more than actual people to run it successfully. Which also means…"

The Doctor added in, "people have been losing jobs or can't get jobs because of the robots."

Iris continued on with, "This must have caused some sort of feeling of anger, resentment, and frustration to people who couldn't get hired in positions like Charlie's."

Graham then asked, "But we're still missing something. If someone was hired, then shouldn't have there been damaged robots, some propaganda or protest by the worker? People have been disappearing, not robots."

Iris shook her head and said, "Even if that was the case, people have been disappearing, and we have been attacked by a robot. Everything does point to a robot, but what if we are looking at someone's handiwork?"

Judy looked at the Time Lady who was trying to think things through, as she whispered out in disbelief,

"Someone is framing them. But how?"

Iris sighed and said, "That is the part we have to find out somehow."

And by the time the conversation ended, they were all in Reception, where Ryan pointed to an early model of a robot and said,

"Kerblam Delivery Bot version 1.0. Also known as Twirly."

Everyone looked at the dome-shaped top which had three short 'legs'. Charlie looked around nervously, as he stated,

"I don't think we should do this. If Mr. Slade finds out-"

But he was cut off by Judy, who determinedly said, "Leave Slade to me. Let's just hurry up before the TeamMates come on their patrol."

The Doctor quickly sonicked the display case and activated the robot, as she comfortingly told it,

"Here we go, Twirly. Nice to meet you."

Yasmin looked at the robot with an admiring look as she commented, "Quite cute, isn't it?"

Ryan huffed with, "It's kind of retro."

That reminded Iris of a memory of K-9, causing her to smile a little, when the Doctor stated,

"Well, he is getting on a bit. I love a bit of retro."

But what the group did not know was that in the back, in a separate display, a Delivery Bot turned its head to watch them without its eyes lighting up. They also did not know that at that very moment, Slade was observing them at his desk terminal, getting ready to face the truth as he inserted a power pack into a hand weapon resembling a gun.