Chapter 3

The air between the Doctor and Pride wasn't awkward anymore, because it was charged with far more aggressive emotions. Pride knew his situation could, in theory, get worse. But free will was not really on the list of things he thought he might lose. And the Doctor sure didn't seem to have a problem with it.

After stalking the corridors for a little while, he found his old room and went in. For a while, he just leaned against the wall and glared daggers into the ground. Then he sighed. He had no idea how long it had been for the Doctor, probably a while, and his bedroom was mostly cleaned out. Time to get to work.

He spent some time tracking down anything he'd had in the room that he wanted back. He hadn't been able to bring anything from Amestris, but he didn't mind that. He'd spent a lot of time creating new lives only to drop them. He wasn't very attached to things (unlike certain siblings).

Then he went to sleep, because the Doctor might've knocked him out earlier, but probably not for very long, and they had just spent a whole day fighting daleks.

When he woke up, he decided he wasn't in the mood to just sit in his room all day. He opened the door a crack. No Doctor in sight. That was good for now. He tiptoed off to the kitchen. This room was also rather unchanged. Even Porter was still there, though Pride got the feeling he hadn't just been sitting there the whole time. In fact, he looked a little older, though it was barely noticeable.

He paused, staring at Pride as he came in. "You're back."

Pride gave him a sarcastic smile. "Surprise."

Porter laughed, putting his hands in his pockets. "I asked the Doctor where you went at one point. I've heard some things about you Selim. To start with, I'm fairly certain your name's not Selim."

He smirked. "It's Pride."

Porter nodded. The kettle in his metal hand started boiling. Well, those metal parts could produce a lot of heat, sometimes whether Porter wanted them to or not. Porter poured the water into a cup of tea, then quickly drew another one out for Pride.

"So, why'd she take you back? She seemed pretty against the idea."

"I asked."

Porter paused for a moment, then grinned. "I wish I could've seen her face. She had a pretty great one when I accepted her offer you know."

Right. From what Pride had picked up on, Porter had fought the Doctor, she'd offered to help him, and then in a surprising moment he'd said yes.

"Why did you accept her offer?"

"I'd overused my mechanical parts. I was starting to split at the seams. Accepting help was the logical thing to do. Because frankly, I don't want to die. What about you? Why did you ask?"

Why not? "The people on my planet found out I was still Pride. I'd rather go with the Doctor than go on the run." Or be killed or taken prisoner for the rest of his life. All of them had been possibilities, and none of them appealing for multiple reasons.

Porter came over, set the two cups of tea down, and sat the table. Pride took a seat at the other end.

"You know Pride, I think I'm going to like you better this way."

Lilly walked along the corridor. It was dark, minimal lighting guiding her along. Presumably, that meant it was night in the world above, but they were so far under the sea she'd have to take other people's word for it.

She looked out of the glass into the ocean beyond as she walked. At this time of night it was usually calming. There was a school of fish out there. And something else. She couldn't tell exactly what it was. It was dark, but there was a huge darker shape coming at them in the water. Lilly's eyes widened. She screamed as whatever it was hit the wall, jaw open. Cracks appeared in the glass. Water began leaking in between the glass and teeth. In one spot the glass shattered further causing it to pour in. Lilly was pushed back by the strength of the water hitting her legs, falling onto her butt. When she looked back up, the creature was gone.

An alarm sounded, and doors on both sides closed, sealing off this specific part of the corridor. Well, that was great for the rest of the population, but not so much from where she was sitting.

"Hey!" Lilly shouted. She jumped back up and ran to one of the doors, pounding on it. "Hey let me out!"

"Lilly?" She heard the voice of her boss, Ivan, on the other side of the wall. It was usually his job to come and investigate damage. He sighed. "Oh Lilly, what have you done this time?"

"I haven't done anything!" Lilly objected. Probably not the top priority right now though. "Where's the alchemist?!" He could temporarily get this door open with no trouble at all.

"Ruth is getting him. Just hang on."

Lilly was distracted from answering him by a new sound in the corridor. It wasn't water, or the doors opening. It sounded sort of like a dying engine. She turned around, and saw a blue box materialize in the hall.

The door opened. Two people stepped out and were instantly blasted by water. One of them, he was still a kid, was knocked right over.

"Doctor!"

"Yeah, I noticed," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Lilly asked. And where had they possibly come from?

The woman turned to her, noticing for the first time that they weren't alone.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said.

The kid, meanwhile, had grabbed one of the handrails lining the hall to get back up.

One of the doors suddenly got a hole in it, alchemical sparks appearing around the edges.

"Hey come on!" shouted the familiar voice of their alchemist. "Get out of there!"

None of them needed to be told twice. Lilly was in the lead, jumping through the hole, but she warned Simon not to close the gap right away. A moment later the woman and kid climbed through.