Day Five
Sarah-Jane
It had been two days since Matt, Chris, and David went missing, and we still didn't have a clue as to where they were. Rose, Clara, and I had spent all of our free time searching. We observed every little detail- how Moffat and Davies were missing multiple times each day, how none of the teachers acknowledged their absence. I couldn't even get them to give me the answers like I usually could (Ah yes, my powers of interrogation and hyper-analyzation were useless against Torchwood. Seemed like a waste to even bring me here).
The day prior, Jack was able to obtain some security footage showing how they were taken. The footage didn't show much, just the general drones and being wheeled away. It wasn't at night like you'd expect for a kidnapping, it was 6:32 PM, just about our dinner time when they were taken. The most of a lead we were able to find was that there were some blue and yellow gasses emitted by those drones- probably an anesthetic of some sorts. Ironically, David was probably the only one who could tell us what it really was.
Upon going to the site of the footage, we found that there weren't any cameras there, concealed or otherwise. "They must've brought a camera with them," Rose noted, "weird."
"They recorded it, because they wanted us to see it," I deduced. "Think about it, why would they need the evidence if it could only be used against them." I paused. "Jack, where'd you get the footage?" I asked.
"I found the drive on Ms. Gardner's desk," Jack said. He paused, realizing that it had been left out just for us.
"Red herring," I said, "false positive, it's what they want us to believe. There's a slim chance we'll ever find the actual footage, if there is any."
"But why would they take the time to make this?" Clara asked, "And those gasses definitely aren't harmless." She cringed as she saw her boyfriend- friend being subjected to the substances, showing signs of immense pain and agony.
"We should probably get back to your room before someone notices us," Rose said, pointing to the walls enclosing around us.
"Always thought this place was a like labyrinth," Jack joked, "I guess I was right."
"Not the time," Rose said, rolling her eyes, "but yeah, we should probably get back."
We hurried back, retracing our trail, but the walls were changing elsewhere. There wasn't any distinguishable pattern as far as I could tell, except that they were closing in on us.
"Plan?" Jack asked, trying in vain to stop the walls from moving.
"Stay put," Clara said, which seemed to go against all of our instincts. "Struggling will only increase it," that seemed odd to all of us, knowing that staying put would significantly reduce our chances of survival. "If they wanted us dead, they'd have taken us with them, or poisoned us. They want us alive."
"Right," I agreed, "they're not trying to torture us, their just containing us."
While Jack seemed to be convinced by that, Rose still had other thoughts. "They'd have gotten drones after us, or paged us or something. This is meant to hurt us."
"No," Jack refuted, "they needed a surefire way of getting us there." The lights finally flickered out and the walls stopped.
"Well played," we heard a voice say over an intercom, "I was scared I'd have to accidently crush some test subjects again." The tone definitely didn't suggest that it was an accident.
"Who is it?" Rose called out.
"Dammit, it this thing still on?" we heard the voice say. "Hold on a second." We heard the sound of wires fiddling. If it wasn't such a dire situation it would almost have been funny.
"Okay, can you hear me now?" the oddly familiar voice responded, clearly disgruntled.
"Moffat," Rose said, bitterly.
"Where are you, why them why us?" I demanded.
"All in good time," he said, "but first, we need to find them. That's why I got you guys, my brightest p-" he paused, "students. My brightest students."
"So you didn't take them," Clara confirmed.
"No, no," he laughed, "this place is a safe haven for Mutants- purely peaceful. The idea was to help you avoid getting captured."
"So you captured us?" Jack asked, not really getting it.
Moffat paused. "Well yes, but it could've been worse, much much worse. That's not the point. The point is, I need to find out more about this, but I can't do it alone. I need you to help me. Sarah Jane, you're interrogative abilities, we'll need that, and Jack- I'll let you flirt with anyone you need to crack this case."
"Anyone?" Jack asked, clearly getting some unpleasant ideas.
"Well, within reason," Moffat said. He switched targets to talk to. "Clara," he continued, "I need you for evidence, every clue counts," he paused, "and Rose."
"Yeah," Clara returned, "what am I good for?"
"Um," Moffat struggled, "we'll find that out later."
"Thanks," Rose said, her words coated in sarcasm.
"Anyways," Moffat continued, "I've been relocating this unit to my office for further discussion." Before we could protest the room started moving at lightspeed.
When it stopped, we all got up. Clara, who was experiencing mild nausea spoke first.
"What's the plan," she muttered, asking no one in particular as we gazed around Moffat's office. It wasn't so much books that lined the walls rather paper copies of records of practically every Mutant case since the early 1900's.
"Not much to see there," Moffat said from behind us, "It's all on the internet nowadays."
"What do you want?" I asked, trying extra hard to get my powers to work.
They almost did, for a second Moffat was about to say something then he snapped back. "Just- erm - to free them," Moffat answered weakly, but no one was convinced.
"What do you really want?" I asked, trying even harder only to get less of an effect.
"Like I said, their safety," he said, not even making eye contact.
"'Kay, so that's not working," Rose said, "mind if I try?"
"Wait," Clara interrupted, "what if he does want to save us?"
"Why did he kidnap us then?" Jack countered.
Clara looked like she wanted to retort, but she had nothing to say.
"They lie to us, Clara," I sigh. "They don't care about keeping us safe. They want to experiment on us, push us to our limits, figure our boundaries, try to push us over the edge."
"No, I really do want to help you. I created Moffat's School for Mutants for the betterment of all Mutants," Moffat said, defending himself. "Why would you suspect me of doing such a bad thing to your friends?"
"Well, for starters, you kidnapped them, they could be dead, for all we know, and we're stuck in an institute away from all civilization," Clara started.
"But- it's for your own good. Here at Moffat's School for Mutants, we try to help you all with your powers as much as possible. Your friends needed some 'special training', since their powers are the strongest."
Rose looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I shrugged and turned back to Moffat, who was sitting with his feet on the desk, with a smug look on his face.
"Would you like to join our special training elective? It's for your own good," Moffat inquired.
"No thanks. Look, I need to study for a test tomorrow, along with the rest of us here. Goodbye, and thanks for the offer," I said, and turned on my heel. I walked out of the door and everyone followed suit. We all went back to our dorms, and I soon dozed off.
Narrator's POV
Sarah Jane Smith was sleeping peacefully in her bed, same as her friends. There was the low sound of a door sliding, and the door opened. Two men in all black with gas masks came in, and turned the lid on a gas canister. They carefully lifted Sarah Jane off of her bed, trying hard to not wake her roommate, and carried her away, little to her knowledge.
Sarah Jane's POV
I woke up, and immediately felt a pain in my head.
"Ow!" I complained. "Wait, where am I? I don't know where I am!"
I looked around. I was trapped in a plain, small room with dark grey walls. My ankle was chained down to a cot, and the only other piece of furniture in the room was a metal toilet that was presumably dysfunctional. An ominous metal door enclosed the room, so I knew there was no way I could ever get out of here. Crap.
"I don't know where I am, either!" I heard Jack exclaim over a speaker. Oh! There was a small intercom next to my bed. I pressed the button, and spoke.
"Jack! Is that you? Are you trapped, too? How will we get out of here?" The questions came firing out of me.
"Yeah, it's me. We're trapped and I have no idea how to escape because I have no idea where we are."
"Well… that's not good. How will we ever get home? I wonder if the others are here…"
"Yeah, we're here. You woke me up with your talking!" I hear Clara's voice over the intercom.
"Clara! Thank goodness you're alive. So, back to that escape plan."
"Wait, if Torchwood or Moffat or whatever let us speak on intercoms, then they probably can listen in on the conversation," another voice cut in.
"Rose?" Jack confirmed, though at this point it really wasn't necessary.
"Yeah," she said.
"We probably shouldn't share anything confidential," I agreed.
"So where are we?" Jack asked. "I mean, do you think we've been taken to the same place as David, Matt, and Chris?"
"I reckon," I said. "No need separating us, best to have all prisoners in the same place."
"Do you think," Clara stuttered, "do you think they are going to run experiments on us?"
" 'Course," I said, "what else would they be doing here that they couldn't do back at MSFM- or wherever that is."
"But-" she began and a voice was heard over the intercom, "wait, she said." We stood frozen for a moment. "She says she wants to take me to see someone."
"Don't go," Jack said, "it's a trap."
"Resistance won't work either," I pointed out. "They have their ways."
"Guys, she's coming closer what do I do?" Clara asked.
"Go," I said, "They'll get you one way or another." It's true.
A few more minutes of rationalizing until Jack was paged, followed by Rose. Then it was just me. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears, I hadn't been this scared in a long time, not since my introduction to MSFM.
"Sarah Jane Smith," a voice sounded over my intercom.