Wow, I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story! I'm having loads of fun writing it - however there is bad news about future updates, which I will explain about at the end of this instalment. For now, sit back, relax and enjoy!

Red Dragon

Chapter Ten

The Chamber

Derol strode confidently into the glass cell through a side door embedded in the white wall. He was smiling slightly. The Doctor glared at him as he approached.

"Good morning." He sounded quite cheerful. "I trust you are enjoying your stay."

The Doctor snorted. "Yeah, right."

Derol feigned sadness. "Pity. And I thought you were having the time of your life."

"Why not let me go and maybe you'll see me having the time of my life?" the Doctor suggested.

"I'm not about to fall for that," Derol replied laughing. "Besides we've barely started."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Why not enlighten me with today's activities?"

Derol cast his eyes over his fingertips. "Oh, nothing too bad, I assure you. Just a few tests on your blood and maybe one or two scans."

"Fun."

Derol sniggered. "You amuse me."

"Oh that makes me so happy!" The Doctor replied.

Derol turned away from him, strolling back to the door in the wall but he said over his shoulder: "And by the way, we'll be starving you from now on. Just to give your system a shock."

Then he was gone.

Well, I must admit that this is exciting, the Doctor mused, watching the female scientist, jab a needle in to his arm and take some more blood. It felt like they were jabbing him every five minutes, though technically it probably happened every twenty minutes. He was that bored with this procedure that every time someone walked into the glass cage to take some more blood he made a point of making a comment and asking when the fun was about to begin.

Of course, when he said it for the twentieth time, the scientist had slapped him round the face and hissed a threat in his ear. However, even that had not stopped him from making sarky comments. It was, after all, the only interesting thing to do. What was he suppose to do? Shout for joy every time they stuck a needle into a vein and rejoice at the fact he was losing blood?

Not bloody likely.

He was not going to play by Flynn's rules. If Flynn wanted to keep him, then he had to live with the consequences.

The Doctor watched the various scientists bustle round the lab testing his blood as well as readings from other tests they had inflicted upon him. Every now and again there came an exclamation of delight as something new was discovered. Throughout it all the Doctor just observed talking when he felt he had a right to contribute.

By the evening on the - fourth day? - the Doctor found that he was so hungry he would kill to get it. His stomach continuously rumbled making him groan. His mouth was parched dry - no one had given him any water for the past twenty-four hours - so he supposed this was another one of Flynn's tests.

Does he want to bleed me dry?

Around midnight, the Doctor, supposed, Derol Flynn walked into the cell, his eyes showing murder embedded in their depths.

This does not bode well, the Doctor mused before his captor could launch into a tirade of abuse.

"I have just received a report from Zyli and she has informed me that you have not been co-operating as well as you should be. Do you want to be fed?"

"A nice, tasty roast Chicken would go down lovely, if the offer is there," the Doctor replied.

Derol glared at him. "Do you realise what you are doing to yourself?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"You're killing yourself by messing up the results!"

The Doctor blinked. Did I miss something?

"Zyli explained to me that whenever she came to take blood or do a scan you made a scene."

"A what?"

"A scene. You refused, therefore making her job harder to do, therefore your results differed."

"I don't remember doing anything to upset her…I just talked." The Doctor said truthfully. And complained.

Derol sneered. "Who am I likely to believe? You or one of my team who I trust completely?"

"I guess that rules me out then," the Doctor said sulkily. He was not going to win this battle. "Mind you, it might be a good idea if you actually saw what I did to supposedly make her job harder, before you accuse me of doing something I didn't do."

Without warning Derol's hand came flying to his face, slapping him hard. "Don't you dare speak back to me like that!" he spat. He began to pace, noting with satisfaction that his subject was watching him, looking a little dazed.

After a few minutes, Derol's breathing returned to normal. Resuming his position in front of the Doctor, he knelt down and spoke softly, but his voice was dripping with venom. "There is only one way to make you co-operate. I hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but it calls for it." He took a deep breath and spoke into a comlink that hung at his side. "Riaj, come to Lab 16, Basement. Ensure you have two others with you."

The Doctor remained silent, figuring that it would be in his best interests if he kept his mouth shut. He hadn't done anything wrong and - it sounded like - he was going to be punished. He had read Flynn wrong. He had hoped the humanoid wouldn't harm his prize, but looking at his current situation it seemed like he was wrong about that assumption. He sighed.

"When Riaj gets here, he will escort you to a place I like to call 'The Chamber'. And when you return, you won't even have the energy to speak back to me like that, or mess up any other tests I wish to do on you."

Great.

Riaj soon stepped through into the Doctor's cell. Unlike the scientists, the guards were not humanoids, instead they were Desdins. The one in front bowed. "Yes master." The pinkish tongue flicked out of the mouth.

"Riaj, Cran and Tomin." Derol spoke each in turn, nodding his respect to each. "My latest subject is failing to co-operate. I want you to teach him a lesson in 'The Chamber'. I'm positive you can manage that."

"We can," the one name Tomin answered.

"I do not want him to speak back to me. If you must, humiliate him. It might just get him to keep his mouth shut." Flynn nodded and stalked off, leaving the three Desdins with the Doctor.

The is not going to be my favourite part of the holiday, the Doctor reflected.

"My god…" Martha fell silent, her face pale as she stepped up beside Rose.

Situated behind a glass panel was thin creature that could have once been handsome, instead it looked near death, dejected. The creature's six legs would have once been strong and muscular but now through the small amount of fur that covered its body, Rose could see the bones protruding. She swallowed. The creature's eyes seemed dead and it moaned softly as she stepped forward.

Gently, Rose knelt down. The creature struggled to sit up. Lifting a hand to the window pane, Rose placed it upon the cold glass. The creature flicked its tongue and licked the space. From where she sat Rose could see what the helpless thing wanted.

"It wants to die," she whispered. "It suffers."

Rising, she stepped back taking deep breathes. "I have to help it."

"We can't." Mickey pointed out. "There's no controls that I can see."

Though they stood in a scientific lab, Rose could see nothing of the sort that would help them to free the creature. She bit her lip trying to decide.

Use me.

Rose shuddered as the cold, calculating voice spoke in her mind. If I do, I'm putting myself at risk.

Possibly, it answered softly.

Rose stared at the creature. The sounds it made told her that it wanted its suffering to end. Freeing it wasn't an option - it was way past that. It's life had been one long line of misery. It had never known freedom or love. She didn't know how long the creature had been in the place, but it looked broken, resigned to its fate. This was a creature that she wanted to free, but in her heart the only freedom that she could give was death.

"I've got to put it to sleep." She whispered. "It's the only way, otherwise they'll keep it alive. It's suffered so much in its life. It is the least I can do."

The others stood back as Rose knelt again and placed her right palm on the glass pane. She closed her eyes and reached for the Bad Wolf, entwining her soul with the power. It spread like fire through her veins, engrossing her spirit in its grip. She felt herself tumbling in darkness. Something ripped from her falling away, caught in the clutches of the Bad Wolf, as she and the Wolf became one.

When her eyes opened they were no longer the colour of chocolate brown, instead they were shining red, energy leaking from them.

She swallowed. Show me what to do.

This.

Images formed in her mind and Rose memorised them. Once they had passed, she set to work, running both her hands over the glass. Within minutes it was heated, burning her hands as she rubbed the window and then it shattered instantly when she pounded a fist into it. Glass fragments fell around her but Rose paid no heed to them.

Then, in quick motion, her right hand came forward grasping the poor creature round its neck, snapping it.

It may be inhuman to do that, but you need to live past it in order to understand us. It was speaking of their joining. Having taken the power properly into herself, Rose had bonded with the Bad Wolf. Everything it said meant them.

She stood up and as she turned to face her companions, she noticed the expression of horror on Martha's face. Mickey looked shocked but his eyes showed betrayal.

And Rose knew she was lost. She had done an unforgivable thing.

She could not step back.

There was only one way forward.

And that was to continue.

Become one with the Bad Wolf.

Even if it meant losing herself along the way. The Doctor would understand.

Wouldn't he?

Surely he would see it was his benefit that she was taking this path. Without the Bad Wolf, she would never have gained access to the first set of doors; nor would she have been able to help the creature.

If there was one thing Rose could confidently see from her actions was that the creature no longer suffered. It was at peace.

So why does it feel so wrong? she wondered.

I must have passed out…but I don't remember.

The Doctor groggily opened his eyes trying to fathom out what exactly had happened to him. Images began to flash in his head, and he shook it trying to discern them from one another. That action proved the wrong thing to do as his head split into agony as an ache soured through his skull.

What the heck is happening to me? His thoughts felt jumbled, confused. He felt dizzy and he realised as awareness slowly came into his arms that he was unbound. Carefully he raised one hand up to make sure he was not hallucinating. He waggled a few fingers.

Why am I free? I didn't realise Flynn showed gratitude to his lab-rats.

He shifted his position, realising that, while his hands and arms were free, his ankles and thighs were not. Neither was his stomach for a cold chain was wrapped tightly round his middle, embedding itself in to his skin. He realised that he was shivering slightly. Then it hit him. He no longer wore his shirt. His chest was completely bare.

Great. Instead of bleeding me dry, Flynn has opted to freeze me instead. I wonder if he's going to open the roof so that the snow can fall?

As he carefully made himself feel comfortable, his eyes focused upon freshly dried blood that stained his arms. With a flash he remembered what had happened in the Chamber. They had used a long knife cutting him almost everywhere, then used some burning liquid to seal the wounds together.

Agony.

Pure agony had ripped through him during that entire time.

He remembered Flynn vaguely walking into the Chamber just before he had blacked out. Remembered the unpleasant voice and the words rocked around inside his head.

"Make one more wrong move and what you just went through will happen again, but next time it'll be worse. Much worse." Derol had said.

He shook his head trying to clear the memory from his mind. From what he could discern from his experience so far was that Flynn could be a gentleman, but he was also mad, and that terrified the Doctor more then he thought it would.

Flynn didn't want his prize harmed bodily, but he didn't mind shattering his spirit to achieve his ends. The body could be healed, but the mind couldn't.

For the first time, the Doctor truly feared for his future.

I have to be careful from now on otherwise I'm risking myself. I can't let myself fall. Rose needs me. And I need her.

To Be Continued…

Please let me know what you think!

Next time: The Losing Battle - coming soon in four days time.

IMPORTANT NOTE

As much as I enjoy updating on a regular basis I am finding less time to write this story. This is due to a number of factors. I returned to school yesterday for the first time in six weeks, and as I am currently in my last year of A-levels, doing History and English, I need to spend time catching up and doing work. Therefore less time to write fan fiction. On top of that, I have to travel up to London every few days for medical checkups (having a kidney transplant will do that to you - and that happened only six weeks ago) so that means less time to focus on school work. The next chapter is already written, however beyond that (other then the plan) I've got nothing. So, updates will be between four and seven days from now on, unless by some miracle I manage to write the entire story very quickly. This story is not even half-way through yet, so no ending in sight yet.

I hope you can understand. Hopefully I will sort myself and school work out within the next week or so and I should be able to go back to my regular posting schedule of three days.

Thanks for staying with me so far,

Until next time!

Leila-Rose-Bell