River still stood on the floor below as the smoke swirled around her. It was slowly disappearing, she could even see her own feet again, but it was still too thick to risk taking her mask off. She looked up at the panel labeled EXIT above her, waiting for the Doctor's return. She hated waiting, not doing anything. Hoping he would come back in one piece, but she hadn't the foggiest idea how to follow him.
She couldn't even return to the TARDIS, what with him leaving her down here without a key. She made a mental note to ask for her own key one of these days. It would make her life so much simpler. She leaned against the TARDIS, getting impatient, tapping her foot annoyingly on the metal floor. She sighed, checking up at the panel once again. Still nothing.
She finally couldn't take it any longer, storming off to the nearest cell to find something to work with. Getting in was the easy part, nothing she couldn't handle with the bobby pins in her hair. She picked the lock with ease, stepping into the cell triumphantly. She immediately made for the trunk in the corner, certainly filled with every possession the guards had let this prisoner keep.
River dug through the trunk, throwing out random articles of clothing, various novels, journals, and a jar filled with a ridiculous amount of cash from various planets and the nations within them. River made a mental to revisit this cell on her way out to pick up the cash, as she peered over her shoulder to find that the owner was out cold on the prison bed behind her. A human woman, by the looks of her, and obviously dead. For how could she have survived the poison?
River felt slightly guilty as she sifted through the deceased's things, but the fact that the money in the jar was most likely stolen comforted her a bit, as did the fact that that, if she herself were the one dead, the woman would probably jump at the change to pick through her stuff as well. They were all criminals here. Even if they did have any morals down here, how bad was it to steal from a convict? Didn't they deserve it, didn't they have it coming? It pained River to think like that, but it was probably true. Had they deserved to die, to be gassed while they slept?
River's mood managed to lift itself out of the gutter as she found what she had been looking for. It was something every inmate had, for nothing had really changed since the time her parents had been born in. It was rope made of bed sheets. So incredibly stereotypical, but so very effective. River smiled as she pulled it out from its hiding place underneath the prisoner's pile of possessions. She eyed the window on the prisoner's wall, its frame showing signs of some serious fiddling. She had been planning an escape.
River felt bad that the human woman, who was locked up in there for who-knows-what, who hadn't gotten to feel freedom. River was also glad she hadn't, as she dragged her escape plan out into the hall with a proud grin on her face.
Promptly, already having a plan in mind, she fastened one end of the rope to one of the cell's many bars. She gave it a hard yank, then smiled, satisfied with its strength. She walked directly back to the TARDIS, which was parked just opposite from the cell, on the other side of the hallway. Standing as tall as she could, wobbling a bit in her high heels, she threw the rope around the TARDIS' top light. She took the other end, returning back to the cell before trying it securely to the same bar.
She swiftly removed her impractical shoes, holding them both with her left hand, her finger looped through their back strap. Getting down on all fours, she skillfully climbed the bed sheet rope without any hesitation. In seconds, she found herself on top of the TARDIS, still crawling as to not hit her head on the ceiling.
The panel in the ceiling still found itself a good few feet away from where the TARDIS was parked, but at least she found herself high enough. All she had to worry about now was falling.
She knew she'd have been able to make it if the panel had been left open. Just a simple leap forward to grab the ledge, she could manage to pull herself up. She was surprisingly strong, being a conditioned killer and all. What was really stopping her was the fact that the Doctor had insisted on closing it after him, as he warned her not to follow him. She stared determinedly at the hatch. How the hell was she going to get it open?
Her first thought was to climb back down, try to find some sort of long rod in one of the cells to poke it open with. That idea was crushed when she thought about it. Who in their right mind would let a prisoner have possession of a long stick, or even a bat? That plan crashed and burned.
Then an idea hit her.
She promptly grabbed the back straps of her shoes between her teeth, freeing up her hands. With skilled fingers, she untied the closest knots in the bed sheet rope, freeing one independent sheet from the chain. The rest of the rope fell to the floor. If she was getting back down now, it was either by falling, or returning to her cell with the Doctor after all this was over. She really hoped it was the latter.
She tied one end of the sheet tightly to the TARDIS light, and already tried to think up an apology for the Doctor if she managed to break it. She wrapped the other end around both her wrists and, gripping the fabric as firmly as she could, leaned back.
With her bare feet still on the TARDIS roof, and her slim fingers clutching the bed sheet for dear life, she was laying almost completely horizontal, with the panel right in front of her face. Slowly and extremely carefully, she untangled one of her hands from the sheet. With trembling fingers, she pushed the panel upwards, sliding it aside. With great difficulty, she achieved an actual smile, even with her shoes still being held in her mouth, as the room above came into view.
"Coming, Sweetie." She promised, her voice distorted by her teeth clenched onto her shoes, calling up to the floor above.