Chapter Eight:
The golden armoured guards sprinted into the room, holding spears and swords, ready to fight a man with a girl behind him and a cane in his hand. The only two guards who hadn't answered the call to arms were the ones who had been posted on the gate; they kept claiming he was a magician but they had been ignored by their comrades. The guards thought they were up against a mortal man; ten against one. They were wrong.
The Doctor had been known across the universe for being a warrior and he always lived up to the expectation. A guard ran straight at him with his spear outstretched; The Doctor simply side stepped the weapon and held out his elbow. The man's momentum kept him moving and he practically broke his own nose; as blood began to trickle, The Doctor stuck out his foot and tripped the guard up.
As the first guard hit the ground, The Doctor's mind finished off his battle strategy. The Time Lord sprinted towards the rest of the guards who had slowed down as their fellow comrade fell. He struck one in the face with his cane and swept his feet out from underneath him.
Moving with great fluidity, The Doctor attacked them all and avoiding all the blows they threw at him. Scarlett quivered at the back of the room as a single guard crept around the edge and made his way towards her.
The Doctor knocked a guard's sword to the floor and smashed him in the nose with a 'rising' elbow strike before spinning around and stamping on another guard's knee, breaking the bone; a loud crack filled the room.
Scarlett dodged a strike from the guard as he tried to punch her in the face. Adrenaline poured into her and raised her heart rate; making her panic. The Doctor had tried to train her in combat and she was good in theory but when it came to the actual fight; she was too terrified to hit back.
All she could do was block or dodge the flurry of fist and spear strikes while the Time Lord was finishing off the final guard. The guard swung out the spear, The Doctor ducked under it; stepped forwards and uppercut the guard in the face. Before the guard could even hit the floor; The Doctor rapidly punched him in the stomach multiple times to make sure that he wouldn't get up again.
The guard snarled as he grew frustrated that he couldn't hit Scarlett. The priest laid on the bed, groaning and crying about the pains in face, chest and stomach. The Doctor ignored him and headed towards the man who was trying to hurt his companion.
Scarlett looked away as, she saw over the guard's shoulder; The Doctor swung his cane at the guard's neck with a snarl. The guard had tried to hurt her and that made him furious. The guard fell to the floor but the Time Lord wasn't finished; he kept swinging and swinging.
The gold armoured man cried out as The Doctor kept hitting him over and over again. Blood and outcries flowed out of the man as he was continually struck. Scarlett stared in horror at the rage fuelled man; she couldn't touch him or he'd strike her too, once he went into rage mode he couldn't define friend from foe.
But she'd had enough, "Doctor! Doctor!"
Images of the past were flashing through the Time Lord's mind. War, death, explosions, crimson blood; all of it appeared in one large blur. Faces of the ones he'd lost showed themselves to him; only adding to his brute strength. "Doctor!" he heard a voice cry; someone from his past trying to torment him further. "Doctor!" the voice became a lot clearer.
"Doctor!" the Time Lord snapped out of his flash back state and saw Scarlett standing on the other side of a broken body that may have once resembled a man. She had blood on her jeans and face and she look absolutely terrified…of him.
He looked down at his hands and saw they were covered in blood. He'd gone into a blind rage again. He nearly dropped his cane in horror; he slowly stepped back and realised what he'd done. He'd let it surface…again. He was wrong; he didn't have only two incarnations that exerted his true anger, he had three; himself!
Scarlett ran over to him and held his hand; with a comforting expression on her face. Her green eyes were comforting and seemed to suck him in. "It's okay, it's okay." Her voice soothed him and calmed him down. "Let's just get the arrow and leave."
The Doctor calmed down and nodded, "Okay, let's get the arrow."
Slowly the pair made their way to the bed where the High Priest lay moaning. Scarlett sat down next to the man and said, "Tell us where the arrow is now or my friend here will go all ape on you and I won't stop him."
The man slowly raised his hand and pointed at a large marble fireplace.
"Good," Scarlett smiled as The Doctor turned and walked off to the fireplace. "And do you have a secret way out of here? Because we don't want any more of your guards with broken noses now do we?"
The priest winced as he rolled over and pointed towards a bookcase in the far corner.
"Thank you," Scarlett smiled as she got off the bed and walked off after The Doctor who was staring at the fireplace. Her 'nice girl' routine normally worked quite well but worked even better after The Doctor had gone into a rage.
The Doctor's eyes darted around the fireplace to find the trigger as the fireplace was clearly a doorway into a concealed room or shrine. As Scarlett wandered over to him; he found the desired object.
"Secret door?" she asked with a dazzling smile.
"Oh yes," he replied, handing her his cane. He reached around the back to find a small clay statue. The Doctor yanked on it and gears moved. Scarlett was surprised that such a primitive culture could create locks and pulleys but they were incredibly basic. The fire place slowly moved on its creaky hinges to reveal a small, yet lavish, hidden room sat on the other side.
The two of them entered the small room which had golden walls with candles dotted around them. In the centre on a podium sat the arrow. Scarlett thought it was fairly basic at first but then she noticed that it was made of gold and the tip seemed to be made of some sort of glowing red gem. It beautiful!
"The Arrow of Purity," The Doctor smiled as he slowly made his way to the podium and removed the item with tender, blood covered fingers. "One step closer to saving the universe." He turned to Scarlett, "This arrow is forged from pure photon particles; that's why it gives off energy and is believed to be mystical!"
"So it's not really sacred?"
"Nope," The Doctor replied. "Now open the secret exit while I check for any booby traps; I don't want to have a 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' moment."
Scarlett nodded, smirking at the extremely old film reference, and walked off to the secret door which looked like a bookcase. The Doctor turned and looked about the room with a grim expression. "Okay, so how does it happen?"
The Time Lord's eyes darted about the room for traps and objects which could harm him. He knew it would happen, it had to happen, but he wanted to know how and why. Suddenly he felt the air move behind him and an arm wrapped around his waist. A knife pierced through his clothing and slid into his body; The Doctor turned to see the High Priest on his knees. Quite literally, he had been stabbed in the back by the old man.
Acting upon a violent impulse, The Doctor yanked the knife out of his own back and stabbed the High Priest in the heart. The cry filled the space but The Doctor watched as the man's chest gushed with the crimson liquid. Remorselessly; The Doctor grabbed the priest and flung him into the secret room and closed the doorway. The man would die isolated and the Time Lord didn't care.
Scarlett waited at the secret doorway which had been made out of a bookcase, a dark stairwell lay behind that, but when she heard the scream; she rushed over. The Doctor was leaning against the wall, panting. She noticed the fresh blood on his hands and then the blood on his back; he was bleeding!
"Doctor are you okay?" she asked, scared out of her mind, as she helped him to stand.
"Yes, I'm fine," he replied, it sounded like he was struggling to breath. "Let's just get back to the T.A.R.D.I.S."
"But you're bleeding!"
"I said let's get to the T.A.R.D.I.S!" he snapped. Scarlett flinched as he screamed at her. The Doctor tried to walk on his own but it was too much. She wrapped her arm around him and helped him walk towards the doors. He grunted with every step but he was persistent to keep moving.
Scarlett was worried; he clearly had a reason to keep moving, one greater than saving the universe or himself.
Jack stared at the swirling white portal with a fearful gaze. It scared him and he could feel the raw essence of fear and anger seeping out of it. His hands were sweaty against the cold metal of the revolver. Anticipation covered him and made him nearly shake.
The portal began to pulse larger than before until the light from it began to increase. Jack shielded his eyes until he felt the light dimming. The strange light leapt from the portal and began to take shape. Jack stared as it contorted and twisted until a gigantic humanoid shape glowed in front of him; the portal had disappeared completely.
He held up his firearm, trying to stay strong, and watched as the blob changed colour to form a dark purple beast with cracked teeth, rough scaly skin with jagged edges, long nails that were chipped and broken. It was ugly, terrifying, beast that shook Jack to his very core.
It roared at him with a loud bellow; Jack acted upon instinct and opened fire. The sound of bullets being fired made Jack's ear ache. The pieces of carved metal and lead flew through the air and struck the beast.
The first bullet pierced its skin, making it produced a blood curdling scream, but the rest seemed to move through it. Jack emptied the gun and realised that he'd left all his spare bullets back on the U.N.I.T Outpost. He was unarmed and useless.
The beast opened his mouth and instead of a roar; bullets flew out and struck Jack with expert precision. The first struck him in the shoulder, two in his chest, one through the heart, one in the head and the last in the groin. Instantly Jack bled out and died.
The beast laughed; cackling with a deep tone, the sound reverberated across the whole moon and moved out into space; the sound being cancelled by the lack of air. The creature moved it large feet, its broken toe nails scratching the dusty rocks under foot, towards the dead man. His eyes flamed bright red as he stared at the dead carcass he had just slaughtered.
He twisted his head in confusion when he noticed that the dead man had begun to cough. With a spasm of movement, the American man came back to life. He gasped, sitting up, and stared directly at the demon.
"Crap!" he gasped; scrabbling backwards. The beast slowly walked after him as he jumped to his feet and sprinted off. He kept running, his heart pounding and adrenaline coursing through him. "Doctor!"
Jack ran straight across the dusty plane towards the blue box which sat perfectly still on the surface. The beast began to pick up the pace and Jack could feel the footsteps behind him; shaking the whole moon.
"Doctor! It's chasing me!"
As Jack neared the ship, the doors were flung open and the two Doctor's stepped out. The H-Doctor's coat shook in the breeze while the T-Doctor stood with his hands in his pockets and a calm expression on his face. In the H-Doctor's hands was a large firearm which he was powering up.
"Get out of the way!" The H-Doctor bellowed, the end of the weapon glowing brightly with a bright white light. Jack jumped into the air and hit the ground as the weapon whined and fired. A blast of energy flew through the air and struck the beast.
But the creature wasn't knocked over or even stunned by the attack. The energy moved into the creature and he opened his mouth to reveal the glowing light; he'd swallowed it and was ready to spit it back out.
The Doctor stumbled his way through the network of underground tunnels and found his way to the T.A.R.D.I.S, tripping and smearing blood across the mountains multiple times, and with a heavy groan he opened the doors and staggered into the green console room.
Scarlett watched as he made his way, independently, towards the wooden console and leaned against it. He was in great pain but didn't want help; for some reason he wanted this agony.
The Doctor punched in a set of coordinates, he had them memorised for some reason, and locked them. He slammed a lever down and turned his head to Scarlett, "Go into the chest and take the bow out."
The Doctor limped across the console, wincing with every movement, and turned a wooden dial 180 degrees before flicking three switches. The liquid within the time rotor began to shift to show the ship was in flight. The engines groaned and wheezed; the noise made The Doctor smile, the end was nigh.
Scarlett reached into the hefty chest and pulled out a slim bow which seemed to grow as she removed it from the chest. "Do want this?" she enquired as she closed the chest.
"Yes, I'd also like my hat back too," The Doctor replied, holding his cane and arrow in one hand while operating the ship's controls with another.
Scarlett handed the items to him with delicate hands; The Doctor checked the scanner and grimaced, "We've arrived."
"Where are we?" Scarlett asked as The Doctor slipped his hat on his head and limped down the pathways towards the ship's doors.
"The end," The Doctor replied, sounding depressed and confident at the same time. Scarlett followed him but as the Time Lord opened the door; he turned to her. "You don't have to come with me; what's about to happen will not be pretty."
"Yes I do," Scarlett insisted. "We stick together and I love you! I won't abandon you when you need me!" She held the Time Lord's slightly sticky hand and they shared a warm smile. Their eyes locked and slowly they leaned closer until they kissed. Sparks flew and the two melded; the moment had been a long time coming and it was worth the wait.
The Doctor parted the intimate kiss, winked with a slight wince and then limped out of the console room. Scarlett smiled and followed behind him; not knowing when a moment like that would happen again.