A/N: So, here it is. Chapter 4. And it's definitely longer than the last. And there is a bit more action. And a bit of military history, regarding that I better do this:
Warning: Don't try anything you read in this chapter at home or anywhere else, for that matter. In fact, don't try it at all. I don't know, if this were to work or not. If not, then I claim author's liberty over this.
That done, let's get on with the show. And don't forget to review.
Chapter 4 - Minutes
30 minutes, the blink of an eye
30 minutes, to alter our lives
30 minutes, to make up my mind
30 minutes, to finally decide
- Minutes - t.A.T.u. -
Upon arrival at the door to the storage room, the woman looked expectantly from the locking system of the door to Shadow and back.
Shadow only got her scanner out, inwardly rolling her eyes, and retrieved a cable from one of her pockets, plugged one end into the scanner and the other into the maintenance port of the locking system.
"You can't possibly break this door's security systems, it's..." The woman started.
"...a biometrical, code locked door with a retina scanner. I know." Shadow finished. "And I'm not going to break the security systems. I'm adjusting them. Ah. Damn." Shadow had said all this more to her scanner than the woman.
Then she looked up and at the woman. "When you were imprisoned here, did they take your biometrical data?"
The woman frowned. "Yes, they did. Why?"
"Because I can't get into the system to put my own data into it. But what I can do is move the data of a prisoner into the system. So, what's your name?"
"Yeah, brilliant, but even if you'd have that, there's still the code you have to enter. How do you plan to get that?"
"That I can change. Now, your name?" Shadow was getting a bit frustrated. What was wrong with this woman? Other people usually trusted her and did what she wanted them to do and did not question her to bits.
"Do I get yours, if I give you mine?" Shadow nodded sharply. "River Song."
"Hm...nice name." Shadow entered the name and proceeded in moving the required data into the security system, seemingly ignoring the deal she had made.
"You wanted to give me your name, remember?" River demanded.
"Yes, I remember perfectly. But this is a corridor in a containment facility. The walls have ears. Where your name is no new information for the people here, my name could get me into trouble. So, I'll tell you my name, but first we have to be somewhere, where not every idiot can overhear us. Clear?" With finishing her explanation, she also finished her adjustments to the security system of the locking system. "Now, if you'd be so kind to open this door?"
"What?" River seemed a bit stunned, if it was the logic with which Shadow had presented her or the efficiency with which she worked, Shadow couldn't see, but supposed it was both. "Oh...right. And the code?"
"Very easy. One, two, three, four. Open the door, about now would be nice. I haven't all day, you know." And she grabbed River around the middle and moved her in front of the door.
"Alright." River did as she was told, very much doubting that it would work. To her surprise, it worked and after she had entered the code, the door clicked open. With a look to both sides, Shadow shoved her through the door and swiftly but silently closed it behind them.
"Good girl." Shadow said in the darkness of the room to River.
"No need to treat me like a dog."
"Pfft...then I won't praise you for good work. Now, where is the light switch?"
"I never said you couldn't praise me. And the light is made easily. Let there be..." Shadow could detect the smug sound of Rivers voice. "Light!" And there was light.
"Satisfied now?" Shadow's voice dropped with sarcasm.
"Very."
"Don't be so smug." Shadow took a look around. It was a really big room. At least 15 feet high and shelves to the ceiling. Completely stacked with boxes. "Where could they have hidden that Extrapolator in this mess?"
"Under 'S' I presume." Shadow gave River a slightly puzzled look. "This is the...index, you could say, of the storage department."
"And the actual storage department is where?"
"Under our feet."
"Brilliant, bloody brilliant. Alright. Let's find 'Song comma River' in this ordered mess. Shall we." Shadow gave River a grin.
"Let's go." River returned the grin. And then they went to find the correspondent box.
Whilst they where searching in silence, Shadow wondered, what she'd do with the woman, River, she corrected herself, when this was over and she had to return home. It wasn't as if she had much choice. Either she'd let her stay here and risked being exposed, or she killed her or she took her with her. But nothing seemed really right. And when she looked over at River working her way through the shelves and looking for the right box, she completely ruled out the killing option.
What was wrong with her? She had met this woman barely half an hour ago and already liked her. No, she didn't like her. She was taking advantage of the information River could give her. Yes, that sounded much better. Shadow was never really one for social interaction. Mostly keeping to herself and if she had to be together with other people she tried to keep the interaction with them to a minimum. Otherwise she resorted to biting sarcasm. And that did usually not go well with other people. Suddenly she was ripped out of her silent contemplations, when River made a sudden exclamation.
"I got it. Over here." And Shadow followed the call.
River was standing on some boxes and tried to get a box from a higher shelf. All that looked really shaky to Shadow and it came as it had to. Shadow had just arrived next to River, when she lost her balance, ripping the box out of the shelf and losing her grip on it, thus it splayed its contents on the floor. Shadow tried to steady River or to, at least, keep her from serious injury, but all she succeeded with was that River could grab Shadow's shoulders and with the momentum of the fall, sending them both to the ground.
They looked at each other, then at the contents of the box on the floor, then at each other again, and as if on command both started to laugh madly like what just happened was the funniest thing in the whole universe.
"At least it's down now." Shadow said after some time, still a bit out of breath.
"Definitely down." River tried very hard to stop laughing, but didn't really succeed.
"Just tell me, are you usually that graceful, too?"
"Oh, yes. I can't even change a light bulb without falling off the chair." This got River a light smack on the stomach.
"Come on. Let's find your Extrapolator and get out of here." Shadow got up and started to sift through the stuff that had fallen out of the box. River also got up and took another pack to look through.
"Inventory. Song comma River. This seems to be it." Shadow scanned the page and whistled approvingly. "You bad, bad girl. Where you on your way to a war when they got you?"
"Something like that, yes." River came over to Shadow and took a look at the page herself, then she pointed at something and said "There. Tribophysical Waveform Macro-Kinetic Extrapolator. Section 3-56, row 74, shelf 17, letter 'S', number 46390. Do you want to write that down?"
"No, I've got a better idea." And Shadow ripped the part about the location out of the page and holding it up. "See."
"Always the practical approach." River rolled with her eyes.
"So, now that we got the exact location of it. Where is the entrance to the storage room?" Shadow really hoped that this one wasn't opening on voice command.
"In the back, come on." And River once again took the lead. Shadow following her.
They arrived in front of an inconspicuous door.
"Think it's locked?" Shadow asked River. "Anyway, you should try it first. With your data in the system and this could easily be another nifty security system."
River only nodded and then tried the door. The handle almost imperceptibly glowed for a moment and then the door opened. "Hmm..." Was River's only sound.
"Let's not waste another thought on it, we have better things to do." It didn't go unnoticed by Shadow, how she included River in her plan. But she banned the pondering about that to the back of her mind.
They descended the stairs before them and then stepped into a room that was even higher and more spacious than the one they had been in before.
"Alright, first we have to find section 3-56."
They looked around and very soon found a pattern in the numbering. And pretty soon they stood in front of shelf 17, found the letter 'S' and located the Extrapolator amongst the rubble that was cluttering the shelves.
"Uh, look." Shadow said, pure sarcasm tinting her voice. "A tag, and it even says 46390. Seems to be the Extrapolator we're looking for. Bureaucracy." A slight snort accompanied the last word.
"Na na, don't be like that. It makes the life of thieves easier." River looked at her with pure amusement evident in her eyes. Shadow grinned back at her with equal amusement.
But, they were rudely interrupted by the beeping of Shadow's scanner. She got it out quickly and looked at it. "Shit."
"What? What is it?" River's voice grew concerned.
Shadow looked at the staircase they had come from and concentrated. When she broke out of her concentration, she looked at River with a dead calm and serious expression. "Do you have tea?"
"What?" River's tone showed how utterly confused she was.
"Well, it seems our friends upstairs have woken up or were found. And they obviously have made a scan for humanoid life forms and found us here. In an area that's clearly restricted. And now they've locked us in. And to get out of here will take some time. Therefore, do you have tea?" Shadow looked as if she really would like to have a cup of tea and they weren't locked in with several guards on the other side of the door.
"You're insane, you know that?" Despite her comment, River had to grin. "And you can't just, I don't know, take your thingy and unlock the door?"
"Wish I could. But they deadlocked the door." Shadow walked a few steps away from River and then let herself slump against a shelf and slid down onto the floor. "They'll get bored with waiting for us to try to come out. It'll take a while probably, but they'll get there. Until then, well, you could join me down here. And we could wait together." She hopefully looked up into River's eyes.
"Alright. When there's nothing else to do." And River let herself fall down beside Shadow with a sigh. "How long do you reckon it'll take them to get bored?"
"I don't know. An hour. Two?"
"At least you got your hands on the Extrapolator. How did you originally plan to escape here after you got it?"
"I didn't." When River looked over at her confused once again, Shadow elaborated. "Well, my plan was to get here, get the Extrapolator and then get out. That was about all I had planned."
"Seriously. You remind me of someone."
"Yeah, I know. I got that a lot. Before they found out who I am."
"Oh. That reminds me, you still haven't told me who you are." River shot her an accusatory look.
"Call me Shadow." She simply replied.
"Very 'Moby Dick'." Shadow looked doubtfully. "I mean: Call me Ishmael. Call me Shadow. Who says you're really called that?"
"No one does. And it's the name I chose for myself, because I don't know my real name. And I mean: River Song? That's very fairytale-ish."
"The only water in the forest is the river."
"What?" Now Shadow was confused.
"They don't have another form of water in some forest on some planet. And basically it's a very long story. Maybe I'll tell you some other time."
"Aah." And they fell into silence. Both hanging after their own thoughts.
River tried to come up with a possibility for escaping earlier instead of waiting for the guards to get bored.
And Shadow's thoughts went into an entirely different direction. She thought about what she was going to do with River once this was over.
The voice in her head told her that if she'd take her with her, she would have to send her away again, and wouldn't be seeing her again for a long time then. But Shadow usually followed that voice and just this once wanted to make a decision on her own and to ignore what the voice was telling her.
Shadow found that she quite liked River. They could talk and it seemed that they had a lot in common. With them both being abducted. Of course, River didn't know that and Shadow was not going to tell her, if she could help it. But it seemed to Shadow that River would be a great partner in crime. Something like Sarah Jane had been to the Doctor. A companion.
But could she really risk breaking River out of here?
Shadow could already hear what they were going to say, if she were to bring River home. Jack would say well done and get this strange look. And Sarah Jane would probably say that she had been whacked over the head to bring a convicted criminal home. No, she was not going to endure that.
But Shadow really liked River. That understanding of sarcasm was genuine. Maybe she was a bit inexperienced in the ways of subtlety but with a bit of training.
Bloody hell, what was she thinking here? She had to stop. She couldn't take River with her. It would be way too risky. Period.
To not think about River she looked around to find something that would occupy her mind otherwise.
"Wait a second." River was startled by Shadow's sudden outburst. "Wait a second. That's it." Shadow suddenly jumped up and threw her arms out, indicating to the shelves.
"What?" River asked tentatively.
"Where are we?" Shadow was suddenly so full of excitement that River got a bit worried.
"In a storage room?"
Shadow just nodded her head to urge River on.
River didn't know what Shadow was trying to say right away, but after some moments she also got the hint. And she, too, was filled with excitement again. "In a storage room of a high security prison. Of course. Why didn't we see that earlier?"
"Maybe we are just thick. Yep, definitely. We have to be thick. Thick Thickety Thick from Thickatonia and so is your mother. Argh!" All of a sudden Shadow started to sprint down the corridor so that River had problems catching up.
"What are you up to?" River asked breathlessly when they stopped and Shadow pulled out various things from the shelves, half of them just throwing behind her.
"Don't know yet, but...yes, yes. That should do it. Now, have you seen any fire around here or just plain water?"
"Fire, I don't think so. But there is a tap near the stairs. Anyway, what do you want with water now?" River demanded, once again running after Shadow.
"Washing my hands. It's safer that way." Shadow put all the things she had gotten onto the floor and then washed her hands very thoroughly. Meanwhile River took a look at the things Shadow had acquired. There were several glass bottles, a car battery, weed killer, a pair of gloves, a bag of corks and a packet of sugar with which River wasn't too sure how old it was.
"What are you trying to do with this stuff?" River asked doubtfully, indicating to the things on the floor.
"Never say chemistry isn't useful."
"Never said something like that. But what are you trying to do? And can I help?"
"Yes, you can indeed help. First I need a rag." Shadow ripped a piece of clothing from the bottom hem of River's shirt.
"A rag? That was no rag." River protested.
"Now it is." Shadow answered, holding up the piece of cloth to demonstrate. "Anyway, go wash your hands, I'll prepare the rest." Shadow ordered.
Whilst River washed her hands, Shadow explained to her what she had to do now.
"Make little stripes from the cloth and then take the weed killer and the sugar and put it together on the cloth. I don't know how you'll manage that but I'm confident that you'll find a way. Meanwhile I'll put the sulfuric acid from the car battery and a bit of lighter fuel into the bottles. In the end we'll attach the cloth stripes to the bottles with the corks and...hopefully, it won't blow into our faces."
"Molotov Cocktails? You seriously want to build Molotov Cocktails? Why not use fuel and a rug?" River had returned from the sink and questioned Shadow.
"Because I don't have a lighter or matches and I couldn't find any here. Or do you conveniently have anything to light the rug?" Shadow snapped.
"No. Sorry."
"Don't be sorry. It was a valid question. I'm just a bit nervous. I don't know if this is going to work. Usually it's made with sulfuric acid, potassium chlorate, fuel and sugar, but we don't have most of those in the pure form, so we have to improvise."
"How do you know this is going to work at all?" River had started to tear the cloth into stripes and Shadow carefully opened the car battery.
"Well, the Armia Krajowa, the Polish Home Army developed this kind of Molotov Cocktail. It ignites on impact. If everything goes well with our brewing here, it will hopefully do the same. But we'd already gain a great advantage, if it were to only smoke."
"And the guards won't expect us to attack them." River instinctively knew she had to keep Shadow talking to ease her nervousness. And it calmed herself down to talk.
"Nope. They probably think we sit here in despair. Our first advantage is that they won't expect us to fight back and the second would be if this here works. Okay, I think these are enough." Shadow said, after she had filled four bottles with acid. From one of her many pockets she produced a can of lighter fuel, opened it and put some in each of the bottles to the acid. "How are the stripes coming along?"
"Well, very well. Is it alright, if they are dry?"
"Yes, that's really good actually. Bring them here and we can attach them to the bottles." River obeyed and brought the stripes over to where Shadow had lined up the bottles with the acid-fuel mixture.
"Okay, I think we can secure the cloth with the cork."
"Wait, you said, it ignites on impact. That would mean, if the two components come into contact with each other, they'll blow. I think we have to secure them on the outside of the bottle. Do you have some string?" River intervened in time to prevent them from being blown to pieces.
"I always have some string." From another of her seemingly endless amount of pockets Shadow produced a ball of cord and handed it to River.
"Now, cork the bottles and make sure they're tight." River ordered Shadow this time. In the meantime, River knotted a piece of string around each stripe of cloth.
Afterwards, River put a piece of string with attached cloth around the neck of each bottle. Standing back when she was finished, she looked over at Shadow, who proudly grinned at her. "Let's wash our hands." River brushed off the silent compliment on the outside, but valued it very much on the inside.
They washed their hands again and then gathered up the Extrapolator and the Molotov Cocktails and silently made their way up the stairs.
At the top, Shadow faced River again. "Do you know a quick route out of the building even with the corridors moving?"
"Yes. But if our masterpieces here really work and go up in flames or even just smoke, the security systems will deactivate the movement of the corridors to guarantee a safe escape. And the big arrows pointing to the nearest exit will flash green."
"Alright. So, let's hope this works. And then we'll follow the arrows. Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever get." River nodded and Shadow repeated the gesture.
She then continued to set the bottles on the floor and pulled out her scanner, giving a running comment. "Okay, I think they are waiting for us to try to open the door. It's deadlocked, yes, but they think we don't know that. So I'll just fake the attempt to open the door and do this instead."
She tapped the screen a couple times and there appeared several dots on the screen, then she tapped the screen a couple times more and the dots were put into a map.
"A scan for life forms. Each dot represents a life form. Hmm...less than I had expected. I'll just expand the search. Better safe than sorry." Shadow tapped a few times more, the map zoomed out but there weren't more dots to find. "That's odd. Or maybe they're stupider than I expected."
"What are you talking about? Are you complaining about the absence of guards? You should be glad there aren't more." River accused.
"I'll explain later and you're right. Now, let's get out of here." Shadow shot River a mischievous glance, pocketed the scanner and grabbed the bottles again. "Here goes. Keep a tight grasp on the Extrapolator. Don't lose it."
Shadow pushed the handle of the door, which, miraculously, opened for her. And as soon as the door was open, she threw the two bottles she held into the room. And just as she predicted, the guards were stunned into immobility by the surprise attack. The bottles gave a short blast of fire and then extinguished, but smoked a great deal. Shadow then took the other two from River and threw them into to other corners of the room, so that the room was filled with smoke.
Then she grabbed River's hand and shouted. "Run!"
And they ran. Just as River had said, the security was deactivated and the arrows were flashing, pointing to the nearest exit.
When the finally burst through the door and into the darkness, they were both out of breath.
"Alright. Hand me the Extrapolator." River obliged, realizing a moment to late, what Shadow was actually saying. She grabbed Shadow's arm.
"Oh no. You are not leaving me here." There it was, the thing Shadow had hoped would not happen.
"I have to." Shadow meekly tried to explain herself.
"They'll execute me." River deadpanned.
That shook Shadow to the core, because it hurt. It wasn't supposed to do that. She liked the woman, as a source for information. But Shadow couldn't even convince herself of that. She liked that woman, as a friend, as a partner in crime. And there was something else stirring inside her. Something that was never there before. Something Shadow didn't know, couldn't identify. Something big. She had to make a decision. Take River with her or leave her here and hope that she could escape death.
And just in that moment the door behind them burst open and guards with big guns came pouring out.
So Shadow decided.
Shaking back her sleeve, she grabbed River's hand and put it onto the Vortex Manipulator on her wrist. Pushing a few buttons and then, putting her own hand over River's, they teleported away.