"So, what do you think?" The Doctor asked when we took our first step into the city. It wasn't as wide and large as London, but it sure was as pretty as it. Most of the buildings were made out of brick, and they all shared the same triangular shaping. It was dark out, and every light in the city seemed to be on.

"It's beautiful." My eyes were jumping from one skyscraper to the next. I was just completely fascinated by everything.

The Doctor smiled. "Yes it is." He looked down at me. "You want to check it out?"

"Yes!" I said, a little too excited. He was about to lead the way into the city when I let go of his hand, turned around and hugged him. He was thoroughly surprised, and as soon as he started to hug me back, I pulled away from him. "Thank you." I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"For what?" He cocked his head to the left slightly.

"For kidnapping me." He smiled at my answer.

"Hands up." A deep voice said behind us. We both turned our heads and we came face to face with a very obese man. He looked human, save for one thing: his eyes. They were completely black with a red slit down vertical middle and the horizontal middle, with a small yellow dot at the cross.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor smiled widely, holding his hand out. "This is the Muse, she's a pal of mine."

Following his example, I too, stuck out my hand. "How do you do?"

"I said," The man raised the nozzle of a strange looking weapon up to my face. "Hands up."

"Alright, sorry about the delay." I slowly raised my hands up, my smile falling inversely.

"State your business." The man ordered, shoving the nozzle closer to my face.

"I personally don't think the gun's necessary." The Doctor attempted to calm the man down. "We're just passing through."

"No one passes through here." His voice was even more threatening than his eyes looked. "Get out."

"We can't."

"We can't?" I turned to the Doctor in confusion.

"Nope. We can't." The Doctor kept his eyes focused on the man.

"Why not?" The man's tone seemed to get darker.

"My spaceship is broken." The Doctor began to explain, dropping his hands a little. "I need a part for it, otherwise it won't fly, and then we'll be stuck here."

The man squinted his eyes. "What part is it that you need?"

"A sphygmomanometer." I piped up. The Doctor shot me look of surprise. "We need it to read the…pressure, so it doesn't overheat." What am I saying?

The man glared at us for what seemed an eternity before he growled. "Fine. Come with me." He turned us around and continued to poke our backs with his weapon until we moved forward.

He took us through the city, people staring at us with those same eyes, all of them unhappy to see us. The city was not at all what I had thought originally. It had an eerie feel, like something died there, and the ghost still reigned.

"Get inside." He ordered when we had reached a building composed of entirely grey bricks. We obliged without saying a word. Apparently, we were in a jail. And this was not just any jail, apparently this place was full of criminals (only a few of the main alien race). But these criminals were not only sitting around bored, they were all staring at tickets that they had. He opened one of the free cells and pointed us in with the gun. "Go on. Inside."

"Alright, alright, calm down." The Doctor said as we willingly went into the cell. Once the man had slammed the door on us and began walking away, the Doctor began to protest. "Oi, what about our sphygmomanometer?"

The man gave a menacing chuckle when he turned back to us. "You think you can fool us?"

"No one's trying to fool you, mate." I lied confidently.

"Do not lie to me!" He shouted. "We do not like outsiders! We do not like liars! We do not like anyone!"

"And who's 'we'?" The Doctor questioned, not a shred of worry in his voice; it was more like curiosity.

A sneer grew on the man's ugly face. "Mroskians." The man turned sharply, grabbed something from the wall and came back to us. "Your number." The Doctor snatched it from him and the man left, slamming the door on his way out.

I stood just behind the barred door, my drooped head resting between two bars. "So," I began a minute or two after the Mroskian's exit. "What do we do now?"

"We wait." He sighed, moving away from the door and sitting on the bench adjacent.

I turned my head toward him. "For what?"

"Twelve-hundred-and-ninety-eight!" A voice called.

The Doctor started rubbing small circles at his temples. "Our punishment."

"Punishment? How bad?"

He took in a deep breath. "Well, they can range anywhere from instantaneous death, to laying on a bed of hot coals until almost death, cooled off and healed, and then put back onto the coals until death."

I let my head fall back between the bars. "Is there any outcome that doesn't lead to death?"

"I'm sure there has to be one." He looked at me and gave a tiny smile. "Come here." He patted the spot next to him. I let out a large breath, pushed myself off of the bars, and went to sit next to the Doctor. "I'm going to get you out of here."

"What if you can't?"

"Well, then at least we went out with a bang." He joked lightly. "I was just kidding." He threw his arm around my shoulders to try to comfort me. "We'll get out of here."

"Twelve-hundred-and-ninety-nine!"

I stayed quiet for another couple minutes before, "If we don't, I'm going to kill you."

The Doctor laughed. "I am very sorry about this. If I had known about this city, I would have picked a different planet."

I shrugged. "There's not much you can do about it now."

"Well," He said in a speculative tone. "We could always try to escape."

"That's…unethical." I shook my head.

He leaned over and whispered, "Well, we are in a very desperate situation. I think desperation beats ethics at this point."

"How would we do it?" I asked in the same hushed tone.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket. "These don't just electrocute gas monsters, you know."

"What's that?" A different Mroskian shouted at the Doctor. They must have sent in a guard to watch after us while we weren't paying attention.

"Nothing. It's a pen." He lied, making writing motions in the air with it.

"Give it here!" The man shoved his hand through the bars.

"I'm telling you, it's just a pen." The Doctor defended.

Until he got a muzzle pointed right at his head. "Give it here, now!"

"It's a cheap pen, you wouldn't want it." He continued.

"Thirteen hundred!"

"If you don't give it up, I'll shoot your girlfriend." Again, a gun was shoved into my face. He froze and seemed to panic, albeit on the inside…which only caused me to panic.

"Doctor, just give it to him." He turned his head and looked at me. "Please. If this is going to help get us out of here, then it's worth it."

He let out a mix of a sigh and growl as he reluctantly handed over his screwdriver. The Mroskian started laughing as he snatched it out of the Doctor's hand and went back to patrol the other cells, all of which seemed to be empty.

The Doctor wasn't saying anything, he seemed angry, which is understandable. "What's the ticket for?" I finally asked him

"They call out numbers to see who gets punished next. According to our ticket, they have sixty-seven people to go before they get to us." He was irritated. My bad.

It was my turn to put my arm around his shoulders and try comforting. "Hey," I started, using that same hushed tone. "Don't sweat it. We'll get your screwdriver back."

"And how do you know that?" He asked in a very snarky way.

"Because we still have my screwdriver." I mumbled to him, and his snarkiness fell away. "Now calm down, and let's think of a plan to get out of here before our number's up."