Thank you everybody for your comments, particularly those of you who have been commenting every chapter! I really appreciate them! They help to inspire my writing. I'm also very pleased to see people are enjoying it.

If you have any questions about this chapter, please let me know. I feel like its confusing, but that may be because I haven't slept in a while. Anyway, enjoy. :)

Grem had carried them as far up the mountain as he thought they could get away with (Jack had not been too pleased with the choice of transport, but Grem was the fastest way up the mountain). "The prison lies that way," he said, gesturing the direction by nodding his head.

"Prison?" Martha asked.

"I don't think anybody could call it a house," Jack said after having spotted its enormous outline against the sky, which was momentarily clearing from its black fog.

Grem looked down the mountain. "20 minutes. I will return." He then bounded down the slope, disappearing in a flash.

"Alright, let's find a good spot to wait," Martha said. They had been over the plan several times, ensuring everyone knew their role, what to do and when to do it. They had decided Grem would head down to one of the little "villages" and cause trouble enough to draw the canine Legions out. Then he'd target Akdevor's favorite and kill it. They had estimated this to take around 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes had passed, they assumed Akdevor would be drawn out of his fortress, allowing Martha and Jack to enter undetected.

That was the plan, at least.

They walked as quietly as they could, keeping their senses alert for any signs of movement. They appeared to be alone, however, and continued along without being bothered.

Finally, they came upon a good spot that overlooked the prison. Using Jack's coat, they laid themselves down on it and stared at the black mass that was the prison, waiting for signs of anything leaving it. They could see slightly better than before, but they were still mostly blind. They were really just listening.

"Why do you trust him?" Jack asked suddenly in a whisper, breaking the silence that had fallen.

"I don't know," Martha said. "I just had a feeling."

"We're trusting him on a feeling?" Jack asked incredulously. "I don't believe that. Before we got here, you got scared by that Marblur and hated it, but then this... thing comes along claiming he needs the Doctor and you're all buddy-buddy with it."

"That Marblur thing was just a monster."

Jack gaped at her. "And that thing isn't? Have your eyes adjusted yet?"

"Yes, and I know what he looks like and it scares me."

"Then why do you trust it?"

"Because he sounded genuinely desperate for the Doctor's help. These things... whatever they are... they weren't always like that. When I saw him, I knew that whatever he was before, well, it was coming out. It was fighting. It was like... I don't know." She looked down and started messing with the hem of Jack's coat.

Jack looked at her for a moment and then returned his gaze to the prison. "You felt pity. I understand that."

"It was more than pity. Yes, there was a lot of that, but I saw something in his eyes. Something I see in the Doctor sometimes."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "What's that?"

"Sometimes, when I look at the Doctor- I see what he is. Not just what he wants to show me. I see his age. He's a lot older inside than he likes us to think and he's been through more than we could ever imagine. He sees things differently than we do. That's what I saw in Grem. He sees things the way the Doctor does, or at least, when he's really Grem he does."

Jack paused thoughtfully. "What if... he's a Time Lord?"

Martha blinked at him. "Grem?"

"He obviously knows the Doctor, in one way or another. And now that you've said it, I see what you mean about seeing more. And he really hates me. That might be because I'm a fixed point in time. The Doctor has a hard time looking at me, so it would stand to reason that any other Time Lord would react the same way."

"Maybe," Martha said, considering it. It was certainly possible, but what if he was? What would that mean for the Doctor? What would that mean for Grem? He couldn't really remember anything about himself; what if the knowledge of what he was is too much for him to take? What would the Doctor do with him? She pushed the thoughts away for the moment. The Doctor would figure it out when they rescued him. She looked at Jack. "How long now?"

Jack looked at his watch in his coat's pocket. "10 minutes. We have a little more time to kill." He looked at the prison with a nervous frown. "Legion should have come out by now."

Just as he said it, they heard a door opening in the distance, followed by growling, howling and snarling of some furious sounding canine Legion. They could faintly see their white eyes peering throught the darkness, and from what Jack and Martha could tell, they were not heading down towards Grem's distracting. Quite the opposite, in fact. They were making circles around the building.

"What are they doing?" Martha asked in alert concern.

"I don't know..." Jack said, hunkering down closer to the ground. They were mostly hidden by the large hill they had decided to wait on, using its slope as cover. "Why aren't they heading down towards the town? Come on. Go. Shoo." They appeared to ignore his quiet urges for them to leave.

They started widening their circle, making their way outwards.

Suddenly they heard something coming up the hill to their right. Jack drew his gun and aimed it in the direction of the noise, only to lower it again as the figure came into view.

It was an alien, its reptillic skin barely visible beneath the slimy, leathery hide that had taken its place. It had a face, unlike those down in the town, if you could call it that. They were really just holes. It was running hurriedly, panting from exhaustion.

Jack and Martha watched it curiously, both coming to the same conclusion; this wasn't Legion. Maybe in appearance, but not inside. Jack made to stand, but it caught his movement and flashed a frightened look in his direction. It paused, stared at him for a moment and then ran to him as fast as its legs could carry it.

Jack jumped to his feet, grabbing Martha up with him and started backing away, holding up his firearm threateningly. "Stay back," he said, trying to be quiet so as not to draw more attention but loud enough to be heard.

The creature stopped. "Are you Jack?" it asked and both Martha and Jack gave it a bewildered look, not just because of what it said, but because of its voice. It was like it was going through some extreme puberty, switching from the ghastly, ghoulish voice Legion used to that of a soft female voice.

Jack eyed her warily. "Who's asking?"

"The Doctor sent me," it said, saying Doctor with more of a hiss.

Martha could barely contain her excitement at this. "Where is he? Is he alright? How did you-"

"Martha, shut it!" Jack shushed her, pulling her away from the side of the hill they were on in case one of Legion should see her. They slowly started retreating back towards the clearing they had come from.

The creature started to follow. "Wait, just... ack!" it suddenly collapsed, grabbing at its stomach in pain.

Martha, regardless of Jack's attempt to hold her back, jumped to the female alien's aid, kneeling down next to her despite the painful biting of the dirt. She began to examine her, although tried not to touch the skin that seemed to be getting rapidly slimier. She looked at Jack, who was watching from where he stood. "Jack, something's wrong with her."

Jack sighed angrily and rushed over to them. "Come on. We'll take her back to the clearing-"

A growl turned all three of their heads. Legion stood a few paces behind them, its ghost eyes gleaming with a manic grin.

Jack stood and went to fire his gun, but suddenly the beast was on top of him, throwing its whole body into him and knocking him to the dirt. It landed on top of him and reared back to slash at his chest.

Martha rushed at it (thinking in the back of her mind about how stupid she was being) and gave it a feeble push to get it off.

Naturally, it whirled on her, backhanding her with a large, clawed hand that sent her several feet backwards. She landed on her back with a thud, sprawled out on the ground. It jumped at her, landing with a leg on either side of her face and staring down at her from its bony muzzle. It snarled almost like it was laughing. In morbid fascination, she watched it open its mouth, displaying the jagged set of sharp teeth, as it snaked down to bite her.

Then another roar came and Martha was pulled from her terror-filled stupor as Grem knocked Legion off of her with a mighty shove. They both rolled in the dirt, clawing and biting furiously at each other. Martha watched as the two become just a pile of leathery bones, teeth and claws. Jack struggled to his feet, picking up his gun again and preparing to shoot it at the two fighting beasts. Martha jumped up and caught him, pushing his arm up. "No! You might hit Grem!"

"Yeah, and I might hit the other one!" Jack snapped.

"No!" Martha said urgently. She looked at the two fighting monsters and knew there wasn't nothing they could do to help. "Come on. Help me with her." She went over to the alien and helped her to her feet. Jack glanced at the fight and then at Martha. With a sigh of frustration, he went to the alien's other side and helped her to stand.

Meanwhile the two ghastly creatures raged at one another, growling, snarling, biting and tearing at the others' tough hides. One was obviously prevailing over the other; it was bigger, its fangs longer and it almost looked like the shoulder bones jutting from its back were growing. At each tear that drew no blood from either opponent, they howled in pain and fury. The longer-fanged suddenly got a mouthful of the other's throat in its mouth and began to pull and tear.

The other yelped and tried to pull away, but it was caught in a death-grip. The long-fanged pulled and pulled until there was a snap and a hunk of flesh and bone. With its throat simply gone, the defeated Legion fell in a limp, bony heap on the ground, the ghostly glow of its eyes dying out in the darkness like a snuffed out light.

Martha and Jack had made little progress and before they knew it, the winner Legion was bounding towards them, clawed hands and feet ripping up dirt as it ran for them.

Jack pulled out his gun and aimed.

"Mercy!" Grem cried, running up beside them and kneeling. His eyes wandered onto the alien and he snarled. "Legion! Legion!" He backed away and attempted to swat at the immobile alien. Jack side-stepped to block him.

"It needs the Doctor, too," Jack explained to it severely.

Grem regarded him coldly, but seemed to relent to his words. He returned to their side and knelt. "Quickly. Before more come."

"What about the Doctor?" Martha asked in dismay, looking behind at the silhouette of the building.

"Too late. We have failed. Come, come, Martha. Quickly."

Getting the prone alien onto his back, Jack and Martha hopped on and Grem began sprinting as fast as his skeletal legs could carry him, almost too fast for either of them to hold on, much less keep the alien seated between them.

They retreated back to the clearing of dead trees, where Grem deposited his load and then stalked off to stand behind a few trees.

Martha and Jack laid the groaning alien on tree-ash, which proved more difficult than one might think due to the fact that it was positively dripping in some sort of slime. As Martha examined it, she realized that the slime was taking with it the thick leathery top layer of skin with it, leaving behind green, reptillic skin. She looked up at Jack as though he might have an explanation, but he looked just as bewildered by what was happening as she was.

The alien looked to be in extreme pain, eyes squeezed shut and doubled up. The only sounds it made were a few suffocated groans.

"This is a Silurian," Jack stated suddenly.

"What's that?" Martha asked.

"It's like a lizard alien. They're native to earth, but I've run into a few. I think it's a girl."

The alien girl suddenly cried out and then she stopped moving.

Martha grabbed the aliens wrist to feel for a pulse. She felt something, but then again this was an alien. It might not have had a heart at all.

To her relief, the Silurian stirred and looked up at them through clear eyes. "Are you... Martha and... Jack?" she asked through exhausted pants.

They nodded in turn. "Yes," Martha replied. "What's your name?"

"Amara," she replied wearily. Her eyes drifted to the tree line were Grem stood and her eyes widened in pure terror. She tried backing away, but Martha laid a gentle hand on her slimy shoulder.

"It's alright," she assured her. "He's helping us."

"That's Legion," Amara whispered in fright.

"His name's Grem," Martha corrected.

"Then he is decieving you, ape," she replied, then seemed to catch what she'd said and gave them both an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to having... polite conversations with... humans."

"Don't worry your pretty alien head about it," Jack said charmingly. "Now, what can you tell us about the Doctor?"

Amara looked at him, her fear seeming to increase at his name. "He saved me," she breathed. "I'd still be... like that if it weren't for him." She gestured at Grem on saying "that".

Martha glanced back at Grem, who had attempted to hide himself behind a large tree, but he still surpassed it in length, and she could see that something was wrong with him. She turned to Jack, told him she'd be back, and went to Grem.

He apparntly didn't want to see her. He growled as she approached and tried to back away into the trees. He did it very clumsiy, hitting several of the dead plants and turning them into dust.

"Grem, what's wrong?" Martha asked with concern.

Grem continued to back away, although more slowly and deliberately now. He did not reply, but continue to growl and hiss as she approached.

Martha stopped her appoach and looked at him earnestly. "Grem, show me what's wrong. You saved my life tonight. I owe you. If there's something wrong, let me help you."

He regarded her warily at first, but Martha could almost visibly see his defenses fall and he gingerly walked towards her, head low in submission, eyes locked on her. When he was directly in front of her, he showed her his neck.

She looked, finding long, deep gashes covering his thick hide. Most of them appeared to be on his left side and neck, but he had a few bite marks on his head, neck and front leg. There was no blood, but there was some clear liquid oozing from them, collecting at his belly and then dripping onto the ground.

"Is that your blood, Grem?" she asked, attempting to get closer to examine it.

He stepped away from her quickly. "It is His poison. You must not touch it."

"How am I supposed to help you if I can't touch you?" Martha asked.

Grem turned away from her, limping with little grunts of pain over to a tree and laying himself down beside it. "You are not."

Martha frowned and walked over to him. He watched her warily, looking ready to jump away if she attempted to touch him. She instead sat down beside him and looked without fear into his eyes. His eyes were like the Doctor's now, still fogged, but clear enough to see that glint of wisdom beyond that of normal beings. As she stared at him, she realized that he looked frightened. Though he met her gaze, he was tense and his eyes displayed his masked fear. "The Doctor cannot help me," he muttered through a slight growl.

"Yes, he can. I know he can," Martha said.

"He will become Legion."

"No he won't," Martha said sternly. "We're going to save him and then he's going to help you. Do you got that? That's what he does. He helps people."

Grem looked at her, his expression was once again cold and without emotion.

Martha sighed. Then, for no reason at all, she reached up a hand.

Grem watched her, tensing up and growling low, but she simply placed it on his snout. He felt dry and unpleasant, but she didn't let it show on her face. She wanted to reach whatever it was that was inside, comfort it. She could imagine that nothing had touched him with compassion in a long time. To her relief and surprise, he did not pull away. His face showed now sign of recognition of the gesture, but he stared at her more intensely. He eyes flicked to the side and then he quickly removed her hand with a shake of his head. Seconds later Jack came up to them.

He looked at them for a momet before speaking, "She had a message from the Doctor," Jack said. "He wants us to find the TARDIS first. Amara says its inside the mountain, beneath the prison. She knows of a way to get in where Legion rarely go."

"Rarely?"

Jack shrugged. "It's goig to have to do." He glanced at Grem and his oozing wounds. "What's that?"

"Poison," Grem replied.

Jack grimaced at it with disgust. "It looks like your bleeding sticky water."

"It is poison."

"Yeah, heard you the first time."

Martha glared up at him.

Jack blinked at her and mouthed "What?"

She mouthed "He saved your life," in return.

Jack groaned and looked down at Grem. "How fast do you heal?"

"I do not know. Legion cannot be harmed except by Legion."

"So... if I'd shot you earlier?"

"Legion cannot be harmed," Grem replied.

"What about an explosion?"

"This would kill. Not harm."

Jack nodded with a sarcastic expression. "Gotcha." He looked at the wounds, sighed and then took off his jacket. He then tore off his sleeves and seperated them into strips. He handed them to Martha when he'd finished. "Will that help?"

"Yes, actually," Martha said. "Grem, can I put these on some of the bigger wounds?"

Grem scowled and then took the pieces of cloth from her, having difficulty with his slightly paw-like hands. "You must not touch," he replied as he began applying them to his own wounds. Of course, this did not work very well, so Martha eventually convinced him he needed her help. With a disapproving growl, he relented to her. She very carefully helped him wrap the strips of cloth around the wounds. The wounds on his sides they simply stuck the cloth to; they were sticky enough for this to work.

Amara appeared as they did this, watching with frightened, distrusting eyes. Grem held a similiar expression towards her. The slime on her body had all oozed off, leaving her green and reptile-like. Her facial features had been returned, mouth, nose, lips; as though she had just been wearing a very convincing costume.

"How do you intend to help the Doctor?" she asked, her voice norma and soft. "I would like to help if I can. I owe him that much."

"We do what he says first and get to the TARDIS," Jack said, flipping the sonic screwdriver Amara had brought with her. "You can help by giving us all of the information you have on this planet."

Amara nodded and began to relay (with difficulty and a few tears) all that she'd been through and seen upon her arrival.