River glanced around as she told her tale of how the Doctor went missing. She watched their faces, their grimaces and gasps telling her they were close friends with the missing Time Lord. Even the tin dog, K9, seemed sad, his tail drooping in despair.
When she told them of how the Tardis took off with no warning, throwing her around the console room floor, they all shared a knowing look as if to say 'been-there-done-that-got-the-T-shirt'.
River knew they were old companions of the Doctor, Jack the immortal, Martha the girl who travelled the world, Mickey Mouse(which was apparently Jacks nickname for him) and K9 the Doctor's own mechanical dog. She was happy and sad at the same time, knowing she wasn't the only one and yet seeming like these people were family all at the same time.
Once she had finished, she looked around once more and stood, copying the Captains motion at the far end.
They had all agreed to go to the Tardis, and try to figure out where the Time Lord actually was, and that he wasn't actually having a cup of tea somewhere.
River opened the blue door, and jumped back in surprise as a load of steam flew out into the air.
"Extractor fans on" She called and the Tardis met her request, shoving the cloud with force. She opened the door fully and stepped inside, leaping up to the console with grace. She turned to the others, seeing bewilderment and shock on their faces (apart from K9 who couldn't really look fazed) she smiled triumphantly.
Now she knew why the Doctor loved letting new people into the Tardis. There was always a certain type of astonishment on their faces.
There was a noise as Jack closed the door, breaking the others out of their fascination and into reality.
Quietly she asked the Tardis to find the Doctor, and the time machine tumbled around in a blur as they took off through time and space.
She ran towards the door hoping to Rassilon that her Time Lord was outside and ok.
What met her eyes wasn't what she expected.
The Doctor tried to stand, limping over to the gate that was continuously sparking blue. The Doctor reached out to touch it but, one or two centimetres away from the actual bars, a blue spark shot up the Doctors arm, sending pain lancing up the length of the limb.
He pulled back. Metal, blue, electric doors very, very, very not good.
He limped back towards the springy mattress he had previously been sat upon and sat on it, and lifting up his trouser leg to his knee, in order to look at his ankle.
The injured thing in question was black and blue with bruises adorning almost every inch. He winced and set his trouser leg back down, planning an escape in his mind, though no plan came.
He couldn't escape. He wouldn't be able to run on his ankle, and even if he did manage to somehow bypass the gate he would be stuck. They had taken everything out of his multi-dimensional pockets, leaving him only with himself and the bed.
This was why he had companions. He could make an impression on them, so that they could help him think of a way to get them out.
By himself it was impossible, trying to work out things at once, being unable to talk aloud for fear the captors would hear you and punish you.
He didn't even know who they were. He knew whoever or whatever they were they had to be powerful enough to control the Daleks, Cybermen, Judoon and Sycorax all at the same time.
He sighed, as he thought about his companions. River would most likely be angry that he locked the doors and sent her elsewhere, but he knew she would be as safe as she could be with the Tardis. The Tardis would hopefully take her to Earth or somewhere she couldn't get into too much trouble.
The Tardis in herself would be upset, but he knew that, as her 'Thief', she would travel around with River instead, never forgetting him but carrying on.
Outside the Tardis stood a very angry woman.
She was carrying a huge gun that looked like it could blow the head off a Dalek. If they had heads. She was wearing a denim jacket and a deep purple T-shirt underneath. She had jeans and trainers on and, if looks could kill, River would be stone dead.
Though all River wanted to do was defend herself and pull out her hidden gun, she was halted when Jack came out and hugged the girl, murmuring something in her ear, before she nodded and lowered the gun.
"Rose Tyler and you are?" She introduced herself, giving a raised eyebrow at River who answered just as she had.
Suddenly, a man in a large trench coat, rather like the one Jack was wearing only longer and brown, erupted from around the corner, confusion and worry wrote across his features, his brown hair spiked up so much it looked like a mountain.
Next to Rose, Jack gasped in surprise as did Mickey and Martha, though Jack was the one to talk first.
"Doctor?"