It was so fast neither Doctor had time to comprehend it. The door slammed at either ends of the corridor. The crowd of prisoners were shouting and banging on the doors. The lights went out. There was a huge bang.
"DUCK!"
The whoosh of energy that had captured Amy and Rory collided with the wall.
"I'll go."
There was that unique, buzzing smash, there was a slight waft as a tweed jacket was thrown over its owner's head, and then it was gone, along with him, and the darkness was restored.
"Oh, she has more illegal technology! What a surprise!"
"What the hell-?"
"Oh, why are you here?" The Doctor caught sight of Isobel.
"Helping!" she gasped, having winded herself hitting the floor awkwardly.
"HELPING?" came a voice from behind her.
"She hates it when I don't take her advice," Isobel said quietly.
"What the hell? What if something happened to you? You're not used to all this palaver yet."
"Charming," the Doctor commented, looking around carefully for any chance of escape.
"Quiet, mouth!"
The Doctor pretended to look hurt.
"I wanted to help, yeah, because, I'm not waiting behind wondering what the hell happened to you- what happens if we die here? I mean you haven't really introduced yourself to your dad yet."
"We're not going to die here," the Doctor announced, still inspecting the wall.
"Definitely not," Aggie said slowly.
"Oh, not you as well!"
The Doctor caught sight of Mickey. Mickey smiled wryly and swore at him. Jack tried to look concerned, but pointed back at the two girls.
"D'YOU MIND?" the Doctor yelped.
"You seem to have a Time Lord on you," Jack said matter-of-factly.
Aggie didn't seem bothered to be caught mid-snog and waltzed away, to inspect the wall as the Doctor was doing.
Mickey stared at the ceiling.
"What?" said Isobel as the Doctor stared.
"Nothing!"
"Great, from one prison to another," Jack interjected, "It's gone into lockdown. That was obviously meant for one person."
"She knows me too well, unfortunately- and that's the wrong me, she's going to be very cross."
-
"Hello? Anyone there. Hello? It's me-"
There was a muffled thud as someone placed a gun to the back of his head. It was a dark room, a bigger version of the marbled corridor he had just left.
"Who are you?"
"The Doctor."
"What do you take me for, an idiot?"
"Regeneration," he said jauntily. He pulled a face. "Bit bumpy, but all fine now!"
"Ugh!" said the guard.
"Steady on, that's not very nice, now is it?"
"Move!"
"Say 'please'!"
"MOVE!" the guard growled.
"I'll move when you put that gun down!"
"So be it," came the reply. There was a bang as the gun went off.
The Doctor screamed in agony as he felt a bone in his leg shatter. The guard hauled him up by his arms and dragged him away, before he could react any more.
"WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?" he shrieked, looking down at his bleeding leg. The guard ignored him and continued to drag him away by his arms.
"AM I TALKING TO MYSELF?"
The guard dragged him out of the room, and down another dark corridor. He reached a door about half-way down and threw the Doctors arms away, and stood on his hand for good measure as he unlocked the door with a code, which bleeped happily.
He lifted the now slightly woozy Doctor off the floor and took him into what looked like an executive office, and threw him over the desk, which collided painfully with his ribs. He then waked away without a word. Something was aimed at the Doctor's head and he struggled to lift himself up and away from teh source of danger, but looked up to see it suspended in mid-air.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Take a guess?"
"Oh, look how ugly you are," said a deep, but female voice.
"Oh, that's just mean!" he murmured. "Am not!"
She pulled him up by the scruff of his neck. He came face to face with a pair of dark eyes and a lot of carefully coiffed chestnut hair.
"At least I have some variation!" he spat. "Who in hell do you think you are exactly?"
"The deputy," she murmured. She whistled. A tall, slender figure appeared in the doorframe to the next office.
"Well, well, well," came a voice. "Look who it is again, oh, naughty, you stole my idea. Changing universes- tut, tut, Doctor. Wait, no, this was my idea!"
He had a soft, cut-glass voice. The figure knelt down. A pair of ice-blue eyes stared back at him.
"Hello, my friend. No need to ask how you are, obviously!" He saw a smile glitter in the dark, and the shape of a mass of slightly curly brown hair, lighter than the Rani's.
"What were you saying about variation? Rather good, don't you think?"
"Master?"
"Observant as always!" the man announced acidly. "Or not!" He slapped the Doctor across the face with the back of his hand.
"Oh! Poor, dumb H4, won't have a clue won't show up on their sensors! Oh, poor Doctor! Locking them all up in cells? Throw away the key, oh, yes, of course! How stupid are you! Are you getting more idiotic with each regeneration or is it just me? They're all mine now Doctor, including your precious little whore- the ones that I want are - well, right where I want them. And she's mine Doctor, Romana, you hear me? You took my wife, and I need a blonde in the vicinity! They're all as good as dead down there- I'm gassing them, by the way- as for the anomaly, he can die for eternity. This is it. Oh and the TARDIS? Locked- they'll all rot! Congratulations, Doctor! You have officially sentenced everyone who loves you to death! Bring her in, I want him to see...take it all off- I'm not wasting any time here-"
He took a gun out of his pocket a shot at the Doctor indiscriminately, hitting him in the arm. "Oh, that's good," he commented. He took a mobile phone out of his pocket and kicked the Doctor's leg, and recorded the reaction. He played it back and giggled.
The Rani appeared carrying an awake but slightly woozy Romana, wearing only underwear.
"Now, watch how good I am with the ladies!"