Chapter 20 – Kum Ba Yah
The painkiller wore off around the time the Judoon dragged him onto the ship. He couldn't help but yell as he was dragged into a secure room for prisoner transportation, his wrists grabbed and cuffed securely to a metal bar so high in the air his arms were stretching to it, his shoulder screaming in protest. But at least he could balance relatively comfortably on one leg, now.
As the Judoon left, he began to process his new surroundings – a fairly small, reinforced and highly secured room, two metal bars designed for restraint (as he had found out so painfully) running along the sides of the room. Then quickly he realised he wasn't alone. Four other arrested lifeforms were stood there restrained as he was... and they were all staring at him.
"Hello," the Doctor croaked as cheerfully as he could through the pain.
An Ogron, Sontaran, Draconian and a Zizon stared back.
"Time Lord..." the Draconian suddenly hissed, staring at him with utter malice.
"The Doctor!" the Sontaran realised.
The Doctor could see this taking a turn for a worse. "Wait, wait, I'm not..."
"He made our race out to be fools!" the Ogron yelled angrily.
"Kill him!" the Draconian shouted, trying to run forward to the Doctor on the opposite side of the room but the hand restraints attached to the metal bar held him back. Through the frustration of not being able to kill his enemy he yelled in anger, struggling until he lost energy.
"I'm not here to fight you," the Doctor said calmly.
"The Doctor must die!" the Sontaran raged.
"Please," the Doctor found himself begging, his shoulder still shooting through with pain. "I'm a prisoner, just like you... We're equals."
The only other person on his metal bar – the Zizon – suddenly started forwards, sliding up to bar towards him, staring directly at him with shining yellow eyes, her face impassive. The Doctor quickly tried to back away, limping back and dragging his hands along the bar to get as far away as possible – but she could follow him to the end of the line. In his haste he managed to trip over a jut along the bottom of the wall and he fell backwards, his bound hands stopping his fall with an abrupt jerk. Agony shot through his collar bone and he screamed out with his full voicebox potential, flailing desperately to try and get to his feet again until he found himself backed up against a wall, the furthest he could possibly go.
She reached him, inches away from his face. She looked him up and down for a moment, and then sniffed around him, and in particular his neck. A long, blue, reptile-like tongue slid out of her mouth, flickering around until it fashioned into a sharp point, hovering dangerously near his neck. The Doctor knew that in her tongue there was poison...
"I don't have any quarrel with your kind," the Doctor said quickly to her. "I don't have a quarrel with any of you. I have my own mission."
"Kill him," the Draconian urged.
The Zizon looked at the Draconian and then looked the Doctor up and down again.
"Please don't," the Doctor breathed.
She ignored him, and swiftly stabbed her tongue into his right shoulder.
"Yes!" the Draconian yelled with utter glee. The Doctor jolted with the impact as a sense of combined panic and despair began to course through him, as the poison slowly seeped in. It started to burn like fire under his skin, somehow drowning the pain from his broken bone...
And then everything in his right shoulder went completely numb. The Zizon whipped back her tongue, and nodded at him.
"Ze poison not 'armful to Time Lords in such small amount," the Zizon informed him in a heavily accented voice, her tongue flickering around her mouth.
The Doctor blinked in surprise. The pain that had existed had completely been numbed. She had purposely aided him, numbing his pain and knowing it wasn't lethal...
"Why did you not kill him?" the Draconian demanded. "He is a scum of this Universe!"
The Zizon looked at the Draconian, her expression still complete impassively. "During ze Great Time War," she began, her tongue constantly slipping out and flicking all around her mouth. "Ze Daleks invaded our 'ome. Ze Time Lord fleet, zey passed on by, but zere was one zat came to 'elp us... one zat did not follow 'is orders. Zey lured away ze Daleks. Without zem, we would be dead. And ze Time Lord ship – ze commander was a Time Lord by ze name of ze Doctor."
The Doctor nodded slowly. He could remember that. "I... couldn't leave you to be killed."
"I am in your debt, Time Lord," she said.
"You don't owe me anything," the Doctor told her straight. "Thank you for what you just did."
She nodded. "What is your mission? Maybe I can 'elp?"
The Doctor looked at the others in the room, then at the floor, then back at Zizon. "I'm sorry, I have to do this alone."
"Then per'aps I can 'elp you, Time Lord," she said after a moment's though. "Listen carefully, I shall only say zis once."
She leant forward, and whispered a single word in his ear. Then without another glance at him, she slid back up the metal rail back to where she'd been before.
The entire trip took two very long hours, abundant with insults and death threats to the Time Lord from three of the four other prisoners, despite the Doctor's best efforts to change topic. He'd tried the weather, Universal news, an intellectual word game... He'd even tried a chorus of Kum Ba Yah to try and lighten the mood, but they just weren't interested in anything but killing him. He was somewhat relieved when they finally docked and Draconian was taken out first, followed by the Sontaran, then the Ogron, and then the Zizon. Finally the Judoon came back for him, finally releasing his arms from the metal bar, only to bind them behind his back instead.
He was escorted out of the ship and al-but dragged into the Shadow Proclamation. His collar bone had since got back feeling and was consequently coursing with pain, and his knee was bending awkwardly so as to make sure he was in pain on both fronts. But the Judoon didn't seem to care, no matter what he did or said.
He was taken into a lift secured for prisoner transportation, pinned against the wall by massive Judoon hands. The lift went up, up and up, the Doctor watching the numbers fly through until they got to floor 167.
He was lifted off the wall and shoved into the corridor in front of the Judoon. He stumbled and cried out as pain shot through his leg, collapsing face first onto the ground without his hands available to cushion the blow. The Judoon made no indication of compassion once again, grabbing him under his elbows and dragging him to his feet, shoving guns into his back. They ignored his protests, forcing him to limp down the corridor to wherever their destination may have been.
They reached a temporary holding cell, where his wrists were finally freed and he was left alone in the room, the door hissing shut. He waited a few moments before moving over to check the barrier between him and getting out. A gene scanner with a spoken word lock.
"Okay, okay, try again," Koschei said, his patience wearing thin. "You'll get the hang of it. You have to concentrate on your hand..."
"I know, I know!" Theta replied, irate. "Close your eyes, try and shift the molecules in your mind, bla bla."
"Well do it then!" Koschei urged.
Theta took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and concentrated. Ten intense seconds passed before he opened his eyes, a grin in place.
"Did I do it? Did I? Did I do it?"
"Err..." Koschei muttered, staring at Theta's hand.
Theta looked down and saw his hand. It had turned black and he'd fused his two middle fingers together. "Oh."
Koschei pulled a face. "Maybe we should give up and go to the Hospitallers..."
"No," Theta insisted. "I can do this."
Koschei shook his head in dismay. "Thete, you're gonna end up turning yourself into a Flubble."
"No, I can do this, I know I can," Theta replied quickly. "Just one more go."
Koschei sighed, pulling back to lean back in the chair and holding up his hands. "All right, but don't blame me when you're squidging around Salmara's Desert trying to find some grub to eat."
Theta ignored him, and closed his eyes, concentrating. He envisioned his old Gallifreyan hand in his mind, forcing the molecules to obey to his will...
Koschei gasped. "Thete! Look!"
Theta opened his eyes, and his hand had returned to normal. He flexed it and tested the fingers... it was definitely how it it used to be.
"I did it!" Theta tried to say, but all that came out instead was a loud 'blurp' sound.
Koschei and Theta slowly raised their heads to look at each other.
"Please tell me that was indigestion," Koschei muttered.
Theta blurped again. Then he started heaving, as if about to throw up. Koschei barely had enough time to get out of the way before Theta threw up green slime all over the desk and Koschei's chair.
"Hospitallers?" Koschei wondered vaguely.
Theta nodded, looking very green in the face.
The Doctor stared at the gene scanner, trying to recall what Koschei had told him so long ago. He raised his hand in the air and closed his eyes, imagining himself with a Judoon hand. He willed the molecules to rearrange themselves, to try and deceive the gene scanner. Ten seconds passed, before he reached forward and pressed his hand to the scanner. It bleeped, and still with his eyes closed, he whispered the single word the Zizon had told him.
With an affirmative beep, the door slid back. He opened his eyes and checked his hand... It looked normal. He paused for a moment, waiting for the feeling of nausea, but it didn't come.
He'd done it.
"Thanks, Koschei," the Doctor murmured with a smile, and stepped through the open door.
He didn't know exactly where Rose was, but he figured he'd start making his way to floor five again. But as he reached the lift his phone went off – he kept forgetting he had that. He rummaged into his pocket and checked the area for security cameras before answering.
"Doctor," it was the Master again. "Are you into the Shadow Proclamation?"
"Yeah," the Doctor replied.
"I know where your wife is," the Master continued. "Floor 168, room 14."
The Doctor didn't even bother asking how he knew, assuming he was monitoring the communications. "Thanks."
The Master hung up. The Doctor slipped his phone back into his pocket, checking the area before moving off.
Floor 168 seemed to be a floor for holding long-term prisoners. He moved as quietly as he could down the corridor, vigil for any guards. There were no guards in the Shadow Proclamation, anymore... Where had they all gone?
Finally he reached room 14, but there was no window, and the door was not locked with a gene scanner – rather a system of bolts and a forcefield. He whipped out his sonic and buzzed back the forcefield, before moving forward, grabbing the heavy metal bolts in his good hand and pulling them back. With a grunt he grabbed the edge of the door, pulled it open, and looked inside.
He froze on the spot.
"Leah!" he yelled, suddenly not caring for any of his pains and running forward to his little girl lying unmoving on the floor, her eyes closed. He took her into both arms, unable to anything but stare at her beautiful face, so pale...
"Leah," he whispered, feeling tears welling in his eyes as he stroked her face. "I'm so sorry... Please wake up..."
She didn't move an inch.
"No, no, no, no..." he whispered, setting her on the floor to try and find some life signs. She couldn't be dead. He knew she wasn't dead. He hovered a hand over her mouth, and the other one checked her pulse. She was alive, she was still going...
"Ah, there he is," the Master's voice suddenly came from the doorway, and the Doctor whirled his head around to find the other Time Lord walking in with two Judoon in tow, carrying a body. They tossed it onto the floor in front of the Doctor. It was Rose.
"Ah, what a nice family reunion!" the Master said gleefully.
The Doctor stared at him, almost unable to comprehend before utter and complete anger burst through his blood like a fireball heading for destruction...
The Master looked at his face, sympathetic. "Isn't that what you wanted, Doctor? One reunited happy family? Look what I did for you, my best friend."
The Doctor couldn't hold it in anymore. "You fucking bastard!" he yelled as he jumped to his feet and ran over to the Master faster than lightning itself, and punched him in the face.
The Master yelped and fell to the floor, but the Doctor had little opportunity to revel in this before the door slid closed with an unforgiving bang, almost trapping his arm in it. The locks went into place with a mechanical click, and the forcefield around the cell started up shortly afterwards.
"How could you?" the Doctor screamed through the door, banging it with his fist. "How could you?"
He pulled back from the door, staring into its opaqueness. Still angered he turned back to his wife and toddler lying unmoving on the floor, and instantly his anger faded away into nothing but complete sorrow.
There was nothing he could do.
And it was all his fault.
A/N: And in case you're wondering, it was a bit of a decision on whether to make the Doctor react like that, but I decided he's been tailored to be a bit more human and the Master did do a bit of a shitty thing so I felt it was warranted... and I successfully destroyed almost 50 years of Who in the process :o And even more in the next chapter, but what the hey. That's life. That's what all the people say. Especially Frank Sinatra.