The now evil Ood continued towards Jefferson, Kayla, and the crew member. While the crew member cowered against the wall, unarmed, the brunet Time Lady and the slightly elderly man both pointed their guns at the advancing possessed Ood, "Open fire!" Jefferson finally shouted.
At the order, Kayla, Jefferson, and the guard shot at the Ood, effectively killing them. Behind the three, the crew member protectively placed a hand above their hand, and, as a precaution, she grabbed onto the wall to make sure she didn't fall as the shaking on the base only slightly lessened.
Once the Ood were officially dead and the shaking on the base had all but stopped, Kayla was the first to step her way over the corpses and to the waiting comms. which she quickly switched on, "Doctor?" Biting her lip, she ran a hand through her hair as she only got static for a reply, "Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor? Ida? Are you there?" She tried once more, but again she only got static.
"Open Door 25." At the computerized, female voice, Kayla, Jefferson, and the guard whirled and pointed their guns at the door, ready for whoever or whatever came through the door.
But it was only Danny, who at the sight of the three guns pointing at him, held up his hands, "It's me! But they're coming." He finished with a warning.
"Close Door 25."
Danny shook his head, his eyes wild, "It's the Ood. They've gone mad." He explained.
"How many of them?" Jefferson asked, his voice stern.
"All of them! All fifty!" Danny replied back, his voice rising with the worry and fear he was feeling.
Jefferson glanced over at Kayla , who shrugged, "Fifty isn't too bad."
Danny gaped at them, standing still in shock, "Danny, out of the way." Jefferson ordered, but the younger man, whether shocked or not wanting them to die, didn't move, "Out of the way!" Jefferson repeated with more than a hint of a snarl in his vice.
Rolling her eyes, Kayla physically moved Danny from the doorway, causing the boy to grab onto the wall to keep from falling, "But they're armed! They're da—" Danny started to protest, only for him to watch as Jefferson started to open the door, "It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon." Danny tried once more.
Sighing, Kayla turned to Danny, "Just stop." She ordered as Jefferson finally got the door open.
"Open door 25." Whirling towards the opening, Kayla and Jefferson both stumbled back at the sight of all the Ood that had chased Danny to their room in the doorway. Before either could react quickly enough to kill them, an Ood stalked forwards and, without even blinking it's eyes, killed a guard by placing it's orb to the woman's head.
Finally reacting, Kayla pointed her gun and started to shoot at the Ood. A few seconds later, Jefferson did the same.
As the shooting continued, Kayla heard Jefferson's wrist strap go off, "Jefferson, what's happening, there?" Zach asked, his voice worried.
Waving a hand towards her, Jefferson turned away to speak to his Captain, causing Kayla to sigh and speed up her shooting, though she could tell by the heat of her gun that it wasn't going to last much longer.
"I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?" Kayla faintly heard Jefferson reply.
Not even bothering to hear what Zach replied with, Kayla finally through down the, sparking gun, "So long old friend." She muttered before grabbing the fallen guard's gun, only to find that not only was it out of ammo, but despite thinking she had killed multiple Ood, her gun had messed up and had only stunned the creatures.
Backing away, she grabbed the comms. which allowed her to listen in on the conversation between Jefferson and Zach and speak to them, "I recommend Strategy Nine." Jefferson said in a rather calm voice.
She heard Zach sigh, "Strategy Nine agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Kayla? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?" he asked, his voice holding a certain note of defeat.
Running a hand through her hair, Kayla shook her head, "I can't get any reply, just...NOTHING, I keep trying, but it's..." her voice cracked as she failed to mention the many times she had yelled at him through their mental link.
Before Zach could reply, the comms. crackled, "No! Sorry, I'm fine. Still here!" the Doctor called through the speakers.
Nearly sobbing in relief, Kayla started to catch him up mentally while she settled on say, "Oh you idiot. I thought you were dead!"
'When we get back on the TARDIS, I'm going to kill you.' Kayla added in for good measure.
She could almost feel the Doctor's smile, "It's both of us, me and Ida. Hello! But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm."
'I'll remind you.' The Doctor said with the perfect amount of cheek.
Rolling her eyes, Kayla listened as Zach asked, "How deep is it?"
'It's huge Kayla, I wish you could see it.' The Doctor told her, sounding like he was quite proud of the trap door.
'Stop acting like it's your child and pay attention to the conversation!' Kayla chastised.
Instantly, the speaker crackled, "Sorry, sorry. The connection down here isn't the best." The Doctor apologized, though the brunet knew that the connection was pretty good, "Anyways, I can't tell. It looks like it goes on forever." The Doctor explained.
'When it opened, there was a voice, I think it was the one you heard.'
'The pit is open.'
'Yeah!'
"You know," Danny started thoughtfully, "When the shaking started, I couldn't have been the only one who heard 'the pit is open.'"
There was an awkward silence until, "I heard it too." Jefferson admitted.
"So did I." Kayla added.
They all heard Zach sigh, "Me too."
'Doctor…did you hear it mentally as well?'
The comms. crackled once more, "We heard it too." This time, it was Ida who answered, "And it seemed to be coming from the trapdoor."
'Yes, and I should tell you that Time Lord brains are better guarded than any other type of brain. Whatever was projecting that is powerful. Scary powerful.'
Shuddering so slightly that no one noticed, Kayla glanced around the room she was in despite the fact that she knew nothing that powerful was in there with her. While the others discussed how deep the mysterious pit was, Kayla continued with her mental conversation with the Doctor, 'I wish you were up here with me, Doctor. Because this is one of those rare times when I'm scared.'
Instantly, she felt waves of comfort coming from the Time Lord, and, just for a second, she felt like she received the biggest, warmest hug ever from him, 'We'll make it out of this.' The Doctor promised, his mental voice much stronger than the trembling whisper that was Kayla's only moments ago.
'Promise?' Kayla couldn't help but challenge.
'Promise.'
Listening in on the conversation once more, the brunet heard Zach sigh heavily, "Ida? I recommend that you withdraw. Immediately." He stated.
"But...we've come all this way!" Ida protested.
Kayla had to bite back a grin as she heard Zach grumble something rather unsavory about Ida's family and her mother, "Okay, that was an order. WITH-DRAW. With that thing open, the whole planet's shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now." He ordered, a hint of anger in his voice.
'Kayla…things are about to get tricky.' The Doctor warned suddenly, causing Kayla to stiffen.
"But it's not much better up there with the Ood." Ida pointed out.
Once again, Zach sighed, "I'm initiating Strategy Nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately, no ar—" Before the acting captain could finish his sentence, a static erupted from the comms. causing Jefferson and Kayla to exchange worried looks.
'Be careful.' Kayla warned to the Doctor, knowing in both of her hearts that there was nothing she could do to convince the moron to go back to the base.
Receiving no reply, Kayla turned all her attention back to matter on the surface of the planet, which was Zach rather angry voice yelling, "Ida? IDA?"
But there was no reply, causing Kayla to roll her eyes and run a hand through her hair, "I don't think she's going to reply." She muttered to no one in particular.
Surprisingly, though, the comms. stopped being static as a very familiar voice came through, "Kayla, we're coming back." The Doctor said.
Kayla allowed herself a grin, "Thanks." She replied back. Turning to talk to Jefferson about the Ood, the brunet's eyes widened at the sound of Jefferson releasing the safety on his gun, his eyes on Toby, "I don't think you should do that." She warned.
The man hardly glanced at her, "He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it." Jefferson retorted as he aimed his gun at Toby.
Toby, his eyes so wide that Kayla could see the whites in them, backed into the corner and cowered into the floor.
And at that very moment, Kayla didn't know what to do. The Time Agency part of her wanted Toby to pay, whether or not it was his fault. But the part that had been touched by the Doctor, that had been changed? It called for her to let him live. He was, after all, a child.
So she raised her head, her brown eyes sparkling as she placed one hand on Jefferson's shoulder, "He is just a boy." She pointed out to him, "And Jefferson, you are no killer. If he turns again, then we can discuss this. But for now, let him live."
Kayla watched as Jefferson's arm shook and then fell back as he put the safety back on, "You better not make me regret this, Hark." The older man grumbled as he turned and walked away, leaving Toby and Kayla alone.
Looking up from his cowering position, the young blond stared at Kayla, "T-thanks." He managed to stutter out.
Kneeling down, Kayla still had to tilt her head down to look Toby in the eye, "What do remember?" she asked, her tone uncomforting and cold.
Trembling and biting down on his lip, Toby shrugged, "Just...it was so angry. It was...fury and rage... death..." for the first time in the conversation, the young man met Kayla's eyes, "It was him. It was the devil." He whispered in horror.
"There's no such thing Toby."
While Toby stayed in the corner, either too scare or just unable to move, Kayla, Jefferson, and Danny stood by the monitors and computers on the Exploration Deck, waiting for Ida or the Doctor to contact them.
"Okay, we're in. Bring us up." Ida stated, though she sounded less than pleased with the request.
Nodding, Jefferson pulled a few levers, "Ascension in three…two…one."
And nothing happened as the mechanism failed and the lights went out.
"This is the Darkness. This is my domain." The same voice from before surrounded the three, causing them all to shiver as the monitors changed to display several of the Ood standing together, "You little things that live in the light...clinging to your feeble Suns..." The voice teased, "... which die in the..."
"That's not the Ood. Something's talking through them." Zach stated through the wrist bands, though the sentences gave little to no reassurance.
"Only the Darkness remains." The voice continued.
The comms. crackled once more, "This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctury Base Six representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself." The acting captain ordered.
'Torchwood…Doctor, he said Torchwood.' Kayla whispered through the mental link.
"You know my name."
"What do you want?" Zach asked.
"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave."
Behind the three, Toby whimpered, "It's him. It's him. It's him..." he repeated.
Once again, however, the comms. made a noise as the Doctor addressed the mysterious voice, "If you are the Beast, then answer me this: which one? Hmm? 'Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archivits...Pordonity, Christianity...Pash-Pash, New Judaism...Sanclar...Church of the Tin Vagabond - which devil are you?" the Time Lord challenged.
"All of them."
"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?" Kayla asked, jumping before the Doctor could reply.
"These two know me – as I know them. The killer of his own kind and the one who condemned her own father."
Letting out a gasp, Kayla stumbled back a few steps from the monitor, as if that would make the sentence stop replying on a constant lope in her head. What the hell did the voice mean?!
'Kayla calm down. It's fine. Just ignore it or else this…Beast will grow stronger.' The Doctor said mentally, obviously doing the best he could to comfort her.
Physically, however, he addressed the Beast, "How did you end up on this rock?"
At the question, the tension in the air seemed to grow as the Beast pondered how to answer, "The disciples of the Light rose up against me. And chained me in the pit for all eternity." The voice said, though it didn't sound to please about that.
Kayla's brow furrowed, "When was this?" She questioned, making sure there was no fear in her voice.
"Before time."
"What does THAT mean?!" the Doctor suddenly asked loudly.
"Before time."
"What does 'before time' MEAN?" the Doctor continued to demand, his voice rising along with him temper.
As if to frustrate the Doctor even more, and Kayla could tell it was working, the voice took its sweet time to answer, "Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created."
"That's impossible. No life could have existed back then." The Doctor protested.
But then Kayla spoke up, "Actually Doctor," she started, "the Luna Academy has several journals filled with the theory of the universe before time."
Grumbling rather audibly into the comms. about how the brunet was supposed to be on his side, Kayla could clearly imagine the Doctor pouting, which caused her to smile. But as soon as the grin went across her ace, it slid off as the voice continued, "You know nothing. All of you. So small. The Captain, so scared of command. The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife. The scientist, still running from daddy. The little boy who lied…The virgin...The man with no name. And the lost girl; the one with no home. The new Time Lady who will die in battle soon."
As the voice finally finished with its horrible statements, each person reacted in terror and shock, 'Doctor…what did it mean that you have no name…and…' she shook her head, not allowing her to ask the heavy question of her possible death.
'I'll explain later.' The Doctor promised, not even touching on what Kayla hadn't said.
"You will die...and I will live."
The monitor displaying the Oods suddenly cut and was replaced with a fearsome sight of a roaring, red, and horns that looked sharp and deadly. As one, everyone gasped loudly and stumbled backwards before breaking into hysteria.
"What the hell was that?" Danny asked, his voice trembling with fear.
"I had that thing inside my head." Toby whimpered from his corner.
"Doctor? Doctor! Are you alright?" Kayla yelled frantically through the comms. as she felt a sudden flash of fear from the Doctor.
Danny moved closer to the brunet and Jefferson, who was starting to compose himself, "What do we do? Jefferson?" the younger man wondered.
Not answering, Jefferson raised his wrist up, "Captain? What's the situation on Strategy Nine?"
There was no answer, though given the fact that Danny and Toby where still speaking over each other it wouldn't be surprising that Kayla hadn't heard Zach reply, "Zach, what do we do?" Danny added in.
"What if I can fix it?...the black hole, everything's true." Toby whispered from his corner, but no one paid him any attention.
Tapping at the screen of his wrist strap, Jefferson tried again, "Captain, report."
"We've lost pictures—"
"Doctor? Can you hear me?"
"Did anyone get—"
"Jefferson?"
"Stop—"
'Cover your ears Kayla.'
"Everyone just stop—"
"What do we do?"
"Report."
And then the Doctor did something that made Kayla very grateful that she had followed the Doctor's rather snappish order and covered her eyes, because the Time Lord somehow made the speakers scream loudly, causing all the hysteria of the others talking to each other to stop.
After a long pause of silence, the Doctor finally started to speak, "If you want voices in the dark, then listen to mine; that thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness - childhood nightmares, all that stuff." He said reasonably
Next to Kayla, Danny shook his head, "But that's how the devil works." The man pointed out.
"Or a good psychologist." The Doctor retorted.
"But...how did it know about my father?" Ida suddenly asked.
The question apparently had the Doctor stumped because the Time Lord didn't answer for quite a few seconds, "Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine? Hmm? Cos I'll tell you what I can see: humans. Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space. Flying in a tiny little rocket into the orbit of a black hole! Just for the sake of discovery, that's amazing! Do you hear me? Amazing. All of you. The captain - his officer - his elder - his genius - his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him—" And a loud bang cut him off.
'Doctor, it's the cable! Get out, now!' Kayla practically shrieked through the mental link as dust wafted from the shaft that they had sent the Doctor and Ida down.
Horrified, Kayla hurried over to the hole and looked down only to see darkness, "Doctor?" She called down, wondering if he could even hear her, much less reply, "Dooccctttoorrr?!"
"I've still got life signs, but...we've lost the capsule." Zach said with a groan.
'Doctor? Are you alright? Do you have air?'
Zach sighed, "There's no way out. They're stuck down there."
Having joined Kayla at staring down at the shaft, Jefferson ran a hand through his hair while Danny threw something down the hole to see if they could hear it hit the ground, but they couldn't, "We need to bring them back." Kayla stated.
"They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable." Jefferson pointed out with a sigh.
A loud bang at the door caused the three to jump and Jefferson to quickly speak into his wrist device, "Captain? Situation report."
It took a while for Zach to reply, but when he did, Kayla seriously wished he hadn't, "It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."
Jefferson glanced at the door, which thankfully remained silent, "Yeah, it's the same on Door 25."
"Eight minutes, tops." Kayla said as another bang came from the door.
Zach swore, "I've got a security frame, it might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you." He warned.
"So we need to get our and stop them." Kayla stated, "That's sounds simple enough." Shrugging, she glanced warily at the door, "And preferably soon." She added as an afterthought.
"There's nothing I can do. Some captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons." Zach complained along with the clatter of something being kicked by the frustrated captain.
Sighing, Kayla winced at the sound of yet another loud bang, "It'd be easier if we could see better." She complained to herself.
At her remark, Zach suddenly shouted, "I know!" And all Jefferson and the brunet could hear was the sound of the captain furiously typing on his keyboard, until, "They've gutted the generators!" he practically shouted with glee, causing the rather confused Kayla and Jefferson to exchange a look, "But the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that...Mr. Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety..."
Moving the panel, Jefferson started to press a series of buttons, "Opening bypass conduits, sir." He replied once he was done.
"Channeling rocket feed. In 3...2...1...power."
And like magic, the lights flickered on, causing Kayla to cheer and Jefferson to laugh and clap her on the back, "Let there be light!" Zach yelled through the comms.
As they continued to cheer and applaud themselves, it was Jefferson who brought them under control, "We need a hundred percent for Strategy Nine to work, but to get to it Zach and I need to be interrupted. I hate to ask you this, but Kayla, can you watch Toby while we work?"
For one, rather selfish second, Kayla was tempted to say no, to step away from the elderly man and explain to him that they should just kill Toby and be done with it, but then she could have sworn that the Doctor whispered in her brain, 'He's just a child.' She could practically hear, 'Remember how it was when you were a child?'
So instead, Kayla looked at Jefferson and forced a smile, "Sure." She agreed with a shrug, which caused Jefferson to clap her on the shoulder and turn his back, leaving the brunet little choice but to kneel in front of Toby.
"You've had him inside of you too, I can sense it." Toby said with a whisper, "We are the same, you and I."
Kayla swallowed hard, "Who's talking, Toby or the Beast?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady.
Raising his head slowly from his arms, the young man blinked his brown eyes at her, "Toby." He answered simply, "But he's going to come back." Looking frightened, he pressed his head back to his arms, "I've said too much. I'll work on the symbols, now leave me alone!"
Jerking back at the sudden yell, Kayla stared at the boy for a second, "You sure?" she decided to ask.
"Leave me alone!" he cried out again.
Standing back up, Kayla backed over to Danny, who looked at her with a hint of worry in his eyes, "Do you know if there's any way of stopping the Ood?" the brunet wondered.
Danny shook his head, "None that I can tell."
His answer, though putting a damper on things, caused Kayla to smile, "Then that's what will figure out."
For a group that consisted of an older man, a terrified captain, a person who at any time could be possessed and had anger issues, a Time Agent turned Time Lady, and someone who was pretending not to be scared, they were making good process. Though the fact that if they didn't work then they would all die by possessed Ood probably helped with speed.
"Open junctions five...six...seven..." Jefferson said as he barely flinched at the now regular bang on the door, "...reroute filters sixteen to twenty-four. Go."
Still in his corner, Toby was kneeling over a pile of papers and various symbols that would make anyone dizzy to look at. Regardless, the young man seemed almost happy as he continued his silent work.
And finally, Kayla and Danny were looking through anything they had on the Ood, with the younger black male explaining different things to the brunet when she asked, "There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board." He explained.
The computer in front of them beeped suddenly, causing Kayla to cheer, "Yes!" she cried out.
"Oh my God. It says yes! I can do it! Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare…it can disrupt the telepathy! Brainstorm!" Danny rambled as he read a series of flashing numbers after the first red screen with the word 'affirmative' on it.
"And the Ood will be tanked!" Kayla added, grinning widely. Sure, the creatures were innocent, but they were trying to kill them, even the Doctor wouldn't argue on their behalves.
But then Danny's face fell, "Oh damn, we have to do it from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."
As another bang came from the door, Kayla ran a hand through her hair, "We can do it." She stated. Getting up from the ground, the brunet went over to the busily working Jefferson, "Any way out?" she asked him.
"Just about...there's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here."
This time, it was Kayla's face that fell, "The machine shafts? But those don't have air!"
"But - I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create discrete pockets of atmosphere...if I control it manually...I can follow you through the network." Zach added in.
As Kayla chewed on her bottom lip, another bang came from the door, sealed Kayla's choice, "Captain, as Commander Kayla Hark of the Time Agency Branch 5089, I command you to create a path through the tunnels to Ood Habitation."
Her head high, Kayla smiled at the baffled Jefferson and at the silent comms., "I'll be with Danny if you need me." She whispered to Jefferson, and then left the two men behind.
"What was that about?" Danny asked as she sat down next to him.
Kayla just grinned, "Me showing off."
Sorry this is late but I was hanging out with a friend and I only just got a chance to edit this chapter and put it up. I seriously enjoyed this chapter though, because it did really focus on Kayla and not the Doctor. Plus since there was no Rose so I didn't have to put up with her annoying bull.
I would just like to say that if this story makes it to 75 reviews while I'm still publishing this, then I'll post a spoiler!
And, since never mentioned it at the beginning of this story, Kayla's theme song is still Infinite Legends by Two Steps From Hell, which means her band is Two Steps From Hell.
And now, review time:
NicoleR85: Thanks! And for Love and Monsters I'm unsure. It depends on what you guys want.