Another violent bang came from Door 25, and the bright sparks that flew from it made Kayla briefly glance over and wince at the sight of the door barely holding, and then her brown eyes went straight back to Danny, who was still at the computer while Tommy, Jefferson, and herself were all practically in the maintenance tunnels.
"Danny come on!" Kayla shouted to the younger black man, who was typing busily on the keyboard.
Not even looking over at the brunet, Danny continued to type, "Hold on! Just conforming..." he called back.
Next to the Time Lady, Jefferson rolled his eyes, and muttered, "You moron," before he raised his voice and yelled over to Danny, "Dan, you gotta go NOW!" Another bang came from the door, "Come on!" he added in a yell.
The computer beeped rather loudly, causing Danny to cheer, "Yeah!" And take what appeared to be an orange chip before he clutched it tightly to his fist and hurried to the entrance to the tunnels, "Put that in the monitor...and it's a bad time to be an Ood!" Danny slightly chuckled, a grin on his face.
Kayla just smiled thinly, "It better be worth it." Glancing around at the others she put on a brave face, "Now remember, if anything I will come back and jump down that shaft myself if that means I'll get the Doctor back. You guys don't have to come. So let's kill those Ood and be done with it."
Just shaking his head, Jefferson took charge, "Okay, Danny, you go first, then you Hark, then Toby, I'll go last in defense of position. Now come on! Quick as you can!" Giving him a look as Danny lowered himself, Kayla opened her mouth to speak but Jefferson cut her off, "No Kayla, you aren't staying here with me. Now go."
Sighing, Kayla climbed into the shaft and out of sight.
Landing next to Danny, Kayla glanced around as she sniffed audibly, "Interesting smell." She noted, "You okay?" she asked as she looked over at him.
"Yeah, I'm laughing." Danny said dryly as Toby dropped in next to him, "Which way do we go?" Dan asked through the comms. to Zach.
"Just go straight ahead. Keep going 'til I say so." Zach ordered just as Jefferson made it down.
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, it all depended on the person, the tunnels were rather low to the ground. So low, in fact, that though Kayla, Danny, Toby, and Jefferson were all crawling on their hands in and knees, at some parts they had to duck their head to keep from hitting their heads on the metal ceiling.
"How short are these robots?" Kayla asked suddenly to fill the silence.
In front of her, Danny shrugged, "They don't need to be tall, just able to do good work."
Giving into to that, the silence once again took over until Zach's voice came through the comms., "Straight along until you find junction 7.1. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you."
The group reached a junction in the tunnels, which allowed them to all sit down as much as they could and catch their breath in the rather thin air they had, "We're at 7.1, sir." Danny reported to Zach through his wrist device.
There was a pause before Zach replied, "Okay, I've got you...I'm just aerating the next section." He explained.
After a rather lengthy silence, Danny finally asked, "Getting kinda cramped, sir...can't you hurry up?"
"I'm working on half power, here." Zach snapped back instantly, his voice oozing an eye roll as he spoke.
Jefferson sighed, "Stop complaining." He ordered to Danny.
Looking over at Kayla in shock, the brunet could only shrug as Danny rolled his eyes and wiped the sweat off his brow, "Could be worse." Kayla pointed out, "We could still be on the platform."
Finally, Zach spoke, "I'm just moving the air..." He sighed, "I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm...or it's gonna feel worse."
And just as he said that, there was a loud bang from the other end of the tunnel, causing Jefferson and Kayla to aim their guns in that direction, "What was that?" Danny asked.
"That didn't sound good."
"What's that noise?"
"Captain...what was that?"
"The junction in Habitation Five's been opened - it must be the Ood." Zach answered before pausing slightly, as if he was trying to view something, "They're in the tunnels!" the captain suddenly yelled the warning, causing everyone to jump.
While Kayla chose to curse in whatever language jumped into her brain, Danny shouted in reply, "Just open it!...sir."
Actually grabbing Danny's wrist, Kayla moved it closer to her face, "Captain, can you tell me where they are?" she asked him in a serious, surprisingly calm voice.
"Don't know, I can't tell - I can't see them...the computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms." Zach explained.
Cursing once more, Kayla rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply when Danny wrenched his wrist from the brunet's grip and roared into the device, "OPEN the gate!"
And the gate opened, which caused the foursome to lunge threw it and follow Danny at their quickest crawl, "Danny, turn left. Immediate left." Zach ordered.
As they continued down the tunnel, Kayla glanced back to see Jefferson crawling backwards, his gun pointed in preparation for the Ood, "The Ood, sir - can't you trap them? Cut off the air?" He asked.
Zach sighed, "Not without cutting off yours." He answered.
"Danny, turn right. Go right! Go fast, Dan - they're gonna catch up!" As Zach continued to give orders, his voice growing more and more frantic, Danny started to move faster.
Finally, a panting Jefferson stopped moving, "I'll maintain defense of position!" he yelled back at the others.
Shocked, Kayla nearly stopped, but instead she slowed down enough to still shout back at the older man, "I know there's no way to stop you, so I can only wish you luck."
As Jefferson gave her a nod, the three moved on, all of them trying to ignore the sound of bullets coming from behind as they made it to the next junction, "8.2. Open 8.2. Zach!" Danny yelled.
"I've gotta aerate it!" Zach shouted back.
Danny rolled his eyes, "OPEN IT NOW!" he ordered, his voice echoing off the tunnels.
Zach practically growled, "I'm TRYING." He retorted.
Growing frustrated, Danny started to thump desperately on the gate that was blocking them, "Stop, you're going to get hurt." Kayla ordered.
"Zach, get it open!" Toby whined.
Finally, just as the sound of gunshots were getting closer, the gate opened and the three crawled through the opening, "Come on!" Danny yelled back to Toby.
Looking back at the tunnel, Kayla crawled after, "Danny, turn left and head for 9.2. That's the last one." Zach ordered before going silent.
When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, Danny, Kayla, and Toby gasped for breath and waited to see if Jefferson would come. But then the comms. crackled and Zach's broken voice came through it, "Report...Officer John Maynard Jefferson PKD...deceased...with honors." Too shocked to speak, the three just looked at each other, "43K2.1." Zach finished.
Danny swallowed hard, "Zach...we're at the final junction. 9.2. And er...if my respects could be on record. He saved our lives." He requested.
"Noted. Opening 9.2." Zach said without any real emotion as the sound of clicking buttons filled the silence until the gate opened…
There, waiting for them, where the Ood.
"Back! Back!"
"Lower 9.2. Zach, lower it!"
"We can't go back! The gang point's sealed off, we're stuck!"
Before anyone could say a prayer or actually get killed by the Ood, a grilling right in front of Toby fell onto the metal floor with a loud clang, "In, in, in!" Kayla shouted.
Kayla was the first to emerge into the corridor above them, then Danny did the same, but Toby? Toby, for some reason was staying in the tunnels as the Ood started to crawl towards him, "Toby, what the hell are you doing?" Danny shouted down.
Leaning over as far as she dared, Kayla stuck her hand down the hole, "Grab my hand Toby and come on!" she yelled at him.
For a second, it seemed as if he wasn't going to take her hand, but then his surprisingly cold hand grabbed hers and with the help of Danny, the two pulled the boy up, "Help me! Oh, my God - help me!" He cried out as they helped him up.
Her brow furrowing, Kayla glanced over at Danny, who shrugged as he straightened Toby up and gave him a pat on the back of good measure, "Oh damn." The black man hissed as he saw multiple Ood coming down the hallway.
"Other way?" Kayla suggested as she noticed the Ood. Practically hiding behind Danny, Toby made a very manly whimper.
Nodding once, Danny turned and face the opposite direction from which the Ood where coming from, "It's this way." He stated before breaking into a sprint that Toby and Kayla were quite happy to follow.
"Hurry up!" Zach shouted through Danny's wrist strap.
It was with great relief and many gasps for breath that Danny, Toby, and Kayla found themselves bursting through the doors of Ood Habitation and gathering around the dark skinned man as he fiddled with the computer.
"Press that button!" Kayla commanded.
Toby, his eyes on the Ood, winced, "Danny, get down." He added in.
Both not paying attention to the younger male, Kayla ordered, "Transmit!"
Danny let out a frustrated growl, "I'm trying, I'm trying! I'm getting at it—" He protested as he tore his eyes away from the monitor to give Kayla a glare.
"Stop them!" Toby suddenly shrieked as he pointed one dramatic and shaking finger at the oncoming Ood.
"Danny, get that thing transmitting!" Kayla finally yelled, looking like she was about to rip Danny from the computer and do it herself.
Not even looking at her, Danny shoved something into the computer and then watched a monitor as the readings for the Oods went down to Basic 0, "It's working." Toby whispered as the Ood clutched their heads and stumbled about. After several seconds of this action, they finally collapsed onto the floor.
Smiling, laughing, and giving Danny a hug, Kayla cheered, "You did it!"
Danny grinned back at the brunet, "Yes!" he cried out in celebration.
Grabbing the comms. Kayla spoke into it, "Zach, we did it. The Ood are down. Now we've gotta get the Doctor."
"I'm on my way." Zach replied after a short pause.
Clapping her hands and practically jumping like a child, Kayla gave Danny one last hug and even clapped a hand on Toby's shoulder as she rushed out of Ood Habitation.
Kayla, Danny, Toby, and Zach all reached the exploration deck which still had fallen Ood on the floor. Not wasting time for talking, the brunet grabbed the comms., "Doctor? Are you there? Doctor? Ida? Can you hear me?" she asked urgently into it.
"Doctor, it's me. Please, please answer." She begged through their mental link, but like with the comms., she had no reply from her Bonded, and that nearly made her cry.
But then, "Kayla? Kayla! Are you alright?"
"Doctor where the hell have you been?"
"I can't explain it now, but I promise I will see you soon...Kayla…I love you."
And then, for just a second, Kayla nearly went crazy as she felt as if she was falling even though she knew and could feel that she was standing, "Hurry up Zach." She whispered softly.
Quite a few minutes later, Kayla was once again speaking into the comms., "What happened? Is he alright?" the brunet asked, knowing that Ida would know who she meant.
There was a pause before the other woman answered, "He's gone." Ida answered.
"Down the pit?"
"How'd you know?"
Kayla shook her head, "Never mind the Doctor, he can take care of himself. What about you though, is there any way to get you up?"
Suddenly, Zach took the comms. away from the brunet, "You're ten miles down." The man started slowly, "And I'm sorry Ida, but there's no way of reaching you."
For a second, there was silence on the comms, "You should see this place, Zach." Ida started, her voice surprisingly strong, "It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things..." Only now did her voice crack, "And here I am." She finished with a whimper.
Zach sighed, "We've got to abandon the base." He stated. Kayla swallowed next to the man, but did nothing to protest, "I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again."
"But we'll never find out what it was?" Ida asked her voice soft.
Zach shrugged, "Well, maybe that's best."
"Yeah." Ida agreed.
An awkward pause followed, "Officer Scott—" Zach started.
"It's all right. Just go. Good luck." Ida interrupted.
Raising his head, Zach glanced around, "Thank you." And with that, he replaced the comms., "Danny - Toby - close down the feed links. Get the retrotopes online. Then get to the rocket - strap yourselves in. We're leaving."
Turning to look at Zach, Kayla held up a hand before the man could speak, "I know what you want to do, and I know what you will do despite what I am going to say right now, but I can take care of myself. I can live off little air and I can live off less food than you humans can." Seeing Zach about to speak, Kayla held up hand, "But I know you will not leave without me, which means I am not going down without a fight. I am staying with my Bonded."
Zach swallowed, "Then I apologize for this. Danny - Toby - make her secure."
For her credit, Kayla did put up a fight, "Let me go! He's still alive. I need to wait for him!"
Looking extremely sorry, Zach plunged a needle into Kayla. With one final breath and a strain, the brunet went limp in the two men's arms.
The first thing Kayla Hark heard was the Doctor's voice, "Kayla I'm alive. I'm alive. I'm alive and breathing. Keep yourself safe because I don't think I will be able to return. I love you."
Twitching, Kayla heard a man's voice say next to her, "Captain…I think we're gonna have a problem passenger..."
Letting out a sigh, she cracked an eye to look around, "Doc-tor?" she couldn't help but ask, her voice breathy and weak.
"Keep an eye on her." A different man's voice instructed.
Still confused, Kayla asked, "Where am I?"
Someone placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's all right, Kayla - you're safe-" the same man who spoke first said in a comforting way.
And then it all came rushing back to her with a gasp, a sigh, and shudder, "Zach I said no!" she yelled at the man, who was driving the shuttle they were in, "I need to wait for the Doctor!" she continued to protest.
Ignoring her, Zach pressed a series of buttons, "And...lift-off!"
"I'm so sorry Doctor. I tried, I really did."
Seeing a bolt gun, Kayla lunged for it but didn't point it at Zach or at Danny or even at Toby. Instead, she just held it tightly and looked around the shuttle, her eyes wild.
"If it helps any, I'm sorry." Zach started, "But besides, it's too late anyways. Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted." Doing what Zach had suggested, Kayla looked out the window to see the black hole growing smaller and smaller, "Isn't that right?"
Kayla looked over at the pilot and gripped the bolt gun tighter, "I don't know." She answered truthfully.
It was the sound of Toby's laughter that put Kayla on guard, "Why are you laughing?" she snapped with a sharp look at the younger man.
The man just shrugged, "Just...we made it. We escaped. We actually did it." He chuckled once more, a slightly sick smile spreading across his face.
Though no one vocally agreed with Toby or shared with his mirth, Kayla saw Danny nod out of the corner of her eyes, and that made her give Toby a look, "Just stop." She said in a cold voice.
"We're not out of it yet. We're still the first people in history to fly AWAY from a black hole. Toby, read me the stats." Zach ordered from the front.
Still smirking to himself, Toby looked at a clipboard, "Gravity funnel holding, sir. Always holding." He replied.
"Doctor is everything alright?"
"Stats. at 53, funnel status at 66.5. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir. All the way back home." Toby said, still smirking, "Coordinates set for Planet Earth." Pretending to look out the window, Kayla saw the younger man's smirk slide into an unpleasant smile.
"Doctor something is wrong with Toby. I don't know what."
Kayla ran a hand through her brown hair, "It doesn't make sense. We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've...ripped out the air or...I dunno, burnt us, or anything. But it let us go. Why? Unless it wanted us to escape..."
Next to her, Toby scoffed loudly, "Hey, Kayla, do us a favor..." he started, his tone slowly getting colder and nastier with each word, "Shut up." Shocked and quite angry at this remark, Kayla stared at Toby without blinking for quite a few seconds before she growled under her breath and turned away, "Almost there. We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in 40...39..."
"I'm sorry Kayla." The brunet heard the Doctor whisper right before the rocket started to shake violently.
"What happened? What was that?!" Danny shouted.
"What's he doing? What is he doing?" Toby cried out.
"We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse! We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!" Zach shouted just as the rocket turned back on itself and spiraled towards the black hole.
While the others yelled and screamed about their problem, Kayla decided to look back on the planet, only to see it shaking and moving, "It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling." She stated though she doubted anyone could hear her. With a shake of her head, she leaned back in her seat and glanced over at Toby, only to scream at his ink covered face and red eyes.
"I am the rage—" He started to say in a voice that was too fast and too scared to actually sound powerful.
Gripping the bolt gun tighter than ever, she pointed it at Toby, "Is Toby dead? Is he gone?"
"And the bile and the ferocity." Toby continued.
"I repeat, is Toby dead?"
"I am the Prince and the Fall and the Darkness—"
"It's him! It's him! It's him!"
Zach swallowed hard, "Stay where you are, the ship's not stable!" he ordered just as Toby expelled a burst of flames from his mouth, "What is he?! What the HELL is he?!" the captain gasped.
"I shall never die! The thought of me is forever! In the bleeding hearts of men - in their vanity and obsession and lust-Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!"
With a single look to Danny and Zach, Kayla pointed to the window in the front of the shuttle, "This is for my Bonded." She stated calmly as she shoot the glass. With a quick hand, she unbuckled Toby's seatbelt and then held on for dear life as the shuttle shook and the young boy went flying out and into the black hole.
"Emergency shield!" Zach yelled as he slammed down on a button. Instantly, a shielding of some sort covered the hole in the window, but the rocket continued to shudder and fall towards the hole, "We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole!"
Kayla's brow furrowed, "But we stopped him. That's what the Doctor would've done." She pointed out with a small frown.
Zach barked a sarcastic laugh, "Some victory. We're going in."
Looking down at a computer screen, Danny whimpered, "The planet's lost orbit! It's falling!" He squeaked.
"Doctor get off that planet, now!"
As Kayla felt a sudden jolt of joy from the Doctor, a beep came from the monitor Danny was holding, "The planet's gone." He whispered, but got no reply, "I'm sorry."
"Accelerate. I did my best. But hey - first Human Beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History." Zach said in a shaking but otherwise calm voice.
Nodding, Kayla screwed her eyes closed and braced herself for the impact of the black hole, but after several seconds of this, the shaking stopped and the shuttle fell silent and still, "What the hell?" Kayla gasped as she was forced to lean to one side because the rocket was turning.
Zach started to laugh as both his eyes popped open and he looked at the monitor, "We're turning around. We're turning away!" he laughed in shock.
On the dashboard, the comms. crackled to life, "Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship TARDIS." The Doctor's voice said rather smugly.
Starting to laugh as well, Kayla clapped her hands, "Oh my Doctor." She sighed to herself, "You'll kill me one day."
"Now, first thing's first – Kayla Harkness, I know I have been horrible at checking in on you, but are you alright?"
Leaning forwards, Kayla rolled her eyes, "I have half a mind to not answer and let you think I jumped out of the shuttle because I thought you had died."
The Doctor laughed, though a bit shakily, "I know you're alive because I'm talking." Muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "Though I don't doubt you would," A series of beeps came through the comms., "I'm just towing you home. Gravity-schmavity. My people practically invented black holes. Well - in fact, they did."
Laughing once more, another series of beeps hit their ears, "In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and captain - can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Kayla Hark - I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"
Zach laughed loudly, "She's alive!" he cheered.
Next to him, Danny pumped a fist in the air, "YES! Thank God."
"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right." The Doctor said rather dismissively, but then he sighed in defeat, "I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." The Time Lord reported, his voice far more solemn than before.
And then something beeped, "Ah! Entering clear space - end of the line - mission closed." The Doctor stated.
Kayla took a deep breath as she pushed open the TARDIS doors and fell into the Doctor's arms, "Kayla!" the Time Lord shouted in relief.
Still in his arms, Kayla ran her hands through his hair over and over again, "My Doctor." She whispered as she looked down at him, "Oh how I've missed you."
Putting her back onto the floor, the Doctor kissed her deeply before pulling away, "I love you Kayla."
"I love you too."
Sorry this is later, I had a family dinner with a friend of my dad's so I had to go through that. Usually, I'll try to post by, at the latest, 5 pm, but that might not happen.
As for this chapter, I LOVE how cute the Doctor and Kayla are, seriously. That ending just made me smile so much. And, in case you didn't notice, I had this chapter be in only Kayla's POV, but this was just a one time thing. It was to make it feel more like Kayla is cut off from the Doctor. I tried writing his scenes but it was basically him worrying about Kayla and talking about her a lot, so I decided not to do them. Usually, however, this will be only the Doctor's and Kayla's POV and any other won't be in it.
Also, I will be doing Love and Monsters, but you guys will have to see how I do it.
And now review time:
xxlisagalloverxx: I can say that Rose will try to win someone back. But I can't say who she will try to get.
NicoleR85: I won't say anything else on Love and Monsters, but I would just like to point out that the Beast said that she'll die "soon," but not "very soon."