A/N: Honest, there will never be an update this quick again :o

Chapter 20 - Ka Faraq Gatri

The Doctor had been condemned to slavery many times before in his life by a menagerie of angry species, but never before in this particular time period. As such, he wasn't entirely au fait with the technological trend for slavery and hadn't know what to expect when Spleen's father had uttered the words 'slave choker'. Something particularly unpleasant and hard to remove, he supposed.

He wasn't wrong. Spleen's brother took him directly from Jack's cell to some sort of slave processing area, filled with other poor souls who had managed to become victims of the slave trade. All species, genders and ages. They were dirty and clearly underfed, not to mention utterly terrified. They each had a black band of metal around their necks that was clearly causing them a lot of distress through pain, and the Doctor could see blood on the back of their necks.

Luckily, the Va'A'gnorn family had clearly decided that with his auction the next day, having him turn up covered in blood was not appropriate. So he was laid out on a table and given a VitChip on the back of his neck, fixed into place by a band of metal fixed with skin adhesive, by a threatening-looking man holding a hammer. It hurt, but he reasoned he was hardly in the position to complain with all the poor people outside, blood running down their necks.

He was then taken back to his cell, his blindfold removed. Spleen's brother then made a big point that he had the Doctor's VitChip controller secreted in his finger, that could administer shocks if needed. They then left him there with a plate of vile-looking food.

Finally he was able to see where he was being held. It was a grotty little cell built more like cruel containment for a dog, not large enough to stand or stretch out. There was an entire line of them, but most were empty. Others were filled with rotting corpses, or people so abused they might as well have been dead, and gaining any sort of conversation with them was hopeless. Bars surrounded him on three sides with a wall behind him and his hands and feet were manacled together in front of him. There was some blood on the cold, hard ground, and on his hands from what he'd done to Jack. He'd managed to get some of it off by rubbing them against the concrete and his clothes.

Rose hadn't uttered a word since he'd killed Jack. He didn't blame her. He felt unbelievably dirty. Although he knew Jack was immortal – that he hadn't killed him – it still felt that way. Despite getting most of the blood off of himself he could still feel it.

He wondered if he'd ever forgive himself for that one.

I hate you.

'I know,' was all the Doctor replied, staring at the ground.

Got your bright plan yet?

Sarcasm.

Or still gonna be a good slave while they torture Jack and sell you to the highest bidder?

'It's our only chance…'

Shut up! You knew! You knew this might happen!

'I didn't know that it would…'

This is all your fault!

'I'm s-'

Sorry doesn't cut it anymore, Doctor! We're never gonna see the TARDIS again, are we? I'm never gonna see my mum, the kids, Jack'll never see Ianto again… That's it! You're gonna be made a slave and I'm gonna be in your head forever, or until your brain collapses from havin' me in here!

She was crying and screaming her words now.

'We had to,' the Doctor said weakly.

Yeah, we had to, right!

More sarcasm. More crying. More screaming.

You didn't even try a psychograft or anythin', did you, you just took it like this was the only choice! And now we're gonna die and we'll never see 'em again!

'But…'

Shut up, okay, just shut up!

He shut his mouth for a few moments, just staring at his manacled wrists.

'Rose?'

I told you to shut up!

'We'll see them again. I promise.'

No, we won't!

'Rose, if you've ever trusted me before then trust me no-'

It doesn't make a dif-

'Shut up!' the Doctor yelled fiercely. She did. 'I'm going to get out of here before I'm traded, save Jack, find this healer and put you back in your body. Believe in me.'

There was a resounding silence in his head.

'Rose,' he prompted.

… Okay.

'Please don't hate me.'

She sighed.

I don't, I'm just... I'm scared.

'I know. I am too. But we'll see them again.'

Okay. I love you.

'Same to you.'

Please don't be a slave.

'Not planning to,' he assured her.

I can't see you like that. It's bad enough when you pretend to be.

'I know. But for now it's a waiting game.'

Yeah. God. I wanna hug you so bad.

He smiled a little. 'Soon,' he assured her.

I also wanna slap you though.

On cue, the Doctor's right hand launched up and he smacked himself across the face without any input from him whatsoever. He jolted, utterly surprised.

There was a brief, shocked pause.

… Did you just slap yourself?

'I didn't…' the Doctor muttered, staring at his rogue hand.

But…

Suddenly the far door opened. He looked up, and to his complete surprise he saw it was the younger female draconian who'd been staring at him throughout their encounter earlier. She moved straight towards him.

What the hell is she doing?

The Doctor resisted the urge to frown as she reached his cage, hovering outside momentarily.

'You're bleeding, Time Lord,' she realised.

The Doctor suddenly realised there was something warm dripping out of his nose. He reached up and wiped his hand under it, checking. She wasn't lying. He was having another nosebleed.

'What have you been doing?' the woman asked him.

'Nothing,' the Doctor replied.

'Hmm,' the woman mused. 'Defective goods.'

She unlocked the door, grabbed his foot and yanked him out into the open.

'Stand up,' she ordered firmly. 'And I warn you, I have your slave controller. Five hundred volts in through your neck.'

He did what he was told, a little more than confused. He noted that she kept glancing around, as though worried someone was watching.

I don't think she's meant to be doin' this…

'Follow me.' The woman began to walk at a pace he could manage with his manacled feet. She led him through the corridors of the underground prison, not hesitating. He recognised the pattern from the journey before. They were going to Jack's cell. Why…

She opened the door and kicked the Doctor inside. He ended up on the ground in front of Jack in a smear of dried blood.

'Yeah, come to get him to kill me a little bit more?' Jack wondered loudly. The Doctor looked up at him, a little worried, but Jack was defiantly staring at the woman.

'Be quiet,' the woman ordered, producing a gun and pointing it at Jack.

'Well, c'mon,' Jack prompted. 'Get on with it.'

The woman glared at him, then took the Doctor's foot and dragged him back along the floor away from Jack. She then stepped over him, straddling him and grabbing his shirt to pull his face close to hers. 'I've got some clients coming in a few hours that are interested in you two,' she finally said. 'Big, big money.'

As she pulled him into a violent snog, the Doctor realised what her clients were paying for. So did Rose, and Jack.

'Get the fuck off of him!' Jack swore.

Get off! GET OFF!

After a few seconds of feeling like he was being snogged by a vacuum cleaner the draconian pulled back, and reached down his body.

Nope, he decided.

He pushed her off as hard as he could, launching to scoop up her gun and turn, aiming straight at her. She shrieked and ran for the door, but he fired a warning shot centimetres from her head. She screamed again, freezing into position.

'The next one's going into your left leg,' the Doctor informed her casually, as if chatting about the weather. 'Right into your blood sac and central nervous system. Most painful death a draconian can experience. You'll lie there, in agony, paralysed and bleeding. I doubt anyone will find you in time to save you.'

She was staring at him, wide-eyed. She held up her forefinger quickly, in which his slave controller could have been secreted. 'I've got your controller, Time Lord! Back off or I'll shock you!'

'No, you don't,' the Doctor replied simply. 'Hands on your hand, please.'

'But… But you're subservient! You're meant to do what we say!' she cried out, clearly panicking.

'Sorry, Mistress what's-your-name,' the Doctor responded with a casual shrug. 'Hands on your head.'

She put her hands on her head. 'My father will miss me, and then I'll tell him what you did to me and then he'll find you and make your life hell, just like your human friend! He'll know you're not subservient!' Her voice was trembling slightly.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. 'You've been looking around nervously since you arrived. They don't know you're here. You invited clients from your sex trafficking business to come for me in complete secret, at a time you knew I wouldn't be visited after hours. After all, I highly doubt that your family would allow me to be compromised in that way so close to selling me. No one will miss you until morning because, as you know, no one's coming to visit me or Jack. Your clients are relying on you to let them in, but you won't be there, will you?'

She stared at him, utterly flabbergasted.

'Give me the key to unlock Jack, please. Let's keep those movements nice and slow,' the Doctor told her.

Clearly she realised she had no choice as her hand began to move to her pocket. She reached in and pulled out her key.

'Now drop it on the floor and kick it here.'

She did. He caught it under his foot.

'Now sit crossed-legged, turn and face the wall, hands on your head,' he ordered her.

'You can't…'

'I'm not feeling very patient. Get on with it,' he spat.

She did, shaking violently. She was scared. Still with one eye on her he unlocked Jack's chains. The human grunted, finally able to lower his arms and rub his wrists. The Doctor briefly tested the key on his manacles, but of course it was the wrong key.

'Now the key for mine?' the Doctor asked.

'I don't have it...'

'Oh, come on. You can do better than that.'

'I don't,' the draconian protested, on the verge of tears. 'Spleen has it, I swear…'

The Doctor glanced at Jack, who nodded. She probably didn't have it.

'Can I hit her?' Jack wondered anyway, clenching his fists.

'No,' the Doctor said after a moment. 'Let's chain her up and leave.'

Jack moved forward, grabbing the draconian under the arms. She screamed but Jack was much stronger than her, pulling her over to the place he'd been standing and dragging her to her feet.

'Raise your hands,' the Doctor ordered her, keeping the gun pointed at her.

'Please don't do this!' she cried, sobbing.

'We can do this the easy way or the hard way,' Jack grated.

The draconian shuddered, but obediently held her arms out. Jack clamped her wrists, standing her exactly as he'd been stood before.

'P-please!' the draconian stammered, tears pouring down her face.

'Let's go,' Jack said, making to leave, but the Doctor stopped, and looked at the coating of dried blood on the floor. He knelt down, and used the point of the gun to trace a symbol in it.

As the symbol took form, the draconian shrieked, panicking.

'You're… You're Ka Faraq Gatri! The Destroyer of Worlds!' she realised, wide-eyed.

Silently the Doctor finished drawing and stood up. He gave her one look of utter contempt.

'You can tell your father that anyone who comes after us will die a very painful death.'

He then left out of the door with Jack following.

'We've got loads of time, as long as we don't walk into anyone,' the Doctor told Jack quietly as they walked, after the Time Lord had spat enough saliva out, obviously to try and get rid of the taste of the draconian.

'God, you can be really scary y'know,' Jack murmured. 'You realise you just made one of the members of this insane mafia cry?'

'She is a sick, disgusting person. I've seen what her "business" has done to innocent people. She didn't deserve anything better,' the Doctor responded curtly.

'That symbol you drew. What was it?' Jack asked.

'It used to be the insignia of the ship I commanded in the Time War,' the Doctor muttered as they walked. 'And when people saw it, they…'

He trailed off.

'When people saw it, they knew they were going to die,' Jack realised quietly.

The Doctor nodded once, short and sharp. Then he stopped, taking Jack's arm. 'I'm so sorry I killed you.'

'It's okay. I've got used to being killed for fun,' Jack advised him. 'The Master and all that.'

The Doctor looked quite pained at that. Then he started walking again. Jack was being slow for the benefit of his manacled feet.

'We need to get out of here, then you need to remove my chip, Jack,' the Doctor told him, gesturing to his neck.

Jack immediately felt nervous. 'But…'

'It's okay, I'll guide you,' the Doctor told him quickly. 'But it's a VitChip, it'll tell my controller my location, and they can shock me. It needs to be removed.'

'So where are we going? What's the escape route?'

'I don't know the quick way out, they kept me blindfolded when they moved me around,' the Doctor confessed. 'But I've got an idea. We need to get to the slave processing area.'

'Getting out on the next distribution?' Jack supposed.

The Doctor nodded. 'And hopefully free a few of them if we can.'

Jack nodded. 'Lead the way.'

'Oh.' The Doctor suddenly proffered the gun he was holding to Jack. 'Take this.'

Jack did, confused. 'Wait, what? You're giving me a gun?'

'Insurance. Keep it hidden,' the Doctor advised him, and walked off.

For a moment Jack just stared at the weapon in his hand. The Doctor wasn't usually one for handing out weaponry. Things had become deeply serious very quickly.

Jack shoved it away, and quickly ran to catch up with the Time Lord.

A/N: Badass Doctor is very fun :D