I am SO sorry! This was supposed to be up Saturday, but my computer crashed and I lost everything I had written for this chapter! I had to start from scratch, which sucked. It's alright, though, because I think I like this version better anyway. I was just upset that I couldn't update as quickly as I had planned.
Real quick I just wanted to thank everyone for the reviews! They've been absolutely marvelous and I'm just so flattered and surprised by them! I mean really, they've just been so awesome!
So anyway, here's the next update. Since I lost so much of what I wrote already, I may not get to the next chapter until next week, but I'll try to get it up sooner. Enjoy!
The three watched the screens (which had switched to night vision) as James and Madame Kovarian tried to orient themselves, the latter yelling something furiously.
Alright, James, turn around, The Doctor said. The door's right behind you.
James turned, took a few tentative steps forward until he found the door- which he threw open and ran out of into the dark halls- Madame Kovarian yelling at him the whole way.
Keep going straight... aaand... turn right now!
James turned right.
Rory suddenly leaned forward. "Great. He's lost," he said.
"No, he's not," the Doctor said. "Basement is that way."
"No, it isn't, Doctor. It's left," Amy said.
The Doctor stared at her for a minute, looked at the screens and then grimaced. "Oh. Oops."
Um... sorry, turn around. It's left.
James skidded to a halt, spun around, glaring at where he guessed the camera was. Doctor! he growled.
I know, I know! Sorry. Won't happen again.
The Doctor directed him through the dark for a short ways, redirecting him occasionally when security guards headed his way and turning to Amy and Rory for confirmation at each intersection.
Okay you're on your own from here. We'll meet you at the TARDIS.
See you there.
The Doctor pressed a button and the lights came back on all at once, allowing James to run with confidence.
The Doctor jumped up out of the chair and turned to the two behind him. "I think we've overstayed our welcome. Come along, Ponds!" he said, grabbing their hands and dragging them out of the security room with him.
They came back out into the hallway and the Doctor stopped.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked.
The Doctor was staring down at himself, grimacing. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to run around in this uniform anymore. I need to change right quick."
"Doctor, we really need to go," Rory protested.
"But this is appalling," the Doctor groused. "I look ridiculous."
"Who cares what you look like?" Amy said in frustration. "Get over yourself and let's go."
"I'll only be a minute," the Doctor said, then grabbed onto Rory's shoulder to support himself as he grabbed the bottom of the leg of his pants. "Hold on." He wrestled them off, hopping in place until his leg was free. He freed the other, then proceeded to remove the jacket and tossed the hat away with a scowl.
"You were wearing your clothes underneath?" Amy said.
"Of course. That uniform's material was extremely uncomfortable."
"Even your jacket?" she asked teasingly, grabbing the collar of it.
He pulled away with an indignant frown. "Weren't we in a hurry?"
She nodded, then gestured with both hands down the hall. "Lead the way."
The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of his jacket, aimed it at the controls in the control room to disable them, then started leading Amy and Rory down the hall.
They moved carefully, peeking around each corner they came to while Rory watched their back, his fake water pistol grasped tightly in his hands.
The Doctor made to turn a corner, but stopped abruptly, pushing the two of them back and against the wall hastily, his mouth forming shushing noises as he put his finger to his lips.
"What is it?" Rory mouthed.
"Mr. Boots," the Doctor mouthed back.
Rory and Amy's eyes widened in alarm and they pressed themselves up against the wall further, as though trying to sink all the way through it.
"What do we do, Doctor?" Amy asked silently.
Suddenly an alarm started blaring wildly, the halls flashing now with red lights of warning and a robotic female voice blandly announcing "Intruder alert" repeatedly.
"It's a little late to sound an alarm, isn't it?" Mr. Boots observed, "Everyone already knows he's here. Where are we on security feeds?"
"They've been disabled," a deep male voice reported.
"I guess we'll be looking for him the old fashioned way. Keep an eye out for him, but Doctor Smith is your first priority."
The Doctor's brow pressed together at that.
"Smith? But what about the Doc-"
"I have bigger things to worry about. You just find Doctor Smith and leave the Doctor to me."
The conversation seemed to end at that, because footsteps started moving up the hall towards them.
Amy grabbed the Doctor's arm and started tugging him back the way they came, hurrying into an alcove so as not to be seen when whoever was coming down the hall passed.
"What's he doing here?" Rory whispered.
"Quiet," Amy scolded curtly.
"Well, Kovarian is his employer," the Doctor answered.
"I said quiet!" Amy hissed.
"Touchy," the Doctor whispered.
She flashed him a warning look.
He shut his mouth and looked down at the floor.
After the footsteps faded, they stepped out of the safety of the alcove and started running down the halls again until they came to the stairs, descending them as quickly as was humanly and Time Lordly possible.
The basement was much darker and danker than the main floors and smelled of rot, the walls covered in rusted pipes that occasionally puffed out gray streams of smoke that hissed loudly. The Doctor decided these conditions were an acceptable excuse for not noticing the man standing in front of his TARDIS until he had turned the corner around a cement pillar.
The man standing there had not known the Doctor, Amy and Rory were there either and by the time the two groups spotted each other, both had started to react.
The Doctor was quicker. As the man reached for the gun at his hip, the Doctor pushed Amy and Rory backwards until the three of them were behind the pillar, getting behind it himself just as a bullet zipped through the air.
Strangely, the Doctor thought it had been aimed rather low. It wouldn't have even hit his hip. More likely his thigh. Maybe this gunman was just a bad aim? None of Mr. Boots' men had shown very good marksmanship at the bunker, but he strongly suspected that the shot had just been a show. Why, he didn't know.
"That was close," Rory huffed, trying to peek his head around the corner without letting himself actually go past the security of the pillar, which was impossible, but he tried anyway.
"No, it wasn't," the Doctor stated. "He's not trying to kill me."
"He just shot at you!" Amy said.
"Just because you're being shot at doesn't mean that they're trying to kill you. He aimed too low," he paused, then tilted his head so as to let his voice carry past the pillar, shouting, "You can't kill me, can you? That's Mr. Boots' privilege, isn't it?"
There wasn't an answer.
"Why does he get to do it? I mean, finder's keeper's, first come, first serve and all that."
"Are you really encouraging him to kill us?" Amy asked, an appalled expression on her face.
He flashed her a confused expression. "Why would I do that? That would be stupid." He turned back his head again towards the gunman. "There's nothing stopping you, after all. I'm unarmed and Rory's gun is a fake, so unless you're allergic to water, then you won't have to worry about him-"
"Doctor!" Rory hissed in alarm.
"Quiet, Rory, I'm talking," the Doctor said.
"Have you completely lost it?"
"Most likely."
"This is just great. He's going to kill us," Rory said in rising dismay.
"Probably. Now, if you're done, I'm in the middle of a conversa-"
"Come out, Doctor. The Cowboy's going to catch you anyway," the man said steadily, his footsteps making soft thuds as he started moving towards them.
The Doctor listened and watched for his shadow on the wall across from him. "Sorry. I don't think I want to do that. You surrender first."
There was no answer.
"Quiet one, aren't you? I'm a talker, myself. Can't help it. I'm a rambler. I like to ramble. I ramble about nonsense half of the time, too. Like for example the temperature down here. It's really cold down here."
The shadow became visible.
"Probably because of the nitrogen," the Doctor said, then as the shadow reached where he had been waiting for it, he pointed the sonic screwdriver at one of the pipes across from him.
It hissed and a puff of white smoke burst through in a steady stream, straight at the gunman. He screamed in pain and they heard the heavy thud of his body hitting the floor.
The Doctor pointed the screwdriver at the pipe again and the smoke ceased. He then came out from behind the pillar and straight to the man on the floor, crouching down in front of him. He had luckily thrown his arm up at the last second and it had taken most of the damage. He cradled the injured arm to his chest, face contorted in pain.
The Doctor picked the gun up like it was dirty and tossed it aside, then scanned the man with the sonic screwdriver before depositing it back into the inside pocket of his jacket.
"You'll be alright," the Doctor said. "You're lucky this is the fifty-third century. They can fix that burn right up in no time."
He stood, then ushered Amy and Rory towards the TARDIS.
"Are we just leaving him?" Rory asked.
"Someone will be down to pick him up shortly," the Doctor said.
"But won't he tell people where we are?"
"Yes, but I don't see how that's all that concerning. It's when we are that would be a problem," the Doctor said, then looked back towards the way they had come. "What's taken James so long?"
He wasn't lost. He had just gotten turned around somewhere.
Not lost.
He looked at the three-hall intersection uncertainly, scratching his head. Which way was he supposed to go?
"Well, isn't this wizard. If every hall didn't look exactly the same," he groused to himself.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair, undecided. Finally, he pointed a finger at each hall. "Eeny meeny miny moe..." on "moe" his finger pointed left, so he went left.
He wasn't even halfway down the hall when suddenly he had to duck into the alcove of a door to keep from being spotted by a small group of security guards, who ran hurriedly down the hall and right past him obliviously.
An alarm began to blare loudly overhead, red lights flashing their warning. The guards stopped abruptly, one pressing a finger to the earphone on his ear as he listened to something.
"What is it?" one of them asked.
"There's been a breech on this floor, section four."
"You've got to be kidding."
The first shook his head. "Let's move," he said, then the five guards headed back the way they came and James pressed himself against the other side of the alcove to keep out of their line of sight.
When at last they had past, he peeked out to make sure the coast was clear, then started back up the hall, moving slowly so that he wouldn't accidentally run into the guards that had run ahead.
He had the sinking feeling that he was heading in the opposite direction of the TARDIS, but wasn't sure if he should turn back.
He stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking back and then ahead uncertainly.
"I mean, really, who designed this place?"
He looked behind him again-
-and was suddenly around the corner of the hall ahead, breathing heavily. Twenty seconds were missing.
His eyes widened in alarm and he looked down at his palm.
There was a single black mark on it.
He stared at it, then looked as a bright blue light started crawling up from the hall he had come from, intermingling with the flashes of red from the alarm that was still announcing "intruder alert" overhead. Above the noise he could hear the sharp crackle of what was undoubtedly electricity.
His breath caught in his throat and he turned to run.
He heard the crackle move towards him and he threw himself up against the wall of the hall, narrowly avoiding a steady stream of electricity shot towards him.
His movements became flashes, like he was in a room with a strobe light. He was almost at the end of the hall, then he was in the middle of the left hall and then he had somehow ended up on the floor on his stomach, his whole body aching and burning unbelievably, staring at the floor. He smelled something burning and was pretty sure he was smoking.
He started to get up, but stopped when a wave of nausea hit him like a bulldozer, threatening to empty the contents of his stomach all over the floor. His head hurt, he was dizzy and his vision was blurred.
He needed to move. He needed to move now, so despite his body's protests, he pressed a hand to the floor and started to push himself up, blinking his eyes repeatedly in an attempt to get them to focus.
It worked after a few times and they finally fell on a figure at the end of the hall, standing legs slightly spread, one arm held up and holding a large handgun. A female, judging by the head of huge, curly hair.
She pointed the gun down the hall and fired a single shot.
There was a twisted scream of pain and then the heavy thump of a body falling to the floor.
James just stared at the woman, blinking several times at her. His brain must have been fried pretty severely, because he knew that woman.
She smiled charmingly at him. "Hello, Sweetie."
And here she is! The lady of the hour. :P
Sorry about how short this chapter is. I wanted to give you guys an update, so I thought a shorter one would be acceptable as long as the next one is soon and long. :)
As always, I'd LOVE to hear what you guys have to say! :D