Before I begin this chapter, I would like to take a moment to thank you all for the reviews for last chapter and really for every chapter so far, but particularly the last one. I got reviews from new people and people who have been following this from the beginning and I enjoyed every last one of them! I'm so pleased to see how much people like this. So thank you all!
The viewing room Rory, Amy and River found themselves in was small, consisting of three comfortable-looking seats facing a large screen and desk covered in buttons. At the top right corner of the screen was a number steadily rising in quantity, but the main focus of the screen was what caught Rory's attention.
"Look," Rory said, pointing to the image of James, pacing the floor of an all-white room, scratching his head with both hands, expression scrunched in contemplation.
"Is that a live feed?" Amy asked, looking from James to the desk with buttons. Most of them she wasn't sure what they were for other than the alphabet, a number pad and a yes and a no button. Out of curiosity, she pressed one of the buttons that were less obvious, and a small tab appeared on the screen, saying in bold lettering; Meta-Crisis.
River looked up at that, then went to Amy, looking down at the buttons. "Oh, no."
"What?" Amy asked. "What is it?"
River didn't answer, but instead began pressing more buttons, apparently knowing what they were for. Several more tabs popped up on the screen, filled with information about James. When he was "created", where he had been living prior to his capture, who his "parents" were, his biological makeup. Every detail.
"What is this?" Rory asked.y for every chapter so far.
"Black market," River said. "He's selling James."
"Selling him?" Amy asked. "Well, what do we do? How do we stop him?" She looked down at the buttons, hoping one of them would stop the sale from happening. "We could buy him!"
"With what money?" River asked, then looked up as the numbers slowly came to a stop near the billion mark. "You two stay here. I'm going to go look for him."
"The Doctor?" Rory asked.
"No. James," River said. "Rory, do you still have that communicator I gave you?"
"Yes."
"Good. Keep me updated on what's happening on the screen. Tell me if a buyer has been picked. James has to be somewhere on this station. I just need to find him before someone buys him."
"So we just sit here and do nothing?" Amy asked indignantly.
"Someone has to be here when the Doctor gets back," River said. "Please, Mother. Stay here until the Doctor gets back."
"You're going to go alone?"
River smirked. "Of course not," she said, then pulled out her gun. "I have all the company I could need." With that, she turned and left the room, running off down the halls.
Amy frowned and looked back at the screen, watching James, who had apparently grown tired of his pacing and sat down. "Is he talking to someone?"
Rory nodded. "There must be a loud-speaker in there," he said.
They watched him as he silently conversed with some invisible voice, his expression slowly becoming sadder; almost guilty.
Suddenly an alarm began blaring and along with it came a sound neither of them had wanted to hear ever again. "EXTERMINATE!" A scream followed.
Rory paled at the sound and Amy looked at the door, eyes wide.
"Was that-"
"Yes," Amy said.
"That sounded really close," Rory said.
"What should we do?" Amy asked. She didn't like the idea of sitting here. If a Dalek just happened to come into the room, they were toast, but if they left, they might run into one.
"Stay here?" Rory offered uncertainly.
"What if one comes in?" Amy asked, then looked at the door, certain that she was about to see one burst through it. "What are Daleks even doing here?"
"I'd rather stay in here than wander around out there," Rory said.
"But what if the Doctor doesn't know the Daleks are here?" Amy said. "We have to warn him."
Rory frowned, completely opposed to the idea, but could see Amy had already made up her mind as she went to the door, peeking out to see if the coast was clear. "Wait, Amy. We're no help to the Doctor if we're dead."
"Does River know?" Amy asked.
Rory reached into his pocket, where he had deposited the communicator and put it to his ear. "River-"
"Daleks. I know, I heard."
"What do we do?"
"Get back to the TARDIS. You're not safe there. The Daleks are going through every room. They're searching the whole building."
"For the Doctor?" Rory asked.
"Maybe."
"Alright. Get back to the TARDIS and do what?"
"Wait."
"What about the Doctor?" Amy asked. Rory was going to repeat her question for River, but she must have heard her.
"I'm sure he already knows Daleks are here."
"She said he probably already knows," Rory said.
"But what if he doesn't?" Amy asked.
"Leave it to me. You and Dad just get to the TARDIS."
"She said we need to get to the TARDIS."
"We can't leave them."
"LIFEFORMS DETECTED!" screeched a Dalek and it sounded dangerously close.
"Amy, we have to go," Rory said, standing and grabbing her hands, looking her in the eyes seriously, pleading her to go. When she didn't respond, her took it as a yes. He peeked out the door, seeing the coast was clear (at least for the time being) and then pulled her out with him, running back down the hall from where they had come.
As they ran, they passed a small pile of dust. A clipboard lay beside it. Amy looked at it for a second before she realized who it had been before the Daleks had found her. The woman who had met them when they first arrived. She swallowed and turned her head away, not wanting to dwell on it.
They were alone for the whole of ten seconds before they started to hear the pounding of several feet from behind them.
"Someone's behind us!"
"Someone?" Rory asked, glancing behind him to see-
"Rory!" Amy gasped, stopping abruptly and pulling him with her, both of them skidding to a halt before running into the dozen or so Silurian soldiers that had become visible in front of them.
They hissed at them through their masks, guns poised, ready to fire.
"Step aside, Humans!" A deep, rumbling voice shouted from behind them as the sound of running ceased.
Rory and Amy ducked as a barrage of shots were fired above their heads from either side. Silurians fell and retreated as a wall of Judoon soldiers stepped forward, pushing them back.
Rory and Amy remained on the floor, Judoon stepping past them, until a female, humanoid hand reached down to help them up. Rory looked up at the Shadow Architect, took the hand and pulled himself and Amy up, looking at the pale, red-eyed woman in surprise.
The woman looked at the two of them. "Where is the Doctor?"
James had heard the voice and it had stopped his heart. He could hardly breathe. It was impossible. He couldn't have possibly heard that noise because they were gone. Extinct. At his hands. There couldn't possibly be-
The wall in front of him suddenly burst into rubble. He put his hands in front of him and turned his body away from the explosion as debris fell around him, dust filling the room. When he looked up, there were three Daleks in the room, the blue orbs of their eyes pointed at him.
"WE HAVE LOCATED THE META-CRISIS," the middle of the three proclaimed.
James gaped at them. "You... I destroyed you... all of you."
"YOU FAILED TO ERADICATE ALL OF THE DALEKS."
"Let me guess," James said, licking his lips nervously as he glanced between the three of them, who were blocking his only escape route. "Temporal shift."
They didn't respond.
James stared at them, waiting for them to do something. "I don't suppose you popped by just to prove I didn't kill you, did you? Are you here to return the favor? Because if that's the case, I'd rather you just get on with it."
"YOU WILL ASSIST THE DALEKS!" the one to the left cried.
"What?" James asked.
"THE META-CRISIS CAN EXPOSE THE DOCTOR'S WEAKNESSES."
"THE META-CRISIS WILL HELP THE DALEKS DESTROY THE DOCTOR!"
James guffawed at them. "No, the Meta-Crisis won't... and I have a name, you know," he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets and wandering over to the wall, leaning against it.
"YOU WILL ASSIST THE DALEKS OR YOU WILL DIE."
"Assist, don't assist; either way I'll end up dead, so what's the point in doing anything at all?"
"IT IS USELESS TO RESIST US," the Dalek said and all three started moving forward.
There really wasn't a way out of this and all he was doing was prolonging the inevitable, but he tried to distract them anyway. "And what exactly are hoping to find? You think the Doctor has an on and off switch?" James asked, then pushed himself off the wall with his shoulders and walked up to the center Dalek, staring it down. "All I had to do was press a button to kill you. I can guarantee you it won't be that easy to kill the Doctor." He stepped back over to the wall, staring at them defiantly.
"YOU HAVE VITAL INFORMATION ON THE DOCTOR AND HIS TARDIS," the center Dalek said.
"I hate to break it to you, but you have to have opposable thumbs to fly the TARDIS," James said, wiggling his thumbs at them.
"YOUR ATTEMPTS TO SAVE YOURSELF ARE WASTED," said the one to the right as the three approached him.
James swallowed, the cogs spinning rapidly in his mind for a means of escape, but he was coming up with blanks. His heart stopped when he realized he had no way out of this. It was ironic that the first thing he killed upon regenerating was about to turn around and kill him right back, but he didn't have a lot of time to mull over it; they had barely moved an inch towards him when Mr. Boots suddenly zapped in front of them. He grabbed hold of James' tie, punched in a few buttons on his vortex manipulator and was gone within seconds.
River hadn't gone far before she'd realized just how serious the situation had become. She'd very nearly run into a troop of Sontarans marching down the hall. She ducked into a doorway to avoid them and they went past without noticing her.
She sighed. This was exactly why she had wanted to send James back. Now the cat was out of the bag and everyone wanted a piece of him.
She briefly considered going back for her parents and escorting them to the TARDIS herself now that all of these baddies were wandering around, but she stopped when she felt the need to look down at the top of her hand. The black mark she discovered there made her heart stop. She looked up, but the hallway looked empty.
Carefully, she stepped out of the archway she'd hidden in, looking either way for anything suspicious, gripping the marker that had at some point ended up in her hand.
She started back the way she'd come, hurrying to get back to her parents before something else reached them first.
And then her gun was out and she was running, not daring to look back. She knew what was behind her. She didn't know how many, or which way she was running, but that didn't stop her, because of all of the monsters she'd encountered in her life and with the Doctor, none of them scared her more than the creature that was undoubtedly chasing her now.
They would never take her again.
The Doctor had heard the Daleks, but they sounded warbled- well, more warbled than their voices normally were. Almost as though... he looked at the screen at James, who was looking at the wall opposite him, eyes wide in confusion and alarm.
"Oh, no," the Doctor said as it dawned on him what was about to happen. "No, no, no, no, no..."
Mr. Boots glanced at the screen unconcernedly.
The Daleks burst into the room, dust and debris going everywhere.
"No, no. Where is he, Mr. Boots?" the Doctor asked, turning to the hit-man desperately. "I have to get him out of there right now."
Mr. Boots' brow furrowed slightly and tilted his head. "What was that?"
"I don't have time for your games. I have to get him now. Right now. Come on. Where is he?"
"Did you call me Mr. Boots?" he asked, ignoring the Doctor entirely. He chuckled. "Well, I quite like that. Never did particularly care for the Cowboy, personally. But I'm not the one who named me. In fact, I've never even formally introduced myself to anyone, now that I think about it..."
"Enough!" the Doctor snapped, stepping forward so that their faces were barely touching. "Now you listen to me, and you listen carefully. I have to save James now. If something-" he stopped himself, swallowing, unable to continue.
Mr. Boots stared at him, watching his face as the Doctor's jaw jutted and every muscle tensed; fury in his every feature. After a moment, he smiled. "Good. It's finally sinking in."
The Doctor glanced at the screen, where he could see James stalling to the best of his ability. He looked... defeated, but (not unlike himself) he continued talking, continued trying despite the fact that there was no obvious way to save himself. "What is," he said through gritted teeth.
"The third thing I wanted to show you. How important he is to you."
The Doctor looked at the screen again. The Daleks were closing in on James now. His desperation grew and he looked at Mr. Boots again. "You save him right now or so help me I will kill you."
Mr. Boots' mask faltered- only for a moment- enough for the Doctor to see a hint of fear behind his eyes, but it was gone in an instant and the mask resumed. He smiled at the Doctor and, after pressing a few buttons on the vortex manipulator, said, "Now I know you won't take him back." He pressed another button and disappeared only to reappear on the screen, zapping in between James and the Daleks. He grabbed James by the tie and zapped away again, returning to where he had been standing in front of the Doctor seconds ago, this time with James in toe.
James pinched his eyes shut in discomfort. "I hate vortex manipulators!" he complained.
The Doctor looked at the screen, where the Daleks were spinning around in outrage, crying "EXTERMINATE!" at nothing. He then looked at James, who was currently trying to get over the side effects of traveling by vortex manipulator and realized just how much he did care. He had tried not to- tried to objectify him so that he could detach himself- but the relief he felt seeing James safe. If something had happened to him... He blinked a few times, trying to clear his thoughts. "Are you alright?" he asked tentatively.
James nodded. "I'm fine."
Mr. Boots, who had been looking between the two of them, finally looked at James, feigning a look of indignation. "No thank you?"
James glared at him. "Oh, I'm supposed to thank you for kidnapping me and nearly getting me killed multiple times over?"
Mr. Boots chuckled. "You'll thank me when this is all over," he said.
"Doubt it," James bit under his breath, then looked at the Doctor, who was staring at him... Just staring.
James gave him a bewildered look. "What?"
The Doctor swallowed. "Nothing," he said slowly, then shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Nothing. Good to see you're... um... fine. You're fine. Good. We're all fine. Okay. We should... um... leave before the Daleks find us."
"I wouldn't just be worrying about Daleks," Mr. Boots said.
"What? Well what else is here?" James asked in alarm.
Mr. Boots shrugged. "Not sure."
James glared at him again.
"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find out in a second," the Doctor said, walking over to the door and gesturing for the two of them to follow.
"He's coming with us?" James asked, obviously disapproving of the very idea.
"I'm the only one with the gun," Mr. Boots pointed out, "and I doubt you'll be able to talk your way out of trouble this time, as much as I'm sure you'd prefer it."
"You're welcome to come along, but you need to keep that gun in its holster," the Doctor said. "I don't like guns."
"Yes, I'm aware," Mr Boots said, patting the gun at his hip. "It'll stay where it is."
The Doctor stared at him for a moment. "I mean it. I can't be fighting you along with the Daleks and whatever else is out there. It stay in the holster."
Mr. Boots smiled reassuringly. "You have my word."
The Doctor nodded, satisfied, then opened the door, ushering James and Mr. Boots through. "We'll need to hurry. The TARDIS is on the other side of the ship."
"Are you sure you don't want me to use my gun?" Mr. Boots offered.
"He's sure," James glowered.
Mr. Boots shrugged in compliance.
"Easy, James," the Doctor said. "Let's go, shall we?"
He opened the door and the three of them, after ensuring the hallway was empty, piled out of the room and started down the hall.
Okay, that's all I have time to write today and it seemed a decent place to end the scene, so... here we go! Now, either this next chapter or the chapter after shall be last. It depends on how much more I have to cover in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this update and, as usual, comments and critiques are always appreciated! I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say today!