Another chapter! Sorry for not updating quicker, but there's a lot more going on in this one. It continues from the last chapter. I hope you like it :)
"Stay back a moment," Sarah whispered, holding Rory by the arm and pulled him aside as the group continued past him. "I've got something in my top right pocket. Could you get it?"
Checking that no Cybermen were watching, Rory reached into Sarah's inside pocket, awkwardly trying to manoeuvre with his hands bonded. "I've . . . Hold one . . . Got it," he smiled, pulling a small object from Sarah's pocket. "What is it?"
"Lipstick. Aim it at the lock," Sarah instructed, holding out her wrists in front of Rory. "Press it."
"Lipstick? What, do you want me to stop the lock from getting chapped lips?" Rory joked, removing the top of the lipstick and aiming it. He pressed, making the end of the lipstick shine, and the lock on Sarah's hands opened.
"It's sonic," Sarah corrected, taking the lipstick and unlocking Rory.
"What do we do now?" Rory asked.
"Find a way to get everyone out, and quick; the Cybermen will be converting, or upgrading as they say, any time soon. Keep yo0ur wrists together, like you've still got your locks on," Sarah decided, drawing up a plan.
"Ok," Rory nodded. "A plan . . . An escape," he muttered to himself as Sarah dragging him back into the rest of the group as they were led along through the caves. "Hold on, if we're underground near a magma chamber, how come we're not boiling to death or choking from the lack of oxygen?"
"Rory Williams, you genius!" Sarah smiled. "There must be some sort of piping or ventilation."
"We're escaping through ventilation shafts?" Rory said, laughing a little. "Now that sounds like a good plan."
"Well, maybe not ventilation shafts but there'll be some way out."
The marching ended as the group were stopped by the Cybermen in front of a large set of metal doors. There were worried whispers, and sobbing in the corner, as the doors opened. A deep red light spilled out from the room on the other side, along with the grinding of metal and the flashing of sparks. Gazing in fear, the group was led into the room, hit by the heat and sound. Throughout the large room, the size of a school hall, were glass, translucent cubicles. Above the cubicles were metal devices, fitted with blades and saws and medical equipment. The room was filled with a gasp.
"We have to act soon," Rory decided.
"No! Get off me! Let me go you monsters!" a woman screamed as a Cyberman forced her into a cubicle. Six others were also pushed into cubicles, screaming and kicking in protest as they were forced in.
"Upgrading shall commence," the Cybermen said, placing their fists on the side of the pods to activate them. The whirring of the metal devices began.
"Come on," Sarah quietly willed, vigorously searching the room with her eyes.
"There!" Rory cried, having to be reminded to stay silent, nodding towards a vent at the side of the room, man-sized, that led deeper into the volcano. "I'm not sure where it'll come out, but it's a start. There's no orange light from it, so I'm guessing it doesn't lead straight into the magma chamber."
"Great work," Sarah gleamed, quickly wiping the smile from her face. The metal devices began to descend, spinning and slicing as the trapped victims screamed.
"Quick. We need a distraction," Rory thought to himself.
"Easily done," Sarah grinned. She raised her sonic lipstick and aimed it at the cubicles. The doors to them were flung open as the victims escaped, a couple knocking the Cybermen to a side in the confusion. "Rory, open the vent!" Sarah instructed, running to free as many captives as she could with her sonic lipstick.
Rory ran to the vent, dodging bolts of Cyber guns as they were shot randomly over his head. Several people had already been freed, and ran to help Rory pulled the metal bars from the ground. As soon as they succeeded, they scurried down into the passageway beneath the room like mice. Rory looked up, watching as Sarah ran throughout the chaos, using the lipstick to cause distractions as she unlocked the bonds on the prisoners hands. "SARAH!" Rory cried, itching to leave the room as quick as possible.
Sarah, finishing her work, ran towards Rory. "Get down!" she cried as she approached. Rory did as she instructed and descended through the vents into a small metal passageway, having to crouch down. There was an explosion and a spark of light above him as Sarah slithered down beside him. The prisoners were scattered about fussing over which direction to turn, left or right, leaving some to wander off, just wanting to leave.
"Which way?" Rory asked.
"Why should I know?" Sarah retorted.
Cybermen chanted above him, "Upgrade has been cancelled. Locate the prisoners."
"I don't care, we just need to go," Rory said, worrying.
"Right," Sarah decided spontaneously.
"Ok," Rory agreed. "Go, go, go!" he cried, ushering the prisoners to start running. No-one knew what they were doing; they just shuffled down the passageway. "Quicker!" Rory persisted, getting them to a near running pace.
Behind them, Cybermen descended into the passageway. Those who had turned left were trapped, screaming as the nightmares in silver approached, doomed for an upgrade as the others fled for escape.
Martha and Mickey were led by the Silurian Commander into a large room. The entire ship seemed to be made from organic materials, with pits of plants and rocks intertwining with wires and technology. In the room, there was a large window, looking out over a glittering sun, shining out through the black expanse that surrounded it.
"Space then," Mickey nodded, stepping towards the window, hiding his delight.
Martha laughed a little, "I'd almost forgotten views like these. It's beautiful. Pure beautiful."
"Don't get too attached," Commander Vesper hissed stepping over to a control desk where several other Silurians were busily working. "Can someone contain the apes."
Two Silurians stepped forwards and grabbed Martha and Mickey, securing their hands with a set of odd-looking handcuff before pushing them down into seats in the corner of the room.
"So, where about are we?" Martha asked.
"Section twenty: interior control. This section of the arc monitors the movements of personnel, objects or other interior factors that can be monitored, liking opening doors or air locks," one of the Silurians replied, fixing glasses on its nose.
"And vermin, like yourselves," Commander Vesper snarled, patrolling the room in front of Martha and Mickey. "Why did you try to steal the Tardis?" Vesper asked.
"We weren't trying to . . . Wait. You said Tardis. How did you know that it's the Tardis?" Martha inquired.
Vesper laughed a little. "We met the Doctor once . . . A long time ago," she explained, gazing out into the stars, along dreaming as she talked. "We woke from out of the ground, and when we burrowed to the surface we were met by the Doctor and his companions. And he was so . . ."
"Inspirational," Martha suggested.
"He was a monster," Vesper snapped, all looks of wonder burning into fury. "He preached peace and tolerance, yet he killed one of our own and froze us beneath the soil for another thousand years. We could've co-operated. We could've thrived and yet he disappointed. Our species was stunted for a thousand years, and now we're back, and we want revenge. We can tolerate you apes, but we want the Doctor. We want revenge!"
"We know the Doctor; he wouldn't do that on purpose. He must've been trying to help," Martha said, defending her friend.
Vesper only shrugged. "Helping the human race, as usual. Don't you think it's time that he realised that this game he's playing affects everyone? He will choose to save humanity over and over, but at some point he'll have to accept that it's time that someone else had the advantage. On that day, we should've been prioritized, but no, he saved the humans first."
"So why do you want us?" Mickey asked. "We weren't there; we have nothing to do with this."
"Don't worry, we won't take our revenge on you," Vesper assured, "but like I said, we want the Doctor, and we will stop at nothing to get him. You can either help us, or hinder us, and we won't stand for the second. So what's it going to be?"
Martha and Mickey exchanged looks, and without saying a word they agreed.
"No!" Martha snapped. "The Doctor is our friend, so don't expect us to just hand him over. We're not the betraying kind."
"Yeah, Silurians. Go find another companion, but don't expect us to help," Mickey added in defiance.
Vesper flared her nostrils, drawing in a cold breath. She stepped toe-to-toe with Mickey, inspecting him with a keen as eye she move her nose to the point where it nearly touched his. Then she hissed, "I will give you one last chance."
"No chance," Mickey insisted, then he hit his forehead against Vesper's, knocking her to the floor as she fell unconscious.
Martha gasped. "What the hell?" Then she realised that the two Silurians in the room had spotted what had happened. "Get down!" Martha cried. The two of them fell on a side, their hands still trapped by the handcuffs, as they dodged the bolts of light that the Silurians fired at them. "What do we do?" Martha panicked.
"Vesper's gun!" Mickey cried. "Your closest!"
Martha, accurately judging when best to reach for the gun, snatched the device from Vesper's waist. She panicked, letting it slip through her hands, before eventually securing it in the correct grip. She fired: she missed first, then hit the first Silurian in the shoulder, two more stray fires, then the next two Silurians in the thigh and chest. They fell to the floor, not dead but idle.
"Good one," Mickey complimented.
Martha was still gasping. "I never thought I'd have to do that again . . ." Suddenly a siren wailed. "We have to get out!"
"Come on then," Mickey agreed, helping Martha off the floor as they scrambled from the room.
Amy didn't dare to fight against the Master; he kept his Dalek gun still aimed at her head. He pulled her along the dark corridors of the Dalek ship, unhinged by the continuing threat that surrounded them. "Where are you taking me?" Amy dared to ask.
"Why should I know; it's my plan? Somewhere, I guess. Or something; I could take you to something or someone. Either way, I'm taking you to 'some'," the Master thought, not making any sense.
"You're crazy," Amy muttered.
"So it would seem. There's not much evidence to defend myself, so I might as well go along with it," the Master agreed, not quite getting involved in the conversation; his head was too focused on the task ahead of him.
"I still don't actually get why you're doing this. Do I get an explanation?"
"Maybe. Probably."
"Why don't you just tell me?"
"I won't tell you. You wouldn't understand if I told you."
"I'm smarter than you think," Amy insisted.
"No, no, no. I didn't mean it like that. You see, I'm going to show you instead of telling you," the Master explained, a grin splitting across his face.
"Yeah, and how are you going to do that?"
"Like so." The Master dragged Amy through a set of doors, where they entered a large room. The two of them appeared on a large platform, suspended high above the ground where beneath and around them, stood hundreds and thousands of Daleks. Amy gasped, attempting to slither out of the Master's grip before she realised that he had a gun to her head. There were so many, glittering with a gold and a malevolent blue light.
"Intruders detected! Exterminate them! Exterminate! Exterminate!" the Daleks cried, aiming their guns at Amy and the Master.
"Not so fast!" the Master cried, firing a warning shot.
"You are intruders! You must be exterminated!"
"Oh, you silly little pepper pots, just listen!" the Master snapped. The Daleks fell silent. "Daleks, I have a proposition to make."
"Speak!" a Dalek insisted.
"This is a full-sized Dalek ship, and on every ship there is a Dalek vault. You have an object in your vaults that I want. I am prepared to make an offer with you to get it."
"But you are just one. We are many. You can gather any object that we desire. You will be exterminated!"
Before the Daleks fired, the Master raised a flashing device in the palm of his hand. "This is a bomb, Daleks. Inside it is a warp star, ready to shred this entire ship open unless you co-operate. Fire, and I will have enough time to destroy you all." The Daleks moved back from the Master.
"Please don't bring me into this," Amy begged.
"Tough look, sweet cheeks," the Master grinned. He announced the Daleks, "Inside your vaults is a White Point Star. I want it. In return, I will allow your continued existence and offer you this rather fetching gun," the Master said.
"Offer decline. You will be exterminated!" a Dalek cried.
Immediately, the Master fired at the Dalek, shattering its head open into flames. "Anyone else?" the Master shrugged, waving his gun in front of the Daleks. There was silence. "I thought not. Take me to your vaults!"
Anyone remember the White Point Star? I hoped you enjoyed this, and I will update soon. Please review :)