Pain shooting up through his spine, Paul struggled as Gerald and Harold prepared to use him as a meat puppet for Harold.
The way they talked, it's as though they're having a normal conversation, which only added to the unsettling scene of two brothers having conversations with one meat puppet.
Though they spoke as if they're two separate people, the brothers used their shared meat puppet to prepare for what Gerald cautioned would be the most painful experience for Paul.
Harold quipped that Paul would only feel it for a short moment, before his mind becomes systematically replaced with Harold's.
It would be as though Paul was in a dream, a dream he won't ever wake from, and the glee in Harold's voice about it said it all.
"Wait!" Paul drew enough strength to shout loud enough to silence the brothers.
Confusingly looking at him, the brothers leered, demanding to know what he wanted.
"Am I… am I not allowed last rites?" Paul questioned if the brothers would give him such thing, considering he would be dead before long.
A foreign idea, it'd seem.
"Why should we?" Gerald questioned why they would give Paul his last rites, before he heard Harold respond with a chuckle, "Come now, Gerry, this might be a bit of fun. Besides, shouldn't I have a say?"
Considering, Paul was designated as Harold's new body, and all that.
Gritting his teeth, Gerald gave him that, and agreed to let Harold have a say in Paul's last rites.
Gesturing, Harold insisted Paul tell them what he wanted from his last rites.
Of course, Paul couldn't say anything as he was forcibly removed from the hooks, hoisted upright as the hooks slid out of his hands and back, blood oozing from the reopened holes as his body tried healing him.
A wonderful thing, regenerative abilities, soon painkillers, too.
Good thing they were "careful" with him, wouldn't want to break his spine in the ensuring hook.
The pain from the wounds worsened as he's forced onto the table with restraints.
Paul tried to come up with something he could say to keep the brothers occupied long enough that he could free himself from the restraints that tied him against the table to the point of bruising his forearms.
It wasn't conventional and he knew it, but it had to be something tangible that would get the brothers' interest.
In fact, if there was something he knows, there's always a way of causing chaos among siblings.
He heard stories from his father about all the arguing he and Uncle Hammond got into during their youth that were easily started with the common denominator.
Jealousy.
Though Uncle Hammond refused to collaborate on this, not wanting Ace getting any more silver bullets.
She was rather fond of them…
The Daleks were acquitted with them, so much they developed a new word whenever she had some to spare, not something one could say in polite company.
"What if… what if I told you, I can change my face?" Paul used his last rites to instill jealously in the brothers by attempting to convince them that perhaps he lied to a degree.
Though, Paul risked this blowing up in his face, considering the unknown merchant who seemed to know him.
Well, he had to come up with something, he sees the brothers amped up ready to prepare the surgery that would fuse Harold's consciousness into his mind.
Yes, this was the face he was born with (which it is!)
But he can change his face, not necessary steal them as he was accused of earlier, but under the right conditions he can change it however he wanted.
Why else did they have problem figuring out it was him to begin with?
If they wanted more proof, there's a tool in his jacket pocket that he uses to change his face that is tied to his DNA only, nobody else can use it except him.
This could easily backfire on him, but Paul didn't know what else to do, Taylor's dealing with a monstrosity of flesh and machine at the moment, and he knew that Gerald wouldn't tell him anything more about the merchant to know what he knew and didn't.
Since he was designated as Harold's new body, Harold took the bait, curiosity in his shared dark eyes as he dug into the jacket pocket, pulling out the Sonic Screwdriver.
"What the hell's this?" Harold asks Paul as he held it with curiosity.
Quickly, Paul gave him the rundown, before insisting that Harold push the button on the Sonic Screwdriver while pointing it towards his face.
Gerald showed skepticism, which was a good thing, because it showed that the merchant didn't tell him everything.
"How'd we know if it's not just some weapon?" Gerald questioned the validity of Paul's claim, but Harold calmed his older brother, before using the Sonic Screwdriver on Paul's face.
No harm came to him from doing this, he modified the Sonic Screwdriver before he and Taylor came here, just on the off-chance that someone unscrupulous took it from him.
The blue light shined brightly on Paul's face and within seconds, Harold pulled his finger away from the button on the Sonic Screwdriver, his curiosity satiated when he sees Paul's face "changed" to a different face.
That of his father.
… It was easier to program his father's face than someone else's and their similarities allowed for passible results.
And the Sonic Screwdriver didn't actually change his face, that's too far-fetched, even for Paul, and he's the Doctor!
Just formed a generated field around his face that allowed the change of perception, if Paul couldn't do it from within the brain, then visual's all he has, and luckily, he prepared the Sonic Screwdriver preemptively so it would know how to get passed the mechanical horrors underneath the flesh.
There's a reason the Doctor's known for their craftiness.
"My word!" Harold's impressed as he stared at the generated face of Paul's father, as though it was his face, and the sight alone gave Gerald pause as he couldn't believe the sight, either.
To Paul's relief, the plan worked, the brothers became convinced he can change his face, and he knew just what strings to pull to get the ball rolling on his other half of the plan.
"Do you have any idea what this means, brother?" Harold smiled as he "turned" to Gerald, "I could have my face back!"
It's been so long since Harold had his original face, but now, with the Doctor as his new body, he could achieve just that.
He wouldn't have to worry about anyone catching on, either, it's been centuries since he and his brothers lived in the countryside.
Nobody would catch on.
Though Paul could tell despite the brothers sharing the same body that Gerald's having second thoughts about giving his younger brother the Doctor.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Harold insisted that Gerald hurry on and help him ready Paul, but Gerald grew leery.
Shaking his "head," Gerald goes, "I don't know, this could be useful to me, I could use this to obtain our family's heirlooms."
Balking at him, Harold insisted, "But you promised me!"
Paul watched as the brothers got into a heated argument about who gets him and watching two minds squabble with the same body looked almost unreal as the brothers "pushed" each other in their heated argument.
The arguing grew even more heated and chaotic, but the distraction aided Paul as he reached out to Taylor on her ETA, and she said that she had everything worked out, now she's back inside the home.
There's a minor hitch, however, the creation that was sent after her was apprehended, and she did as she was instructed by the TARDIS, but whatever Gerald did was too intricate for her that she might've accidentally crossed the wrong wires.
"What happened?" Paul inquired while continuing his telepathic conversation as he's forced to watch the brothers continue their argument, forgetting he was strapped to the cold table.
Taylor warned him with, "It's highly aggressive to loud noises."
Paul got a look at what Taylor meant when he saw the brothers stop their arguing when they collectively heard loud crashing above them and an audibly loud mechanical roar.
"Grace?" Paul called out to her in his mind and she assured him that she's fine, but Gerald's creation has already made his presence known, she had to topple a statue to get his attention away from her, and he's already systematically walking among the corridors of the home.
Stopping in their spots, the brothers looked up as they're confused.
"Did it already come back?" Harold questioned.
Gerald grew irritated as he said, "It better have not broken anything important!"
The brothers carried on with a conversation before deciding on investigating while leaving Paul strapped to the table, Gerald didn't want to risk his creation destroying anything else and Harold worried that it might damage Paul if it got down into the cellar.
