Is this chapter on the shorter side? Probably. Are there any typos in here? Hopefully not, but if I happen to find any, I'll make sure to fix them. Next Episode as said before is 'the Beast Below'.

I've been really getting into "My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom". Watch it when you get the chance. Please let me know if you see any typos.

Thank you "iHateFridays" for reviewing.

It was obvious to both the Doctor and Marion that Dask would, at some point, return to the lower level storage closet. In the Doctor's case, this was because of his deduction skills. In Marion's case, it was her ability to predict the future like a time traveler with a B average in World History.

'Actually, come to think of it, that's not a far off comparison.' Marion thought.

When they reached the door. The Doctor quickly ushered them inside with Marion going in last. She looked down either end of the hall and glanced up the stairs. She didn't see anyone, and so when she walked into the room she gave the Doctor a thumbs up. He reached over and tapped a button. The door made a clicking noise and then closed.

The Doctor handed the communication thing that he'd rigged to D84.

"Hold this, D84, and don't press anything,"

"What is your intention?" D84 asked.

"To mess up maniac's plans by causing a few problems on purpose," Marion answered for the Doctor before moving to help the man in question remove the panel.

"He's bound to come back here to convert more robots and when he does..."

When he took it out, he handed it to Marion. Not knowing what much else she was supposed to do with it, she set it on the ground. The Doctor looked at the small crawl space that he'd revealed and then looked at Leela.

"Do you think you could fit in there, Leela?"

"Why?" Leela asked in confusion.

"The Doctor's got a plan," Marion said, "C'mon, see if you can fit,"

Leela was just able to fit in the space provided that she pulled her legs up a little bit.

"Comfortable?" the Doctor asked.

"No,"

"You might be a bit more comfortable if you sit to the side so your legs have more space," Marion advised. Leela shifted slightly so she could stretch her legs out a little more. The Doctor handed Leela the white helium canister.

"Now this is a cylinder of gas. When Dask comes in, I want you to turn the valve, so,"

'So?" Leela put her hand on the nozzle as if to turn it. Then the Doctor put his hand on top of hers.

"No, when Dask comes in,"

"What will it do,"

As the Doctor clicked the panel back into place, Marion answered her.

"Helium is about 4 times as light as oxygen. If Dask inhales it, his voice will get higher,"

"When a mixture of air and helium is breathed, it alters the resonance in the larynx. Didn't they teach you that in the jungle?"

"So the robots won't recognize Dask's voice. They won't obey him."

"Precisely," Marion said fingering gunning in Leela's direction.

Marion turned and jumped to see D84 standing right next to her.

'Geez. How come he's able to be so quiet,'

"Come on, D84, Marion," the Doctor said.

"Where are you going?" asked Leela.

"Robot hunting!" said the Doctor.

D84 walked towards the door.

"WAIT," Marion called out, rushing towards the door. She grabbed ahold of D84's wrist and pulled him back from the switch.

"Capel and V6 are behind that-"

The door, like many doors, could be opened from both sides, especially if the room in question was your room that you knew the key too.

For example, if you were a homicidal maniac and the room in question was your crime workshop, the only difference between you opening your door and someone else opening it for you is the drama of it all.

"-door," Marion finished lamely.

Capel stabbed the Laserson Probe into D84's head. And he staggered to the ground. Marion, crouched down to see if he was okay, making sure not to glance at or brush her fingers over the Autodrive for fear that it would draw unwanted attention to it.

"D84!" the Doctor shouted and rushed over to them.

"Watch ou-" before Marion could finish the warning, V6 punched the Doctor in the stomach making him double over. V6 moved to pin the Doctor against the wall to choke him.

"Hey!" Marion shouted. She got up from where she was crouched and ran to grab V6. "Get your hands o- ahhh," Whatever Marion had been about to say was cut off by a quick shout as her body crumpled to the ground like her spine had been severed by a laserprobe.

Which in her defense, was a perfectly natural response to having one's spine severed by a laserprobe.

Marion, had been so busy focused on D84 and then the Doctor, than she hadn't noticed Capel sneaking up behind her nor did she consider the fact that he might be pissed enough about her ripping the arm of one of the robots to (attempt to) kill her directly.

It didn't help that the dizziness that Marion had been feeling on and off all day had reared its ugly head.

"Do not kill him. Not yet. Bring him to the bench." she heard Capel say from her place on the floor. The dizziness she felt faded as V6 stopped pressing the Doctor's neck against the wall. She also heard a hissing noise coming from the crawl space. Leela had opened the canister she hoped.

Marion found herself unable to feel much other than the cold of the floor on her cheek and an ever-increasing sense of dread.

'If anytime were a time for me to hear that damn clock, now would be it,' the thought. Unfortunately, Capel seemed to have managed to stab her in a way that wasn't immediately fatal. The bastard. She wanted nothing more right then to punch him in the nose, but she couldn't even move her hand to scratch the ever-persistent itch on her back.

'Wait, do you still feel an itch on your body if you're paralyzed?'

Marion didn't think so. Marion focused on making her hand twitch even if only slightly. And she felt both movement in her hand, and the itchy feeling in her back increase. Marion attempted to move her hand again but ended up with the same result.

'I think that itchy sensation is my spine fixing itself. Best not to move until things are back at 100%.' she thought. It sure was taking its sweet time though. Maybe her body healed quickly when the alternative was death but was much slower when there was a lack of mortal danger. Or maybe it was taking longer because the spine was more complicated than a skull or a windpipe. Whatever the case, Marion couldn't move and she wasn't enjoying not being able to move.

From the floor, she could hear the sound of the restraints moving to hold the Doctor's head into place as he woke up.

"Hello, Dask. Nee Taren Capel," she heard the Doctor say.

"I'm glad you have recovered, Doctor,"

"Oh? Why?"

"You came close to ruining my plans. It's fitting I should make you suffer for that. You might like to know that Inspector Henson was so busy focused on you, she didn't notice me creeping up behind her. She's been dealt with, and so will you,"

'You're going to be in for a big surprise pal,' Marion thought. She didn't say this though. The itching in her spine had fortunately stopped and was replaced by the painless, but greatly unsettling feeling of a body regrowing bone.

It was like getting a cavity filled while on 50 cc of novocaine. No pain, but she definitely felt a change and knew that something was going on back there. She could move her hands just fine but didn't dare stand up until the feeling faded for fear that her spine was boasting the structural integrity of a pegless lego house. Luckily the sensation was gradually decreasing, however, so she figured that she'd be able to get back up soon.

Marion heard a clicking sound coming from where Capel and the Doctor were.

"I see. You're one of those boring maniacs who's going to gloat, hmm? Are you going to tell me your plan for running the universe?"

"Oh no, Doctor. I'm going to burn out your brain. Very, very slowly," Marion chose to look at the positives in any situation. For one thing, she knew for a fact that the helium gas was working.

She heard a noise to her left and saw D84 creeping towards the repurposed communications machine.

Marion quietly shifted to her back from her side in hopes that her back being fully on the ground might make it easier for whatever her body was doing to do it.

During all this, she could still hear voices from above her.

"Dask. Dask! You look ridiculous in that outfit. Not half the robot your father was."

"You insolent animal!"

Marion heard the sound of beeping and heavy breathing of someone who was in a lot of pain but was doing their best to not sound like they were because they didn't want to call attention to themselves, give the person hurting them the satisfaction or both. Bright lights flashed on the wall and neither that nor the beeping sounds helped any with Marion's dizziness. Marion focused on breathing quietly and not throwing up.

When the beeping and the lights stopped, so did the dizziness. Marion felt the sensation on her back slow down until it was like she had just decided to take a perfectly normal non-injurious nap. She turned over on her stomach so that she could move closer to where D84 was.

"Losing your calm, Dask, hmm? That's not the robot way. It was your verbal and physical precision that made me spot you. Robot upbringing?"

"Yes, Doctor. I was brought up a superior being. Brought up to realise my brothers should live as free beings, and not as slaves to human dross."

Marion thought about the robots of New Houston and how the people had democratically decided that robots should be allowed to be citizens and she thought about K9 and D84.

And then she thought about how Capel was using the robots he claimed to care about not as revolutionaries, but as murder weapons.

She wondered how D84 felt about this.

Speaking of whom, Marion realized that D84 was only seconds away from the communicator.

A second too late, Marion reached out to stop him and quickly swung the arm in front of her eyes to block the coming explosion.

"Goodbye my friends," D84 said, the last word that that particular voicebox would form.

Marion moved her arm away from her face and looked down in shock at the smoking husk that had once been D84.

Quickly, she sat up and pushed up one of D84's sleeves. The metal still felt slightly warm from the explosion, but she found the drive; its yellow lighting shining merrily as if the source of its data hadn't just gone and exploded. Marion placed it in her pocket and made a mental note to find someplace more secure for it. It contained a copy of a friend after all.

Speaking of friends. She got to her feet, feeling slightly lightheaded as she did so. Likely because of the helium. She moved closer to the bench and when Capel took the probe off the rack to finish off the Doctor and he lifted up his hand to prevent it, Marion grabbed Capel by his wrist and held it in the air, preventing him from lowering it into the Doctor's face.

"That's impossible," Capel said in disbelief.

Knowing that, at this point, she had likely breathed in enough helium to make anything she said, no matter how cool, sound ridiculous, she instead gave him a toothy smile that reached her cheeks, but not her eyes.

There was a noise at the door; SV7.

"Kill the humans,"

Its presence was distracting enough to Capel that his grip on the probe loosened to the point where the Doctor was able to tear it out of his hands. Marion pushed him away from the Doctor and to the wall near where Leela was (or, more importantly, where the concentration of helium would be the strongest) and went about figuring out how to free the Doctor.

Marion was somewhat aware of Capel unsuccessfully ordering the machine to let him go and to obey him, but she wasn't offering it much attention.

'Shoot, is there a switch or a catch or something on this thing?'

As reading her thoughts, the Doctor tapped on her hand to get her attention and then pointed to a spot she had missed along the band pinning his chest down. Marion nodded, took the probe, and rammed it into the spot. It clicked open and Marion grabbed the Doctor's hand to help him up.

She turned to the entrance just as SV7 pulled the Z-9 charge from Unavov's, tossed it across the room, and went to wrap his hands around Zilda's neck.

'Nice try!' Marion jumped up to give herself some more height and jabbed the probe into the top of it's head.

Its mantra of "Kill the humans" was reduced to just repeating the phrase, "Kill the, Kill the", over and over again. Its voice got high pitched as if it too was being affected by the helium. Marion noticed the robot getting too close to the Doctor and she pulled him out of the way. After a few more seconds, the robot powered down completely and Marion moved towards the crawlspace where they had left Leela and pulled away the panel.

"I was wondering when you two were going to remember me!" Leela said, her chipmunk like voice reminding Marion why she wasn't speaking.

"Ah, a mouse in the wainscoting," said the Doctor.

Marion grabbed ahold of Leela's wrist and steadied her as she shakily climbed out of the crawlspace. Helium inhalation wasn't necessarily toxic to humans, but it did make it so it was harder for oxygen to get into one's system.

"Well squeaked little mouse," the Doctor said with a grin, "Marion, you've been oddly silent, what's on your mind,"

Marion was about to answer, but then noticed the look in the Doctor's eye. She smirked and walked outside of Capel's side room and into the hall. She made a point of taking in big, oxygen-rich, breaths before saying.

"Sulfur Hexafluoride does the opposite of helium. It makes the voice deeper. Wonder what would happen to someone with a voice like yours Doctor,"

Marion wasn't sure where Toos, Uvanov, and Zilda had gone off to. She assumed that they had gone to the control deck to check on Poul. The three of them were moving with purpose back towards the ore processing deck with the TARDIS.

"Shouldn't we stay and see that Uvanov and Toos and the rest of them are all right?"

"They'll be fine," Marion said, "a rescue ship is on its way,"

"It's time we were on ours."

The Doctor put his key into the TARDIS and pushed open the doors. Before they could enter, Leela stopped him,

"Doctor, why didn't the helium make your voice go squeaky?"

"Because I'm a Time Lord. I've been around, you know. Two hearts, respiratory bypass system. I haven't lived seven hundred and fifty years without learning something. "

"And what about you Marion?"

"Oh. I just straight up didn't speak. I knew how my voice would sound and didn't want it too," she pushed past the Doctor and into the TARDIS, "Come along then! Adventure awaits!"

Later, in the console room, Marion could be found sitting. on the set of stairs leading from the entrance to the TARDIS door. She turned the auto drive in her hand. Interesting how something so small could hold the things that it held. She looked down at it wondering how she was going to go about getting D84 in a new body.

She heard movement and was aware that someone, likely the Doctor, had sat down next to her.

"I know that look. Jellybaby?"

The Doctor held out the white paper bag full of candies. Marion put the drive back into her pocket and held out the hand that hadn't been holding it. The Doctor shook a couple of them into it. She tossed them into her mouth.

"Now, penny for your thoughts?" the Doctor asked.

"I guess I didn't think about what I'd do next,"

"Oh? About what?"

"About D84. He's saved on this see but-," Marion stopped, an awful thought coming to mind. "He's- the data wasn't corrupted was it?"

'What if, what if him suddenly exploding led to the files getting deleted or corrupted. What if my desire to change a person's fate led to that person getting a much worse fate. Is it then my fault. The reason why they're suffering is purely because of my interactions with them. Is being corrupted painful. What have I-'

"-arion,"

"Hn?"

"Let me see the drive. I'll be able to tell if anything's wrong with our dear friend, D84 eh?" The Doctor held up the sonic screwdriver with one hand and held the other one out to her. Marion placed the drive in his hand and scanned over the autodrive.

"Everything seems alright, no data corruption to be found," he handed it back to her, "Nothing's wrong with it,"

Marion looked back down at the drive.

"Still, I don't know what I'm going to do with him."

"You do plan on putting D84 into a new body don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Marion shouted, "But I don't want to do the wrong thing you know? I guess I didn't think to ask if there was a kind he wanted. I mean, obviously, I'm going to put him in something that can move itself about. Wouldn't be right to install him into a phone or computer you know? But I also can't forcibly install him into a moving and living robot because wouldn't that be murder?"

"Marion!"

Marion began to tug on her hair. If she heard the Doctor she didn't acknowledge that she did.

"But even if D84 isn't alive or whatever, it still wouldn't be right for me to install him into a robot that's already functioning right? And what if I install him into a body and he hates it? He wouldn't tell me if it did I bet, and I will have put him into a body that he's not comfortable with! I don't want to do that. But at the same time, I can't not put him in a body because I made him a promise and I'd like to keep my promises to people. I know that you don't think that robots should count as people which is weird because you've already seen some things that should convince you otherwise but then again, you're going to me-"

Marion hadn't noticed the Doctor move from on the step next to her to facing her from the bottom of the short flight of stairs with his hands on her shoulders.

"Marion, I need you to breathe for me,"

Marion stopped talking and took in a deep breath.

"Are you with me Marion?"

"Yes?"

"Good. Then listen. You're going to find a new body for D84. He's going to like the body. You won't have to dismantle any already functioning robots to do it,"

"Did the Associate tell you that?"

"Not directly no,"

"But?"

"I've heard her mention it offhandedly before. But even if that wasn't the case, in the 325 years I've known you, I've never seen you break a promise unless it was something utterly impossible for you to keep,"

That made Marion pause.

'Three hundred and twenty-five?'

"And how much of that have I actually been around for? I just pop in for an adventure and then run off elsewhere right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm human, aren't I? I've got about 70 more years if I'm lucky. Even if I'm, you know, fit and able for all of that there's no way that I'd be able to be around that often. Especially considering I've been a few thousand years head in your future. It's not humanly impossible,"

Marion paused, "I am a human right?"

"I don't know what you are,"

"What's the supposed to mean,"

"You could be a human with extreme healing abilities, or you could be some other species altogether,"

"Wow," Marion deadpanned, "I'm thrilled that we've managed to narrow things down that far. I'm either human or something else. Astounding,"

"Don't be like that Marion. I thought you liked having mysteries to solve,"

"Well," Marion shook her head, "Don't change the subject. Am I really around for a few thousand years?"

"I don't know about that Marion, but I do know that I've known you for around 325 years and you're here more often than not,"

"Hnn," Marion turned her head to the side, "Well, then how doesn't matter so much I guess, I know the 'what' anyway. Apparently, you're stuck with me,"

"I've managed so far,"

Marion snorted. "Thanks for getting my mind off the autodrive Doctor,". She stood up and stretched, "I was starting to freak out about it,"

After walking into the hall, Marion held a hand out and brushed her fingertips against the wall.

"Honey? Could you-"

Before she could finish her question, she had turned a corner to an there was an open doorway.

"Thanks a million, Honey!"

The TARDIS kitchen looked different from the ones from 10 or 13s TARDIS, but it still looked like a normal (if a little bit dated by her standards) kitchen. The only thing that didn't look like it was straight from the 1970s was a shiny chrome piece of machinery with a folded paper note on it along with a number pad. Marion took it off of the chrome surface and read it.

"Input 427560389. Trust Me -A"

Marion shrugged and did as she was told. The machine produced a small grey block about the size of three strips of spearmint gum stacked on top of each other.

'OH! This is the food fabricator isn't it.'

Marion grabbed the block with her pointer and thumb. She shrugged and took a bite out of it. Marion's eyes widened and she quickly ate the rest of the block (and typed into the machine for a couple more). It tasted like the butter chicken she used to make at home from a recipe she had found online. Her family wasn't Indian, so it was obviously not "authentic" or anything, but it still tasted good. It tasted like tomatoes and chicken and the dozens of spices she had dumped in there because she couldn't find the one specific "special" seasoning the recipe asked for, so she added a bunch of stuff to try and make up for it.

Marion had finished her second block and considered getting a third when the TARDIS began to wheeze.

Marion, figuring the TARDIS must have landed somewhere, left the kitchen and returned to the room where she had left the Doctor. Leela was already there.

"Ah. There you are Marion, the Associate just-"

Marion held up her hand, "I just went to the kitchen to get something to eat. We just had a talk about my mortality or lack thereof. So, where did we land?" She thought about what came after "Robots of Death". "Are we going to Victorian England?"

"Good guess, Marion," the Doctor shook his head, "but no".

"Then where?"

"You said that the last planet was the first alien planet you'd been on, right?"

"Yes? What about it?"

"Here's the second" the Doctor pressed the button to turn on the scanner revealing an unfamiliar planet that Marion did not remember ever seeing before. It was covered in light grey, almost silvery sand with a shimmering blue ocean lapping onto the surface.

"Where's that?" Leela asked.

"There's nothing on the planet except for a large beach about two kilometers wide going around the equator. Nothing but sand and water in the whole place. No life there whatsoever"

"Are you sure that there's no life on this planet, or for that matter, it's even safe here?" Marion asked.

"Course I am! When haven't I been sure about something I said,"

Marion stared at him and blinked slowly.

"Honestly! The planet's peaceful and uninhabited. I thought that you might like it. You haven't even seen the best part. Come along!"

Leela followed after the Doctor. Marion shrugged and went to follow them.

The first thing Marion felt upon exiting the TARDIS was a sense of calm. Despite being at least millions of miles away, the ocean still smelt like home to her. Marion took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out.

"It's gorgeous!" Marion said.

"You haven't seen the best part, look up," the Doctor said.

Marion hung her head back and gasped. The sky was positively peppered with stars. More than Marion had ever seen and more than anyone on earth could see even if they climbed to the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

"Woah!" Marion exclaimed looking up.

"What is it?" Leela asked.

"I've just never gotten to see so many real stars at once before," Marion responded in wonder, still gazing up at the sky.

She sat down, not caring that the sand was getting on her pants.

The Doctor sat down with her.

"Do you see that spot right there?" the Doctor asked, pointing to a white dot in the distance.

"You mean that one right there?"

"No," the Doctor grabbed her arm and moved it.

"Oh, I see it. What's so special about it?"

"One of my personal favorites,"

"Oh?"

"Earth,"

"Of course," Marion let out a small laugh.

Marion looked to the sky and found a cluster of 17 stars one of which looking especially bright.

"Is that Orion?" she asked.

"What?"

"I mean, the constellation obviously is going to look different from this angle but is it?"

"Where?"

Marion moved the Doctor's hand so it was pointing to the small group of stars.

"That? No that's not Orion. I don't believe that the stars of Orion are close enough to look like much of anything from this planet,"

"Then what constellation is that?"

"Kasterborous," the Doctor said softly.

"Huh," Marion said softly in response.

'From here, those stars almost look like a perfect circle. I wonder what legends would appear behind them when this planet finally evolves some life,'

Marion didn't talk much after that. She was aware of the Doctor unwrapping his scarf, taking off his jacket and joining Leela by the ocean, but she was just as content to lie on her back and gaze up at the starry sky inventing her own constellations.

Marion couldn't be positive about how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been more than 10 or so minutes when she felt a tugging on her arm.

She reached with her other arm to make sure that the strap on her shoulder was still secure.

"DOCTOR!" she called out.

"Is something the matter Marion?" the Doctor ran to her side.

"No, no, it's just that I'm about to leave,"

"How soon do you think you are going to go?"

"Well," Marion said, rising to her feet, "seeing as I'm being dragged upward by arm to my feet, it's right about..." Marion felt the tugging sensation in her arm change directions suddenly.

"Now!"

Marion fell backward, but her body never touched the sand.

(Next Chapter: Of Blatant Lies)

Marion: So the good news is that I now have a saved copy of a friend of mine I've saved from death.

Marion: The bad news is that I have no fucking clue what to do with it and I feel like a bad person.

The Doctor: Have you considered calming the fuck down.

*Throws this chapter at you and runs.*