Now that season 13 is over, I'm sure you're curious if that fits in with my plot idea or if I'm just going to ignore it?
Short answer, it works really, really, really, really well with my general plot outline. Like really, really, really well. I am very happy.
Anyway, onto the story. I'm absolutely doing a Five serial next, I just gotta narrow down which one.
Anyway, off to the acknowledgments.
Thank you for following: Farane, H3LLF1R3IIOS
Thank you to the following for following and favoriting: maxikeeper234
Thank you for reviewing: iHateFridays
She was in that dark and silent place again. The one where she couldn't see anything but complete darkness and herself bright as day. The place where she wasn't positive was dark, and not just empty. She didn't try to walk this time. She stayed put. Moving hadn't helped, it had only made her disappear and it had only made her hurt. She wasn't going to try that again. She was just going to say here until she wo-
Something sharp pierced through her chest. She coughed. Something flowed into her mouth, but no matter how much she tried to cough it out it remained. She fell to the ground clutching her throat as if that would do something. There was nothing there. She was sure that her throat was there. But her hand passed through where it should be. She collapsed to the ground with the sharp thing in her back still there somehow pressing even further than before.
And the silence was gone. And in its place, she heard a noise that could only be the sound of something ripping and tearing through flesh. She could feel it pierce her stomach. She tried to scream. There wasn't even a gurgle. Not even a choke. The smell of copper flooded her nose.
When she finally heard a scream, it wasn't her own.
The soft buzzing of the TARDIS dragged Marion awake. Her heart raced. She opened her eyes and took in deep, long, careful breaths until the illusory smell of copper faded away and all she could smell was the normal, neutral scent of the TARDIS. She tapped the band on her shoulder and then cautiously touched her damp back. Her hand came back clean. It was only sweat. Not-
It was only sweat.
It was funny when she'd been stabbed by the Reverend, it hadn't hurt anywhere nearly as bad as it had in her dream.
She hoped that that had been the same when he-.
For a moment, she wondered if going with Sarah Jane was a good idea or not.
It probably wasn't too late for her to change her mind then…
No, no, no, no, she'd said she'd go with Sarah Jane, and she had been somewhat looking forward to it. And they knew Sarah Janes' face, and there was always the risk of something happening differently than what it was supposed to.
And anyway, she'd asked the Doctor to not go off until she came back. So there really wasn't anything to worry about.
Marion kicked the grey quilt aside and groggily rolled out of bed. She knew she'd been asleep for a while, but she was still incredibly tired. But Marion was pretty sure that it was because of her not sleeping well, and not that she hadn't been asleep for a while. That sucked. But she had to keep it moving. She didn't know what time it was or how long she'd been asleep or how much time she had to get ready, but she assumed that the Doctor would have woken her up himself and hurried her along if they were running too late.
Marion knelt in front of her drawers and hummed. She wanted to wear a suit. She found a greyish one with an off-white button-up, and a pair of light brown knee-high boots.
She gathered the clothing in her arms and moved to exit the way she came. She turned the doorknob, pushed, and paused.
Ok. So the door that had at once led from a hallway to a bedroom was not leading from a bedroom to a bathroom.
Ok.
"Thank you, Honey!"
Marion said up to the ceiling. The TARDIS hummed back. She stepped inside to wash up and change.
"Ah, there you are Marion! Good morning," Marion literally ran into the Doctor as she stepped out of the TARDIS.
They both took a step back.
"Heyo Doctor!" Marion greeted back. "Where's Sarah?"
"Not too far, don't worry. She's outside. Just arrived. I was just about to go in the TARDIS to fetch you in fact. Did you sleep well?"
"I've had worse,"
Because that dream after the incident with the cyberman? Worse. But she didn't want there to be any further questions.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked back, "You know, sleeping on a bed and not a lab table?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, but don't worry about me. You wouldn't want to keep Sarah Jane waiting would you?"
"No," Marion was already turning to begin to walk out of the door. Marion stopped for a moment.
"Just. Remember what I said. If you're going to do something dumb like go off alone, at least wait until we're back okay. We aren't going to be there for too long I don't think,"
"Alright, alright," the Doctor waved her off. "You don't need to worry. Besides, I'll be going to Think Tank with the Brigadier,"
"Right!"
"Right? Of course, I'm right! Now, go meet Ms. Smith,"
It was nice to finally and formally meet Sarah Jane Smith. To hang out with her in a way that was more than just simple conversation like yesterday.
If you had put Marion on the spot and asked her who her favorite companion was…well, alright she would've floundered and tried to think of one she could pick from the pile of favorites and then give up and ask if she could tell them which companion was her favorite in a bunch of different categories she'd made up on the spot so that she could at least appear like her answer wasn't "pretty much all of them".
But even if the list of her favorite companions was big, Sarah Jane was certainly on there.
The woman in question was waiting by the car for her. She looked up as Marion approached and waved.
"Hey!" Marion said, "Sorry if I kept you waiting,"
"Oh it's fine, I haven't been here too long,"
"Oh, Good,"
Marion sat down in the passenger seat and Sarah Jane took the driver.
"So, Marion, is there something that I should be worried about? Anything at all? When I get there, there's not going to be, oh I don't know. A man holding a gun to my face?"
"No, the guy you're about to meet is going to be insufferable,"
"Oh? How insufferable,"
"He thinks he's a genius who should be put in charge of the world and how it works, but he's just sort of jerk guy who I'd hesitate to give a general management position at a department store,"
"Ah," Sarah nodded.
There was no shot that Sarah hadn't met a man like that before. The dude at SRS wouldn't be the first and neither would it be the last.
"But anyway, we aren't in any direct danger. Probably. We shouldn't be,"
"And what if you're wrong?"
"Then I've got psychic paper, a prybar, and the business end of a pointy spear. If I got us into it, I'll get us out,"
The building clearly hadn't been designed for SRS. It was either retrofitted or rented. She wondered if the SRS was responsible for the wall color or if they just hadn't gotten around to changing it.
Ugly green and yellow were everywhere and they seemed to have picked the least suitable shade possible for the little leaflets. That, one had to be their fault.
Which made sense. These people didn't seem like the type to value the arts enough to hire a graphic designer. Marion wondered if the secretary who was currently droning on and on and on had been on the decision panel for the pamphlets.
Whoever it was, they would HAVE to be colorblind. That was the only excuse
The man introduced himself as Mr. Short and as soon as Sarah introduced herself as a reporter and vaguely implied that Marion was one as well he couldn't seem to tell them about their organization's wild ideas for society fast enough.
Sarah reached for her notebook and a pencil and started to write.
"So, if I understand it then, Mister Short, you advocate rule by a sort of self-appointed elite,"
"It's only logical. Superior types should rule, they're the best equipped for it,"
"Even if I agreed with you on that, who's to say that the people who appointed themselves were the best fit for the job? Why should you lot be the ones in charge,"
Mr. Short looked at Marion up and down.
"Well, I don't suppose you think that you should be in charge. I mean, look at your attire,"
"What a suit? It's called dressing well,"
"And besides, isn't her clothing up to her to decide?" Sarah added.
"As things are at the moment, it is. But in a more rationally ordered society-"
"Yeah, yeah, it'd be up to you to decide what we wear. Blah blah," Marion waved her hand and then snapped her fingers as if an idea had suddenly hit her. She picked up one of the fliers and waved it about. "Hey, would those clothing decisions be up to whoever decided that mixing this shade of yellow with that shade of green would be a good idea? Because between you and me, I'm not sure that you should trust that person's judgment,"
Marion casually passed the flier over to Sarah Jane before Short could do much about it. She flicked through it.
"Oh," Sarah remarked, "I see you're having a meeting here tonight. Do you think it'd be possible for us to come?"
Mr. Short lept to his feet.
"Sorry, out of the question! Private meeting, members only! No press!"
"But if we joined?"
The man dressed in all black that Marion honestly hadn't noticed before suddenly stood up much straighter than he had before.
"I really don't think either of you qualifies," It was directed at both of them, but Marion had a feeling it was especially directed at her, "We have very high standards,"
"Oh," Sarah Jane smiled sharply, "Well, thank you so much for your time, Mister Short, and for telling me your most interesting ideas. Come on Marion,"
Short moved from behind his desk and moved to follow after thing. "I do hope you'll include us in your article. We've been sadly misrepresented."
"Really? Well, we're covering a number of fringe organizations, and I'm sure we'll find a place for you. Somewhere between the flying saucer people and the Flat Earthers,"
Sarah turned to leave with Marion following close behind.
"Let's go,"
"Marion," Sarah Jane asks as the two of them got back into her car, "please tell me you didn't ruin my chances to get the inside scoop on their organization!"
"What? Oh, oh no they were never going to let you in, to begin with. I was trying to help your chances,"
"And how do you suppose you were doing that?"
"Trying to make you seem more 'reasonable'" she put reasonable in air quotes. "They wouldn't let you in if I wasn't there like, for sure. I was hoping that he'd say something like 'Well you're welcome to join Ms. Smith, but your friend isn't up to our standards or something like that. I don't know,"
Marion reached into her bag one of those food bars.
"Did you want one Sarah?" Marion asked.
"I don't know how you and the Doctor can eat those,"
Marion shrugged. They weren't the tastiest, but if you were hungry, and she was hungry, they made you not hungry, and they kept you not hungry for a while. "More for me I guess,"
Sarah Jane drove them back to the side of UNIT HQ and they quickly got out of the car.
Marion knew that the trip to the Kettlewell lab was probably important. She didn't 100% remember why specifically, but she figured that as soon as they got there, she'd remember. As soon as Sarah Jane stopped her car, Marion got out of it.
She planned to grab the Doctor and go. Right after Sarah Jane updated the Doctor on what they learned. Easy simple.
As they ran back to the lab, Sarah Jane almost ran right into Benton.
"Good morning? Afternoon? I'm not sure what time it is," Marion greeted.
"It's the Afternoon Marion,"
"Good Afternoon then,"
"Good afternoon Sergeant Benton," Sarah Jane greeted. "Is the Doctor in?"
"Not a Sergeant anymore,"
"You haven't lost your stripes?"
"Nope," he shook his head, "I was promoted. Warrant Officer. You see, technically speaking, the Brig should have a Major and a Captain under him. The UNIT budget won't run to it so they settled on promoting me,"
"I'm proud of you," Marion said, giving the man a thumbs up. "Have you told the Doctor? I'm sure he'll…"
Marion walked through the door of the lab and found it empty.
"I guess that the Doctor hasn't arrived back yet from Think Tank?" Marion said aloud.
Because surely the Doctor hadn't gone off alone to see Dr. Kettlewell after the phone call. Surely not after he'd asked the Doctor not to go off alone twice.
"I don't know," said Benton, "I saw him around here just a few minutes ago,"
'Fuck,'
"See he left behind a note,"
'Well, maybe he's just letting me know that he's off doing something ordinary. Like he's inside of the TARDIS and-'
And then Sarah started to read it aloud.
"Dear Sarah (and if you are Marion or otherwise not Sarah, please give the note to Sarah Jane), Professor Kettlewell tells me that he has the robot hidden at his house. Gone to meet him. PS it is of course possible that this message is a trap. If it is I can deal with it. PPS I am leaving this note in case I can't. PPPS," at this point, the woman paused.
"What?"
"PPPS, I would rather you convey this information to Marion without telling her directly. Me going off on my own will make her rather cross but I couldn't wait. Oh, the idiot!" Sarah Jane stomped her foot, "He thinks he can cope with anything." Sarah looked up from the note.
"Marion?"
Marion had gone silent. Her fists clenched on either side of her trying to hide the shaking in her hands.
"We need to go," Marion said finally. "Like, right now. The Doctor could be in a whole lot of danger," She brought a hand to her hair and tugged it lightly, "Seriously, why couldn't he have waited for us to return," she groaned. "It wasn't that long!"
"Right," Benton remarked, "we'd better get after him. I'll get some men,"
"Marion and I'll meet you there," Sarah said. She turned to the other woman "C'mon. We'll take my car!"
"-TOLD HIM NOT TO GO OFF ALONE! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE SAID"
Marion had been silent for most of the car ride. Just looking through the windshield and absent-mindedly tapping on her leg. And then, in order to get some of the frustration out, she started speaking in a calm and collected manner that didn't show off how panicked she was.
"He said he'd wait until we got back," Sarah replied.
"HE SAID HE'D WAIT UNTIL WE GOT BACK!"
Sarah Jane wasn't the Doctor, so Marion's sure that her driving wasn't the reason that she was getting a bad feeling in her gut or why her vision was starting to go swimmy.
Marion wasn't sure what emotion she was feeling right then. It wasn't quite anger, but it wasn't quite not anger.
Maybe frustration?
"I MEAN SERIOUSLY? IS IT THAT HARD?"
She had hoped that keeping the Doctor out of trouble would be as simple as telling him not to go somewhere, but APPARENTLY, that was too much to ask. Gah!
Finally, Sarah Jane pulled in front of Kettlewell's house.
Almost as soon as Sarah's car had stopped enough that she could leave without being sent rolling, Marion's seatbelt was unbuckled and she was out of the car and tearing past the gate and towards the lab, trying to keep from throwing up. Running isn't a great thing to do with spinny vision.
'At least her arm wasn't hurting,' Marion thought. Not yet at least.
As she approached, she could hear the sound of something metal and heavy clanging against the floor. Sarah Jane was suddenly next to her. She lightly tugged on the handle.
"Marion! It's locked!"
It was then that Marion's arms started to hurt.
"I've got it!".
In the show, Sarah had grabbed some tools to break open the door to get into the lab.
But they didn't have that kind of time and besides, Marion didn't need tools.
Marion glanced towards the side of the door. It opened outward. Made sense, since it would make it easier to wheel stuff out. Marion lifted her shaking hands, gripped the handle, braced her foot against the pavement, her other foot against the side of the wall and she tugged as hard as she could. There was a crack, the door creaked and the latch cracked. Marion stumbled for a moment and then flung the door the rest of the way open. She could hear the sound of large metal steps grow louder.
She ran inside the room, with Sarah Jane right behind him.
Her arm pain and nausea were lessening.
Was this because the Danger had left, or because of the fact that her being closer to the Doctor meant that he was technically in less danger than he had been before.
The noise was getting louder and louder as they followed the same path they had followed the day prior until the doorway to the lab opened.
So it was the latter obviously.
The first thing Marion noticed was the huge metal robot. It looked like it had been made of scraps from a dismantled ventilation duct (which Marion wouldn't have been surprised at the very least, that had been the case for the thing the BBC had put together) but it moved solidly and heavily in a way that it didn't look like it should. The important thing was that it was moving towards the second thing she noticed: the unconscious figure of the Doctor.
The one that said the robot was a few more steps away from stepping on.
Sarah, who hadn't been as close behind as Marion had thought, ran into the room after her.
"NO!" she said noticing the same thing that Marion had, "NO, YOU MUSTN'T HARM HIM,"
The Robot took another step forward.
"Didn't you hear her?" Marion moved to stand in between the Doctor and the Robot, her posture sharp. "Fuck off!"
Sarah Jane quickly moved to the Doctor's side.
The only real thing that kept Marion from trying to add a new robot arm to her collection is that she knew that Sarah Jane would be able to talk the robot down, the fact that when you got down to it, it REALLY wasn't the robot's fault that he was doing what he was doing, and also the fact that it was probably important that Sarah Jane encourage non-violence or whatever.
The fact that nausea had fully faded and all Marion was left with the bad awful feeling in her bones meant that something was working.
And if it wasn't.
Well, the time it took to kill her would probably be long enough for the Doctor and Sarah Jane to get out. So at the end of the day, who cared?
"HE IS AN ENEMY OF HUMANITY," The robot sounded more like it was trying to convince itself that it was doing the right thing and not them.
"No, he's not!" Marion shouted "He's the opposite of that. He's one of the strongest defenders of humanity. Do you know how screwed over the planet would be if not for him? And even if he was just some dude, he's my friend. I'm not going to let you hurt him!"
The red lights in the robot's head flickered as if trying to compute something complicated, and it turned to look at Sarah.
"YOU WERE AT THE LABORATORY. YOU WERE CONCERNED FOR ME. YOU FELT SORROW,"
"That's right," Sarah slowly stood up from the Doctor's side, "And you refused to harm me even when you were ordered to. Those people are evil. They're lying to you. They've altered your programming to make you act all wrongly."
The Robot begin to emit a whirring, beeping noise as it flailed its metal arms and forth and all around.
"I AM CONFUSED. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. I FEEL PAIN,"
When Sarah Jane had stood up, Marion crouched down to put her fingers to the Doctor's neck and check his pulse. She felt rapid drumming under her fingertips.
Normal. Good.
And wasn't it interesting that despite being two different species, the vitals of both Humans and Time Lords could still be found in the same spot?
Marion turned to look back up at the robot.
"You want to protect humanity so bad? How 'bout you try being a shield instead of a gun. Defend humanity instead of attacking its enemies,"
Marion turned away from the robot and focused her attention back on the Doctor. Her hand hovered over the Doctor's face. He was breathing alright. She shook him lightly, and he groaned.
And that was when the men from UNIT arrived.
"Miss Smith, Miss Henson, get down!"
Benton was standing in the hall holding a gun aimed at the robot.
"No!" Sarah Jane shouted, "Don't shoot!"
Mr. Benton proceeded to open fire on the robot, Marion flinched at the sudden loud noise, and the robot just walked away and out the door as if nothing had happened.
Honestly, why did UNIT bother to keep guns around? Pretty much nothing that they went up against was vulnerable to bullets. They might as well save a few bucks and buy airsoft rifles instead.
Might at least get some confusion points out of it.
Marion listened to the sound of gunfire fading and she turned back around to focus fully on the Doctor. The sense of dread had faded as the Robot left. Marion let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in and lightly pat Doctor's cheek. He groaned.
"Doctor…" Marion said under her breath trying to rouse him. "Come on,"
Marion slid an arm under his shoulders and tried to get him to be somewhat upright. Marion didn't think that she was supporting all of his weight. He didn't feel heavy enough for that. But then again, the solid door she had ripped open hadn't seemed heavy either.
Benton lowered his gun and crouched down next to them.
"Is he alright? Miss?"
"He will be," Marion replied, "the robot didn't actually manage to get to him. The Doctor just hit his head really bad when he fell,"
"What did you have to start shooting for?" Sarah glared at the man, "He wouldn't have harmed you!"
"You could have fooled me," Benton replied gesturing around the room, "It was trying to kill the Doctor, wasn't it?"
"It was," Marion said simply. "It was"
"Yes, but that was because…" Sarah trailed off. Well, it doesn't matter, and it wasn't your fault, I suppose," a sigh, "You did your best,"
"Oh, thank you very much. The US cavalry never got treated like this,"
"Sorry, Mr. Benton,"
Benton smiled and brought the walkie-talkie to his lips. "Right, let's have a stretcher party over here for the Doctor," he called, "On the double n-,"
They suddenly heard a loud THUD coming from the closet.
"Oh, right!" Marion said, not looking up from the Doctor. "I think. Kettlewell's stuck in that closet over there," Marion pointed toward a small metal closet against the wall.
"How do you forget a thing like that?"
"A giant robot wanted to murder my friend. I've got a lot on my mind. Not to mention, I had a friend who was in danger who wouldn't have been in danger if he had listened to me when I told him to stay put," that last part was directed less at Benton and more towards the Doctor. "Anyway, enough about that, go help the poor man out of there!"
Once again, sitting next to the Doctor in the medbay, Marion could only think about the note that the Associate had left her when she had first ended up here. The one that told her to stick by the Doctor. She had mostly brushed it off, then, but now, it was all that she could think about.
Marion now understood the appeal of sticking by the Doctor at all times.
Because clearly, simply TELLING him to wait wasn't good enough to keep him away from easily avoidable danger.
UGH.
And now, here she was, waiting for the Doctor to wake up in his bed so that she could-
So that she could what?
Keep an eye on him?
Stop him from running off alone again?
She didn't know.
And as she was thinking about how there was so much that she didn't really know or understand, that was when the Doctor finally woke up. He didn't jump out of bed full of energy like the Doctor had before, instead, he just groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
"Marion?"
"Doctor."
Well, small mercies. His voice wasn't lilting. Marion still didn't know what the hell was up with that. She'd ask him later. Marion took a deep breath. In through the nose and out through the mouth.
"Is your head feeling better now?"
"Are you angry with me?"
"That's not what I asked,"
"I feel fine," The Doctor replied, "Are you angry with me?"
"I'm not. I mean I'm- I told you not to go off on your own like that. And you said you wouldn't. If you had said something noncommittal, I would've had Sarah drive us straight to Kettleburn-"
"Kettlewell!"
"Kettlewell's. But no, we go to the lab and found you gone with just a note. I was worried! You could've died!"
"But I wasn't going to. You didn't have that look in your eyes,"
Marion grit her teeth.
"What. Look,"
"You get this look in your eyes, when someone's going to get hurt, something's bad is going to happen, and you're going to try to stop it, but you know it's useless and are going to try anyway. You didn't have that look. So I figured it couldn't have been THAT serious. And Besides," the Doctor sat up and fully got off the bed, "Even if it did go wrong, I knew you'd make it!"
"And how can you be so sure about that!"
"Well, because you always do. You're always there right when I need you, right in the nick of time. You've never let me down,"
'But I have!'
Marion had to hand it to the Doctor for managing to say what was probably the worst possible thing. Because Marion HAD failed him. Time just reset so the Doctor never knew about it.
Had Ten been looking around for her? Wondering when she was going to jump out.
Marion was just going to say "hopefully not" and stop thinking about that from now until forever.
But she couldn't bring herself to tell the Doctor the truth.
She knew that she should. Because the last thing that she wanted was for the Doctor to act more reckless in a way that she couldn't account for.
But she couldn't bring herself to say the words "You shouldn't depend on me like that. I've failed you twice that I know of and probably will in the future," or anything close to it.
"Don't treat me like a safety net!" she instead said. It came out a little more sharp than she had meant it to, although that just meant that it was as sharp as she had meant it when she thought it. "I mean it. But don't EVER do something dangerous just because you're sure that I'll make it there in time if things go south. Okay! Don't! Because, and listen to me Doctor," Marion stepped closer to him, "Because I do my best, but not everything here goes that same as in the Omega timeline. The last thing I want is for you to run off and do something dangerous because you think that I'm going to be able to rush in at the last possible second, and I show up too late. I don't want to have to watch you d-," Marion stopped herself from saying again. "I don't want to have to watch you get hurt because you trusted that I would come in time and I didn't. Okay?"
Marion's hands were shaking and she DARED the Doctor to bring them up.
He didn't.
Marion took a deep breath.
The Doctor opened his mouth to speak.
"No, you don't have to say anything. I'm sorry for snapping like that. It's just-"
"You worry,"
"I worry."
"I'm sorry for making you worry,"
Marion believed that he was, but she also didn't believe that that meant he wouldn't do it again. In fact, it wouldn't shock Marion if this conversation had happened before or that she'd have it later. So instead of saying anything, she nodded.
"Well, I assume you want to speak with the Brigadier now right? Let's just go,"
The Doctor burst into the lab and cut off whatever the Brigadier had been saying. Marion hadn't been paying attention. Something about permission and Thinktank?
"Then you must act without it. I know what they're up to now. Worked it all out while I was having my little nap." Marion glared at the Doctor, " It's all tied up with the information stolen from that poor fellow Chambers. He must have been the guardian of some kind of ultimate threat,"
"How on- Miss Henson did you?"
"No. Honestly I didn't really remember until the Doctor brought it up. I've got a lot of thoughts in my brain. There are lots of ultimate threats and powerful weapons out there. Honestly Brigadier, you can't expect me to keep it ALL straight in my brain,"
"I suppose not."
"I am right though," the Doctor asked, "aren't I?"
"A few months ago," the Brigadier explained, "the superpowers, Russia, America, and China, decided upon a plan to ensure peace. All three powers have hidden atomic missile sites. All three agreed to give details of those sites plus full operational instructions to another neutral country. In the event of trouble, that country could publish everyone's secrets and so cool things down. Well, naturally enough, the only country that could be trusted with such a role was Great Britain,"
"Well, naturally," the Doctor leaned against the lab table. "I mean, the rest were all foreigners,"
"Well, exactly. The destructor codes for firing these missiles were kept in Chambers' house in a special Dynastreem safe. The robot killed Chambers, blasted the safe open with a disintegrator gun, and took the codes,"
"So what can they do with them now that they've got them?"
"Blow everything up," Marion answered, "One minute, this is a planet we all live on, the next minute, it's nothing but a bunch of molten radioactive space rock. Good for rocket fuel, and not much else. And that includes sustaining life,"
Benton blinked. "You mean he could use the information to blackmail the world? Do things our way or we light the blue touch paper,"
"I'm afraid so,"
"We think they've been using this Scientific Reform Society as a front, Doctor, and I've just heard from Mister Benton here that Miss Smith and Professor Kettlewell have just gone off to try to get into one of their meetings,"
The Doctor turned sharply away from the doorway. "Kettlewell? You let Sarah go off somewhere with Kettlewell? Marion, did you know about this?"
"I mean…yes?"
"Why didn't you say something!"
And the Doctor was raising his voice.
"I-I mean it's probably fine?"
Marion stopped talking. Sarah Jane had been fine originally. Especially since the deadly robot specifically did not want to murder her.
"But what about Kettlewell?"
"What about-" Marion stopped talking.
'Oh.' Kettlewell wasn't a murderer. But he wasn't not as much a part of SRS as he had claimed.
"But she was fine in the-,"
'Oh.'
Sarah Jane had been fine in the Omega Timeline. Just like how Ten hadn't ended up with a wasp stinger through his torso.
Part of Marion felt that those situations were different. That the Doctor was somehow in more danger from things not going the way they ought to than anyone else. But she also didn't know why she was so sure about that. Or for that matter how'd she communicate that.
"We should go to the SRS meeting immediately," Marion quickly turned to all but ran out the door.
"Is Sarah Jane in danger?" the Doctor asked.
"She didn't die in the Omega Timeline if that's what you're asking Doctor. Or get seriously hurt."
The Brigadier's men had parked Bessie right out front of the Lab. Almost where Sarah's car had been earlier.
"But, uh, we should still get there. Just in case."
The wallpaper was just as glaring and ugly as it had always been. But like, it wasn't like they were going to be able to change it.
Still, they could've at least tried to hide it with posters or fliers or something. That's what she'd done when she was fourteen and grew to dislike the bright pink of her childhood bedroom, but didn't have time to repaint it.
Marion didn't know why she was fixating so much on the paint color. It wasn't that important.
God, her brain had been pretty scattered today. Maybe the whole dying a bunch thing wasn't good for her.
Marion hoped that Sarah Jane assumed that Marion was GOING to tell her and that Sarah Jane had left before she could. And not that it had simply slipped Marion's mind.
Marion wouldn't lie if asked. She just kinda hoped she wouldn't be asked.
When she and the Doctor had entered the building, they'd been stopped before they could reach the main entrance by a bouncer. It didn't look to be the same man as the one who'd stood by Mr. Short.
"Excuse me," the Doctor asked, "We've heard that the SRS were going to have a meeting here. Lovely people,"
"Lovely people," Marion echoed. "A couple of our friends are in there right now,"
"Is there any chance that we could just sneak past you?"
"Look mate," said the exasperated bouncer, "No membership card, no go in, right?"
"Ah! Well, that's fine. Marion's got our membership cards in her bag. Don't you Marion?"
"Oh yeah," Marion said, reaching into her bag and hoping that she wouldn't have to reach in there deeper than the outer exterior of the back would suggest possible.
Luckily, she had kept it in one of the side pockets.
Marion stood so that she was standing in front of the Doctor, and flashed the paper in front of the man's face. She lowered her hand like she was putting it back in her bag, but instead, slid the wallet into the Doctor's hand and moved to the side.
"See?" The Doctor said. "The Doctor and Miss Marion Henson. Are you going to let us come in?"
The bouncer stepped aside and let the two of them through.
"Thank you!"
Marion said with a wave.
They quickly walked through the halls and past the bouncer. But not so quick to look suspicious. As they walked, the Doctor passed the little wallet back to her. Marion carefully put it back into the little side pocket.
They followed the sounds of loud speech. Particularly, a woman's voice.
"She's a spy! Deal with her!"
The Doctor and Marion ran on stage. It reminded Marion of a high school auditorium that hadn't been renovated in a while.
And then she remembered what year it was.
It just reminded her of a high school auditorium. It even made the ugly yellow and green color palette fit better.
"Good evening, everyone," The Doctor called out, "Now please, stay calm. Everyone keep your seat. Now then, what can I do to entertain you till my friend the Brigadier arrives? A little song? A little dance, perhaps? Not just a little dance? Anyone for cards? Miss Marion, would you be a dear and pick a card?"
"Any card?"
The Doctor made one of the cards in the deck much higher than the other. In a way that was obvious for anyone watching to see. "Oh, I'd prefer you'd pick this one,"
"Why?"
"Because otherwise, the trick won't work,"
"Oh all right then!" Marion picked the card.
"Is your card the six of clubs?"
"Oh! How did you know!" Marion said in mock surprise.
The crowd laughed.
"Don't just stand there, you idiots!" The woman shouted, "get them!"
"Now, for our next trick, we're going to need someone from the audience." The Doctor began to elaborately shuffle the cards. Until he fumbled and they fell out of his hands.
One of the security guards ran at the two of them.
"Oh good! A volunteer!" Marion said cheerfully!
The Doctor crouched down to pick up the cards just as the guard lunged at the two of them. The guard tripped over the Doctor and slammed face-first into the ground.
The audience laughed harder.
"I say, haven't we met somewhere before?" the Doctor turned to the man and reached out a hand, "Please, let me help you up,"
"Hey Doctor" Marion warned, "maybe don't-"
The guard that the Doctor had reached down to seized the Doctor and pulled his arms behind him.
Marion sighed. "Okay"
She felt arms reach around her and hold her arms behind her back. There wasn't as much strain to her arms as she thought that there would have been. Marion was pretty sure that she could break out of his grip. But she wasn't going to do it yet. She didn't need to.
"Marion, I've got the slightest suspicion that they didn't care for our set,"
"You know, I think you might one onto something,"
"And speaking of being onto something, Kettlewell. Why?"
"For years I have been trying to persuade people to stop spoiling this planet, Doctor," the man said, "And as your young friend said, as long as they're given enough money not to care, they'll never stop. Now, with the help of my friends, I can make them,"
"Aren't you forgetting that in science, as in morality, the end never justifies the means,"
What are we going to do with them?" A man asked the woman. Marion couldn't recall either of their names.
"Kill them of course,"
"Oh, no, no," Kettlewell shook his head.
So Marion was correct in remembering that he wasn't into murder.
"They're far too dangerous to us," the woman insisted.
"Couldn't we lock them up?"
"And have them escape? It's too late to be squeamish, Professor,"
"Oh wow!" Marion said sarcastically, "The guys who were cool with programming your robot to murder people are okay with murder. What a shock! Are you surprised, Kettlewell? I know I sure am!"
"Take them away," the woman ordered.
Dragging Sarah Jane towards the stage.
A gunshot rang out. Dozens of guards ran towards the stage, and all the guests fled from their seats.
UNIT had arrived.
Took 'em long enough.
The man that the Doctor was holding onto jumped and the Doctor used that opportunity to fall to his side and appear to be shot. Marion knew that he was only pretending to be shot because she was certain she'd know if he wasn't pretending.
"Where's the truck?"
"Still outside?"
"Quick. The back way,"
Unfortunately, the man holding onto Marion was far less jumpy than the one holding onto the Doctor. Marion shifted her weight and shoved the man off her and over her shoulder. She stood up straight and fully stepped away and hopped off the stage. The room was crowded and frantic. A gun had been fired into a room full of people after all it wasn't as easy as it would've been otherwise. Marion hear the woman say something to Kettlewell that she couldn't make out, and then she saw the robot move. People parted around it as it guarded the SRS leaders' escape. Its arms swinging back and forth. Marion used the way people were giving it space in an attempt to sneak past it.
One moment, she was only a few steps away from Sarah Jane.
The next she felt something slam hard into the side of her head with an audible crack.
'Dammit'
Next Chapter: Of Shields and Guns
Marion, who's just seen someone die horrifically in front of her, and figures that it's her own fault it happened, and doesn't want to tell anyone about it despite the fact that time-reversed and no one remembers but her because she's terrified that that person will hate her and now feels the urge to overcorrect and keep the Doctor from even minor danger because she doesn't want to turn into major danger and make her watch him die horrifically again: Doctor. Why didn't you say put when I told you to wait?
The Doctor, the person she just saw die horrifically: You don't have that sad look in your eyes you get when I'm doomed to regenerate soon, so I trust that you'd never let me die horrifically so I figured it'd be okay to go. You've never let me down before.
Marion: Cool. CoolCoolCoolCool Cool Cool. Great.
Marion: I Am Going To Scream
Why is Marion's memory so erratic at the moment? It's really quite simple. I didn't remember this episode quite as well as I thought I did. And in addition, Marion's a bit stressed at the moment. Between seeing her friend die and the nightmares and fear that that first thing might be her fault and then seeing her friend die again and trying to convince herself unsuccessfully that it's not her fault either. To describe an incredibly intelligent reviewer "Marion is not doing well, exactly, but she's coping."
She's doing her best!