Here you go, gang. Same as always, I do my best to proofread, but neither mine, nor Grammarly's eyes are perfect. If you see a typo give me a heads up.

Oh, also the Bioshock Trilogy is currently free on epic games and will remain free until June 2 at 11:00 AM. So, if you're reading this, go snatch it up.

Onto Acknowledgements:

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So the good news is that Marion ended up in the console room instead of the hallway. She didn't even get bodily thrown at someone else like last time.

"Oof!"

The bad news was that she was dropped face-first on the TARDIS floor. She held out her arms trying to stop herself from hitting her nose. Her arms stung. Marion considered lying down on the ground for a moment.

"Ah, there she is-"

"MARION!"

An elderly male voice spoke and was cut off by a louder female voice. The older voice had to be One. He was the only one who sounded like that. And was fairly sure that the other voice was Barbara, but she couldn't be-

"Barbara, what's going on?"

Ok, she knew that that other voice was Barbara. So Ian had to also be there. The question was, were they also traveling with Susan or Vicki.

Also, why was Barbara shouting? Was something wrong? Marion heard another gasp.

"It's Marion! She's-"

Ah. Susan then.

So, one question answers, but that still left the other one. What were they freaking out about? Then, Marion remembered that her shirt was still covered in her own blood.

"Fine!" Marion called out, cutting the girl off, "She- I just need to change,"

Marion pushed herself up part of the way and a hand reached down to pull her up the rest of the way.

"Hello Barbara," Marion greeted the woman as she helped her to her feet. "Susan, Doctor"

"Hello"

Marion noticed Barbara's eyes flash to her collar quickly, and then look back at her as if she was afraid she'd be caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.

"Oh my word!"

Before Marion could say anything else, the Doctor had apparently looked up from the TARDIS console for a moment and saw her. "My dear, what's happened. Susan, take Marion to the medbay-"

Marion shook her head. "It's fine. The wound's already healed, see?" Marion pulled down the collar of her shirt to reveal the non-bloody and unwounded expanse of her neck. "See? The blood on my skin flows back into my body but if it lands on anything else it doesn't. And I haven't changed my shirt yet. It looks a lot worse than it is,"

"Can I ask what happened?" Barbara asked.

"Baited some soldiers into trying to decapitate me. I don't know if they fully took my head off.. Didn't ask. Anyway, I'm better now,"

"Why would you do a thing like that?"

"I'll tell you when he's not around," Marion said, pointing her thumb towards the Doctor.

"And why is that Marion!" the Doctor asked.

"Because if I told you, that would be spoilers. Anyway, where's Ian?"

"Ian and you- the Associate." Susan paused, "At least I think it was the Associate,"

"It was,"

"-went off in the corridors talking and you- she said that we'd see her later,"

"I think she'd meant that you'd see me, not that you'd see her,"

"But you're the same person,"

"Time gets confusing when things aren't moving in the order that they ought to Barbara,"

As Marion said that, Ian came into the console room holding a grey bundle in his arms. Ian was slightly taller than Barbara, and swearing a suit with a plaid tie.

"Marion? But weren't you just-," Ian looked at her for a moment and brought a free hand to brush against his eye. Then, as if he hadn't realized that he'd been doing it in the first place and the hand quickly lowered itself.

"What happened to your-,"

'I got my head chopped off and my shirt ruined," Marion said simply.

"I see," Ian looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but unlike Barbara, he decided against doing so, "That explains why she put this in my hands and told me to give it to you."

Marion took it from the man and unwrapped it. The "bundle" itself was actually just a long-sleeved grey shirt wrapped around a couple of water bottles.

"Oh good," Marion said, "I'm going to change into this so that I don't terrify anyone wherever we're headed too," Marion said.

"Well do hurry back,"

"Yeah, yeah, Doctor, don't worry. I'll be quick,"

Marion walked through the TARDIS corridors and took the first corner she saw that would take her out of sight. She was pretty sure that the hallway had been longer earlier but that was neither here nor there.

Marion grabbed ahold of her bag's strap and set it on the ground. She quickly unbuttoned her shirt. The dried edges of the collar brushed against the sides of her neck. Marion held it up and looked at it.

"Yeah, there's no way I'm getting that blood out," Marion said aloud. Marion set her ruined shirt and her bag on the ground and tugged the fresh shirt over her head. She hadn't realized how annoying it was to have a blood-stiff shirt repeatedly rubbing around her neck until she had changed into something else. Marion leaned down to pick up her bag again. One of the round bits on the wall pushed out.

"Honey?"

The TARDIS buzzed.

"You want me to put my shirt in there right?"

Another buzz.

"Thank you!"

Marion went back the way that she came, looking less bloodsoaked and more tired.

She'd be able to take a nap after this. Or maybe during this depending on where they were headed.

Marion turned back the way she'd come. The halls of the TARDIS hadn't shifted around and she could easily make her way back to the console room.

"Oh good. That didn't take too long," the Doctor acknowledged as she walked into the room.

"Now, we're currently approaching a planet,"

"Which one Ian,"

"Perhaps you should ask Marion."

"Earth. It's earth," Marion said, "Also Barabara don't touch-,"

"OW!"

"-that,"

" What's the matter, my dear?" the Doctor asked her.

"I've burnt myself," Barbara exclaimed, "It's hot!"

The Doctor moved to where Barbara was standing and waved his hand over top of the console.

"Oh, something overheating here. Just as well we're landing. Susan, check the fault locator, please,"

"Yes, Grandfather,"

"We're not going to blow up or anything, are we?" Barbara asked, worried.

"Oh, no, no, of course not," the Doctor laughed, "It's just, well, there we were, in the late eighteenth century and I tried another frequency to side-step the ship back into the middle of the twentieth century," the Doctor exclaimed.

"Barbara, if the TARDIS was moments from blowing up, trust me, you'd know. Honey would start ringing the cloister bell,"

"The what?"

"You'll know it if you hear it. Trust me,"

"There's something on QR18 Grandfather," Susan called out "and A14D."

Marion heard a loud, blaring noise from somewhere and she started to smell something weird.

Like spray paint or burnt plastic or alcohol markers or varnish..

"Grandfather! Grandfather!" Susan screamed, "The door's opening!"

The Doctor jumped and started to frantically flip switches and press buttons while looking behind him at the door and pressing more buttons. From where Marion was standing, it looked far more random than when Five had done the same to deal with the Malus.

"We need to close those doors," Marion said quickly. She raced to the one on the left and started to press.

"Don't just stand there," the Doctor shouted, "Help her close the doors!"

"What do you mean 'close the doors!'"

"Don't argue, dear boy It's an emergency! Close the doors!"

Ian and Barbara rushed to the door on the right while Susan joined Marion on the left one. Together, they pushed back against it.

"Was that the Cloister Bell Marion?" Barbara asked after they had finally made the door close.

"No, the cloister bell actually sounds like a bell, a loud one. Anyway, did any of you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Ian asked.

"When the door opened, it smelled weird. Like an under-ventilated spray lab. You were right by the door too. It smelled like it was coming from outside,"

"I didn't smell anything," Susan offered.

"Me neither, what about you Barbara, did you smell anything,"

"No, not at all. Nothing unusual,"

"Huh. Okay. So it was just a me thing?" she sighed. "Just what I needed. Something new," she murmured under her breath. "You know what? Forget I said anything. I'm sure it's nothing," Marion said, not sure at all.

"Marion,"

"I'm Sure It's Nothing," Marion repeated.

This was a mystery for future Marion to solve, and if she didn't solve it, then who cares. It didn't seem that important.

Marion looked over at the Doctor who was wiping away some sweat with a handkerchief.

"We're just landing." the Doctor said, he sounded like he was speaking more to himself than the rest of them.

"You good?" Marion asked.

"What?"

Ian lightly grabbed a hold of the Doctor. "Are you all right?"

The Doctor brushed him off. "Oh, please don't bother me,"

"What happened just then," Barbara asked.

"Susan," the Doctor said instead of answering, "go back to the fault locator and I want you to check everything, child. Do you understand?"

Susan nodded and ran over to the panel.

Marion didn't remember that panel in any of the later console rooms. But that was probably because all of its functions were built into later columns. This one was far more bare-bones than the previous ones.

"Everything!" The Doctor called back after Susan.

"Well, at least we seem to be alright." Barbara reasoned.

"Oh, don't be childish. They opened. The doors opened before we properly materialised!"

"But what does it mean? Look, you needn't keep it a secret from us," after the Doctor failed to say anything, Ian turned to look at her, "Marion, what does that mean,"

"The TARDIS doors opened," Marion gestured towards the door, "There's a reason why they're supposed to be shut before going in and out of the time vortex. But-," Marion took a deep breath, "it's fine. Don't worry about it," Marion leaned an elbow on the floor of the TARDIS so she was facing the Doctor,"If something DID get screwy because of the door opening, it would be totally reversible, so it's not a problem,"

The Doctor sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the console with a sigh. He continued to dab his face with the handkerchief.

"Marion I wish you wouldn't be so flippant all the time," the Doctor glared at her, "We were just about to materialise when the door opened and we hadn't properly adjusted. It is not 'fine',"

"Do you mean something went out of the ship?" Barbara asked.

"No, that's impossible,"

"Came inside?" Ian tried.

"Oh please, don't keep talking on the twentieth-century level. I'm talking about time travel. Neither of you can understand what I'm talking about, I can see that. And as for you Marion, you should know better-" the Doctor looked at her for a moment, saw something on her face, and then scoffed, "Oh but you're so young. Of course, you don't."

Ok, so, it was one thing to get called young by Ten or Twelve. It was one thing to be called young by Two or Three. But ONE; a One that was still traveling with Ian, Barbara, and Susan?

No.

"I'M YOUNG? Me? You're calling me young? You're the youngest you that I've ever met. You don't get to call me young at least until you're- you know what? Nevermind!"

Marion was about to say "At least until you're five inches shorter and have black hair," but she stopped. Both because that wasn't an appropriate thing to say probably (Marion didn't know), and because, in this context, it sounded deranged considering the Doctor was visibly a very very old man and Marion was a twenty-three-year-old woman who hadn't visibly aged much in the past eight years other than going from five-foot-even to five-foot-one.

"Grandfather," Susan said, coming back from the wall. She put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, "everything's all right. There isn't a fault anywhere, not even a yellow standby."

"There must be something wrong, Susan," the Doctor insisted, standing up, "I shall have to check that fault locator myself to make sure. Excuse me."

"Oh, I do wish he wouldn't talk in riddles," Barbara said as the man walked off.

"So do I," said Ian, "At least Marion TRIES to explain what she's talking about when she gets on one of her tangents,"

'What?'

"Susan, perhaps you can help us," Ian continued.

Susan jumped at being addressed and started to scratch at the side of her head. "I just know the most dangerous moment is at the point of materialisation,"

"Nothing's ever happened to us before," Barbara replied.

"Well, the doors have never opened like that before,"

"Well, happily no harm's been done," the Doctor said, returning from the wall panel, "It's most puzzling," He patted Barabara on the shoulder, "Oh, my dear Barbara, was I rude to you just now? If so I'm so sorry. I always forget the niceties under pressure. Please forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive," Barbara said with a nod.

"And Marion,"

Marion waved a hand, "It's fine,"

"Well, I suppose everything's all right," the Doctor walked towards the TARDIS console and pressed something, "and you see the temperature there. It's quite safe to go outside. Oh, Susan, just turn on the scanner, and let's try and see where we are,"

"Su-,"

Okay, if she told Susan not to press the button, she'd have to tell her WHY she was saying that. And the reason would of course be 'because we are currently very small", which might lead the Doctor to fix it right then, which would make them big and would mean that they wouldn't be stuck in the house which meant that they wouldn't be getting rid of the DN6. Unless of course, Marion could convince the Doctor she needed to run in to do some breaking and entering and that he should be ready to shut the door and take them away at any time.

If she had been with any other Doctor, she honestly might've tried that, but with One?

The First Doctor was a little bit more cautious now than he would be when he was older. She didn't want the risk. Most of the time, when the first Doctor did something especially heroic, especially this early on, it was less because people needed help and it was the Right Thing To Do and more because the Doctor had been separated from his TARDIS and on the way back, one thing led to another, someone was physically preventing him from reentering the TARDIS and the only way to get back in was to either help the person or join forces with whoever was working against them depending on if the person who stole the TARDIS was a megalomaniac or not.

This particular incarnation of the Doctor would probably have avoided a lot of the danger that his later incarnations by simply getting back into his ship and leaving as soon as he was able to.

The whole "Time Lords shouldn't interfere" thing was a concept that was admittedly slowly burning away but had yet to turn to ash and scatter to the wind.

So tiny it was.

Susan pressed a button on the console, and for a moment, the mounted TV screen on the scanner lit up, and then it exploded into large shards like someone inside of the TV had punched outward sending glass all over the console and the floor.

"Christ!" Marion jumped.

"It's shattered!" Susan exclaimed.

"Perhaps you need a new tube, Doctor?" There was a slight laugh in Ian's voice.

"Did you notice the way it blew out?"

"Yes, it was like an internal explosion of some sort," Barabara replied to the Doctor.

"Like something t-too big for its frame"

"Yes!" Barbara agreed.

"But yet I don't know, that can't be right."

"It's like the wires and everything in the ship got too small to handle things," Marion said, pointedly.

Marion couldn't help herself from dropping a few tiny clues.

"What do we do now, Doctor?" Ian asked, "Take the scanner out and strip it down?"

"Oh, no, no, no, dear boy. No, it's most puzzling of course, but now we don't know what's behind those doors."

"It's safe for us to go outside,"

"Are you sure about that Marion?" Ian asked.

"Have I ever told you guys it was safe to go outside and it wasn't?" Marion blinked, "Seriously, have I? Because any memories you lot have with me are still way off in my future,"

"You've never met any of us before?" Susan asked.

"Well, I've met him." Marion pointed to the Doctor with her thumb, "from pretty far ahead in his future, but I haven't met the rest of you yet. I know of you though. Anyway!" Marion clapped her hands. "Outside. We should go there. Let's? Lets!"

Marion walked over to the lever on the TARDIS console and the door slid open. Marion went Susan ran to the door and she and Marion exited together.

'So this is what the world looks like when you're tiny.'

Marion thought but didn't say.

Barbara and Susan examined some kind of vegetation against the rock wall where the TARDIS had materialized. Ian and the Doctor came out much later than the rest of them, probably talking. Marion walked toward the walls of the cliff that made the stepping stones leading across the lawn and leaned back against the cliff sides. The chunky aggregate of the cement felt rough under her fingertips.

"Now why wouldn't the scanner show us all this, hmm?" the Doctor remarked as he looked around.

"Perhaps that was the only damage to the ship, Doctor," Ian offered, "Overloading on the scanner circuits,"

"Yes, I suppose so. It could be," the Doctor rubbed his hands up against the rough walls. "What a strange rock formation,"

"Yes," said replied Ian, "It is, isn't it,"

"There are two different types of rock. Doctor, look. This is ordinary stone up here," he pointed to the wall, "but this down here seems to be quite different,"

"Chesterton, Marion, here, come here," the Doctor crouched down next to Barbara and his granddaughter. "Look here, is that cement?"

"It might be," Ian said.

"Rather a rough kind, isn't it?" the Doctor replied.

"Yes, very rough. They look like pebbles of sand, don't they?"

"That's how they make tile cement. They mix portland cement, sand, and water. It's a great adhesive for holding tiles in place. It's so much better than most glues. Especially if you're outdoors."

"Hmm," remarked Susan, "I'd have thought the stone was heavy enough to keep itself in place."

"They aren't that heavy," Marion remarked, "Or big. It's a matter of perspective,"

"My dear girl, I wish you would say what you mean instead of being so cryptic all of the time."

"My way is more fun,"

"'Fun'" the Doctor sighed, "Now, Barbara, I suggest that you and I take that path, and Susan, Marion, and you, sir, go that way."

"I- Okay," Marion said.

Compared to much later on in the Doctor's life, this was something simple, easy, and relatively safe. With few exceptions, when the First Doctor was in 60s earth, there was rarely anything alien going on. She could go with Ian and Susan just fine. And besides, they weren't going that far. If she needed to, she'd just run back.

"Yes, all right, but stay within calling distance, and if you see anything, sing out. We'll do the same," said Ian.

"Yes, yes," the Doctor nodded.

At their current size, walking between the irregularly paved stones was like walking through a narrow canyon.

Marion rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and yawned.

Yeah, hopefully, she was going to be able to take a nap after this was over. Or even better, actually, get to go to sleep.

"Warm, isn't it," Ian remarked.

"Yup. Although I don't think that you wearing a suit jacket is helping much," Not that Marion was one to talk. She still had her jacket around her waist, was wearing suit pants, and a pair of boots.

"I suppose you have a-,"

Before Ian could finish what he was saying, Susan called them over. "Hey, look at this,"

Susan crouched down and pointed to a large white, pill-shaped object. It was about the size of her forearm.

"That's odd. I suppose it couldn't be an egg," Ian picked it up and held it in his hand, "Not that size,"

"I don't know," Marion replied, "That's a perfectly normal size for many an egg,"

"There are more of them over there, look," Susan pointed.

"Yes…" Ian trailed off, "Ostrich?" the man subtly shook his head, "Ought to be rounder than this."

"Strange," Susan remarked. She started to walk towards the pile.

"Watch your step Susan," Marion cautions, "I don't think you want to step on those,"

"There are dozens of them over here. There's a whole pile of them."

Susan continued to walk until she looked up and came face to face with a dead ant that looked to be the size of a dog.

"MARION!" Susan shouted.

"It's dead," Marion replied without looking up at it. Ian moved to join Susan in looking at the thing. It had a strong smell to it. Not like the one that had come from the TARDIS doors opening, which eliminates that theory. The ant smelled sickly sweet and sulfuric.

"You shouldn't touch it," Marion said, seeing them look closer, "Whatever pesticide killed it, might still be on it. You don't want any of that on your skin,"

"It's stiff as a poker," Ian said staring, "What a fantastic size," And it made sense that Ian would be interested in something like this. He was a science teacher, wasn't he?

"It's a giant ant,"

"It's a fighter, is he? Looks as though it was trying to carry these eggs,"

Ian began rubbing his hands together. "Yes, well, it's natural behaviour for an ant when it's attacked. Take the eggs to safety. The worker ant'd give his life rather than abandon the eggs, you know."

"Well he couldn't have had much of a chance, could he? I mean, he must have died quickly."

"Yup!" Marion said with a nod, "Pesticides aren't something to joke around with."

"Look at these eggs scattered about," Ian waved his hand about, "The other ants must have been frightened away. I wonder what sort of a world could produce an insect that size."

"It happens a lot more often than you would think. The second time I ever traveled with the Doctor, Yorkshire was having a huge spider problem," Marion said as they continued to walk.

"Oh really?" Ian asked. "What kind?"

"There were a lot of spiders, and they were huge," Marion shuddered. "Some lab was doing this experiment on spiders to make them live longer or something? Anyway, the lab was taking all of the safety precautions and stuff that they were supposed to be doing, but the company they were sending their spider corpses to for disposal was run by a rich douchebag who was just tossing them in a landfill under a hotel with a bunch of other science nonsense because he sucks. Anyway, they were continuing to grow because they weren't dying, and they were webbing up the place and people and it was just a huge mess,"

"That sounds frightening," Susan replied.

"Yeah….I know that they help the environment or whatever, but I'll be honest, I do not like spiders. They creep me out,"

"Anyway, someone the Doctor was traveling with at the time came up with the idea to lure the spiders into a locked room by blasting loud music, and then we got together a bunch of essential oils since spiders hate strong smells and lured them to the ballroom. And then the rich douchebag shot the spider which like," Marion sighed, "it was the size of a large truck and was pretty much collapsing in itself but there should've been a better, more humane way of dealing with it?"

"How far ahead in the future is that?" Susan asked as they walked past the "cliffs" that were actually paving stones.

"Depends on what you mean by that question. As far as the Earth's timeline goes? Uhhh," Marion groaned and tried to do the math in her head. "Like, 54, 55 years? Yeah, that sounds about right. And for the Doctor? Uhhhhh. A while? Yeah, let's just say a while. And then there was the incident with the-" Marion almost mentioned the giant wasp and then froze. Marion knew she wasn't smelling iron, so she wished her brain wouldn't pretend like she was.

"you know what? Nevermind. Not important!"

"Marion?"

"Sorry, Spoilers!" Marion said cheerfully, because "I don't want to talk about it," might cause Susan to ask more questions, and since the answers to those questions would be "There was a giant wasp that impaled your Grandfather and I watched him die and time reset but I think it might've been my fault and I don't want to think about that right now," it was best to prevent them from being asked.

"Anyway?" Marion clapped her hands, "There's a whole lot of dead ants around here, isn't there?"

"I counted six of them!"

"Yes, I know. They're all about us, everywhere…" Ian looked to his left, did a double-take, and then turned, "Now this is really baffling."

Marion followed Ian's gaze.

A seed packet was impaled into the dirt via a wooden stake. From where they were standing, it looked like someone had taken a giant billboard and set it up against the side of the Grand Canyon.

"A huge picture of Night-Scented Stock!"

"Yes, it is," Ian said, he considered the pale purple and white flowers, "But why put up a picture of it? I don't get it. The writing. Seed Company Limited, Norwich."

"Norwich!" Susan spun around to face them, "That's England, isn't it? Norfolk?"

"Yes, it is. This means we're on Earth," Ian glanced over at Marion who nodded, "Something very odd here. First those ants, now this. I suppose it couldn't be part of a crazy exhibition. You know, where everything had been increased in size,"

"Could be, could be,"

"Marion, is that supposed to be some kind of hint? Because I don't understand this at all, Susan. I'm going to have a look 'round the other side of this. See if I can find a clue,"

Ian walked carefully around the side of the seed packet. There, on the ground, was a partially opened matchbox.

(Which seemed pretty unsafe. What if it rained and your box got ruined. What if an animal got ahold of it and caused a fire).

If they had been normal-sized, the matchbox would've been three and a half, maybe four feet tall.

"Look at this matchbox!" Ian climbed inside of it, " It must be an exhibition, Susan. Something like the World's Fair, things this size,"

Susan looked at the matchbox and then Ian, and then her eyes widened."Marion!" Susan's head swung around to look at her. "Marion? Am I right? Are we…"

Marion nodded grimly. "You are,!"

"What? What are you two talking about?" Ian asked from the matchbox.

"It's not an exhibition!"

"All right, what's your theory then, Susan?"

"These things haven't been made bigger. We've been made smaller. We have, haven't we Marion?"

Marion nodded again.

"We have been reduced roughly to the size of an inch!"

Ian sat up and leaned on the edge of the matchbox.

"An inch?"

Susan nodded frantically, "You, me, Marion, Barbara, Grandfather, and the TARDIS!"

"No, Susan, no. It can't be!"

"It can be," Marion replied, "and it is,"

"See, I'm right, Ian. That's the danger Grandfather was afraid of when the doors opened. He wouldn't admit it was possible, that's all. Oh, Marion,"

"It isn't possible, Susan. It's ridiculous,"

"Ian. Ian. Ian," Marion clapped her hands, 'You literally travel through time in a machine that looks like a 5 by 5 by 10 police box on the outside and is practically infinite on the inside. You've met aliens and historical figures. But getting shrunken down is where you draw the line as far as 'things that can happen.' Is that right? Am I understanding that correctly?"

"Oh but you have to admit Marion, this is a bit hard to-."

Before the man could finish what he was saying, the sky went black.

"What on ear-"

The sky suddenly went black and there was a loud booming noise, and then another, and then another, and then another. Like great footprints.

"What's that?" Ian asked.

"Marion is that a-,"

Marion nodded. She looked up at the giant shadow and the huge foot that came with it.

Susan shouted.

"Marion, take Susan and run!"

"Ian, watch your head!" Marion said, as she grabbed Susan by the arm and dragged the girl away from the matchbox and behind the seed marker. Behind them, Marion heard an "oof", but it wasn't a scream, so Marion knew that Ian had just fallen inside of the matchbox and hadn't been crushed.

Marion crouched down still holding onto Susan and glancing up towards the man who looked huge only because he hadn't been shrunk and was unaware that they were in his garden. A large hand reached down and retrieved the matchbox (and Ian), a bag, and something else Marion didn't recognize right then.

Marion wondered why they had been strone about the man's lawn in the first place.

The ground shook with every step and the shadow from his hands no longer blotted out the noon sky. Marion watched him carefully, just in case he chose to walk towards the flowers they'd planted and they had to move again for fear of getting squashed.

When the man was gone and the thunder of his footprints started to come from further and further away, Marion stood up, taking Susan with her. She listened carefully for another moment, and then let the girl go.

Susan ran back to the place where she'd seen Ian last.

"IAN!" she shouted, "IAN WHERE ARE YOU? Marion?" Susan turned to look at her, "where's Ian. Is he alright?"

"Susan, he just fell inside of the matchbox. He's-," Ok. So, judging by Susan's expression, that was the wrong thing to say.

"BARBARA!"

"Susan?" Barbara called back from wherever they'd came from.

"BARBARA, OVER HERE!"

From the other side of the seed packet, Barbara ran towards them with the Doctor not far behind.

"Oh Barabara!"

"Susan, what's the matter?"

"What happened," the Doctor asked his granddaughter. Susan grabbed a hold of his hands and tried to explain.

"There was a great big matchbox, a huge one, and Ian and Marion and I came to have a look and he sat on it, and there was this terrible noise and he fell inside it and now it's gone!" she screamed again, "It's gone and Ian's inside it!" Susan leaned on Barbara who hugged her tightly.

"And Ian is fine," Marion said very clearly and very carefully. Susan lifted her head up from Barbara's shoulder to look at her. "I know you're worried, but Ian is alright, he might have a sore shoulder or something, but he's fine! That noise was footsteps. We may be shrunk right now, but most of the rest of the world is still normal-sized. The owner of the matchbox just picked him up. He's fine."

"Marion, are you sure?"

"Positive!"

"Where did they go Marion?" Barbara asked.

"Uh?" Marion looked around. "Towards the house, but it's kinda hard to see things when you're an inch tall and surrounded by these stepping stones. No idea which direction it's in,"

Susan to the nearest paving stone. "We can climb this and see over the top," she suggested. She climbed up one of the footholds towards the base, and then up a little further. "Oh, I can't reach it,"

"I've got it, Susan," Marion replied. "Would you mind holding this for a second?" Marion slung her bag from over her shoulder and held it out. She took it.

Marion's stepped up against the side of the paving stone and gripped onto one of the rocks. She found a foothold and started to pull herself up, latching on footholds and handholds and climbing taller and taller. Marion reached up with one hand to the top of the "cliff" and pulled herself up the rest of the way. She dug the toes of her boots into a ridge in the wall and leaned over the side.

"Yup," Marion called down, "They're over there in that direction, the one I'm facing. Not too, too, far away. We can make it fine. There's a guy reading something, and he's got a cat,"

"Do you see the matchbox?" Susan shouted up to her.

"Yup, over by the porch. The man's got the matchbox next to him. We should probably start heading there. Walking's gonna take a while,"

"Do you need help getting down?" Barbara asked.

"Uhhh…" Marion hadn't thought of that. Did she? Probably not. "I don't NEED help to get down Barbara, I can just let go. I mean, I might twist my ankle a little bit but-"

"MARION!"

"Okay, okay, okay,"

So just letting go wasn't an option. Barbara's tone made both that cand the fact that she thought her even suggesting it in the first place was foolish clear.

Marion dug her nails into the dirt, let go with her other hand, and turned down to down at them. Barbara helped the Doctor partially up the wall and the Doctor reached out and grabbed ahold of his hands. She took a step down the side against a foothold, trying not to put too much weight on the Doctor as she did so. The Doctor took a step down, bringing Marion with him, and then Barbara helped them both solidly on their feet.

"Gently, gently, gently," the Doctor gently admonished Barbara, "We've got to find Chesterton"

"Grandfather, supposing Marion's wrong and the man walks off with it?"

"Courage, my dear," the Doctor patted Susan on the shoulder, "I know all this is a bit of a nightmare, but we've just got to get Ian back, and then we can go back to the ship."

"And then can you get us back to normal size?"

"Of course, yes, I'll try," There's always a chance,"

The First Doctor talked a lot with his hands, and Marion was noticing.

"C'mon," Marion said, "Ian's that way!"

It was fortunate the grass that covered the man's yard had been mowed down incredibly short. It was a lot easier to navigate through this than it would be to navigate through a forest. Did Marion even still have her knife?

Would a pocket knife even work, or would she need a bigger knife? Or perhaps a sword?

She could probably get a hold of a sword.

That didn't matter right now.

They continued to walk along the path until, in the distance, Marion heard a sound that made her freeze.

Buzzing.

Marion saw a momentary flash of black and yellow. Reflexicibly, Marion reached out and grabbed the Doctor by the back of his cloak and tugged him back sharply and then held up a hand to keep him from falling on his back just as a dying bee fell from the sky, dying as it hit the ground. Barbara, at the same time, grabbed a hold of Susan.

So the thing was, Marion KNEW that it was dead. That's why she had let go of the Doctor's cloak and had stepped away. And like, even if it had been alive in the first place, it was just an actual bumblebee and not a homicidal alien shaped like a huge wasp. Bumblebees were pretty chill creatures.

Still

"It's just a dead bee," Marion said aloud. She unhunched her shoulders that she hadn't realized had been hunched in the first place. "Nothing to worry about!" Was Marion smiling nervously? Probably not. Hopefully not.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, before walking closer to the giant dead insect and reached out a hand to touch it. Marion grabbed his wrist.

"Hey, maybe don't do that!" Marion said.

Marion didn't know if there was pesticide on the insects…fur? Was it fur? Whatever the fuzzy stuff on it was. The bee smelled the same way that the dead ant had. And if Marion remembered correctly, that was what pesticides smell like. Sweet sulfur.

"Marion, it's perfectly stiff."

"It could still sting," Barbara called over.

There was no normal way to say "HEY LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW," so Marion instead made a "hnn," noise.

Marion was doing a good enough job that the Doctor didn't notice her discomfort. Probably. Hopefully.

This version of the Doctor had only known her for like, a few months, maybe a year if that. She was fine.

"Ha!" the Doctor exclaimed, examining the dead insect, "What an awe-inspiring sight. Now, what chance would human beings have, I really wonder, in the world of creatures like this bee, hmm?"

"None at all,"

"Ehhhh. I think we'd be okay with man-sized bumblebees. Spiders, murder wasps, or ants?" Marion shook her head, "No, no, no. But I think we'd be fine with like, bumblebees and butterflies, and ladybugs and the like."

"Take a closer look," the Doctor encouraged this granddaughter.

Susan stepped away from Barbara's side and walked closer to the bee.

"Well, I haven't taken my eyes off it, Grandfather. It hasn't even trembled," her head tilted in Marion's direction, "I think you're right. It is dead."

"Poor little guy,"

The Doctor leaned down closer to the bee and then stood up straight. "It's the same distinctive aroma,"

"Yes," Barbara nodded, "I've noticed it on all the other dead things,"

"Well, that must be what's killing them, then."

"I wonder what it is that could kill off nature like this,"

Marion blinked. "Pesticides. Doctor, it-it's the 1960s." The Doctor and Susan nodded thoughtfully.

But Barbara looked at Marion, in confusion.

"Marion, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It's the 1960s. Environmental regulations won't be a thing until the…" Marion clicked her tongue in thought, "early 70s? Yeah, the early 70s. And a lot of those regulations are put in place as a consequence of the 60s. As far as tossing chemicals in your lawn, it's basically the wild west,"

"Why?"

"Why else? Money."

"What worries me is all the different things it's killing," Susan started to fidget with her overalls, "Things that fly in the air, things that move on the ground, things that move under the ground. It's so indiscriminate,"

"Marion, this pesticide, could it kill us too?"

"Oh, absolutely. Especially at this size. That's why I've been telling you to not touch anything, especially nothing that's dead and smells like that. C'mon, let's find-"

BOOM

The sound of a loud, rattling explosion roared from the direction of the house.

"That's not thunder, surely,"

"Sounded more like an ancient cannon,"

"Your guess was closer than Susan's Doctor," Marion said, "It was a gun,"

They had to walk for a long while to get close to the porch where Ian was. Admittedly, Marion had misjudged the distance between the ledge near the seed packet and the front of the house. But at the very least, it was a nice walk. The scenery and all. Marion could smell something in the air, something sharper. Gunpowder maybe?

"Well, we're progressing nicely," the Doctor remarked.

"Seen a lot more of those dead ants, Doctor,"

"Yes. Rather wide-spread, I'm afraid."

"Oh dear," murmured Barbara, "I wonder what would have happened to us if any of those creatures had still been alive."

"Probably a lot more running," Marion said with a shrug, "Speaking of running, here comes Ian,"

The man in question ran to them on the path. He stopped just in front of the two of them, breathing heavily.

"Ian?"

"A man's been shot!"

"Where? Did you see it?" Susan asked.

"Yes, he's over here." Ian turned to walk back the way he had come.

"Oh, not any further, please," Barbara groaned, "I'm exhausted. It's taken us ages to get here."

"What's that smell?" the Doctor asked. He tilted his head in a way the Marion recognized from Ten, "Cordite? Gunpowder, hmm?"

"Probably"

"Yes. That would explain the explosion, and also the man. It's not far. Come on and I'll show you." Ian lead them back the way he'd came.

Ian was right. They only had to walk for another 30, maybe 40 seconds. They could see the man's body long, long before they could see his face.

Marion had been aware that they were tiny. She had known long before the rest of them had. But the thing was that it was one thing to know that intellectually, it was one thing to see insects so large that had they not been dead, you could ride on their back, it was one thing to hear giant footsteps and a giant hand reach down and retrieve a matchbox.

Standing face to face with a dead human while you were roughly the size of his nose was something entirely different. The Doctor sat down on a large rock nearby.

"He's been shot dead," Ian said plainly.

"Are you sure he is dead?" Barbara asked.

"He's definitely dead," Marion replied.

"There's nothing but death all around us," Barbara replied grimly.

"You weren't with us, Chesterton, but every insect we came across is dead." the Doctor explained.

"Yes, Susan, Marion, and I saw a great many huge dead ants."

"And everything else is the same here," Susan agreed.

"The grounds have been covered with some kind of chemical that's killing everything, and that man-" the Doctor pointed upwards, "has been shot and murdered,"

"Why would you kill insects in a perfectly ordinary garden?" Barbara gestured around the garden. "I mean, pests one can understand, but surely it's wrong to kill bees and worms and things, isn't it?"

"Quite so," the Doctor replied, "both are vital to the growth of things,"

"Pesticides aren't very discriminating. Especially when the person developing said pesticides doesn't care,"

"Yes, yes," the Doctor stood up. Anxiety. " However, we must leave this simple mystery and get back to the ship. As I said, my dear, it's fortunate for all of us that everything is dead"

"Yes," Susan agreed, and then turned around, and screamed.

That was right, Marion remembered. The guy in the house had a cat. It was a pretty cat. A tortoiseshell. But it also was a giant cat and the five of them were incredibly small.

On the plus side, the cat was getting closer and didn't bring a wave of nausea so that was something.

"Don't move," Marion said, "And don't look at it too hard. It'll lose interest and leave eventually. Just like, chill,"

"Don't relax too much," the Doctor replied, "One swipe of its paw would smash us to pieces."

After a few more moments, the cat got bored and left and took Marion's anxiety with it.

Well, it took some of it.

The extra layer of anxiety that manifested whenever the Doctor was in potential danger was gone. It didn't do anything about the general and ever-present foundational layer of anxiety that never really left.

"Well, we can't get back to the ship just yet, and you know how fast cats can move." the Doctor remarked, "And another thing, we could be mistaken for mice and I don't fancy being part of the cat's diet."

"It gets more horrifying every moment."

"Couldn't we make contact with the people here somehow?" Susan tried.

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "I'm afraid not,"

"Well, why not? They might be able to help us."

"It's out of the question, my dear. How can we possibly communicate with them?"

"Imagine a record played at the wrong speed, Susan," Ian explained, "We'd sound like a little squeak to them and they'd sound like a low growl to us."

"I mean, surely there would be a way to rig something up," Marion started to fidget with her hair, "Or like, do morse code or something. Anyway, that's not the problem-"

"Marion's right," said Barbara, "The problem is that even if we could communicate, what would they do to us? We're freaks. They'd put us in a glass case and examine us through a microscope."

"Ok Barbara, that's going a little bit too far, and honestly, I don't think that that would really be an-. Actually, depending on whether or not Marion was able to either convince Ten and Rose NOT to act insensitive or convince Queen Victoria to chill out, Torchwood might be around to cause some concern. "-okay that might actually be an issue come to think of it," Marion amended, "But no the problem I was thinking of is that a man was just shot to death and the murderer is still on the grounds. We're witnesses. Do the math,"

"Yes, what about that dead man?" Susan asked.

"Oughtn't we to do something about it?"

The Doctor sat back down on the stone and looked up at Barbara.

"Well, what can we do, my dear? I mean, surely this is the question. Normally I wouldn't hesitate, but the destruction of the life force is frightful. There it is. I mean, what can we do as we are?"

"Well," Ian looked around, "I can't see any sign of that cat, for how much safety that gives us."

The Doctor stood back up again, "Well, shall we proceed?"

And here's that sense of doom again. And along with it the sky went dark. In a reflexive moment, Marion grabbed the Doctor's wrist with one hand along with the other person who was closest to her (Susan, who shouted in surprise) and dragged them out and away from the shadows.

Marion could hear Ian and Barbara yelling, although she couldn't fully make out what they were saying over the loud booming steps.

"Marion! Ian and Barbara were almost stepped on!"

"Hn?" Marion realized that she was still holding onto their wrists and let go. "Oh, they're alright," See, they're heading towards that briefcase over there. They'll be fine.

"It's a pity they didn't come this way, though." the Doctor remarked.

"Shall we go over to them?"

The Doctor grabbed Susan close, preventing her from rushing toward her old teachers.

"No, no, it's dangerous," the Doctor shook his head, "Let's go over to that pipe there."

The gaps between the teeth of the nearby drainage pipe were like enormous chasms from where they were standing. The three of them crouched in silence watching the men. Marion could see their mouths moving, from her position between the Doctor, Susan, and the men, but all that came out was a deep slow incomprehensible noise.

'Point to Ian I suppose,'

The two of them talked for a while. One of them picked up the briefcase that contained Ian and Barbara. He came back a few moments later and helped his colleague move the body elsewhere. After about half a minute more, the Doctor stood up.

"They're gone," the Doctor said, standing up.

Susan let out a sigh of relief. "It's much better when they're a long way away, isn't it,"

"One of them took the briefcase Ian and Barbara are in and went off into the building."

"Marion are you quite sure?"

"Quite!"

"I definitely saw him pick up the briefcase," Susan perched on the raised part of the drainage ramp, "When he walked past us it was just like a mountain, just a blur, you know. He must have gone inside the house," The Doctor stepped forward to inspect the drainage pipe himself and stumbled. Marion reached out and grabbed him by the back of his cloak, steadying the man.

"Careful, Grandfather," Susan cautioned, "Don't fall down there, will you."

"Don't worry Susan, I've got him,"

"Marion, I assure you that I can take care of myself!"

"Sure," Marion replied, "Of course,"

The Doctor stepped forward again and ducked his head through the drainage pipe. "Phew," he said, and he walked away. "Awful smell of chemical in there"

Marion stuck her head in herself. She ducked her head away and started coughing hard. It smelled chemical-y. Like bleach or some other cleaning product.

"Christ! God, what are they pouring in there?"

"Phew, yes. It's not just an ordinary drainpipe, is it?" Susan turned to look at her. "Marion, do you know where it leads?"

"A sink in the building. I think it's in the lab, but I can't be sure. It's close to Ian and Barbara, I'll know that,"

"Hmm."

"Are you thinking of climbing up the inside of it, Grandfather?"

"Yes, yes, of course, my dear," she pointed back towards the inside of the pipe, "There's no other way. If you go in there you'll see it's all corroded, so there's plenty of hand and footholds. That chemical smell means that it's germ-free."

Marion looked through there, and yeah the Doctor was right. But also. Marion wasn't sure that "It's got a strong chemical smell," was anything but a red flag, but between the Doctor and Susan's respirator bypasses and Marion's whole...everything. It'd probably be fine.

Susan walked into the drainage pipe herself and looked upward.

"It's too far for you, Grandfather!" Susan insisted.

"Well, if it is, I shall have to give up, and I'm not going to give up before I've tried," he put his hands on his granddaughter's shoulders, "And remember, you must think of the other two. They must be constantly reminding themselves they're only one inch high. There's only the three of us to help them,"

"All right. But you let me go first."

"No," Marion shook her head. She reached into her bag and retrieved a length of rope. To her relief, the contents of her bag had shrunk along with herself. She pulled the rope out and wound it through the belt loops of her pants and tied it behind her.. "I'll go up first. And I'll have this rope trailing behind me, so if something happens, I can help to pull you up."

"Yes, yes, see Susan? There's nothing to fret. Go on Marion.."

Marion walked into the pipe, grabbed a hold of a corroded section of the pipe, and began her ascent.

Next Chapter: Of Creatures Big and Small

The Doctor: Come along you too! Let's climb into this enclosed and corroded tube that smells strongly of chemicals.

Marion: …

Marion: …

Marion: that's probably fine.

So I realized that this was probably something I should make clear. The little offhand comment about Marion not looking much different at 15 ish than she looks at 23 isn't foreshadowing about her having always been ageless and immortal or whatever. It's based on myself and the fact that my family and friends and I joke that I haven't visibly aged since I was in middle school in like 2014-2015. I've got photos of myself where I'm five years younger or more and the only visible difference between me now and me back then is that, my hair looks longer because I hadn't grown into it into it and it looks a little bit less healthy because I wasn't using the right products for my hair (I have 4B and was using a shampoo that you really shouldn't be using on natural hair.)