Thanks to the following people for following: notwritten, Shadowballistik
Thanks to the following people for following and favoriting: yorukakusaku, lautaro94, SpiderFlash 1273
"It goes without saying that we're going to investigate then?" Marion said sitting on the couch. To be honest, it would be more than they were investigating and she was merely sticking around with them. If this was a dream, then it was one that she wanted to enjoy for a bit. If it wasn't a dream, then she would still want to stick around. If this wasn't a dream, then the Associate was, in fact, her future self and it seemed plenty adamant that she sticks around with the two of them. That future her was alive, so she'd probably be fine. She wondered if she was able to tell them straight up what was going on.
"Are there rules for what I can and not tell you," she asked, "Can I give tiny hints or cryptic one-liners, or do I just kind of keep everything to myself? Like what's the procedure here?"
"We set up a system where any companions and I can ask you three questions but they need to be answerable with yes/no, a number, or a simple sentence. You can refuse to answer a question though if you think knowing something too early might cause problems," the Doctor explained.
"That works, do you have any questions for me right now?" she asked.
"My sister, is she in danger?" Martha asked.
"She will likely be fine, we should still check things out I suppose," Marion didn't think she was allowed to go more in-depth than that,"Doctor, this is a fancy event and I'm dressed for a walk around town, can I borrow something from your closet?"
"Of course, a good amount of the stuff in there is yours actually. It's more like our closet if I'm being honest!"
"Okay, here's the plan. We change into something a bit more formal and then we go to the reception and make sure nothing goes wrong. If anyone asks, Martha is there because her sister is head of PR and we're there because we're her friends,"
"My sister isn't the head of PR Marion,"
"Oh isn't she?",Marion said with a wink as she walked into the TARDIS. She paused and then backtracked.
"Uh, Doctor, where exactly is the-,"
Marion turned a corner and came to an open doorway.
"Nevermind!"
The TARDIS wardrobe was a tall room with a single clothing rack pole in a spiral around the perimeter completely covered with clothing on hangers of various types, colors, and sizes and no obvious organizational theme. In the middle of the room, was a large spiral staircase that allowed one to travel to different levels. It's the kind of closet you'd end up with if you were a ship that had had over 50 passengers over a few centuries or so including one who's body type was capable of dramatic changes and also were only vaguely aware of what organization was.
'Let's see, it's the mid-late 2000's so I'd probably want to go with a dress yes?' Marion thought to herself as she looked at the different clothing items, 'and I want something easy to move in with pockets'. She looked around the room at the different racks until she finally spotted something that seemed promising. It was a floor-length pale green dress with mid-length sleeves. She felt it, it seemed soft enough and it did indeed have pockets.
"This'll do!" she said and found a small room off to the side to change in. The dress fit right. She lunged in it trying to see if it messed with her she ran a bit to see if it was hindering to move in. It seemed like a good dress to run from things in. She grabbed a pair of biker shorts to wear under it. She found a very comfortable pair of black slip-on flats. She managed to make her way back to the main control room of the TARDIS where the Doctor was waiting.
"Well, let's go then!" She said and walked out the door. "You look great! Let's go!" Marion said to Martha with a wink.
They headed out Martha's house and over to the reception. It wasn't too far, so they chose to walk.
"Oh, black tie. Whenever I put this on, something bad always happens," said the Doctor, fidgeting with the collar of his tux.
"It's not the outfit, it's just you," replied Martha.
"A firefighter's red hat doesn't inspire arson," Marion responded.
"Anyway, it suits him doesn't it?" Martha said to Marion.
"Yeah, he looks like regular James Bond" she joked,"
The Doctor stopped for a second. "James Bond? Really? Haven't been called that in a while,"
Marion sped up ahead of him and to the entrance, "Well, come on guys. We've got some science to see,"
The place where the event was to take place was roughly the size of a high school gym with large windows behind tall white walls. The room was heavily blue and white with pillars holding up the ceiling. There was an upper platform in the back corner of the room, surrounded by guardrails with a staircase leading down.
"Oh, look, they've got nibbles! I love nibbles, would you like some Marion," the Doctor said, grabbing some food off the tray as a waiter walked by carrying a plate.
"Absolutely, I am starving," she said, reaching for the platter. She had spent most of the day nauseous with a headache and hadn't eaten. But she felt better now and was hungry. She grabbed a couple of the foodstuffs of the tray and took a bite.
"These are actually really good," her words partially muffled by the food in her mouth. She swallowed, "what's in this?" she asked aloud.
"Hello," a woman's voice said from behind her.
"Tish," Martha said, giving the woman a hug.
"You look great. So what do you think? Impressive isn't it?"
"Very"
"And two nights out in a row for you. That's dangerously close to a social life,"
"If I keep this up, I might end up in the gossip columns,"
"You might, actually. You should keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum, she's coming too. Even dragging Leo along with her,"
"Leo in black tie? This I must see. This is, er, the Doctor"
"Hello"
"And Marion"
"This is a great event you put together!" Marion said, eating her second appetizer.
"Are they with you?" Tish asked her sister.
"But they aren't on the list. How did he get in?"
"I decided to bring a couple of friends with me,"
The Doctor cut in "So this Lazarus, he's your boss?"
"Professor Lazarus, yes, I'm part of his executive staff,"
"She's in the PR department" Martha explained.
"I'm the head of the PR department, actually"
"You're joking," Martha said
"I told you", Marion mouthed.
"You put this event together didn't you Tish? It's really impressive, I especially love the food" Marion said to Tish
"Nevermind that", the Doctor interrupted "So do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight? That looks like it might be a sonic micro field manipulator,"
Tish sighed, "He's a science geek. I should have known. Well, I've got to get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later," She turned around and left to go speak with the other attendants.
"Science geek? What does that mean," the Doctor asked, watching her leave.
"That you're obsessively enthusiastic about it," Martha said.
"That you're a nerd," Marion joked at the same time.
"Oh, nice...HEY". He realized what Marion had said.
Martha's mother and brother approached them, Francine still lecturing Leo.
"Your father's caused me enough heartache already with his menopause and his trophy girlfriend"
"Yeah, Mum, I know. It's just something he said last night,"
"Martha," Francine said, turning to her daughter.
"Mum!" Martha said, giving her mother a huge hug. Understandable. From what Marion remembered, Martha had been through what could charitably be called, "some serious shit" and likely had no idea if she would see her again.
"All right, what's the occasion?" Martha's mother said, returning the hug.
"What do you mean? I'm just pleased to see you, that's all,"
"You saw me last night,"
"I know, I just miss you. You're looking good, Leo,"
"Yeah. If anyone asks me to fetch him a drink, I'll swing for him," he said in response. If you asked Marion, he looked less like a waiter, and more like a member of the high school choir. But no one asked her, so she said nothing, just listened.
"You disappeared last night"
"I just went home,"
"On your own?"
"I went home with some friends, this is The Doctor and Marion"
"Hello", greeted Marion politely as she held out a hand.
"It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones. Heard a lot about you,"
"Have you, what have you heard, then?"
The Doctor realized he'd just been caught. "Oh, you know, you're Martha's mother and...Marion, you tell her,"
'Shoot, shoot, what do I know. Why would he saddle her with this.'
"She told us that you were her mom, and also that you had three kids including Martha...I'm sorry we've been busy. Not much time to chat you know?" Marion said fidgeting with her hands.
"Busy? Doing what exactly?" Francine pressed.
"Oh, you know. Stuff", said the Doctor.
"And things," Marion added.
Before Francine could ask more, Professor Lazarus tapped on the side of his glass to get people's attention. Standing by him was Lady Thaw. She was a tall woman with short grey hair in a ponytail with a face that looked like she had been tricked into eating a piece of sour candy but didn't want to give the prankster the satisfaction of a reaction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch in wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world that will change forever," After giving this speech, he stepped into a large white machine on a raised white, circular platform shaped vaguely like a mall photo booth. Surrounding it, were 4 columns that were curved towards the top. Towards the middle of the columns, was a black tube with twinkling blue lights. A scientist working for him pressed a small red button resting on a smaller black pillar.
It briefly occurred to Marion that, in about 90 or so minutes, Lazarus along with a few other people in the room were going to die. Lazarus was going to kill them and then he would die himself. Could she save any of them? Lazarus was a lost cause obviously but if she could help others…
She was drawn out of her thoughts when an alarm went off.
"Something's wrong. It's overloading," shouted the Doctor.
"Go and fix it, I need to talk to someone and quick!"
The Doctor rushed over to the control panel and took out his sonic screwdriver and began scanning over the walls and Marion went to speak to Lady Thaw
"Ma'am, I need to talk to you-" she was cut off.
"Someone stop him. Get him away from those controls!" Lady Thaw shouted, attempting to call security.
"If this thing goes up, it'll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?" the Doctor yelled back
"GRAB THE POWER CABLE" Marion shouted to him.
The Doctor ripped out the big central power cable and the machine began to slow down and stop. Martha and Marion ran towards the machine.
"Get it open"
Martha and Marion pulled at the door. It was surprisingly lightweight for a machine of this size.
'This door would've slammed open if you'd bumped into it wrong!' Marion thought to herself.
Out of the door stepped Lazarus. Except for his hair, formerly fading and grey was now longer and blond. Most of the wrinkles on his face had disappeared with the exception of furrows around his eyes. He now looked less like a great uncle, and more like your annoying older cousin who can't have a peaceful holiday dinner without dragging someone into a debate about the Star Wars Sequels. It's the haircut.
Lady Thaw looked excited. 'She won't be excited about much for long if I'm not able to warn her.' Marion thought.
"He did it, he actually did it" Lady Thaw exclaimed.
Marion tried talking to her again. "Ma'am, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Not now. Can't you see how busy I am,"
"Please, it's important,"
"Well, I suppose,"
"Do not ask how I know this. But it needs to be said. You will meet Lazarus in his office. You will have a conversation. At some point, he will say the phrase 'No, my love. That I learnt from you. You have a gift for it.' When he says that, you need to run,"
"What are you talking about-" Lady Thaw said, slightly angered.
"I can't go into it any more than that, just listen to me," Marion pleaded. She then turned and went back to where Martha and the Doctor were standing.
"It can't be the same guy. It's impossible. It must be a trick" Martha said, gesturing towards the now young Lazarus talking to people around the room.
"Oh, it's not a trick. I wish it were," the Doctor said, sounding distracted.
"What just happened then?" asked Martha
"He just changed what it means to be human,"
Marion rejoined their group and grabbed a couple more appetizers from a nearby waiter. "Hey guys, if you want any more of these, you probably want to get them now. Just a thought. That spoiler's a freebee,"
Lady Thaw and Lazarus walked towards the group to greet them like the rest of the attendants.
"Excuse me. That was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen. Look at you,"
"This is only the beginning. We're not just making history, we're shaping the future too!"
"Think of the money we'll make. People will sell their souls to be transformed like that. And I'll be first in line," Lazarus then froze. He looked like his body was held together by strings that had suddenly been tightened. He grabbed a tray from the nearby waiter that Marion had grabbed her food from and ate off the tray until there was nothing else on it.
"Richard" Lady Thaw admonished
"I'm famished" he offered as an explanation.
"Energy deficit. Always happens with this kind of process," the Doctor said gesturing to him.
"Or in other words, that machine of yours sped up your metabolism, so now you're hungry,"
'I could try to convince him to go home...no...even if I could do that, he'd still go on a rampage. And who knows how we'll kill him then.'
"The two of you speak as if you see this every day, Mister..."
"Doctor. And that's my Associate Marion. And well, no, not every day, but I have some experience of this kind of transformation," The Doctor replied. Moving his head slightly as he spoke.
"That's not possible,"
"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That's inspired"
"You understand the theory, then,"
"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables"
"No experiment is entirely without risk,"
"That thing nearly exploded. You might as well have stepped into a blender,"
"You're not qualified to comment," Lady Thaw cut in.
"I am" Marion stated, "it was a bad idea which could have serious consequences,"
"If I hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded," The Doctor nearly yelled.
"Then I thank you, Doctor. But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less," Lazarus said in a matter-of-fact sort of way.
"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests,"
"Look at me," Lazarus said, holding out his arms and gesturing to himself, "I'm all the proof you need,"
"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially," Lady Thaw said as if it was supposed to reassure them.
"Commercially? You are joking. That'll cause chaos," Martha said. She, as an actual medical doctor, knew the implications of that. Hint: not great.
"Not chaos, change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve,"
"This isn't about improving. This is about you and your customers living a little longer" the Doctor shot back.
"Not a little longer, Doctor, A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely," replied Lazarus. Almost sounding like he was giving a sales pitch.
"Richard", Lady Thaw said, touching Lazarus's shoulder. "we have things to discuss, upstairs,"
"Goodbye, Doctor", he turned to face the Doctor fully, "In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were,"
He kissed the back of Martha's hand and left with Lady Thaw.
"Please! Remember what I said," Marion called out the Lady Thaw as they left.
"Oh, he's out of his depth. No idea of the damage he might have done. Marion, how serious is this going to become?"
"Is that a Question?" she asked.
"Yes,"
"One person is going to die and two or more might," Marion said seriously. She hoped that Lady Thaw would listen to her and that she would be able to save the woman in the reception that Lazarus killed. But she didn't know.
"You're doing your best to save who you can right?" Martha asked her. It seems less like a question, and more like a statement. Much like how a friend might say, "I'm ordering a pizza, you want some breadsticks, right?".
"Right," Marion responded with a nod of her head.
"So what are we going to do now," Martha asked.
"Well, this building is full of labs and he," she pointed a thumb at the Doctor, "is a nerd. We've got some tests to run,"
"Oh, but we'd need a sample to test then," the Doctor replied.
Martha held up the back of her hand where Lazarus had kissed her, "Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then isn't"
"Oh, Martha Jones, what would we do without you?" The Doctor said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Nothing of substance," Marion replied. "Now, let's find ourselves a lab before someone notices us sneaking about."
The three of them made their way around the facility and into the labs. The Doctor took a swab from a clear cabinet and rubbed it on the back of Martha's hand. He sat down in a desk chair and pulled up a program of some kind. He placed it into a machine and a progress bar on the computer appeared. Martha and Marion stood by the door looking out. Marion noticed that the progress bar was moving quite slowly. She moved away from the door and towards the Doctor.
"You know that I could just tell you what the results are going to say right," Marion said leaning forward and pressing her elbow on the table, "Like, I know what the report is going to come out as I can always just tell you,"
"It's better for me to do my investigations myself. Your information isn't always reliable,"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Marion said, her voice getting slightly higher in the middle of the sentence.
"Well, you've described your knowledge to me as 'encyclopedic' you know most things but not everything and you've forgotten a semi-important detail or two. That's not even bringing up how things will change in response to your actions," the Doctor responded looking down through a microscope and not at her.
"How does that work?"
"Well, you know how you spent years studying my timeline?" the Doctor said, to offer an explanation.
'That's an interesting way to say "You spent most of your pre-teen and teenage years watching a show following my adventures,"' Marion thought. Did she er… the Associate tell the Doctor that she studied his timeline rather than telling him that she came from a world where he was just a TV show character?
She wondered if it'd be a good idea to tell him the truth before deciding that she'd better not. It'd be existentially terrifying to discover that your world was merely just a story written by someone else. Marion didn't know what she'd do if she suddenly discovered that she was merely a character, written by someone else and inserted into a universe not her own.
.
.
.
.
.
.
ANYWAY
"Yes, that's what I did. What about it?" Marion asked.
"Well, that timeline was similar, but not 100% identical to this one. It's more like 95% the same,"
"What's the 5%?"
"According to the Associate, there are a whole bunch of tiny differences, but there were about three main ones. One of them is your presence,"
"And the others?"
The Doctor paused, "I don't know. The Associate refuses to tell me,"
She wondered what it was that she would in the future refuse to tell the Doctor. Perhaps there wasn't anything at all. Maybe it was a lie, like the timeline lie! But then again, it seemed very important to the Associate that she stuck by the Doctor. Perhaps the differences were, in some way, related to that?
Just then, the computer beeped; catching Marion's attention. She looked over the Doctor's shoulder and leaned over him.
"Looks like this isn't one of the 5%. Hey Martha, come look at this"
"What?"
"Lazarus's DNA"
Martha walked over to the two of them and looked at the screen.
"I can't see anything different," Martha said, confused.
"Give it a second," said Marion.
On the screen was a double helix strand of DNA. Every few seconds, it shifted slightly before returning to normal.
"Oh my God. Did that just change? But it can't have,"
"And yet it did," Marion chimed in.
"It's impossible," said Martha.
"Nothing's impossible dear, just really, really, unlikely"
"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure, then a metagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands. Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate," the Doctor explained. He sounded both horrified and impressed.
"But they're still mutating," Martha pointed out.
"Because the human genome is more complicated than a website or a video game. You can't just add a couple of lines of code and end up with immortality. He messed with something he shouldn't have. We've got to go right now" Marion said rushing towards the door.
"Where are you going Marion!" the Doctor shouted.
"Upstairs. C'mon!"
"Please, tell me that she listened. Please please please,", she said under her breath as she turned a corner.
Eventually, she found Lazarus's office. The Doctor and Martha were not far behind her. Marion looked around the room. She saw a skeletal pair of legs sticking out from behind the desk.
"Oh," she said. She thought that maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to save one person. But she couldn't. But then again, so what if she couldn't save one person. This was just one person. Lady Thaw wasn't the only person to die today. The blonde woman at the reception. She WOULD save her. She had too.
"Is that Lady Thaw?"
"It used to be," The Doctor stated. He waved his screwdriver over her and looked at the scan.
"Now she's just an empty shell. She's had the life drained out of her. Why didn't she listen to me?" That last part was said softly under her breath.
"What happened?" Martha asked, horrified.
"Lazarus happened. He sucked the life out of her. Let's go back to the elevator. Quickly," Marion was already heading for the door.
"What? Why?"
"Lazarus is going to shift again and I've been informed that there is a 5% chance that I'm wrong about your sister being safe. Let's bounce,"
Marion raced to the lift and pressed the down button repeatedly. "C'mon. C'mon, C'mon". The lift opened and she ushered Martha and the Doctor inside before frantically pressing the "close door" button and holding down the button labeled "G".
(If she had been less frantic, then she might have noticed Tish and Lazarus stepping out of the lift. As it is, she wasn't, so she didn't.)
"Please tell me I'm not too late," Marion said under her breath looking around the room.
"I can't see him," Martha said.
Leo walked up to them, "Hey, you all right, Marth? I think Mum wants to talk to you,"
"Have you seen Lazarus anywhere?"
"Yeah, well, he was getting cozy with Tish a couple of minutes ago,"
'Son of a bitch' Marion thought, 'we missed them'.
"Ah, Marion, Doctor," Francine said, finally finding them.
"I'm sorry ma'am we don't have time to go Tish might be in terrible danger right now. We'll talk later," Marion grabbed the Doctor and Martha's arms and said, "come on, hurry," They seemed to have the idea because there was little resistance or hesitation before they hurried along after her. In the process, the Doctor knocked over Francine's drink.
"Sorry!" Marion called back.
"Martha, come back here when I'm talking to you!" Francine shouted.
"Not now Ms. Jones, I'm trying to save your daughter," Marion said as she ran back into the elevator.
"They're on the roof. Doctor. Scan to make sure though. The fluctuation of his DNA should give something off" Marion said, putting a hand in her hair. She had a nervous habit of scratching her head when she felt anxious. The Doctor took out his screwdriver and scanned the area.
"She's right, something is coming from the roof,"
They could hear Lazarus talking to Tish. "I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect. There's always something to surprise you. Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act-"
"Falls the Shadow," the Doctor said
"For Thine is the Kingdom," Marion finished.
"So Ms. Marion and the mysterious Doctor know their Eliot. How impressive," Lazarus said.
"It's a popular poem. Anyone who's taken an English Lit class would know it," Marion said with a shrug.
"Martha, what are you doing here?" Tish said through gritted teeth at her sister.
"Tish, get away from him" Martha yelled.
"What? Don't tell me what to do,"
"Seriously," Marion said, "it's not safe. He's not safe,"
"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus, what with you being busy hacking reckless at your genetic code,"
"You're right, Doctor. One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more I'll get done in two or three or four," Lazarus retorted smugly.
"It doesn't work like that. It's not about how long your life is, it's about how you use it," Marion responded.
"But, if you use it for great things, then imagine the gift a long life could be,"
"Gift!' Perhaps if you're speaking German!" Marion retorted
"Who are you to judge me?" Lazarus said coldly.
"Over here, Tish" Martha called.
"You have to spoil everything, don't you? Every time I find someone nice, you have to go and find fault," Tish shouted at her sister. Unaware of what was happening behind her. Lazarus collapsed and began to spasm.
"Tish, he's a monster"
"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones,"
"Tish, look behind you and move towards us," Marion said, backing up slowly.
Lazarus had transformed into a monster. It looked like a scorpion except, instead of chitin, it seems to be made of ribcages, stretched skin, and nightmares. It still had a human face, but it looked like the face was a flat image stretched with cold dead eyes. All in all. It was a big yikes.
"What's that!" Tish screamed.
"Run!" shouted the Doctor.
Once everyone was off the roof, he locked the door and ran down the stairs. They paused for a second to catch their breath.
"Are you okay!" Martha asked her sister.
"I was going snog him," Tish said, in shock.
The lights started to flicker and they heard a loud "bang" against the locked door.
"We can worry about this later guys. Right now, we need to get everyone out of here before-" before Marion could finish, a voice was heard over the intercom.
"Security One. Security One. Security One,"
"That happens," Marion said flatly.
"What's happening?" Martha asked.
"An intrusion. It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts, seals the exits," Tish replied.
"Stairs. Now. Let's GO,"
They heard a crashing sound behind them And an awful sort of growling. There was something wrong and awful about the growling. It made Marion's stomach sick and filled her with an urge to flee. It was like when she was going up the stairs at night and halfway up. When it's dark and quiet. And suddenly, you know that looking behind you is a bad idea and so is staying on the stairs for more than a couple of seconds at a time.
"GO GO GO GO GO GO GOGOGOGOGOGOGO" Marion yelled.
Marion practically flew down the stairs. The blonde woman! The woman in the reception room. She couldn't save Lady Thaw, and that was fine. It was FINE. But she could save that woman right? She was able to save some people. She had to be able to do at least that. It'd be easy. Just break her out of shock and pull her out of the way.
Marion had to believe this.
Leaping over the last of the stairs, she ran into the reception room.
The other three were not too far behind.
"Marion, is there another way out of here?" the Doctor asked?
"Tish, there's an exit in the corner over there right," Marion said, looking at Martha's sister.
"Well, yes, but it'd be locked,"
The Doctor tossed his screwdriver to Martha, "Setting fifty. Hurry,"
"Listen to me! You people are in serious danger. You need to get out of here right now!" the Doctor said from on the raised platform that acted as a stage.
"Don't be ridiculous. The biggest danger here is choking on an olive," said the woman with blonde hair in the gold dress standing in front of them.
Just then there was a loud "CRASH" as the thing with Lazarus' face burst through the door. The people in the room scattered.
Martha and her sister raced to the door along with everyone else. Martha used the sonic screwdriver on the door and it opened up allowing everyone to flood out.
"Mum! Get back," Leo shouted before being sent flying to the floor by a table to the face.
"Leo!" Francine screamed as Martha finally got the door open.
Marion saw the woman with the blonde hair frozen and fear and she ran like hell towards her, shoving her out of the way and them both to the ground.
"Come on Miss. Get up!" she said, pulling the woman to her feet and dragging her to the door.
The monster turned to Leo and Francine on the floor.
"Lazarus, Leave them alone," the Doctor yelled from next to the machine getting the thing made of bones and skin and hubris's attention.
"Come on, stay with me you're okay," Martha said as she and her sister pulled their brother to his feet.
"What's your name?" Marion asked the still shaken women.
"L-Lucy," the woman said.
"That thing is a mite larger than an olive huh,"
The woman glared at her, "I nearly died and you're cracking jokes about it," Lucy said through gritted teeth.
"Well, if you're angry at me, you're less likely to think about how close you came to death," Marion said, trying to sound calmer than she was.
Marion brought the woman to Martha and her family.
"That thing would've eaten me wouldn't it have. I-I almost died!"
"You're going to be fine Lucy, don't worry," Marion said patting her on the shoulder.
"What's the point?" the Doctor taunted, "You can't control it. The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool. A vain old man who thought he could defy nature. Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!" He glanced at Marion, and then took off running down the corridor, leading the Monster down it.
"What's the Doctor doing?" Tish asked.
"Trying to buy us a little time. Let's get out of here. Your brother has a concussion and the Doctor can only hold him off for so long," Marion spoke. Let's go.
"Aren't you going to run after the Doctor?" Martha asked her.
"Why would I do that?" Marion asked confused.
"You...uh...the Associate, never seemed to let the Doctor out of your sight when it came to dangerous things," Martha said with a shrug before leaning back over her brother.
"He'll be fine," Marion replied. 'Plus, I've got to stay with Martha and them in case the control panel's been soundproofed or something like that.' she thought to herself.
They made their way down a flight of stairs and to a set of locked glass doors.
"We can't get out. We're trapped," Tish said.
"Martha, use the sonic on the override switch on the panel. It's towards the back. Third from the top on the left," Marion shouted. She felt odd and anxious, and she wasn't quite sure why.
Martha soniced the control panel and the door opened. People poured out and fled. Suddenly, that anxious feeling got worse and worse.
She felt dizzy, and suddenly, her arms started hurting. Her chest felt like someone was sitting on it despite her being fully vertical. Then she felt herself falling forward slightly as her vision got wonky. It was a bit like when she stood up too fast after not drinking enough. She shook her head. Martha was talking with her family about going back for the Doctor. Her mother wasn't thrilled about her daughter risking her life for a man she just met. Marion walked shakily over to them. "Are you okay?" Martha asked, looking at her.
"I'm okay," Marion said. This is an obvious lie to anyone who looked at her. "You look sick,"
"I really am fine. Maybe I ate something off," she lied again. Marion's vision darkened fully and she stumbled forwards.
She blinked to clear the black from her eyes, then she was back in the reception room. Leo was lying on the floor and surrounded by the Jones family and she was holding Lucy's arm.
"That thing would've eaten me wouldn't it have. I-I almost died!" Lucy said, sounding like shock was setting in.
"You're going to be fine Lucy, don't worry," Marion said patting her on the shoulder. " before pausing 'Wait...I already did this.' she thought.
She looked up and noticed the Doctor was still standing by the machine and taunting Lazarus. "The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. "
'What's going on here'
Next Chapter: A Lesson in Physics
Marion, looking at Lazarus: That's a neat trick to play on God.