I think I said this before, but I headcanon that when the respiratory bypass kicks in, it sounds like a computer fan kicking on. There's like, a small vibration on their chest. Think a cat's purr, but fainter. Also, it only works when there is no oxygen available. That's why the Doctor still manages to be out of breath sometimes. The bypass only activates if, for example, he is drowning and/or being strangled. No oxygen? Bypass kicks in. A little oxygen, but nowhere near enough to survive for long periods of time? Well, sucks to be you, bro.

Thank you to the guest who reviewed.

Thank you to mistywind who followed

They hid out of sight behind a shelf filled with those large canister things. Marion couldn't remember what they contained, but she had a distinct feeling that it was something very not good. Cybermen? Maybe it was Cybermen. That sounded about right, but Marion had no way of knowing without popping one of them open and there were much bigger issues to be thinking about.

"Load it onto the return van," Packer said, gesturing to a large box the shape and size of a space-age coffin with a feather boa sticking out the side.

This was the last straw for Jamie apparently.

"Zoe's there. Come on!" he whispered before quickly turning a corner.

"No, Jamie. Wait," "Jamie! Stop!"

It was too late. If he heard Marion or the Doctor. Jamie didn't show it. He ran forward and tackled Packer from behind.

"Guards! Guards!"

"Jamie c'mon. We need to leave NOW,"

Marion knew that if they went back the way that they came, there would be guards. So instead of running around the wall where they had come from, she took a left down another corridor. A corridor that mind you, also turned out to be full of guards.

"Wrong way!"

She and her two companions turned around and there were yet more guards.

'This just isn't my day!' Marion groaned. She put her hands up by her head.

"I, uh, don't suppose you'd believe me if I said that we got lost going to the bathroom would you?"

One of the guards jabbed her forward with the business end of his gun.

"Thought not,"

They were pushed towards Packer.

"Like rats in a trap,"

He smiled when he saw them like he was meeting a couple of old friends who he didn't feel the need to point a gun at.

"Hello again!" Marion said, stepping forward to be a bit in front of the rest of them. Packer pointed his gun at her, which was good. That's what she was trying to get him to do. If someone got shot, it was better that it was her rather than the Doctor or Jamie. "Packer was it? It'd say it's nice to see you but…,"

"You really don't learn, do you? This is private property. A restricted area,"

"Oh so kidnapping and false imprisonment is fine but a little trespassing is where you draw the line?"

Jamie was not in the same quippy mood that Marion was (or at least appeared to be) in.

"Where's Zoe? Where have you taken her?!"

"Be quiet!"

Great. Now the gun was pointing at Jamie. Super.

"Look," Jamie said, undeterred, "we heard them scream. If you've hurt her-"

"I said be quiet!"

"JAMIE!" the Doctor cried.

Jamie lunged at Packer but he was ready for him. Packer shoved Jamie back and he might've hit the wall if he hadn't slammed into Marion first. She braced for impact and managed to make it so that neither she nor the Scot fell to the floor.

Packer rushed towards them, holding his gun as if he was going to slam one of them in the head with the but of it. Jamie pushed Marion back and behind him while Marion tried to do the same to him. It probably looked ridiculous.

"Packer!"

Packer stopped his approach and stared at Vaughn with the wide eyes of a child who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "You really must try and control this violent streak in your nature, Packer. Although I must admit the situation is provoking,"

He turned away from Packer and to the three of them. "So here you are again. You really are beginning to try our patience, you know,"

"And he's beginning to try mine," Jamie said pointing to Packer.

"Jamie, Jamie," the Doctor said, trying to calm the other man down, "We came here looking for two friends of ours,"

"Two young ladies? Yes,"

"So he admits that they're here,"

"Correction. They were. It would seem that you've been chasing each other's tails. They came here looking for you,"

"Great!" Marion said with the fakest customer service smile she could make, "If you could just show us to them. That'd be splendid!"

"Oh I'd love too, only, they've already left,"

"Aye, carted off by two of your thugs in a box,"

"Oh really-"

"Look, it's true. We heard them scream and I saw some of Zoe's clothes trapped in the lid,"

"You really do have a very fertile imagination, young man,"

It was fascinating to listen to the man lie through his teeth in the most condescending of tones about something that they had all just literally heard and saw.

No, fascinating wasn't quite the right word.

Was there a mix between something being fascinating and being just plain annoying? The man could've been a politician. That wasn't a compliment. He was doing that thing where politicians say something completely and utterly untrue that anyone with a functioning pair of ears would know was horseshit, and then proceeding to say that they were in fact, not doing anything odd at all. If you thought they were doing something shady, there was something wrong with you.

Jamie wasn't falling for it.

"Now listen you, I'm telling I definitely saw those-,"

"Jamie, Jamie,"

The Doctor cut him off. Likely because it would be a bit easier to get what they needed to get done if they at the very least pretended that they didn't know that Vaughn was lying through his teeth. Or at the very least, they acted a bit less aggressive about knowing what they knew.

"It would set our minds at rest if we could take a look inside those boxes,"

"Yes please," Marion insisted, "I'm sure that this is simply some kind of misunderstanding. If we could just look inside those crates we could all just go our separate ways,"

"I don't see why not? Packer, I presume the only crates going out of here are the empty ones being returned to the factory?"

"Yes, sir. They're loading now, sir,"

Vaughn turned back to them. "Then you shall inspect them at your leisure. After you,". He gestured back the way that they came.

'I wonder if he's trying to make us think that Packer's behind all this and is doing this stuff without him knowing. I mean, he's failing, but is that what he's trying? He's trying some kind of good-cop bad-cop bull,' Marion thought as the security guards in black escorted them back the way that they came. They were only slightly less aggressive than when they'd escorted them out at gunpoint.

They were guided into taking a left and a right and then two more lefts and then straight ahead. They came out more or less where they had come from: back to the railway. They came out of the warehouse just as one of the trains was rolling away. The three of them ran to try to get to it before it fully took off, but were too late. They slowed down. Marion stared at the train with the expectant disappointment of someone getting a D- on a test they didn't study for.

It wasn't like she had any expectation that things would go any better than they had, but that didn't mean it wouldn't have been a pleasant surprise.

"Well, that sucks," Marion said aloud.

Marion heard the sound of footprints behind her.

"Ah, just too late, I'm afraid. Such a pity," the Doctor rolled his eyes and Marion scoffed. "Still, all is not lost. I am myself going down to the factory today. Would you care to join me? We can meet the train on its arrival,"

Vaughns' face and the things he said made Marion want to punch him in the face as hard as she could. He was just that annoying. Even if Robertson had been an annoying git, at the very least, he looked boring. She only wanted to punch him when he was talking.

Looking at Vaughn made Marion have to have a talk with herself about all the reasons she couldn't punch him. There were three.

First of all, she still wasn't sure about what happened with the Arm at the Sandminer, but she was pretty sure she was significantly stronger than she'd been before she got here, and she hadn't been weak then. She didn't know if she could accidentally punch someone hard enough to kill them and didn't want to find out

Second of all, even if Packer managed to stop her before she punched him in his dumb stupid lying face, the attempt would complicate things.

Third, and more importantly, she didn't want to get in the habit of punching things that made her feel upset. That wasn't good.

So, instead of doing any of that. Marion gave another wide smile.

"That'd be just great! When do we leave?"

Marion hoped that her eye wasn't twitching.

"Right now actually! I've already sent for my chauffeur. He'll be here in just a moment and then we can head right on over there, and get this whole misunderstanding sorted!"

Vaughn had hardly finished speaking when the car pulled up.

"Oh, and there it is!"

"Wow!" said Marion, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you knew that we weren't going to get here in time. Funny that,"

Jamie slid in the car followed by Marion and the Doctor. Packer went to open the passenger side door, but Jamie quickly jumped out of the car and stole the passenger seat from Packer before he could get into it. He rested his arm on the open window and smirked at Packer. Marion unbuckled her seatbelt and scooted to the seat closer to the passenger side door making it so that Packer had to go to the other side of the car in order to get in.

"Was that really necessary?" the Doctor asked, sounding like this wasn't the first time he'd seen the two of them get up to petty nonsense and hoped that it'd be the last time, but knew for certain it wasn't.

"Yes," "Aye,"

Packer had apparently been called by Vaughn and into another car. And so the car that they were in just the three of them and the driver who Marion was pretty sure had a gun.

The car pulled up to a gate and stopped. The two guardsmen of either side opened them and let them in. Marion scooched up on the seat and looked out the back window. Another car, the one carrying Packer and Vaughn followed right behind and then men at the gate closed it as soon they passed the threshold.

If the three of them had been entertaining the idea of hijacking the car and hightailing it out of there, that wasn't an option anymore.

The car that wasn't carrying the three of them pulled in front of their car and to the curb in front of the factory.

The car that Marion was in followed close behind and all five of them disembarked. A couple of guards stood in front of the door, holding their guns at attention.

Marion was beginning to see why the Doctor would become so sick of guns. She was starting to get sick of them too.

The men with the guns stepped aside and opened the door to allow them inside.

"Right this way please," Vaughn said. He directed the inside of the building.

"Hey, what's happening? I thought we were looking for Zoe and Isobel," Jamie said. He made a good point. Vaughn was leading the them away from the place they were trying to get to in the first place.

"All in good time, young man," Vaughn leaned over and pressed the button for floor six. That was British for the seventh floor. (At least, Marion was pretty sure that was the case. Or maybe it actually was the sixth floor. Had the UK always started on the ground floor and made the second floor on the first floor. Or was that one of those things that everyone did but the US.)

"The train and the empty crate car will take some time to get here," Vaughn looked away from Jamie and to the Doctor, "In the meantime, I'd rather like to talk to you,"

"Oh. really?" The Doctor said sounding like he'd rather do anything but.

"Yes. Those circuits you gave me, they're rather fascinating. I like to know more about them,"

The elevator stopped before Vaughn could ask anything else of him and all of them but Packer stepped out.

"Right this way please," he said pointing down the hall.

"Thank you,"

They were maybe halfway down the hall when Vaughn was suddenly in front of them again.

'Excuse you,' Marion said as he brushed past her without saying so much as a word to get to the door. He opened the wide double doors to the room.

"Hey!"

It looked identical to the one in London. In fact, Marion was 100% sure that in her universe, where this had been just a show and the Doctor was almost half a foot taller they had been the same set. The difference was what was outside.

"Doctor, it's-,"

"Confusing, isn't it?" Vaughn asked smugly.

"No. Not really. They're just two similar looking rooms,"

"They're not just similar, Marion! It's exactly the same as his office in London,"

"In all basic essentials, yes, it is. That's the secret of my success, you see. Uniformity, duplication,"

"Is that what your interior designers told you? Because I think you might've gotten ripped off so that they had to do less work,"

Vaughn glared at her. "Uniformity, duplication," he said as if she hadn't spoken at all. "My whole empire is based on that principle. The very essence of business efficiency. Do sit down,"

"Oh, how kind,"

The Doctor sat down at a chair across from the Vaughn's. Jamie remained standing and looking out the window while Marion sat down on the seat next to the Doctor's. Vaughn all but leaned over the Doctor.

"I must say I'm rather glad we have this opportunity to talk,"

"Really?"

"I should, of course, be angry with you," Vaughn sat down at his side of the desk, "You've thwarted my elaborate security precautions twice. I'd like to know why,"

"Spite mostly," Marion quipped.

"Oh?"

"It's simple. I hate computers and refuse to be bullied by them,"

"Also, your security is very easy to thwart. Maybe pay your security guys more and your interior designer less,"

The man glared at Marion and then gave a smile to the Doctor that he surely thought made him look kindly, but instead made him look like a Dreamworks character who'd been left out in the sun too long.

"Your young friend Zoe…,"

Jamie stepped away from the window and closer to him. "Well, what about her?"

"She appears to have the same instincts. She so confused one of my computers she ruined its memory store,"

"Good for her!"

Jamie placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward.

"So that's why your thugs dragged her and Isobel away," Jamie's accent sounded a little bit stronger than it had before. He was angry. That was understandable. Marion was as well.

"My dear young man, I wasn't angry with her," he shook his head, "On the contrary, I found the incident quite amusing. She's a remarkable girl. And you, Doctor, are obviously a man of no mean scientific ability,"

"Why do you say that?"

Vaughn retrieved the TARDIS circuits from inside his jacket pocket.

"Oh, my research department found these quite fascinating. There's a totally illogical factor in their construction. Are they of your own invention?"

The Doctor didn't say anything and pointedly looked away from the man.

"Ah, you're determined to guard your secret, I see. I don't blame you, and I promise not to pry anymore. In fact," the man stood up, "I'll do all I can to help you,"

"Oh, how kind,"

"Now you say you came here looking for Professor Watkins because you thought he might be able to help you,"

"That's the long and short of it yeah,"

"Then I'll try to persuade him to put aside his work and er, concentrate his efforts on your behalf. Make yourself at home,"

Vaughn nodded his head to the two of them and then left the room.

"Hey, look, you're not going to trust him, are you? I mean, what about Zoe and Isobel,"

"I never trusted him. You're the one who was singin' his praises just because he gave you a radio,"

"Aye, well-"

"Not now you two," the Doctor said quickly, "And I haven't forgotten about the two of them, Jamie," He examined the circuits the man had left behind.

"They're in that box, aren't they Marion?". Jamie sat down at the corner of the desk.

"Yup," Marion said. She uncrossed her legs and stood up.

"But, we're not going to help Zoe by annoying Mister Vaughn, are we?"

"Very true,"

"Which is why we shouldn't purposely antagonize him," the Doctor stared at Marion purposefully.

Marion sighed. "Point taken,"

"I don't think we have too much to worry about. I doubt that you could annoy that man even if you want to. He's being as nice as pie,"

"He's too nice,"

"He's being fake,"

"Aye, but why should he be?"

"Textbook Good Cop, Bad Cop routine. He's the good cop, Packer's the bad cop. He wants us to associate anything wack going on with Packer, and for us to trust him. He's failing, but you can't fault him for giving it the old college try,"

"He was a little bit too interested in these circuits for my liking,"

"Hey, do you think he knows about the TARDIS then?"

The Doctor stopped messing with the circuits and froze. He looked up Jamie.

"Well, I don't see how he could do? Marion, does he…?"

"If he did," Marion said, thinking over every word carefully, "It-it's not like he knows where it is. So it wouldn't matter in any real way. Best not to worry about it,"

"Perhaps this Professor Watkins will be able to tell us what's going on around here. Maybe he can give more detail than you can,"

"Jamie, I've surely told you why I can't say too much haven't I?"

Jamie sighed, "Aye, I remember,"

'Good, that gives me some time to come up with something,'.

Ignoring what 10 had told her and her earlier musing about the possible consequences of her actions, (and the later of those was a very strong reason) there was still something that told her that telling what was going on fully and in detail was a bad idea. It was instinctual. It almost seemed ridiculous to consider. Acting on what she knew was fine. Telling tiny details was fine. She could do that. She would do that. That was safe

But Marion had absolutely no idea how she'd even begin to verbalize this.

"That brings up an interesting question though Jamie,"

"What?"

"Professor Watkins knows what's going on here," Marion said bluntly. "And I think it's safe to say that Vaughn does NOT want us to know what's going on here,"

"So?"

"So why would he let us talk to Watkins," the Doctor mused. "He has to be planning something,"

"Do you think it has anything to do with those?" Jamie pointed out the window to a group of large, off-white spheres in the distance.

"What?"

"There, you see?" Jamie pointed at them. "I saw them when I was lookin' out the window. What are they,"

"A deep space radio communication system,"

"What?"

The Doctor retrieved a telescope from inside his pocket. He rested it on top of Jamie's shoulder.

"Now just hold still a minute. Keep your shoulder still,"

"That's odd. That's very odd. Marion's right,"

"Gee, thanks,"

"No not that, the deep space radio communication system. Why would he need one of those,"

"Who knows?" Jamie said, "Hey there's a helicopter. Could it be the Brigadier's lot,"

"It is, but Packer will be back here any second so act natural,"

"What do you-,"

Marion sat on the windowsill and made to look as if she'd just been gazing out the window just as the door to the office opened.

"Come along," Packer said. He then turned around, wordlessly telling them to follow up.

Marion shrugged. "You heard the man. Let's meet the Professor, shall we?"

The lab where Travers was "working" was on the third floor and a few twisty corridors away from the elevator and behind a metal door.

"Here you are," Packer finally said. He pressed a button on the side of the door and it slid open. Marion took note of that. An electronic sliding door was definitely a whole lot easier to lock and seal than a normal opening door. They were harder to break in and out of too. It was an interesting choice to say the least.

The door slid open to reveal a man who was somewhere between his late-40s and early-60s.

Marion wasn't great at determining ages at a glance.

He was maybe an inch or two shorter than Jamie and had short hair and an even shorter beard. He looked tired.

"Ah, Hello," the Doctor said holding out a hand, "I'm the Doctor. This is Marion," she put two fingers by her forehead in a polite salute,

"Nice to meet you, Professor," she said politely.

"And this is Jamie,"

Professor Watkins shook their hands.

"Yes, of course, I remember Anne Travers telling me about you. She was a student of mine, you know, some years ago. Brilliant girl, brilliant,"

"Yes, yes, they uh went to America, didn't they?" the Doctor asked conversationally.

"Oh, Travers was getting past it a bit, you know, and Anne persuaded him to go to America with her,"

"Ah, I see," Marion said, "I do hope that they're enjoying themselves,"

"Ah," Travers said, "You're an American yourself I see. What brings you three here?"

"We were hoping that you could look at something for us," Jamie said.

"Oh? What would that be?"

"We-," Marion's eye happened to catch the camera, "Oh nothing,"

"What?" the Doctor mouthed.

Marion turned her back to the shelf and made a pointed motion with her head towards the metal eye and mouthed "camera".

The Doctor saw where she was gesturing and nodded.

"-but the Doctor needed some help on some electronic circuits that the TARDIS needed," Jamie said. He hadn't noticed what he had.

"Really?" "Aye, aye,"

"Jamie, Jamie, I don't think the Professor wants to hear about that," the Doctor said, speaking over Jamie.

"On the contrary," Watkins said, "what Anne told me about the TARDIS was most intriguing. I'd like to hear a lot more about it,"

"Anne never saw that TARDIS. I'm sure that what she described was a lot more fanciful and cool than what it actually is," Marion paused. She felt kind of bad bad-talking Honey like that. "I mean, it's not that it isn't super duper cool, but I'm sure Anne exaggerated a little bit,"

"Anne said that you three were interesting as well,"

"That was most certainly an exaggeration,"

"I should warn you that Anne Travers allowed her imagination to run a little wild," the Doctor said.

"You mean to say there is no such machine?"

Both he and Marion were pointedly looking at Jamie as if to trying to hint to him how absolutely amazing it would be if he were to stop talking. Marion herself was shaking a hand near her mouth just out of view of both the camera and Watkins in what was supposed to be the universal gesture for stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop it.

Jamie, like Amy, failed to take a hint.

Maybe the gesture was universal everywhere but Scotland.

"Of course there is," He seemed confused and kind of annoyed that Marion and the Doctor were playing dumb.

The Doctor moved towards the shelves and pointed to the camera. It looked like a giant eye in the wall. It was honestly kind of funny how little effort was put into hiding it.

"Jamie, I think that there are other more important things to talk about at the moment!"

"Oh, I see, yes,"

The Doctor started to dig into his coat looking for a magnet.

"Tell me, Professor," Marion asked, "What are you doing here exactly?"

"Oh, it's very simple, really. I've been developing a new kind of teaching machine,"

"Oh yes? A teaching machine?" the Doctor gave up on his left coat pocket and was looking through his other one.

"What's it called?" Jamie asked.

"I call it the Cerebraton Mentor,"

"Oh, Aye," Jame said in that tone of voice he tended to use when he in fact had no idea what was going on but knew enough context clues to pretend like he did. Very valid of him.

The Doctor finally managed to retrieve the magnet from his bag and was angling himself in such a way that the camera wouldn't be able to see him until it was too late to do anything about it.

"So tell me about this machine of yours! It sounds pretty interesting," "What's the catch" is what Marion thought, but didn't say. She more or less knew that already.

"The main difference from the other teaching machines is that it is able to induce emotional changes in the subject,"

"Oh," Jame said.

"They can't listen in anymore," the Doctor said. He stepped away from the wall.

"What did you do?"

"It's quite simple Jamie. I put a magnet over the eye over there. It ruined the circuits. And they won't be able to watch us,"

"Of course," Marion said. "They know what we've done. So we've only got a few minutes to talk. Professor Watkins, we need to get us all out of here yesterday,"

They quickly gave Watkins a rundown of the situation. He retrieved the bits of circuitry and wiring and metal that he had already put together.

"But what can we do? If, as you say, they have Isobel and your young friend then we're entirely at their mercy,"

"No, no, not entirely. There's my friend the Brigadier, remember,"

"Do you think he can help us?"

"He a part of a branch of the military specifically designed to deal with weird stuff. Of course, he can,"

'And if he can't well...I can't be killed and am strong enough to rip a robot's arm off his body. That HAS to be something right?'

It wasn't that Marion thought that she could like, single-handedly One-Punch Man her way in and out. But if there had to be something that she could do, and if push came to shove and she had to do it, she'd do it.

After all, it wasn't like she could die and even if she could well. She knew for a fact that this universe could be just fine if she was dead or otherwise near permanently out of commission.

She wa-

Marion decided that it would be best to take that train of thought to a station, melt the tracks down, and board off all the exits.

The point is that if the Brigadier couldn't do anything, she'd figure out something and do it herself. Especially since it was probably her fault in some way.

"Have you any idea why Vaughn would ask you to make this," Marion waved her hand trying to find a word for it, "Cerebraton?"

"I don't know. He's a ruthless man, without morals or principles. His object, I'm sure, is to get complete control of the electronics industry of the world!"

"I wonder…," the Doctor trailed off, "I've a nasty feeling he's aiming somewhat higher than that,"

"Yeah, I doubt he'd make an emotion changing re-education machine just to sell a few hundred more radios,"

Jamie put his ear on the door to the room.

"Doctor, quick, somebody's com-"

The door slid open nearly making Jamie fall over. The Doctor quickly moved to remove the magnet, but Vaughn was quicker.

"Don't bother, Doctor. Allow me," he retrieved the block magnet from on top the camera eye "A simple magnet. I congratulate you," he said, examining it. He handed it back to the Doctor who stuffed the magnet back into his coat.

"Oh, how kind,"

"However you must surely realize that it's forced me to consider other methods to make you talk,"

"It's not our fault you used a giant dumb-looking eye for your camera instead of something inconspicuous and then put in basically the first place anyone with half a brain would look. You could at least have it surrounded by something so it couldn't be taken out with a fridge magnet. Frankly, I think that we're both in the wrong,"

"I think that it would be in the best interest of you and your friend Zoe if you stopped talking for now young lady,"

"So you have got her!" Jamie lunged at Vaughn but was grabbed by Packer and one of the many nameless and faceless guards under Vaughn's employ. "Listen, if you've harmed her in any way-,"

"You may still be adolescent enough to make idle threats, young man, but I can assure you, I am not," Vaughn said, brushing the younger man off. He turned to the Doctor.

"Otherwise I shall hand your friend Zoe over to Packer. It's a simple choice and shouldn't take you longer than an hour to consider,"

Marion wasn't quite sure what that was implying, but if it meant anything even remotely close to what she thought it might…

Well, it had better not.

"Take them away, Packer,"

One of the men grabbed Marion by her shoulder and shoved her forward and more guards grabbed the Doctor and Jamie.

"Alright,"

"Alright,"

"No need to shove,"

Packer had stayed behind for a few seconds to talk to Vaughn, but he quickly rejoined them. When they were closer to the elevator, he dismissed the three guards. Marion supposed that he felt confident that he could hold them in place with just himself and his gun. Or, alternatively, he dismissed them because he knew they couldn't all fit in the elevator. It was a mixed bag.

"Oh dear," the Doctor said suddenly, "You know, I've always been rather scared of lifts,"

"Why?"

"He's been like that as long as I've known him. No idea where it came from,"

"I never even like to start them. One of you'll have to push the button,"

"Jamie, would you be a dear and do that?"

"Me?" Jamie said in confusion as they approached the open lift.

"Keep your mouth shut and do as you're told," said Packer.

"Yes, Jamie," the Doctor said pointedly, "Do as you're told,"

Jamie blinked slowly in realization.

"Oh, I see,"

Jamie stepped into the elevator and Marion and the Doctor backed up towards it.

"Packer! Mister Packer," the Doctor said, wringing his hands together, "I obviously can't let you hurt Zoe, and so I'll have to tell you all want to know, now,"

"You mean, you're willing to talk?"

Marion shrugged. "Keeping secrets is a whole lot of effort. It'd be a whole lot easier to just spill the beans,"

"Besides, I'm sure Mr. Vaughn will-"

"Oh speak of the devil! There he is now!"

Packer turned to look and, while he was distracted, the Doctor and Marion shoved him to the floor and quickly got inside the elevator.

"Marion! Doctor! Hurry!"

Marion found the close door button and quickly pressed it. The door shut forcing Packer to slam into the closed door.

The Doctor quickly tugged at the elevator control panel to no avail.

"Jamie, your knife!"

"Eh?"

"Jamie, give the man your knife!"

Jamie quickly grabbed his knife from his hip and handed it to the Doctor. He put his hands on the Doctor's shoulders and leaned over him. Jamie looked back at Marion.

"What is he trying to do,"

"Break the circuit,"

"What will that do?" Jamie asked.

The Doctor grabbed a hold of a panel and ripped it aside revealing a set of colorful wires.

"It will either stop the lift or send us out of control," The Doctor said, sounding panicked.

"But we're six floors up!"

"It's fine. There hasn't been a risk of elevators falling since like the 1850's. It's fine! See?"

With that, Marion grabbed ahold of the wires, planted her foot, and yanked backward as hard as she could. The wires popped out of the side panel sending Marion on her butt.

The elevator made a deeply unsettling rumbling noise. The Doctor and Jamie clung to each other while Marion remained on the floor until the shaking stopped.

When it did, Marion stood back up and Jamie and the Doctor let go of each other.

"I thought you said that the elevator wouldn't fail!" Jamie said accusatorily.

"I said that it wouldn't fall and send us to our deaths. You're still breathing aren't you?"

"But for how long? I mean, we're stuck here in this lift now,"

"No, no, it's the lift that's stuck, not us. Look,"

The Doctor pointed up to a metal panel on the roof of the elevator.

"Hey, where does that lead to?"

"Out in the shaft," the Doctor turned to Marion.

"I don't suppose that you've got any rope in that bag of yours?"

Marion gave an easy grin and reached inside her bag. "For once, yes!" Marion looked upwards at it.

"Could one of you give me a boost?"

"Certainly,"

The Doctor leaned over.

"Quickly, on my back,"

Marion quickly climbed on top of the Doctor and pressed her hand to the trapdoor. It was pushed open with relative ease. Marion pulled herself through the roof and into the elevator shaft.

The elevator shaft was maybe 7' by 6.5' with a hole in the middle leading back down into the elevator. The shaft went up several stories. Marion felt dizzy looking up at it, so she looked back down and through the hole she had just come out of.

"I'll send down a rope," she called "Give me a moment,"

Marion reached into her purse and pulled out the coiled rope. She unwrapped it a bit. She wrapped part of the coil around her arm to help keep it steady and lowered the other end of the rope through the elevator's roof. She leaned against the ladder.

"Climb up!" she called down.

Jamie climbed up first. Marion pulled at the rope, helping to carry him to the upper level. The man was surprisingly- no, that wasn't it. It wasn't that he was surprisingly light. She was just a bit stronger than she had been before.

Her arms felt very weird.

Between Marion's pulling and Jamie's climbing, Jamie was with Marion in the service corridor fairly quickly. Marion lowered the rope again and the Doctor climbed up as well. Jamie leaned down and reached for the Doctor's hand. Jamie pulled him up the rest of the way. Marion pulled up her rope and stuffed it back into her purse. There would be time to wrap it up nice later, she figured.

"Thank you," the Doctor said. He looked up the service ladder.

"Oh, my word! Well, that's a long way up, isn't it? Oh well, we'd better get cracking before they realize what's happened,"

"That'd be smart,"

Marion grabbed the highest rung of the ladder she could reach and began to climb.

"Perhaps I'd better shut this," The Doctor said.

"Aye,"

The Doctor leaned down and shut the trap door.

"Hey," Jamie said suddenly, "I've just been thinking. What happens if they get the lift going before we get to the top?"

"Why do you think I've already started climbing?" Marion called down from 7 or so feet above them. "Unless you want to get smooshed, I suggest that you hurry,"

"What!" shouted Jamie, "Well come on!"

The Doctor climbed onto the ladder and after a few moments, Jamie followed after him. Marion stopped climbing for a moment, and then, after making sure that the two men weren't too far behind her, she continued to climb.

They had been climbing for a bit and had, by Marion's estimation, reached the 7th or 8th floor. It didn't feel like it though.

Marion heard a rumbly noise below her and the sound of the elevator's chains shaking.

"Hey, that's not what I think it is, is it?" Jamie called up looking down.

"I'm very much afraid it is. Come on!" The Doctor replied sounding just as panicked as Jamie did.

"Just keep moving," Marion said, swiftly climbing up another five or so rungs. "It's gonna stop at the 6th floor so they can check to see if we're in there. It's going to stop moving in a little bit,"

They continued to climb and the elevator got closer to them.

"Marion, are you sure that the elevator is going to stop in time?" Jamie said nervously.

"Pretty sure! And anyway, if I'm wrong then you most certainly shouldn't slow down right? Hurry up,"

The elevator slowed down and Marion heard the elevator groan one last time before stopping.

"Come on," said the Doctor, "They may guess where we are and come after us,"

"Yeah," Marion said, "They've, uh, already figured it out. Vaughn's gonna call Parker an idiot for losing us,"

"Then what?"

"Then we really want to keep moving. When they see that we're not in the elevator they'll know where we are,"

"And then what?"

"Either we're fast, or we get smashed. So, let's be fast,"

Marion realized that what she said sounded a bit dark.

"It's fine, as long as we keep moving, we'll get there in time, don't worry. Just-just keep moving,"

As if proving her point, she quickly climbed up another few rungs.

The three of them climbed in relative silence for another five or so minutes. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of their feet hitting against the rungs.

Marion looked up.

'We aren't too far away from the top,' she thought. 'Just a little bit further now. You know, I really thought that they would've turned the elevator back on by now,".

A rumbling noise sounded below her.

'Of course,'

"They've started it again!"

Marion groaned and climbed a bit faster.

"HURRY," the Doctor called up to them "HURRY,"

Marion finally made it to the top of the building. She took one hand off the rung and shoved forward. Marion blinked twice, adjusting her eyes to the sunlight and climbed all the way out and onto the roof.

She turned around and grabbed Jamie's hand as he approached the top and pulled him out of the elevator. Once he was safely on the roof and trying to catch his breath, Marion pulled the Doctor out of the shaft as well.

The two of them remained hands and knees on the roof, trying to catch their breaths after such a long climb.

The two of them were severely winded. While Marion on the other hand felt fine. While she knew that she had just climbed at least half a dozen stories. Her hands did. She felt about the same as she had when she was still standing in the elevator. She stretched her arms out a bit while she waited for them to get up. Once their breathing started to sound less like they'd run a marathon and more like they'd ran up a flight of steps, Marion started walking towards the roof edge of the roof,

"We can't stay here for long. There's only so many places that we could've gone,"

"Wait a minute, Marion," Jamie groaned, still out of breath.

"No, she's right Jamie,". The Doctor pulled himself to his feet and Jamie with him. "Let's see where we are,"

The two of them joined Marion at the edge of the roof.

"Now where?" Jamie asked.

"Down there. We can't take the lift back down. Although, I doubt they'd be expectin' it,"

Jamie looked at Marion with concern.

"Marion we canae-," Jamie raised his voice a bit and his accent sounded a bit stronger than it had before.

"Jamie, Marion is talking about that," the Doctor pointed to the fire escape in the ten or so feet away.

"Yeah! The fire escape," Marion said, walking towards it, "What else could I be talking about?" Marion grabbed a hold of the top of the ladder and began to climb down. "I mean, I guess I could tie a rope around something and we could repel down? Although, I don't think my rope is twelve stories long...let's just take the fire escape,"

Marion climbed down to the eleventh-floor platform and stepped aside for the Doctor. Jamie hesitated at the top.

"Won't they be guarding the bottom?" Jamie asked.

"Normally, yes. Fortunately, no,"

Marion climbed, grabbed a hold of the next level ladder, and began to climb down that one.

"Well, not unless we're too slow. So let's not do that eh?"

The fire escape led to an alleyway with the building that they'd just came from on one side and another building on the other. To their left, there was the place that they'd entered the building in the first place from, the train yard, still full of trains. To their right, was a large open area. Maybe a parking lot or something?

"That way," the Doctor said, pointing towards the train yard, "the car with Zoe and Isobel should be arriving soon. Let's go,"

The Doctor sped off.

"Hold on!" "Wait a tick,"

Jamie and Marion ran after him.

Next Chapter: A Rescue Mission

Vaughn: Stop breaking my things.

Marion: Stop having such breakable things.

The Invasion in general from an outline perspective, is me setting up stuff. I'm starting to establish things about Marion that'll become more important later on. In addition, some characters are reacting to Marion based on things that the Associate has done/will do.