The elevator didn't get stopped on its way up and they were able to make it back to the red base with relative ease. The red and blue kangs from earlier still remained. They seemed to be getting along with each other pretty well for supposed members of rival gangs. It confirmed Marion's suspicions that the Kang rivalry was really just a simple game to them. A multi-floor multi month game of capture the flag.
The fact that they were threatening each other with crossbows could easily be explained by the fact that they were teenage girls without any real adult supervision.
"Bin Liner." Marion said, as soon as she got through the room, "Drinking Fountain. Call out to all of the Kangs to come here, or at the very least, get up as far a floor as they can. No one should be anywhere near the basement."
Bin Liner nodded and went towards the radio telephone thing against the vending machine and started to press buttons and speak into the receiver. Drinking Fountain with a couple of her Kangs surrounding her spoke into a radio receiver just outside of the Brain Quarters.
Fire Escape took a few steps back and started to walk out of the area.
"I will find eye spys not near the radios." She offered as explanation, "They need to get safe."
Marion thought to go with her, but Fire Escape definitely knew her way around the hallways better than she did and so did the people she was going after.
"Of course," Marion nodded, "Build High for Happiness, and if you need to run, run. " The girl nodded and ran off, quickly, but not so quickly that she'd run into something she shouldn't.
Marion stared after her for a moment, and then looked away
Bin Liner remained at the phone. She would press a few buttons, access another channel. And then she would say "Return to Red Kang Base and 'ware Cleaners! Build high for happiness." and then she would listen intently. Whatever she heard on the other side was making her brow furrow deeper and deeper.
Fire Escape was gone for a while, but gradually, more and more Kangs both blue and red fled into the room. Some of them looked to be around the age of Bin Liner and Fire Escape and Drinking Fountain, and some of them looked to be barely out of single digits.
Some of them seemed confused. The ones who weren't quite sure why they had been called back, but that they had. Those ones seemed confused that the Blue Kangs were in their Brain Quarters (or that the Red Brain Quarters was where they had been told to go) but they weren't too bothered by it.
Some of the Kangs came in running and didn't stop until they were well into the base and surrounded by others. Those girls were breathing heavily and seemed close to tears. Others were angry. They had returned only because they assumed that as soon as they got back they would all be grouping up and fighting back.
More and more people poured into the room (Marion was sure that there should have been more. But she didn't want to think about why there weren't).
There were enough coins and sodas in the machine to give every Kang who wanted a can of soda a can of soda, and Marion occupied herself by distributing them out.
"Fire Escape will be back soon," Marion said to the Doctor as she passed a can to one of the more shaken up Kangs, a young girl with dark skin, her dozens of braids woven with strands of blue.
"Are you certain?"
"I'm certain enough that I let her go off alone," Marion replied. She turned her head to address Drinking Fountain, "Is there anyone else that we're waiting for?"
"All of the Kangs are here. Except-"
"Except for the ones that have been made unalive." The Doctor finished.
"And Fire Escape. She should be here any-"
The girl in question ran into the room. She was terrified, but she was doing her best not to show it, and so Marion didn't mention it or acknowledge it outside of handing her a can of soda as well.
"Time to make our way up to the pool on the roof," Marion said finally.
Bin Liner put the phone down and shook her head. "No ballgames. No flyposts. No visitors to the pool in the sky!"
The other Kangs nodded in agreement. Marion shook her head.
"We need to get as far away from the basement as we can as fast as we can. The Cleaners are starting in the basement and going upwards. The pool on the roof is the furthest point we can get."
Bin Liner opened her mouth for a moment like she was going to say something. And then she didn't. She seemed conflicted, and then she seemed to decide something and she nodded firmly.
"The Doctor is correct. We need to go to the pool in the sky."
Marion wondered if the cleaner elevators had some kind of safeguard where they physically couldn't be disabled. That might make some sense. Nothing about the way the cleaners were built suggested to Marion that they could use stairs. The architect's whole plan would be ruined if the elevators were able to be remotely shut down and someone successfully did that.
It worked out in their favor anyway. They were able to get to the roof fairly easily without coming across any cleaners or caretakers.
Marion and the Doctor went up ahead while the handful of Kangs that had come with them remained by the elevator waiting for the rest of their number to ascend. It wasn't a big elevator. There were only so many of them that could be in it at the same time.
As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, Marion knew that they were in the right spot. The room was warm and humid and smelled strongly of chlorine. Marion took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. In the distance, she could hear Pex and Mel talking. But she couldn't fully make out his words over the sounds of whatever jets were keeping the pool water moving.
The elevator corridor eventually turned a short corner into another corridor that was covered by a shimmery silver and purple curtain. Just as the two of them turned the corner, the curtains moved, as if someone had opened them quickly and then shut the door again.
The Doctor looked down the way for a moment and paused.
"It's Mel," Marion assured.
The Doctor nodded, "Oh. Good."
The Doctor took a few steps forward and yanked the curtain aside.
Marion heard Mel gasp.
"Doctor!"
Marion stepped out behind the Doctor to see Mel with her hand pressed to her chest trying to catch her breath. "Sorry for startling you!"
"Marion!" She didn't sound as startled.
"Apologies Mel, but this is where the Cleaner service lift appears to come out."
"Oh, it's so good to see you!" Mel hugged the Doctor tightly and then hugged Marion. Her wet hair brushed against the side of her face. Marion leaned back and stared at her for a moment. Her eyes narrowed. She leaned in closer.
The whole room smelled of chlorine but on Mel, the scent was especially strong.
"Mel?"
"Yes, Marion?"
"Did you fall into the pool?"
Mel looked away. "Not exactly."
Marion stared at her. Checking for, Marion wasn't sure what. A bruise. A cut. "Well, at least you're alright." She said finally. She looked her over again as if there was something she was missing. "Yes, you're alright. Next time, though, don't jump into things I tell you not to jump into. Okay?"
"I told her not to go in!" added Pex. "I told her that it was unsafe and that you had said not to."
"Yes." Marion said, "You did Pex. That's good. It's important to have a sense of caution."
"Ah, hello Pex. I remember you said that you met Pex."
"Yes." Marion replied with a nod, "He was with Mel when I ran into him. Before I ran into you."
The Doctor turned his head to the side as if listening for something and then he pulled aside the curtain revealing the rest of the group that had decided to follow on behind them. Fire Escape pushed the curtain aside.
"Ah. I believe you've met my friends before."
"Yes. Yes. Hello. Everyone, let's not stand by the doorway. We don't want to block their way in. They'll be a bunch of people heading up here, and we really don't want to be clogging up the way or the elevator."
"Why are they all heading up here," Mel asked. "I thought the pool in the sky was forbidden."
"See, the person who made Paradise Towers was an Architect called Kroagnon. And Kroagnon, for whatever reason, didn't want people living in the buildings he made."
"Well, why not?"
"I don't know Mel. All architects have something wrong with them. Now, this Architect decided to deal with the whole 'people living in the building I made for people to live in thing' by making the people not alive. He tried to do that here, but someone, probably the parents of the Kangs, sealed him away in the basement. Unfortunately, he knows how to project his mind into other people's heads or something? I don't know. It doesn't matter much really. The point is that he's got a new body now. The Chief Caretakers. And rules like 'Don't Go To The Pool in the Sky' stop mattering when there's a homicidal body snatching architect slowly rising the floors using his robot army to try to make sure everything in this tower with a pulse stops having a pulse."
Mel stared at her. "A what?"
"A homicidal body snatching-"
"No," said Mel. "I understood you." she sat down on one of the poolside chairs, not taking her eyes off the now still water. "I suppose that explains why he filled the pool with mechanical killers."
Marion didn't mention her thought that she thought that the use of the mechanical robots was probably inefficient for a pool and if she was the one doing it she would have probably filled the water with something poisonous. Maybe even an acid to further simplify cleanup. Or maybe some kind of liquid that wasn't as swimmable as it looked. But now wasn't the time to discuss the efficiencies of murder even as a joke. Even if it was, she wasn't even sure that this was the Doctor to talk about it with. Maybe Four. Four might laugh at that. Perhaps Six. Then again, he hadn't found Marion and Peri's remarks about rabies funny. But then again she hadn't really been joking, not seriously. She had been thinking out loud more than anything. It would depend on his mood really.
Instead, she shrugged. "If he had it his way, he would have filled this entire tower with killers."
"And you're certain that it's actually the great Architect. This Kroagnon's been let loose?"
"Very sure," replied the Doctor, "But we know so little about his plans. He's had years to brood over what he wants to do, but we've no time to come up with a counter plan.
"The plan doesn't need to be that complicated." Marion replied with a shrug, "I mean. He's not a bodiless mind anymore. He's got a body. And he's not like me. It couldn't be hard to" Marion made a series of gestures with her hand. "Y'know."
"Make him unalive?" Drinking Fountain offered.
"Yeah." Marion responded, sitting down next to her. "That."
Fire Escape got up and pranced over to Pex. He looked incredibly uncomfortable.
"Did Mel make the creature unalive for you?" she mocked.
"And stop you being taken to the cleaners?" Drinking Fountain added.
Pex looked away from them and nodded.
"Then Mel is a Kang after all!"
They all turned their heads to look over at Mel and the Doctor who had begun talking amongst themselves.
"I'll show you all. I will put the world of Paradise Towers to rights."
"Oh yes?"
"You're a cowardly cutlet, Pex. You always hide. Always!"
The girls laughed.
Few things were worse than a bunch of teenage girls laughing at you about your insecurities.
"Well now hold on," Marion said standing up, and next to Pex. "If I'm understanding Pex correctly, Mel wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if she had listened to him. No one would have been taken to the cleaners at all. There's nothing wrong with a healthy dose of caution as long as you don't cause people to get hurt because of it. It keeps you safe! He's survived this long hasn't he? Hasn't gotten caught by cleaners or caretakers or rezzies or anything?"
For a moment, there was silence as if the girls were going to see a different perspective.
Unfortunately:
"He never gets caught because he always runs!" Fire Escape said, pointing at him.
"Because he's a cowardly cutlet!" added Bin Liner.
"Cowardly Cutlet! Cowardly Cutlet! Cowardly Cutlet."
Marion shrugged apologetically at Pex. He crossed his arms and started to storm off.
Mel called after him. But before he could get far, three women emerged from the other side of the curtain. They were on the older side. They could have been anywhere between late 40s or early 70s. They wore chunky necklaces and layers of clothing in varying patterns and colors that almost went well together and might've been high fashion whenever they had been young.
One of them stood in front of the rest, a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair that was more on the blonde side than the grey side dressed mostly in purples and golds and yellows. She looked embarrassed to be there, and based on the way the other two seemed to be looking anywhere but at them in the eye, Marion imagined that some kind of conversation had occurred in the elevator that had made her the unwilling spokesperson.
Marion nodded her head towards an empty couch. The three of them nodded back and went to sit down.
"The Cleaners have reached about floor one hundred and fifteen now. All the Rezzies who can, have moved up to the higher floors, but not everyone was quick enough."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Marion said on reflex. Because surely some of the Rezzies hadn't been murderous cannibals. "Now the man who's been ordering the cleaners around, he looked like the Chief Caretaker, right? Only, you know, wrong."
"But he's unalive Marion!" Bin Liner replied, "We saw it."
"Well, it's not REALLY the Chief Caretaker. It's something else piloting the Chief Caretaker's body. Like I said. He's a body snatcher."
"That might be so," Fire Escape shouted, "Why should we believe her? Rezzies are full of untruth."
"And Kangs!" Drinking Fountain added, "Rotten old rubber duck." The Kangs started to murmur amongst themselves. The Doctor held up his hand.
The Doctor held up a hand towards the Kangs and shook his hand to hush them. "Please, please, be quiet. Shush. Be quiet."
Once they had quieted, the Doctor lowered his hand. He gestured at the woman to continue.
"Of course," said the Rezzie "I know that we residents have not always been as neighbourly as we might have been, but some have been worse than others. And the worst have gone down the waste disposal chute." Well, it was good that that didn't change. Marion didn't know if Mel had listened when Marion told her not to go back, but it was good that that hadn't been an issue. "But those of us who are left want to let bygones be bygones." Marion wasn't sure that that was fully up to the Rezzies to decide, "We're all in danger now and, well, we're very sorry for what we did and we won't do it again. If we survive, that is. We need each other's help."
"Well," Marion replied. She turned her head to look at the Kangs specifically Bin Liner and Drinking Fountain. "What do you think, Kangs? It's up to you."
Because at the end of the day, it was.
Bin Liner, Fire Escape, Drinking Fountain, and a second blue Kang who Marion had learned in the elevator was the Blue Kang's Fire Escape equivalent and was named "Exit Sign" huddled around each other. After a bit of discussion, their group broke up. Bin Liner stared at the three older women. She exhaled after a moment.
"I won't say Rezzies are ice hot," she swallowed, and then "but yes, she's not telling untruths. And yes, we'll help each other."
Marion wished that everyone they came across could have the same level of maturity as these young girls. You'd think that everyone would be willing to temporarily put aside grudges in the name of certain death but nope.
"Excellent!" Marion rubbed her hands together. "And Pex, you're in on it too!"
"Don't ask him. He's a cowardly cutlet."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were called Fire Escape, not Pex."
"I am called Fire Escape!"
"That's what I thought!" Marion replied, "Now, Pex-" Marion said the voice pointedly, "what say you?"
He nodded.
Fire Escape nodded slowly. "We work with Rezzies, no to do. We work with Pex, no to do. But the Caretakers-"
The Kangs made it very clear that they under no circumstances would allow that to happen.
And that was when a man dressed in grey made his presence known with a clearing of his throat.
The Deputy hadn't looked great the last time Marion had seen him. But at that point, he had just seemed to have the normal amount of bureaucratic stress. He was high-strung and probably overworked. But now he looked haggard. His hat was crooked, his suit was wrinkled, and he looked like he was going to snap.
"Ahem." he said, "Excuse me. I'm sorry to intrude like this, but I wondered if I might have a word with you al- Inspector Henson. You're alright?"
"Yes. I'm fine. You're not though. You should sit down, you look like you're about to fall over."
"No ma'am." he shook his head, "I don't think I should. With all due respect. I'd rather stand."
For a moment, Marion considered telling him that she wasn't an Inspector at all. On one hand, he'd already had a long day. On the other hand, he'd already had a long day. And Marion was about to take it longer.
"Right, so," Marion clapped her hands, "The Great Architect of Paradise towers has been trapped in the basement for the past- however long it's been. Since he disappeared I suppose."
The Deputy stared at the Doctor, "Is he not the Great Architect?"
"No" Marion replied. "Like I said before. That's the Doctor."
"Then where is the Great Architect?"
"Currently inhabiting the body of the Chief Caretaker."
"We have very little time," the Doctor spoke quickly, keeping Marion from going on what she was willing to admit was probably going to be a long-winded "So we must think clearly. Now Kroagnon, as we now must call the Chief Caretaker, is firmly installed in your headquarters. Am I right, Deputy Chief?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"So we must find a way of getting him out again."
"Set a trap for him." Bin Liner nodded.
"Precisely."
The Rezzie who spoke hummed thoughtfully for a moment. "We used to do that a lot with the rats."
"But what about the Cleaners?" Mel brought up.
"First, we must immobilise as many as we can."
"Inspector Henson," the Deputy said hesitantly, "I- have some information I would like to bring up, but mentioning it is against the rulebook."
"The rules are there to keep the residents safe." Debatable, but fine, "If they get in the way of that, then they can be ignored. Speak up."
"Yes ma'am. On the two hundred and forty-fifth floor Sodium Street, corridor seventy-five, there's a secret emergency supply kept for pests going out of control."
"An emergency supply of what?" Mel asked.
"Explosives."
Marion wondered what the hell kind of pests they were expecting to deal with that they needed explosives for. If they had been around since the time of the Great Architect, it was possible that the pests had been people.
"That would do it."
"Ice hot!" Fire Escape cheered.
"With explosives and arrogance, we can blow up the Cleaners, no problem," adding Bin Liner.
"Send the Cleaners to the Cleaners!" exclaimed Drinking Fountain.
"Most of the Rezzies make tablecloths." the older woman added, "We could throw them over the Cleaners to slow them down for you to shoot."
"Ice hot, Maddy!" Fire Escape high-fived the woman.
So that was the woman's name then.
There was nothing like the promise of explosives to get a teenage girl to let bygones be bygones.
Ace would have loved this.
Marion wondered how long it would be until she met Ace. It likely wouldn't be for a while. She was with Seven and Mel now, and she hadn't been picked up and dropped face to face with the same Doctor. She supposed that it COULD happen. But it hadn't yet.
The Doctor knocked his umbrella against the ground twice to get the chattering crowd's attention and started to pace back and forth across the side of the swimming pool.
"We must move on to the main problem. How to persuade Kroagnon to leave his safety and come to a place of our choosing where we can trap and defeat him."
The Deputy followed after him. "He'll never leave there until we're all wiped out. We'll never manage to break in. I should know that."
"Well, there is a way that might just work." the Doctor said after a moment, "Although, I fear that Marion might not like it."
"If it's what I think it is, then, no, probably not," Marion replied, "I mean, it's a good plan, I'm pretty sure that I can get it to turn out alright. I don't like it. But I don't like a lot of plans that technically don't have anything REAL wrong with them except for the fact you end up putting yourself in harm's way."
"What is this plan?" Fire Escape asked.
"Well, you see, Kroagnon is undoubtedly a very clever and very proud being, and like many clever and proud beings likes to be appreciated by his equals. Now, I think if he had the chance to meet such a person, he would leave his lair to do so."
"So he's going to try to lure him out," Marion said. She crossed her arms. "It might work. I mean with me being an Inspector and all."
"I am the only obvious candidate."
Mel turned his "Marion he'll get himself killed!"
"Not if I have anything to say about that."
Marion wouldn't let that happen. But she wasn't sure how she could convey that to Mel without sounding like she was losing it.
Was she losing it? It was possible that there were consequences to near-death experiences other than and the nightmares.
Probably.
She would deal with that when it started to be an outside issue.
"I will allow myself to be seen and somebody will go to Kroagnon and offer to lead him to me. Right into our little trap. Marion will be sticking around just in case things aren't going as planned. But that person will still have a far more difficult and dangerous mission than I. "
The room was quiet. For a moment, Marion thought to volunteer. But, she was pretty sure she remembered how Pex had died. And she was fairly certain that she could prevent it from happening. And the best outcome for Pex would be for him to do this and survive. If she took his place, he would live, yes, but he would be constantly ridiculed. Which was of course better than dying. But the thing was Marion was pretty sure that she could, again, stop him from dying.
"I will go to Kroagnon. I am Pex and I am the"
"Cowardly cutlet!"
"Fire Escape!" Marion said sharply.
"Well, you all have tasks to do. Caretakers, Residents, and Kangs, why should only Pex be left out? Pex is the trained fighting machine. Pex the only-"
"Scaredy cat."
"Bin Liner!"
"Pex, are you sure you want to do this?" Mel asked thoughtfully.
Pex nodded. "I am!"
"OK." said Marion, "Let's do it."
They regrouped on the floor where the TARDIS had landed. It was that far from the floor with the pool, and it was decently high up.
The tablecloths were gathered, the explosives were acquired, Pex had decided what he was going to say, and the Doctor had done something on Marion's phone involving Bluetooth, the notepad app, and the exploitation of a handful of back doors that temporarily added her phone's camera to the Paradise Tower's security feed when she turned on the camera app. Marion held her phone up towards him and then zoomed in on the camera so it mostly just showed his face.
"Just let me know when you're ready to go," Marion called out.
The Doctor did something with his hat and his coat that changed absolutely nothing.
"Ready to begin rolling!"
Marion made sure that her fingers weren't blocking the camera. She tapped the white circle on the side and then gave the Doctor a thumbs up and mouthed "Now."
The Doctor smiled. It was a cold, mocking sort of smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Hello, there, Kroagnon." he began, "This is the Doctor speaking. I don't believe we've met, though no doubt you've heard of me. I thought so. Anyway, I'd heard so much about Paradise Towers that I thought I'd come and take a look and, believe me, I'm very disappointed. It displays exactly what everyone says is your usual failure as an architect. Not making allowances for people. Still, I'm sure if we managed to work together, we might just about make this place habitable. I've a few ideas which I might give to you if you can be bothered to listen. Bye for now."
Marion pressed the stop filming button on the side and lowered the camera.
"Did that work?"
"Well it should." she replied "Where's Pex? It's his time to shine."
"Here I am," called a voice from behind her. Marion spun on her heels to face him. "Good good. Are you still ready to go?"
"I won't be unbrave again."
"Right." Marion replied, "Now, just look at this black circle right there and talk away."
"Remember, Pex," the Doctor repeated, "You must get him out of the Caretaker headquarters as quick as you can so that he doesn't see what's happening to the Cleaners. But then, once he's out, take as long as you can. We need time. No heroics, just a cool clear head."
"I can manage." the man smiled.
The Doctor walked away to prepare some part of the plan.
Mel pulled something red and black out of her pocket. "I've been asked to give you this, Pex. It's a Kang bracelet. They wanted to give it to you." she slid it on his wrist. They think you're not a scaredy cat any longer but a real Kang. Good luck, Pex." Mel leaned forward and gave the man a kiss on the cheek.
Pex reached into this holster and retrieved his gun.
"You take this, Mel. Can't use it this time." Mel held it like she thought it was going to explode in her hand.
"Come on Pex," Marion said, "Let's go out into the hallway. Might be suspicious if both you and the Doctor have the same background."
Bin Liner handed the man three sticks of dynamite.
Marion stared at the man. She was fairly certain that she could keep him alive. She just needed to be the one to give the Architect a big shove into the dynamite.
With the lure was made, and the bait sent, Marion's phone was back in her pocket, and Pex on his way out. The Kangs and the Rezzies had begun blowing up the robots.
Again, it was such a shame that Paradise Towers had happened before Dragonfire. Ace would love this.
Marion found the Doctor near the trap door.
Mel approached them, nearly out of breath.
"The door's nearly back in place anyway but they're having trouble with the fortamolascope opening device."
That was the thing that was meant to trigger the dynamite into doing the thing that dynamite was known for doing.
Go Boom.
"We'd better give them a hand, come along Marion. See what you can do to help the Kangs down there." the Doctor paused, "Oh, and Mel, don't forget to leave the escape hatch uncovered so that I can make my exit. I just hope that Pex doesn't lose his nerve and hurry, otherwise, it won't be Kroagnon who's caught in a booby trap, it'll be us."
"I mean, there's always the possibility. But in the worst-case scenario, I'll deal with the Architect. I mean he doesn't have another body to swap into. Even if the plan doesn't work quite right, it'll be one hell of a surprise and he'll be unbalanced and then we can do plan B."
"What's plan B?"
"You'll know it if we need it and you'll know if I use it."
Marion stood next to the Doctor as he fixed something on the door into the Brainquarters with the Deputy and Fire Escape. The Kangs had removed everything of value in the room and under the direction of the Deputy, replaced them with explosives.
Any moment, Pex was going to be here with the Caretaker and it was going to be sooner than expected. She could feel them getting closer and closer. She felt worried and then her vision spun and she was currently rubbing her right arm trying to soothe the sharp pain along it. Before he could attack the Doctor and before Pex could need to sacrifice himself.
"That should do it." the Doctor said finally.
Marion leaned her head against the side of the wall and she listened. She could hear footsteps.
She turned her head. She could see Pex and the Architect off in the distance. The Deputy saw him too.
"Doctor!" the Deputy cautioned, "And we're not ready for him."
"Oh, Pex." the Doctor waved his arm towards them, "Move back, quickly."
"Oh, but Doctor, he'll make you unalive." Fire Escape reminded as she quickly moved towards the hole leading to the ventilation until Mel was
"Not likely," Marion replied with a smile, "Now, Go."
The rest of them darted out and Marion got a closer look at the Architect in the chief caretaker's body.
He looked wrong.
His skin looked pale, like he was missing all of his blood, and his limbs moved like an outside force was pushing at his limbs like he was nothing more than a toy soldier.
The Doctor tipped his hat. Marion smiled and pulled out the ID case and flashed.
"Ah. How do you do!" Marion says quickly, "I, I'm unfamiliar with the amount of memory transfer you received from the original Caretaker, but I am Inspector Henson and this is the Doctor. We've just been having a look around. You know, I don't think I've been in one of your buildings before. It sure is-" Marion slowly looked around pointedly. "Well, it sure is the most building of all time, I think."
She wished that she could find a minor detail that clearly took absolutely no thought and just existed because something needed to be there and compliment it while ignoring an aspect he put time and effort into.
It always pissed her off when her professors did that.
"Yes, yes," the Doctor nodded at her. Marion very carefully started to move around. She took out her phone and mimicked taking photos as if she was gathering data as a part of her inspection. She was actually trying to get to the other man's side so that she was in a prime location to give him a shove.
"I wanted to have a few words with you about the shoddy design of this building. I mean, take this door for instance. Look at it."
"There was nothing wrong with it when I built it," Kroagnon's voice sounded nothing like the Chief Caretaker's voice. It was gravely, deeper, and more confident. "unless humanoid creatures have damaged it."
"Well, speaking as an expert," the Doctor replied, "I'm prepared to tell the universe you couldn't design a simple doorknob. I mean, look."
Marion took a step back towards the opposite walls so that she could get a running tackle.
She just had to run straight ahead. She ignored the pressure in her chest. It would disappear soon enough as soon as she got him out of the way.
The Doctor stepped aside and opened the door into the now darkened Brainquarters. Before Marion could rush forward and shove him in herself, the Doctor tried.
The man didn't even budge.
Maybe the Doctor wasn't used to not being over six feet and lacking the leverage and he didn't yet know how to account for that. Kroagnon grabbed the Doctor, and shoved him away. The Doctor slammed into the wall with a cracking noise that made Marion's vision funny for a moment.
He was not going to touch the Doctor again or do anything much at all except for die.
She was smaller than the Doctor. But unlike him, pretty much everything she learned she had learned under the assumption that anyone she went up against would be bigger than her.
Kroagnon leaned over to reach for the Doctor and in that moment he was unbalanced. Marion threw herself at him. Charging forward shoulder first as fast as she could towards aiming right at the man's stomach, attempting to knock the wind out of him. She was more successful than the Doctor and the man stumbled backward a bit and before he could steady himself fully, Marion shoved him again, a little bit higher than before. The man stumbled backward and Marion could tell the exact moment when he realized he had been standing atop a short flight of stairs.
The man hadn't managed to grab onto her, but the way Marion had shoved forward meant that she was falling too. Marion raised her arms to cover her face.
And then she stopped falling. Someone grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her backward, and then something else grabbed her by the side of her arms and threw them both on their sides and to the ground. A moment later, there was a loud boom and the floor shook. A wave of heat flooded into the small corridor and Marion felt the wave of heat on the back of her neck and a smell she wasn't going to think about. Marion blinked for a moment and waited for her ears to stop ringing.
The pain and the nausea and the anxiety were gone. The threat had been vanquished.
Marion looked around to see who it was that had yanked her away. Her first thought was that it had been the Doctor. But then, she sat up and saw the Doctor was still on the ground.
She was quickly by his side, coughing from the dust and debris entering her lungs.
"Doctor?"
"I'm alright," the Doctor finally said sitting up. "I simply remained on the ground when the explosion happened."
"Is he dead?" the Deputy asked.
"Is he-," Marion looked into the still-dark corridor. "I mean, if you'd like to double check, you're more than free to, but there aren't many things that could survive that many explosives that close."
Marion looked around, for a moment and then her eyes caught Pex's. She hadn't immediately seen him when she crashed into the floor. But he was close to where she had ended up. He would have to be behind her.
The Deputy, Mel, and the Kang's were on the opposite side of the room. The Doctor had been on the ground, close to the door but on the opposite wall.
The only person that could have yanked her away from the doorway was-
"Pex?" Marion stared at the man. "Pex did you-"
"Pex pulled Marion out of the way!" Mel exclaimed. She rushed forward and away from the rest of the group. "Oh Pex, I knew you'd come through in the end!"
Marion sat up fully.
"Wow!" Marion said. She let out a last cough, "You came in right in the nick of time. Not even a scorch on me!" Marion looked the man over. He was more alright than he would have been, on account of him being alive. And she couldn't see any burns on him. But she couldn't be sure.
Pex hadn't spoken. He was staring straight ahead, but it was hard to tell if he was staring at her specifically or just off into space. Marion stared back at the man.
"Pex, are you alright?"
Pex opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Fire Escape cut in.
"Pex acted like a cowardly cutlet and hurried when he was meant to keep slow," said Fire Escape accusingly. And then her face softened. "But he saved Marion from falling into the trap and becoming unalive." she walked over to Pex and pulled him to his feet.
She made some kind of motion with her hands. It reminded Marion of the Kang greeting, only with more snapping, and ended with a first held out towards the man. Marion didn't recognize the motion, but Pex sure did. He slowly, and shakily as if he couldn't fully believe what he was doing, mirrored the same motion, and then tapped the side of his fist against hers. She smiled at Pex, and for once, the smile didn't seem to be mocking.
Marion helped the Doctor to his feet.
"We were supposed to meet back in the square once all this was dealt with, weren't we? We ought to tell them what happened."
(Linebreak)
The remaining inhabitants of the Towers were gathered all together in the square.
Fountain of Happiness Square didn't have a shrine to Pex (the unalive Pex) on account of him being alive and not dead.
He wasn't receiving the same veneration that he would have had he been dead. And on one hand, he had rushed ahead instead of keeping pace and possibly jeopardizing the plan. But on the other hand, Fire Escape had told them about how he had rushed forward and yanked her back and tackled her to the ground, saving her from falling and blowing up with the Architect.
Technically speaking, getting blown up probably wouldn't have been that much of a long-term issue. It would probably hurt. But the consequences wouldn't have been permanent.
The key here was that the Kangs didn't know that. And Pex, most importantly, didn't know that. So Marion wasn't going to say anything that would discount it. They had been gathered in the square for five or so minutes at this point, and no one had taunted the man and from what Marion knew, that was an improvement.
Bin Liner, Fire Escape, and Drinking Fountain had been removing the graffiti from the TARDIS that Marion had vaguely remembered them being there, but she hadn't quite noticed. The two of them joined and finished off cleaning the last bit of it, and then they made their way over to the three of them. Fire Escape held out an umbrella and Drinking Fountain holding out a length of fabric.
"Now, have you managed to remove the Kang wall crawls from the TARDIS as you promised?"
Fire Escape smiled at him and gave him his umbrella, an item that Marion hadn't realized she had possessed in the first place.
"Build high for happiness, Doctor." she smiled as she handed it over.
"We're sorry you must go, Doctor and Marion, and Mel," said Drinking Fountain.
"I'm sorry too, but I don't think we can stay much longer before he," Marion nodded her head to the side, "figures out that I'm not actually an Inspector."
"What you're not going to tell him?"
"Mel, he's already had a long enough day. He doesn't need that on top of it."
"Well, before you leave." Drinking Fountain held out a blue bit of cloth, "We've made you an honorary Kang, Doctor."
"Oh, a Blue Kang or a Red Kang?"
Fire Escape reached over and flipped the scarf to the other side and revealed that it was red.
"Both."
The Doctor took the scarf from her. "Ah, well I'll be honoured to wear it. And all my best wishes to the future of Paradise Towers."
The Doctor nodded and then the three of them walked back to the TARDIS. The Doctor tipped his hat at an odd metal statue right in front of the ship.
"Doctor!"
"Well, you never can tell!"
Mel walked inside of the TARDIS with the Doctor joining after her and Marion lingering outside for a moment. She waved one last farewell to the people of Paradise Towers, and then she joined the rest of them in the TARDIS just before it began to dematerialize. And then she took a step towards the Doctor and Mel and fell through the floor without time to say so much as a goodbye or a see you later or much more than a surprised shout.
Marion landed sideways on her bed in a certain time and a certain place and she, vaguely aware of how long it had been, very quickly changed into pajama pants and the first reasonable shirt that she could find and crawled under the covers. She was vaguely aware at some point, that someone had opened the door to look in, but they hadn't said anything. So she blinked once, and then twice, and then she went back to sleep.
And then what felt like minutes later (it was more than that, again, asleep) the Twelfth Doctor, hands still colder than usual from being outside was shaking her awake due to what he insisted was an emergency.
But that's a story whose beginning, middle, and end have already been told.
Next Chapter: Childhood is weird…
The Deputy Caretaker like, two hours after they leave, on the phone with his boss's boss: The fuck do you mean you didn't-